hamtaro 0 Posted July 21, 2004 Share Posted July 21, 2004 What is it with hot weather and eels? Its not the first thing I think of to consume when its really hot!! On the news now its saying something about today being 45 degrees in places! Surely not! Link to post Share on other sites
Roger's head 0 Posted July 21, 2004 Share Posted July 21, 2004 I've been watching the news today as well. There was this woman eating extra karai noodles or something and a guy chomping on karai red pepper potato chips - to cool down. Apparently. Link to post Share on other sites
grungy-gonads 54 Posted July 23, 2004 Share Posted July 23, 2004 What a load of codswallop. (Or is it?) Sounds like it to me. And they're not very nice. Link to post Share on other sites
BagOfCrisps 24 Posted July 23, 2004 Share Posted July 23, 2004 They eat eels? Surely not raw? Link to post Share on other sites
bobby12 0 Posted July 23, 2004 Share Posted July 23, 2004 Come on you fools, unagi is the world's most delicious food! I defy anyone to eat it from a half decent restaraunt and say its not delicious. Its bordering on a contradiction in terms to say unagi is not delicious. Link to post Share on other sites
sanjo 2 Posted July 24, 2004 Share Posted July 24, 2004 So you like eel then? I think it's disgusting. Link to post Share on other sites
dale#1 1 Posted July 24, 2004 Share Posted July 24, 2004 Here you are, not a fan myself, For those buckling under the summer heat, the Day of the Ox couldn't have come at a better time. Wednesday marked the midsummer Day of the Ox, one of the 12 Chinese zodiacs, on the Japanese lunar calendar. Every year on this day, Japanese sit down to a traditional meal of eel, said to provide the stamina needed to get through the sizzling summer days. At Unagi Haibara, an eel shop in Tsukiji, throngs of people lined up for sustenance while chefs barbecued more than a thousand eels. Right on cue with tradition was the weather, especially in Kanto. The overnight low in central Tokyo was a scorching 30.1 degrees, marking the first time since records began that the area's overnight low has failed to fall below 30 degrees. Although slightly lower than Tuesday's record high of 39.5 degrees, the daytime heat in the capital Wednesday hit 38.1 degrees. In Kofu, the mercury reached 40.4 degrees-the fourth highest ever recorded in Japan. Chiba recorded 37.2 degrees, while Kumagaya, Saitama Prefecture, baked under 38.2-degree heat. Hiraga Gennai, a naturalist and writer of the Edo Period (1603-1867), is believed to have started the eel-eating tradition. One of Hiraga's friends owned a struggling eel restaurant. Hiraga advised him to post a sign saying, ``Doyo no ushi no hi'' (day of the ox). Since then, eels have been a favored dish on this day.( Link to post Share on other sites
nzlegend 1 Posted July 24, 2004 Share Posted July 24, 2004 Quote: Originally posted by bobby12: Come on you fools, unagi is the world's most delicious food! Right on bobby12, eel sushi rocks! unagi (fresh water eel) is pretty good BUT anago (marine conger eel) is absolutely fanbloodytastic. Its my favourite #1 sushi and probably my favourite taste of all foods, so soft and creamy and such a smooth delicate taste, soo good. Tragic that people can not appreciate it, still all the more for me - go enjoy some delicious McDonalds. Anago is awesome! Link to post Share on other sites
bobby12 0 Posted July 24, 2004 Share Posted July 24, 2004 Yeah anago is cool too. I always wondered what the difference was, as they are clearly very different in taste. I prefer unagi though cos it is BBQ and has that gorgeous sweet taste and texture. Link to post Share on other sites
Dims 0 Posted July 24, 2004 Share Posted July 24, 2004 I am a big fan of the unagi. I will have to try the anago before I go Link to post Share on other sites
Curt 1 Posted July 24, 2004 Share Posted July 24, 2004 Not sure about the worlds most delicious food (!), but I like it. Wasn't too sure before I tried it, but it was good. Link to post Share on other sites
veronica 2 Posted July 25, 2004 Share Posted July 25, 2004 Wow you really like them that much? I don't mind it but nothing special. Link to post Share on other sites
badmigraine 0 Posted July 25, 2004 Share Posted July 25, 2004 I don't mind eels, but I prefer oes. Link to post Share on other sites
IceEiji 0 Posted July 28, 2004 Share Posted July 28, 2004 They are great food especially in summer. I really like it. Link to post Share on other sites
mattlucas 0 Posted July 28, 2004 Share Posted July 28, 2004 I had a big enkai and there we these odd looking hotdogs. I dove in and they tasted great. Later was told they were eel hotdogs. This got me thinking. Back home in North America hotdogs are made from meat sweepings. So pigs hooves, chicken feet, chicken heads, cows heads, boot, worm, skunk, raccoon. In Japan there is a market for some of these parts of the animal. So what part of the eel was I eating that was so repulsive that the meat processor threw it on the floor to be swept up and made into eel hotdogs. Link to post Share on other sites
damian 0 Posted July 28, 2004 Share Posted July 28, 2004 I used to think that Unagi was fantastic but after a while became tired of the mushy texture. I still love it but wouldn't eat it every week like I used.... even if I were still in Japan. I used to hang out at the restaurant in Ichikawa that was run by a family that I became friends with. I had a go at killing and slicing up the eel and did ok. I even at the heart torn directly from the inside of an eel that I had just killed. It is supposed to be good for your eyes. Then one day I visited the Ibaragi home of the grandparents of my friends. They had a little old roadside eel place that sold them either freshly sliced up or quickly grilled. This place produced the fattest best Unagi I had in Japan. One morning the surf was bad so I went along with Tabou and Kenji to slice eel. Tabou could do 100's in a day. Before the eel is sliced they are placated by putting a mains electric current into a big bin that holds wet eels. They wriggle and go bezerk for quite a while and also produce huge volumes of slime. After a while they calm down and are pretty much stunned and much easier to handle when trying to half chop their head off to kill them and then pin them to the chopping board with a sharp nail through the eye socket. There is slime and eel heads and blood everywhere... right on the side of the road where people pull up in their car and watch the killing and then buy some sliced eel. I, the gaijin eel slicer, always caused surprise standing in my white plastic apron and big white gumboots, knife in one hand, struggling eel in the other. I again ate very fresh raw eel heart that morning. We did about 200 eels and after that I didn't quite enjoy Unagi-don as much. Itadakimasu. Link to post Share on other sites
echineko 1 Posted July 29, 2004 Share Posted July 29, 2004 Do you say it? Link to post Share on other sites
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