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Many folks say the James Beard Foundation awards are like the Oscars of the food world.  So folks from across North Carolina were excited with the news that Andrea Reusing of Lantern Restaurant  in Chapel Hill was named 2011 Best Chef in the Southeast.  See details in the Mouthful blog posting.

And half of the semifinalists for the southeast chef honors came from North Carolina.

Like many of the nominees, Andrea Reusing’s menus have a local focus, including seasonal, local seafood. Just check her restaurant’s site and the listings will make you hungry. She has been involved in “farm to fork” and other efforts to bring public attention to farming and fishing families and other local food providers.

Learn more about Andrea — and her new book, Cooking in the Moment — in a podcast from The State of Things on WUNC.

And, if you have soft-shell crabs from your local market or community-supported fisheries delivery, consider her recipe below.

Contributed by Katie Mosher

Recipe reprinted from Cooking in the Moment by Andrea Reusing. Copyright (c) 2011. Photographs (c) 2011 by John Kernick. Published by Clarkson Potter/Publishers, a division of Random House, Inc.

Garlic and Black Pepper Soft-Shell Crabs

serves 4

Vegetable oil, for frying

3 cups rice flour

1 tablespoon kosher salt

¼ cup freshly ground black pepper

¼ cup minced garlic

½ cup fish sauce

8 large soft-shell crabs, preferably jumbo or “whale” size, dressed and cut in half crosswise

Fill a deep, heavy pot with a lid about one-third full with oil, and heat it until a deep-fat thermometer reads 375°F.

In the meantime, combine the rice flour, salt, pepper, and garlic in a medium bowl. Put the fish sauce in a small bowl. Dip each piece of crab very briefly into the fish sauce, gently shaking off excess, and then into the rice flour mix. Roll the crab over and shake off any extra flour. Set aside. Repeat this process, until all the crab halves are dredged.

When the oil reaches 375°F, gently lay the crabs, top side down, in the oil. Don’t crowd the pot—if necessary, fry them in batches—and use the lid as needed when the crabs are first added to the oil to avoid splattering. After 1 to 2 minutes, when the crabs are golden brown, turn them over and cook for another 2 minutes. Drain on clean brown paper bags and eat hot.

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Dear Readers:

Mariner’s Menu online was launched to help better educate seafood consumers and preparers about kitchen-tested and nutrition leaders-approved recipes using locally supplied fish and shellfish in North Carolina.

To date, we have posted over 100 articles and received over 21,500 views at our website. Now it’s your turn to give us feedback on what information is most useful to you.

Please take a few minutes of your time to give us your input on how best to improve this site. To complete the survey, simply click here.

The deadline to receive your comments is April 15.

Results of the survey will be compiled and posted on the site in late April. Thank you for taking time to help us improve the content of Mariner’s Menu online.

Sincerely,

The Contributors

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Dear Mariner’s Menu readers:

In June of 2009, Mariner’s Menu online was launched to help better educate seafood eaters and preparers about kitchen-tested and nutrition leaders-approved recipes using locally supplied fish and shellfish in North Carolina. To date, we have received over 21,000 views at our website.

We have also posted additional information from how to select, handle, clean and store seafood to tips from the kitchen. Now it’s your turn to give us feedback on what information is most useful to you.

Please take a few minutes of your time to give us your input on how best to improve this site. To complete the survey, simply click here.

Results of the survey will be compiled and posted on the site in late April. Thank you for taking time to help us improve the content of Mariner’s Menu online.

Sincerely,

The Contributors

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Williston, North Carolina was once known as the “Clam Capital of the World.” Prominently located on the waterfront of this “Down East” Community in Carteret County, Willis Brothers Seafood was owned and operated by Elmer “Clam King” Willis.

His fish house was filled with women shucking clams, cleaning shrimp and grading fish according to size.  Willis Brothers was one of the largest suppliers of clams to the Heinz Food Company.  In fact, the company sold more clams to Heinz for its clam chowder than any seafood business in the country.

Four North Carolina Governors attended clambakes at Elmer’s clam house, highlighting the breadth and scope of his success. Not only did his business thrive but Elmer and his wife Pearl helped raise money by holding clam bakes for the community schools.

In 1967, Elmer Willis won the North Carolina State University Food Science Award given each year to a person in the food industry who had made contributions to the educational, industrial and business aspects of food production.  Though Mr. Willis had only an 8th grade education, he had the business acumen of Donald Trump as well as the work ethic of a Down East fisherman.

For more information on the history of our Down East communities, go to Core Sound.

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• Written by Hap Sims, 1967.

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The area east of Beaufort, NC where a number of central coastal fishing communities are located is known by the locals as “Down East.”  Here the crabbing industry was once a primary source of jobs.  Unable to fend off threats posed by pollution, rising fuel costs and the global market, dozens of crab picking houses shut down over the past 15 years.  In 1996, the state’s fishermen harvested nearly 66 million pounds of Atlantic blue crabs, but in 2009 they caught slightly less than 29 million pounds.

