Food

Here’s a recipe for old-fashioned banana pudding. The soft, sweet custard full of banana flavor melts its typical Nilla Wafer crust as quickly as it does Southerners’ hearts.

Or “pamena” cheese, as true Southerners might say. The recipe has gotten downright uppity at some restaurants, but this one is a true N.C. classic.

Descendants of North Carolina’s barrier island communities celebrate this Christmastime holiday on Jan. 6 or 7, with traditional foods, homemade gifts and visits with neighbors.

Hardly a cook on the N.C. coast gets through the Thanksgiving season without thinking about oyster stuffing, a dish so luxurious it begs a silver dish rather than a place inside the holiday turkey.

Clerks at snooty wine shops may turn up their noses at the notion, but our food writer celebrates North Carolina’s native grape.

Dining culture at Wrightsville Beach wasn’t always flip flops and ice-cold white wine. Our food columnist tells how it’s changed over the last 100 years.

A good crab boil starts with a chicken-necker. That’s someone who uses a dip net, a piece of string, a fishing weight and a chicken neck to catch blue crabs. We tell you how.

Dust with flour or dip in the lightest batter and then sautée the crabs until their lacy crusts turn honey brown. Now, bite into heaven.

A warm biscuit, golden buttery around a soft center, shaped by a loving cook’s hand, remains a much-desired serving of tenderhearted Southern hospitality.

We like our oysters any way we can get them — steamed, fried, baked, in soups and stews or just pried open and dotted with Tabasco. But we were surprised to learn that an ice-cream maker in Wilmington turns our favorite bivalve into a creamy concoction. With sprinkles, we hope.

Coastal N.C. natives will put up with jalapenos in their pimento cheese and bourbon in their pecan pie, but don’t mess with their steaming bowls of oyster stew.

For more than 30 years, Joyce Taylor taught North Carolinians how to buy, cook and store N.C. seafood. Her book remains as indispensable to seafood cooks as a shrimp peeler.