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September 15, 1994 - Animal World Fattens Up for Winter4A • The Suffolk Times • September 15, 1994 Animal World Fattens Up for Winter By Paul Stoutenburgh Sunday morning in September is the way the world is supposed to be. Sparkling sunlight on the bay, clear skies above and a coolness that makes a sweater feel good. Later in the day the same will prevail but the sweater will come off and the odd jobs around the place will seem easier to finish. It's the time of the year that nature gives fair warning to all that there are dif- ficult times ahead, Focus on and so forewarned stock up on the Nature bounties of fall so that your journey into winter will be more pleasant. Anyone who lives around our local woods can vouch for the philosophy of fattening up. Mr. Gray Squirrel is a typical example. Whether it's acorns or hickory nuts or the robbing of your favorite nut tree, he's busy adding on layers of fat to hold him through the leaner months ahead. Although active all winter long, there are periods of extreme cold that he will hole up in his leafy tree- top nest or retire in some hollow tree for short periods of sleep. When ice and snow and frozen ground keep him from foraging, he'll conserve his energies and live off that fat supply he had built up for these dormant periods. Once we had chipmunks on our East End but with most of our land cleared for farming and then the influx of people with their pets, chipmunks are generally a thing of the past. It's too bad because almost everyone who comes in contact with these busy little fellows enjoys them. Today the closest thing we have to them are the deer mice that gorge them- selves on nuts and store the surplus for later. Anyone who has a garage or cellar and lives in or near the woods, will find their cache of nuts hidden behind the garden tools or up on a shelf in their own secret spot. Nine times out of 10 when you finally come across them, there will only be the hollow shells of the nuts left showing they were used during those lean months of winter. I reported a few weeks ago about going eeling and crabbing in one of our nearby creeks and not having much luck. I'm happy to report we tried again about 10 days later and in another creek. This time we had much better luck. We got a nice mess of blue crabs and about 13 or 14 eels. It was when I was cleaning these eels that I got to thinking about the buildup of fat that animals and fish put on for their winter stay. Now this might not be too appealing to some readers but nevertheless it's part of life — that is, if you like eels. When the eel is opened up, one can't help but see the white strips of fat attached to the stomach walls. Further opening up of the stomach shows they were filled with small sand crabs. Here was one of their secret ingredients that helped build up their reserve of fat. Cleaning eels for smoking is a lot dif- ferent than when you clean them to eat (fried, boiled or however you cook them) for when you smoke an eel the skin is left on so that you have something to hold them together when they are hung in the smoker. Otherwise you'd skin the eel for cooking. The problem comes when you handle them in the cleaning process. They are super slippery. Slippery as an Eel All fish have a thin coating of mucous or slime over their scales. This slippery covering cuts down the friction and makes their passage through the water easier. It makes sense. Plus, the mucus covering acts as an antiseptic that pre- vents growth of bacteria and fungus, etc. Together the scales and mucuous cover- ing make a waterproof enclosure that prevents uncontrolled sea water from entering the body. Eels are notoriously known for their slipperiness and as any- one who has ever caught one on a line knows, trying to hold one to get the hook out is almost impossible. So much so I've seen some fishermen just give up and cut the line, leaving sinker, hook, eel and line squirming in the bucket to be dealt with later. With that slippery squirming thing before you, it becomes a challenge how to handle it. Some knock them out with some sort of blunt instrument but then there's still that slippery eel you have to contend with. Somehow you have to get that slippery coating off. Old burlap will work with its rough surface but you need Photo by Paul Stoutenburgh SMOKING EELS — Smokehouses come in various sizes. Here, Tony Krupski, well remembered for his superb smoked eels, takes a rack of eels out of his smokehouse. an awful lot of it and then what do you do with the old used burlap? My solu- tion, and it's not an original one, is to use wood ashes. Put the eel in a bucket of wood ashes and in no time you can handle it. The slippery coating now Fall is the best time for seeding a new lawn or Reseeding and getting your lawn back in shape Call Joe CARPET GREEN LAWNS 1Y`j�•i�i (/ii�il�rl�NLliVar.Lt`.. 1LtV 10-14l4-W III nu.l:rli�r.'li.li iLA,I *"% North Road, Peconic 734 - 744 3 Serving the North Fork since 1969 from this summer's HEAT, DROUGHT, INSECT DAMAGE AND WEED INFESTATIONS We can bring your lawn back to life with our power - seeding technique... All you need to do is water and cut your newly planted Carpet Green Lawns FJLL LANDSCAPE SERVICE ACT NOW. While the cool autumn rains offer a perfect growing environment. slides off in a damp mass and you are ready for cleaning. Once cleaned and washed I then soak them overnight in a salt solution. Then, washed thoroughly in fresh, cool water, they are ready for hanging up in the smoker. Some people go to great lengths to add spices of all sorts, sugars and molasses but I find just plain salt works best with mine. The key to smoking is naturally the smoke. I use hickory, apple or cherry wood. Seeing I have a lot of cherry it works well for me. Usually I start a hot fire in the bottom of the smoker and when it burns down I hang the eels in the upper part. Then I lay my hickory logs on the hot coals so they smolder. Checking the temperature now and then so that it doesn't get too hot or too cold, you'll have the most gorgeous - looking and - smelling eels in about six to eight hours. After burning down two wooden smokehouses to the ground, I reverted to an old cast -iron bottom from a furnace with a 52- gallon drum sitting on top with both ends removed. Five or six steel rods run through the top of the drum and it's on these I hang the eels on S- shaped metal hooks. I regulate the smoke flow by a piece of metal over the top. For smaller items to be smoked you can buy a small backyard smoker that works equally well. And so with most any kind of meat or fish try your hand at smoking. It's an old way that brings new life to your table.