Ready-to-Cook Eel?

Being the squeamish sort, I was wondering if there are groceries that sell eel already filleted? I recently acquired an addiction and I'd love to make eel don like I had at the Mitsuwa food court.

Did you try Mitsuwa?

After leaving Mitsuwa, we picked up some bbq'd eel at Tensuke Market.

3 Arlington Heights Rd
Elk Grove Village, IL 60007-1405
(847) 806-1200

Read this. (Scroll down halfway through.)

I bought some smoked eel at Fresh Farms on Touhy last week--cut into slices or chunks. Not filleted but tasty. But presumably FF sells eel, although how far towards filleting they will take it, I don't know.

spinynorman99 wrote:Did you try Mitsuwa?

I did, but I didn't see it in the fish case.

Most Asian grocers will have a frozen butterflied cleaned eel if not several different brands. Usually they'll be vaccuum packed. Chicago Food, Mitsuwa, Tensuke, H mart, and the one in the SE corner of the strip mall on broadway just n of Lawrence all have them. I'd just pop into your closest Asian mkt, look in the freezer case, and if you don't find them, ask someone. Good chance any Asian mkt near you will have at least one brand. They usually have bones, I think, but the freshwater ones are so easy to bone - usually a one piece removal process. The saltwater ones can be trickier, IMO.

P.s. although i haven't been back in quite a while, Mitsuwa's eels have usually been located in the freezer cases along the E (?) wall. Go in, turn right, and then turn left after you get to the end (after the produce, and sashimi.) On your right, against the wall, there is a freezer case.

spinynorman99 wrote:
Did you try Mitsuwa?


I did, but I didn't see it in the fish case.

Did you look in the sushi fish case (not prepared sushi, but sushi-grade fish)?

spinynorman99 wrote:

spinynorman99 wrote:
Did you try Mitsuwa?


I did, but I didn't see it in the fish case.

Did you look in the sushi fish case (not prepared sushi, but sushi-grade fish)?

Yes, but I may not have been looking in the right place. I saw the little unagi rolls and some bento-style boxes, but no plain eel. But maybe I didn't go far enough down.

The reason I went looking for live eel then at HMart was that they didn't have frozen eel. (They had hagfish, which are not, however, true eels.)

Yes, but I may not have been looking in the right place. I saw the little unagi rolls and some bento-style boxes, but no plain eel. But maybe I didn't go far enough down.

If you saw rolls/bento boxes then you were in the sushi case (front of store) rather than the sushi ingredients case (back of store). I don't know if it's a regular item (because their sushi-grade fish offerings seem to vary week-to-week) but I've seen eel back there.

The majority of the sushi places you are having nigiri unagi pieces and unagi rolls from are using the same frozen vacuum-packed eel that you can get at the Asian markets. I'm sure some of the higher-end places are getting fresh eel but the stuff in that dragon roll at the cool sushi place is probably using the frozen stuff.

Bizarre...was at H-Mart today, taking einberliner's excellent advice on kimchi (my family, who hates the smell when the jar gets a bit mature, thanks you!)

I saw prepared frozen eel in the case on the aisle side of the frozen shellfish; though from what I could gather, it appears to be fully cooked.

An aside - they also had frozen ikura, which I'd never seen there before, and a whole rainbow of frozen tobikko.

Mhays wrote:I saw prepared frozen eel in the case on the aisle side of the frozen shellfish; though from what I could gather, it appears to be fully cooked.

The frozen stuff is usually fully cooked and has some of that unagi glaze already applied.

A few will also come with a packet of the "eel sauce" as we've come to know it. It's some sort of "yaki."

EvA wrote:I bought some smoked eel at Fresh Farms on Touhy last week--cut into slices or chunks. Not filleted but tasty. But presumably FF sells eel, although how far towards filleting they will take it, I don't know.

I am fairly certain that I've seen it there in the fish case (the long one) at least once. I don't know about fileting an eel, but for regular fish you just ask for one of the options on a picture board.

Pie Lady wrote:

spinynorman99 wrote:

spinynorman99 wrote:
Did you try Mitsuwa?


I did, but I didn't see it in the fish case.

Did you look in the sushi fish case (not prepared sushi, but sushi-grade fish)?

Yes, but I may not have been looking in the right place. I saw the little unagi rolls and some bento-style boxes, but no plain eel. But maybe I didn't go far enough down.

are you looking for raw or live eel? not many places have these, I was always told that eel blood was toxic until cooked properly and to handle it with caution....

if you'll looking for precooked eel in vacuum sealed packages, these are readily available in the frozen section at asian grocers.

No live eel please! I was thinking of fresh dead ones. I didn't know they came frozen with the sauce, so I'll have to look for that too. I think after Thanksgiving I'll try Fresh Farms and see what they can do for me.