Fatal Feast: How a King's Dinner Became Deadly in Medieval Times
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- Опубликовано: 14 июн 2023
- Jason Kingsley, the Modern Knight, discusses a hugely popular medieval food that is hardly eaten today and that killed a king and caused misery for thousands. #historyfacts #history #medieval
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Fun fact, Eels can become very old.
In Sweden an exceptionally old Eel called The Brantevik Eel had lived in a well for 155 years.
You see, in Sweden (and probably other parts of the world too) people would put live eels in wells to keep the water clean from bugs, algae and other creatures because the eel would eat them.
I think it's because they can't mature by going to the sea so they stay juvenile. Eels have 3 life stages. The last stage they lose their entire digestive tract and swim in the sea for 150+ days from Europe to spawn near america
I was thinking eels too.
But did they make sure the eels got out to use the bathroom?
@@peterclarke7006 The residency in the well was pretty permanent
@@sevenproxies4255 😂👍
Seriously, though, it's a joke from one of Terry Pratchett's books (and he was a man who was an absolute sponge for historical facts), that wells in England would have newts in them for the same purpose as eels in Sweden-they keep the water clean of bacteria and algae, and if they're alive, then the water is probably safe.
But he had a little laugh with the idea that the buggers are still pooing in the water.
I love that the more you learn about medieval Europe, the more it feels like an exotic, entirely foreign but fascinating country
Continent
The past is a foreign country, they do things differently there.
Just travel back in time to your grandparents being in their youth!
I'm Austrian and here some things that changed:
R-cism, h0m0phobia, and antis3metism being socially acceptable.
Women had fewer rights and R-pe inside marriage was NOT illegal. Spanking was frowned upon, but was still widespread.
Physical punishments for children were still socially acceptable.
Kids were expected to walk to school and back no matter if it was freezing or scolding, raining or stormy. They also played unsupervised.
Kids were drafted into household chores helping in shops, etc.
Parents didn't play friends, but were more akin to drill sergeants. Kids didn't address the parents at their first name and often were forced to use a honorific as well.
There was no s3x-ed and reporting harassment was punished! It was regarded as the fault of the victim!
My grandparents had no electricity, nor running water. Even in cities, they often had the toilet and water tab outside of the flat. Bathing was done in communal places rather than at home (similar to what the Japanese still do out of tradition, though not as fancy).
It is. One of those fantásticos books I read in my course in historical method was…the past is a foreign country. I highly recommend it
@@edi9892 cringe.
When I was a kid (in the south of Germany) we occasionally had smoked eel for dinner and I really liked it. I don't remember it having a strange taste or texture, but perhaps my father picked the bones out for me.
I know that my grandfather considered eels a delicacy and he told me that once, as a boy, he and some friends were messing around in a murky riverbed. Something slithered across his feet and he got all excited, thinking it was an eel. He grabbed it and pulled it out of the water, triumphantly showing it off to his friends - only to find a snake wrapping itstelf around his arm. He was not sure who panicked more, he, the snake, or his friends. No one was harmed, but apparently the memory put him off eels. 😄
Considering that we have like 1 type of venomous snake that can't kill anyone and is scared shitless of anything that moves I vote for the poor snake that just got yanked out of the water by what it probably thought was a tree.
@@majorfallacy5926 If it was in the water it was probably a grass snake (Ringelnatter), they are completely harmless to humans. Adders aren't semi-aquatic.
"South of Germany" is vague enough that it could also be one of the regions were you can still find other rarer snake species than the usual three. But even then... The dice snake (Würfelnatter) is also semi-aquatic, but non-venomous. And the only other venomous species, next to the adder, you could find in Germany (Aspisviper - Vipera aspis) isn't usually in the water either.
Great story. 👍
I've had eel, but want to try Lamprey some time.
Different eels apparently have different toxicity. Here in southeast Asia, common eels aren't toxic at all. But species like Japanese eels (Unagi) are.
I think with eels it really depends on how they are prepared. A freshly hot smoked eel tastes absolutely amazing. If they are fresh they aren't chewy at all, in fact the meat is extremely soft and almost falls apart by itself. They taste similiar to smoked salmon, just even oilier.
I haven't eaten any eels since at least the 90's, but the meat itself is unforgettably good. Smoked eel is absolutely fantastic but rather fatty. The fat carries the smoke flavour really well and the meat itself is just like you described, soft and tender. Fresh eel, when fried, is also very tasty and not chewy at all. Weird tidbit might be though that when you fry the pieces of the chopped eel, if it's fresh, the pieces will jump on the frying pan...
I wonder if the jellied eel are smaller eels, where you eat them with bones and all? I don't recall the fullgrown eels having much bones, not the small fishbones at least, just thicker bones around the spine.
Eew. Thank you. I will never wonder how lucious an eel might be again. Have never understood how anyone can like salmon. 🤮
6:40. “Eat eels and be more holy!” 😅😊😂
My favourite smoked fish. And I’m an atheist!
