Comacchio: Manifattura dei Marinati

It’s an ancient tradition — cooking and marinating anguilla … eel — and it is still alive in Comacchio … even if the production has dropped drastically since the 1950s.

The Po Delta — where fresh water meets sea water from the Adriatic — provides ideal brackish conditions for eels to mature. During October to December, mature silver eels begin their mass migration from the Comacchio Lagoon to the sea … to make their way to the Sargasso Sea to spawn. This is the ideal time for catching eels.

The brevity of the season meant that the time frame for consuming fresh eel was limited. So, the locals developed their own technique for preserving the slippery fish for consumption throughout the year … a tradition that can be traced back to the Middle Ages and which essentially remains unchanged to this day.

After resting at the hotel for a while, we set out to learn more about the eel industry. To reach the manufacturing facility, we followed the cobblestone road along Canale Lombardo as far as we could before turning into a residential neighborhood and following the arched portico to the plant … which operated from 1905 until 1992 … and reopened in 2004 on a smaller scale.

After purchasing our admission, we went up to the open gallery on the mezzanine to watch a documentary film that explained the process from catching, to preparing, to cooking, to marinating, to canning eels. Even though the old documentary was in Italian, the scenes were sufficient for me to get the gist of the story.

Next we did a DIY tour of the facility, starting from the ‘simulated’ “calata” (landing) where boats loaded with eels arrive. The catch is weighed, and then the eels are separated by size, beheaded, and cut into “morelli” (pieces). They are then threaded crosswise onto large skewers and slowly cooked in open fireplaces.

The cooked eels are removed from the skewers and cooled overnight. Then they are cut into smaller pieces and marinated in a mixture of vinegar and water. Today, the oak barrels that were used for marination have been replaced with steel cans for better preservation.

We found the whole process quite interesting … history brought alive when we entered the hall with the fireplaces … redolent with smoke that has permeated every inch of the place from over a century of use.

Marinated eel is now a slow food presidium and considered a rather rare delicacy by gourmets. Sorry … we don’t fall into the ‘gourmet’ category, so someone else will have to step up and tell us what it tastes like.Leggi altro