Crabs and Oysters: a Savor the South cookbook

By Bill Smith

Crabs and oysters take center stage as Chef Bill Smith conveys his passion for preparing these sumptuous shellfish long associated with southern coastlines. Smith's sensibilities as a North Carolinian born and raised down east are vibrantly on display as he recalls the joy of growing up catching crabs and shucking oysters. Smith traveled the coastline, visited with crab fishermen and oyster farmers, and dove deep into a library's worth of regional cookbooks and collections of heirloom recipes from seaside communities, notably in North Carolina and Louisiana. His collection of fifty recipes, organized by courses, ranges from simple, everyday preparations to elaborate ones suitable for fancy parties. From Crabmeat Cobbler, Roasted Oysters, and Hard-Crab Stew with White Cornmeal Dumplings, to Crabmeat Ravigotte and Oyster Shortcake, cooks will find a succulent recipe for every occasion. The book includes seasonal selection information and detailed cleaning and preparation instructions for hard- and soft-shell crabs and oysters.

• Language: English
• Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press
• Release date: Oct 15, 2015
• ISBN: 9781469622637

Bill Smith

Bill Smith is the author of two cookbooks and many articles and essays in various magazines and journals. In 2019 he retired after twenty-five years as head chef at Crook's Corner Restaurant in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. He has received nominations several times from the James Beard Foundation for Best Chef Southeast and served for six years on the board of the Southern Foodways Alliance. In 2021 he received the Craig Claiborne Lifetime Achievement Award from that organization.

Book preview

a SAVOR THE SOUTH® cookbook

Crabs & Oysters

SAVOR THE SOUTH® cookbooks

Crabs and Oysters, by Bill Smith (2015)

Sunday Dinner, by Bridgette A. Lacy (2015)

Beans and Field Peas, by Sandra A. Gutierrez (2015)

Gumbo, by Dale Curry (2015)

Shrimp, by Jay Pierce (2015)

Catfish, by Paul and Angela Knipple (2015)

Sweet Potatoes, by April McGreger (2014)

Southern Holidays, by Debbie Moose (2014)

Okra, by Virginia Willis (2014)

Pickles and Preserves, by Andrea Weigl (2014)

Bourbon, by Kathleen Purvis (2013)

Biscuits, by Belinda Ellis (2013)

Tomatoes, by Miriam Rubin (2013)

Peaches, by Kelly Alexander (2013)

Pecans, by Kathleen Purvis (2012)

Buttermilk, by Debbie Moose (2012)

a SAVOR THE SOUTH® cookbook

Crabs & Oysters

BILL SMITH

The University of North Carolina Press CHAPEL HILL

© 2015 William B. Smith Jr.

All rights reserved. Manufactured in the United States of America.

SAVOR THE SOUTH® is a registered trademark of the

University of North Carolina Press, Inc.

Designed by Kimberly Bryant and set in Miller and

Calluna Sans types by Rebecca Evans.

The paper in this book meets the guidelines for permanence and durability of the Committee on Production Guidelines for Book Longevity of the Council on Library Resources. The University of North Carolina Press has been a member of the Green Press Initiative since 2003.

Jacket illustration: oyster, © istock.com/margouillatphotos; crab, © Ingram Image/Picturpartners

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Smith, Bill, 1949 January 11–

Crabs & oysters / Bill Smith.—1 [edition].

pages cm.—(Savor the South cookbooks)

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-1-4696-2262-0 (cloth : alk. paper)

ISBN 978-1-4696-2263-7 (ebook)

1. Cooking (Crabs) 2. Cooking (Oysters) 3. Cooking, American—

Southern style. I. Title. II. Title: Crabs and oysters.

TX754.C83S65 2015 641.6′95—dc23

2015006183

Frances and Ed Mayes’s Spaghetti with Lemon and Crab recipe from The Tuscan Sun Cookbook: Recipes from Our Italian Kitchen, by Frances Mayes and Edward Mayes, 2012. Used by permission of Clarkson Potter/Publishers, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House LLC. All rights reserved.

Jean Anderson’s Stuffed Crab au Gratin (Santola Recheada e Gratinada) recipe from The Food of Portugal, by Jean Anderson © 1986, 1994 by Jean Anderson. Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers and McIntosh & Otis, Inc.