@@hensonlaura I don’t like salmon at all, but I like eels. I don’t think they taste alike at all
You can get eel at any sushi restaurant here in the US and probably all over the world. It’s usually cooked and served over rice with a sweet soy sauce. I’ve also had smoked eel in Denmark once. Personally I liked it but it’s not for everyone - it was a very strong smoky, fishy flavor. When I had it all I could think of was that I shouldn’t like it but somehow did anyway.
My great grandfather was a water miller in east anglia and he trapped eels for most of his life. They were usually sold or eaten by the family. There is even a pathé film of him eel trapping with some asociates in the film archive.
Please don't eat eels. The european eel is critically endangered and heading towards extinction (down 98% since the 1980s). They are still sold because fishing lobbies are stronger than people willing to fight for the humble eel. Eels have a complicated life cycle and have never been bred in captivity. Eel fisheries operate by capturing and raising wild baby eels. Once the wild population is gone there will be no more european eels. American and Japanese eels are also endangered. If you wouldn't eat rhino, don't eat eel.
I'd eat a rhino 🤷
@@gedelgo3242 They said "a family member used to trap eels" and your response is "you need to stop eating eels." I agree with your argument, it just shouldn't have been so accusatory when you're missing details. That's only going to get the type of attention you want from people who already agree with you.
@@gedelgo3242 European eels are not endangered. The only thing endangered in Europe is freedom.
I remember my history teacher made a booklet on every monarch since William the Conqueror and described Henry I’s death as being due to “a surfeit of lampreys” - we were all 11ish at the time and had no idea what that meant but it was so weird I googled it and always remember it!
When I was eleven, we had to go to the library, search index cards and hopefully found the appropriate book. Go Google😊😊
Thats so good! It myst have taken some time to sum up every monarch like that, i wish we’d gotten the same
... or, as revealed by W C Sellar & R J Yeatman in "1066 and all That": Henry I died "by eating a surfeit of palfreys", which "was a Bad Thing"!
@@DavidLee-qe3rd indeed. The forerunner to Horrible Histories. I wonder how many people remember more than two dates now (due to HH humour). 😅
I must admit, I thought this was going to be about lampreys!
To add: During lean years in the spring time it was not uncommon for people to spend 90% of their income on food, and the food they get is all preserves. So people eating cheap food or fasting during lent was sometimes involuntary and sometimes to save money for their families.
Well Lent falls in the hungry time, for an agricultural community. That's when the dried and preserved foods are running low, and the new crops aren't yet ready.
The prohibition on eggs and milk and such was also to ensure that the animals could rear their own young, allowing them to be born & fed. (Chicks and ducklings and goslings, calfs getting their milk instead of the farmers, etc.) This literally ensured the farm would have plenty of animals around for eating much later in the year. Pairing it with a religiously significant observance embedded the habit into the highly agrarian cultures of the day, preventing people from gorging themselves *now* only to find themselves starving *later.*
Smoked or fried eel is a delicacy in northern Germany and its quite expensive. Eelsoup also is commonly eaten in Hamburg. Although it's prepared with smoked eel.
It's also a quite hard to digest so it's eaten in combination with Schnaps.
It's a very fatty fish and since its salted before smoking, you'll get very thirsty from eating it, so a beer always goes well with it. It's a food for the cold season.
I personally don't eat it anymore, because its meat is so fatty.
On a side note. Since the eel is so rich in fat and oil (unsaturated fats) and vitamins, it's actually quite healthy and saturating to eat them after the winter time. In addition, the tats and oils can the trapped whole smoking the fish.
This explains a LOT about my own experience!
Love some Eels in the UK they are endangered sadly.
What the hell do you mean hard to digest ha ha grew up eating eels in Australia all the time and there great eating an not hard to digest at all,
Smoked eel
Fried eel
Grilled eel
Or cooked in the oven there great
Tasty just like fish bit stringy or oily but good food
In Korea and Japan eel is an expensive treat.
Salmon is similarly preserved especially by Alaskans. Smoked salmon is wonderful. You can smoke it and then pressure can it (in glass jars - not sure why it’s called canning) and the pressure pretty much dissolves the bones or makes them so soft that they’re edible. I’m wondering if canning eels would do the same thing. I know you can buy canned eel in some places. Curious what those are like.
If you set yourself in front of a fireplace and a pint of ale and start telling original medieval folklore, I'd totally watch that!
You're a good storyteller!
Same!
That sounds like a great idea for vlogs at the dark end of the year. Especially using candles along with the fire. Watch it on the TV with the lights off.
Are you sure it was 75,000 adult eels or a bad translation of ‘elvers’ which are baby eels. After making their journey from the Sargasso Sea, they swim upstream by the millions. Any structure impeding their way - like say a watermill or weir - has them climbing up the structure so thickly that one can scoop up handfuls of dozens of elvers at a time (as I did as a small boy).
