Seafood?

[zimmerstutzen]

I remember reading an account by a Mayflower passenger, that it was the plethora of easily available clams that got the ship's lot through the first winter. When I lived in Florida, I attended a US Park Service program about how folks lived in the everglades in the mid 1800's and what they ate. But neither went into how the items were prepared. Was it primarily boiled stews and soups, or steamed, or roasted in the coals. I have been to a "planking" in Virginia, where they roast corn on a fire and have the fish on spikes on a board propped up and exposed to the heat of the fire.

At the Eastern at Vine Valley NY thirty years ago, I steamed 50 mahogany clams in a small cast iron kettle over the fire and some of my neighbors got into a discussion about how HC that was, or was not. (I think they were just jealous)

What was the HC preparation?

 

[tenngun]

Fish cake- fish and potato fried is well known to eighteenth century, soups are common, roasted and baked fish and fish in pies., lobsters were considered poor eating, chowders of all sorts are mentioned in Melville. Baking in milk was common.

 

[sidelock]

I have often wondered why the Jamestown settlement had a starving year when the James river was full of fish oysters and clams. ???????

 

[tenngun]

Largely because they were afraid to leave the fort walls

 

[necchi]

Seafood is kind of a broad term.
Each different kind of meat from salt water like shellfish or fish is prepared differently,, then that's even different of the same from fresh water.
I'm pretty sure people learned historically what worked and what made them sick when preparing foods from water. But the way they did it depended on the source.
Seafood? :idunno:

 

[zimmerstutzen]

Seafood does cover a large food group. Having steamed crabs tomorrow. I'd rather eat clams, but in order to preserve domestic tranquility.....

I imagine deep fried seafood may have been a bit less common since fats/oils were more scarce early on. We steam, bbq or bake most seafood. Never fry it. Although, fresh shrimp skewered and roasted quickly over campfire coals is a special treat.

 

[Black Hand]

...fats/oils were more scarce early on.

Bear oil, Olive oil, lard, butter, others?? Of these, I suspect lard was very common...

 

[tenngun]

Frying seems more popular in the south early on and boiling or steaming in the north. I don’t know when clam bakes became common but cooking in a pot stuck in a hole or even just wrapped in something and ground baked is old time pre civilization stuff

 

[Vaino]

Some fish and seafood can be eaten raw....oyster and tuna. Then there's ceviche which is composed of whatever raw seafood and fish is available. cut into small pieces, put in a bowl and squeeze limes over it. The acid in the lime juice cooks the seafood and fish. Salt and pepper are optional. Love the stuff.

My G parents usually had fresh salmon and just salted it while eating.....Fred

 

[Black Hand]

Some fish and seafood can be eaten raw....oyster and tuna.

Nearly all saltwater fish & shellfish can be eaten raw, though there is a possibility (though rare) of Anisakiasis. Infection with a Tapeworm can also be a problem. Freshwater fish should be cooked, as they can contain parasites.

 

[tenngun]

I’ve eaten my share of raw fish, can’t say it’s my favorite, oyster and clams on the half shell have made their own contribution to my girth, and while I like them preference is for them cooked.
I do like chowder, New England and Manhattan, Bouillabaisse, fish stew, gumbo, ettofette,fin and haddi et al.

 

[Loyalist Dave]

Well a boiling kettle was a pretty standard thing if you had any sort of "kitchen" in the 18th century. So boiling any protein or veggie is always acceptable. :wink:

Baking is another very old method, as earthen bake ovens go back to paleolithic times. A "jugged fish" is not out of possibilities or even fish baked into a pie. Stargazy Pie comes to mind although the original was probably made with turnips and not potatoes.

Steaming? Well I took a soldier's camp kettle and put some rocks inside, and almost covered them completely with water...., then we put fresh water mussles in on top, brought the water to a boil, covered the kettle with a piece of leather for ten minutes, and removed it from the fire. Works just fine..., the rocks held the mussles above the boiling water creating a steam chamber. We didn't violate historic materials, but did they steam stuff like that...., unknown.

LD

 

[Nativearizonan]

Some fish and seafood can be eaten raw....oyster and tuna.

Nearly all saltwater fish & shellfish can be eaten raw, though there is a possibility (though rare) of Anisakiasis. Infection with a Tapeworm can also be a problem. Freshwater fish should be cooked, as they can contain parasites.

I would be especially careful of salmon, as they are freshwater fish until they reach the size known as smolt when they enter the saltwater. They have been known to carry non-lethal, but still very troublesome parasites.

 

[NeilMacleod]

Nowadays I would never eat raw, everything is polluted, used to eat raw tatar meat/fish back in the 70/80's

 

[George]

I have often wondered why the Jamestown settlement had a starving year when the James river was full of fish oysters and clams. ???????

Sidelock, you might enjoy this brief history of the early years at Jamestown, including the 'starving times'.
http://www.history.org/foundation/journal/winter07/starving.cfm

Spence

 

[satx78247]

I happen to love TX-style PARISI (a sort of "steak tartare" of Alsatian origin, that has been eaten here since the 1840s) but in 2018 the SOLE place that I will buy it from is DZUIKE'S MARKET, 690 Hwy 90, Castroville, TX as the owners are FANATIC about meat inspection & cleanliness.

just my OPINION, satx

 

[zimmerstutzen]

Oils in the early days would have been scarce. Lard requires pigs. I know there were pigs in Philadelphia by 1710, because the Council passed an ordinance about them, but lard would not have been a common thing for an early coastal frontier person to be toting around, and olive oil, would have been imported. In the sea ports such things would be available, but not the coastal islands of the 1600's. perhaps in Northern Florida and Spanish Georgia.

 

[Rifleman1776]

I have often wondered why the Jamestown settlement had a starving year when the James river was full of fish oysters and clams. ???????

Sidelock, you might enjoy this brief history of the early years at Jamestown, including the 'starving times'.
http://www.history.org/foundation/journal/winter07/starving.cfm

Spence

Another good read on this subject is "The Second Thanksgiving" by Douglas Lloyd McIntosh. This historical novel tells an interesting story starting in 1621. BTW, it is free on Kindle.

 

[Cruzatte]

Seafood diet? Sure. That's me. I see food and I eat it. :haha:

 

[nhmoose]

Been on that one most my life! :hatsoff: