Edith Dyson's Crab Cakes

"The government killed my grandmother and grandfather when they took that land from them." 

-- Edith Dyson

Almost every recipe comes with a story. Sometimes that story involves the dish itself, or its ingredients. However, every once in a while the story may be part of a larger history lesson. That history will often fade, like the printing on a page, unless there are people who are able and willing to tell it. Recently, I came across the work of someone - Kara Mae Harris - who strives to tell not just the history of recipes in Maryland, but about the people who make them. I came across her blog, Old Line Plate, during a search for historic Maryland crab cake recipes. That is when I was introduced to crabcake recipe of Edith Dyson, which was originally printed in 300 Years of Black Cooking in St. Mary's County Maryland. The recipe was also reproduced by Harris on her blog, with the story, and history, of Edith Dyson and her family.  

John and Louise Dyson
(Source: Library of Congress)

The story actually begins with John Dyson, who was born into slavery in approximately 1860. (Maryland abolished slavery in 1864.) That fact comes from notes that accompany photos of Mr. Dyson taken in 1940. The notes read, "he was born into slavery over 80 years ago." By the time the photos were taken, Dyson was at least 80 years old and married to his wife, Louise Dyson. According to census records, the Dysons also had at least two children, although the records have inconsistencies. 

The photos were taken by John Vachon, a photographer who  worked for the Farm Security Administration ("FSA") from 1940 until 1942. The FSA was an agency born from the New Deal in 1937 (as a successor to the Resettlement Agency). The FSA had a mission to help poor farmers, sharecroppers, tenant farmers and migrant workers by providing loans for land, equipment and livestock. The FSA also provided training and health insurance.

From the documentary evidence, John Dyson had a home and property; and, he also participated in the FSA's loan program. It is unclear what loan he received and how he used it. However, this is where John Vachon and the FSA may shed some more light. The timeless legacy of the FSA is not its loans, but the photography project that Vachon was a part of. The FSA employed Vachon and others for their photography skills, seeking to document the lives of poor rural farmers and sharecroppers. 

Vachon took numerous other pictures of John and Louise Dyson. Many of those pictures appear to involve John Dyson surrounded by pear trees, picking their fruit. For example:

John Dyson picking pears (Source: Library of Congress)

By his 80s, Mr. Dyson was living with his wife in a house in what was known as Fordtown. Perhaps by that time, he may have been a farmer cultivating pears from trees around his house. 

Edith Dyson in the kitchen
(Source: Library of Congress)

However, according to his granddaughter, Edith Dyson, Mr. Dyson originally made his living from the water, not the land. As she recounted, "my grandfather worked the water. There were hotels and families that bought fish from him. These fish were caught on a hook and line; they they were not caught on rod and reels." Having worked the water in St. Mary's County, John Dyson would have been familiar with more than fish. He would have also known about blue crabs. And, while there is much less known about Louise Dyson, John Vachon does provide some visual history in the form of a picture of Louise in the kitchen of her home. 

I would like to think that, at some point, that either Mr. Dyson or Mrs. Dyson prepared crabs in some fashion in the kitchen. It would provide a narrative that could explain why  their grand-child, Edith Dyson, offered up a crab cake recipe nearly thirty years later for a cookbook about African American cooking in St. Mary's County.  This part of the story will most likely be left to conjecture. While Edith gave an oral history about her grandfather and his farm, which is noted in Kara Mae's research, I have been unable to located that audio.

But, I was able to determine what happened to Mr. Dyson's farm. The community of Fordtown, along with Pearson and Jonestown, were seized by the Federal government through eminent domain in 1942. As one homeowner, Webster Bell recounted, "It was in March, a cold, windy day. My wife heard this banging outside and she went to the door and looked out and here was this man, driving a great big 20-penny nail through this stack of papers that looked like a Sears Roebuck catalog." That stack of papers was an eviction notice. The residents -- including the Dysons -- who lived in these small African-American towns, in an area that was then called Cedar Point, were forcibly evicted from their homes. They received money for their land, but, for many (and most likely for Mr. Dyson), it was not a lot. They lost their land and their communities. What was Cedar Point would become known as Naval Air Station Patuxent River. And that all happened roughly two years after the pictures above were taken.

Not every story has a happy ending. Many stories about our country lack that happily-ever-after. We should never delude ourselves into thinking that our past was great. It alway makes me think about the Woody Guthrie quote, "I don't care how good the good old days were for you. They were not good enough for me." Or for those African Americans who lived in Fordtown, Jonestown or Pearson. This crab cake recipe offers a history lesson about entire communities that no longer exist. 

EDITH DYSON'S CRAB CAKES

Recipe (and much of the research) from Kara Mae Harris at Old Line Plate

Serves 4

Ingredients:

• Onion, finely chopped
• Green pepper, finely chopped
• Peanut oil
• Prepared mustard
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup mayonnaise or an additional egg
• Cracker meal
• 1 pound of crab meat
• Breadcrumbs
• Worcestershire sauce
• Salt
• Cayenne Pepper
• Black pepper
• Seafood seasoning

Directions:

Use the above ingredietns according to your tastes and needs. Saute the oinion, green pepper, red pepper (cayenne), salt and seafood seasoning in oil. Do not brown. Beat the eggs and/or maynnaise. Add the sauteed ingredients, worchestershire, salt, pepper and mustard. Gently fold in breadcrumbs and crab meat to mix. Make into cakes or patties. Roll in cracker meal and fry in vegetable or peanut oil until browned.

*     *     *

A post-script to this post, provided by the research of Kara Mae Harris. Edith Dyson recounted a visit with her grandparents after they were forced to relocate to New Jersey. As she recounted, "my grandfather was sitting on the porch and I will never forget it: he was playing his accordion, he was playing 'Look Down that Lonesome Road.' and that is a very sad song. I said, 'Grandfather, don't play that song, don't play that song. You know, play something, say something, let's dance it off. But there was no pleasure in him, everything was gone. There was nothing you could bring up to him that wouldn't bring back St. Mary's County. And we never, we never wanted to remind him of St. Mary's County." 

