Hanoverian specialties

Steinhude’s Sculpture Promenade Smoked Eel

Freshly smoked eel from Lake Steinhuder Meer is a regional delicacy that has traveled an astonishingly long way, nearly halfway around the world. Eels apparently prefer cool, fresh water, because after hatching in the subtropical waters between Florida and the Bermuda Islands, the young eels migrate thousands of kilometers across the Atlantic and the Weser River, straight to Lake Steinhuder Meer. In the largest lake in northwestern Germany, just west of Hannover, the fully grown, snake-like fish are then traditionally caught each spring and fall using handmade traps, prepared in local smokehouses according to time-honored family recipes, and offered fresh from the smoke for a delightful picnic by the lake.

Smoky tender and eaten hot

The fishermen of Steinhude smoke their eels the old-fashioned way, over an open beechwood fire in what is known as the "Altona oven." It is this traditional smoking method in the oven—often nearly 100 years old, built of brick, and sealed with iron doors—that gives the slender fish its golden-brown color and incomparably refined flavor, making Steinhude smoked eel a regional specialty and a delicacy in high demand worldwide. But there’s a catch: Steinhuder eels spawn only in the Sargasso Sea in the Gulf of Mexico, and the long journey back through river straightening and weirs has become increasingly difficult for the young eels. That’s why young glass eels are released into Lake Steinhuder Meer every year. Before the eels—freshly caught in traps and weighing at least a pound—are finally steamed for up to four hours at 60 to 80 °C, they are gutted, washed, and seasoned. Of course, every fisherman has a family recipe that has been carefully guarded for generations and his own smoking method. Anyone who would like to experience this ancient fishing craft up close with all their senses should definitely plan a tour of a smokehouse during their next trip to Lake Steinhuder Meer.

Fine finger food

The farm shops of the long-established eel smokehouses on Lake Steinhuder Meer (which, in addition to eel and other edible fish fresh from the smokehouse, also sell eel prepared in numerous ways) as well as the many fish stands and rustic restaurants along the waterfront and in the surrounding area are sure to whet your appetite for eel. By the way, eel is traditionally eaten with your fingers—on a slice of brown bread, accompanied by a draft Pilsner, and followed by a shot of schnapps.