Southern Fried Salmon Patties: This is fish even the kids will enjoy eating.  Simple, quick, easy to make and tastes even better between two slices of bread or in a bun.  Add a little mayo or whip up your own special sauce and you’ve got supper on the table in no time flat.

We didn’t eat Salmon Patties a lot when I was growing up, but I’ve always enjoyed the taste.  Of course I like pretty much anything that I can slap between two slices of loaf bread.  I’m totally hooked on sandwiches of about any kind, always have been.

As an adult, I’ve learned to enjoy salmon in various ways.  I like it baked in the oven, fried in a skillet, or my favorite…smoked on a grill.  It’s a bit pricey on the fish side of things, but something I enjoy whenever I can.

The really nice thing about these Salmon Patties is how simple and quick they are to prepare.  I’m using a canned salmon and ingredients that are pretty much a staple in any kitchen.  I try to keep a can or two in the kitchen cabinets all the time.  You’re basically just going to mix it all up in one bowl and fry them up in the skillet.  You can prepare the mixture and refrigerate it for several hours before cooking if need be.  It makes a great main dish meat or a quick and easy sandwich, which ever way you want to go.  So, if you’re ready….Let’s Get Cooking!

You’ll need these ingredients.  It might look like a lot in the picture, but it’s mostly seasonings.

Open up the can of salmon and dump it in a colander in the sink.  Let any liquid drain off for a minute or two.  If you look closely, you’ll see some bones.  They are edible but I like to remove the bigger ones, especially the big round ones from the spine area.  It’s just a little crunch that doesn’t sit right in my mouth sometime so I take them out.  It’s your option, but again, they are edible so you don’t have to be concerned about them.

Use your hands or a fork and flake the salmon up into large chunks.

While the salmon is draining, chop up the bell peppers and the onion.

Place the flaked salmon in a large mixing bowl.

Add two whole eggs to the bowl.  We’ll just dump in all the other ingredients and mix it up at the end.  Mixing each ingredient in one at a time will turn the salmon to mush.  You want to try and keep some large chunks in the mixture.

Add the chopped onion to the bowl.

Add the chopped bell pepper.  I’ve mentioned this before, but I buy bell peppers during the summer months and chop and freeze them.  They just get pretty expensive around here during the winter months.  When I can get them 5 for 1.00 during the summer, I buy a few extra, prepare them, then freeze them in plastic bags.  I can usually take out what I need for a recipe and let them thaw for a few minutes and that step is done.  Of course, I love fresh ingredients whenever they are in season.

Add the corn meal.  The meal acts as a binder to help hold the ingredients together.

Add the salt.

Add the garlic powder.

Add the mayo.  The oil serves as another part of the binder to help hold things together when we shape the patties.

Add the Worcestershire sauce.

Add the Texas Pete Hot Sauce.  It’s not really going to add any heat to the patties, just a little flavor.  Of course, you can add more if you like.

Add the ground black pepper.

Break up one slice of regular white loaf bread.  You can crumble it up or leave it in large pieces like I did.  Bread crumbs will work fine.  I don’t recall mama ever using bread crumbs back in her day.  She’d just take a slice or two of bread and break it up into the patties.  She’d do the same with her meatloaf.  Seeing those pieces of bread in the finished product just brings back fond memories for me.  The bread is another binder for the mixture.

Use a fork or spoon and gently mix all the ingredients together.  Don’t over work it, just get it all combined.

Add the flour.  I usually adjust this amount depending on how moist the mixture is at this point.  You don’t want it so dry it doesn’t stick together but then again, you don’t want it all mushy wet either.  Just sprinkle in a little flour at a time and mix again until you get a good consistency.

You should have enough mixture to divide and shape into about 4 patties.  You’ll just scoop out enough in your hand to shape it as you would a hamburger patty.  You can make them larger or smaller as you like.  Just shape them into rounds and set them aside for a few minutes.

Go ahead and sprinkle the tops with a little paprika at this point.

Preheat your skillet to about medium and then add some shortening or oil to fry the patties.

You should be able to get all four patties in the frying pan at one time.  Cook them over medium heat.

Brown the bottoms and then carefully flip them over and brown the other side.  Don’t overcook them, just let them brown well on both sides and you should be good to go.  The more they cook, the drier they’ll be when you serve them.  You’ll also want to serve them pretty soon after you remove them from the pan as they will cool down pretty quick.  Just take them out when done, place on a couple of folded paper towels to drain for a minute, then serve.

Serve and Enjoy!

See how easy that was, just like making home made burgers in the kitchen.  You can serve these as the main course along with some mashed potatoes and another side of your choice.  Or, place them between a couple slices of bread or on a bun for a great sandwich.  You can add a little more mayo or maybe even create your own sauce.  There are lots of choices available as too which sauce to use.  I like my “Secret Sauce” that we used with the Fried Green Tomatoes Recipe as well.

This is just a basic recipe for Salmon Patties.  Experiment with some other herbs and spices after you’ve tried these and let us know in the Comment Section below what you come up with.

A local restaurant in my area serves them for lunch every Monday.  I’ll pick them up along with some mashed potatoes, pinto beans and cornbread for lunch sometimes.  I hope you’ll give these a try and that you really enjoy them.  Here’s the printable recipe for it all.

Follow our step-by-step, photo illustrated instructions for this Pan Fried Bluefish Recipe.  These saltwater fish are absolutely delicious and easy to pan fry in your cast iron skillet.  Just add a simple breading, pan fry and enjoy.

Pan Fried Bluefish Recipe:

To the best of my knowledge, I enjoyed Pan Fried Bluefish for the very FIRST time… just a few days ago.  My niece had invited her dad (my brother) and I for supper a couple of nights ago and fried up a big old pan of Bluefish that her husband had recently caught.  I was totally surprised at how great these fish were and wondered why in the world I had never had them before.

That night, we dined on Bluefish, homemade coleslaw and super thin cornbread cakes.  Talk about some good eating….I loved it.  The interesting part though is that my niece doesn’t like fish or any type of seafood.  Wait, it gets better.  Just a few years ago, she owned and operated a restaurant that served BBQ, Chicken AND Seafood.  Go figure.  She just doesn’t like the taste of it but she sure did know how to cook it.

You can skip on down a bit for the step-by-step instructions and the printable recipe but, I’d like to share just a few photos about a recent trip that my brother and I made together.  I’ll try to be brief but if you know me at all, that usually doesn’t happen.  Anyway….

About a week ago, my brother and I visited the Southport, North Carolina area.  It’s a long story but we left home on Friday with 2 Carolina Cooker Pig Cookers on a large trailer headed for delivery to the Marine Corp Air Station at Cherry Point.  My brother sells the pig cookers and was delivering 2 more of them to a customer at Cherry Point.  My brother had told me to pack for an overnight stay because once we delivered the pig cookers, we would head on down to the coast and try a little fishing.  “If they are biting good enough,” he said, “we’ll stay overnight and head back home on Saturday.”

All was well until about 30 minutes away from the delivery destination.  We called and found out the place we were delivering to had closed early that day.  Seems the following Monday was a holiday and they wouldn’t be open again until Tuesday.  Older brother said he hated to haul the cookers back home, about a 3 hour ride, so he said we’d ride down to his beach house at Oak Island and spend the night.  He’s had this house at the beach for 10 years and due to our work schedules, I had never even been to his place at the beach.  OK, that’s another long story.

So, we headed further south and arrived at his place about dark that Friday evening.  The next day, we drove over to Southport, which is nearby and, visited the area where the 2012 US Open King Mackerel Fishing Tournament was taking place.

The tournament had over 400 boats fishing for King Mackerel.  There was a large crowd of folks down at the boat docks watching the boats bring in their catch.  It was a pretty impressive site if you enjoy fishing any at all.  Boats were coming in just about the time we arrived and we watched as they hauled in some very large King Mackerel that day.

I have no idea who these people are but this guy has a fish I wished that I had caught.  It wasn’t the winning fish however, which turned out to be about 47lbs.  Biggest fish caught paid a Grand Prize of $25,000.00.  Not bad for a few hours work on such a beautiful day.  The weather was just perfect that day by the way.  Lots of sunshine and about 72 degrees…..what more could you ask for.

We spent an hour or so walking around and watching the fish being officially weighed in.  Several large tents were setup to facilitate the weigh in and a stage was setup for some music later in the evening.  For us though….it was time to go fishing.

We went over to one of the piers at Oak Island and fished for a couple of hours.  We had hoped we might get into some “spots” but it wasn’t going to happen that day.  We ended up only catching a few really small Croakers and some Pinfish, nothing big enough to keep but, we had a good time just talking with other folks that were fishing all up and down the pier.  We left around 5pm, went out to supper where we enjoyed some great seafood and then pretty much headed back out on the pier for several more hours of late night fishing.  Again, we just weren’t catching anything big enough to keep.  The beautiful breeze and just sitting out on that pier made it all worthwhile though….no denying that fact.

This is my brothers boat.  He’s had it for five years and I had never been out on it.  There’s a good reason for that though….I’m just not a boat type of person.  I have become a pretty avid fisherman over the past years and have spent many hours up at Harris Lake fishing off their pier.  That’s freshwater fishing and I love fishing for Crappie.  They’re fun to catch and super delicious to fry up as well.

So, on Sunday, my brother convinced me to go out on his boat.  My biggest fear has always been just getting in and out of the boat.  My old legs aren’t what they use to be and I can’t swim.  It’s just never sounded like a good thing to get into a boat.

We took the boat down to a public boat ramp area and hanging on to anything I could find, I managed to settle down into the boat.  We rode over to Southport once again and then took a ride back on a waterway area near where his beach house is.  I didn’t have my camera with me and I missed some pictures of some totally gorgeous million dollar homes along the way.

I don’t fish on Sundays.  It’s a personal preference and I don’t fault anyone that does.  My daddy never did and I decided once I started that I wouldn’t either.  We enjoyed the ride that afternoon and pulled the boat out of water right about dark.  Then, we headed back over to the same Seafood House for more fried fish and shrimp.

