Time to fuel up with some brain food! Test your knowledge on Carolina cookin’ and cuisine—from the hate ’em or love ’em red hot dogs to beloved biscuits and BBQ. It’s giving *quintessential* NC—and we’re eating it up. Dig in!
1
Not your average Oscar Mayer, NC’s traditional red Bright Leaf hot dogs are hued with the same food coloring as…? a. Red velvet cake b. Sports drinks c. Cereals d. All of the above
2
Speaking of hot dogs—we’ll take ours Carolina-style! Classic NC hot dogs typically come drenched in chili, coleslaw and which third ingredient? a. Baked beans b. Onions c. Relish d. Pickles
3
A huge ~pull~ on NC meat eaters, BBQ is essentially a staple in our state. What city considers itself the Barbecue Capital of the World for its BBQ outposts and annual food fest? a. Ayden b. Clemmons c. Murphy d. Lexington
4
Soul food 🤝 biscuits. Before Biscuitville became Biscuitville, a former flour broker began the now-uberpopular breakfast stop as Mountainbrook Fresh Bread & Milk in which NC town? a. Edenton b. Burlington c. High Point d. Sanford
5
Oh, sweet! Sweet potatoes are the official state veggie—so, naturally, the sweet potato pie is a perennial dessert. Which historical figure harbored an obsession with the sweet treat due to the belief it was an aphrodisiac? a. William Howard Taft b. King Charles III c. Henry VII d. Charles Darwin
6
Aw, shucks! From sea to slurp, NC’s oysters are quite a pearl in the eyes of many a NC native—whether boiled, creamed or served in a chowder. What name do baby oysters go by? a. Sprag b. Spat c. Smelt d. Fry
7
Started as a dare, the Krispy Kreme Challenge has garnered runners willing to down a dozen hot ones and run 5 miles from NC State’s Belltower to Krispy Kreme and back. What local org has the race supported since its inception? a. Rise Against Hunger b. Children’s Flight of Hope c. American Cancer Society d. UNC Children’s Hospital
8
Staying fruity, what was named North Carolina’s official state fruit in 2001? a. Persimmons b. Scuppernong grapes c. Crimson seedless grapes d. Blueberries
9
Created by a pharmacist in New Bern, Pepsi has been on the soda scene for the past 100+ years. Which of these well-known drink brands has PepsiCo since acquired? a. Gatorade b. Red Bull c. Ocean Spray d. Welch’s
Locals Seafood opens a full-service fish market in East Raleigh with a restaurant on the horizon.
It’s ofishal: Locals Seafood has a new home in the City of Oaks. Since closing its popular oyster bar at Transfer Co. Food Hall in 2022, Locals—which supplies restaurants and grocery stores throughout the Triangle with the freshest NC seafood—has been working hard to build out a new HQ off of New Bern Avenue in East Raleigh. Now, that space has received a face-lift (think a brick exterior painted a deep ocean blue and bright white signage) and is ready to welcome the city’s seafood lovers to shop, shuck and socialize.
The heart and “sole” of Locals’ new East Raleigh outpost is a full-service fish market carrying a variety of premium seafood brought in from the coast each week. Although Locals’ team of fishmongers regularly sells seafood at farmers markets across the region—including, most recently, in Asheville—this “inland fish house,” as co-founder Lin Peterson calls it, will display their largest offering of fish that can be cut to order or dressed with herbs and ready to take home to cook.
It’s a full-circle moment for Locals, which champions buying seafood straight from the source and was born out of a desire to give NC folks who live further inland better access to freshly caught fish. “We make four to five trips each week picking up seafood up and down the coast and bringing it to Raleigh,” says Peterson. “It’s a pretty special thing, but it’s kind of hard to paint that picture because we are our own supply chain. … Now, finally, we have a market attached to that operation so we can tell that story.”
Beyond selling superfresh seafood, the market will allow Locals to expand its retail offerings to include salads, smoked fish dips and other chef-crafted items, plus accoutrements such as seasonings and housemade sauces. And with almost 2 acres of outdoor space at the new property, Locals is destined to become the host with the most when it comes to oyster roasts and other local events. There will even be a lineup of educational classes—everything from how to fillet a fish to oyster shucking 101.
