sea2

For over two decades we've been searching for a good batter for seafood. Close but no brass ring. We wanted one with the crispness and consistency that we remembered from Arthur Treacher's fish and chips. We finally found one. Actually we made minor alterations to a batter used for bloomin' onions.

We first tried it on fried haddock. Eureka. We'd found it. One word of caution: don't use the popular, mass-marketed rice beers where hops is a four-letter word. You know the kind, the king of beers, silver bullets, etc. They have all the taste and character of alligator urine, though the king does have great ads. Gotta love dem iguanas and toads. Use a good home-brewed ale, a micro-brew ale, or an imported English ESB (extra special bitter).

1 cup corn starch	Ľ teaspoon salt
˝ cup flour	4 to 6 ounces real beer
2 teaspoon baking powder

Prepare the batter 5 minutes before it will be needed. Five minutes gives the baking powder time to kick in, while the beer will still be carbonated. Combine the corn starch, flour and salt; mix well. Add about 4 to 6 ounces of beer and stir gently but thoroughly. Add more beer as needed to obtain the proper consistency. A good rule of thumb – pun not intended – is to dip a finger into the batter. The batter should coat the finger, but not excessively. The batter should complement the seafood, not take over. If it's too thick, all you'll taste is the batter.

To make more or less batter, simply adjust the ratio of ingredients. For the above proportions, we found that 10 ounces of Flying Fish ESB was just about right. It was the best haddock we've had in a very long time.

There are many recipes for crab impériale. There is no singular right way. It's a matter of degree: some are very good, some are acceptable and some are not so good. The term impériale refers to various dishes prepared in the grand cuisine. For crab we interpret this as richer crab cake.

The recipes are subdivided into two versions: those that are baked and those that are breaded and deep fried. Some of the not so good versions bread the crab impériale then bake it. That would be Mrs. Paul's treatment. What follows is a baked versions and is quite simple to make.

Adjust the recipe for deviled crab cakes, Roadkill as follows: When making the béchamel sauce, however, start with a cup of light cream instead of milk and finish with enough heavy cream to produce a thick sauce. Reduce the cayenne to ˝ teaspoon and the powdered mustard to ˝ teaspoon. Replace the lemon juice with dry sherry (not cooking sherry) and the scallions with shallots.

As with the crab cakes, adjust the final seasoning of the béchamel right before adding it to the crab meat mixture, especially the sherry. Gently spoon the mixture into 6 one-ounce ramekins. Bake in a preheated 350° oven for 20 minutes, then finish under the broiler until it begins to brown slightly. Serve hot.

Every Labor Day weekend the Cape May County Archery Association holds a fun shoot for members, their family and the public. The emphasis is on fun and family, not competition. Most members bring a covered dish. No one has ever left hungry. While all the dishes are great, two were, to me, outstanding. Jerry Gau's clams casino and deviled clams. You'd be hard put to find either dish any better at seafood restaurants. And that includes Bookbinders. Below is the recipe for his deviled clams. Truth be known, I like them better than our own deviled clams, Roadkill.

2 dozen top necks, minced	Ľ cup flour
1 onion, diced	1 cup milk
1 green pepper, diced	bread crumbs
3 to 4 celery stalks, diced

Sauté onion, pepper and celery in butter until onion is opaque. add flour to milk and blend until mixed. Add milk mixture to vegetables and clams and bring to a boil. Take off stove and transfer to a bowl, then add bread crumbs to mixture until it is not runny or too stiff. Put mixture in shells and top with bacon slice. Bake at 350° until bacon is crisp

Another hard entrée to find is a good crab cake. Because of the cost of jumbo lump crab meat, most restaurants use cheaper backfin meat, then add bread crumbs to stretch the meat and further increase their profit. Some even resort to commercially prepared frozen crab cakes. Also many recipes call for Mayonnaise, the lazy chef's shortcut.

Also beware of eloquent variations. At one restaurant on Maryland's Eastern Shore – of all places – curry was the dominant seasoning. I guess the chef learned his craft on the Indian Subcontinent. One place in Cape May County added corn, while still another added what we think was allspice.

There are two kinds of Maryland-style crab cakes: those that are breaded and deep fried and those that are not breaded and fried in a lightly greased skillet. Further, there are two versions of the above: crab cakes and deviled crab cakes. This recipe is for the skillet-fried version of deviled crab cakes.

