Grifton Shad Festival Fish Stew

Recipe contributed by Peggy Brown

Here’s the recipe used at the annual Grifton Shad Festival.
Any kind of fish can be used, but rock and catfish are less bony than shad and more plentiful in April. (They use catfish in the festival stew.) It can be cooked inside in an ordinary pot, or outdoors in an iron pot.

1⁄2 pound fatback or slab bacon
5 pounds white potatoes (sliced)
5 pounds onions (sliced)
4 pounds rockfish, striped bass, puppy drum, catfish,
shad or any firm fish,
cut in 2-inch pieces crossways through the backbone
Salt and pepper to taste
1⁄2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1 can tomato soup
1 dozen eggs
Water

Put fatback or bacon in bottom of pot and fry. Leave grease
in pot and remove fried meat. (Optional: Leave fried meat in pot.) Add other ingredients, layering them beginning with onions, then potatoes, then fish, etc. Sprinkle with salt and pepper as you add ingredients. Add water to cover.

When stew comes to a boil, turn heat down to medium and cook about 11⁄2 hours. Do not stir, as this will break fish into small pieces, but shake the pot from time to time to keep stew from sticking to bottom. About 20 minutes before stew is done, add 1 can tomato soup and break eggs into the stew. Allow eggs to until yolks are hard-boiled. Plan about one egg per person – this is the distinguishing ingredient of Eastern North Carolina Fish Stew. Add more red pepper, if you like it hotter. Serve with hushpuppies, bread, and slaw. Feeds 10-15 people.

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