With plenty of room for growth at the new HQ, Peterson confirms a restaurant attached to the market is “in our sights.” (And for those wondering, Locals’ existing resto inside Durham Food Hall is still going strong.) The co-founder points to Brooklyn’s Greenpoint Fish & Lobster Co. as a source of inspo for their long-term vision. But during this initial phase, the focus will simply be setting up Raleigh’s home cooks for success.
“From shuck-at-home oyster kits complete with sauces to stuffed whole fish and marinated shrimp skewers, we’ll have everything you need to prepare amazing seafood at home—and teach you how to do it!” shares Peterson. He adds they will even be dry-aging fish on-site, “allowing home cooks to sear the most perfectly crisp fish skin, just like the pros.”
As spring weather beckons us outdoors and our palates begin to crave a taste of the coast, one thing’s for sure: Thanks to Locals and its seafood prowess, Raleighites are in for one shell of a good time.localsseafood.com
Get hooked on these four summer recipes—utilizing four different types of seafood—from some top local seafood spots.
Summer and seafood are synonymous in North Carolina—especially here in Raleigh, where the coast is only a short two-hour drive away (#blessed). Some may find it daunting to make seafood at home, but we see it as a great oppor-tuna-ty to flex our cooking muscles (er, mussels?) and take advantage of all the fresh fish, clams, shrimp, crab and more that are so easily accessible to us. So, we tapped four local seafood spots for their best summer seafood recipes you can easily recreate at home. We know you’re gonna krill it.
ST. ROCH FINE OYSTERS + BAR
St. Roch Smoked Pimento Cheese
St. Roch chef-owner Sunny Gerhart adds a bomb of flavor to his famous smoked oysters with a housemade smoked pimento cheese—which also goes great on crackers (or, um, straight up with a spoon…).
Ingredients
• 8 oz. cream cheese
• 6 cups smoked cheddar cheese or regular white cheddar, grated*
• 1/4 cup charred scallion, minced
• 3/4 cup rice wine vinegar
• 3/4 cup gochujang (Korean chile paste)
• 3/4 cup Sriracha hot sauce
• 3/4 cup Duke’s Mayo
• 1 Tbsp. roasted poblano peppers (or raw poblanos diced or pureed in food processor)
• 1 Tbsp. kosher salt
• 1 Tbsp. ground black pepper
Directions
Combine all ingredients until you reach desired consistency. Serve atop smoked oysters.
SALTBOX SEAFOOD JOINT
Core Sound Clams With Gold Tomato and Corn Broth
Chef-owner Ricky Moore got the inspiration for this dish while clamming on Shell Island with friend Steve Goodwin, a fourth-generation fisherman of Beaufort’s Salty Catch Seafood Company. After digging up the clams, they cooked this dish right there on the beach. Recipe from Saltbox Seafood Joint Cookbook by Ricky Moore
Ingredients (for 6-serving yield)
• 4 1/2 pounds fresh NC clams
• 1 cup dry white wine, such as pinot grigio or sauvignon blanc, plus more for serving
• 1 small onion or 2 medium shallots, finely chopped
• 1 1/2 lbs. chopped gold tomatoes (be sure to collect the juice)
• 1 strip of orange zest
• 1 tsp. fresh thyme leaves
• Pinch of saffron (optional)
• Salt and freshly cracked black pepper to taste
• 4 Tbsp. finely chopped fresh parsley
• Lemon wedges, for serving
Directions
1. Rinse the clams and scrub them with a small brush.
2. Bring the wine to a boil in a large saucepan; then lower the heat to a simmer and reduce the wine by half. Return the pan to high heat; add the clams; cover and cook until the clams open, about 2 to 3 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat; discard any clams that have not opened.
3. Drain the clams in a strainer lined with cheesecloth over a large bowl and set the liquid and clams aside in separate bowls.
4. Place the saucepan back over medium heat, and add the olive oil. When the oil simmers, add the onions or shallots and cook, stirring until softened, about 3 minutes.
5. Add the garlic and crushed red pepper, and cook for another 30 seconds. Add the corn, tomatoes, orange zest, thyme, saffron and reserved clam liquid. Bring to a simmer; reduce the heat to low; and cook, stirring often, until the sauce is slightly reduced, about 20 to 25 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.
6. Add the clams to the sauce and stir to combine; add the parsley. To serve, top with a drizzle of olive oil and freshly squeezed lemon juice.