No longer they are redlisted and more endangered than Pandas.
A surfeit of lampreys! These details really bring the period to life. Love your enthusiasm too. Great work, as always.
pickled lamprey? The catching and eating a stew of eels by Puddleglum in 'The Silver Chair' (by CS Lewis,) when he first meets Jill and Eustace who go off on the quest to find the lost prince is one of the treasures of the series to me. And it looks like I will not be trying eel anytime soon as the first I have just found in an online supermarket are Japanese eels at a staggering £100 per kilo...
Look at an Asian grocery and you should be able to find roast eel in tins for about the same price as sardines
BBQ'ed eel with a sweetened & thickened soya sauce (Unagi Sauce) is a staple of Japanese style sushi restaurants here in Canada. Canadian eel is actually very tasty, though the small bones can be annoying some times. Eel sushi is in fact my favorite item to order at sushi places! But I've purchased smoked eel at the local farmers market a few times.
I do like Japanese eel. It is cooked for the sushi, unlike most sushi fish, and is really delicious. They also have a main dish which is cooked unagi on a bed of rice. Both are served with the sauce you mention. The sushi version would be safer to try for people not used to the flavor. The main dish version tends to be fairly highly priced, though not out of sight.
in Belgium we have a dish called "paling in't groen", which is eels in a herb sauce. Used to be very popular (we even have eel festivals, public gatherings where we eat this dish), but due to overfishing it's declined massively in the last 15 years 😕
Paling in het groen . Eel in the green. Here in belgium is a normal dish
The main herb used is called "chervil" in English, or "kervel" in Dutch/Flemish, if I'm not mistaken.
Eels spawn in rivers! Jason, mature eels migrate out of their lakes and ponds, (even travelling overland on wet nights), down the rivers, out to sea and across the Atlantic Ocean to breed in the Sargasso Sea. The fry drift back to the UK and enter the rivers as 'glass-eels', (which was a common seasonal delicacy), and grow to maturity in the rivers, some crossing land to reach lakes and ponds. Astonishing but true.
I was flabbergasted, I thought that mysterious spawning somewhere in the Sargasso Sea was the first thing anyone learnt about eels.
@@pattheplanter It is, they do not spawn in rivers, they don't have sex parts until they are on the way to the Sargasso Sea.
@patrickcol Jason has mixed up terminology. He is talking about lamprey which are poisonous if eaten in high quantities. Once many lampreys died under ice to anoxia and my father brought these to his cat who almost died because of eating these and womited all out.
How can they both "spawn in rivers", AND breed in the Sargasso sea?
@@Goldenhawk583 They don't spawn in rivers. They only spawn in the Sargasso Sea. :)
It's awesome to see a RUclipsr who is so authentic and doesn't want to mislead his viewers. I really appreciate your content man. It's real and honest. And also solid.
Solidarity brother
🤜🤝🤛
Ah.. another breath of fresh air episode from one of the best channels in youtube
Thanks
I ate smoked eal quite often back before they got endangerad (traditional swedish delicasy). As long as the eal was of decent size, you can just break of long pieces of filets. I wouldn't say it has any wierd taste, no more different than compared to any other two fishes. It is very, very fatty, though.
Japan, the Koreas and other places in Asia serve eel. Grilled eel is a kind of sushi.
I am from the east end of London and these creatures were often seen live, in buckets, in the street market.
If you want to replicate the eating experience, simply cut up an old inner-tube and serve with parsley sauce. Thanks for the video.
English can clearly not cook. Eel cooked the right way is delicious and smooth as butter.
There was a disused water mill near my house in the '70's which had a built-in eel-trap. The water from the mill stream flowed into a chamber with an iron grille fitted on the floor which sieved out the eels. Even then a man came very few days and took thirty to fifty which went up to London for eel pie. :)
I can remember a long time ago when I was still a kid, I ordered eel in a restaurant in Bavaria because it sounded interesting. It was one of the only foods in my life that I couldn't eat more than one bite of. It tasted like brackish water from a moldy cellar. But as far as I can remember, it wasn't smoked but cooked.
I can imagine that drying and smoking an eel would make it significantly better, with the smoke flavor covering that weird taste of moldy mud.
I agree I didn't like eel either.
I'm not certain, but I think this applies to all fish. With carp, I'm definately sure, it tastes different depending on how it lived. My husband fishes carp from lake Balaton, that's a huge environment for them, and the meat on them is thus less greasy and has just a mild fish taste (great when smoked). Compare that with a carp that was bread in a breeding lake and kept in a tank, yuck! You can taste the mud in their flesh, because they literally swim in muddy waters since they have no space and the water around them can never settle. I would suspect the same applies to any fish really, but it would especially happen to rare and protected breeds, since capturing them on a large scale in the wild comes out to be too expensive and low yield for business. So they breed them in ponds.
