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 TODD WETHERINGTON | DAILY HERALD Decked out in a giant fish outfit, Emily Brown watches local group “Chambergrass” perform at Saturday's Rockfish Muddle Day celebration at the Roanoke Canal Museum. |
ROANOKE RAPIDS - Some were a bit hesitant and some dug right in, but most people at Saturday's first Rockfish Muddle Day seemed to enjoy trying the dish, which has a long history in the region.
Philip Wade, his wife Sherry and Sherry's mother, Becky Hux, made the event a family affair. The Wades just moved to Roanoke Rapids from Florida last month, though Sherry grew up here. The group sat at a picnic table at the Roanoke Canal Museum, deciding which was their favorite: Regular muddle, tomato-based or fish stew.
“I'm looking forward for muddle and I to know each other,” Wade said, still eyeing it a little suspiciously. “We're still getting to know one another, but it's getting better with every bite.”
Across the table, Hux, who has lived in Roanoke Rapids all her life, was also working on her relationship with muddle after a long hiatus.
“I had it about 40 years ago and I didn't like it, but this is really OK, not bad,” she said.
Philip said he and Sherry had been curious about the museum and the event was a good opportunity to check it out.
“I didn't realize Roanoke Rapids had such a rich history,” he said.
Peggy and Austin Moore of Lake Gaston took their niece, Heather Henry of Raleigh, to Rockfish Muddle Day. The family enjoys participating in local activities when Henry visits.
“I like to try things that are new and I've watched my aunt make our family's chicken muddle, so I'm definitely into muddle,” said Henry, whose favorite was the tomato-based.
The Moores own a large cast-iron pot, and the family thinks they may try making catfish muddle in the future.
Bill Johnson of Roanoke Rapids seemed to be one of the more experienced muddle connoisseurs at the event. Johnson, who grew up near Rich Square, said the fish stew, made with potatoes, was his favorite because it resembled the muddle he remembers.
“We used to make it in a wash pot years ago and that was real good, old-fashioned muddle,” he said.
Johnson has had his share of bad muddle; the ones he's tried near the coast have been too soupy.
“They don't know how to fix it,” he explained.
Fun for everyone
In addition to the food, there were games and activities, like the stocked tackle box contest. Lance Carter took first place, Quad Jacobson came in second and Rob Daris was the third-place winner.
James Richardson won the line casting contest. “Chambergrass” provided musical entertainment, and a Marine Patrol representative brought along a boat and talked to children.
The total cost of the event was about $5,000, but thanks to donations from local businesses and volunteers of all ages, Jacobson said the museum only ended up footing about $500 of the bill.
Jacobson said he's “almost positive” there will be a Rockfish Muddle Day next year, with a few changes. He hopes to extend the hours of the event, hold a muddle cook-off and bring in the North Carolina Wildlife Commission's mobile aquarium.
“This was to basically get our feet wet, see how many people were interested and what kind of community support we could get. Everybody supported us above and beyond what we expected.”
The right way to recreate tradition
Saturday's regular muddle - made with rockfish, onions, bacon, parsley, salt and pepper and hot pepper - was the most popular, according to historic interpreter Cheryl Brown, who helped organize the event and served the food. Brown also provided hungry guests with hushpuppies, cornbread and coleslaw.
The muddle was made with real rockfish - also known as striped bass - purchased from a fish market. Brown said she would have liked to have used locally-caught fish, but fishing limits made that impossible.
Museum Manager Harold Jacobson said when people were asked what they thought of rockfish muddle, their opinions seemed to be divided right down the middle.
“Anything that people love and people hate, you can't get anything better than that,” he said.
Organizers cooked the traditional muddle in a cast-iron pot over an open flame; the process took about two hours. As the concoction stewed over the fire, the first group of visitors began to arrive, sharing “a huge variation of stories and memories, and a whole lot of the stories came from standing around that pot, so we were reliving the memories,” Jacobson said.
As the misty weather began to clear up later in the morning, more people showed up; Jacobson estimated there had been a total of about 400 visitors throughout the day.
A rich local history
Research shows rockfish muddle has probably been around since the first settlers came to the region, Jacobson noted. This time of year would have been a good time to fish; most of the fish would have been preserved for the rest of the year, but some of it went into muddle and stews.
Since hog killings took place in December, muddle may have been a way to combine the new fish with the leftover pork. Muddle continued its heyday through the 1940s and ‘50s, during which time the rockfish population was still strong.
“One of the stories we were hearing is you could literally go down to the river with nets and scoop them out,” he said.
Over-fishing caused a rockfish shortage, which made muddle more of a rarity. Even now that the population is recovering, muddle isn't very common anymore.
Jacobson didn't know exactly where muddle exists, but it does seem to be a fairly local thing. The fish only spawn in certain parts of the Roanoke River, and even in Emporia, Va., he said, many people don't even know what they are.
Traditional recipe
For the adventurous and the curious, here is the recipe for Laura's Rock Muddle from “Queen of the Pantry Cookbook,” originally published in 1909 by the Episcopal Churchwomen of Grace Church in Weldon: Take two medium sized fish, cut up and add 1-2 lb. of side meat, cut into thin slices and fried. Put into a kettle and cover with water. Add a piece of butter the size of an egg, several chopped onions, a sprig of chopped parsley, salt and pepper, and 3 pods of red pepper. Stir constantly to keep from burning. Cook until almost dry.
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