LOCALS OYSTER BAR
Blue Crab and Cucumber Salad
During the spring and summer months, Locals executive chef Eric Montagne likes a lighter crab salad that subs olive oil and citrus for mayo—with the addition of marinated cucumbers.
Marinated Cucumbers
Ingredients
• 3 cucumbers
• 3 cups rice wine vinegar
• 2 cups katsuobushi
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup kosher salt
Directions
1. Peel the cucumbers and slice them roughly 1/6- to 1/8-inch thick using a mandolin or knife.
2. Coat the sliced cucumbers evenly with 1/4 cup salt.
3. Place salted cucumbers in a colander and allow them to drain for at least 6 hours.
4. Bring the vinegar, sugar and remaining salt to a low boil; then remove from heat. Add katsuobushi, and allow it to steep while the vinegar marinade cools down.
5. Once your vinegar has cooled off, pass it through a strainer to remove the katsuobushi.
6. After cucumbers have drained, add them to a container and cover with the vinegar marinade.
7. Refrigerate for at least 24 hours.
Crab Salad
Ingredients
• 8 oz. jumbo lump or lump blue crab
• 2 lemons, zest and juice
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 Tbsp. chives, sliced
• 1.5 oz. Castelvetrano olives, sliced (can substitute green olives)
• 2 oz. shallots, pickled or raw
• 3 Tbsp. olive oil
Directions
1. Place all ingredients except olive oil and salt into a bowl and gently mix together; then add olive oil and salt and mix gently.
2. Serve with marinated cucumbers; garnish with fresh dill or tarragon and a little extra olive oil.
EARP’S SEAFOOD MARKET
Cured and Smoked Salmon
This recipe belongs to a longtime Earp’s customer who’s been shopping at the market for years. It’s a family recipe that Earp’s GM Nikki Bloch tried out herself and vouches is very delicious.
Ingredients
• 1 to 1-1/2 lbs. salmon filet, skinned and bones removed
• 1 shot (jigger) tequila
• 1/4 cup kosher salt
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 2 Tbsp. cracked black pepper
• 1 bunch of fresh dill, chopped
• 1/2 lemon, thinly sliced
• Pecan or alder wood chips (or your favorite)
Directions
Curing:
1. Place the salmon filet in a shallow baking dish; pour the tequila over.
2. Mix salt, pepper and sugar together, and pat all over the salmon. Top with the lemon slices, then dill; gently pat down.
3. Cover the top of the salmon tightly with plastic wrap. Place another layer of wrap over the dish to seal it.
4. Refrigerate for 8 to 12 hours.
Smoking:
1. Remove the dish from the refrigerator. Discard the liquid. Rinse the filet under cold water to remove the seasonings, lemon and herbs. Pat dry with paper towels.
2. Soak the wood chips in water (optional).
3. Brush smoker grill/grates with olive oil. Place the fish on the grate.
4. Preheat the smoker to approximately 160˚F. Watch for smoke. If there isn’t smoke, add more chips.
5. Place the fish inside the smoker and cook for 3 to 6 hours. For soft texture, check at 2.5 hours. For firmer texture, check at 3 to 6 hours. You want the internal temperature of the fish to be at least 130˚F.
WEB EXCLUSIVE In North Carolina, there’s no better duo than oysters and barbecue (except maybe barbecue and mac and cheese). According to Sunny Gerhart, chef/owner of St. Roch Fine Oysters + Bar, it’s a longstanding tradition for pitmasters to snack on oysters while their pigs cooked overnight. So it only made sense for Gerhart to collaborate with Picnic’s pitmaster Wyatt Dickson and co-owner and pig farmer Ryan Butler on a whole hog barbecue pop-up at St. Roch every Saturday in October.
“We thought we’d make this incredible combination available to our guests this fall,” says Gerhart, whose oysters are favored by many in Raleigh and throughout the Triangle. His Louisiana-inspired restaurant features raw, roasted and fried oysters from North Carolina, as well as some rotating varieties from throughout the East Coast. During weekend brunch, St. Roch also serves a unique oyster hotcake with eggs, crispy chili, creole cane syrup, whipped cream cheese and chives.