I had smoked eel only once and it was a long time ago. I remember it as pleasant tasting. I also eat smoked mackerel on a regular basis, though, so apparently I like fairly 'strong' tasting fish.
It's not enough of a delicacy, to justify it's price though, imo. It's something, I would sure eat, if I had easy and cheap access to it...but not worth spending serious money on.
@@metaltsigga We have this traditional delicacy in the town where I live and it's some rather small little fish from the river (I guess it used to be the poor man's fish). They only ever serve it smoked and grilled - I think this is also because these little river fish don't taste so good when they are cooked.
You pansy ha ha in Australia we love eating eel its great food
,Irish,scots,German settlers all eat smoked eel or fried eel
You couldn't stomach eel ha ha THATS funny ha ha
I can't stress enough how much I'm happy I found your channel. the information you give us on medieval society is just treasure! :)
In Denmark, like in the rest of Europe, eels are on the Redlist due to overfishing and damage of their habitats.
The amazing sight on the fjords in silent nights with dozens of boats eelfishing with a strong light an fishspear stays with me like something magical and ancient.
I also found a lot of eelspear tips from the stoneage along and in the fjords.
Yeah, it's kind of interesting that. I'm only 27 and I vividly remember regularly going with my grandfather out in our little dinghy in the Ise Fjord and gathering up the eel traps when I was a child, but then they suddenly disappeared at some point.
On a trip to England, I tried jellied eels at a pie shop in Greenwich. I was amused by a French woman in line ahead of me who was explaining to her children that jellied eel was "un monument" -- because of course that was why I was there -- their historic importance. Had them a second time on a return trip with a friend. Not bad, but certainly not something worth eating unless you're very hungry or a literature major. :)
> "very hungry or a literature major"
Those strike me as things that are likely to go hand-in-hand.
@@jdubya7139hah!
It's giving "Oskar und die Blechtrommel" vibes.
I ate eel once in a pub or restaurant somewhere near Cutty Sark when visiting London. I like to try different food abroad and it was said to be traditional food so I had to try it. Eel was served in a sauce so it affected the flavour but I remember it tasting quite similar to other fish. However it did have lots of bones and you had to be careful while eating. The meal also had some kind of small pie and smashed potatoes. Overall it was a very good and fulfilling meal, would gladly eat it again. Unfortunately I don't remember the name of the restaurant (Edit. it was Goddards).
I never knew eels were so important in medieval times so this was very interesting video!
That's pie and mash with liquor, a form of parsley sauce, eels are also
sometimes served with it. There's only two eel and pie shops left in London.
Please don't eat eels. The european eel is critically endangered and heading towards extinction (down 98% since the 1980s). They are still sold because fishing lobbies are stronger than people willing to fight for the humble eel. Eels have a complicated life cycle and have never been bred in captivity. Eel fisheries operate by capturing and raising wild baby eels. Once the wild population is gone there will be no more european eels. American and Japanese eels are also endangered. If you wouldn't eat rhino, don't eat eel.
@@nigden1 Actually there are still dozens of "Pie and Mash" shops (incorporating Eels). They are mainly in East and South East London, but there are several further afield...but all within touching distance of London. I eat this once a week but not often Eels...although I DO love them :):)
@@michaellovell1368 Oh, right, I'm not from London, but saw it somewhere that there were only two, so thanks for that. I'm glad though, I've had pie mash and eels and love it.
@@nigden1I understood the liquor was made from the liquid that had been used to boil the eels. Nowadays I think it's plain parsley sauce, but I am sure there must be places in London that sell pie and mash, and also eels, who still use the eel stock to make liquor.
Thanks for this wonderful video - I had no idea that eels were currency, nor that they were regulated in Magna Carta!
I thougouhly enjoyed the little glimpses of wild flowers sprinkled through the video, and of the insects: bumblebees have now sadly become rare.
As for eels: I once was forced to eat a smoked eel when i was little. Never again! The smoky taste was nice, the little bones were an abhorrence!
bumblebees or honeybees?
@@BlackMasterRoshi Both, I'm afraid - but the one i saw on the White Campion was a bumblebee, definitely.
If you've a garden you can do your bit for bees by picking what you plant, one thing we grow is chives, the bumblebees flock to them plus you get fresh chives for cooking, salads etc. Win win.
In the Netherlands smoked eels are still a commonly eaten delicacy. Fishing is now highly regulated as they are highly endangered, making the eels very expensive.
Eels and lampreys are still a very much appreciated traditional and national dish here, in Portugal.
Eels! Yes I used to eat them smoked from a smokery in Somerset, but they stopped doing them a few years ago
Popular in Portugal until today. There's even a Festival dedicated to eel gastronomy.
