Every Good Friday the parish puts on a conger eel soup lunch, but this year they are missing a key ingredient – a conger eel.
With just a week to go, and no eel in sight – or smell – time is running out to serve a dish that has been a Good Friday tradition at St Brelade’s Parish Hall for many years.
Glenda Mesney, administration officer at the parish hall, said: ‘It’s particularly popular with the elderly. People come from all around, and flock to the conger soup.
‘We always manage to get one before the Good Friday Lunch. One year, it wasn’t until the week before that we received our donation, from a lady who found some eel in her freezer.’
The team at the parish hall say they are optimistic that they will be able to source an eel.
Although relatively easy to catch, there is less of a demand for congers than other species.
Louis Jackson, fish merchant at Victoria Pier, recommends using lobster and crab pots to catch conger eels.
‘People also catch them by line fishing off the north coast and St Catherine’s Breakwater,’ he said.
‘On a fishing trip about 20 years ago we caught a 90lb conger eel off a long line.’
Anybody is welcome to attend St Brelade’s Lent Lunches, which take place every Friday in the six weeks before Easter, from 12-2pm in the parish hall.
Soup, bread, crackers and cheese are served, while guests are requested to donate a few pounds in support of the charity Christian Aid.
Conger Soup is saved as a treat for Good Friday, and vegetarian options are also provided for those who are not tempted to try a bowl. Anybody who is able to help with a conger eel donation can contact St Brelade’s Parish Hall on 741141.