BBQ Sandwich from Picnic | Photo by Forrest Mason
During the pop-ups on October, 17, 24 and 31, St. Roch’s full brunch and dinner menus will be available, in addition to Picnic’s $9 barbecue sandwiches and plates with slaw, of which all proceeds will support downtown’s pay-what-you-can cafe A Place at the Table. “We’re stoked to now be serving our friends in Raleigh as well as Durham,” said Dickson, who is also delivering barbecue to his forthcoming Wyatt’s Whole Hog Barbecue location at Raleigh’s Gateway Plaza every other Thursday until the spot officially opens this Spring.
To get your hands on Dickson’s barbecue and Gerhart’s oysters during the Saturday pop-up series, make a reservation through Resy, call 919-322-0359 or visit their website for curbside pickup, or walk-in from noon to 4 p.m.—or until the pig runs out, which we’re thinking may not take too long.
NC State’s aquaculture program raises fish for local restaurants.
Not all fish comes from the ocean. For Raleigh’s Locals Seafood and Locals Oyster Bar, some fish, including striped bass and hybrid striped bass, are grown in tanks at NC State’s Fish Barn and Pamlico Aquaculture Field Laboratory in Aurora, NC. Aquaculture is a burgeoning industry in North Carolina, one of the fastest-growing segments of agriculture in the state, and it helps take pressure off of the wild stock in our oceans while yielding more consistent and reliable-sized fish. This is hugely beneficial to people like Lin Peterson, the co-founder of Locals Seafood and an alum of NC State’s Fisheries, Wildlife and Conservation Biology program. Peterson buys NC State’s pure stripers at market size and then sells them to chefs at various local restaurants, including Locals Oyster Bar. “Chefs love [these fish]; our retail has been great,” Peterson says.
The ideal size of the fish is achieved through selective breeding, Peterson explains, not genetic modification. Commercial farmers raise hybrid striped bass at their own facilities on the coast that are spawned with adult fish from the university to produce the crop. Pure striped bass are produced at the Pamlico Field Laboratory, where the adults are held in indoor, temperature-controlled tanks with optimal water quality, diet and other factors until they spawn in the spring. The larvae that hatch from the eggs are then raised in farm ponds and, once the fish get large enough, they are moved into tanks where they live in water from the Castle Hayne aquifer and from the Pamlico Sound.
Hatchery Manager Robert Clark with a farmed striped bass.
Additionally, through a partnership with Raleigh-based Infinity Hundred Farms, three of the tanks holding hybrid striped bass at the Fish Barn are part of a greenhouse-based aquaponic gardening system. In the system, fish waste is oxygenated with water and run to a 9,000-gallon deep-bed hydroponics tank which grows lettuce, herbs and other produce sold to more than 20 restaurants around town. “Infinity Hundred is all about trying to do more with less—growing more food for more people using less resources,” says founder and principal farmer David McConnell.
Ben Reading, facility director at both aquaculture sites and an assistant professor in NC State’s Applied Ecology department, says that, while some people are wary of farm-raised seafood at first, the taste is indistinguishable from wild-caught seafood. You won’t be able to tell the difference in Locals Oyster Bar’s crudo, grilled fish sandwich or seared fish filet, because, whether farmed or wild, striped bass maintain the same mild, clean flavor. “There are lots of concerns about global aquaculture and there are lots of questions,” Peterson says. “But there are tons of regulations in place that produce great products in North Carolina. We’re going to educate people on why local aquaculture is good when it’s done right.”
Bust the Oyster Myth
Locals Oysters Bar; Photo by Owen Scott Jordan
There’s a persistent adage that you should only eat oysters in months with the letter “r” in the name—September through April. Locals Oyster Bar chef Eric Montagne and Locals Seafood owner Lin Peterson insist that it’s not true—at least, not anymore—thanks to modern oyster farming methods. Today’s oyster farmers have found a way to produce triploid oysters, which, unlike diploid oysters, don’t spawn in the summer months. This means they can be enjoyed all year long. Peterson explains that when an oyster spawns, its quality suffers; it becomes soft and watery as it expends all of its energy reproducing rather than getting nice and fat for consumption. Oyster farmers grow triploid oysters in the same natural habitat of wild diploid oysters, in North Carolina’s coastal sounds. The triploid oysters are grown either in floating bags on the surface of the water or in cages along the bottom of the sound. Locals Oyster Bar offers a rotating variety of raw oysters sourced from five different oyster farmers on the coast.