I've never had eels in the styles you've described but the Japanese styles of eel, unagi don and unagi nigiri, are some of my favorite dishes. It's a smoked or grilled eel served with rice and often some pickled vegetables. I think they're delicious.
Grilled Unagi roll, hell YES!
Staph . . . You making me hungry already
I'm kicking myself for not guessing this before you told us! Love the way the widow renegotiated the rent so she didn't have to find firewood.
If you haven't seen them before, you might enjoy 'Medieval Byways' (1913) and 'More Medieval Byways' (1926) by Louis Francis Salzman. He went through old medieval legal records to find what everyday life was like. Especially love the case of the devil in a bottle from the first book.
correct
I knew eels were eaten in Medieval times and that they were caught using the special willow basket you mentioned, but nothing beyond that, so I learned a lot today. 😊
I've never had English or European-style eel, but in Japan they are quite popular, either as sushi toppings (grilled and put on a nigiri - either fresh-water or saltwater, called "Unagi" and "Anago" respectively, or Unaju, which is grilled (often with a kind of sweet soy-based sauce, like teriyaki) served over a bowl of hot rice. I find them delicious!!
I had no idea that they ate THAT MUCH eel in Medieval England. In a movie with Julia Roberts in Victorian England (I think she's Dr. Jekyl's maid or something), they have this big eel that they bring in and chop up and it actually looked kind of gross to me. No idea if that's an accurate depiction of how eels were cut up in any era though.
Magnificent facts. Wonderful video as always. Congratulations from Poland.
Eels, along with other fish, were put in the category of vegetable during times and places of the Middle Ages. This made fish eatable during lent and other fasts.
When I was a kid and we learned about vegetarians, we were told they can eat fish and poultry, so I think that idea stuck around at least until the 20th century.
@@YamiKisara Sure. I am a vegetarian, and have been for years. I follow a diet described as vegan, though I am not (vegan is a lifestyle avoiding as far as possible, any products that bring harm to animals. I wear leather shoes.)
But there is a tradition of assuming vegetarians are "vegan light" if you will. And that eggs, dairy, and fish are allowed. Typically called ovo-lacto-vegetarians, and/or pescatarians, the main exclusion is the flesh of mammals.
I agree that some part of this categorization was born centuries before in these religious practices.
and beaver
@@whiderboss That's right! I forgot about beaver being a fish back then.
And duck as well!
Eel is delicious. I've only had it with Japanese cuisine but I'd like to try the more traditional British recipes. It's an almost sweet meat.
Stay well away from traditional english eel dishes 😅 go for modern recipes. The old stuff is quite grim 😂 google jellied eels
In the part of Italy where I live eel is still quite popular. Nothing fancy or weird here though, we usually have it grilled, which I prefer because it is simple and the meat is flavourful and fatty already.
Can you recommend a reading list for people interested in stuff like this? I really couldn't care less for political history but stuff like this fascinates me.
I second this comment
Hot smoked eels were always sold at the fairgrounds in what was West Germany during my army service in the seventies and eighties. Once you got past the leathery skin, the flesh was buttery and delicious. I never took to jellied eels as sold in the West London pie and mash shops, I found that they were rather bland and difficult to eat for reasons you describe here. The eel cooking broth was laced with parsley and turned into a thin gravy they called 'liquor'; hence the term 'Pie, Mash and Liquor' advertised on the menu chalk boards. The pies being simple shortcrust mince and onion pies. Very few of these pie and mash shops still exist now.
here in germany smoked eel is cosidered quite the delicacy. i certainly like it very much
I remember first hearing about eel pie as a kid, and, being American, it was the strangest concept at first. 😅
Another excellent video, Jason, thank you!
(Also, I would love another tour of your horses…you made a video a while back introducing them, but I would love an update on them!)
Jason, I've extensively studied history, which has led me to develop my own theories. While everything you've said is undoubtedly true, I believe we should also consider two additional aspects regarding eels as food. I've actually had the opportunity to try them, and trust me, many larger eels possess so much fat that their taste is incredibly greasy, twice as much as the fattest salmon in the world. Therefore, the high fat content in eels may have played a role in providing people with extra calories during winters. Essentially, what I'm suggesting is that eels were similar to a type of fish-based bacon, easily smoked and portable, offering a substantial fatty meal for survival and a flavorful soup.
The second point relates to ancient Rome. In ancient Rome, both emperors and common people considered moray eels and lampreys to be the epitome of culinary delight. Although the exact reasons are unknown, these creatures captivated their taste buds. Numerous recipes and enthusiastic writings praising the virtues of these animals have been passed down to us. However, it is widely acknowledged that their extensive hunting during ancient Roman times pushed them dangerously close to extinction, leaving only the royalty to savor lampreys. What I want to convey is that eels essentially represent an evolved version of the ancient Roman taste, which gradually spread throughout Europe during the Middle Ages, transitioning from moray eels and lampreys to common eels.
