Seafood Dinner from
Your Own Frontyard
Our writer sings of the epicurean joys
known to those who dwell on IN'orth
Carol ilia's coastal waters.
By >litchell Jenkins
Last fall wc sal down lo a delicious
seafood dinner in ihe dining room of
our home overlooking ihe Intracoastal
Waterway, not far from Topsail Inlet
and in sight of the ocean itself. We
started with fresh shrimp cocktail, a
cocktail made with generous portions
offender pink shrimp which, only the
day before, had been swimming in a
nearby creek. This was followed with a
cup of hot clam chowder which whet¬
ted our already ravenous appetites for
the charcoal-broiled Spanish mackerel
that sizzled on the grill on the porch.
There was a platter of savory deviled
crabs and. of course, some of the other
staples that always accompany a sea¬
food dinner in our area — cole slaw,
thin crisp combread (many folks prefer
hushpuppies). and plenty of strong,
hot coffee. This in itself was not an
especially remarkable meal. What did
make it remarkable was that oil of the
seafood that we were enjoying had
come from waters within a three mile
radius of where wc sat! There are few
other places where such a variety can
be taken so easily, and from pure, un¬
polluted waters.
Finest in the U.S.
Having fished in the Pacific Ocean
oft Washington State, in the Gulf of
Mexico from Louisiana to Florida, and
oil I hoi
и
needed ii volt, pepper ond a lillle
melted boiler leovoned with lemon |uice
even off the coasts of Maine and Past¬
ern Canada, 1 feel qualified to say that
North Carolina probably has the finest
fishing of any state in the continental
United Slates. I am speaking of salt
water fishing, but our state stacks up
just as well w ith the others in the vari¬
ety and quality of its freshwater fish.
I’ll readily admit that Northern
lobsters, salmon and trout are hard to
beat, but our flounder, shrimp, oys¬
ters. crabs and various kinds of fresh
water fish are really superb. And this
bountiful harvest of seafood is right
here for the taking!
For the dinner that I have just de¬
scribed we had selected Spanish mac¬
kerel because it is one of our favorites
when fresh caught and then cooked
over hot coals. All that is needed to
enhance its delightful, mild flavor is
salt, pepper and a little melted butter
seasoned w ith lemon juice. We could
have had King mackerel or flounder,
blue fish, whiting, sea bass, channel
bass, spots or grey trout. All of these,
and more, can be taken within a couple
of miles of our dock, and most of them
can he caught all along our coast.
Many North Carolinians love the
seacoast. They flock to it when the
main "runs” offish occur in the spring
and again in the fall. They fish from
boats, piers or beaches, and most of
them return home with ice chests full
of fish and other delicacies such as
shrimp and clams. Few fish are wasted
because most people have frcc/.crs
which make it easy for them to keep
their catches for future use. Some of
We ttorted with a cocktail of freih pink ihrimp which only the doy before hod been swimming in a neorby
creek, . . .
The State, February 1976
13