Smothered Marsh Hens

In her foreword to the University of South Carolina’s 1976 facsimile edition of Two Hundred Years of Charleston Cooking, Elizabeth Hamilton nonchalantly noted: “This fishy bird presents a problem, but cooked properly and served on points of toast with broiled mushrooms and cheney briar it is enough to set the most fastidious of gourmets talking for years. If you can’t find cheney briar, fresh asparagus will do.”

If you are not a Sandlapper, you’ve probably never heard of mars