That’s my one and only older brother on the left.  The fellow on the right is a friend of his that refers to my brother as one of his mentors.  He joined us at the beach house on Monday and took us both out for lunch.  We had a delicious home-cooking style of meal for lunch and then we headed back out onto the water.

We went to another marina this time to unload the boat.  The temperatures had dropped a good bit by this time as cooler weather had moved into the area.  We rode out into the ocean itself for about half a mile but then turned around and headed back for the waterway to do some fishing.  That pleased me a BUNCH.  I haven’t got into my story of having been afflicted with motion sickness all of my life.   It’s true, that’s another reason that I’m just not a boat type of person.  The waterway was much smoother though.

I hate to rub it in but, I caught more fish than both of them combined that afternoon. (Wait…are they reading this?)  Problem was, it was still some very small Croakers and Pinfish and none of us ever caught anything big enough to keep.

So, what’s that got to do with THIS recipe.  Nothing….nothing at all…other than its about fish and fishing and being able to spend some time with my older brother and making a new friend.  We ended up staying 4 nights at his house…..something we had NEVER done before.  I guess not being able to deliver those pig cookers turned out very well in the long run.  We did get to drop them off on the following Tuesday and headed back home.  I just hope and pray we can do it again sometime soon.

Pan Fried Bluefish Recipe:  You’ll need these ingredients.  Please note though, this will pretty much work with any kind of fish that you might want to use.  It’s a basic recipe and can easily be converted or adapted to other fish.

Don’t let the color of those fillets fool you.  This is one more good fish in my book.  You might hear a different opinion on that somewhere else though.  Some folks think the Bluefish has a very “fishy” taste but I didn’t think that was the case.  I’ve also been told that you have to drain the blood from these fish right after you catch them so they avoid having a foul taste to them.

As it turned out, my niece and her husband headed off to the Outer Banks of North Carolina the day after we got back home.  That’s how I ended up with this Bluefish.  HE caught them.  I’m glad he did and I’m really glad that they both shared some with me.  I enjoyed my meal at their house that afternoon and when I left, they handed me two big packages of fish to bring home.  So, if you’re all set to give them a try….Let’s Get Cooking.

The first thing I do is setup my dredging station.  The fish have been rinsed and cleaned and they are ready for breading.  As pictured above, I have the fish on a plate in the upper left corner.  Then, I have a container with plain flour, one with milk and one with cornmeal.  I also have another plate to place them on once they have been dipped into the flour.  To be honest, I rearranged it a bit after I took this photo.

In case you don’t recognize them, those are plastic containers from where I’ve been eating Chinese Takeout.  One of my readers left the comment on another post that her husband referred to them as “Chinese Tupperware.”   I liked it.  They are just too useful to toss in the garbage so I’ve been growing a collection of them in one of the cabinets.

First thing is to grab one of the fillets and place it in the flour.  I’m using plain flour because I had it on hand.  I doubt it would make any difference if you used self-rising….it’s just a matter of what you have on hand.  Coat the fillet in the flour, flipping it over and making sure you have both sides well covered.

Next, dip the flour coated fillet into the milk.  This is just regular whole milk from the jug.  Back in my restaurant days, we always used the Evaporated Milk from the can for dipping all of our seafood before frying.  I think because it’s a bit thicker that it helps hold the breading on the fish better but again, just use whatever you have on hand.  Flip the fillet and be sure you get both sides good and wet.

After you pull them from the milk bath, lay the fillets on a plate, keeping them separated.

Sprinkle the fillets with salt.  I found out the Bluefish need a good coating with salt to bring out more of the flavors.  I went a little heavier with the salt on the second batch that I fried up.

Seasoning up the fillets at this point is just the way I like to do it.  It’s just a personal preference.  You could add the seasonings to the cornmeal and do it all at one time but I prefer to season them individually this way.  Do whatever works best for you.  This just seems to give me better control on how much of what is actually going on each fillet.  Also, I don’t think it takes as much of the seasonings when you do it this way as compared to mixing up a batch with the cornmeal breader.  Spices aren’t as cheap as they once were you know.

Sprinkle on some Black Pepper to taste.

Sprinkle on some Garlic Powder.

Add some Cayenne Pepper.  A little spice is a good thing.

Finally, sprinkle the fillets with a generous portion of Paprika.

Then, place the seasoned fillets in the cornmeal.  We’re going to coat both sides with the cornmeal.

Coat both sides very well, then gently shake off any excess.  Excess cornmeal that’s not actually sticking to the fish will just fall off once you drop the fillet into the cooking oil.  That usually sinks to the bottom and burns, making your cooking oil have an off type of taste.  Avoid this happening by gently removing any excess at this point.

If you’re taking pictures of everything you’re doing, you might find that the fillets have dried out a bit too much to hold a decent coating of cornmeal.  Even if you’re not taking pictures, you can re-dip the fillets in the milk once again to get them wetter.  That way, they will hold a bit more of the cornmeal breading.

After I dipped them in the milk the second time, they went right back into the cornmeal.

Once you have several pieces coated, just sit them aside until you heat up the oil in the cast iron skillet.

In keeping with the Taste of Southern way of cooking, I’m using my cast iron skillet to fry up the fillets.  Any type of frying pan will work of course.  You could also use a deep fat fryer if you have one but, keep in mind we’re calling this recipe our PAN FRIED Bluefish Recipe…thus…the pan.

Pour in enough oil to fill the pan to about 1/2 inch deep with oil.  Let the oil come up to frying temperature before adding the fillets.  How do you do that?

One way to test that the oil is hot enough for frying is to drop a pinch of the cornmeal into the pan once it heats up.  If the cornmeal just sinks to the bottom, it’s NOT hot enough for frying.  On the other hand, if the cornmeal dances across the top of the hot oil….you’re good to go.  Oh yeah, thermometers work pretty good too.  Just saying.

That oil is HOT so be careful with this step.  Carefully lower one end of a fish fillet into the hot oil.  You can do this by hand if you’re cautious or you could use tongs if you have them.  The oil is probably going to start popping and splattering but just let go of the fillet and let it start cooking.

Don’t overcrowd the pan with fish.  The pieces need some room to cook.  Add a couple of pieces and let them cook for a couple of minutes.  Watch for the bottom edges to start turning brown.

When the bottom edges start to turn brown, gently flip the fillets over to cook the other side.  I used tongs but a spatula or even a fork will work.  If you use a fork, slip it under the bottom and carefully turn the fillet over, don’t puncture it with the fork.  These pieces are firmed up enough to easily turn with the tongs.

Let them cook for about 2 minutes longer then carefully remove them from the pan.

As you take them out of the oil, place the fillets on a plate that’s been lined with several layers of paper towel so they can drain.  If you need to cook some more pieces, you could turn your oven on to about 200º and just place the drained pieces on a baking sheet inside the oven.  Don’t leave them on the towel if you intend to place them inside the oven.  They’ll stay warm in the oven until you can fry up the rest of your batch.

Serve the fish fillets while they are warm.  They’ll go great with some of our homemade Cole Slaw.  You’ll find our recipe for that right here on our website.  You can also fry up some hush-puppies or maybe some thin cakes of cornbread if that’s more to your liking.

I had originally intended to fry these up and make some Fish and Grits for breakfast.  One problem with that…..I didn’t have any grits.  Go figure.  Watch for it though….I’m headed to the store to pick up some grits.  I’ll do that recipe for you as well.  Fish and grits are another great Southern meal good for breakfast, lunch or dinner….or anytime.

I’ll also show you a Hot Fish Sandwich so check the site for that recipe.  I made a good fish sandwich out of a couple of the smaller fillets from this plate, then I cooked up a whole new batch of Bluefish.  I still don’t know why I had never had this fish before now.  It was a great discovery though and I hope you get a chance to try them yourself real soon.  Let me know if you do.

Follow our step-by-step, photo illustrated instructions for a quick and easy Beaufort Stew Recipe.  When a recipe says “just dump it all in the middle of the table when its done,” that should be enough to make you want to try it.  This recipe is easily adaptable to any size family and friends gathering you might be having but, we’re breaking it down to serve 2 – 3 folks.  It cooks in one pot in less than an hour, how much easier can it get?

Beaufort Stew Recipe:

That’s my older brother Elvin on the left and, our new friends, Linda and George on the right.

Linda and George are from Little Mountain, South Carolina and we met them the day we delivered one of my brothers pig cookers to them.  It was a cold and wet day in the middle of February as we arrived at their house but, their kindness and friendship quickly warmed us up.

George and Linda have a son serving in the military and a daughter that has just graduated as a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine.  We met her as well as she came outside, barefoot, to take a quick look at the new pig cooker.  George and Linda are planning a big cookout for her in just a couple of weeks in honor of her graduation.  Obvious animal lovers, they have a beautiful home, with lots of horses, dogs and at least one cat roaming around.  George even shared some of the collards he was growing with my brother.  I made sure they went in the BACK of the truck on the trip home.  Just saying.

During our time there we of course started talking about food.  George and Linda were planning a family meal that very evening and mentioned they would be having something called “Beaufort Stew.”  That caught my attention.  I had never heard of Beaufort Stew and wanted to learn more.

After describing the ingredients and how it all was cooked in one large pot, I told them I hoped they would send me the recipe for it as I’d like to give it a try.  They agreed and, sure enough, the very next evening, I had a very nice E-mail from them with the basis for making the stew.  George said his son had cooked the stew for them the night before, that he did a great job and, it appeared they had taught their son well.

Although they didn’t send an exact recipe, I had the basis of it and was eager to give it a try.  The recipe can easily be adapated for about any size crowd you might want to serve.  It’s all cooked in stages in one large pot and uses just a few ingredients.  Meat in the recipe includes some smoked beef sausage and shrimp.  George said, “there are many twists and variations to the Beaufort Stew and that Beaufort, South Carolina likes to take credit for it but, it’s very similar to the South Louisiana recipes.”

