Eastern NC Fish Stew is a Simple and Delicious Dish to Cook in December — Real Food Explored

This stew has a rich flavor and history

Let me introduce you to Eastern North Carolina Fish Stew. I remember eating this stew often while growing up on the coast of eastern NC. I didn’t think much of it then, but now I recognize the culinary and cultural significance of this dish and I am excited to eat it every time it is in front of me in all of its piping-hot glory. It’s especially good on cold nights. In fact, it has become semi-tradition for my family to prepare this on Christmas Eve for a warm post-church service meal.

Eastern NC fish stew is simple and delicious in a way that is difficult to imagine until you try it. In fact, the simplicity of fish, potatoes, and eggs cooked together in broth is why this stew ascends the sum of its parts. This simplicity also lends to why Eastern NC fish stew is a shining example of the evolution of highly localized American cuisine over the past 100–200 years.

Fishermen along the coast needed to sustain themselves using ingredients that were available and affordable. Fish, potatoes, onion, eggs, and a little salt pork fit this description perfectly. These ingredients would mostly keep well, even for fishermen out on the water. The fish would of course, always be fresh.