John Dyson playing his accordion for Louise Dyson (Source: Library of Congress)

PEACE.

Crab and Crawfish Etouffee

"We have a common language with food."

-- Chef Leah Chase

Chef Leah Chase was a culinary icon in New Orleans, known as the "Queen of Creole Cuisine." Her restaurant, Dooky Chase, was a center of Creole cuisine and culture, earning her many awards and honors. But, Chef Chase's contributions go far beyond food. 

The restaurant, Dooky Chase, had an important role in the civil rights movement. It was one of the very few places in New Orleans where African Americans could meet and discuss the struggles of the time. Local civil rights leaders would meet in the upstairs meeting rooms of the restaurant, while Chef Chase would serve gumbo and fried chicken. Some of those meetings involved Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Freedom Riders. As they began to organize the bus boycott in Montgomery, Alabama, King and others would meet with local civil rights leaders at Dooky Chase to learn about the similar boycott in Baton Rouge.

The struggle for equal rights is an important part of our history as a country. That history is under attack. Such an attack is not simply an attack upon African Americans, but it is an attack upon all of us. It is an effort to deny a painful part of our past, out of a mistaken notion that our admitting to our shortcomings somehow makes us weak. To the contrary, acknowledging our shortcomings actually makes us stronger, because it is the first step toward fixing our past mistakes and building a better future. 

All of this requires us to know our true history, which inevitably and unquestionably demands that we acknowledge the contribution of everyone to our combined existence. This acknowledgment in particularly embodied in Creole cuisine. When one thinks of Creole food, perhaps the first thing that comes to mind is its relationship to French cuisine, most likely because of the Acadians who migrated from Canada to the Mississippi delta. But, the true history of Creole cuisine is so much more. It is a true melting pot, incorporating African American and Native American ingredients, processes and traditions. Creole food is truly a common language that unites multiple groups of peoples, each unique in their own history, but each of whom share a common bond. 

I wanted to acknowledge that common bond when I prepared this recipe of Crab and Crawfish Etouffee. I used my No Man's Land seasoning. The mix uses a Creole seasoning base but adds sundried tomato powder and crawfish powder, both of which are ingredients drawn from the culinary history of enslaved Africans. The combination of those powders added an earthiness and almost an umami to the dish, whcih easily made up for the lack of pork or sausage. In the end, this dish was perhaps one of the best dishes that I have prepared in recent months. 

CRAB AND CRAWFISH ETOUFFEE

Recipe adapted from Food & Wine

Serves 6-8

Ingredients:

• 2 pounds crawfish. tails and meat removed
• 4 1/2 cups of water
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup all purpose flower
• 1 medium sized yellow onion, finely chopped
• 2 large celery stalks, finely chopped
• 2 large green bell peppers finely chopped
• 10 garlic cloves, coarsely chopped
• 1 tablespoon Creole seasoning (or No Man's Land Seasoning)
• 1 dried bay leaf
• 4 thyme sprigs
• 1 pound fresh crabmeat, picked over
• Kosher salt
• Long grain rice, for serving

Directions:

1. Prepare the crawfish. Rinse well. Remove the tails and remove the meat from the tails, reserving the shells from the tails. Bring 4 1/2 cups water and reserved shells to a simmer in a large saucepan over medium heat. Remove from heat; let stand for 15 minutes. Strain stock and discard shells. Set aside 4 cups crawfish stock.

2. Prepare the base. Melt butter in a large heavy saucepan over medium heat. Whisk in flour. Cook, whisking constantly until light blond in color, about 3 minutes. Add onion, celery, bell pepper and garlic. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are tender, about 8 minutes. Add the creole seasoning, bay leaf and thyme and cook, stirring constantly 1 minute. Add stock, cook, stirring occasionally until slightly thickened, about 30 minutes. 

3. Add crawfish and crab meat. Add the crawfish and crab meat. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, about 3 minutes. Discard the bay leaf and thyme sprigs. Season with Kosher salt to taste. Serve over rice.

PEACE.

Mr. Bayley's West Indies Salad

It all started with a small grocery store at the corner of Dauphin Island Parkway and Fowl River Road, along the western shore of the Mobile Bay in Alabama. The owner, Bill Bayley, Sr. had big plans for that small store. Only, the plans did not involve a grocery store. It involved much more.

Bill Bayley, Sr. settled in the Mobile area after serving in the Merchant Marine. During his time at sea, he worked as a port steward aboard a vessel operated by the Alcoa Ship Lines. In that role, Bayley would have had many responsibilities, including the stocking of groceries for the vessel. Bayley would have also helped with the preparation of sandwiches, salads and other food for the crew. During a stop in the West Indies, Bayley was working in the galley. He boiled some lobster, added some onions, and then dressed it with oil and vinegar.  Bayley remembered that dish and it would play an important role in his future plans. 

Source: Alabama.com

Those plans involved taking the small grocery store that he owned, which stood at the corner of Dauphin Island and Fowl River Road, and turn it into a restaurant. People told him that a restaurant would not work at that particular corner of Mobile, Alabama.  However, Bayley did not listen to them. He opened his restaurant -- Bayley's Seafood, Steaks and Chicken -- in 1947. 

The menu featured an appetizer called West Indies Salad. The dish was inspired by Bayley's time as a port steward. There was one big difference: Bayley did not use Florida lobster. Instead, he chose an ingredient much closer to his new home ... Alabama blue crabs. 

As it turns out, blue crabs were (and, relatively speaking, still are) present in Mobile Bay and its tributaries. One could go to various points along the shore, from Old Nan Seas to Coden Beach or Port of Pines to find crabs.  When one zooms out and looks at what Alabama fishermen pull in per year, it is well over one million pounds of blue crabs per year (at least as of 2016).

