For coastal cooks, it's conch chowder and crab stew 



In kitchens from Currituck to 

 Calabash, coastal Carolina cooks dish 

 up seafood with a pinch of time- 

 honored tradition. Coastal cooks have 

 been stirring up hard crab stew and 

 downeast clam chowder as long as 

 anyone can remember. 



To hear cooks like Eloise Pigott of 

 Gloucester and Nellie Myrtle Pridgen 

 of Nags Head tell it, you'd think there 

 was nothing special about their ways 

 of cooking seafood. They can hardly 

 believe you're asking about their 

 recipes — the recipes that were passed 

 along from a neighbor or relative and 

 are as much a part of coastal tradition 

 as boatbuilding and netmaking. 



The recipes for clam chowder and 

 cornmeal dumplings aren't written in 

 fancy cookbooks or touted by gour- 

 mets. But that doesn't mean the end 

 result fails the test of good eatin'. It 

 doesn't. Most coastal folks had rather 

 pull up a chair to a bowl of conch 

 chowder or a plate of steamed shrimp 

 than liver pate or beef Wellington. 



Most of the recipes for coastal 



favorites are stored in the heads of the 

 cooks who prepare them. Each cook 

 has his or her own version of clam 

 chowder, adding a "nickit" more of 

 this or that. 



Landlubbers tend to think coastal 

 cooks fry all of their seafood. "Tourists 

 and people from outside the area think 

 all we know how to cook is fried fish, 

 fried cornbread and fried potatoes," 

 says Eloise Pigott, a Gloucester native. 

 "That's a myth. Fried food is good and 

 some things are best fried, but we do 

 know how to cook seafood other 

 ways." 



Coastal cooks bake, broil, boil, stew 

 and roast their seafood. And coastal 

 natives like their seafood best if it's as 

 fresh as the day it was pulled from the 

 net. 



Marlene Hieronymus, a Wrights- 

 ville Beach cook, says to check a fish's 

 freshness by checking the gills. "If the 

 gills are a nice red color and smell like 

 the ocean, then the fish is fresh," she 

 says. Hieronymus says the age-old 

 method of testing a fish's freshness by 



the clearness of the eye may not 

 always be accurate. Many times the 

 eye will be damaged in handling the 

 fish, which doesn't mean the fish is not 

 fresh, she says. 



Nellie Myrtle Pridgen — Nellie Myr- 

 tle to those who know her — is a Nags 

 Head resident and Outer Banks 

 native, who says she cooks seafood the 

 simplest way possible. "My father and 

 brother were fishermen and I learned 

 early on not to destroy the taste of 

 seafood with a lot of batters and 

 seasonings, she says. 



Nellie Myrtle says she boils her fish 

 in "a tiny bit of bacon grease and but- 

 ter." She dresses her clam chowder 

 with tomatoes, potatoes, onion and 

 green peppers. If left with a few small 

 (two to three inches) hard crabs in a 

 catch, Nellie Myrtle cleans them, rolls 

 them in cornmeal and a little season- 

 ing, and fries them. "You can eat the 

 crab whole, shell and all, if you have 

 your own teeth," she says. 



Soft crabs have long been a favorite 

 along the Outer Banks, Nellie Myrtle 



Downeast Clam 

 Bake 



To a cheesecloth bag, add 

 pieces of cut-up fryer 

 chicken, a carrot, an onion, 

 potatoes (sweet or Irish), 

 an ear of corn a.nd 1/2 

 dozen (or more) cherry- 

 stone clams. Allow one bag 

 per person. Add water to 

 bottom of a steam cooker. 

 Put tied-off bags in top sec- 

 tion of steamer. Cook three 

 hours. 



Bill Pigott 



Conch Chowder 

 or Soup 



meat from 7 to 8 



conchs 

 2 to 3 potatoes, diced 

 1 small onion, sliced 



or chopped 

 chopped rib-side pork 

 pat of butter or 



margarine 

 thyme 



salt and pepper 



1 1/2 quarts of water 



After tenderizing conch in 

 pressure cooker, chop in 

 small pieces. Place chopped 

 conch in pot, add water, 

 pork and butter. Salt and 

 pepper to taste. Simmer 

 two to three hours. Add 

 potatoes and onions 30 

 minutes before chowder is 

 done. Also, sprinkle with 

 thyme. Add cornmeal dump- 

 lings during final 15 min- 

 utes. 



Bill Pigott 



Downeast Clam 

 Chowder 



1 quart chopped clams 



2 quarts water 



2 medium onions, 



chopped 



3 to 4 slices salt pork or 



bacon drippings 

 6 medium potatoes, 



cubed 

 salt and pepper 

 cornmeal dumplings 



In a large pot, combine first 

 six ingredients. Some Car- 

 teret County cooks fry the 

 bacon before adding to 

 chowder; others don't. Still 

 others use bacon drippings. 

 Cook the chowder until the 

 potatoes are tender (ap- 

 proximately 30 minutes). 

 Drop cornmeal dumplings 

 on top of chowder. Cover 

 tightly and simmer for 15 

 minutes. 



Adapted from 

 combination of recipes 



Oyster Fritters 



chopped oysters 



(about 1 cup) 

 1 egg, beaten 

 flour 



salt and pepper 



Mix together chopped 

 oysters, beaten egg and 

 seasonings. Add just 

 enough flour to hold 

 together. Drop by spoon- 

 fuls into hot grease. Fry un- 

 til golden. 



Eloise Pigott 



Crabmeat Cakes 



crabmeat 

 cracker crumbs 

 dab of mustard 



Mix crabmeat, cracker 

 crumbs and mustard. Shape 

 into cakes. Fry in butter. 



Nellie Myrtle Pridgen 



