We don’t just enjoy catching fish. We also enjoy the dining on the catch of the day from time to time. And it’s no secret that down in the South, most of us know our way around the kitchen and enjoy taking part in the finer things. We had the chance to catch up with two friends of The Watery Rave who happen to be experts in that area, Matt and Ted Lee, also known as The Lee Bros. Matt and Ted grew up in Charleston, SC, and in 1994 founded The Lee Bros. Boiled Peanuts Catalogue, a mail-order source for southern pantry staples such as stone-ground grits, fig preserves and the like. Their first cookbook, The Lee Bros. Southern Cookbook, received the James Beard Award for Cookbook of the Year in 2007. They are contributing editors for Travel + Leisure and the wine columnists for Martha Stewart Living. Here’s a bit of what we talked about:
WR: In terms of trends, movements, even paradigm shifts within the food / restaurant industry – what are you guys seeing specific to the idea of sustainable seafood?
LB: We’ve noticed that the specific species that are proclaimed as overfished or “safe” change gradually over a few years as the stocks fluctuate, which makes the subject murky and difficult to track for the average seafood consumer. Increasingly, though, the restaurant chefs have stepped in and become the conduits for that information, which is a huge help to everyone. Chefs, by the way, are also the people driving the search for local species that are tasty and rare in the marketplace, but abundant in the oceans. Chefs want their food to stand out–and diners are becoming more adventuresome–so an exotic local fish with a clean bill of health is tastier than an endangered bluefin any day.
WR: Have you noticed any impact of the BP oil disaster in the gulf when it comes to buying and cooking seafood?
LB: We’re still seeing some Gulf fish and shellfish coming into markets in the Lowcountry–because it’s a long coastline, and not every fisherman has (yet) been touched by this. But we’re not sure for how much longer that’ll be the case. And for some of our friends, like Susan Spicer, chef of the New Orleans restaurants Bayona and Mondo, who just filed a class-action against BP on behalf of the region’s chefs, the restrictions on commercial fishing that are in place are already keeping them from doing their jobs.