Bill Bayley, Sr. in the kitchen. (Source: AL.com)

While Bayley used blue crab to make his salad, the rest of the ingredients remain the same ... onions, cider vinegar, Wesson oil and very cold water (plus salt and pepper). He continued to serve this dish for thirty years, until Beyley's restaurant closed. Beyley continued with a catering business, taking his dishes across the Mississippi, Alabama, Texas and even as far away as Washington, D.C. 

The dish survived, as Bayley's son, Bill Bayley, Jr., opened his own smaller restaurant in the building that previously served as the catering kitchen for his father's restaurant. The West Indies Salad, along with other dishes created by his father, such as the Fried Crab Claws, were the centerpiece for the son's menu. People from all around came to Bayley's Seafood for the West Indies Salad, Fried Crab Claws and other dishes. Bayley, Jr. continued to operate his restaurant for another few decades, until he ultimately closed the doors in 2022. 

While the Bayleys' nearly 80-years of operating a restaurant and serving West Indies salad may have come to an end, the recipe and that dish continue to live on. Interestingly, the family held onto that recipe as a closely guarded secret. The secret was revealed in 1964, when it was published in a Junior League of Mobile cookbook. This is definitely one of the easiest dishes to make, and, it is a great one to serve to guests. For that reason, the recipe continues to live on in the Savage Bolek household.

WEST INDIES SALAD

Recipe from Food.com

Serves 4

Ingredients:

• 1 medium onion
• 1 pound fresh lump crabmeat
• 4 ounces Wesson oil (or vegetable oil)
• 3 ounces cider vinegar
• 4 ounces ice water (as cold as you can get it)
• Salt
• Freshly ground black pepper

Directions:

1. Prepare the crabmeat. Spread half of the onion over the bottom of a large bowl. Cover with separated crab lumps. Add the remaining onion. Season with salt and pepper. Pour oil, vinegar and ice water over the onions and crab meat. Cover and marinate for 2 to 12 hours. 

2. Finish the dish. Toss lightly. Serve as a salad on a bed of letter or on crackers as an appetizer. 

PEACE.

P.S.: I actually posted a recipe for West Indies Salad fourteen years ago. This post will take the place of that old one. For the original blogpost on Chef Bolek (for what it is worth), click here.

Jambalaya

While there is no dispute that jambalaya comes from Louisiana, there is a fair amount of uncertainty as to where "jambalaya" comes from. One school of thought is that the word itself originated from Provence, France. There is a Provencal word - jambalaia - that means "mixed up." Then again, the name could be a mixture itself, from the French word for ham, jambon and the African word for rice, ya. (Although, I have serious doubts about this theory, because I cannot find an African language that translates "rice" into "ya.") There is still another thought that the origin is Spanish, with the combination of jamon and paella. 

One of the most interesting theories is that the word "jambalaya" is actually derived from the Atakapa, a Native American tribe who lived along the Gulf Coast in what is present-day Texas and Louisiana. The Atakapa would say, Sham pal ha, Ya! This translates roughly into "be full, not skinny, eat up!"

Whatever the name's origin, what is beyond dispute is that jambalaya is a mélange of influences. Perhaps the most obvious influence comes from western Africa, with the use of rice and its similarity to jollof rice. There is an equally apparent influence from southern Spain, with the dish resembling paella and probably the use of tomatoes (rather than saffron).  There are French influences, mostly in the form of the spices used, which may have come from the Caribbean as well. 

Yet, there is still some mystery surrounding even the culinary influences, as the written record of recipes for jambalaya date only back to the late 19th century, even though the dish itself goes back much further in time. As for this particular recipe, it is a rather straightforward version of the dish. The absence of tomatoes pushes this dish more into the Cajun column than the Creole one (as the latter is known for its use of tomatoes in the preparation). I have also used turkey based products, such as smoked turkey sausage and turkey thighs, because that is the only meat that my beautiful Angel eats. You can use the more traditional ingredients, such as Andouille and chicken thighs in its place.

JAMBALAYA

Recipe adapted from Kitchn

Serves 4

Ingredients (for the seasoning):

• 1 tablespoon garlic powder
• 1 tablespoon onion powder
• 1 tablespoon paprika
• 1 teaspoon white ground pepper
• 12 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper

Ingredients (for the jambalaya):

• 2 medium scallions, sliced thinly
• 1 small yellow onion, diced
• 3 medium celery stalks, diced
• 1 medium green bell pepper, diced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 (about 12-ounce) package smoked turkey sausage
• 1 pound turkey thighs, skinned, trimmed, and de-boned
• 1 pound of shrimp
• 8 ounces lump crab meat, picked
• 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt, divided
• 2 tablespoons neutral oil, divided
• 2 cups medium or long grain rice
• 2 1/2 cups turkey broth 

Directions:

1. Make the seasoning. Combine garlic powder, onion powder, paprika, white ground pepper and cayenne pepper in a small bowl. Stir well to combine. 

2. Prepare the vegetables. Thinly slice the 2 scallions and set aside for garnish. Dice 1 small yellow onion, 3 medium celery stalks, and the green bell pepper (about 1 cup of each). Mince the three garlic cloves.

3. Prepare the meats. Cut the sauce into 1/2-inch thick rounds. Cut the turkey thighs into bite-size pieces. Season the turkey with 1/2 teaspoon of the salt and 1 tablespoon of the seasoning. Carefully rinse the crab meat in a colander and pick out any shells. Season the shrimp with 1 tablespoon of the seasoning. 

4. Brown the sausage. Heat 1 tablespoon of canola oil in a large, heavy-bottomed pot or Dutch oven over medium high heat until shimmering. Add the sausage in a single layer and cook until browned on the cut sides, 3 to 4 minutes per side. Transfer to a platter using tongs and repeat until all the sausage has been browned.

5. Brown the turkey. Add the remaining 1 tablespoon canola oil to the drippings in the pot. Add the turkey and cook until brown, about 2-3 minutes per side. Using tongs, transfer the turkey to the plate with the sausage. 

