On 25/08/2013 8:46 AM, George Leppla wrote:

>
> When I was a kid, we would go spearing eels at night in Great South Bay
> (Long Island) and take them to a guy who would smoke them... he kept
> half. Very good!
>
> Since fish/crabs/eels were free (all you had to do is catch them), we
> ate them a lot. My father always said that we ate like rich people even
> though we were very poor and in many cases, he was right.
>

I remember my mother telling us about smoked eel she was served in
Denmark. She was turned off by the idea and was barely able to choke it
down. When I went there for my father's burial some friends picked me up
and drove me out to the hotel and I took them for lunch. The menu was in
Danish and I asked them to order a nice traditional Danish dish for me.
They urged me to try the eel. I did, and it was amazing. I loved
that stove.

I have been to Denmark several times and always make sure to have at
least one eel smorsbrot, washed down with scnapps and beer. I
occasionally get smoked eel here but it is hot smoked and nowhere near
as good as that Danish stuff.