What is the tradition about eating eels over Christmas in Italy?

All over Italy since the 5th or 6th century Christmas festivities kicked off with the Christmas eve banquet, known as the ?Il cenone della Vigilia?

The penitential rule imposed by the Church ?Mangiar magro la Vigilia? abstain from eating meat on holyday eves, fish became the centrepiece of the Cenone.

The high demand and very poor supply at that time of the year, made fresh fish very expensive and not everybody could afford to buy it.

There was no shortage of Marshland, in which eels thrive; rivers too were abundantly rich of eels,
Hence those who could not afford the cost of fresh fish were able to fish for eels and so enjoy their Cenone and still respect the Church's rule.

Enzo, is Eel eaten just before new year in Italy as well? i.e, just before midnight celebrations,thanks in advance.

Enzo, I have found it in a book I have, I knew I had it somewhere, after Gino cooked Eel on thursdays show, I new then that I would have to extend my Italian recipe book regarding customs, it is in a book entitled "La Cucina Napoletana", by Caròla Francesconi. I bought this in Sirmione. It mentions grilling and frying of the Eels, which one is more popular or does it depend on the region? thank again

Ralph1, New Years day, according to the Roman Catholic Church is a holyday of obligation, therefore New Year's eve, is a day of abstanance,
no meat is eaten. Once again another excuse for a Cenone, tell me, what better way of waiting for to celebrate the New Year. but.....once again the eel comes to the rescue.

Enzo, Thank you, I for one would appreciate more postings regarding customs/festivals etc relating to food from that beautiful country of yours, especially the ones than may not be widely known. I will try and buy fresh live Eels in the future Enzo, I will certainly look at the recipes for Eels in a differant light.

hi guys, this is interesting but I have noticed that on the recipe site ev eryone is voting not to try it! Have you got a nice simple recipe for fresh salmon suitable for Christmas Eve which does not mean I have to spend a lot of time in the kitchen when my friends are partying? Also some unusual vegetables.....thanks in advance

Emma,

I have a brilliant simple recipe for fresh salmon which means that you don't have to hang around the kitchen missing out on all the fun.

Are you using a whole salmon or portions?

Get a roasting/gratin dish and layer the base with sliced lemon (cut width ways and roughly 1.5-2cm rings) normally two slices of lemon will be enough per salmon fillet. Place the salmon (skin side down) on top of the lemon then sprinkle a few drops of anchovy on the salmon and season with salt and peeper, drizzle a little olive oil and finally place more thinly sliced lemon over the salmon. Stick in a a hot oven roughly 200C for 10 minutes or until cooked.

The salmon will be wonderfully tender and juicy with a subtle lemon flavour, really delicious.

No fuss, mess on your cooker or your oven = more time to have!!! fun )!!

OK OK, who started talking anbout SALMON again, even the great AWT made tiramisu today, I ask you, TIRAMISU and SALMON again, gary Rhodes cooked it at birmingham, James Martin cooked SALMON and TIRAMISU on delicious, Anton of the Savoy cooked them on GFL, I wouldnt mind but the recipes have been so basic I fell asleep, LOL.
Maria, at least your recipe is differant to the chefs, now why cant they like you be original.
Hang on everyone, carol singers are at the door, HUMBUG BA, guess what, they are carrying plates of salmon with tiramisu on them, something about keeping them warm on these cold nights, well I can suggest some thing better, LOL. Maybe this year I will leave some out for father christmas, and the reindeer, no, changed my mind he will stick to a mince pie and a glass of milk, he will appreciate them more. LOL

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Topic: Customs
enzo on Sunday, 15 December 2002:
What is the tradition about eating eels over Christmas in Italy?

All over Italy since the 5th or 6th century Christmas festivities kicked off with the Christmas eve banquet, known as the ?Il cenone della Vigilia?

The penitential rule imposed by the Church ?Mangiar magro la Vigilia? abstain from eating meat on holyday eves, fish became the centrepiece of the Cenone.

The high demand and very poor supply at that time of the year, made fresh fish very expensive and not everybody could afford to buy it.

There was no shortage of Marshland, in which eels thrive; rivers too were abundantly rich of eels,
Hence those who could not afford the cost of fresh fish were able to fish for eels and so enjoy their Cenone and still respect the Church's rule.



ralph1 on Sunday, 15 December 2002:
Enzo, is Eel eaten just before new year in Italy as well? i.e, just before midnight celebrations,thanks in advance.


ralph1 on Sunday, 15 December 2002:
Enzo, I have found it in a book I have, I knew I had it somewhere, after Gino cooked Eel on thursdays show, I new then that I would have to extend my Italian recipe book regarding customs, it is in a book entitled

Hello Ralph,
To all those who have been knocking the EEL here is something which is finger licking good.
First of all you must try and buy live eel, keep it alive until you are ready to cook it. Always try to buy river eel, light brown with greenish reflection on the back, and a silvery tummy.
The best eels come from Camacchio in the Emilia Romagna region, in London try the East End or
Manzi?s Eel bar in Chapel Market Islington.,

What you need.
1 eel of about 1 kg, plain flour, olive oil, 200ml Red wine vinegar (from grape not fruit) celery (few sticks), 2 medium size carrots (sliced), 1 medium size onion (thin ring slices), 2 cloves of Garlic.

