When I was a kid, my father had a friend who loved to fish for catfish. PeeWee fished every spare minute he had for as long as I knew him. He even held the SC State record for catfish for several years at 108 pounds. The current record is only 113 pounds.
Every year, PeeWee would bring my father several quarts of catfish stew. Man, that was good stuff. The fish was cooked down to little flakes that were so savory. It turns out a friend of my son works at one of the local hydroelectric dams and has access to lots of catfish. So I'm going to try to figure out what recipe my father's friend used. PeeWee passed away 20+ years ago and may have taken his recipe to his grave. I remember it looking something like this. This particular version had been modernized to make it healthy so I'm 100% certain this isn't what I'm looking for. This is also more of a gumbo than a stew. I'll probably try it eventually but I'm going to start with an old unhealthy version that begins with a couple of pounds of fatback instead of olive oil.
Doing some research, it looks like the stew was probably South Carolina Catfish Stew which is a local recipe that is based on a fish stew recipe that was probably brought over from Nigeria on slave ships. That expanded to fish camps along the freshwater rivers of the coast and midlands of South Carolina. From there, the stew became very popular in the South during the Great Depression, probably because it was a very cheap food. That's where I'm going to start.
My problem is, that many of the best recipes never make it into a cookbook or on the internet. They are family recipes written in a spidery script in a notebook or on a card in a little box in Grandmom's kitchen. Does anyone remember eating a really good fish stew growing up and want to see if they can dig up the recipe? I'd love to try it. My family grew up on salt water so the fish we ate was usually baked or fried. The only stews and gumbos were made with shrimp, oysters, or clams. If my grandfather had a hand in it, it would be mostly red pepper and inedible.
If you have a seafood recipe you are willing to share, throw it up here. This is going to be my first try at Catfish Stew. I'll let you know how it comes out.
INGREDIENTS
2 lbs Catfish Fillets
1 lb Thick Cut Bacon
2 medium Onions Diced
2-3 cloves Minced Garlic
2-3 Stalks Celery
8 Potatoes Diced into 1/2 inch cubes. Red or Russet potatoes
2 cans of diced tomatoes
2 Quarts Water
1 Can Tomato paste
2 Tablespoons Worcestershire Sauce
2 Tablespoons Hot Sauce Texas Pete or Franks Red Hot is what I prefer
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
INSTRUCTIONS
Step 1: Start with a large heavy bottom pot or large dutch oven.
Step 2: Cut up the bacon into small 1-inch pieces. Put in the dutch oven and turn the heat on to medium-high heat. We want to start rendering out the fat of the bacon.
Step 3: Once the bacon has started rendering the fat out, we will next put in our celery, onions, and garlic. Let them cook for about 3 to 5 minutes or until the celery and onions become translucent. Make sure to stir often so as not to burn the garlic and onions.
Step 4: Add in the water. Next, add the tomato paste and hot sauce. You can also add in the seasonings at this point too. Bring the mixture up to a boil and stir to incorporate the tomato paste.
Step 5: Add in the potatoes once the tomato paste has been incorporated, turn the heat down to medium heat.
Step 6: Add in the catfish fillets. As the catfish fillets are cooking, I like to use my wooden spoon to break the fillets up.
Step 7: I like to let the potatoes cook down really well. I will usually let this go on a simmer for roughly an hour or two. This will cause the catfish stew to thicken up slightly as the potatoes cook down and the stew reduces. Make sure to add a little water to it if it cooks down too much.
Step: 8 Once it has gotten to the right consistency, it is time to serve it. Ladle out the stew into a bowl. Serve with saltine crackers and hot sauce.
