Fish Muddle
You can taste the coast in every bite of this stew.
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Recipe Summary test
In North Carolina, a muddle is a stew that's made with the fresh catch of the day, taking advantage of the abundance of seafood available along the state's coastline. While local opinions may differ on how to prepare this hearty dish, it's usually served over grits or rice. Some cooks garnish it with parsley or add chopped hard-cooked eggs on top.
This highly savory Fish Muddle packs all the flavors of the coast into one package—our Test Kitchen compares it to an elevated version of shrimp and grits. For our take on a Fish Muddle, we use shrimp and a skinless snapper fillet, cut into bite-sized pieces (but you can use any flaky white fish here). The seafood flavor is fortified from the beginning with a shrimp stock (most of the time in this recipe is spent making the broth, because that's the real foundation for the dish). As tradition mandates, we spoon this muddle over grits and top it with hard-boiled eggs.