To the memory of all of those

glorious meals we had at the beach and to

the people who cooked them

Contents

INTRODUCTION

Hors d’Oeuvres

Deviled Crab Dip

Crab and Artichoke Dip

Dot’s Crab Dip

Pickled Oysters

Roasted Beets

Crab-Stuffed Eggs

TWO CRAB-CLAW COCKTAILS

Crab Claws with Basquaise Sauce

Crab Claws St. Charles

Soups and Stews

Crab Bisque

Soupe Hendaye

Corn and Crab Chowder

Louis Osteen’s Brown Oyster Stew

Cocktel

Sit-Down First Courses

Corinne Dunbar’s Artichoke and Oyster Cocktail

Oysters in Champagne

Crab Aspic

Oyster Fritters

Tartar Sauce

Crabmeat Salsa

Crab and Shrimp Calas with a Riff on Tartar Sauce

Crabmeat Remoulade

Crabmeat Ravigotte

Either/Or

RECIPES THAT CAN BE AN APPETIZER OR A MAIN COURSE

Traditional Oyster Stew

Fried Oysters

Out in the Yard

Roasted Oysters

Basic Cocktail Sauce

Hard-Crab Stew

Cornmeal Dumplings

Dinnertime

Oyster Dressing

Deviled Crabs

Jean Anderson’s Stuffed Crab au Gratin (Santola Recheada e Gratinada)

Crab and Oyster Gumbo

Stuffed Crabs

Crabes Farcis

Soft-Shell Crabs

Crabmeat Cobbler

Oyster Shortcake

My Grandmother’s Crab Pilaf

Oyster Loaf, or Bread Box

Crab Soufflé

Baked Crab Sandwiches

Oyster Rarebit

Frances and Ed Mayes’s Spaghetti with Lemon and Crab

Green Cabbage Slaw

TWO KINDS OF CRAB CAKES

Indochinese Crab Cakes

More Traditional Crab Cakes

Cucumber Relish

Drinks

Oyster Juice

TWO MICHELADAS WITH OYSTERS

Michelada Tlaxapana

Michelada Tlaxapana Obscura

Acknowledgments

Bibliography

Index

a SAVOR THE SOUTH® cookbook

Crabs & Oysters

Introduction

Legend has it that the author Colette’s system had become so delicate by the time she died that she could have only oysters and champagne. I hope this happens to me.

I grew up in eastern North Carolina catching crabs, cleaning fish, and shucking oysters. I loved the beach. Still do. Today when I look back, the best memories I have of those times always include something to do with food and the beach. In the summer, my family and I would often go down to the beach after church and spend the day, and even though we only lived thirty minutes from the ocean, we would still take a beach cottage for at least a week sometime in July or August. The ocean and the coast were so much a part of our lives that we never really considered going anywhere else. People from eastern North Carolina are like that. I hope to share some of this vibe with you in the recipes here.

When I was five or six years old, I would go on Sunday afternoon rides with my father’s brother, Alex, and his wife, Hi. These excursions usually included lunch. One of our favorite places was a seafood restaurant in the town of Sea Level in Carteret County. On one such afternoon, I ordered soft-shell crabs. My aunt Hi was sure that I had meant deviled crabs, but I wouldn’t change my order. (Deviled crabs are mildly spicy crabmeat baked in the crab’s shell. Soft-shell crabs are the whole beast minus the face and the guts, fried crispy, and eaten shell and all.) She ordered deviled crab just in case. When lunch came, she had in fact been right. I had meant deviled, but of course I wouldn’t admit it and the rest is history. To this day soft-shell crabs are one of my favorite foods.

Part of my family is Roman Catholic, so Fridays put seafood on the table every week. This was in the days before Vatican II when meat was forbidden to us on that day as a small bit of penance. Fridays were fish days. A strange idea of punishment I thought to myself, but then I’ve always been impious.

In New Bern in the 1950s our two rivers were lined with crab factories. These were small crab-packing houses where you could buy crabs and crabmeat. Mostly, though, we caught our own with chicken necks tied on string. All you had to do was slowly coax the crabs near to the surface of the water and scoop them up with a net. They were ridiculously easy to catch. Crabs were essentially free food. We learned to clean and pick them ourselves.

Oysters were more often gifts. My father worked for the post office, and for a time his route