Danish Ways with Fresh Eel

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top 1000North Atlantic Seafood
North Atlantic Seafood

By Alan Davidson

Published 1980

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These are manifold. Erik Westergaard’s survey of local cookery in Denmark contains dozens of traditional recipes, including various forms of Potteål (jellied eel) and the extraordinary Ålebrød from the Limfjord area (a kind of loaf baked with an eel coiled on top of the dough).

The standard preparation is Stegt Ål med Stuvede Kartofler, sections of eel simply fried (but keep pouring away the fat, since the eel supplies its own and the dish tends to be too rich) and served with potatoes in a white sauce. In the country districts one arranges the sections of backbone round the edge of one’s plate as one eats. It is almost obligatory to complete one circle; meritorious to make two; and outstanding to finish a third circle. The bill can be computed by the number of circles on each plate.