Red Rice Wine Lees Eel 酒糟鳗鱼
Red Rice Wine Lees Eel is featured among the local specialties of Taiwan.
Red Rice Wine Lees Eel (酒糟鳗鱼) is a Matsu (馬祖) preparation of sea eel marinated in red lees and fried. A Lienchiang (連江) county cultural recipe places its bright red colour on New Year and wedding tables.
How it is made
The eel is washed, its head and tail removed, and its flesh cut into strips or blocks. The recipe advises taking out as many bones as possible; larger eels have thicker flesh and larger bones that are easier to handle.
Red lees, sugar and salt form the marinade. The recorded marinating time is about four hours. The seasoned pieces are then coated with sweet-potato starch and fried until they rise in the oil.
Flavour and texture
The cultural account describes the fried eel as crisp outside and soft inside. It also notes variation between households: each family’s lees has its own flavour, and marinating seasonings differ.
Sources & reading
Written from the linked sources and checked sentence by sentence against quoted extracts by a separate reviewer on 2026-09-30. Recipes and servings vary between kitchens.