Clean thoroughly the eel, remove skin, cut in pieces of about 6 to 8 cm. Wipe them dry, coat in flour, shake off any excessive flour, when the oil has reached frying temperature place the pieces of eel in the frying pan, remove from pan when cooked, drain well, place in a heavy bottom dish and salt.
To prepare the marinate, lightly shallow fry some celery, carrots, onions and garlic, keep on low heat till onions are translucent,
Add the wine vinegar, and simmer till the vinegar has reduced by half. Pour the hot marinade over the eels and leave to marinate for 4 to 6 hours, serve as an antipasto. Eels cooked this way will last for up to 2 weeks or more if kept in a covered food container.

Enzo, thank you for that one, the marinade has set my taste buds going, we have Eels returning to the River Humber after many years of absence, they are once again available from our fish markets here in Hull and Grimsby, we will be cooking them more, definately, they are so underated, and with usual fish stocks suffering, they make a great addition. I have this recipe Enzo, I hope you agree on it.

Like your recipe you must clean and skin the eel and cut into neat portions, and place them on a baking tray, make some stock from the head and tail, adding the usual sliced onion and sliced carrot, salt and pepper to taste. Pour the stock over the portions of eel, just covering them, then add a glass of white wine, and cover this with buttered greaseproof paper, poach the eel gently in a medium (gas 4 ) oven till almost cooked, drain the eel and coat the eel with melted butter and then roll them in a mixture of fresh breadcrumbs and chopped mushrooms (raw). Grill the eel lightly on the both sides, serve with lemon.

Hi Maria, your salmon recipe sounds right up my street. Sorry to the two foodies with the eel but I must confess it was me who started up with the salmon................I love the idea of the anchovy with the lemon only ten mnutes cooking and hours of partying. Any good tips on an easy desert which is not tiramisu but is not just one cornetto and I can do the day before with a real droooool factor - something eel dishes do not have for me.

Hi Emma,

It's anchovy sauce you put on the salmon (just realised I left the sauce word out in my previous post). There's a really good recipe on this site called 'chocolate bomb' It only takes 10 minutes to prepare and roughly the same time to cook. It's a chocolate pudding with a gooey chocolate center, really good stuff. I think you can prepare them in advance too and keep them in the fridge.

Thanks Maria for both anchovy sauce note and choc bomb recipe. I have also noticed a gorgeous paul h one too on the top recipes, delicious sounding. Got to go to work, bye

Hi emma, no problem about the salmon, its just that a few weeks ago there was a run on salmon recipes, and tiramisu also, most of the chefs on television seemed to do the same thing with it, really boring, and then to top it all I went to birmingham food show and saw gary rhodes cooking live, and guess what, he cooked Salmon, my favourite chef, I ask you.

Well my repertoire is certainly improving since I found GFL and website. Although today it seems to be a cas e of the disappearing recipes. It seems to me that the viewers i.e. some of you are better with the ideas than the guys in front of the camera - you are real foodies and it certainly helps a novice like me. You shd publish a recipe book from the posts...........

Emma, I have just finished reading a book and it explains that the french will go to a restarant and discuss the food they are eating, not football or anything like that, the food, they also introduce gourmet type food to their children at a much younger age than we do here in the UK, consequently the french are the masters of the culinary world, they are so passionate, the italians can be the same, some of us here are also like that, we spend a great deal of our lives eating, so a little passion goes along way, and to experiment in the kitchen is a great pastime, and when you have cooked for many people and the news comes back that everyone is satisfied that is one unbelievable high. Yes we are real foodies, we will convince you yet, keep posting Emma, salmon and all.

I could be a foodie - it's the shopping and preparation that gets me but I am trying. I wish there were more nice delis as I am not a great fan of supermarkets and queues. I like food shopping in france, Italy and spain, that's neat. ciao for now

I'm trying to be a

I'm trying to be a

Don't know what went wrong with my post the gremlins were obviously at work, here it is again, hopefully.

I'm trying to be a "foodie" too. I've only been posting for a couple of weeks, but everyone has been so friendly and give advice so readily. I agree with Emma that the recipes given on the sites are sometimes better than the ones that the chefs come up with. You'll all turn me into a "foodie" yet!!!!!

Hi Jill let's be novice foodies together although I intend to eat out and accept all invitations over the holiday period as much as poss

Trudi, was that frenchman under the influence or having a bad day? Mushy peas, YAK YAK YAK.

Trudi, I can visualise that, "Frenchman uses bread roll as torpedo" that is great Trudi.

Enzo, we have decided that next year we are going to have an Italian Christmas, everything from food to music to whatever, time for change, definately, have a great christmas.