Catfish
The mud-sucking scavenger of farm ponds
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W
everywhere is moviog up m the world of Tar Heel
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M ^ f
cuisine these days.
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by Carol IJnrilr Aihtrafi
Щ
Catfish as .1 trendy item on
upscale mentis? In the good
ole down-home. barbecue-lov-
ing suite of North Carolina?
Believe it. All old-time
favorite has gone uptown to finishing
school, nourishing both «liners
and the state's agricultural econ¬
omy along the way. And deep
fried isn't the only way it's cooked
anymore.
One example is I -ane Gregory's
Seafood and Steak I louse near
Angier. just a few miles from
McGee's Crossroads. Diners have
braved Raleigh traffic and Inter¬
state 10 inter 'changes, driving
peaceful countiy roads from
miles at omul to reach the restau¬
rant. Now they enter in late-after-
noon light on the cusp of
evening. The tables are set with
rosc-colorcd linen tablecloths,
gleaming silverware and linen
napkins. The glassware sparkles,
and the «liners' leel fall sound¬
lessly on the deep carpel in
hunter's green with rose and
beige accents. The soli inusi< in the back¬
ground is an easygoing, progressive ja/v
format. A smiling I'eresa Grcgoiy. Lane's
wife, greets them as graciously as a host¬
ess we l«< lining guests into hoi home.
And what would the central attraction
of this elegant setting he? Catfish, of
course. Not only that, but the menu fea¬
tures more broiled ami steamed offerings
than fried ones in both its catfish and
seafood entrees, a fact pointed out by
l.inc Gregory himself, an open-faced,
friendly man with a welcoming hand¬
shake. Not only does Gregory own the
rcstaiiiant. he laises tile
«
atfish in his own
ponds, which are visible from the restau¬
rant windows.
'We're the only ones 1 know of who do
cvciything," Gregory says, referring to his
family's operation of both catfish farm
and restaurant. “People know the fish is
fresh because it conics from our farm."
“Farm” is the key w«ir«l Ix-hind thcculi-
inuy comeback of the oner-lowly catfish.
In farm ponds the fisli that used tobecon-
sideied a minl-sm king scavenger nowcats
nutritionally lial.uu ed feed «lesigned with
it in mind. The result is a fine. mild, sweet-
fleshed and flaky fish of consistentlygood
«|iiality and flavor.
The taste wasn't always lik«- that, recalls
ClilT Lynch of the North Carolina Aqua¬
culture Association, which represents the
catfish, trout, bass and shellfish agri-busi¬
ness. Lynch, who was raised near Beau¬
fort. says his family didn't cat
«
atfish unless
it was in a stew.
"Just three yeais ago my mother still
wouldn't eat catfish." Lynch says. Then
hei loyal son ti i« krd her into eating some
farm-raised catfish.
“I told her it was flounder," Lynch adds
matter-of-factly. "When she found out
wlial it («‘ally was, then she liked it."
Lynch tells the story after a long stint of
promoting lunch-time catfish at the Not th
Carolina State Farmers Market in Raleigh.
It's a sparkling, hlue-skycd day when hun¬
dreds of people
swarm through the
open-sided buildings
to sort through pro
ducc. flowers, jams
and breads. Lynch is
doing a brisk busi¬
ness in fresh, hot cat¬
fish samples at a
long, white-draped
table in a restaurant
building. Even Noith
Carolina Commis¬
sioner of .Agriculture
| im Graham is here,
unannounced, work¬
ing on a plate piled
high with catfish.
It's a scene to
make Thomas W.
Ellis III proud. Ellis. as
Department of Agri¬
culture director for Aquaculture and Nat¬
ural Resources, knows how hard people
in the Ik-rigling business have worked to
build it up.
'There has
1хчп
some catfish farming
on a vciy small scale since the ‘70s," Ellis
says. Things were moving along fairly well
until the infamous catfish price war of
1992. when some more-established pr«>
ducers in Southern states began selling at
lower prices to gain larger shares of the
market. ‘It wus absolutely disastrous," Ellis
recalls.
Now the North Carolina business con¬
tinues to recover, and even in 1992 it
brought in approximately $3 million in
fish sales alone, aiiording to Ellis.
Although tin* earnings may sound small-
Catfiih are becoming a
rat of the South.
in North Carolina and the
I hr Stalr/May l‘N4
34
