Recipe: Trawler Style Fish Stew (2)

TRAWLER STYLE FISH STEW
Source: The Post and Courier, Teresa Taylor, Food, 3/6/2005
Source: Betty Ann LaBrasca

"Even though the LaBrasca family ran Italian and Chinese restaurants in Charleston, we enjoyed our busman's holidays dining at The Trawler. I don't remember if the following recipe came from one of Charlotte Walker's food columns, or not. I will declare its goodness, and my family has enjoyed it many years. I hope Ms. Rowland's father will enjoy this LaBrasca's version of The Trawler's recipe. ... I have found doubling the recipe and serving with hot cornbread is a winner in my family."

1 pound fish (preferably red snapper)
1 (14.5-ounce) can chopped tomatoes*
1/2 cup diced celery
1 to 2 cups diced Irish potatoes (see cook's note)
1/2 cup small diced onions
2 tablespoons butter
Salt and pepper to taste

Simmer fish in tomatoes until tender.

Remove fish from tomatoes, remove any skin on fish, shred fish and return to tomatoes. Add remaining ingredients and simmer until potatoes are done.

*Cook's note: "I use two cans tomatoes; use your judgment. Onions and potatoes are a small dice, not large chunks."

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FISH STEW
Source: The Post and Courier, Teresa Taylor, Food, 3/6/2005
From: Oscar Vick III

Oscar, another longtime Charleston cook, writes, "I believe this recipe is the closest thing to the Trawler Fish Stew that you will find. My grandmother loved to take the entire family to The Trawler."

6 slices diced bacon
1 large yellow onion, finely diced
2 ribs celery, finely diced
1/2 bell pepper, finely diced
4 Irish potatoes, peeled and diced
1 (14.5-ounce) can stewed tomatoes, plus 3-can measure of water
1/2 teaspoon prepared mustard
1/2 teaspoon vinegar
1/2 diced parsley
1 teaspoon hot sauce
1/2 cup ketchup
3 ounces tomato paste
1 cup tomato sauce
1 bay leaf
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
Dash of garlic salt
1 1/2 pounds skinless, boneless flounder fillets, diced*
Pinch of red pepper flakes

In a soup kettle over medium-high heat, fry the bacon and drain it on a paper towel.

In the bacon grease, saute the onion, celery and bell pepper.

In a separate pot, cook the potatoes until they are tender. Drain them.

When the onions are clear (translucent), add the water and tomatoes and bring it to a boil. Add all of the other ingredients. Reduce to simmer. Cover and cook gently for 1 hour.

"This is better the next day," Oscar adds. Also, to make a thicker stew, he suggests adding a can of Campbell's tomato soup. "The Trawler's fish stew was not thick and creamy like most that I've had, but it was excellent and a bit peppery, hot and spicy. Those days are gone!"

*Oscar uses whiting for the fish.

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Readers hope Trawler-style fish stew recipes stir memories

Most of us have food "memories" of a particular dish that we carry throughout our lives. Some people can describe in great detail what the food looked liked, how it tasted and the setting. So I wasn't surprised by the recipe request from Jane Rowland of North Charleston, who asked how to make the fish stew served at The Trawler restaurant some 35 years ago.
Jane took her father to the Shem Creek restaurant in the '70s, and he was really wowed by the fish stew.

When she went back in later years, the restaurant had changed hands and she didn't feel the stew was the same. Now she wants to find the recipe for the original and make it for Dad's 87th birthday this month.

So far, I haven't been able to track down the actual restaurant version. But a few readers, such as Betty Ann LaBrasca and Ann Douty of Mount Pleasant and Oscar Vick III of Charleston, were very familiar with The Trawler's fish stew and offered their help.