Please keep in mind that this is merely a personal theory I wanted to share with you to highlight the significance of this weird creature.
💀☠💀☠💀
Eels being very fatty would probably be a good reason to use them as a winter food, especially considering that food preservation wasnt very advanced
That is some awesome insight!
I had no idea they were fatty!
I kinda assumed the opposite, for some reason.
They would have made an excellent soup base or broth!
Thanks for sharing! :D
@@TheMurlocKeeper They are fat.... Even today's eels are fat.
Brilliant information once again! You can still visit the 1,000 year old eel pond at Upton House, Edgehill. My only meal with eel was 1 of 7 courses for Christmas dinner in Abruzzo. It's a traditional delicacy roasted on kebab sticks with onion and sweet peppers after marinating for a few hours. Simply delicious and cod like texture. We bought the live eels from the deli, where they're kept in tanks next to the lobster. Traditionally you place it against the back of a wooden door and hammer a nail through it's head. Quick death and makes it easier to skin. I didn't do that because of the paintwork! I can vividly remember the head still being alive about 40 mins after decapitation and the dissected body parts flexing in the marinade 4 hours later. Astonishing animal in life, in death and on the taste buds ❤
I had a colleague who'd rave about having jellied eels whenever he went to see his favourite team, Arsenal, play at home... or "up the Arse" as he would so typically delight in phrasing it!
The skins were pretty usefull too. Used in various medicines, made into leather for clothing & other items. Sometimes made into rings, believe there is still an eel skin wedding band surviving. Eel skin also makes excellent hinges for boxes & furniture.
Great video, always enjoy your content.
An interesting insight into the Med-Eel-Val period!
lol
That was fascinating, and I ,loved the nature shots. When I lived in rural Malaysia if you drove over a bridge there were often people at each end selling live eels in plastic bags - a relatively easy way of making some money if you’re not well off. I never tried them but my Malaysian friends loved them.
Eels are commonly eaten in Japan in sushi. They're actually really tasty and not weird tasting at all. They taste just like a nice light fish.
Jellied Eel was quite popular in England.
Very common in Japan but more so not in sushi. Hitsumabushi, Unagi, Anago, etc… all very delicious though!
Smoked eel is a Dutch classic.
Yeah, I find the flavor similar to trout, and enjoy an occasional tin of roasted eel in Chinese black bean sauce 😋
@@Rocker3829 I should say, I always ate them in sushi restaurants. Often they were seared cooked
That’s fascinating! How eels could be so important to all facets of a countries past. And how they could have been so plentiful as to be sold in those quantities.
I’m in the US and eels aren’t popular here either, so like you, I’ve never had them. I can’t imagine I would like them from your description. Lol! ❤️🤗🐝
They used to be popular during the colonial times. In fact, so much that it led to areas fully being cleared of their populations. On some rivers you can still see the structures build to corral them into traps.
@@PlvsVltra-ji3rs That makes sense because so many of the early settlers were English, I’m sure they brought their tastes with them.🤗❤️🐝
I'm also from the United States, and the only time I've eaten eel was when I went out one night with a large group of people my ex-husband went to high school with to eat sushi at a very high end restaurant in Santa Barbara, California where a number of the people I was with knew someone that worked there, and were able to get a large amount removed from the final bill. I drank a lot of Sake that night, so while I remember that we supposedly ate eel, I can't remember anything about it's taste, texture, and so on.
@@laurenmclain6378 eel in sushi is pretty good and inoffensive. It tends to be thin and cooked over a kind of fire. It's also paired with things that work together. Maybe dried eel wouldn't be so bad.
@@laurenmclain6378 Yep, with enough sake, I might try them too lol. ❤️🤗🐝
A lot of the kids I grew up and went to school with in the 1970’s and 1980’s west coast U.S., were either naturalized or first generation Dutch. That’s where I got a taste for smoked eel, was through my friends families sharing what they brought back from trips to the Netherlands. That, and salted black licorice. To me, smoked eel was never really that different than thin smoked salmon strips. Just more bones.
Yey another Medieval food video! What got me subscribed in the first place. Glad to see another one mixed in with all the other fascinating vids on this channel.
In Holland its still a somewhat popular food. My grandfather used to smoke them himself and catch them using illegal traps. They're expensive when you buy them in a shop. I personally love their taste.
One of the most memorable and delicious meals I've ever had was at a historic restaurant specializing in eel at the Hamburg Speicher. The meal began with deep bowls of delicious green peppercorn eel soup with cream, followed by smoked eel.
It is also hard to beat grilled eel at a Japanese restaurant.
The breading of eels is pretty much still a mystery to this day.
No one has ever found a male eel!
Even the Romans wondered -- ruclips.net/video/BTb-lyVtLtU/видео.html
Breading? with breadcrumbs?
Is there not a crumb of evidence?
Ha! Opps.
