Smokey Mountain Eel

Every now and then an opportunity to try something new rolls around, and you just can’t turn it down.

My grill Guru, Chris Makk, has taught me almost everything I know about how to grill and how to get the best flavors out of meats, spices, and sauces. He’s also shown me how to be exploratory in my culinary pursuits. Things like Szechuan Duck Tongue, Egyptian Chicken Liver Sandwiches, Turkey Tails, and Alligator Boudin have been common at his backyard BBQ feasts. So when he called me and asked me if I wanted to clean and cook some live freshwater eels, I couldn’t say no.

We went to our local Asian market and asked the fish counter for two live eels, brought them home in a bag, and got to work. The cleaning process that we had researched online looked to be simple and easy, but those guys online were professionals at dispatching and cleaning an eel in under 10 seconds. I have cleaned many species of fish in my life, but none as strange as an eel. We took our time to make sure we respected the animals, and got two eels cleaned in a timely two hours. After coating them generously with Smokey Mountain 5 Spice and a delicious homemade glaze, we tossed them on the charcoal grill and made what I could only describe as the best grilled fish I’ve ever tasted.

What You’ll Need

  • 2 live (or pre-cleaned if you’re scared) freshwater eels

  • 2 TBSP of Smokey Mountain 5 Spice

  • 1/2 cup of your favorite Asian glaze (you can make your own too!)

    • 1/4 cup soy sauce

    • 1/4 cup honey (we used chili infused honey)

    • 3 TBSP rice vinegar

    • 2 TBSP hoisin sauce

    • 1 TBSP sesame oil

    • 1 TBSP Smokey Mountain 5 Spice

    • 1 TBSP garlic powder or 2 cloves of garlic finely minced.

    • 2 tsp of chili flakes if you like to add some extra heat

What To Do

  • If you want the full experience of cleaning and cooking the eel like we did, I suggest watching a lot of YouTube videos on how to clean an eel. That’s a tough set of instructions to put on a recipe write up like this.

  • Once you have the eels cleaned, cut them into 4-5 inch pieces and score the skin in a cross-hatch pattern to prevent them from curling up on the grill. Make a “brine” of sorts out of a half cup of salt, a half cup of white vinegar, and the juice of 1 lemon. Put your eels pieces into the brine and continuously move them around for 5 minutes to get rid of any slime on the skin. The brining process is optional but it makes a world of difference.

  • Remove your eel from the brine and pat them dry on both sides. Once dry, sprinkle the flesh side with a good amount of Smokey Mountain 5 Spice, the skin side doesn’t need any seasoning as its just there to prevent the fish from cooking too quickly and burning. Let the seasoning sit on the fillets for a few minutes to allow them to stick.

  • Place the eel, skin side down, onto your grill and cover for around 4-5 minutes. Eels have a mild white flesh so they don’t need a whole lot of cook time. When the skin begins to scorch a little, turn the fillets flesh side down and cook for another 1-2 minutes. Flip them back over to skin side down and glaze them. Once thoroughly coated, cover the grill for a minute or two to let the glaze get tacky.

  • Remove the fillets from the grill and serve with some sautéed bok choy and rice, or whatever other sides you want!