What do jellied eels taste like?

[rhodrhi]

Totally random question, but has anyone here ever eaten jellied eels? I have vivid memories of seeing people eating them on ridley road market and thinking they looked pretty awful. I could just Google it but am curious whether anyone here ever liked or bought them? Not seen them for years.

Truly dreadful, I tried them once with my dad, he was one of those people who loved trying unusual foods, think snails, frogs legs etc. He got some jellied eels in Borough market and put on a brave face but could barely swallow one mouthful. I had no qualms in spitting them out. Rubbery, greasy , slimy and I love sea food, including sushi made with eel

I love trying new foods. I wasn't born in the UK and I'd had smoked eel in Japanese restaurants and on sushi beforehand which I really liked. When I tried jellied eel, these are the things I wasn't expecting:

-Its served cold! I wrongly assumed it would be hot or at least warm
-There is a bone in the middle of the eel, so apparently you suck the meat off and leave the bone.

-The jelly was very odd because the majority of jelly you eat is sweet

I can't recall the exact flavour, but very different to the smoked eel I'd had previously. Slightly fishy and salty from memory. This was at a Kellys, proper east end shop.

They taste of heaven.

To add, you can buy little plastic pots of them form larger supermarkets if you want to try them.Bradley's Jellied Eel Pots 200g | Sainsbury's

I’ve been eating them since I was a kid. I really like them.

They’ve actually got quite a delicate sea-like flavour. Texture is much more like meat than fish.

Not good

Someone once said 'there's a reason M and S don't sell them'.

I had (warm) Eel and mash a few years ago whivh was tolerable , tried jellies eels and ...no

Vile

They are an acquired taste. Heavily fish aroma and taste, and the jelly has a very distinct spunk like consistency. Not for the faint hearted.

Well, not like the jelly deals I thought they were (when I was 5 and I was at a market and could hear the owner of the van shouting 'jelly deals....get your jelly deals here!).

😅😍

🤣

They're rank. My dad used to love them and if I went to the coast would take him a pot of them back and he would be overjoyed.

My Mum (from Bethnal Green) absolutely loves them. I've never dared try. As others have said: savoury jelly, prickly bone in the middle, eaten with a sprinkle of vinegar. Apparently the flavour is delicate and they are chewy. Good fishmongers sell them, as well as the odd supermarket! They used to be very much a working class food, a taste of Mum's 50s East End childhood.

I grew up in the east end so they were common, when I was a kid I didn't like the eel but I would eat the jelly! They are mildly fishy with a meaty texture, bone in the middle, the jelly tastes a bit like how I imagine the sea tastes but not as salty

My Dad ate them and if they tasted like they smelt, well they would be gross!

I was probably never going to try them due to hating Jelly and most fish but this description has sealed the deal! 🤢

They're really nice. They taste like the sea. And the jelly is nothing like spunk. It's a bit less solid than the jelly you get in pork pies but still recognisably jelly rather than liquid.

Delicious but too much like hard work.

I was going to say what @Alouest said - the jelly is similar to what you find in traditional pork pies. The skin can be a bit rubbery, I think more so in winter. Seasoning them with white pepper and vinegar works well.

So “Jizzy Eels” then.

I tried them once

very unpleasant. And I’ve eaten rotten shark in Iceland. The rotten shark was nicer.

Nope, it’s the cold and the texture. Japanese style grilled eel I can eat till the cows come home, it’s delicious.

I love eels. I love cold savoury jelly too so I think they're delicious.

I felt sick just by reading the title of your post