East End Market · Jellied Eels
Jellied Eels
Photo: ceridwen / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 2.0
By the end of the Second World War, London had more than a hundred shops dedicated to eels, pie and mash — today only a handful survive.
Fresh eels are chopped and simmered until tender, then left to cool in their own gelatinous stock, which sets into a savoury jelly around the meat. East End pie-and-mash shops serve them cold in a bowl with vinegar and white pepper, alongside their pies and mash.
Why it's made this way: The Thames once teemed with eels, making them one of the cheapest, most abundant proteins available to London's working-class East End, long before salmon or cod became affordable.
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