Sainsburys sell jellied eels, remove the jelly put red pepper and vinegar on them, you could use black pepper but red is traditional, don't put the chunks in your mouth whole, pick them up and remove the meat from the backbone with your teeth, they're normally served with a large chunk of crusty bread.
The area where I'm from in the Netherlands was traditionally famous for its eal catching and smoking. It was a coast town of the Zuiderzee, and that 'sea' was known for its eals, and it was easy to fish on, as it wasn't open sea. Eal fishing kind of stopped when the sea was dammed in and became a lake last century. But when I was little, and we went to that particular town for the town fair, you could still get smoked eal on the streets. I've seen it being smoked on the streets. I haven't eaten eal there, as I didn't like it as a child, but later on I had some. It was quite common to get eal on a bun as street food. I loved the smoked taste. I don't particularly remember the texture so I don't think it was anything weird.
Now in the past decades eal has become so scarce and so expensive that there really is no eal smoking tradition going on anymore. It really is a delicacy now. But still you can see the mobile fish stalls leaving the town every morning, to sell (all kinds of) fish on markets around the country.
So interesting that this all came from medieval eal fishing, and that the imported eal in England probably also came from my area.
I have watched the channel before and have made my way back to it. I really appreciate your enthusiasm for your subject and the way you present it, very entertaining and informative. Thank you for your hard work!
My grandmother was a rather creative cook. She always said growing up in the depression helped. Any what, she used to make an Eel Pie. I might have been the only kid brave enough to try it, but it was pretty amazing actually.
Incredibly interesting video, intertaning and educational at the same time. Thank you so much, sir Jason!
Eels are not too popular here in the US but luckily I can manage to catch a few in the Delaware River. Lightly brined and smoked over beech wood they are the best, especially with a bit of creamed horseradish!
As always, your videos are both equally fascinating and enlightening! I believe I'll be binge watching and catching up on you're videos tonite! Keep up the good work!! 😊
I had eels once back in 2015 when I had flown from America to Sweden to visit my then-girlfriend and her family, her dad and uncle had set up an eel trap near a military base [even though harvesting eels was illegal [eellegal?] at the time] and I went with them to fetch the trap, fortunately with no hiccups in the mission. After the eels were brought home they were breaded and fried and I partook. Although I can't remember the taste, so surely it couldn't have been offensive.
Eellegal. 😅😂 Nice.
I think it might depend on the eel used. I really like Unagi Rolls (eel sushi). It's been a while since I've had any so I can't describe the flavor other than I remember enjoying it, but given the way you're supposed to eat sushi if the eel used in it is bony, they must remove the bones otherwise it'd be pretty annoying to eat.
I wholeheartedly look forward to each of your historical/informative videos.
Ok, I knew this one from the video title. Fairport Convention had a ‘Surfeit of Lamprey’ track on their 1995 album “Jewel in the Crown”, so I had to research it back then.
I've had loads of Unagi Nagiri (eel sushi)... I like it quite a lot. Whatever they do to prepare it seems to eliminate the bones. So, perhaps, if prepared correctly English eels could be made more palatable as well.
Eel is and was very common in Scania (eastern denmark/southern sweden) before the overfishing, smoked eel was even on the christmas table. So i have eaten smoked eel many times, i love it, it is a very tasty fish. A good substitute is actually horned pike.
I haven’t seen any new videos of yours in my RUclips feed for quite a while. So it was a nice surprise to find this new one. I have enjoyed your channel for years. And I always look forward to finding new videos from you.
Love your beautiful close up photography of the insects and wild flowers.
I seriously would not have guessed this type of food 😂. I absolutely love learning new things, so thank you so very much. 🎉
Smoked eels was a delicacy in Sweden, especially in the sothern parts, up until only a few years ago. Now it's almost impossible to find as it became heavily restricted due to overfishing. I've had it several times and it's a tasty, rather oily, and bony fish to eat at Christmas when my family used to have it.
It's still very easy to find around Christmas. The big problem is hydroelectric power, not fishing as such.
Thank you for your work!
Upload from Jason on RUclips always means it's a good day. Cheers!
After reading the book of Patrick Svensson about "question of eel" I was very impressed on how it affected the whole humankind, remaining almost a complete mistery. You bring more facts about this kind of creature, used as food.
The idea of accepting eels as rental payment may strike modern readers as unusual. But in early medieval England (1000-1300), eel-rents were commonplace. During the period, before there was enough available coinage, landlords often accepted in-kind rents such as eggs, ale, grain, and, especially, eels - am i close jason ?
hii jason hope your well hugs to you :)
While an old invention, currency wasn't the main method of payment till fairly recently. Townsends has a great video of how rare coinage was in the pre-Revolution US, a lot of it intentionally created by the British.
