• Articles Sponsor

  • T-Shirts Available!

  • Mull Down Stew

    Little Miss Judy Believe it or Not!

    MULL DOWN STEW
    The recipe proves once again that bacon is good with just about everything!
    My father was quite a cook, but I think in some cases he made the recipe up as he went. I can’t ever remember him bringing out a cookbook or any notes to follow. He just cooked directly from the hip. He always cooked way too much for two. In fact we always had too many leftovers, so therefore if you were in range when he started cooking you were always asked to supper. I have to admit those that were asked never turned him down. His cooking was actually pretty good even if his cooking ethics were a little off. He made this one fish stew that was great. He called it a “Mull Down Stew!” I don’t know where the name came from or why, but that’s the name he gave it.

    We lived on an island that didn’t have any grocery stores. So therefore when he went to the grocery store, which was located in town, he brought everything in bulk. All can goods were brought by the case and the meat was brought in volume. So therefore when we arrived home from a shopping spree there was lots of putting up to do. There is one thing that we brought that I still love to eat today. He would purchase a whole slab of smoked bacon at the time. We had an electric meat cutter, which worked just fine. I could cut the bacon thick or thin it didn’t matter. I usually left the skin on. Daddy liked that part the most.

    Getting ready for the stew took a while. The ingredients consisted of potatoes, bacon, onions, and fish. All ingredients had to be sliced up. This is when the electric meat cutter certainly came in handy. I would cut everything up with ease on this machine. I kept all ingredients separated until it was time to put the stew together. The first thing daddy would do was to get out the big pot and put it on the stove. He would then line the bottom of the pan with sliced smoked bacon and then he would begin to fry it up. I surely did love the smell of that bacon frying. Along with the great smell came “bacon music!” You know that wonderful popping sound that was made as it cooked while making grease. Once the bacon was finished to a golden brown, it was removed to drain on a brown paper bag. He then laid the semi-thick potatoes on the bottom of the pan. They sizzled as he put them in the oil that was made from the frying bacon. Then he would put a layer of thinly cut onions. His next layer was made with raw bacon. It was at this time that he added the main ingredient, which was the fish.

    Apparently the type of fish wasn’t that important, because I have seen him used everything from fresh water catfish to regular saltwater fish. He loved to use cobia meat the best. It was a thick fish and once fillet there were no bones to deal with. This meant much faster eating in daddy case. Once the first layer was completed the process started all over again. This was done until you ran out of room in the pot or ingredients. After all was said and done Daddy would then pour about a half of gallon of water into the big pot. He then covered it and let it simmer for a long time. I don’t remember ever stirring it. I guess mulling means no stirring only just watching and smelling. We certainly did a lot of that! And of course during this process he might have had a few “Sherman Shooters!” (recipe for this drink will be in next week’s fishing report.)

    I guess you are wondering what happen to the cooked bacon. Daddy and I had to have something to snack on while the stew was doing that mulling thing. The good thing about this recipe is that there isn’t much that can go wrong that’s unless you tilt the pot to far over!
    Thanks for reading! Captain Judy



    Although this is not a good picture…it still prompts a pretty good story! This is my mother (Jerry) in a long night grown showing us her favorite pose. I found this picture many years ago in one of my father’s old wallets. It was taken in our living room, which is the same place that I live today. Boy, if the walls in my house could talk, I bet this story could have been a lot better!!