It's not cheap to make. It's labor intensive, and there are few deviled crab cake recipes that can touch it. Rest assured, there's no curry, corn, or allspice. Most others are weak imitations. If you find it a little too hot and spicy, cut back a little on the cayenne and powdered mustard the next time. For plain crab cakes, cut the cayenne pepper to ˝ teaspoon and reduce the powdered mustard to ľ. Return to crab impériale, the Feast of the Seven Fishes.

1 pound jumbo lump crab meat	1˝ tablespoons diced scallions, small dice
1˝ teaspoons powdered mustard	1 tablespoon green bell pepper, small dice
1Ľ teaspoon cayenne pepper	3 tablespoons fresh parsley, finely chopped
2 teaspoons salt	1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 pint thick béchamel sauce	Canola oil for frying

Pick carefully through the crab meat for shells, dropping pieces of meat into a bowl. Prepare green pepper, scallions and parsley, then gently fold into the crab meat and mix gently.

Prepare the béchamel sauce and season with 2 teaspoons salt, 1˝ teaspoon dried mustard, 1Ľ teaspoon cayenne pepper and a tablespoon of fresh lemon juice. Simmer for 20 minutes, taste and adjust seasonings. Pour about ľ of the béchamel sauce over the crab meat. Mix gently, then add the rest of the sauce if the mixture appears too dry. If uncertain, err on the side of it being a little too dry. Cool for several hours in the refrigerator.

Separate mixture into 8 to 10 equal-size balls. Coat each ball lightly with flour. Return to refrigerator to re-chill. When the crab cakes are chilled, form the balls into patties and fry in a lightly greased skillet.

Serve hot with cole slaw and steak fries. Key lime meringue pie makes a fine closer. Some folks like tartar sauce, so have some available. We don't; we feel nothing should alter the taste of deviled crab cakes. Return to crab impériale, key lime meringue pie, Roadkill.

We are blessed living on the Jersey Cape. Fresh seafood, especially flounder, is never much of a problem. Except, that is, for haddock. Whenever I'm in New England it's a tough decision whether to order lobster or fried haddock. Haddock is to New England what flounder is to the mid-Atlantic states. Occasionally haddock will show up at our local seafood markets. Whenever that does that's what we buy. And, for us, there's only one way we prepare it: battered and fried.

Divide the filet into serving-size pieces. We found that we get three to four pieces per pound that are about four by four inches. In a skillet, heat to about 350° enough oil to cover slightly more than half the thickness of the fish. Put the haddock pieces into the bowl of batter making sure they are thoroughly coated. With tongs, lift each piece out and hold for a few seconds to permit the excess batter to drip back into the bowl, then transfer to the skillet. After the first side is golden brown, add a teaspoon more of batter, then turn with a spatula and tongs. Fry the other side until done. Transfer to paper towels to absorb excess oil. Hold in a 150° oven until all the pieces are fried.

First we fry steak fries in a 12-inch cast-iron skillet, transfer them to a paper bag, salt them, shake the bag and hold in the preheated oven until the fish is ready to be served. After the fries are done, the oil should be near the proper temperature for the haddock.

Served the haddock and fries with cole slaw. Provide either malt vinegar or tartar sauce or both. We prefer malt vinegar. Return to beer batter, Roadkill, tartar sauce.

This is a simple recipe that is well received by garlic lovers. In fact, we have a friend who avoids garlic like Dracula – except when it's used in scampi. Like white clam sauce, it's the garlic that give this dish character. Adjust the amount of garlic to your family's tastes. Use equal amounts of diced garlic and cilantro. The below recipe will serve about four. It could also be named shrimp shrimp.

Boil the jumbo shrimp, peel, devein and reserve. Peel and devein the shrimp. Chop the shrimp, then divide them into two piles: one for the larger pieces and another for the smaller ones. Melt the butter, then add the olive oil. Bring to medium heat and sauté the shrimp, beginning with the larger pieces for about 45 seconds, then add the smaller pieces. Cook both for about 1˝ minutes or until the shrimp begins to turn pink. Add the garlic and cilantro; sauté for about 1 minute or until the garlic becomes translucent. Do NOT let the garlic brown. Remove from heat and reserve.

Cook the pasta or rice. While the pasta or rice is cooking, slowly bring the scampi up to serving temperature. When the rice or pasta is done, place on platters and spoon the scampi over each serving. Garnish with 1 jumbo shrimp per serving, cilantro and lemon wedges.

Notes: Use whatever pasta you prefer, but try to select one that is neither too thick nor too thin. We prefer spaghettini or linguine. To cook pasta, use 4 quarts of water per pound. Add 1˝ heaping tablespoons of salt per 4 quarts of water AFTER the water comes to a rolling boil. Add all at once so it cooks evenly. Test for doneness, al dente (firm to the bite), by removing a strand and biting it. When done, drain it, sauce it and serve as quickly as possible.