6. Sauté the vegetables. Add the onion and garlic mixture, remaining seasoning and remaining salt. Cook, scraping up the browned bits from the bottom of the pot and stirring occasionally until the onions are translucent, about 2 minutes. Add the celery and bell pepper, continue to scrape up the browned bits and continue to stir occasionally, about 2 more minutes. 

7. Add rice. Add the 2 cups of rice and cook, stirring frequently until the rice is opaque and toasty smelling, about 3 minutes. 

8. Add liquid and meats. Pour in the turkey broth and bring to a boil. Add the turkey and sausage and any accumulated juices to the pot and give everything one good stir to mix together. Cover, reduce the heat to low, and simmer undisturbed until the rice is cooked through, about 20 to 30 minutes. 

9.  Sauté the shrimp. Add 1 tablespoon of oil to a small sauté pan. Add the shrimp and sauté until opaque, 2-3 minutes per side. 

9. Stir and let sit. After the rice is cooked through, add the shrimp to the top. Give the mixture a gentle stir on top. Cover again and remove from the heat and let sit for 10 minutes. If the rice is still too wet, take the lid off so the extra liquid evaporates. If the rice is a little dry, keep the lid on a little longer to give the rice more time to absorb the liquid.

ENJOY!

Carolina Crab Rice

Mine is a living culture, not one of some 200 years ago. It's a culture that continues to shape our surroundings.

- Ron Daise, Singer/Cultural Preservationist

The above quote refers to the Gullah Geechee, an African-American ethnic group who live along the coastal lowlands, from Jacksonville (North Carolina) to Jacksonville (Florida). The two names cover one people, with Geechee referring to those who live in the Carolinas and Gullah referring to those who live in Georgia and northern Florida.

The story of the Gullah Geechee is a history about culture.  That history can be traced back to Africa, mostly the Western coastline of the continent, from what is known today as Senegal down to Angola.  Their ancestors were slaves, taken by force from their homes and brought to the southeast  to work on plantations along the coast and on the sea islands. These African ancestors originated from different parts of the African continent, especially along the western coast from Senegal down to Angola.  

Rice cultivation along the Niger River
Source: Wikimedia

If one went inland from those African coasts, following rivers into the heart of the continent, one would have encountered the cultivation of rice. Africa has its own indigenous form of rice, Oryza glabberima. Indeed, it is widely believed that rice cultivation first started in the inland delta regions of the Niger River in an area that now falls within the country of Mali. Africans brought that rice to other parts of the continent, such as westward what would become known as the "Rice Coast," which stretched from Senegal to Sierra Leone.

That same coast was also known for a commodity other than rice ... slaves. European slavers brought Africans from that region (and other parts of the continent) to North America to work on plantations. American plantation owners discovered during the 1700s that they could grow rice in the subtropical regions bordering the coastline. Those owners did not know anything about growing rice, so they turned to the slave trade. The plantation owners were even willing to pay a higher price for slaves from Senegal, Guinea and Sierra Leone, with the expectation that those slaves would know how to cultivate rice. 

Rice raft with Gullah Geechee (1904)
Source: South Carolina Gullah Museum

The slaves who were forcibly brought to Georgia and the Carolinas to work the rice plantations became the foundation of the Gullah Geechee culture. Given the relative isolation of their plantations, and the strong community they built over time, the Gullah and Geechee have been able to preserve much of their culture, including ties to Africa. The Gullah language is an English Creole that has similarities to a Sierra Leone Krio, including common terms such as bigyai (greedy) and swit (delicious). Other words in the Gullah language have been drawn from the indigenous languages of Sierra Leone.

Apart from language, it is rice that provides the Gullah Geechee with the connection to the lands from which they were forcibly taken. The connection was not very simple on the plantations. Slaves first had to remove cypress trees and gum trees, drain swamps (which had alligators and snakes), and create the hydrological infrastructure (think dams, dikes and floodgates) that could be used to irrigate the rice fields. It is estimated that the slaves cleared more than 40,000 acres of land and dug more than 780 miles of canals to provide the foundation for the production of rice in South Carolina.

So, it comes as little to no surprise that a rice dish would be considered as a cornerstone of Gullah Geechee cuisine. I came across a recipe from the Smithsonian Institution's Folklife Festival, from a year with the institution celebrated Gullah Geechee culture. The recipe relies upon one developed by Sallie Ann Robinson, a chef, cookbook author and culinary historian who celebrates the Gullah culture. This particular recipe has some adaptations, which are not identified, nevertheless, the end product is reminiscent of what someone could find on the sea islands of Georgia or along the coast of South Carolina. That end product was also very delicious and, if it were not for the high price for crab meat, would be part of a regular rotation of dishes for me.

CAROLINA CRAB RICE

Recipe from the Smithsonian Institution

Serves 4

Ingredients:

• 1 cup long grain rice, uncooked
• 2 cups water
• Small pinch of salt
• 2-3 strips of thick cut bacon, diced
• 1 celery stalk diced
• 1/2 bell pepper, any color, diced 
• 1 small onion, diced
• 1 pound of crabmeat, cooked (preferably lump)
• Garlic powder
• Onion powder
• Salt
• Black pepper

Directions:

1.  Prepare the rice. Rinse the dry rice under cool water 3 to 4 times and drain. Put the rinsed rice into a small pot, cover with 2 cups of water, add a pinch of salt and bring to a boil. Turn the heat to low, cover the pot and let the rice cook undisturbed for 20 minutes. Remove from heat, crack the lid of the pot so the rice can stop cooking and set aside. 

2. Fry the bacon. In a small skillet, fry the bacon pieces over medium-low heat until all of the fat is rendered and the bacon is crispy, about 3 to 5 minutes. Carefully remove the bacon pieces and set them aside. Reserve the rendered fat in the pan.