Thank you very much for an excellent program. In Spain they were eaten in the Middle Ages as well and are still eaten. I watch a cooking/history channel in Spanish on RUclips which is hosted by a Franciscan Friar from Spain, and he just posted a recipe for eels. The name of the channel is: Franciscanos Santo Espíritu del Monte Hospedería. There are no subtitles but if you really want to eat them, I can translate the recipe into English for you.
Excellent as always, sir!
The city of Eley was once the Island of Eels, standing as it did on an island surrounded by waterways
Black Birds 4 and 20 of them.
Eating blackbirds or rather hunting blackbirds in Corsica is illegal because so many were eaten that too many were killed.
Fascinating episode! Thanks!
Thank heavens you're back!! Have missed your content! We used to go Ealing when i was a kid, early/mid teans. We used gaffes instead of traps. Wonderful days with mates..
I've had eels a few times. Couldn't get on with jellied - the texture is too mushy and the jelly makes them feel slimy - loved them smoked but my favourite was filleted and deep fried in breadcrumb. The texture is meaty and the flavour like an oily fish - mackerel or pichards, or maybe shark. I suspect the person who told you it was tough had it overcooked as it only needs very light cooking, just a quick flash then rest to let the heat work its way through. The bones can be a problem if you're not happy picking them out as you eat but once you get the hang of the anatomy it's not a difficult fish to fillet so try that.
I believe that the term for a hundred eels was "a hovercraft full of eels" ;)
Always enjoy your videos very interesting, informative and accurate
I love your medieval videos. Can you make more of them please!
Such an interesting history!
Eel sushi is one of my favorites kinds--it's cooked, and has a rich, oily taste, but not as "fishy" as other oily type fishes.
I also had a big eel chunk on bone at a fancy Italian restaurant in NYC once. I remember thinking it was better than steak.
Hi, that’s not why Catholics ate eels. It’s something still practised today, and it’s not just at lent, it’s on Fridays, we don’t eat flesh meat, however we are allowed to eat fish - eels being the most commonly eaten fish, of course thst the one medieval Catholics would’ve eaten.
It's amazing how you can turn a set back into a fun video. I enjoyed this.
Always a joy to watch your videos, sir. My favorites thus far are about what the different classes would have eaten. Would you, perhaps, know anything about a typical meal during Lenten or other fast days? I would also be very interested to hear your thoughts about the conducting of an average feast, holiday and otherwise. Thanks very much, sir, for your time and effort. Keep up the good work. 😁👍
the eel in green sauce (anguille au vert) can be found in restaurants in belgium from Antwerp to brussel (along the Escaut river), it's a bit chewy like a monkfish, ray or crocodile but far less than an escargot or an octopus. you also have a pickled version named escaveche. in both recipes, the meat filet are easy to separate from the back spine and mostly tasteless like any white fish
Paling in 't groen represent!
@@MrCowabungaa ya, they have more chance to find it under the Flemish name in the north of the land 😅👍
I've tried jellied eels and roasted eels in a can from an Asian supermarket. The jellied eels were one of the most unappetizing foods I've ever seen but they were not as bad as I expected them to be. The canned eels were much better just as I'd expected but It will probably be a while before I eat either dish again.
Surely there must be a specific reason why jellied eels are boiled and not fried or roasted? They would taste and look much better.
I think the purpose of the jelly is to keep the air out and increase the shelf life.
You stated that the eels were purchased at an Asian shop?
Maybe different cultures prepare them in different ways?
I don't know personally, just a thought eels might taste different from another country in the way they are processed.
Very interesting. Thanks Jason.
I guessed lampreys. Not too far adrift. I love the gusto with which you approach the topic.😊
Onions? Eels I definitely would not have guessed. Always educational, thanks
Sorry but the only time an onion will kill someone is if it's hurled with tremendous force at someone's head
@@SevenPr1me True, true. It was a totally random guess. 😆
@@wadejustanamerican1201 don't you dare disrespect Shrek like that again
Onions MAKE a king; they do not slay them.
Eels spawn in the Sargasso Sea. Salmon go to sea and only return to spawn up stream.
me too
I love these type of videos. I love learning new things about medieval times. Especially about food, daily life, clothing and combat.
Love your channel!
I'm pretty sure if I said wine it would almost feel like a copout, since there is absolutely no way no ruler in medieval history ever succumbed to consequences of being inebriated.
EEEEEELS!
In summer when I was with him my grandad taught me how to make baskets that were really long, and flat ones to catch crabs with rotten fish. We would go out, place the traps for the eels and go at the crabs.
I hated eels, and the smell of rotting fish but loved the crabs.
back then you did not need a fishing license to go at crabs, eels or prawns. strange how I hated eels back then but now I like them.
Eel Sushi is my favorite kind so far. Can't get enough of them.
Im from New Zealand and Grew up in an Eeling family as in my Grandad and Great uncle and my Uncle and soemtimes Mum and Dad would catch fresh water eels for a living i love eel so much we mostly eat it smoked it is great