Jangeo-gui (Charcoal-Grilled Eel)

Variations

• Shioyaki, salt only: grilled with nothing but salt. The better the eel the more likely this is how it is served — which is where the argument comes from that the sweet glaze existed to cover a smell in the first place. Stop after the first grilling and you already have it (salt and seasoning).
• Gochujang glaze: many places use chilli paste and chilli flakes instead of the soy glaze. Pull the sugar back a little if you do (fermented pastes).
• Pungcheon eel: a name for eel caught where the Jujincheon meets the Yellow Sea, around Simwon-myeon in Gochang. It names a place of catch rather than a dish; the two words travel together because that region became known for grilling it in this sauce.
• Conger eel (anago): a different fish. Thinner and much leaner, eaten raw or grilled, sometimes sliced bones and all. It never has the fatty texture freshwater eel has.
• Hagfish (kkomjangeo): eel only in name, and not even closely related. Usually stir-fried in a chilli sauce, Busan-style.
• Japanese unagi kabayaki: the same ancestor, but the Kanto method steams it before grilling, which makes it far softer; the Kansai method does not, and is closer to this. Over rice it becomes unadon.
• The other side of the hot-day table: samgyetang sits in the same slot, and chueotang is the other freshwater-fish restorative.
• Grilled the same way: godeungeo-gui, samgyeopsal, galbi-gui, yakitori, yakiniku.
• The same soy glaze family: teriyaki chicken, ganjang gejang.

Tips

• No sauce during the first grilling. Almost the whole dish turns on this. The sugar and syrup in the glaze start to burn around 130C, and the eel needs time to cook through. Salt it, grill it, and bring the sauce in only once it is done (what sugar does).
• Thin coats, at least three. A thick coat runs off into the coals and flares. Brushed on in passing and grilled a minute at a time, it builds up in layers, which is where the lacquer look comes from (browning).
• Strip the slime first. What people read as a fishy smell in eel is in the slippery film on the skin, not the flesh. Two minutes of scrubbing with coarse salt does far more than rice wine or ginger will.
• Do not throw the bones away. Browned on the grill and simmered into the glaze, they give it a savour no bottled sauce has. It is the same reason Japanese eel houses keep topping up one tare for generations (building umami).
• Skin side first, and for longer. The skin is dense with collagen and takes longer than the flesh; cooking it first also renders the fat out instead of leaving it soggy. Finish the flesh side quickly.
• Medium-low is right. It is a fatty fish, and over a fierce fire the dripping fat catches and chars the outside. Wait until the charcoal is covered in white ash, and move the fish aside if it flares (grilling, heat control).
• The shredded ginger is half the dish. Not a garnish but the thing that cuts the fat. Shred it fine, soak it five minutes in cold water to take the raw heat out, and it stays crisp. A chopstickful of ginger to a piece of eel is the intended ratio (ginger).
• Rice wine is for the smell, not for tenderising. Eel is soft already, so there is nothing to gain from a long marinade, and anything acidic or enzymatic will break the flesh down (cooking alcohol, what marinades do).
• Cut it after grilling, not before. Cut early, the fat and juices leave through the new faces and the small pieces dry first. Grill it whole and cut it on the board (knife skills).
• Serve it hot. Eel fat sets as it cools and turns cloying. Bringing pieces out as they come off the fire beats grilling everything at once (serving temperature).
• Leftovers go on rice. Reheated over rice with the remaining glaze it is unadon. Use a pan or a toaster oven rather than a microwave — the surface has to dry again for the glaze to come back.
• It is hot-weather food. That is why the price climbs for one season a year and why it sits next to samgyetang. Eel is still raised from wild-caught juveniles rather than bred in captivity, and that accounts for most of what it costs.