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 Todd Wetherington | Daily Herald Ginger Phipps pours out a fresh helping of rockfish muddle Saturday as she prepares to serve hungry visitors at the Roanoke Canal Museum. |
The weather was beautiful, with cool temperatures as the crowd began arriving at around 10 a.m., and warming up as the afternoon sun forced people under the tents provided by Massey Funeral Home.
No one in the small yet enthusiastic crowd complained about the heat because local musical duo Chambergrass was also under the tents entertaining them.
While most groups and families gathered at individual tables, several discussions moved about from table to table, and even into the museum and down the trail. Those discussions were about which of the three types of muddle presented was either the best or most like original versions cooked in the Valley for years.
If the festival continues for many years, so will that discussion because no one could say for sure which version was the best, or even agree that the three presented were the only three ways to cook it.
Brian Long probably had the best explanation for the “muddled” disagreement. He and his partner, Jason Burleson, are Marine Patrol Officers with the Marine Fisheries Division of the North Carolina Department of Environmental and Natural Resources. They brought a 21-foot Parker Coastal Patrol boat up to display for the event and acted as judges for the “best stocked tackle box” contest.
Long has seen the striped bass population go from depleted to healthier than ever, and has talked to people up and down the coast and inland to Weldon about cooking rockfish.
“There are probably over a hundred different ways to cook fish, bacon and onions,” Long said, “and probably 200 different names for those ways.”
Harold Jacobson oversaw all the cooking of this year's muddle. He is the manager of the Roanoke Canal Museum and has helped gather many of the rockfish muddle recipes that are published in the “Tastes of the Roanoke” cookbook that was put together for the first annual event last year.
“We decided to go with the three most popular styles to give everyone an opportunity to see which they liked best. We began cooking at around 3 a.m.,” he said.
Jacobson described the three styles as original, original with potatoes and original with tomato sauce. Since the potato version disappeared first, maybe it was the most popular. That would be a good guess, but Jacobson said not all versions were available at one time, so the debate continues.
Jacobson said the most time consuming part of the muddle preparation was cutting up all the vegetables.
“That is one thing we've learned,” Jacobson said with a laugh. “If you use canned vegetables, these people will know it. We have to use fresh vegetables and that takes a while to prepare.”
Jacobson said he had noticed that most of the coastal people seemed to like the tomato-based muddle. He also said that many of the elder Valley residents who had actually been to community muddle cookouts tended to fall into two distinct categories.
“Some really, really like it a lot, and some don't like it at all. They bring their grandkids and have them try it, but when asked, they say, ‘Oh no, I hate the stuff,” Jacobson said, again with a laugh.
When really pushed to say which version is the most original, Jacobson said there probably is none. “The three basic ingredients are onions, bacon and fish. At this time of year, most people had used up their supplies of meat that was put up back in the fall. All that was left were the back and side cuts and they were very salty.
“When the rockfish showed up in the spring, those folks were tired of that old meat and looking for something different, so they were very happy when the fish showed up.”
Jacobson also added that the variations in the recipes often is because of which vegetables are available during that time of year in any particular area. Of course that is not a problem today, but could very well have been why there are so many versions out there.
Either way, it was an excellent idea and excuse to get everyone out of the house. The kids enjoyed playing all around the outside of the museum and up and down the trail. The museum itself was constantly full with people viewing the displays.
Once the last of the muddle was gone, the final event of the day was the announcement of the “best stocked tackle box” contest, which only had four entries. All of the entrants in the adult category voluntarily backed out so the youth participants would all receive prizes.
That just proves that even when folks can't agree on anything, they can still come together and have a good time, and that is what the rockfish muddle day is all about.
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