Making Supermarket Eel Taste Like It Came from an Eel Restaurant by Washing Off the Sauce, Steaming and Re-grilling: Ryuji's Prep Method and Taste Test

Two kinds of packaged eel were used. The Chinese eel was thick and cost 1,280 yen, while the Japanese one, from Shizuoka, cost about 2,200 yen. Ryuji explains that there are several species of eel, including American eel and Japanese eel, and that Japanese eel is generally considered the tastier one. The domestic eel is Japanese eel, but the Chinese one is large, so its species can't be determined. Still, Ryuji says both get better with this method.

The sauce comes first. It should be cooled before use, so it's made before the eel. The ratio is 5 tablespoons of soy sauce, 1 tablespoon of mirin, 1 tablespoon of sake, 2 tablespoons of sugar, and 6 shakes of Hi-Me umami seasoning. Ryuji estimates this makes enough for 4 to 5 whole eels, and since it keeps well, a half batch is also fine.

Sugar is necessary, but Ryuji says store-bought sauce is too sweet. When Ryuji interviewed eel restaurants, they heard that the older and more established the restaurant, the lighter the sauce, while thick, sticky sauces are more common at chains.

Ryuji also explained the reason for the umami seasoning. Eel restaurants add stock to their sauce using eel bones and the like, but eel bones aren't available at home. Some restaurants use kombu. As a substitute, a small amount of Hi-Me goes in. With just 6 shakes to 5 tablespoons of soy sauce, the amount is quite small. Later on, Ryuji noted that the inosinic acid in Hi-Me is an animal-based umami, and since eel's umami is also animal-based, the result tastes as if stock had been made from the bones. Ryuji calls this "scientifically certain," while noting that this part wasn't taught by an eel restaurant but is Ryuji's own idea.

Put it in a frying pan and bring it to a boil over high heat for 2 to 3 minutes, swirling the pan. Turn off the heat once it starts to foam when swirled. At this point it's still thin and runny, flowing slowly when the pan is tilted, and that's fine. According to Ryuji, eel sauce thickens as it cools. If it's made thick while hot, it will be gloopy by the time it's brushed on, and if reduced further it becomes like a candy glaze. Indeed, the sauce that cooled while the eel was grilling thickened with only a brief reheat. Ryuji declared it "100 times better than store-bought sauce," and recommended it as a tendon sauce too, or for brushing onto thick-cut pork while grilling.

Both the domestic and Chinese packaged eel come coated in sauce. As Ryuji explains, this is a preservative sauce applied to retain moisture, and it doesn't taste good. So the first step is to rinse it off with hot water. The water is 43°C, which is what Ryuji's home water heater is set to. Warm water is used instead of cold because the sauce dissolves better at a higher temperature, which Ryuji says is also something eel restaurants mentioned.

The domestic eel had relatively little sauce, but sauce still came off when washed. The Chinese eel had a lot on both sides. It comes off with hot water. Ryuji says doing this or not makes "a world of difference." Honestly, Ryuji adds, just washing and grilling is delicious enough.

To go a step further, add steaming. According to Ryuji, there are Kanto-style and Kansai-style ways of grilling eel. Kanto-style is steamed before grilling, so it comes out fluffy, while Kansai-style is grilled without steaming, so it comes out crisp and crackly. One of the staff members present mentioned preferring the Kansai style.

Place a rack in a frying pan, put the eel on top, add water and cover. The rack keeps the water from touching the eel directly and boiling it. Any tool works as long as it steams, so a steamer or seiro basket is fine. If that's too much trouble, simply patting it dry after washing is delicious enough. Steaming time depends on the eel, but about 4 to 5 minutes makes the flesh plump. Ryuji said you can tell when it's done because the aroma of the eel rises.

Steamed eel won't lose flavor if kept covered. The eel restaurant Ryuji referenced preps it this way too. That restaurant wasn't a "proper eel restaurant" but one that handles supermarket eel. Proper eel restaurants don't handle supermarket eel, so that's exactly why this method is highly credible, according to Ryuji's reasoning.