3. Fry the vegetables. Over medium heat, add celery, bell pepper and onion to the pan with the bacon fat and sauté until vegetables have softened and onions are translucent, about 5 minutes. Then add crabmeat and cook for an additional 5 to 10 minutes until crab has begun to crisp. 

4. Finish the dish. Add the cooked rice, bacon and seasonings to the pan with the vegetables. Incorporate all of the ingredients until evenly mixed, turn to low and let cook for an additional 5 to 10 minutes. Serve immediately. 

ENJOY!

Ghanaian Crab Stew

"If you give me rice, I'll eat today. If you teach me how to grow rice, I will eat every day.

-- Mahatma Gandhi

Knowledge comes from learning and experience. If one would trace the origins of how to grow rice, that educational journey would take them most likely to Asia, where it is believed that rice cultivation first emerged between 13,500 to 8,000 years ago in the Yangtze basin of what is now China. However, rice cultivation emerged independently in other areas of the world. For example, rice cultivation emerged in western Africa approximately 3,500 to 3,000 years ago in what is known as the Niger River delta. 

Rice is an important staple food in many parts of Africa. It is grown in 40 of the 54 countries on the continent. From Roz 'me ammar served in Egypt to Geelrys served in South Africa, or from Thieboudienne served in Senegal to Wali ka kukaanga served in Kenya, rice can be found in countless dishes prepared in an equally countless number of ways. Underlying it all is one more basic fact: rice not only provides needed nourishment, it also provides income. After all, rice is the principal crop for more than 35 million small farmers across the continent.

Source: BBC

Yet, as you can probably guess, rice is not simply a chapter in the story of African cuisine, it plays a significant role in cuisines around the world, including the United States. In the U.S., there are really two stories about rice, each with their own perspective. The first story revolves around the native rice or wild rice, which served as a staple food for native Americans. The second story revolves around white rice. It is that story that I want to explore a little further in this post.

As I did my research, I struck by the following phrase: "Enterprising colonists were the first to cultivate rice in America." It is part of a story that supposedly started in 1685, when a slave ship from Madagascar unloaded a load of white rice (what would become known as Carolina Gold rice) at the port in Charleston, South Carolina. This story - which has been repeated multiple times on the internet - suggests that white people brought this rice (along with slaves) to the New World. 

Source: US Slave

The foregoing words do not necessarily tell the story. White rice is not native to the United States. It had to come from somewhere else. Contrary to the popular story, some scientists believe that the rice did not originate from eastern Africa.  Instead, the rice shares an overwhelming number of common molecular markers with rice from Ghana, which is located in western Africa. It is also located in a region where many slaves were taken and shipped to the New World. The region, which runs from present day Guinea-Bissau to at least Cote d'Ivoire, was known as the Rice Coast. It is also the region where at least 50,000 Africans were forcibly taken and shipped to the New World as slaves. More Africans were taken from areas that constitute the present day countries of Ghana and Benin.  These facts and suggest that rice may have come -- with the slaves -- to the shores of the Carolinas during the sixteenth century. 

To be sure, this research is ongoing and even it cannot be said with definitiveness. Nevertheless, it seems beyond debate that Africans played an important role in bringing rice to the New World. This recipe, which is from culinary historian and writer Michael Twitty, ties together the foodways of both the new and the old worlds. 

Mark Bittman penned a wonderful article about Twitty, which included this recipe for Ghanaian Crab Stew. Bittman describes the stew as, not only one of the simpler stews to make, but "a bright stew representing what one might find in a Cape Coast market." This is definitely one of the brighter and simpler stews to make. And, it is also one of the more delicious stews that I have made in a long time. 

GHANAIAN CRAB STEW

Recipe by Michael Twitty, available at Bittman Project

Serves 4

Ingredients (for the Stew)

• 1 medium yellow onion or 6 scallions, green and white parts, minced
• 1 habanero pepper, seeded and minced
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 2 medium tomatoes, peeled and chopped
• 1 green or red bell pepper, seeded and diced
• 1 pound cooked blue crab meat
• 2 teaspoons minced ginger or ginger paste
• 2 teaspoons minced garlic or garlic paste
• 1/2 teaspoon of Kitchen Pepper (click here for recipe)
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 3/4 cup of vegetable, chicken or beef stock
• Parsley, chopped, for garnish
• 4 cups cooked, long-grain rice, for serving

Directions:

1. Sauté the vegetables.  In a medium bowl, mix the onion and habanero.  Heat the oil in a large Dutch oven over medium high heat, add the onion and peppers, and cook for 5-7 minutes, until soft.  Add the tomatoes and bell pepper to the pan.  Sauté, stirring frequently, until the tomatoes begin to soften and break down, about 10 minutes. 

2. Cook the crab.  Flake the crab meat into the pan and add the ginger, garlic, kitchen pepper, salt and stock.  Stir, turn the heat down low and simmer, uncovered, for about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.  

3.  Finish the dish. Remove the stew from the heat. Garnish the stew with chopped parsley and serve with rice. 

ENJOY!

"Imperial" King Salmon

I often joke that, after a stressful day at work, I relieve that stress through cooking.  I also note that people can tell how stressed out I was at work based upon what I make.  The more stressful of a day, the fancier the dish.  Well, after a few stressful days a while back, I unleashed my creative energies to make a dish that I ended up calling "Imperial" King Salmon.

The Chinook Salmon, which is known as King Salmon, is the largest species of salmon.  It has a special place in the tradition of many Native American tribes.  It also has its place in the early history of the United States when the Lewis and Clark expedition described -- and ate -- this fish during their exploration of the Pacific Northwest.  

This magnificent fish is the centerpiece of a truly original and, in some respects, crazy recipe.  The recipe starts with one pound of King Salmon.  Add one pound of lump blue crab imperial.  Put it all on a cedar plank and grill it.  The end result is an amazingly decadent dish. The crazy part is actually executing the recipe.  While there are many recipes for Plank King Salmon, there are no recipes for Planked Crab Imperial.   And, there are many recipes for crab imperial, but most of them involve placing the crab mixture into little ramekins, topped with bread crumbs, and baked for length of a reality show (minus the commercials). I decided to be daring and combine two dishes into one -- Plank King Salmon and Crab Imperial -- to create a Chef Bolek original recipe. 