All it took for me to try it was seeing a big bag of red potatoes on the Reduced Sale Items shelf at the grocery store the next day.  Seems I’m easily motivated when it comes to food.  I had to improvise a bit on some of the spices as my store didn’t carry the Crab Boil in packets that the recipe calls for.  I whipped up my own little packet based on some Internet recipes and using what I had on hand.  My Beaufort Stew turned out to be delicious and I think you’ll be well pleased if you give it a try.  You’ll find my adaptation in printable form below and then we can all say Thank You to George, Linda and, their family, for sharing a new favorite for us here on Taste of Southern.  Ready to get that pot going?  Alright then… Let’s Get Cooking!

Beaufort Stew Recipe:  You’ll need these ingredients for the main stew.

My Crab Boil Seasoning Ingredients:  You’ll also need some of these spices if you can’t find the Crab Boil Packets.

Linda and George’s recipe called for Zatarain’s Crawfish, Shrimp & Crab Boil-in-Bags.  I didn’t find those at my local grocer so I searched the Internet on how to make a substitute.  It’s pretty simple and I had most of the spices in the cabinet.  I did end up using Ground Mustard since I didn’t have any Mustard Seeds and Garlic Powder instead of fresh Garlic.  I’m including the step-by-step for my spices but, if you find the Boil-in-Bags, you can use that instead.  And of course, I’ve just realized that I didn’t include the Mustard and Garlic Powder in the photo above.  Oooops!

If you can find the Boil-in-Bags in your area, you can just skip on down to the main part of the recipe.

You’ll need a piece of cheesecloth to tie the spices with.  Cheesecloth is something I’ve discovered that is very important to always keep on hand.

Begin by placing about 4 Bay Leaves on the layer of cheesecloth.

Add the Pickling Spice.

Add the Peppercorns.

Add the Allspice.

Add the Cloves.

Add the Celery Seed.

Add the Ground Mustard.  I didn’t have any Mustard Seed as most recipes called for so, I substituted some Ground Mustard.  Yes, a lot of it will probably fall out of the cheesecloth but that’s OK, I can just dump it into the pot.  I’m listing Mustard Seed in the printable recipe by the way.

Add the Garlic Powder.  Yep, some of this will fall through the holes in the cheesecloth but, not much.

Once all the spices are added, tie the bundle together with some kitchen twine.  Kitchen Twine is yet another one of those things that is always handy to have around.  The spices that fell through were just added into the pot later on.

Note To Self:  Buy some more kitchen twine, you may not be lucky enough to have some on a bag of stone ground grits next time you need it.

Get a large stock pot or even your canning pot if you have one.  I suggest you use the largest pot that will fit safely on your stove top if you’re preparing a smaller batch of Stew inside.  I used this shorter pot because it’s easier to take pictures when adding ingredients but, I realized by the time that I was finished that I needed something about twice this size.  The ingredients need lots of room to swirl around in as they cook.

Bring the pot of water to a rolling boil over Medium-High heat or a little above.  Once the water begins to boil, drop in the spice bag.

Add in the Old Bay Seasoning.  I only used two Tablespoons and found it was pretty much just what I wanted for my own personal taste.  Start out with a small amount such as this and, increase it later if need be.  Once the potatoes get to cooking, you can always taste the liquid to see if you think it needs more spice.

Hot and Spicy:  Adding the Crushed Red Pepper Flakes is optional.  You can make this whole thing as hot and spicy as you like.  Call me a wimp, I like a little spice but, not enough to make me fan my mouth trying to cool my tonsils down.

Cut the lemon in half.

Squeeze each half of the lemon into the pot.  Catching the seeds is entirely up to you.  I just let them fall where they may.  Once you’ve squeezed the juice from the lemon, go ahead and toss the lemon into the pot for some added flavor.  The whole thing.

Slice your Smoked Sausage into pieces about 1-2 inches long.  Make it pretty and cut them at an angle.

Toss the slices into your pot of boiling water.  Let this boil for about 15 minutes before adding the next ingredient.

While the sausage is cooking, slice the Onions.  Remove the outer skin from the onion and slice the onion into pieces about 3/4 of an inch thick.

I opted to cook my onions a bit before adding them to the pot.  Yes, you could just toss it into the pot and let it boil along with everything else but, I think you can add even more flavor by cooking them a bit first.  I heated up my cast iron skillet, added the onions and then tossed in about a Tablespoon of Butter.  Onions cooking in butter just smell… divine.

Let the onions cook about 5-8 minutes over Medium heat.  Then, flip them over and cook the other side about the same amount of time.  After about 5 minutes on the second side, I cut the heat off to my skillet and just left them in the pan for later.  What is it about the aroma of cooked onions that always makes me think about fairs and outdoor festivals?

If your potatoes are large, you’ll want to at least cut them into half.  Linda and George said they didn’t like the really small Red Potatoes nor the big ones either.  They prefer a medium sized potato they said.  I don’t know if they cut those up or not, they didn’t say in the information they sent.  I suspect they don’t though.  I paid about a dollar for this bag that was on the Reduced Price shelf.  It contained various sizes so I tried to pick out the smaller ones.  I suggest you go with a small to medium size potato and not cut it.  Cutting the potato seemed to make it a bit more mushy I think.  Also, don’t let your potatoes over cook.

Add the potatoes to the pot.  These will need to cook 15 minutes before adding the next ingredient.

Prepare the corn.  Talk to it, tell it whats about to happen to it.  Wait… what am I talking about here?  No, shuck the corn to remove the husks and silks from the ears.  Then, break each ear into halves.  It’s winter here and this isn’t the best looking corn in the world but it works.

Beaufort Stew is normally prepared outside, using a gas burner and a large stock pot, much like you might see for frying a turkey.  The really neat part is that you can pretty much prep new ingredients while the ones you’ve added to the pot are cooking.  You could even get several people involved and make the whole thing a true family affair.  Even the kids can shuck corn and have fun at the same time.  Well, maybe.  It’s a thought anyway.  Smile.

After the potatoes have cooked for about 15 minutes, add the corn into the pot.  According to the recipe, the corn will also need to cook for 15 minutes.  I think the best thing to do is keep an eye on the potatoes from here on out.  When the potatoes are done, the corn should be done so, don’t overcook the potatoes at this point.

Right after you add the corn, go ahead and add the Onions into the pot.

Stir everything around and let the pot continue to boil.  As you can see, my pot is full of food at this point.  As mentioned earlier, use the largest pot you have so everything has plenty of space to swim around in.

While the potatoes and corn finish cooking, go ahead and prepare the shrimp.  I’m using a large shrimp but jumbo shrimp would be great… if you can afford them.  These are listed as Large Fresh Shrimp in the grocery store and they still have their shells on them.  I just rinsed them off under some cool running water to remove any debris that might be with them.  Whether you decided to peel and devein them is up to you.  It seems folks do them both ways.  Part of the “fun” is suppose to be in sitting around the table peeling shrimp while you drink tea and enjoy the time with family and friends.

Please note that the shrimp will cook in about 3 minutes.  You want to have everything else ready to serve before you add the shrimp into the pot.  Be prepared to commence eating and let everyone ooh and ahh as you drop in the final ingredient.  Gently stir the shrimp around and watch as the shells and all turn red in color.  Just be sure you don’t over cook the shrimp or they will be tough.  Having everything else ready to go at this point is pretty crucial to the success of your meal.

As soon as the shrimp turn red, drain the pot of it’s liquid and serve everything up while its hot.

Cover your table with one of those Dollar Store plastic tablecloths, then spread a couple of layers of newspapers on top of that.  Just like the Crawfish Boils and all the other types of Seafood Boils, this is best when you just dump everything out into the middle of the table.  The kids will think you’ve flipped when they see this one.

Guests can just stand around and pick and choose what they want as they go or, they can scoop up spoonfuls onto plates.  Just have plenty of paper towels or napkins on hand because its suppose to be messy.  Serve it up with your favorite Cocktail Sauce, Hot Sauce, melted Butter and a bunch of Southern Sweet Tea.  Are you hungry yet?  Its time to eat!

Special Thanks:  My special thanks to Linda, George and, their family, for sharing this recipe for Beaufort Stew.  I’ll be looking forward to seeing what you cook up on your new Carolina Cookers grill.  Send us some pictures… OK?

George points out that Beaufort is pronounced “Bu-fort, not Bo-fort.”  He says he’s been to both places and likes them both.  Seems there is a Beaufort, South Carolina and a Beaufort, North Carolina but we’ll take this big old pot of stew from either one.  I hope you’ll try it at one of your next family get togethers.  It’ll be a lot of fun I promise.

Enjoy!

Follow our easy step-by-step, photo illustrated, instructions for making this really great Mahi-Mahi with Macadamia Nut Sauce.  We re-created this recipe for the Our State Magazine website based on a recipe from one of their 1967 magazines.  It was a time before Dolphin Fish became known as Mahi-Mahi and… back when it was bringing a good price at 1.00 per pound.  My, how times do change.

Mahi-Mahi with Macadamia Nut Sauce Recipe:

I’ve had the great honor of being asked to submit some of our step-by-step, photo illustrated recipes to the Our State Magazine website.  In case you don’t know it, Our State Magazine is a very highly respected publication out of Greensboro, North Carolina that covers all kinds of things North Carolina related.  It’s chock full of places to visit, things to do and, lots of great food places to enjoy along with recipes to give a try.

They’re celebrating 80 Years of publishing this magazine this year and recently launched a new section on their website entitled “Our State Eats.”  This was the first recipe in this new series that we re-created for them and it was first published on their website in May, 2013.

The magazine originally was published, back in the 50’s as “The State” and, the name was changed many years later to “Our State.”  When I was asked to submit  several recipes, I suggested we try to find the first one ever published by the magazine and try to re-create it.  Sadly, we didn’t find the very first one but, we did find this one for Dolphin Fish that was listed under the heading, “Knife & Fork” written by Aycock Brown.  It appeared in the May 15, 1967 issue of The State.

In the original article, Mr. Brown stated that “back in the days of sail, mariners were superstitious about eating dolphin.”  Seems they thought it might even be poisonous to humans back then.  He also says dolphin were seldom used for food when caught off the Dare Coast-Outer Banks in the late 20’s and early 30’s.  But, he says, in recent years, most anglers take their dolphin home with them.  “Any left aboard the boat from which they were caught, skippers and their mates offer the fish for sale.”