Nicky Harvey of Davis, NC once made a good living as a supplier of brightly-colored crab traps, called “crab pots” by the locals, to the commercial fishing industry.  Nicky once sold 3000 crab pots a season but was now lucky if he could unload 300 pots a year. With deep roots in the Down East culture where “making do with materials at hand” is a strong tradition, Nicky searched for other products to craft to keep his family business growing for his sons.

He first experimented with creating miniature crab traps for coastal decor. Then he began experimenting with triangles of the coated wire mesh of crab pots, and the Crab Pot Christmas Tree was born.  Nicky continued innovating until he found a way to string lights on the tree so they could be stored in a flat position and then opened for display with the light strings remaining in place.  The unique artificial tree became so popular with friends and neighbors, Nicky soon gave up on his line of crab pots to further develop his new product line.

Crab Pot Trees come in sizes of 2′, 3′, 4′ or 6′ tall and can be used indoors or out.  They are outfitted with a variety of colored lights.  During the Christmas season, Crab Pot Christmas Trees sprout like mushrooms in homes across the central Carolina coast. However if you aren’t planning a trip to coastal North Carolina, you can also buy them online.

Contributed by Barry Nash

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After two years of extremely low harvest followed by closure for three years, scallop fishing reopened in limited areas of North Carolina over the past two years.

Based on new data presented by N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries to the N.C. Marine Fisheries Commission, the scallop season for commercial and recreational harvest was reopened in Core and Pamlico sounds from Jan. 26 to April 1, 2010.

Bogue and Back sounds, as well as areas south of Bogue Sound, remained closed due to abundance limitations still seen in these areas.

Looking ahead to this coming scallop season, biologists say that there was good spawning the last two years, which they hope will mean high numbers of adults this year.

Once biologists complete their sampling at the end of October and they present results to the MFC in December, various areas of the bay scallop fishery could be reopened in late January.

Bay scallops may be taken by hand, with hand rakes, hand tongs, dip nets and scoops from 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. on designated harvest days.

Commercial fishermen may harvest five bushels per person per day on Monday, Wednesday and Friday of each week. There is a limit of 10 bushels per fishing operation, regardless of the number of fishermen on a boat.

Recreational fishermen may harvest no more than one-half bushel of scallops per person per day on Saturday and Sunday of each week. There is a limit of one bushel per vessel per day, regardless of the number of fishermen on the boat.

For more information, contact the DMF Fisheries Management Section Chief during office hours at 252-808-8074 or other times at 252-633-5957.

Contributed by David Green

Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar), highly esteemed and awe-inspiring due to their leaping abilities to reach spawning streams, are often called the “king of fishes.” 

They have long, sleek spindle-like bodies – rounded, broad in the middle and tapered at each end. Their heads are small, about one-fifth of their body length.

There are three populations of wild Atlantic salmon: North American, European, and Baltic. The North American group historically ranged from northern Quebec southeast to Newfoundland and southwest to Long Island Sound. Most adults migrate to feeding areas off the west coast of Greenland.

Atlantic salmon spend their entire adult life in the open ocean. Juvenile Atlantic salmon spend their first two years in fresh water rivers and streams.  Their life span is 4 to 10 years.

Since the early 1950s, the population of wild Atlantic salmon population has been very low, and commercial fishing for the species is prohibited. Almost all of the Atlantic salmon sold in the United States comes from aquaculture operations. 

The United States’ cultured salmon industry is relatively new and much smaller than similar operations around the world. Norway, Scotland and Chile produce more than 1 billion pounds of ocean-farmed Atlantic salmon each year.

Atlantic salmon aquaculture operations in the United States are based in Maine and Washington state and meet high environmental and health standards.  

Maine’s commercial production began in the late 1970s with the first commercial harvest in 1979. Since then, the eastern North America industry has grown to produce more than 70.5 million pounds annually.

For more information, go to fish watch.

Contributed by Barry Nash

Rob Mayo (RM), President of Carolina Classics Catfish, Inc. of Ayden, NC talks with David Green (DG) about the types of products and market opportunities for North Carolina grown catfish.

DG: How long has your company been in the catfish business?

RM: We opened Carolina Classics Catfish in October 1985, 25 years ago.

DG: What type of products do you offer consumers?

RM: We sell fresh and frozen boneless catfish fillets, strips, portions, nuggets and traditional whole dressed fish. We used to sell 40 percent whole dressed fish when we first opened. Today this form makes up only 10 percent of our sales and the boneless forms make up the majority.

DG: What is your most popular product form today?

RM: We sell an “all natural” boneless fillet in Whole Foods Markets nationwide that contains no additives, no farm chemicals, and no land animal proteins in the fish feed. This is as close to organic as you get without a USDA definition for “organic fish.”

DG: What new market opportunities do you foresee for catfish in the future?

RM: The recent economic situation has shifted industry efforts away from high priced value-added products such as lobster and crabmeat stuffed catfish back to more easy-to-prepare, convenience items that give consumers the good value they look for today.

For more information on Carolina Classics Catfish, go to NC Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services Markets Division.

Contributed by David Green