Lampreys from Great Lakes Destined for Queen's Pie (Britain's Queen Elizabeth II)

U-T San Diego ^ | April 27, 2012 | AP

[DogByte6RER]

Lampreys from Great Lakes destined for queen's pie

DETROIT — A few unwanted, invasive sea lampreys from the Great Lakes have been shipped to England for use in a traditional pie for Queen Elizabeth II.

The Detroit Free Press reports (http://on.freep.com/IdmZkP) the City of Gloucester, which has given the pie as a gift to the monarch since the Middle Ages, requested the eel-like creatures from the Great Lakes Fishery Commission because they're a protected species in England. The pie is for June's Diamond Jubilee, the 60th anniversary of the queen's ascent to the throne.

Commission spokesman Marc Gaden shipped 2 pounds of frozen lamprey from Lake Huron. He says Great Lakes officials "would prefer to send them truckloads of lamprey."

Lampreys got into the Great Lakes through Atlantic shipping canals in the 1920s and have threatened native fish since.

[fish hawk]

They are only a curse in places where there are an over population of them. My tribe and surrounding tribes in N. Calif. and Oregon have been eating them for ever. I wish I had a couple of them right now. When I was young, my Gram would build a fire on the beach where my uncles were catching eels and put down some flat rocks, pull the hot coals over the rocks until they were hot and then fry the eels on the flat rocks just like a frying pan. She would also make a bread dough, pretty much like a fry bread recipe and dig a hole in the hot sand and put in the bread and cover it with hot sand and pull hot coals over the top and in an hour would have the most wonderful hot bread and eels you could imagine. Oh those childhood memories. The tastes and smells are still embedded in my mind.

[goodwithagun]

One of my fave shows is called The Supersizers Go . . . (sorry I don't know how to italicize) on the Cooking Channel. A food critic and a comedian live for five days in different periods of British history. The Reformation show was quit interesting! The shows can be viewed, in six parts each, on You Tube. It is a very interesting show for foodies or for history buffs!

[TigersEye]

Her Majesty can have them. Probably better than dog though.

[Calvin Locke]

...sure earned its bad reputation as a useless but aggressive predator.

Can't be all that useless if they make a pie out of them, but I can empathize with those that are affected by the invaders.

Perhaps MI could ship a couple of thousands of tons of zebra mussels as an accompaniment?

[cripplecreek]

Perhaps MI could ship a couple of thousands of tons of zebra mussels as an accompaniment?

With a purple loosestrife and Milfoil salad. Maybe a giant hogweed garnish.

[EDINVA]

sometimes we alternate with a slice of sharp cheddar

[Gay State Conservative]

I'll take a raincheck,thanks.

[battousai]

LOL the way you describe it that does sound good, now you went and made me hungry :)

[Dr. Bogus Pachysandra]

Sounds delicious! But here on Lake Erie, they’re considered to be a pestilence! I certainly would try them at least once. My Shanghai-born lady friend cooks regular black eels every once in a while, and they’re wonderful. Except she makes me clean them, and they’re a pain to clean! Made myself twice-fried belt fish for dinner tonight. Kind of an eel like fish. I bought the smallest one they had at the Asian market. 3 feet long!

[afraidfortherepublic]

Let’s capture all we can and Obama can offer them as his next gift to the Monarch.

[Poison Pill]

Lots more where that came from Liz. Take all you want!

[fish hawk]

On the west coast, even though these eels come in from the ocean, they migrate up the rivers to hatch the young and are considered fresh water eels. There are ocean eels there also and they too are good to eat. There is a gray eel here in Maui that is good to eat and I have tried it several times. The Moray is not considered good eating as far as I know. The Japanese have a fresh water eel they put on their sushi and it is really good. Our Indians on the Klamath hook them with an “eel hook”. Its a handle of wood about as long as a golf club with a barb less hook at the end. They stand at the waters edge and the eels come up close to shore as to stay out of the strong current and also the seals and sea lions and the man hooks the eel and swings it around and around over his head and then throws it up on shore and the ladies put them into the gunny sacks. The reason for swinging them around is that with the barb less hooks, the centrifugal force keeps the eel on the hook until he tosses it. It is actually a lot of fun if the eels are running good. Now days some of the women go eeling but it was forbidden in the old days before the feminazis come around. LOL.

[Ciexyz]

I thought it was four and twenty blackbirds that they cooked in a pie for the king or queen.

[MS.BEHAVIN]

That sounds really good!
I haven’t had fry bread in ages!

[MS.BEHAVIN]

Thanks DogByte!
Ping to a fellow foodie.

[j_tull]

We used smelt net to scoop them out of the Cheboygan River and through them in bonfire. One of God’s nastiest critters.

[j_tull]

nice proofreading... sheesh

[RedMDer]

Click the link. The Republic you save may be your own.

[Cletus.D.Yokel]

MDNR: “Purple loosestrife is an aggresive inavsive species! How do we control it?”

Sierra Club executive: “You can’t poison it so you must use a natural predator. That natural predator is the Japanese Beetle.”

Japaneses beetle: “Wow, the leaves of flowering plants here in Michigan taste Soooooooo much better that that purple thing we are used to.”

Tah, dah!

[cripplecreek]

“Wow, the leaves of flowering plants here in Michigan taste Soooooooo much better that that purple thing we are used to.”

LOL as far as I can tell the beetles won't touch the loosestrife but they sure do like my wisteria.