{"id":8775,"date":"2017-12-01T14:18:00","date_gmt":"2017-12-01T19:18:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ncseagrant.ncsu.edu\/coastwatch\/?page_id=8775"},"modified":"2024-08-20T13:57:14","modified_gmt":"2024-08-20T17:57:14","slug":"mariners-menu-as-american-as-southern-seafood","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ncseagrant.ncsu.edu\/coastwatch\/mariners-menu-as-american-as-southern-seafood\/","title":{"rendered":"MARINER\u2019S MENU: As American as Southern Seafood"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n\n\n
\u201cIn the summer and fall, thick schools of mullet, mackerel and bluefish streamed through local waters. By winter, oyster rock and clam and <\/em>scallop beds put food on the table and money in locals\u2019 pockets. Vegetables from the garden and a hot batch of freshly milled cornbread rounded out most meals Down East back then \u2014 and still do today.\u201d JOYCE TAYLOR<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n What’s more American than apple pie? Historians might contest that the pie and the pioneer sprung from other cultures, and Native Americans were here before both.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That\u2019s primarily the case for many dishes identified as American. Trace a classic dish \u2014 the hamburger, for example \u2014 and you\u2019ll often find its roots in international soils.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Seafood, however, boasts regional traditions that began closer to home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Native Americans and early European immigrants nurtured themselves on the bounty of the land, with local environments laying the foundation for emerging culinary traditions. While Cajun and Creole cooking were developing in Louisiana \u2014 rooted in early French and Spanish cuisine, and infused with the flavors of Africa \u2014 other settlers were migrating to the kind climate of coastal North Carolina.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In Mariner\u2019s Menu: 30 Years of Fresh Seafood Ideas<\/em>, author Joyce Taylor notes these settlers established places like Fish Towne, now Beaufort, Harker\u2019s Island, and nearby Core Banks towns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Along the East Coast, bays, streams, sounds and ocean waters provided a diversity of fish and shellfish, which became a staple food partly due to necessity, and have lasted as an emblem of the Southern diet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Taylor highlights the heritage of Southern seafood in her book \u2014 and reserves a special section for recipes that reflect that heritage. Find more recipes like these in the Mariner\u2019s Menu<\/em> book. Order online at ncseagrant.ncsu.edu\/bookstore<\/a>, or check your local bookstore.
Two of the following recipes are featured in the section \u201cSeafood: A Southern Tradition.\u201d Scallops, presented in a third recipe from the book\u2019s shellfish chapter, often pop up in Taylor\u2019s recollection of Down East flavors as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Also, visit the Mariner\u2019s Menu<\/em> blog at marinersmenu.org<\/a> for more recipes featuring North Carolina seafood, and find additional recipes on Pinterest at pinterest.com\/ncseagrant<\/a>. \u2014 J.S.<\/p>\n\n\n\nCAROLINA FISH STEW<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n