Eel Matelote

Chef: Ryō Kurokiba
In the manga: Chapter 92
In the anime: Episode 31
Cuisine and type: French, Matelote

Eel Matelote is a dish made by Ryō Kurokiba against Akira Hayama during the 43rd Annual Tōtsuki Autumn Election's Main Tournament: Semifinals.

A French recipe adaptation by Ryō using eel. The eel is simmered in red wine while fried with a eel crepiné fat netting. Inside the eel is an explosive yet bizarre combination with the sourness of dried japanese plums. Combined together with its garnitures of the texturful mashed potatoes and the fluffy brioche, this dish can make anyone who eats it abandon all restraint and surrender to their most base desires to simply gorge it all down like a wild animal.

Real-world dishes

Real facts

Matelote is a French fish dish with sauce. It is made from both saltwater and freshwater fish, unlike the better-known Bouillabaisse, which is made from saltwater seafood. The fish used are eel, salmon, and carp. The broth is based on fish stock, and either red or white wine.
Caul fat, also known as lace fat, omentum, crépine or fat netting, is the thin membrane which surrounds the stomach internal organs of some animals, such as cows, sheep, and pigs, also known as the greater omentum. It is used as a casing for sausages, roulades, pâtés, and various other meat dishes. Examples of such dishes are Swiss atriau, French crépinette, Cypriot sheftalia, English faggots, and Italian fegatelli. In the traditional Ukrainian and Russian cuisine, caul fat, known as salnik or salnyk, was usually filled with kasha and liver, and baked in a clay pot in the Russian oven.
Brioche (/ˈbriːoʊʃ, -ɒʃ/; French: [bʁi.ɔʃ]) is a pastry of French origin that is similar to a highly enriched bread, and whose high egg and butter content (400 grams for each kilogram of flour) give it a rich and tender crumb. Chef Joel Robuchon describes it as "light and slightly puffy, more or less fine, according to the proportion of butter and eggs." It has a dark, golden, and flaky crust, frequently accentuated by an egg wash applied after proofing. Brioche is considered a Viennoiserie, in that it is made in the same basic way as bread, but has the richer aspect of a pastry because of the extra addition of eggs, butter, liquid (milk, water, cream, and, sometimes, brandy) and occasionally a bit of sugar. Brioche, along with pain au lait and pain aux raisins—which are commonly eaten at breakfast or as a snack—form a leavened subgroup of Viennoiserie. Brioche is often cooked with fruit or chocolate chips and served on its own, or as the basis of a dessert with many local variations in added ingredients, fillings or toppings.

Trivia

Matelote literally means Seaman in French.

Dish details from the Shokugeki no Sōma Wiki (CC BY-SA).

Official manga recipe

Kabayaki Eel (Joke) Matelote

Home 'joke' version using store-bought kabayaki eel

Difficulty
Total time: 35 min
Hands-on: 35 min
Cost: ¥¥¥¥
Servings: 2

Equipmentfrying pan, pot

Ingredients

1 pack Kabayaki eel
1 kabayaki sauce packet (comes with the eel) (Should come with the eel)
1 tbsp butter
¼ onion
150 ml wine
1 slice toast
Mashed potatoes, to taste (side dish recipe provided in the next page)

Garnish

Chopped parsley, to taste

Method

1
Dice the onions. Heat the butter in a frying pan and brown the onions until tender. Pour in the wine and the sauce from the packet and heat until boiling.
2
Slice the Kabayaki eel fillet in half and add it to the pan. Turn down to low heat, cover, and let simmer for 7 minutes.
3
Take the eel fillets out and set them aside. Season the remaining sauce in the pan with salt and pepper.
4
Plate the eel fillets. Drizzle the sauce over the top and sprinkle with lots of freshly-ground black pepper. Slice the piece of toast into triangles and place them and the mashed potatoes on the side and garnish with chopped parsley.

Food safety

Eel blood is toxic raw — only use eel that has been cooked (e.g. store-bought kabayaki).

Official manga recipe

Thick n’ Creamy Mashed Potatoes

Bonus side dish

Difficulty
Total time: 30 min
Hands-on: 30 min
Cost: ¥¥¥¥
Servings: 2

Equipmentpot, rolling pin

Tasterich

Ingredients

2 large potatoes
4 tbsp cream
1 tbsp butter
salt, to taste
black pepper, to taste

Method

1
Peel the potatoes and cut into bite-sized chunks. Place in a pot and pour in enough water to cover. Put the pot on high heat and heat to boiling.
2
Once the water is at a rolling boil, reduce to low heat and let boil for 10 minutes. When a toothpick can easily poke through, the potatoes are done. Remove from the heat and drain the potatoes. Use a rolling pin, a masher, or a fork to mash the potatoes.
3
Add the butter and cream and then place the pot back on low heat and mix everything together until smooth and creamy. Season to taste with salt and pepper.