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Catfish Stew

Appears in
Taste the State: Signature Foods of South Carolina and Their Stories
Taste the State

By Kevin Mitchell and David S. Shields

Published 2021

  • About
Catfish stew belonged to the repertoire of open-air event dishes, usually cooked in kettles or large Dutch ovens over flames. Along with Pine Bark Stew (a stew of mixed fresh fish that included catfish and bream with tomatoes), Chicken Bog, Brunswick Stew, and Bream Stew, catfish stew became, in the nineteenth century, a fixture at fish fries, barbecues, political rallies, hunt club meets, camp meetings, fund raisers, and club outings.

Every part of the South boasted catfish stew in some guise—some called it “catfish soup,” the name used by Mary Randolph in her The Virginia House-Wife in 1824. Louisiana has its creole version replete with red pepper. Cooks argue about the optimal thickness of the liquid, the size of the fish chunks, the presence of vegetables other than onions and potatoes, and whether black pepper or black and red are used. Even within states there can be great variance.

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