Its a Beautiful Thing

When you can wake up so see this

get to the water and see this

get out of the water with this

and get out of the shower to see this

Right on bro!!!!!!!

Gonna start calling you the eel charmer!

 

How you cook that eel up??

I frikking think the meat on those thing is DA BOMB personally!! 

Next one I get I may try just gutting and steaking it  with skin on instead of fileting....I'll let you know how it turns out!

 

Sincerely,

Jim

  

That was a great day of diving! That eel looks great!!! How did you end up cooking it? I like to smoke mine with an Indian Candy recipe. Makes a great snack and keeps for a long time.

Dammit! I wanna go!!!!

the eel was done two ways.  first was breaded with panko and baked.  the pictures was butter, tomatoes, jalapenos and just a hint of tequila and lime rub.  baked in foil for about 20 minutes.  next eel i get i would like to smoke as well. rick, what is your method for smoking.  skin on is not a bad way of doing it either since it takes forever to skin. tuesday friday shellback.  we are going shopping in the grocery store of life.  rick, anyway you can play hookie.  just kidding bro stay in school

Hey Darell, search "Indian Candy" on here. There should be a recipe that comes up. Click search then type it in.

For 2 eel fillets (from a 20-25" eel), I use:
- 2 cups of brown sugar
- 1 cup of salt
- ~3 qts. of warm water
- 1/2 cup of honey
-1/2 cup of maple syrup

You can add less of any of the ingredients if you find it too salty/sweet/etc.
I use skinless filets because I've developed an efficient way of skinning them, but you could leave the skin on if you want.
First, cut the fillets width wise into pieces that are 2-3 inches long. Next, stir the ingredients in until they are completely dissolved. The warmer the water, the faster they'll dissolve.
Next, add the chunks of eel into the brine, cover, and refrigerate for 24 hours.

Smoking can vary, but I don't have a smoker, so I hot-smoke them on my grill. I fill a couple soup cans halfway with soaked wood chips, and turn the grill on low. I wait til it starts producing smoke and then lay the eel on the upper rack, close it, and let it smoke for 40-60 minutes.

Half way through, I baste the eel fillets with a mixture of 1/2 honey to 1/2 water.

You can tell when it's done when the eel is flaky and somewhat dry, but not crumbling and too dry. I use apple wood chips.