Put the shrimp in an appropriate size pot add enough water to cover the shrimp by two inches. Add salt and pickling spices; turn fire on high. When the water comes to a rolling boil, the shrimp is done, neither over nor under cooked. Drain in a colander, then immediately plunge into a bowl of salted iced water to chill. After a half hour, peel and devein the shrimp. Refrigerate until needed. Return to Roadkill Inn scampi, shrimp salad.

This technique produces a more savory shrimp than the preceding technique using water, salt and pickling spices and should be used when the shrimp will be dominent, such as shrimp cocktail. This is the method we use when we boil jumbo shrimp to dip, warm, in lemon butter.

Jumbo shrimp, 6 per serving	Tabasco to taste
Court bouillon 2	1 lemon
Butter 2 tablespoons per serving

Put the shrimp in the court bouillon and bring to a boil. Remove from stove and allow shrimp to cool in the bouillon. Shell the shrimp and remove the dark vein that runs along the top of the shrimp. Heat the butter, Tabasco and lemon butter and pour into small containers for each serving. Serve warm or at room temperature with the butter, Tabasco and lemon juice mixture. Back to court bouillon2.

1 pound large Carolina shrimp	Fine bread crumbs, enough
1 cup flour, more or less	Ľ cup milk
2 eggs	Crisco for frying

Remove shells, split shrimp in half down the back. Remove vein, and wash. Spread out in sink and let dry a bit. Whisk eggs, add milk and whisk again. Place newspaper on work surface, then put bowl of egg-milk mixture in center. Make a pile of flour to the left of the bowl and a pile of bread crumbs to the right.

Coat each shrimp with flour and set aside. When finished wash hands and dry. With left hand, pick up shrimp and dip it in egg-milk mixture, being sure that all the surface is coated.

Still working with the left hand, place shrimp on the bread crumbs and pat down. Turn with left hand and press on bread-crumb coated side with right hand. Turn again with right hand and press down again. Set aside and bread the rest of the shrimp. If not used immediately, put in refrigerator.

Heat Crisco in deep fryer to 375°. Rub excess breading off shrimp, put about 5 shrimp at a time in wire basket and lower into hot oil. Turn as needed. Remove to paper towel when done. Do not overcook. Serve hot. Return to the Feast of the Seven Fishes.

Note: To freeze uncooked, breaded shrimp, do not wrap. Lay on cookie sheet and leave in freezer overnight. Wrap the next day.

12 jumbo shrimp	Turmeric to taste
1 cup long-grain rice	1 tablespoon finely chopped parsley
Extra virgin olive oil	Reduced consume or chicken stock
4 garlic cloves, finely diced	1 cup table cream
1 shallot, finely diced	Salt and pepper to taste

Peel the shrimp, devein and wash under cold water. Set them on paper towels to dry. Cook the rice until done and reserve. Reduce the stock to half its original volume. Preheat skillet and add just enough olive oil to coat. Quickly sauté the shrimp on both sides until they begin to turn red.

Add diced garlic and shallots and shake the pan to mix. After about one minute, combine reduced the consume or chicken stock, cream and parsley. After about a minute, add a little turmeric and pepper, then taste. Simmer for 1 minute, then taste and adjust the turmeric for flavor and color and pepper and salt to taste.

The shrimp should not cook more than 8 to 10 minutes or they will be tough. Remove the shrimp and strain the sauce.

Nuke the rice to warm it. Serve 6 shrimp per serving over the rice. Pour equal portions of the sauce over each serving.

12 or more little necks per person	one ounce dry vermouth per dozen clams
extra virgin olive oil	one ounce water per dozen clams
1 clove diced garlic per dozen clams, or to taste	1 teaspoon parsley per dozen clams
red pepper flakes to taste	melted butter with lemon juice to taste

Sauté the garlic in the olive oil until translucent. Don't allow to brown. Add the parsley, red pepper flakes, vermouth, water and clams. Cover and bring to a boil, then reduce to a gentle simmer. The clams are done when all are open. Discard any that don't open. Strain the broth for dipping the clams and French or Italian bread. Provide melted lemon butter for those who prefer it to the clam broth. Return to the Feast of the Seven Fishes.

1 pound large Carolina shrimp (28 to 32 count) plus 1 jumbo shrimp per serving	3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons diced garlic	dried red pepper flakes to taste
2 tablespoons fresh cilantro (parsley)	salt to taste
Ľ pound butter	pasta or rice

Seafood