Remember now, this is back in 1967.  “The going price,” according to Mr. Brown, “is 1.00 per pound, or that is what Capt. Buddy Canady and his mate Johnny Booth were offering (and getting) for the fish they were dressing on the Oregon Inlet Fishing Center docks one day.   I really liked that he had put “and getting” in quotes which, to me, implied that even he thought that was a lot of money but, they were still getting 1.00 per pound for the dressed fillets.

Dolphin fish, or Mahi-Mahi as we know it these days, has certainly come a long way since then.  What I purchased to make this step-by-step, photo illustrated recipe, was selling fresh for 11.99 per pound this week.  I wonder what Mr. Brown would think of those prices?  Still, dolphin fillets make for some mighty good eating and I hope you’ll give this old recipe a try.  I didn’t change a thing in the recipe that was printed back then and, you’ll find that below.  I did however, adjust the portions as I prepared the recipe since I was only making what you see here.  It turned out fabulous in my opinion and I highly suggest you give it a try.  I hope you enjoy it.  Ready?  Let’s Get Cooking.

Mahi-Mahi with Macadamia Nut Sauce Recipe:  You’ll need these ingredients.

We’ll begin by making the Macadamia Nut Sauce first.   Chop up the parsley, enough to make one Tablespoon.

I’m using my favorite cast iron skillet to melt the butter.  Place it in the skillet over medium-low heat as anything higher might burn the butter.

Add the chopped nuts and stir well, allowing the nuts to brown slightly in the butter.

Add the parsley.

Continue to stir the mixture and let it brown for about one minute more.  Just be careful and don’t let the butter burn.

Place the Macadamia Nut Sauce in a small bowl, set it aside and keep it warm.  So far… so good.

We’ve got skin on fillets and we need to remove that skin.  You’ll need a good sharp fillet knife for this.

Use your knife to cut a portion of the meat away from the skin, enough to get a good grasp on the skin itself.

A paper towel will help you hold the skin as you slide the fillet knife under the meat.  Fillet knives are very flexible.  Press down on the handle and get a bit of a curve in the blade to help you slide the knife under the meat and along the skin to cut the skin away from the flesh.

Just slide the knife all the way along the length of the fish and cut away the skin.  You can probably even get your fish monger to do this for you if prefer.

Cut the fish into good serving size portions.

Sprinkle a little salt to taste on each portion of the fillets.

Then, sprinkle each fillet with a little Black Pepper.

Melt 1/4 cup of the Butter in your microwave then, add in the Lemon juice.

Stir the Lemon juice and melted Butter together.

Generously grease the bottom of a foil lined pan and place the fillets on top.  The original story called for using a broiler pan.  I didn’t have one so I’m using a pan lined with aluminum foil.

Brush the tops with the Butter and Lemon juice mixture.

Once both sides are brushed with the Butter and Lemon juice mixture, we’re ready for the broiler.  I suggest you place the fish portions meat side down first to broil them.  Your oven rack should be at it’s highest position so the fillets are about 3 inches from the source of heat.  The fillets need to broil for about 4 to 5 minutes on the first side.

After 4-5 minutes, carefully flip the fillet over in the pan.

Brush the other side with some of the Butter mixture.

Plate the fillets, top with some of the Macadamia Nut Sauce, serve warm and… Enjoy!

Follow step-by-step, photo illustrated instructions on how to prepare our Pan Fried Brook Trout Recipe. We’re using this popular game fish in our recipe, but it’s easily adaptable to a variety of other fish as well. Pull out that cast iron skillet, a little lard, and let’s cook up a mess of fish. Full printable recipe included.

Pan Fried Brook Trout:

When asked if I could do a recipe in keeping with the theme of the Mountain Issue of Our State Magazine, I thought I could probably pull it off without much problem.  Just exactly what would make a good “mountain” recipe was the question.  And then, it was suggested that I might prefer to do one based on Brook Trout, as the Mountain Issue would also contain a story about those.  How hard could a fish recipe be?

Brook Trout are considered game fish.  That means, you can’t just run out to the store and buy them. You have to catch them.  I love to fish, but there are lots of rules, regulations, and sometimes special permits needed in order to fish for Brook Trout.  So much for that.

As it turned out, my brother and I were headed to the mountains that very weekend to deliver one of the pig cookers he sells.  We were headed over to Tennessee and I thought surely I’d be able to talk with someone along the way that could clue me in on a good mountain type recipe. During the ride, I told my brother how much I had hoped to do a recipe involving the trout, but since we wouldn’t be able to catch any on our own, I needed to find some other type of recipe to prepare for the magazines website.

Five hours away from home, we reached our destination and delivered the cooker.  We always get into various conversations about cooking with the new pig cooker owner on these trips, and we always have a lot of fun meeting and talking with the customers.

As we were about to leave, I asked the lady of the house if she knew of anything in particular that I might be able to use as a mountain recipe. Her eyes immediately lit up as she started telling me about a very special dish that her grandmother always made for her as a child.  It wasn’t about fish though, it was for Cornbread and Eggs.

I mentioned that I had really hoped to do a recipe using Brook Trout, but had to abandon the idea because I couldn’t buy trout. Her eyes lit up again and a big smile came across her face.  Without hesitation, she says, “I’ve got a couple right here in the freezer you can have.”

Turns out her whole family enjoys hunting and fishing and she had a few Brook Trout leftover from a recent camping trip.

Needless to say, my brother and I both were flabbergasted with her offer.  She handed me three foil wrapped pieces of fish and told me how her family enjoyed cooking them around the camp fire.

Grinning from ear to ear, I told her she had just “made my day.”  We thanked her a few more times and then loaded up for the five hour ride back home… with Brook Trout.  I was so thankful for my blessing of three simple fish that day and not only did I have the trout, I also had two new recipes to prepare.

I decided to pan fry the Brook Trout. It’s fairly easy and I do hope you’ll give it a try.  If you don’t get the chance to fish for your own Brook Trout, I hope someone might be generous enough to share some with you as well.  Until then, grab some Whiting, Tilapia, or another great fish and Let’s Get Cooking!

Pan Fried Brook Trout Recipe:  You’ll need these ingredients.

Since Brook Trout are game fish, you can’t buy them in a store or from your local fish monger.   You’ll have to catch your own or hope someone shares some of theirs with you.  Here’s a picture of the three trout that I was given.  They were securely wrapped in aluminum foil and already frozen, but we had about a 5 hour trip to get back home.

My brother had a newspaper in his truck and promised me they would make it home just fine if we wrapped them up in newspaper.  He wrapped about 5 individual sheets of the paper around the fish and then wrapped that in the remaining pages.  Just over five hours later, my brother eagerly unwrapped them himself, just to see how well they had made the journey.  Sure enough, they had just started to thaw by the time I got home.  I promptly popped them back in the freezer until I could get the chance to cook them.

This is what I had when I unwrapped the foil packs.  The Brook Trout had already been cleaned and skinned.  I placed them back in the refrigerator for a couple of hours to let them thaw out properly. Most Brook Trout are fairly small but the North Carolina record for the largest one caught was recorded at 7lbs. 7ozs. and has held since 1980.

We’re going to coat the trout lightly with a breader mix.  Use a pan or bowl large enough to place the fish in so you don’t mess up another item that you’ll have to wash later.  Begin by placing the corn meal in the bowl.

Next, add the flour.

Add the Lemon-Pepper.

Add the salt.

Add just a dash or two of Cayenne Pepper.  We want to get the flavor of the fish and not a bunch of heat, use it sparingly.

Grab a fork or whisk and mix all the dry ingredients together.

Gently rinse the fish, inside and out, under cold running water.

Pat each one dry with a cloth or a paper towel.

A lot of folks wonder why you would want to even eat trout this small because of all the bones.  You can debone the larger one’s, but we’re cooking these with the bones still in them.  Hopefully, if we do it right, you’ll be able to easily remove most of the bones after the fish are cooked.  Stay with me.

Place the trout in your breading mix.

Coat the outside of the fish with a good layer of breader.  Don’t bother trying to get the mix inside of the fish, it probably wouldn’t cook very well since we’re not deep frying the fish.

Lift the fish up out of the bowl and gently shake off any excess flour mixture.  We’re using just a very light coating with this recipe.

Place the coated pieces on a plate and set aside for a few minutes.  Let them rest while you heat up that skillet.

Add a couple of Tablespoons of good old Lard to your skillet.  Or, just a light layer of cooking oil.  I’ve set the heat to just a notch below Medium on my stove, yours may vary.  Let the oil heat up until it’s ready for frying.

When the oil appears to be hot, drop a pinch of the breading mix in the pan.  If it sort of sizzles and dances around, the oil should be hot enough for frying.  You don’t want it too hot though, and it can certainly get too hot with just a small amount of oil in the pan.  Reduce the heat if the breading goes really crazy in the pan.

Some folks also place just a single drop of water in the pan to see if the oil is hot.  The problem with this method is that it pops all over the place when the oil gets hot.  Still, the old timers used it and you can too with a little practice.  Just one drop from the tip of your finger should be enough for the oil to “talk to you,” when it’s hot.  It will also dance and sizzle across the surface if the oil is hot enough.  Just don’t let it pop out of the pan and on you.  It can burn your skin easily.

Carefully place the fish pieces into the skillet.  I’ve only got two pieces to begin with, but if you had more you could add them, just don’t overcrowd the pan.

It will probably take 8-12 minutes total for whole fish to cook.  If the fish had been butterflied open and filleted, they would cook a bit faster.  After they have cooked for about 2-3 minutes, carefully flip them over with a fork or spatula.

Don’t be afraid to flip them several times during the frying process.  You certainly don’t want them to burn and by flipping them every couple of minutes, you can keep a close eye on them.

If the fish start to curl or bow up a bit, the pan is probably too hot.  Reduce the temperature and let them continue to cook.

You should start seeing some bubbles under the skin of the fish when they are done.  If you look closely, you can see where a couple have popped up right at the corner where I’m holding the spatula.  It would be more visible if the trout hadn’t been skinned to begin with.  If in doubt, use a fork to see if you can flake up a bit of the fish from one of the sides.

Don’t go making fun of my spatula.  I picked it up at the local auction I visit and I love it.  It works really well for flipping eggs when I cook them in the cast iron skillet.  I think I paid a dollar for it.  Well worth the price.

When the fish are done, remove them from the pan, and place them on a couple of layers of paper towels to drain for a few minutes before plating them up for serving.

Now, about those bones.  You should be able to easily use a fork to flake the meat away from the bones.  Just gently pull the meat away and to the side of your plate.  You’ll more than likely be able to remove the spine and most of the bones in one piece.  Still, it is fish and you should always be careful about finding bones.  I highly suggest that you carefully pick through it if serving it to smaller children.

I do hope you get a chance to enjoy some of our mountain area Brook Trout.  Despite all the rules and regulations, getting out and catching a few fish is always a good day.  And if you can’t, you’ll find some great trout and other fish at your local grocery store that you can use this recipe with.

I’d love to hear your thoughts and memories about Brook Trout.  I’ll be waiting to hear from you in the Comment Section below.  Special thanks to the “W” family for sharing of their bounty and providing the fish for this recipe.

Enjoy!

Follow step-by-step, photo illustrated instructions for making this Shrimp Po’ Boy Sandwich. We’ll show you how to make your own seafood breader, how to deep fry the shrimp, and how to assemble this quick and easy sandwich. Bring the taste of the coast right to your table. Printable recipe included.

Shrimp Po’ Boy Sandwich Recipe:

Whether you call it a “Poor Boy,” or a “Po’ Boy,” this sandwich just hits the spot when you’re in the mood for a little bit of seafood, but not ready for a big full plate of fried goodness. Yes, we like our seafood here in North Carolina, and we usually get a generous portion on the plate when eating out at a good seafood restaurant.

But, sometimes you’re just not ready for one of those big platters of “lightly fried and lightly battered” oysters, shrimp, fish, deviled crab, scallops, and clam strips. Yep, you can get all of it on one big platter from most any true seafood restaurant across the state. They’ll even add french fries or baked potato, Cole slaw and a basket of hush puppies, just in case you’re hungry. How in the world do we eat it all?

Years back, we offered a “Captain’s Platter” at my brothers seafood restaurant, and it included ALL of the above mentioned items. It was one of our most popular dishes and it contained a LOT of fried seafood. Sadly, you could get all of that back then, for what I paid for one pound of shrimp just a few days ago. My, how times do change.

Most folks in North Carolina seem to get a craving for seafood on Friday night. It’s become tradition to gather with family and friends, and make a trek to a local favorite seafood restaurant each week on that night.

Of course, the decor has to include fish netting, big ropes, pegged leg fishermen sculpted from wood, ships steering wheels, and more often than not, some plastic seagulls or fish on the walls. You know you’re in a good place, when the waitress brings a pitcher of iced tea to the table for the group. She can probably call you by first name as well, because you eat there each and every Friday night.

But again, when you’re not up to all that food, perhaps our Shrimp Po’ Boy will tame that hunger for a taste of the sea.

I’m not sure why it even comes packed between two huge pieces of bread. It’s practically impossible to pick up and eat it the way it’s prepared. Even if you could get it in your mouth, it’s probably going to fall apart when you lift it to try. You’ll also need a fork.

It’s likely you might balk at my use of Lard to fry the shrimp in. To me though, it’s the ONLY way to fry seafood. We use to get 50 pound boxes of lard in the restaurant. They were messy, but it’s what gave our food such great flavor. I can still recall the cardboard boxes and those blue colored plastic bags inside, filled with snow white lard. There was always a greasy spot somewhere on the box from how it was packaged.

Lard also forces you to get your food out to the tables really fast. It had to be served piping hot. If the fried food started to cool, the seafood would start to taste greasy. You most certainly didn’t want that.

I’ve said it before, working at that seafood restaurant was some of the hardest work I’ve ever done. It was always hot in the kitchen, the days were long, and trying to feed 500 plus customers in just a few hours, could bring up some strong tension in the kitchen.

While I can’t giveaway any secret family recipes here, I do hope you’ll try our Shrimp Po’ Boy sandwich recipe. It’s pretty quick and easy, and something all the family should enjoy. I’m making a simple seafood breader, but you can most certainly use any of the ready made breaders on the market to make the recipe even easier. North Carolina is blessed with several companies that provide seafood breaders, hushpuppy mixes and more. I hope you’ll try a few of them along the way.

Ready to taste some of the bounty of the sea? Alright then… Let’s Get Cooking!

Shrimp Po’ Boy Sandwich: You’ll need these ingredients.

The above ingredients will be used to make the seafood breader, and to fry the shrimp.  You’ll need some type of oil for frying, and of course a loaf of French Bread. Toppings to “dress” the sandwich typically include, tomatoes, lettuce, and pickles or onions. Tartar sauce is often used as well.

To Make The Seafood Breader: Start with a good size mixing bowl. Add the flour.

Add the Corn Meal. We’re using House-Autry brand Yellow Corn Meal.

House-Autry also makes a complete Seafood Breader that you could use if desired, but we’re making this one from scratch. You can easily adjust the seasonings in this breader to your own personal preference. Go ahead, make it your own.

Add the Salt

Add the Black Pepper.

Add the Onion Powder.

Use a fork, and stir the dry ingredients together really well.

Jumbo shrimp may need to be peeled, de-veined and rinsed. Smaller popcorn shrimp are most often used to make this sandwich. Just make sure you rinse either well under cold running water. Drain them for a minute or two, then place them in a bowl.  Add the Evaporated Milk. You just need enough milk to be able to fully coat all of the shrimp you’re intending to use.

Toss the shrimp around in the milk, making sure you get each one fully coated with milk. Set aside until ready to fry. It’s best if the shrimp are at about room temperature before you apply the breader and fry them.

If you don’t have an electric deep fat fryer, a medium size sauce pot will work. You just need to be extra cautious when doing so to prevent any fires or damage. Here, I’m adding Lard to the sauce pot. We always used Lard when frying shrimp in the Seafood Restaurant. You’ll need enough to have about 3 to 4 inches of oil in the pot once it melts down. Place the pot over Medium heat and use a thermometer to let the heat rise to 375ºF for frying.

When the lard is melted and up to temperature, stir the shrimp in the milk once again. Then, lightly shake off any excess milk and drop the shrimp into the breader.

Toss the shrimp around in the breader, making sure each one is fully coated with the breading mix.

Shake off any excess breader from each shrimp.

Place the coated shrimp on a single layer in a plate until the oil is hot enough for frying.

When the lard has melted and reached a temperature of 375ºF, carefully drop the shrimp into the oil. Be careful, it might splatter.

Using a slotted spoon, stir the shrimp around a bit to keep them separated. The shrimp will only need to cook for about 1 to 2 minutes, or until they are a light golden brown in color. The shrimp will float to the top of the oil when they are done, which doesn’t take very long depending on the size of shrimp being used. Most of the time is spent letting them get that golden color. Just don’t let them overcook, or they will be tough and chewy.

When lightly brown, use the slotted spoon to remove the cooked shrimp from the hot oil. Place them on a wire rack if you have one that doesn’t let them fall through, or place them on a brown paper grocery bag to let them drain. Placing them on paper towels will take away some of the crispiness of the cooked shrimp.

Assemble the sandwich: Now, let’s put it all together. Cut your bread to the desired length, then split it open. You can leave it hinged on one side if you like, but chances are the sandwich will be so full it will break open anyway.

Spread on a thick layer of Tartar Sauce. You can make your own with this recipe from Duke’s Mayonnaise. Just click HERE and do a search on their website for Tartar Sauce. Good stuff.

Place a generous layer of fried shrimp on top of the Tartar Sauce. It isn’t a good Po’ Boy unless it’s running over with shrimp.

Add some Tomato slices. I personally like the little Roma Tomatoes. They’re perfect for small slices on our Shrimp Po’ Boy.

Add a little shredded Lettuce.

Red Onion slices are then placed on top. They’re optional of course, just use what makes you happy.

Serve this Shrimp Po’ Boy while still warm, and Enjoy!

Follow our easy, step-by-step, photo illustrated recipe to make this delicious Clam Chowder. We’re using fresh clams, and we’ll show you how to clean them, and how to prepare them, then turn it into a really hearty clam chowder you can enjoy anytime of the year. Using fresh clams will be easier than you might think. Printable recipe included.

Fresh Clam Chowder Recipe:

Clam Chowder made with fresh clams. Either you love it… or you don’t. Some folks might be a bit finicky about eating shellfish, some might not really like the taste, but most of us… LOVE IT. I hope you will too.

This is not one of those old Southern favorites that I grew up with. Mama never made Clam Chowder that I recall. I was probably a married man before I ever tasted it myself, but I liked it from the get go.

Chowder is a great dish to serve on a cold evening when you need something to warm up the insides. But, it’s a great dish all year around, probably because it reminds us land lovers of those all too infrequent trips down to the beach.

You’ll often find it served as an appetizer soup dish before a big meal of fried shrimp, oysters and fish. We have a good number of seafood restaurants here in North Carolina, and most of them feature Clam Chowder on their menu.

We served it at Captain Gordon’s, my older brothers seafood restaurant many years back. I do hate to admit it now, but what we served came out of a can that we always added milk and a few other ingredients to help boost the flavor. Customers seemed to have liked it though, especially with our Captains Platter which we served up for two. Two bowls of clam chowder, and a great big plate piled high with lightly fried fish, shrimp, oysters, clam strips, and two deviled crab. It was a big meal to be shared by two people, and we sold a bunch of them.

For Clam Chowder with FRESH clams, we had to be near the beaches of Carolina. What is it about going to the coast and having to eat seafood?

I’m using fresh clams for this recipe. If they aren’t readily available for you, you can certainly substitute frozen or canned. You’ll lose a bit of the “experience” of working with fresh clams, but you’ll still end up with a very tasty chowder.

