Ugly but tasty Paul Sparkes
“The eel is common in the streams and rivers of Newfoundland but it is not utilized even though the species is highly regarded as a food fish in western Europe.” And, Scott and Crossman’s 1964 report on “Fishes occurring in the Fresh Waters of Insular Newfoundland” noted that the eel was enjoying increased popularity in eastern Canadian cities at that time.
I would guess, knowing my fellow Newfoundlanders that most of us find the eel yucky. After all, it looks more like a snake than a fish. It isn’t so invitingly fillet-able as a plump cod. Nor is it as steak-able as a salmon. But the eel is a readily available protein. And to many palates, it is a taste treat. I must confess that I have not had it very often. However I do remember sampling it as a smoked/cooked grog bit some years ago and it was what you might call “toothsome”. Reminded me somewhat of smoked caplin.
The renowned angler (trouter, flyflicker) Izaak Walton (1593-1683) didn’t help advance the eel a lot as a seafood delicacy as he seems to have expended more words on how it reproduced than he did in praising its contribution to our menu. Walton wrote the enduringly famous “Compleat Angler” and one thing seems certain: his long life at a time when 60 was elderly must demonstrate the wisdom of a generous quantity of fish in the diet and of pursuing a stressless career such as writing about a cherished and leisurely occupation.
In part, Walton wrote that he has heard of such an abundance of eels in some English rivers that “many of the poorer sort of people take such eels out with sieves or sheets and make a kind of eel-cake out of them and eat it like as bread.” Purists out there should note that I have edited Walton’s antique words a little here.
W.B. Scott and E.J. Crossman co-wrote the “Fishes Occurring” book of 124 pages more than 50 years ago. Scientists with the Royal Ontario Museum, their project under the University of Toronto was done for DFO to correct what I gather were considerable gaps in our knowledge of our fresh water fish. Although this is a scientific paper, it is a good ‘read’ for the variety of fish they have identified, the record of the importing and planting of live fish ova in many of our rivers and ponds in the late 1800s and for the selection of pictures of brooks, ponds and waterfalls. I don’t know if copies of the book can still be found/purchased, but there are plenty of references to it online.
On eels, the book notes “various Newfoundland authors have lamented our failure to use this food source.” Two
comments from the late 1930s are given in evidence. One “Macpherson (1937)” stated “in the case of eels there must be a potential export industry” and one “Nancy Frost in 1939” stated “at present Newfoundland’s plentiful stock of this food fish is quite ignored except by a very limited number of people.”
A recipe for eel
The Treasury of Newfoundland Dishes (1958) has a recipe for eel. It’s called “Matelote of Eel”. Matelote is a fish stew that usually includes wine. This recipe does not have wine in it. However — you will need two pounds of eel, salt, water, onion, butter, potatoes, carrots, celery, raw white rice and pepper. It is clearly a stew of vegetables with fish added. The eel is skinned, the long backbone is removed and the meat is then cut into 1.5-inch pieces. Admittedly it does not sound all that appetizing. And due to our noted absence of eel, I cannot present this to the reader as a “tested recipe.”
Piscatorial postscripts
“One of the earliest indications that something other than brook trout (locally often referred to as mud trout) might be present, is found in the record of Cormack’s journey across the island of Newfoundland in 1822. Cormack records that the Micmac Indians told him of ‘a kind of trout’ larger than the usual kind that were to be found in the interior. It seems likely that this reference was to what we now know as ouananiche (sometimes locally referred to as ‘winnish’), the freshwater or landlocked salmon.”
— (From the foreword to the Scott & Crossman book by V.R. Taylor, DFO St. John’s, 1962).
OUANANICHE. “The angling qualities of this species are extolled in other areas, but in Newfoundland the ouananiche is not extensively fished. These almost unexploited stocks of salmon could, and
no doubt will in the future contribute substantially to angling in insular Newfoundland.” (1964)
BROWN TROUT: This is an introduced species in Newfoundland its entry into this area was only a year after the first introduction of this species into the Americas. In 1884 Mr. John Martin of The St. John’s Game Fish Society introduced Lochleven trout in Long Pond and other lakes near St. John’s. These came from the hatchery of Sir James Maitland in Scotland.
Mcneily (1906) and Frost (1938) reported that most Newfoundland anglers “believed” or “conceded” that rainbow trout provided better sport than the “native” or mud trout and Frost recorded that in Murray’s Pond they gave the club members slightly better success June to August, 1938, as compared to mud trout in the same period.