Seafood cookery from Carteret County kitchens

MAMMY’S CORN BREAD | couldn’t make cornbread fit to eat until my mother measured out her ingredients for me. My bread still isn’t as good as hers, but it is very tasty. All cooks in Hyde County heat their pans before adding the cornbread mixture. This recipe does not call for any flour or (heaven forbid!) sugar. 1 cup sifted white corn meal Y2 teaspoon salt (old fashioned water ground) 1/4 teaspoon soda 1/2 teaspoon baking powder 1 egg 2 tablespoons oil or melted buttermilk shortening Heat oven to 475 degrees. Pour oil in pan bread is to be baked in and heat in oven. To sifted meal add salt, soda, and baking powder. Pour in enough buttermilk to moisten, stir in whole egg and add hot oil. Add enough buttermilk to make the mixture the consistency of cake batter. Pour in pan and bake until brown (about 10 to 15 minutes). This recipe may be used for corn muffins or corn sticks. Mrs. Henry J. McGee, Jr. Sound View Club FRENCH FRIED SQUID Cut cleaned squid into strips about the size of French-fried potatoes Dredge in flour and fry in deep fat until brown and crisp. Season to taste. Mrs. R. E. Walton Sound View Club TURTLE HASH Trim off all yellow fat of the fore quarter (flipper). Wash, place in pressure cooker and cover with water. Cook at 15 pounds pressure at least one hour. Open cooker and remove turtle from water. Remove all bones and gristle from meat. Cut turtle cross-grain into bite size pieces. Fry out one-half pound salt pork. Pour fat from pork over turtle meat. Add one large onion, diced, and medium potatoes, diced. Salt and pepper to taste. Add enough water to cook potatoes and onion. Cook as you would corned beef hash. Mrs. William H. Styron Morehead City, N. C. BROILED SHAD ROE 4 pairs shad roe 2 quarts boiling water 1 teaspoon salt 2 tablespoons lemon juice 4 tablespoons butter 8 slices toast 8 slices crisp bacon, drained watercress lime wedges Wipe roe carefully with damp cloth. Drop into boiling water, add salt and lemon juice. Boil about 5 minutes. Drain, brush with butter and place under pre-heated broiler until browned but still soft. Serve on hot toast with slices of bacon. Garnish with water cress and wedges of lime or lemon. Helen Cribb Broad Creek H. D. Club FRIED MENHADEN ROE Wash roe thoroughly, removing all black parts. Separate into single pieces. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Roll in flour or cornmeal and fry until golden brown. Cook slowly and cover pan to keep grease from popping. The roe may also be deep fat fried. Jo McCabe “PLUCK” (Gizzards and Livers from Jumping Mullet) Fry out about 3 strips of salt pork. Separate gizzards from livers. Add gizzards to fried salt pork and cover with water. Cook gizzards until tender and all water has evaporated. Add livers and stir constantly until brown. Mrs. Lillian Lupton Lenoxville BARBECUE SAUCE FOR FISH 1/4 bottle commercial Bar-B-Q 1/4 pound butter, melted aquce 2 tablespoons white wine Cook together for 10 minutes. Pour over broiled fish (oven-broiled) or baste fish with sauce when charcoaling. J.B. Elkins Morehead City, N. C. CLEANING CONCHS An easy way to clean conchs is to put them in the shell in the freezer, carefully wrapped in freezer wrap. When you are ready to use them, remove from freezer and submerge in water for an hour or longer. Pull the conchs out of the shell with a ae Scrape all black off the conchs. Eviscerate and wash. Beat with a meat mallet or the back of a claw hammer. If you have a large number of conchs, why not wash them in the washing machine? Put the conchs (out of the shell) into the machine with plain water. Run them a full cycle. (To clean the washing machine afterward, add Clorox to the water after the machine has filled, and run a full cycle. This will leave the machine clean and sweet-smelling.) Fannie Nichols Sound View H. D. Club