Brudet s jeguljom

Ingredients (for 4 people):

• 3 large onions
• 500-700 g of eel
• 3 bay leaves
• 1-2 tablespoons of tomato concentrate

Spices:

• 1 tablespoon vegeta (you can skip it)
• salt
• 1 teaspoon sweet red pepper
• chili pepper (optional)
• 3.4 cloves of garlic
• parsley leaf
• 150 ml of vinegar
• olive oil

Preparation:

In a wider pot with a thicker bottom, saute the red onion in the fat. Cover with hot water. The eel cuts into the bells. Add chopped garlic and tomato concentrate and spices. Lay the eel. Add water to cover the eel. Shake and let it boil over high heat. Add vinegar. Reduce the cooking temperature and let it simmer gently. Shake the pot occasionally, because the brudet does not mix. The exact cooking time after boiling is 35 minutes. Add the chopped parsley, shake once more and let it cool down a bit.

Interesting facts about the dish:

The name brudetta comes from the Italian word for soup, brodo, and hence for fish soup brodetto di pesce, i.e. simplified brodetto (lingua veneta – broeto). This is one of the tastiest fish dishes in Herzegovina. And the variants are countless. Each house had its own recipe. The most ardent advocates claim that it was fish brudet that was served at the Last Supper itself. It was made, they say, of 13 types of fish, one for each person at the table. More types of fish give better brudet. Brudet must be neither soupy nor thick. Brudet is a chef’s chess, they say… Even a smart child learns to play it, even the greatest masters cannot penetrate all its secrets.