Food & Drink

Saltbox Seafood’s All-Purpose Dredge

Use this mix from Durham, North Carolina, chef Ricky Moore when you want a “Calabash-style” fish fry

September 24, 2019

Photo: Jacqueline Stofsick

“Calabash is a fisherman’s town, right on the tip of the border with South Carolina,” writes chef Ricky Moore in Saltbox Seafood Joint Cookbook, which shares recipes from his popular Durham, North Carolina, restaurant of the same name. “Folks down in Calabash use only a fine yellow corn flour (not corn meal) when they dredge their seafood for frying.” The ingredient is the centerpiece of Moore’s all-purpose seafood dredge, which can envelop everything from scallops to sea bass in its gentle embrace.

Ingredients

Saltbox Seafood’s All-Purpose Dredge (Makes about 2¼ cups)
- 2 cups fine yellow corn flour
- 2 tbsp. fried parsley
- 1 tbsp. celery powder
- 1 tbsp. salt
- 2 tsp. freshly cracked black pepper
- 2 tsp. sweet paprika
- 1 tsp. onion powder
- 1 tsp. garlic powder
- 1 tsp. sour salt (citric acid)
- ½ tsp. cayenne pepper
- ½ tsp. dry yellow mustard