There’s a roadside market about 20 miles down the road from me, that sells fresh seafood from the coast each weekend. They bring it up from their shop in Wilmington, NC each Friday around noon, and sell that evening, and all day on Saturday. What’s leftover, is reduced in price a bit on Sunday, and sold until they sell out. They have a good reputation, and I’ve made several trips down that way for fresh seafood.

The clams in this recipe are littleneck clams from Sneads Ferry, NC.

Fresh clams are much easier to work with than you probably think they will be. The main thing is to handle them properly, keep them cool, and store them properly to keep them alive. Unlike the Blue Crab that I used to make the Crab Annie pasta recipe here on Taste of Southern, clams don’t have much of a personality. They just hide in their shells, like oysters. (You’ll have to see the Crab Annie recipe for more about my being entertained by fresh Blue Crab.)

In the steps below, I’ll show you how to “purge” the clams, to remove any excess sand that might be inside those shells. You don’t want that in your chowder, or any other recipe that might call for fresh clams. It’s not complicated, but does take about an hour to accomplish. If you’re not using fresh clams, the overall time to complete this recipe will be shorter.

Salt Pork was my seasoning of choice. Bacon could be used, but I didn’t want that smokey taste in my chowder. It added to the overall saltiness of the chowder, so let me just warn you now to taste your chowder BEFORE you even THINK about adding additional salt.

So, if you’re excited about making Clam Chowder from scratch, let’s get everything setup in the kitchen and… Let’s Get Cooking!

Clam Chowder Recipe: You’ll need these ingredients… plus a few more clams.

(In case you’re wondering, those are cucumbers in brine underneath the green cloth. I’m working on another batch of pickles with mama’s old recipe.)

Actually, you’ll need about 50 clams of medium-to-large size.

Fresh clams can be kept in the refrigerator for 2-3 days if you do it properly. These came in a plastic bag, which I was told needed to be left open at the top before placing them in the refrigerator. I knew I’d be using them the next day, so I just placed this bag inside of a sheet cake pan, and placed it in the fridge.

The next day, I placed the fresh clams in my sink. You need to carefully inspect each one to be sure you toss out any bad one’s . If they are chipped, cracked, or broken, they need to be tossed. If they are open, and do not close when tapped gently on the shell, they are dead and need to be tossed as well.

It’s very important when handling shellfish, that you store them properly, and that you remove any that might be in question. As the old saying goes “If in doubt… throw it out.” Better safe than sorry.

Here, I’m looking at the edges of each clam, to make sure they are closed tightly and without any broken places, cracks, or chips. I must say, these were in excellent shape. I only tossed one out of the bag of 50.

It’s also a good idea to “purge” the clams, to remove any sand that might be inside of them. Clams live in mud, and they pull sand inside their shells as they breathe. Just as you want to clean them on the outside, it’s also best to clean them on the inside.

Because I had 50 of them, I placed the clams in my sink and covered them with cold water straight from the faucet. Then, I added about 1/3 cup of salt to the water. Some folks even add about the same amount of cornmeal to the water.

Let the clams sit in this salt water for about 30 minutes. Hopefully, all the clams will take in the fresh water, and spit out any sand, so it doesn’t end up in your chowder. The idea behind the cornmeal is that the clams would take that inside their shell, then they would spit it back out, sending any sand out along with the corn meal. I opted to just add the salt.

After 30 minutes, DRAIN the water off the clams, and REPEAT the process at least one more time.

After you’ve purged them twice, drain off the water and start scrubbing each clam. You can rinse them off with just your hands, or use a vegetable brush to help remove any dirt from the shells. I did this under cold running water, then placed the cleaned clams in a separate bowl.

At this point, the clams have been given time to purge themselves of any sand, and have been fully scrubbed clean on the outside. Again, I was inspecting each one, looking for chips, cracks, or broken shells that needed to be tossed out. All of the clams were closed tight, so they went back in the refrigerator, uncovered, until I could get the other items prepped for the recipe.

When ready to make the chowder, begin by steaming the clams.

Place the clams in a large sauce pot, and add about a cup and a half of water. I really should have done this in two batches, and I’ll explain why in just a moment.

Place the stock pot on your stove top, and set the heat for Medium-High. Cover the pot and let it quickly come up to a rolling boil. The clams need to cook for about 8-10 minutes, or until the shells begin to pop open.

If you give them enough room, the clams will really pop open this much when they are done. If they only open part of the way, let them cook a bit longer. If they don’t fully open, those need to be discarded. Only one of mine failed to fully open like this one in the picture, so I tossed it.

The clams really needed more room than what they had in this pot. That’s why I say they should have been cooked in at least two separate batches. The one’s on the bottom were popping open much sooner than the ones on top, and by the time I realized this, they were starting to cook a bit too long. If they overcook, they will be tough, and you don’t want that to happen.

Stir them around a bit, looking for the one’s that have popped open,those need to be removed immediately. I used tongs to lift them out of the water. Don’t worry about any liquid in the shells, just pour it off into the pot.

Work as quickly as possible, removing open clams as you see them.

Place a colander over a bowl, and place the open clams in the colander as you remove them from the pot. You want to save as much of the liquid as you can and let the cooked clams cool. Can you see how they are all wide open?

Remove the sauce pot and the liquid from the stove top. Set it aside and let it cool. DO NOT THROW THE LIQUID AWAY.

As the clams cook enough to handle them, scoop out the meat from inside and place it in another small bowl. Do this carefully, because their could still be some sand inside the shell. You’ll also want to keep any liquid that might be inside the shell.

I just pulled the meat out with my fingers. Once the shell pops open, the meat is fairly easy to remove. You could also use a spoon or butter knife to scoop out the meat.

Here’s a little sand that was left inside one of the clams. I saw it before I dumped it into the bowl, so I was able to pour it out. Amazingly, this was the only one that I found in the whole batch.

I did find about two pieces of clam meat that had this black sand on them. I just gave them a quick rinse under some cold water and washed it away. You don’t want that going into the chowder.

As you remove the main body of the clam, you’ll probably notice a small cylinder shaped piece of meat still clinging to the shell. Don’t toss it away, use your fingers to pull it away from the shell, or use a knife to scoop it out. These little nuggets of sweet meat are a bit chewy but tasty. There isn’t much meat inside the clam shell to begin with, so save all that you can. I found myself sampling more than one of these little nuggets as I cleaned out the clams.

Not a lot of meat for the effort is it?  But, between the meat and the liquid in the pot, we’ll get plenty of that good clam flavor in our chowder.

The meat needs to be refrigerated until ready to go into the chowder. I decided to chop them up first though.

You’ll need a good sharp knife to chop them with. Spread them out on a cutting board, and chop them up into very small pieces. I chopped these a bit more after taking this picture. We will not add the clam pieces until the very end of the recipe, so place them back in the refrigerator until you’re ready to use them. If you think it will be awhile, you might want to cover them to keep them from drying out and getting tough.

Let’s get started with making the chowder.

You’ll need about 4 ounces of salt pork. Cube it up into very small pieces.

Place the cubes of salt pork in a large sauce pot, one large enough to make lots of clam chowder. Set the heat to Medium, and continue to stir the pork as it begins to lightly brown. This section of pork was pretty meaty, so there wasn’t much fat that rendered out from it while it cooked.

If you’re using some with more fat, you might want to drain off some of the fat once it has lightly browned. Too much fat will make the chowder a bit greasy once it’s finished. A Tablespoon or two of liquid fat is about all you’ll need.

Keep an eye on the salt pork and don’t let it burn. Then, while it’s cooking, go ahead and dice up the onion.

Add the onions to the sauce pot.

Cook the onions until they are tender, and slightly translucent. Keep stirring them around, and don’t let the pork pieces get all dried out.

Dice the potatoes into small pieces. Some folks use bigger chunks, but I like the smaller diced potatoes in my chowders.

Add the diced potatoes to the pot.

This is the broth from the pot where I steamed the clams. I poured it all into this bowl and have let it cool. Now we need to drain off the good parts, and leave any sediment that might have settled to the bottom at the bottom of the bowl.

Carefully pour the liquid into a measuring cup or another bowl. Do this carefully, and leave any sediment in the bowl. It’s best to do this over another bowl as opposed to doing it directly into the pot with the potatoes. That way, if you slip a bit, you don’t end up with the sediment mixed in with your chowder. There wasn’t a lot, as you can see.

Pour the broth into the sauce pot. You need enough liquid to fully cover the potatoes. If the broth isn’t enough, just add water as needed.

Let the mixture simmer just below Medium heat, until the potatoes are tender. You don’t want this at a rolling boil, just a slow simmer. With the potatoes diced as small as they are, it will only take about 15 minutes for them to fully cook. Just taste one to see if it’s as soft as you’d like.

At this point, I thought about getting out the Immersion Blender and running it around inside the pot for a few seconds. I thought this might make the chowder a little creamier, which it might would. Talked myself out of it though.

Add the Texas Pete Hot Sauce. This is just for a little flavor. We’re not using enough of the hot sauce to actually make the chowder “hot.” Normally, we’ll serve up extra alongside the bowl of chowder.

Add the whole milk.

Add the can of Evaporated Milk.

You could add Half-n-Half if you have that on hand. The evaporated milk is much cheaper in my area though. The milk adds to the texture of the chowder, with the whole milk basically just adding bulk, and the evaporated making it a little creamier.

Stir the milk in well, and bring it almost to the point of a low boil. Do this slowly, so the milk doesn’t “break.” You really don’t want to let this boil at all. Keep stirring, especially down to the bottom, and let it simmer on low for about 5 minutes or until good and warm.

You’ll also need to taste the chowder at this point to see if it needs any additional salt. I seriously doubt that you will, but taste it just in case. You could also add some Black Pepper if desired.

I must admit, my chowder was a bit on the salty side. I hadn’t added any actual salt to the mixture, but the combination of the Salt Pork and the brine from the clams, made it a bit salty. You could dilute the chowder a bit more by adding more whole milk if this happens to you. Just be sure to taste it before you even attempt to add additional salt. You can thank me later.

Once the milk is warm, add the unsalted butter and the chopped clams. The clams are already cooked of course, and they don’t need to actually cook any longer. Just let the butter melt, stir everything together well, and you’ll be almost ready to serve.

