Photo by Neil Caudle 



says. She remembers when you could 

 buy them for 10 to 25 cents a dozen, 

 unlike the $10 to $20 price tag they 

 carry today. "There's only one way to 

 cook soft crabs and that's fried," she 

 says. 



Nellie Myrtle is famous for her fish 

 cakes, but she won't divulge her 

 recipe. She does say that when choos- 

 ing fish for any recipe she always 

 chooses a female fish. "They're short- 

 er, fatter and tenderer," she says. 



Seafood prepared in restaurants 

 doesn't fare well by Nellie Myrtle 

 standards. "I'd as soon eat a snake as 

 eat in a restaurant," she says. "I never 

 follow a recipe when I cook. I cook ac- 

 cording to what I have and the number 

 of people I'm cooking for." 



In Wrightsville Beach, shrimp top 

 the list as everyone's summer seafood 

 favorite. Steamed shrimp are heaped 

 in mounds before hungry crowds in 

 traditional "shrimparoos". Marlene 

 Hieronymus says she steams her 

 shrimp with the heads on. "The heads 

 add flavor," she says. 



"You steam the shrimp in a small 

 amount of water until they turn pink," 

 says Hieronymus, who provides 

 seafood recipes and tips once a month 

 on "The Jim Burns Show," which is 

 aired on WECT-TV in Wilmington. 

 "Be careful not to overcook shrimp. 

 They become tough. If you're prepar- 

 ing large quantities for a shrimparoo, 

 be sure to turn the shrimp in the pot so 

 they'll cook evenly." 



Hieronymus says she heaps the 

 shrimp in a big bowl on the picnic table 

 and lets everyone dig in. To eat the 

 shrimp, guests pop off the heads and 

 peel the shell away. 



Hieronymus serves lots of whipped 

 butter, lemon juice and cocktail sauce 

 for dipping the shrimp. And as side 

 dishes, she prepares roasted corn in the 

 husk, hush puppies and lemonade. 



In Carteret County folks eat their 

 seafood "downeast" style with 

 cornmeal dumplings and gravy. 

 Audrey Fulcher, who has cooked at 

 Captain Bill's Seafood restaurant in 

 Morehead City for twenty years, says 

 conch chowder is a Carteret County 

 c-lassic. There's even a saying that goes 

 along with this dish, Fulcher says. "If 

 you ever eat conch chowder in Car- 

 teret County, you never leave." The 

 conch, which is more accurately a 

 whelk, has a strong flavor that some 

 say is an acquired taste. 



Fulcher says Captain Bill's serves 



Albert Cowan and Audrey Fulcher 



up conch chowder every Wednesday 

 for a loyal following of locals. Fulcher 

 won't reveal the exact recipe for the 

 chowder, but she says the ingredients 

 are ground conch, water, potatoes, 

 onion, meat grease, salt, pepper and 

 cornmeal dumplings. 



Head cook Albert Cowan, who has 

 spent 21 years in the kitchens of Cap- 

 tain Bill's, adds another ingredient to 

 the conch chowder — Worcestershire 

 sauce. Cowan says the conch chowder 

 recipe is his own, derived by varying 

 the ingredients until just the right 

 taste was achieved. Cowan smiles and 

 politely refuses to give out his recipe. 

 After all, he wants to have plenty of 

 customers on conch chowder day when 

 he stirs up about 20 gallons of this Car- 

 teret County favorite. 



Bill Pigott, Eloise's husband, says 

 making conch chowder requires some 

 extra effort, but the results are worth 

 it. First you should freeze the conch. 

 Bill says freezing the mollusks makes 

 the meat easier to pull from the shells 

 when they're thawed. Once you've 

 removed the meat, keep only the 

 cream-colored foot. Brush away the 

 black coating with a brush, Bill says. 

 To tenderize the meat, either pound it 

 or place it in a pressure cooker. Once 

 tenderized, the conch is ready for the 

 pot (see recipe, page 2). 



Using similar ingredients, Carteret 



in the kitchen 



Photo by Hilda Livingstone 



Nellie Myrtle Pridgen 



County cooks also prepare a water- 

 based "downeast" clam chowder. "We 

 use no tomatoes and no milk," says 

 Eloise. The chowder is flavored with 

 bacon grease or pieces of bacon, 

 potatoes, onions, salt and pepper. The 

 chowder broth or gravy does turn 

 milky as it cooks, but Eloise 

 emphasizes that no milk is added. 



The aroma of hard crab stew, 

 another traditional coastal offering, 

 frequently fills Carteret County 

 kitchens when blue crabs are in season. 

 Eloise says she leaves the hard crabs 

 whole, removing only the hard back 

 shell before cleaning the crustaceans. 



Continued on next page 



