Crabs and Oysters: a Savor the South cookbook
By Bill Smith
()
About this ebook
Bill Smith
Bill Smith is the author of two cookbooks and many articles and essays in various magazines and journals. In 2019 he retired after twenty-five years as head chef at Crook's Corner Restaurant in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. He has received nominations several times from the James Beard Foundation for Best Chef Southeast and served for six years on the board of the Southern Foodways Alliance. In 2021 he received the Craig Claiborne Lifetime Achievement Award from that organization.
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Crabs and Oysters - Bill Smith
a SAVOR THE SOUTH® cookbook
Crabs & Oysters
SAVOR THE SOUTH® cookbooks
Crabs and Oysters, by Bill Smith (2015)
Sunday Dinner, by Bridgette A. Lacy (2015)
Beans and Field Peas, by Sandra A. Gutierrez (2015)
Gumbo, by Dale Curry (2015)
Shrimp, by Jay Pierce (2015)
Catfish, by Paul and Angela Knipple (2015)
Sweet Potatoes, by April McGreger (2014)
Southern Holidays, by Debbie Moose (2014)
Okra, by Virginia Willis (2014)
Pickles and Preserves, by Andrea Weigl (2014)
Bourbon, by Kathleen Purvis (2013)
Biscuits, by Belinda Ellis (2013)
Tomatoes, by Miriam Rubin (2013)
Peaches, by Kelly Alexander (2013)
Pecans, by Kathleen Purvis (2012)
Buttermilk, by Debbie Moose (2012)
a SAVOR THE SOUTH® cookbook
Crabs & Oysters
BILL SMITH
The University of North Carolina Press CHAPEL HILL
© 2015 William B. Smith Jr.
All rights reserved. Manufactured in the United States of America.
SAVOR THE SOUTH® is a registered trademark of the
University of North Carolina Press, Inc.
Designed by Kimberly Bryant and set in Miller and
Calluna Sans types by Rebecca Evans.
The paper in this book meets the guidelines for permanence and durability of the Committee on Production Guidelines for Book Longevity of the Council on Library Resources. The University of North Carolina Press has been a member of the Green Press Initiative since 2003.
Jacket illustration: oyster, © istock.com/margouillatphotos; crab, © Ingram Image/Picturpartners
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Smith, Bill, 1949 January 11–
Crabs & oysters / Bill Smith.—1 [edition].
pages cm.—(Savor the South cookbooks)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-4696-2262-0 (cloth : alk. paper)
ISBN 978-1-4696-2263-7 (ebook)
1. Cooking (Crabs) 2. Cooking (Oysters) 3. Cooking, American—
Southern style. I. Title. II. Title: Crabs and oysters.
TX754.C83S65 2015 641.6′95—dc23
2015006183
Frances and Ed Mayes’s Spaghetti with Lemon and Crab recipe from The Tuscan Sun Cookbook: Recipes from Our Italian Kitchen, by Frances Mayes and Edward Mayes, 2012. Used by permission of Clarkson Potter/Publishers, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House LLC. All rights reserved.
Jean Anderson’s Stuffed Crab au Gratin (Santola Recheada e Gratinada) recipe from The Food of Portugal, by Jean Anderson © 1986, 1994 by Jean Anderson. Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers and McIntosh & Otis, Inc.
To the memory of all of those
glorious meals we had at the beach and to
the people who cooked them
Contents
INTRODUCTION
Hors d’Oeuvres
Deviled Crab Dip
Crab and Artichoke Dip
Dot’s Crab Dip
Pickled Oysters
Roasted Beets
Crab-Stuffed Eggs
TWO CRAB-CLAW COCKTAILS
Crab Claws with Basquaise Sauce
Crab Claws St. Charles
Soups and Stews
Crab Bisque
Soupe Hendaye
Corn and Crab Chowder
Louis Osteen’s Brown Oyster Stew
Cocktel
Sit-Down First Courses
Corinne Dunbar’s Artichoke and Oyster Cocktail
Oysters in Champagne
Crab Aspic
Oyster Fritters
Tartar Sauce
Crabmeat Salsa
Crab and Shrimp Calas with a Riff on Tartar Sauce
Crabmeat Remoulade
Crabmeat Ravigotte
Either/Or
RECIPES THAT CAN BE AN APPETIZER OR A MAIN COURSE
Traditional Oyster Stew
Fried Oysters
Out in the Yard
Roasted Oysters
Basic Cocktail Sauce
Hard-Crab Stew
Cornmeal Dumplings
Dinnertime
Oyster Dressing
Deviled Crabs
Jean Anderson’s Stuffed Crab au Gratin (Santola Recheada e Gratinada)
Crab and Oyster Gumbo
Stuffed Crabs
Crabes Farcis
Soft-Shell Crabs
Crabmeat Cobbler
Oyster Shortcake
My Grandmother’s Crab Pilaf
Oyster Loaf, or Bread Box
Crab Soufflé
Baked Crab Sandwiches
Oyster Rarebit
Frances and Ed Mayes’s Spaghetti with Lemon and Crab
Green Cabbage Slaw
TWO KINDS OF CRAB CAKES
Indochinese Crab Cakes
More Traditional Crab Cakes
Cucumber Relish
Drinks
Oyster Juice
TWO MICHELADAS WITH OYSTERS
Michelada Tlaxapana
Michelada Tlaxapana Obscura
Acknowledgments
Bibliography
Index
a SAVOR THE SOUTH® cookbook
Crabs & Oysters
Introduction
Legend has it that the author Colette’s system had become so delicate by the time she died that she could have only oysters and champagne. I hope this happens to me.
I grew up in eastern North Carolina catching crabs, cleaning fish, and shucking oysters. I loved the beach. Still do. Today when I look back, the best memories I have of those times always include something to do with food and the beach. In the summer, my family and I would often go down to the beach after church and spend the day, and even though we only lived thirty minutes from the ocean, we would still take a beach cottage for at least a week sometime in July or August. The ocean and the coast were so much a part of our lives that we never really considered going anywhere else. People from eastern North Carolina are like that. I hope to share some of this vibe with you in the recipes here.
When I was five or six years old, I would go on Sunday afternoon rides
with my father’s brother, Alex, and his wife, Hi. These excursions usually included lunch. One of our favorite places was a seafood restaurant in the town of Sea Level in Carteret County. On one such afternoon, I ordered soft-shell crabs. My aunt Hi was sure that I had meant deviled crabs, but I wouldn’t change my order. (Deviled crabs are mildly spicy crabmeat baked in the crab’s shell. Soft-shell crabs are the whole beast minus the face and the guts, fried crispy, and eaten shell and all.) She ordered deviled crab just in case. When lunch came, she had in fact been right. I had meant deviled, but of course I wouldn’t admit it and the rest is history. To this day soft-shell crabs are one of my favorite foods.
Part of my family is Roman Catholic, so Fridays put seafood on the table every week. This was in the days before Vatican II when meat was forbidden to us on that day as a small bit of penance. Fridays were fish days.
A strange idea of punishment I thought to myself, but then I’ve always been impious.
In New Bern in the 1950s our two rivers were lined with crab factories.
These were small crab-packing houses where you could buy crabs and crabmeat. Mostly, though, we caught our own with chicken necks tied on string. All you had to do was slowly coax the crabs near to the surface of the water and scoop them up with a net. They were ridiculously easy to catch. Crabs were essentially free food. We learned to clean and pick them ourselves.
Oysters were more often gifts. My father worked for the post office, and for a time his route