While on the pier today catching minnows for my friendly Night Heron, I caught a rather nice size mullet. No..not the hairstyle mullet, rather the fish mullet. It was a beauty and soon became lunch. This mullet actually started me thinking about the term "Biloxi Bacon". This is a moniker attached to this fish and not many people realize the history behind the name. According to historians this fish was labelled "Biloxi Bacon" back during the Civil War. The Union troops had taken over nearby Ship Island and had a blockade on the Gulf of Mexico. The citizens of Biloxi protected the city from invasion by some pretty inventive measures. Only a very few older men and some young boys were left to defend the city with no weapons. With only their ingenuity to work with, they set up logs in the sand on the beach facing Ship Island. From a distance, these logs appeared to be cannons making the Union soldiers think the city was well armed. But..with the blockade on the Gulf, much needed supplies could not be brought into the city. And ingenuity was at work again..the local people survived by fishing the inland waters for the plentiful mullet. Usually served with grits and eggs the fish soon became known as "Biloxi Bacon". To this day, many locals still claim that the best way to serve mullet is fried crisp with a side of grits and scrambled eggs. It is popular to head out to the water early in the morning to throw a cast net, catch a "mess of mullet" and then hurry in to clean and fry them. Mullet are best served fresh, whether with the grits and eggs, potato salad and hush puppies or cold slaw and baked beans! A true Coast meal! And for those who do not know, hush puppies are a fried cornmeal concoction that is a must at every fish-fry. So you can easily see that the mullet is a staple here in Biloxi, not only on our table but also in our folklore.
Another staple on the Coast, that in some places is considered a delicacy, is the soft-shell crab. Here on the Bayou, we catch Blue Crabs. They are usually caught in "pots" (wire traps), hand lines or crab nets. Occasionally these crabs shed their hard shells and can be found in their "soft" state. This is after they have crawled from their hard exoskeleton or shell and their new shell has not hardened yet. They do this out of necessity since they outgrow their existing shell. At the soft stage they are particularly vulnerable to predators. Being soft, they have no control of their usually menacing claws and literally cannot move to hide. It is easy to just pick up a softshell crab and many people do that when floundering (spearing flounders) while wading in the shallow water on the beach. It is an interesting sight to see the lanterns bobbing along the water during flounder and softshell season. When checking our pots today, I found a nice plump one just finishing his molt. When eating a softshell crab not much is wasted. You merely cut off parts such as the head , lungs and apron. Interesting fact..the lungs are given the nickname of "Dead Man's Fingers" since that is sort of what they resemble! That done, you cook and eat the entire crab..shell, legs and all! After cleaning this one, he was placed in the skillet along side the aforementioned mullet!
