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by Cathy Baldwin
Year-round Outer Banks residents tend to forget there's a certain rhythm to their eating habits. They dine on fresh rockfish all winter, softshell crabs in the summer, and vinegary barbeque all year long. Sweet tea? Heck, it's a staple in nearly every restaurant on the beach, at least those owned by the locals.
But don't mistake the local palate as simple. With the up-and-coming Hampton Roads cities just sixty miles north and an influx of metropolitan tourists in the summers, local tastes have grown through the years from traditional Southern-fried seafood to delectable gourmet creations, and the restaurants have followed suit. Just about every kind of food under the sun can be found in the more than 200 restaurants on the Outer Banks. Want sushi? There are plenty of places that serve it. Hungry for Mexican food? You've got quite a few choices. From New York style pizza to German cuisine to Chinese take-out, the Outer Banks has it all and plenty of it.
However, what many visitors want when they come here to vacation is what they can't get at home, the culinary creations native to the Outer Banks. One regional delicacy that Outer Bankers set their clock by is the softshell crab. Softshells can be eaten any time of the year, but only if they've been frozen. The best time of year to get fresh-out-of-the-water softshells is late spring through mid-summer, and many anticipate the tasty crunch of a softshell sandwich all winter long. A newcomer to the dish might be confused about what sort of crab the softshell really is, usually mistaking it for a species of its own. The softshell crab is actually a blue crab that has molted its hard exoskeleton. Blue crabs must periodically shed their outer shell so that they can grow. When the water temperature is just right, about 59 degrees, the crabs start to molt. After they shed their exoskeletons, they are left with a soft shell until a new and larger hard shell forms. Old sea salts say that this usually happens on the first full moon in May.
Regardless, spring is the time for softshell sandwiches. The entire body of the softshell is edible and thus it is not a food for the squeamish. But when floured, seasoned and sauteed, the softshell is a not-to-be-missed summertime delicacy.
But softshells aren't the only beloved crab dish on the Outer Banks. While Maryland lays claim to the crab cake as its specialty, Outer Bankers have no doubt that the crab cakes at local restaurants could give Maryland a run for its money. Much more than a bun-filler, the crab cake finds its way from casual sandwich joints to the most posh of local dining establishments. From fried to baked, appetizer to main course, the crab cake is one versatile culinary delight.
While Outer Banks crab cake recipes run the gamut, the best include jumbo lump crabmeat, and lots of it. Other ingredients might include Dijon mustard, parsley, salt, pepper and mayonnaise. The least favorite crab cake ingredient: any unnecessary filler. In other words, the more crabmeat the better. Visiting the Outer Banks in the winter? You've picked the perfect time of year to get fresh rockfish. Cold water temperatures make for perfect rockfish fishing, and thus wintertime brings an abundance of tasty rockfish on restaurant special sheets. Also known as striped bass in other parts of the country, the rockfish filet is firm and has a delicate flavor. Perfect with sauces, in soup, or atop pasta, rockfish adapts easily to almost any preparation. Local chefs love to be creative with this versatile seafood, preparing dishes such as rockfish enchiladas, spicy rockfish stew, teriyaki rockfish with pineapple salsa, and the like. Ask your server how fresh the rockfish is and they're almost certain to say:"It was swimming this morning!" One of the most Southern foods of all that thrives on the Outer Banks is pulled pork barbeque. While not necessarily a local creation, this Southern delicacy in the form of "East Carolina" style has quite a following here. There are more than seven barbeque joints that dot the Outer Banks and lower Currituck, not to mention the numerous other restaurants that serve barbeque in addition to their main fare.
Any barbeque buff will tell you that there are several regional forms of the tasty food. Barbeque aficionados hailing from Texas, Kansas City and Memphis are just as proud of their styles of barbeque as we are of ours. But no matter where you are, barbeque almost always refers to pulled or chopped pork. Cooking methods can differ the old fashioned way is to roast the whole pig on a spit over an open fire, or a Southern "pig-pickin".
But the big barbeque issue has less to do with cooking method and more to do with sauce, and here's where folks from eastern Carolina and western Carolina get up in arms. Eastern Carolina, style barbeque has a vinegar base and a closely guarded secret mix of salt, pepper, red pepper and other tasty spices. The western Carolina barbeque is made almost the same way, with the addition of a tomato-based sauce. This style often uses just the pork shoulder, as opposed to the whole hog in eastern Carolina barbeque. According to Terry Mancour in North Carolina Barbeque: A Primer, "Barbecuing is so competitive in North Carolina that the state boasts no fewer than twenty five annual cook-offs. Most of these are in the Eastern part of the state, and therefore the whole hog/vinegar sauce method is emphasized." Yes, that's right. Barbeque here is serious business.
All seriousness aside, with a tall glass of ice-cold sweet tea, a generous heaping of cole slaw, and a fluffy cornbread square, a plate full of eastern Carolina barbeque is like heaven on earth, at least to a Southern food connoisseur. From softshells to pork barbeque, no matter the Outer Banks culinary delight you're craving, there's a restaurant or two (or two hundred!) to suit it. So come to the Outer Banks, and don't forget to bring your appetite!
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