TOOMEBRIDGE FRIED EEL

SOURCE: COLMAN ANDREWS. THE COUNTRY COOKING OF IRELAND.

Nobel Literature Prize laureate Seamus Heaney wrote his 1967 poem A Lough Neagh Sequence to celebrate and memorialize the nocturnal eel-fishing communities that live off the Northern Irish lake outside of Belfast. Among those lakeshore towns, the vestigial fishery in Toomebridge, being the largest and the sole surviving elver  aquaculture in Europe, only remained relevant to this day with kudos to the five decade-long efforts of the local fishermen's cooperative led by the late parish priest, Father Oliver Kennedy. Even in a post-Brexit landscape, wherein Northern Ireland retains its European Union membership, and a plummeting catadromous migration of elvers from the Sargasso Sea, eel export continues to drive the main economy of Toomebridge, except for a reserved fraction of the high-quality annual catch swimming its way into the smokehouses and into the dinner plates of village restaurants, pubs, and private homes, come Halloween evenings when frying the eel slices with bacon and onion is the traditional cookery.

Ingredients

1 2/3 cups/200 grams flour

Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

1 tablespoon/15 grams unsalted butter

1 tablespoon/15 mL extra-virgin olive oil

5 fresh eels, sliced into 2-inch/5-cm segments

1/2 pound/227 grams bacob, preferably Irish OR Canadian bacon

1 large onion, coarsely chopped

OPTIONAL: Chopped chives or scallions for garnish

Specific Equipment

Medium mixing bowl

Wire whisk

Wide-bottomed nonstick sauté pan or skillet, large enough to hold all pieces of eel in one layer

Serves 6 to 8

Instructions

1. Combine the flour, salt, and pepper in a mixing bowl with a wire whisk until well-blended.

2. Melt the butter with the olive oil in a nonstick sauté pan or skillet over medium-high heat. Dredge the pieces of eel in the seasoned flour and sauté for 3 to 4 minutes on each side until golden brown all over.

3. Reduce the heat to low and sauté in the bacon and onion for 3 to 4 minutes, stirring or tossing frequently. Cover the sauté pan or skillet and cook for 15 to 20 minutes or until the onions are soft.

4. Transfer to a serving platter and sprinkle with chopped scallions or chives, if desired.