Hence, the name, "Imperial" King Salmon, which suggests the richness of the dish.  This dish also reigns over many of the dishes that I've made recently.  It is a more lavish dish, because both King Salmon and lump blue crab are a bit pricey.   However, the dish is also rich in flavor.  Grilling the salmon and the crab on the cedar plank infuses all of the ingredients with the cedar flavor.  Both Clare and I really enjoyed this dish.

"IMPERIAL" KING SALMON

A Chef Bolek Recipe

Serves 3-4

Ingredients (for the King Salmon):
1 to 1 1/4 pounds of King Salmon
1 pound of lump blue crab
1 lemon, juiced
Kosher Salt, to taste
Ground Pepper, to taste

Ingredients (for the Blue Crab Imperial):
1 pound of lump blue crab
1/4 large green pepper, diced finely
1 tablespoon of butter
1/2 shallot, diced finely
2 tablespoons of mustard
3 tablespoons of mayonnaise
1/2 cup panko bread crumbs
1 teaspoon of crushed red pepper
1 teaspoon of thyme

Directions: 
1.  Make the Crab Imperial.  Begin by making the Imperial.  Saute the green pepper in butter until translucent.  Transfer the green peppers to a bowl.  Add the crab in patches and mix.  Salt and pepper to taste.  Add the mustard and mayonnaise, continuing to mix the ingredients.  Add the crushed red pepper and thyme.  Continue to mix the ingredients.

2.  Prepare to grill the salmon.  Preheat the grill to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.  Soak the cedar plank for an hour.  Remove the plank from the water and place the salmon on the plank.  Cover the salmon with the crab mixture.

3.  Grill the salmon.  Grill the salmon for about 20 to 25 minutes.  The Imperial will begin to brown around the edges, which is good.   Remove and let sit for five minutes.

When you are ready to plate the dish, simply use a serrated knife to cut through the crab and the salmon carefully.  Then use a spatula to plate the the "Imperial" King Salmon. As you can see from the picture below, the end result is a juicy piece of salmon covered with a crab mixture that has a lot of good ingredients besides the crab, such as cracked black pepper and green pepper. 

In the end, a little craziness on my part has resulted in a dish that may become one of my specialties, or, at the very least, a dish for special occasions. I definitely intend to make this dish again whenever I see King Salmon in the stores. 

ENJOY!

For more about King Salmon or Chinook Salmon, check out Wikipedia. 

Seafood Gumbo, John Besh Style

I wanted to make a nice meal for my beautiful wife, Clare, inspired by Mardi Gras.  While I have eaten many a dish of etoufee and gumbo in my time, I have never made these dishes, or, for that matter, any Creole or Cajun dish.  I thought this had to change, beginning with my first attempt to make gumbo. 

I combed through a lot of recipes on my free time, trying to find  one that would be fairly easy for a novice like myself, but remain true to the culture that underlies the dish.  After a while, I came across a blogger who posted a recipe for seafood gumbo by John Besh.  A native of New Orleans, Besh has dedicated himself to the cuisine of Southern Louisiana.

However, I did not find just any John Besh, seafood gumbo recipe.  I had found the "Gumbo for the Gulf" recipe.  The "Gumbo for the Gulf" was a campaign that called upon cooks to host parties and cook gumbo for their guests, all the while raising money to help families in the Gulf region who were devastated by the spill.  John Besh donated this recipe to that campaign.  So, I had stumbled upon a recipe that had been used for a very good cause, something that is generally, and in this particular case, personally important to me.

With the recipe in hand, I had to turn my attention to the ingredients.  Besh's recipe calls for use blue crabs and andouille sausage.  I could not get the first ingredient in a cost efficient manner for just the two of us (live blue crabs are very expensive) and I could not use the second ingredient because Clare does not eat meat.  (Fortunately, she eats fish and seafood.)  Also, despite checking two different stores, I could not find any okra.  Consequently, I had to make a few tweaks to the ingredients called for in recipe.

I also made one other modification to John Besh's recipe.  The original recipe serves ten people, and I was only cooking for two.  To make matters a little more difficult, some ingredients, like lump crab meat, are sold in 8 ounce containers.  The original recipe called for 1 pound of crab meat (16 ounces).  I could not just buy 1/5 of a pound of lump crab meat.  So, in the end, I decided to cut the recipe in half, hoping that, if I was to prepare the dish properly, we could have some delicious leftovers for lunch. 

In preparing the dish, I confronted the notable characteristic of my style of cooking ... the emphasis on the protein.  As you can see from the pictures, I heaped a lot of catfish, crab meat, crawfish, oysters and shrimp into the bowl.  While a mass of this seafood is usually not considered a negative, it overshadowed the broth, which was the culmination of the first successful attempt on my part to get a roux to reach the appropriate shade of dark brown that is mandated by gumbo lovers throughout the Gulf region. 

So, with all of the changes I noted above, I can't say that this is John Besh's gumbo recipe (nor do I think he would want me to say that given my gumbo falls far short of the gumbo that he would make).  So, I will refer to this dish in the style of the original Iron Chef program.  Whenever an Iron Chef would make a dish inspired by a style of cooking or a place, they would refer to the dish in a particular way, noting it prepared in a certain style.  Along those lines, I present to you, Seafood Gumbo, John Besh style.

