Taste of the Tide

Southern Author Pat Branning

Fresh, delicious seafood awaits at Hudson’s Seafood On the Docks, Hilton Head Island

https://www.hudsonsonthedocks.com/

Taste of the Tide

Along the saltwater edge of South Carolina, we have folks serving platters piled high with some of the freshest shrimp, fish, clams, and blue crabs anywhere on earth. Whether fried golden brown and crispy, sauteed, frittered, po’boyed, grilled, or baked, you can bet they’re created with plenty of Southern soul.

I love the sound of cars and trucks whizzing by and the briny smell of the sea as we approach the shore. Ramble up Hwy. 17 between Beaufort and McClellanville in search of seafood dives along the way.  They may not be on your GPS or marked clearly on a map, but if you follow your instincts and aromas, you’ll find one. These are no-frills hidden gems in out-of-the-way places where once you’ve eaten in one of them, you’ll be smitten forever.

Don’t be in a hurry. Instead, have some devil-may-care swagger, and you may stumble on a treasure.  Once inside, you can spot the regulars by their permanent suntans and be prepared for a waitress who might call you “Suga.” 

Kick off your shoes and try crab-crackin’ on Edisto, a sub-tropical barrier island just south of Charleston - a place of majestic live oaks, heavily laden with beards of Spanish moss, that form cathedral-like canopies over a winding sandy road.  Most of the land here is a jungle of tangled oaks, magnolia trees, palmettos, and yuccas, standing high above a woodland floor. Once on Hwy 174, you’ll spot a cinderblock fish house painted blue with a giant crab on the side. Step inside and meet Vincent Flowers, whose family has been earning a living by hauling fresh seafood for four generations in Edisto.  At Flowers Seafood, there’s a mobile kitchen out back with a handwritten chalkboard announcing the specials, “Garlic Blue Crab. $30.00/dozen.” Place your order, sit at one of the picnic tables, and let the feast begin. Crack the claws and taste the juicy, succulent meat within, and don’t forget the hushpuppies and sweet tea.  It doesn’t get any better than crab crackin’ beside a tidal creek beneath live oaks on a rickety table by the side of the road. This is home to the sweet blue crabs that, only a day before, were quietly nestled in creeks from the May River to Bohicket, Bulls Bay to Murrells Inlet.

Vince, a Gullah waterman from St. Helena Island, SC, prepares his boat.

That’s just part of the story.  It also has to do with the men who head out with the tides to set their crab traps, traveling through stormy seas in bateaux, as able-bodied and steady as the men who handle them -  built to withstand being run aground on rough-shelled oyster banks day after day and stand up to fouling seas.

Craig Reaves, a seasoned waterman who has followed in his father's footsteps, lets neither high winds, freezing drizzle, nor fouling seas prevent him from firing up the diesel engine on this battered 21-foot aluminum boat and heading out to set his traps. “You pretty much need to have it in your blood—grow up around it to really understand it,” he says in his soft-spoken accent. It’s what I’ve always loved to do.”

On the day my son Andrew met up with him, the high winds were something Craig had to consider. Undaunted by the weather or the tidal pulls, he and his brother Cameron headed out full throttle from their dock at Village Creek on St. Helena Island. As the boat surged forward toward the Broad River,  icy waves sprayed over the bow and sides. Arriving at their destination, Craig climbed forward to slip onto the deck of the boat and cast his traps.  While the craft bounced and rolled, Craig kept himself low on the bow and grabbed the wire mesh traps one at a time, tossing them into the churning green waters.  After a short while, even the strongest back feels the strain of setting 35-pound pots into the ocean.

The life of a waterman is rugged and often treacherous, but there are moments when these waterways, rivers, and marshlands rise up and steal your soul.

Gullah ladies at the Bluffton Oyster House picking blue crabs. (below) Painting by Sandra Roper

There are dozens and dozens of crab cake recipes, and I believe I’ve read all of them and tasted most. But by far, the most famous is from Savannah’s favorite caterer, Susan Mason. Be sure to refrigerate the crab cakes for 30 minutes before cooking. This will keep them from falling apart in the pan.

Susan Mason’s Crab Cakes

½ cup Hellmann’s mayonnaise

1 red bell pepper, finely chopped

2 green scallions, white and tender, with green parts finely chopped

2 tablespoons Dijon mustard

2 teaspoons Old Bay Seasoning

1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1 dash Worcestershire sauce

2 large egg yolks

2 pounds jumbo lump crabmeat

6 cups fresh bread crumbs

 Vegetable oil for frying

Refrigerate 30 minutes before cooking!

Mix together the mayonnaise, bell pepper, green onion, mustard, Old Bay Seasoning, cayenne, Worcestershire sauce, and egg yolks. Gently stir in the crabmeat. Put bread crumbs on a cookie sheet. Mold the crab cake with one hand and pat the cake with bread crumbs using the other hand. Form 10 crab cakes and fry in the oil, turning three or four times until crispy on the outside, about 5 minutes on each side. Drain on paper towels. Serve hot.