If you prefer a thicker chowder, crush up some oyster crackers and stir them into the mix. I placed about a cup of the crackers in a ziploc type bag and crushed them up before adding them to the pot. Stir them around real good and they’ll blend in well.

Serve warm and Enjoy!

Follow our step-by-step, photo illustrated recipe for making this delicious Shrimp Creole recipe from the Brewton Inn in Charleston, South Carolina. We’ve teamed up with FoodSaver, the #1 Vacuum Sealing System to test out their newest product addition. Printable recipe included.

Shrimp Creole recipe.

This week, I’ve got the pleasure to work with a new company to bring you this great Shrimp Creole recipe, adapted from the cookbook “Charleston Receipts.”

“Charleston Receipts,” is a collection of recipes published by The Junior League of Charleston, South Carolina. Originally published in 1950, the cookbook has seen at least 18 additional printings since that time, and is one of the many favorites in my cookbook collection.

I always enjoy visits to the Charleston area, and was actually down there this past Tuesday for a quick visit. I even enjoyed some shrimp for dinner.

Several weeks back, I was invited by the fine folks at FoodSaver, to receive, test and review the newest vacuum sealer to their lineup of great products. The FoodSaver FM5000.

I received the product free of charge, and was asked to freeze an item for approximately 30 days, then use that item in a recipe of my choice. The purpose was to test how well the new FoodSaver FM5000 Vacuum Sealer would keep my selected food product fresh.

Naturally, I jumped at the chance.

In the recipe below, I’ll introduce you to the new FoodSaver FM5000 itself, and share the complete recipe for making your very own Shrimp Creole at home.

I selected this recipe because I enjoy seafood for one thing, but also because we have been getting fresh North Carolina “green tail” shrimp recently. Green tails, or “white” shrimp, are only available around here during the fall months, and the season for them usually ends towards the end of November.

So, getting the chance to purchase some of these slightly sweeter shrimp, and store them long term, was something worth pursuing. You’ve got to get them while you can.

Ready for some Shrimp Creole? Ready to check out the new FoodSaver FM5000?  Alright then, let’s get in the kitchen and… Let’s Get Cooking!

FoodSaver FM5000

This is the unit that I received to test and review. Sweet huh?

Admittedly, it was a little larger than I thought it might be, which was a concern for me in my small kitchen. But, with all the features on this unit, it’s quickly gained the counter space and will remain out for every day use.  The units measurements are these: 16.23”L x 7.80”W x 7.41”H, a little bigger than a long 4 slot toaster, but much more versatile.

Even before I received the unit, I had ventured over to the FoodSaver website and looked it up. They have lots of great photos, much better than mine, and lots of videos to explain how it works and how to use it. I was getting excited about receiving my very own, and thankfully it was shipped right out to me.

My best suggestion is for you to visit their website and see the many photos, videos and all the other specifics about this FoodSaver 5000 unit for yourself. That way, you can quickly learn more about it, and maybe decide that you’d like to have one as well.

Here’s the link:  FoodSaver FM5000

One of the really neat features of the FoodSaver FM5000 is how easy it is to load the Vacuum Seal Roll. It goes in from either side, and it’s always visible so you can see if you’re running low.

Of course, the rolls are just ONE of the ways you can seal with this unit. With the rolls, you can pull out as long a bag as you need, so storing those big fish you catch, is super easy.

The unit also comes with a variety of sizes of ready made bags. Save the roll for the bigger items, use the bags for the smaller.

I want go into all the details here, but basically you seal the open end of the roll, pull out all you need, then use the convenient built in cutter that slides easily through the plastic to make the size bag you need for what you intend to freeze. Now you’ve got an open end to insert the food product, and you’ll vacuum seal the bag and heat seal it for fast and easy freezer storage.

Fresh off the boat, North Carolina green tail shrimp.

I purchased these from a roadside seafood market that’s just down the road from me. Every weekend, they bring all types of fresh seafood up from the coast of Wilmington, North Carolina.

I placed the shrimp in my colander, and gave them a quick rinse under some cold running water.

Next, I placed them on this small sheet pan. I’m going to stick them in the freezer just like this for about an hour. I want that little coat of water to freeze on the shrimp, then I’m going to place them in the FoodSaver bag to vacuum seal them for the next 30 days.

The little bit of ice will also help keep them fresh. Here they are after an hour or so, ready to go into the FoodSaver FM5000 bag.

I opted to use one of the ready made bags for this. I just placed the frozen shrimp in the bag, then placed the open end of the bag in the slot to vacuum seal them. What’s really nice about this unit, is they have a window where you can actually see that the end of the bag is in the right place that it needs to be to insure a proper seal.

Holding the bag in place, you press the Vacuum and Seal Bar, and the unit automatically begins. The bar locks down on the bag, and the vacuum process begins, quickly pulling all of the air out of the bag. Once the air is removed, the bar then heat seals the end of the bag. In less than 30 seconds, I had sealed these shrimp in an airtight bag, ready to go back into the freezer.

It’s not necessary to pre-freeze most food items when using the FoodSaver FM5000. I just did this because they were wet, and you don’t want liquids getting sucked into the pump as it removes air from the bag.

Here’s a closer look at the sealed end of the bag.

Now, I’m going to pop this bag in the freezer, and in about 30 days, I’ll pull them back out to use in the recipe for Shrimp Creole.

This is another feature of the FoodSaver FM5000. 

It has this retractable handheld sealer that you can pull out to seal some of the specialty products made by FoodSaver. They have created zip-lock style bags, and a line of plastic storage containers that can also be vacuum sealed.

With the zip-lock bags, you can open a bag, remove as much product as you need, zip the bag closed, then vacuum seal it AGAIN. How cool is that.

They also have various sizes of plastic containers with closures on top. Place the retractable handheld sealer over that, then vacuum the air out of the container. Like the zip-lock bags, they are reuseable as well.

Think about all the leftovers you place in the refrigerator each day. What if you could vacuum seal them before storing them for the next day or two. Well, now you can.

The containers are also a great way to marinate food items for the grill. Super fast.

It also comes with this jar sealer.

Although I haven’t tried it yet, I’m really looking forward to seeing how this works.

I’ve recently started storing dry beans, pasta, oatmeal and some other items inside half gallon Mason Jars that I purchased at the local auction I attend. I love old jars for some reason. And, you should already know that I’m big on canning, so I do have lots of empty jars around most of the time.

While this can NOT be used for canning purposes, it CAN be used to vacuum seal your jars, to help keep the items inside fresh much, much longer.

As a matter of fact, FoodSaver claims that sealing food in their vacuum sealing units can keep food items fresh up to FIVE TIMES longer than just storing them in regular bags or containers. That just equals fresher food longer, less waste, and more money SAVED.

You’ll want to leave this kitchen tool out on the counter top for everyday use.

Shrimp Creole Recipe, you’ll need these ingredients.

OK, let’s get ready to cook some shrimp.

It’s been almost 30 days since we first froze our shrimp in the FoodSaver FM5000 Vacuum Sealing Unit, time to put it to the test and see what happens.

Here’s a photo of the fresh shrimp on the left, and right after I took them out of the sealed bag on the right. Looking good. I really should have let them thawed fully before taking the photo, but I got a bit ambitious I guess. After all, I’ve been waiting a month to cook this recipe.

Rinse your Bell Pepper and Celery stalks in cool running water.

Now, dice the bell pepper.

Dice the celery stalks.

Dice the onions. Yes, they always make me cry too.

Peel and devein the shrimp.

That’s a process we’ll save for another time. I purchased large headless shrimp that still had their outer shell, so I needed to peel and devein them first.

Place your skillet over Medium heat on your stove top, then add the Bacon grease. You do save your bacon grease don’t you? (Smile)

Add the diced onions.

Add the diced Bell Pepper and the diced Celery.

Stir this mixture often, and let it cook until the veggies are tender and the onions are translucent.

Add the tomatoes.

The old Charleston Receipts cookbook says to add a quart of tomatoes. I’m assuming this was based on the fact that many folks back then home canned their tomatoes for later use. Thus, the quart measurement.

I wasn’t that smart, so I just added a large can of crushed tomatoes.

Add the Sugar.

Add the Tomato Paste.

Stir everything together well.

Let this simmer gently over Medium-Low heat for about 30 minutes. The original recipe says until the sauce has thickened.

As a matter of personal preference, I think I would have preferred mine to be a little juicer at the end, but that’s just me. The tomatoes needed time to cook down some, but it did turn out fairly thick. Just saying.

At this point, you’ll want to taste the sauce to see how much salt and pepper you need to add.

Surprisingly, salt and pepper are the only spices called for in this recipe. It ended up having a fairly mild taste and although I don’t show it, I opted to add a little Old Bay Seasoning to the dish. I think that helped, for my tastes at least.

Add the shrimp.

I used the back of my spoon to gently press the shrimp down into the sauce until they were fully submerged.

The shrimp only need about 5 minutes to cook, so keep this in mind to do just a few minutes before serving the dish.

Enjoy!

Serve the Shrimp Creole warm, over a bed of rice, and dig in.

I must say, the shrimp tasted great, even after being in the freezer for weeks. I can’t wait to try this FoodSaver on some other items very soon.

The resealable zip-lock bags are going to be great for storing diced Bell Peppers too. Around here, one Bell Pepper can cost about 1.69 cents each during the winter months, whereas you can generally buy about 5 of them for one dollar during the summer from the Farmers Market. I buy them on sale, dice them up and freeze. Only in the past, they would always get ice crystals all in the bag. I don’t think that’s going to be the case from now on. Plus, I’ll save money. How cool is that? Winner! Winner!

Follow our complete, step-by-step, recipe to prepare, fry and assemble this Soft Shell Crab Sandwich. Call it a Po’Boy if you like, but there’s nothing poor about the flavor of a soft shell crab. It’s much easier to do than you might think.

Soft Shell Crab Sandwich Recipe

I must admit, I probably never even tried a soft shell crab sandwich until around 2013.

Despite the fact that my older brother operated a seafood restaurant for several years, and despite the fact that I managed the kitchen in that same restaurant, soft shell crabs just were not on the menu for us.

I must also admit, the first one I ever tried was absolutely terrible.  It was so greasy I just couldn’t finish it. I’ll not disclose the name of the restaurant, but it was in Delaware. No offense to anyone from Delaware. Smile.

I didn’t give up though. I had a really good one not many weeks later at a restaurant in the Northern part of the state of Virginia. I’ve loved them ever since.

We have Blue Crabs off the coast of North Carolina. You may have seen my recipe for Crab Annie that I posted here on Taste of Southern back in 2014. If not, I hope you’ll take a look.

I find Blue Crab to be amazing little creatures. Females can release up to TWO MILLION eggs at one time, but usually only spawn once, maybe twice in their lifetime.

In order to grow, they must shed their shell and form a new one which can happen as many as 25 times during their two to three year lifespan.

When it “molts,” or sheds it’s shell, the crab comes completely out of the old shell, claws and all. At this point, it’s referred to as a “soft-shell crab” and is considered to be a delicacy when they’re available. But, you have to get them before the new shell starts to harden within a day or two.

They can even “eject” one of their claws if trapped or caught, but they regrow it when they “molt” next time around. Fascinating or what?  You can learn more here: Blue Crabs in North Carolina.

I could go on, but I think you get the message. I kinda like them.

So, if you’re ready to give our Soft Shell Crab Sandwich a try, then let’s get in the kitchen, and… Let’s Get Cooking.

How To Make A Soft Shell Crab Sandwich: You’ll need these ingredients.

I’m using frozen soft shell crabs for this particular recipe as fresh one’s are not readily available for me. Fresh would be better, but sometimes you have to use what you have. Right?

The nice part about these though, is they have already been cleaned. That will save a little bit of time in the prep department.

We’ll start by making our mix for the breading or coating for the crab.

In a good sized mixing bowl, add the flour.

Add the yellow corn meal.

Add the salt.

Add the black pepper.

And if desired, add some Old Bay Seasoning.

You could also just add some of your other favorites like Paprika, Cayenne Pepper, maybe a little Garlic Powder. Make it your own.

Whisk all the dry ingredients together really good.

Don’t be afraid to taste the flour at this point. You’ll be able to tell if it has enough seasonings for your personal taste. If not, just add more of what you like the best. As we mentioned, just make it your own.

Set the breader aside for the moment.

Gently rinse the soft shell crabs under cool running water.

One of mine had already lost one of it’s main claws. They’re pretty delicate at this point, so handle them gently.

As I mentioned, these have already been cleaned as far as having the gills removed. You’ll also want to lift the shell and rinse underneath that. If you see any bits of gill left, you’ll want to remove them.

If you’re fortunate enough to have fresh soft shells, you’ll need to search out additional information on how to clean them if you don’t already know how.

You might also want to run a sharp pointed knife into the middle of the crab.

Crabs can store water in various pockets throughout their body that helps them to breathe and keep their gills moist. As long as the gills are moist, they can live out of water for long periods of time.

If you pierce the center of the crab, you can release any water that might be stored in the body.

Folks will often talk about how a crab will “pop” once it’s in the fryer. Since water and hot oil don’t get along very well, releasing this water in the crab will save you from getting big hot oil splatters while you’re frying them up.

Having said all that, we’re going to place the cleaned crabs in a bowl of water.

You’ll find lots of variations on marinating and soaking the crabs in milk, buttermilk, or a combination of the two. We’re not going to do either, we’ll just be using water.

Working with them one at a time, gently shake off the excess water as you remove one of the crabs.

Drop it into the seasoned flour mixture and coat it all over with the flour.

Gently shake off any excess flour as you carefully lift the crab.

I’m not showing it here, but quickly dip the flour coated crab back into the water. Shake it gently over the water bowl, then place it BACK into the flour.

Coat the crab in flour again, making sure you get a good coating on the claws and the body.

Shake it gently to remove any excess flour.

At this point, you can either place it in the hot oil, or just lay it on a plate until you’ve got them both coated good and ready for the fryer or frying pan.

I’m frying these in my cast iron skillet. If you have a deep fat fryer you can certainly use that.

I’ve placed about 1/2 inch of canola oil in my skillet and heated it up to the frying point. Once the oil gets hot, just sprinkle a bit of the flour into the oil. If it kind of dances and sizzles, the oil is hot enough for frying. Of course, it’s even better if you have a thermometer.

Gently lower the breaded soft shell crab into the hot oil. It’s going to splatter, so be careful. Use some tongs or a spatula and quickly separate the legs if they’re all bunched up. This will help them fry more evenly.

My pan was too hot when I fried the first one, but it was doing much better by the time I got the second one in.

They will only need about 3 minutes per side and they should be done.

Tongs work good for this part. Lift the crab by the body and when it’s golden brown on the bottom, flip it over. If you try to pick it up by a leg or claw, it might break off.

Fry the crab until it’s a nice golden brown on both sides.

Remove it from the skillet when done, and place it on a piece of brown paper bag to drain. Or, place it on a wire rack.

If you just lay it on a paper towel, it will not be as crispy when it’s time to eat it.

Let it drain while you prepare the bun.

Here’s one of my favorite ways to enjoy soft shell crab. Use either a sub roll, a section of French Bread, or whatever roll you prefer. There are many options for this part.

Spread the bottom with a layer of Tartar Sauce.

Add some slices of tomato.

I think Roma Tomatoes are just the right size for a sub roll.

Add a little shredded lettuce.

Add the fried soft shell crab.

You might even want to sprinkle a bit more salt and pepper on it at this point.

Enjoy!

This is a big sandwich. Just give me some crispy crinkle cut fries, a little ketchup on the side, and we’re good to go.

What’s your favorite way to enjoy soft shell crab?

Enjoy these delicious home made crab cakes that are made with imitation crab meat. Real crab meat is so expensive, but sometimes, you just want to enjoy the taste.

Crab meat can be expensive. As of today’s date (01.25.2020) Jumbo Lump Crab Meat is listed at 34.00 per pound in my area. That would be enough to make about 3-4 crab cakes, but it’s still mighty expensive in my book. Also, as of this date, I have yet to buy any to try and make home made crab cakes. It’s just too rich for my blood.

Having said that, I do love crab cakes. I’ve always wanted to be able to make them at home, I’ve just not been willing to invest that much into experimenting with them home made.

When I was making a lot of road trips, I had the pleasure to enjoy some great crab cakes up in Maryland. I’ve had crab cake from Faidley’s Seafood Market in Baltimore (Awesome), and I’ve had crab cakes more than once at G&M Restaurant in Linthicum Heights, Maryland. (also Awesome)

Yes, they were a bit pricey, but someone else was cooking them. I loved them and would love to have them again.

But, since Vertigo problems have kept me pretty much home bound for the past two years, road trips are out of the question. What’s a guy to do?

When one of the subscribers to the Newsletter shared a recipe for crab cakes that called for imitation crab meat, I decided to give it a try. They turned out great, and I was excited to at least get “close” to the sweet taste of what I’d had before. I did say close mind you. Smile.

So, Thank You to Fanica K., for sharing your recipe with me. I changed it only slightly because I ended up finishing mine off in the oven as opposed to frying them both sides on the stove top. I’ll explain that to you as we follow the recipe below.

I’ll make these again, and when I get it down pat, I might even try it with the real thing. Smile.

Ready to give our recipe a try? Alright then, let’s head on out to the kitchen, and… Let’s Get Cooking.

Imitation Crab Cakes Recipe – You’ll need these ingredients.

Crush the crackers. I placed about 12 buttery crackers in a ziplock type bag and crushed them up really well. I just worked these with my fingers, but you could use a rolling pin or heavy glass to help crush them if you prefer. Set these aside for the the moment.

You’ll also need to shred the packaged crab meat. Even though it says flaked on the package, you’ll probably find that it all comes out in one or two large lumps. You can either chop it up or pull it apart with your fingers. I used my fingers again.

Let me add that I left the meat in fairly large pieces. I think it would have been better to either pull it apart into smaller pieces or to even have chopped it up finer. A little texture is good, but the larger pieces didn’t hold together as well as I thought they should. It’s your choice of course. Smile.

Next, dice the onions into small pieces.

Crack the egg into a small bowl and lightly beat it with a fork.

Grab about a medium sized mixing bowl and place the crushed crackers in it.

Add the Duke’s Mayonnaise.

Add the lightly beaten egg.

Add the diced onion.

Use a fork to mix everything together well.

Add the imitation crab meat. Again, using a fork, stir everything together until it’s fully combined. Test the mixture with your hands to see if it will hold together well when you squeeze some in your hand. You might need to adjust the mixture a bit if it’s too wet or too dry. Use more crackers if it’s too wet, or use more mayonnaise if it’s too dry.

Now, this is where it got a bit messy and I didn’t get a photo. I needed to use two hands. Smile.

Scoop up about 1/4th of the mixture into your hand. Gently squeeze and work it together to make it into a patty, much like you would if making a hamburger patty. It should be firm and tight enough to hold together and not fall apart as you turn and flip it around in your hand.

One at a time, roll the crab patty into the bread crumbs. Panko type bread crumbs would be best. I didn’t seem to have any, so I crushed up some saltine crackers that I had on hand.

Naturally, a day or so later, I found my Panko Bread Crumbs that for some unknown reason I had placed in another cabinet. Go figure. Smile.

Repeat the process until you have four or maybe five patties complete.

Place a skillet over Medium heat on your stove top. Once it’s warm, add the butter and let it melt.

Gently place the crab cakes into the butter.

I knew I’d never be able to flip these over and cook them on the other side, so I changed up the recipe and decided to place them in the oven to finish. If you prefer, you can fry these until they start to get a little brown around the bottom edge, then flip them over and fry them until they are done. They should be lightly browned on both sides when finished.

To finish them in the oven, place the skillet in an oven that has been pre-heated to 400F degrees. Just let them bake for 20-25 minutes until the tops are lightly browned.

Remove from the oven when lightly browned on top.

Enjoy!

Serve warm alongside a nice baked potato. Good stuff, even if it’s only imitation. Smile.