SEAFOOD GUMBO, JOHN BESH STYLE

Adapted from a recipe by John Besh from My New Orleans: A Cookbook

     by John Besh, Andrews/McMeel Publishing and reprinted on the

     Gulf State Organizer's blog
Serves 4-5

Ingredients:

1/2 cup canola oil

1/2 cup flour

1 large onion diced

1 stalk celery, diced

1/2 green pepper, diced

1/2 cup sliced okra

1 clove garlic, minced

1 sprig of thyme, leaves only

1 1/2 quarts of seafood stock

1 bay leaf

1/2 pound of shrimp (preferably American)

1/2 cup of lump crab meat

8 ounces of shucked oysters

1/2 cup of crawfish meat

1 pound of catfish, cut into bite size pieces

1/2 cup of minced green onions

Salt, to taste

Ground black pepper, to taste

Basic Creole spices (see recipe below)

Worcestershire sauce

Tabasco

1 cup cooked rice

Directions:

 1.  Make the roux.  Heat the canola oil in a large cast iron or heavy bottomed pot over high heat.  Whisk the flour into the hot oil.  It will immediately begin to sizzle.  Reduce the heat to moderate and continue whisking until the roux takes on a deep brown color, about ten minutes.

Making the roux.

2.  Saute the onions.  Add the onions and continue to stir with a wooden spoon, incorporating the onions into the roux.  Reduce the heat and continue to stir for another five to seven minutes, until the roux is a rich dark brown.

Trying to get that rich, dark brown color.

3.  Saute the other vegetables.  Add the celery, bell peppers, garlic and okra.  Increase the heat to moderate and continue to cook and stir for a couple of minutes.

Celery, bell peppers and garlic.  I wish I had okra.

4.  Create the soup.  Add the thyme, seafood stock and bay leaf.  Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally and cook for about twenty five minutes at a simmer.

With seafood stock.  Even better with homemade stock.

5.  Add the spices and protein.  Add the Creole spices and taste to make sure that you have just the right amount.  Then, add the catfish first.  Stir gently.  After about three minutes, add the oysters.  Continue to stir gently.  After about one to two minutes, add the shrimp.  Continue to stir and then add the crab and crawfish.  Add the Worcestershire and Tabasco.  Allow the seafood to cook for about two to three minutes more and then take off the heat. 

My favorite seafood ... Crab, Oysters, Shrimp, Crawfish and Catfish

6.  Plate the dish.  Spoon some rice into bowls.  Serve the gumbo over the rice.

And, last but not least, the recipe for basic Creole spices.  One note, I upped the cayenne pepper because I like things spicy.  For those who do not like the heat, just add 1 teaspoon of cayenne pepper:

BASIC CREOLE SPICE

Adapted from a recipe by John Besh from My New Orleans: A Cookbook

     by John Besh, Andrews/McMeel Publishing and reprinted on the

     Gulf State Organizer's blog 

Makes 1/4 cup

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon of celery salt
1/2 tablespoon of sweet paprika
1/2 tablespoon of coarse sea salt
1/2 tablespoon of freshly ground black pepper
1/2 tablespoon of garlic powder
1/2 tablespoon of onion powder
1 tablespoon of cayenne pepper
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice.

Directions:
Mix all of the ingredients together.

As I noted above, I ended up plating a lot of catfish, oysters, crawfish and shrimp, which obscured the very good broth that lies underneath. In doing so, I learned something from this endeavor ... Clare and I need to invite people over for gumbo, so I can divide the protein and rice between more bowls for hungry guests and, in the process, show off the broth. If the recipe turns out as well as it did when I made it this time, I think there will be no shortage of people willing to eat it!

I hope everyone has a happy and safe Mardi Gras and Fat Tuesday.  And, of course,

ENJOY!

Farfalle con le Polpette del Granchio

When my parents were in town, I wanted to make a unique meal for them, but I was not sure what to make.  I have previously made them pasta with lamb meatballs, as well as seafood risotto.  Those meals are based upon recipes and I wanted to do something that I could say was my own creation.  I started with the pasta and meatballs as a springboard, from which I would develop my own dish.  I was confronted immediately with my first obstacle: my wife does not eat meat and meatballs are traditionally either beef, a combination of meats (beef, veal and pork) or, my personal favorite, lamb.  I needed a substitute for the meat in the meatballs.

The first ingredient that immediately came to mind is crab meat.  I've made many a crabcake in my time and so I understood the basics of the meat with binding ingredients (bread crumbs, eggs, etc.).  However, I would need to alter the basic crabcake recipe, by excluding ingredients such as Worchestire Sauce and mustard, because they would not go well with a pasta dish.  After a lot of thought, I had in mind my own recipe for crab meatballs or, as they would say in Italy, Polpette del Granchio.

With the crab meatballs figuratively in hand, I turned my attention to the pasta.  I really did not have the time to make pasta by hand.  Although I would love to make handmade pasta for my parents, I wanted to spend the time with them, rather than over a pasta board.  As followers of this blog know, I don't buy pasta that I can make or have made by hand.  So, not only did I have to buy a pasta that I could not make on my own, but I had to also buy a pasta that I think would go well with the meatballs.

I had a pasta in mind but ultimately ended up going in a different direction.  My initial choice of pasta was orecchiette, also commonly referred to as "ears."  This pasta originates from the southern Italian region of Puglia or Apulia.  I've had this pasta before and I thought it would be something unusual, which would be a perfect complement to the unusual meatballs.  However, I could not find orecchiette in the store.  I came across a box of farfalle, or what are known as "bow-ties," which is a pasta that originated either in Lombardy or Emilia-Romagna.  The word farfalle actually derives its name from farfalla, which is the Italian word for "butterfly," and, if you focus on the pasta, that "bow-tie" shape can transform itself into a butterfly.

Finally, I turned my attention to the sauce.  Italians do not like a lot of sauce in their pasta; instead, they add just sauce enough to cover the pasta. I decided to make a relatively simple sauce using whole peeled San Marzano tomatoes, diced onions, and some dried herbs and spices.  Sometimes the simplest of sauces work the best, as it did with this recipe.

Finally, while this is a dish of my own creation, I did have some help from my parents.  I had planned to add about 1/4 of a cup of Parmigiano Reggiano to use as a binding agent when making the crab meatballs, but in the rush of cooking, I forgot to add the cheese.  My father asked about the cheese and, realizing my omission, I needed to improvise.  I decided to roll the crab meatballs in Parmigiano Reggiano.  This last-minute step allows the crab meatballs to get a nice brown crust when sauteed in olive oil.

