Over to Dale Grothman for the preparation of stewed eels. Thanks to Dale and Librivox.

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In camp Stewed Eels are rather a luxury, not only because they need a little cooking but they need a little catching. The difficulty with an eel is that it is rather a disagreeable thing to handle, though to those who like eels this is a trifle. There are two things which have to be done. The first is to skin the eel, and the second is to carefully cleanse it. Note the words italicised. When Camping near a river recently, a man who was to have saved me a quart of milk, sold it, and in a spirit of contrition presented me with a fine fat eel, 2-ft. 9-ins. long. I was delighted, as it was my first eel. I consulted many people as to how to remove the skin. No one could tell me, and no one could do it. Now I know that it is imperative to take the skin off the eel, because that skin contains that which is not good for human creatures to eat. The correct way to remove the skin is to nick it under the ear each side till you gi^i two small corners that you can take hold of. Pull these ” tales ” back a good bit. Be careful and take time at the beginning. Hang the head fast to a nail, or get the ” other person ” to hold the eel by the head. Then having properly started, the skinning is a mere matter of a moment or two. The belly must be ripped, and the interior most carefully washed and scrubbed, and exam- ined, so there is not the slightest suggestion of anything other than the clean flesh of the eel. Do not let the head and tail go into the pan. Stew until it is cooked enough. Then add your parsley butter, the mixture for which is flour, water, parsley, salt, and pepper. Pour it into the pan, and continue stewing until it thickens and the parsley is cooked.

As a caution, however, I think it best to mention that after the eating of three sections of my long eel, it was my misfortune to be very seriously affected, and for a matter of 24 hours I suffered sickness and all the evidence of ptomaine poisoning. Such a case is not infrequent with those who eat eels caught in English rivers. Eels from Ireland are different, because thev comechiefly off the limestone and sandy bttom of the lakes, and not from the bottoms of muddy, sluggish streams or pools.

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