Recipe: Maryland Rock Fish - A Coating for Fish Fry ala Margaret Murphy and Grandma Norris' Baked Stuffed Rockfish

My neighbor gave me this recipe for pan-frying fish. NOTE: ROCK FISH IS KNOWN TO OTHER PERSONS AS "STRIPED BASS": TWO RECIPES FOLLOW:

A COATING FOR FISH FRY ala' Margaret Murphy

Recipe By : Delegate Margaret Murphy; Pasadena, Maryland
Servings: 2

1 part all-purpose flour
1 part yellow cornmeal
salt and pepper -- to taste
1 teaspoon paprika -- +/- to taste
4 each catfish
or use: filets, other type of fish
4 wedges lemon -- for accompaniment

Mix dry ingredients and shake fish in it. Fry in hot oil to desired tenderness.

NOTES : From my 1973 Files: Tom Shunick

Grandma Norris' Baked Stuffed Rockfish
Recipe By: Grace Norris of Mayo on the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland
Servings: 4

1 4 - 5 pound Maryland Rockfish -- wash and dry
known as Striped Bass to the rest of
the world
2 stalks celery -- chopped
1 small onion -- chopped
2 tablespoons fresh parsley -- chopped
1 stick butter
poultry seasoning -- to taste
salt -- to taste
8 slices stale white bread -- torn into bite-size
4 slices thick-sliced bacon
flour -- for dusting fish
squirts of fresh lemon juice -- as desired
8 slices lemon -- for decoration
8 wedges lemon -- for serving

Wash and dry the Rockfish. Lay it in a baking pan lined with aluminum foil. Prepare stuffing. Saute celery, onion and parsley in butter. Season with poultry seasoning and salt to taste. Toss with bread. Stuff the cavity of the fish with the dressing. Seal edges with toothpicks. Lightly salt the fish, and top with bacon strips. Baste often. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 to 55 minutes or when fish flakes when tested with a fork.

Rockfish hooks 'em. Grace Norris was the queen of her kitchen. My fondess memories of my grandmother's cooking was during the summer months at our cottage house in Mayo (south of Annapolis, MD). From a kitchen window overlooking a ribbon of tiger lilies and clusters of blue-purple hydrangeas, she oversaw an abundance of fresh produce and seafood from the Chesapeake Bay. Memories of her succulent bread-stuffed rockfish travel across the world to Germany, where my Uncle Joe had been taken prisoner by the Germans during World War II. Food dominated the thoughts of the starving prisoners of war. Some longed for pancakes, eggs and sausage, but my uncle held the memory of his mother's rockfish close to his heart.

Grandma was a master of simplicity. Seafood needed no more than a dusting of flour, butter or bacon fat, perhaps a squirt of lemon and a snip of parsley, for which she routinely dispatched me to the garden to retrieve for her seafood dishes and her wonderfully uncomplicated potato salad.

Everyone loved this lasting summertime salad. Weekend guests begged to to make it. Leftovers were devoured. The ingredients called for potatoes, onions, celery, chopped hard-cooked eggs, a spoonful of parsley, squirt of lemon juice, salt and mayonnaise - always Hellmann's.

Many a folk "headed up the road" with her recipe tucked in their purse or back pocket.

Copied by Tom Shunick - A Westminster Receptarist - May 11, 2003

Source & Notes: Finding comfort in treasured recipes By Suzanne White: Special To The Baltimore Sun; Originally published May 7, 2003 What is it about grandmothers' recipes? Often incomplete and scribbled on tattered scraps of paper faded by age, they have the power to evoke strong memories and feelings from generation to generation. Could it be grandmothers' treasured recipes were made with love? Hours were spent in the kitchen - a luxury women today do not have - coaxing the flavor from foods, lifting lids, stirring pots and triple checking pies in the oven. Their food was uncomplicated and straightforward. No arugula tossed in the salad, white truffle oil drizzled on the pasta or espresso whirled into the cake batter. Meats survived without peppercorn or hazelnut crusts, and vegetables never knew balsamic vinegar or goat cheese. Author Ellen Perry Berkeley has written a book about these women who have enriched our lives with their simple, wholesome and cherished recipes. In her book, At Grandmother's Table (Fairview Press, 2000), Perry describes the bond between grandmothers and granddaughters (and, we also can add grandsons) as connections that span the boundaries of time.

"Indeed, by cooking what they cooked, we are in contact again with their lessons and their values, their warmth, their courage, their comfort and their love," she said.

Suggested Wine: Wine: a nice white zin
Serving Ideas : Serve with lemon wedges and a baked potato with butter.