Description
Ingredients: Conger Eel, Water, Black Pepper, Sugar, Salt, Soy Sauce (Water, Soy Bean, Wheat, Salt, Sugar), Vinegar, Capsicum, Onion Sauce (Red Onion, Soy Sauce, Salt, Sugar, Onion, Garlic, Canola Oil, Modified Starch (Acetylated Distarch Adipate), Sodium5-Inosinate, Sodium5-Guanylate, Glycine, Sodium Acetate, Sodium Acetate (Anhydrous)), Onion Powder, Garlic Powder.
Hream McDan (verified owner) –
Wow. Even better than the eel with fermented beans, because the black pepper provides a better balance to the sweetness of the sauce. Unlike most foods that list black pepper on the package but then don’t add enough, this is exactly the right amount and it hits the back of your throat pretty hard (in a good way) during & after eating. I ate it at room temp and it was amazing, next time I’ll warm it up just a little bit first. A bargain and definite recommendation.
Greg L (verified owner) –
Fantastic tin. Highly recommended. The eel have a fairly firm, slightly dry texture. Not unpleasant, but what I would expect from the eel being roasted before canning. The bones provide a nice variety of crunch to the bites. Of the three Old Fisherman eel tins I’ve tried (this, fermented bean, and chili), these are my favorite. I like that they are less sweet than the other offerings. Interestingly, I find these to be more spicy than the chili variation. The black pepper flavor really shines through. You’ll want to scoop up every last bit of sauce from the tin. I ate this plain, but will have to prepare some rice next time.
Suzanne Jackson (verified owner) –
This order was a shot in the dark, and with all shot in the dark orders I like to first try them on their own. Normally I’m a huge fan of eel, but I found the sauce on this to be overwhelmingly sweet . I can see them being enjoyed over rice, with the addition of an acidic or spicy element, as is suggested in the description– maybe one day I’ll prep them that way and give it another try. But if you’re a tinned fish minimalist (or, lazy like me) and eat straight out of the tin, these may not be your jam.
blythepnh (verified owner) –
I didn’t love this–the sauce was overpowering and the texture was odd.
Christopher Therrien (verified owner) –
I’ve now tried three of the Old Fisherman Roasted Eel products:
Old Fisherman Roasted Eel with Fermented Black Beans (oval can “Special Recipe Version”), Old Fisherman Roast Eel Black Pepper, and now the Old Fisherman Roast Eel Chili.
Of the three, I’d say I like the the Roasted Eel with Fermented Black Beans the best, followed next by the Roast Eel Chili, and then the Roast Eel Black Pepper (in order of preference).
The Eel with Fermented Black Beans and the Roast Eel with Chili both have similar spicing with hints of clove, fennel and licorice, etc., flavors similar to Chinese Five Spice. Both tins have more going on flavor-wise vs the Roast Eel Black Pepper, which gives a solid punch of black pepper upfront but considerably less complexity in flavor overall compared to the other two.
The Roast Eel Black Pepper has a lot of black pepper in the sauce, so I consider it better used as an ingredient in a dish vs straight out of the tin.
3.75 fish out of 5 ????????????¾
C. S. (verified owner) –
Now this is a tasty tin! Prepared much like the description suggests, I heated this tin in a warm water bath before mixing with a bowl of hot rice, scallions, chilis, chili crisp and a blend of soy sauce and rice vinegar. The sauce in the tin, though on the sweet side, is well balanced, with the black pepper flavor shining through in perfect prominence, yet without the corresponding amount of heat one might expect. My addition of soy sauce and vinegar spread and thinned out the sauce a bit, cutting through the sweetness and adding body and extra dimension to the flavor, which was appreciated since the amount of sauce in the tin was not as much as I would have preferred. The texture of the eel is rather firm, almost crisp – similar to jerky, as others have mentioned, but still soft enough to flake up nicely. As a huge fan of unagi don, I was hoping for this tin to be able to scratch that itch, and while certainly different, I do find it to be a satisfactory and satisfying budget substitution I can enjoy any time in the comfort of my home. Overall, I found it to be an excellent, well-priced tin I’ll be stocking in my pantry in the future.
SK (verified owner) –
Great soy sauce smell when opening the can. There was a perfect amount of sauce to coat the eel and the flavor was great. It tasted like pepper and teriyaki, similar to beef jerky, but with a softer and flakier texture. Ate at room temperature straight out of the can.
kyelmoore (verified owner) –
Good stuff! I love eel sushi, so I was really looking forward to the two Old Fisherman tins I purchased. Had some straight out of the tin, placed the rest on some nice homemade ramen.
I mean this in the best way, this stuff is nearly identical flavor-wise to beef jerky you’d get in the US. Nice black pepper bite, quite a bit of sweetness. Really tasty stuff.
Texture was also pleasant. Firm, maybe a little dry, but not in a bad way.
Fantastic value, for $3.50 a tin, this is hard to top!
rachelfloyd888 (verified owner) –
This was sweeter than I expected, but the black pepper really helped balance it out.
I cooked mine in the rice cooker with 1 cup of rice and then mixed all together when the cooking was finished. The eel became much more tender and was such a delicious breakfast and made enough for two meals. I ate it with a couple of slices of avocado and nori to cut the sweetness a bit more and add a little more salty flavor.
Next time I’ll add some green onion too and maybe a fried egg. What a great tin for such an affordable price!