Ryuji says that at eel restaurants, it's the quality of the rice, more than the eel itself, that makes the difference. When the channel previously held an "eel championship," the best was Origin Bento, and the reason was that its rice was delicious. With supermarket eel, differences in eel quality are hard to notice, so Ryuji thinks it's better to focus on how the rice is cooked and how good the sauce is. This time, rice from Fukushima Prefecture was used.

Ryuji also gave a tip on reheating rice. If you leave it covered in plastic wrap after microwaving, the rice gets hard. The reason isn't clear, but Ryuji guesses it's because the heat gets trapped, and says this is a recent discovery. Transfer it to a bowl right after heating, and if it cools, just reheat it.

Before grilling, remove all moisture with paper towels. If moisture remains, it won't grill properly. A double-sided grill oven is used at 300°C. Since the top of most ovens is hotter, the eel is grilled skin-side up. The unprepped comparison eel was taken out of the package and grilled as-is alongside it.

Grilling time is decided by watching for the skin to crisp properly. Ryuji says Chinese eel often has flabby skin, so focusing on grilling the skin side makes it tasty. Partway through, the skin on the prepped eel made a crackling sound. The unprepped one barely made a sound.

Without an oven, just grilling both sides in a frying pan makes a big difference. In that case too, focus on the skin. Unless the pan is Teflon-coated, the skin will stick, so Ryuji recommends lining it with a sheet such as Cookpa as the best option. In fact, in this episode, the unprepped eel grilled with its sauce still on stuck to the rack, and a sheet was laid down when grilling the domestic eel. Brushing on the sauce makes a big difference in the finish, but a spoon will do if you don't have a brush.

First, brush sauce onto the rice. Ryuji says this alone is actually delicious. Place the eel on top and brush on plenty of sauce. The unprepped one got the included sauce.

A staff member blind-tasted the two Chinese eels. The staff member immediately said the second one was better. That was the prepped one, and the answer was correct. The first tasted like ordinary eel, but the second had completely different skin, and the sauce was delicious too.

Ryuji, who doesn't usually eat the regular version much, tried it again too. Ryuji called the unprepped one "a little smelly" and "muddy," saying it's the typical taste of supermarket eel. The prepped one had skin that cut cleanly, slicing right through with chopsticks. It was so different that you'd doubt it was the same eel, and Ryuji praised how the skin wasn't rubbery. The staff reacted with "It's a revolution," and Ryuji said that with this, even Chinese eel works. There was also a joke that prepping cheap eel and selling it might make good money.

Ryuji suggests that many people eat eel as-is, with flabby skin, dry flesh and unappetizing sauce, and may never have had delicious eel that's crisp all over.

Next, the same comparison was done with the domestic eel that had been steamed in advance. Once grilled, one of them had released a lot of fat. Ryuji guessed that the steamed one should have lost fat during steaming. The unprepped one got the sauce that came with the package.

On tasting, the unprepped one was also good since it's domestic, and was judged good enough for an ordinary meal at home. Meanwhile, everyone agreed that the prepped one had completely different tenderness. The skin cut cleanly, and the flesh was fluffy. Comments included that they'd believe it if told there was a 1,000 yen price difference, and that it didn't seem like the same thing. That said, they acknowledged that the eel itself is still better quality in the domestic version.

Between tastings, the topic of prices came up. Ryuji says eel has gotten more expensive compared to the past, but seems to have come down a bit recently. Ryuji also mentioned Kindai University's success in fully farmed eel, suggesting prices could shift in the future. Ryuji's view is that it would be good if a stable supply can be expected.

Ryuji's conclusion was that supermarket eel is "10 billion times better" when prepped. Noting that the Day of the Ox is the 26th of this month, Ryuji wrapped up by recommending that anyone eating eel at home try comparing prepped and unprepped eel for fun.