FARFALLE CON LE POLPETTE DEL GRANCHIO

A Chef Bolek Original

Serves 4

Ingredients (for the Crab Meatballs):
1 pound of lump crab, picked and rinsed
1 cup of panko bread crumbs
2 eggs
2 tablespoons of crushed red pepper
3 cloves of garlic, finely diced
1 cup of grated Parmigiano Reggiano
4 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil

Ingredients (for the Pasta):
1 box of farfalle 
Water, for the pasta

Ingredients (for the Sauce):
3 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
1 onion, diced finely
1 can of whole peeled tomatoes
1 teaspoon of crushed red pepper flakes
1 tablespoon of dried basil
1/2 tablespoon of dried oregano
1 tablespoon of garlic powder
3 tablespoons of fresh basil, chopped
3 tablespoons of fresh flat leaf parsley, chopped
1/2 cup of Parmigiano Reggiano

Directions:

1.  Make the crab meatballs.  Beat the two eggs.  Add the crushed red pepper and the garlic.  Add the panko bread crumbs.  Mix well and then add the lump crab in small batches. Gently mix so as not to break up the crab too much.  Take the mixture and form balls in your hand, compressing them tightly.  Set each ball on wax paper and allow the crab balls to dry a little for about five minutes.  You should be able to make about twelve meatballs out of a pound of lump crab meat.

2.  Bread the meatballs.  Add the grated Parmigiano Reggiano to a small bowl.  Roll the crab meatballs in the Parmigiano Reggiano and try to coat all sides.

3.  "Brown" the meatballs.  Heat the olive oil in a pan on medium heat.  Saute the crab meatballs, in batches if necessary, turning gently until they begin to brown on most if not all sides.  Do not brown the meatballs too much.   Remove them from the pan.

4.  Make the sauce.  Seed the tomatoes and reserve the puree.  Heat the olive oil in a deep saute pan on high heat.  Add the onions and saute until translucent, about five to seven minutes.  Add the tomatoes, the puree and a little water to begin the sauce. Add the basil, oregano, garlic powder, and crushed red pepper.  Stir all of the ingredients well.  Reduce the heat and allow the sauce to simmer.  Add the crab meatballs to the sauce and spoon the sauce over the meatballs.

5.  Make the pasta.  Bring a pot of water to a boil  When the pot of water is boiling, add the farfalle.  Cook for about seven to ten minutes according to the instructions on the package.  Drain the water.

6.  Finish the sauce.  Remove the meatballs from the sauce and plate three meatballs at the center of each plate.  Once all of the meatballs have been removed, add about 1/2 cup of Parmigiano Reggiano to the sauce and stir until the cheese is incorporated into the sauce.  Add the farfalle to the sauce and stir until the sauce coats the pasta.  As you are stirring, incorporate the fresh basil and flat leaf parsley with the pasta and sauce.

7.  Plate the dish.  Plate the farfalle and spoon some sauce over the pasta.  Add a couple of the meatballs and serve immediately.

In the end, you have a dish that focuses itself directly on the crab meatballs.  The sauce is minimalist, but that is not only keeping in the Italian tradition, but it ensures that the sauce is not taking away any of the focus from the  meatballs.  If there was anything that I could do to improve this recipe, it may be to add a little more sauce by perhaps, for example, adding some more puree when I was making the sauce.  I might have been a bit too minimalist in this case.  In any event, I think it was a great dish.

ENJOY!

Sweet and Spicy Crab

I was standing at the seafood counter at my local grocery store and I saw something that I don't usually see in this region ... dungeness crab.  The store did not have whole dungies, but dungie clusters, which was good enough for me.  So, I bought a pound of dungeness crab clusters (which is only two clusters) and proceeded to the produce aisles to buy some hot peppers, herbs and other ingredients because I had an idea.  It was kind of an Iron Chef moment.  I saw the ingredients and a recipe came to mind.  The recipe is inpired by a Vietnamese dish called Cua Hap Bia or Crab in Beer Broth. 

Cua Hap Bia generally uses whole crabs, but there is nothing that prevents you from using crab clusters.  Dungeness clusters are especially good to use because they have a lot of meat in them.  Generally speaking, dungeness crab is pre-cooked and then frozen.  So, when cooking this type of crab, you only need to heat it up.  But you also have to be careful about overcooking the crab, because then it will become mushy and waterlogged.  While I used dungeness crab, you can use snow crab or king crab. The same precautions apply with respect to these types of crab because, like dungeness, they are pre-cooked. 

With respect to serving this dish, I served this over jasmine rice flavored with garlic and cilantro.  Rice is not necessary, you can simply spoon the crab and vegetables into a bowl and eat it.

SWEET AND SPICY CRAB

A Chef Bolek Original
Serves 2

Ingredients:

1 pound of dungeness crab clusters

1 large (or 2 small) jalapeno peppers, sliced

1 large (or 2 small) sweet red peppers, sliced

1/2 onion, large diced

3 cloves garlic, sliced

1/2 beer

1 bunch of cilantro, chopped

3 tablespoons canola oil or vegetable oil.

Directions:

1.  Prepare the crab.  Break down the crab clusters into pieces.  

2.  Saute the vegetables.  Heat the oil on high.  Add the onions, hot peppers and sweet peppers.  Stir-fry for five to ten minutes until all of the vegetables are cook.  After a couple of minutes, add the garlic to the vegetable mix and continue to cook. Stir occasionally.

3.  Add the crab to the vegetables.  Add the crab and mix well so that the crab is covered by the vegetable mixture.  Add the beer. Continue to cook for about five more minutes.

4.  Finish the dish.  Remove from the heat.  Spoon into a bowl or over rice.  Also, spoon some of the beer broth over the crab. 

ENJOY!