Mighty Fine Victuals - In Search of Cracker Cuisine - A Final Dispatch from the Sunshine State

What a shame that our month long mid-winter sojourn in the Sunshine State is quickly coming to an end. The weather has been gorgeous since our arrival as the last winter cold snap was coming to a quick and decisive end here in North Florida; temperatures in the 70s and 80s during the day and down into the mid 60s at night. It has been a time of rest and relaxation . . . time to catch up on my reading and to work on several writing projects, including a few posted here and on my literary blogspot - www.ruesansregret.blogspot.com - over the past weeks. It has also been an opportunity to touch base with friends and family scattered hither and yon across the state. And I always enjoy my explorations of the back roads as evidenced in my previous posting - http://lookingtowardportugal.blogspot.com/2018/02/leaving-highway-dispatch-from-sunshine.html.

My visit has also afforded me the opportunity to enjoy the local swamp/cracker cuisine of North Florida which is abundant and tasty but often difficult to find anywhere else. So one has to take advantage and strike while the iron is hot. Some folks down here don’t like the term "Cracker," considering it pejorative; they equate it with being an ignorant redneck. But nothing is further from the truth; authentic Crackers consider the label a badge of honor. It bonds them to their native earth. My late father-in-law was a Cracker with a capital "C." Born, raised, lived and died here. No finer man breathed air. He had a college degree, was a naval aviator in the Pacific during World War II, rode a horse and ran Florida cattle. He took care of his family and made sure his only daughter married a fine and upstanding Yankee lad. A few hours with him and I sounded like I grew up in a cypress marsh wraslin’ gators. No shame to be a Cracker! Not in my book!

But back to the food . . . to wit, I have sampled some of the freshest and flakiest catfish fillets. Granted, it is an ugly fish to look at and it is a trial to properly clean. I have endured great pain and shed a lot of blood over the years trying. But once cleaned, and properly prepared, a catfish fillet is about as good a piece of fish as you will ever taste. I have also enjoyed a pile of smaller river catfish (served on the bone) on the banks of the St. Johns River, Florida’s longest.

I have enjoyed a basket of tenderly fried conch fritters (sea snails from the Florida Keys), several helpings of succulent gator tail, and who can forget the fall-off-the bone frog legs. These were the real things; caught and served right here in Florida despite the efforts by China and Vietnam to make inroads in the American frog leg market. We have awesome ribbeters right here in Florida and don’t need any imports, thank you.

Once again I was disappointed not to find cooter (soft-shell river turtle) on the menu anywhere. Just hard to come by commercially these days. Still, ain’t no better eatin’ than a heap of local marsh critters.

Add to all of this largesse, side servings of fried green tomatoes and pickles, swamp cabbage, hush puppies, tater tots, and cheese grits (my wife handles those thankfully . . . I’m still a bluebelly by birth), all washed down with a few pints of Stumpknocker lager, and you’ll wonder how the South lost the war.

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So today I had one more mission before we set our course for home in Maryland (which has its own fine local cuisine).

Not exactly Cracker cuisine per se, but North Florida offerings just the same and something one must avail one’s self of if ever in the area. I’m referring to the local seafood. To accomplish this goal I drove over to Cedar Key, on the Gulf of Mexico. I have been there several times and fell in love with the ramshackle streets and waterfront that strikes me as a smaller and certainly more sedate version of Key West.

I had one thing on my mind; the sweet-tasting little neck clams from the local aquaculture beds surrounding the island. I could almost taste them on the hour or so drive from Gainesville. Over twenty years ago the State of Florida banned commercial gill netting in state waters effectively putting many coastal fishermen out of business, including many based on and around Cedar Key. To compensate them the state offered training to convert their fishing operation to aquaculture, including the commercial farming of littleneck clams. Over the intervening years Cedar Key has become home to some of the largest producers of farm-raised clams in the United States.

As bent as I was on eating clams, my mind and taste buds suddenly shifted gears as I rolled into town. Succulent stone crab claws are also in season (usually October to May) although they are often hard to find in markets and restaurants even then. And when you do find them, they can be prohibitively expensive. But how often do I come to Florida? Steamed and cracked stone crab claws served with the traditional horseradish mustard, and all washed down with cold beer. Not only is the claw meat exquisite, but only legal size claws are harvested while the crab is returned to the water where they regenerate new (and equally tasty) claws. A truly sustainable seafood industry.

Unfortunately life is full of disappointment. No stone crabs were available during my visit to Cedar Key. But no cause for alarm. There were plenty of Cedar Key clams available and I

was soon belly up to a table in a local clam bar where I enjoyed a large bowl of steamed clams served in garlic and wine while slurping down an icy tray arrayed with the local Pelican Reef (Eastern) oysters on a half shell. They remind me of some of my favorites found in the Damariscotta River, on Mid-Coast Maine. I’ll be back there soon enough.

North Florida offers so much more than plentiful sunshine, a peaceful landscape and stunning scenery. I’ll miss the Cracker cuisine and will look forward to a return in the very near future.