Tales from The Pines
By Paul Evans Pedersen, Jr.
There are as many time honored traditions in the Pine Barrens, passed down from one generation to the next, as there are legends about the peoples, places, and creatures that live, lurk, and thrive there. Such was the case a while back this summer, when an old Piney friend of mine named “Dewey” called, and invited me to a traditional Piney home-cooked seafood dinner he was fixing.
“That sounds great, Dewey! Count me in!” I said in great anticipation.
Dewey knows the waterways, bays, and shore lines in and around the Pine Barrens as well as he knows the lines on both of his hands. And, he is an artist at preparing seafood dishes from these waters, and I’ve enjoyed some of his kitchen concoctions down through the years.
“Just bring your appetite, and hurry up about getting out here“, Dewey said. Then, through a laugh, he finished, saying, “I want you to see how I cheek these blues”.
“Whoa!”, I said, thinking the connection had gone fuzzy or something, “You want me to see how you do what to the what?”, Dewey laughed. “Just get on out here, and don’t let no grass grow under your feet!”
About an hour later, I arrived at Dewey’s place, a large, two-story log cabin on five and a half acres of pristine Pinelands that is at the end of a long, sugar-sand road. I found Dewey in one of the out-buildings on the property (that has been in his family for almost four hundred years), cleaning a burlap bag full of bluefish and a couple beautiful weakfish, or “weakies” that he caught that morning.
“Ahhhh”, I sighed, “so this is supper, is it?”
“Yessir, it is, Paul. One of the family favorites we’ve been eating since I can remember. My grandmother got the recipe from her grandmother, and, well…you get the picture. It’s been around a long time. We love it and I thought you might like to try it”, he said with his warm, trademark smile. “I really appreciate this, Dewey”, I said. “What, exactly, is it?”
“Cheeks and Weakie roe, sautéed in butter and scallions, over Spanish rice“, he said.
Dewey saw that I was speechless, and just stood there for several moments, watching my reaction, or lack thereof. I’d never heard of bluefish cheeks or weakfish roe, let alone tasted them. I had no idea what to expect, and I felt my appetite growing.
“Here. Look here”, he commanded. “Watch and learn. These are the best parts of these fish. Absolute delicacies that not everybody knows about, and most people waste or use as crab bait. The heck with the crabs, I say. Once you taste them, you’ll never throw ’em out again”.
With the care and skill of a fine surgeon, Dewey used his fillet knife to gently cut and remove the round piece of bluefish cheek from between the eye and jaw hinge on the bluefish. It wasn’t long before he had a dozen of them set aside in ice and went about filleting the rest of the fish for the freezer and future dinners. When he came to the weakfish, he carefully sliced them down the middle, and removed the large sack of eggs, or roe, from each female, and set it aside with the cheeks.
We went in the cabin, and Dewey melted several tablespoons of butter in a large sauté pan. He added several cups of chopped scallions and stirred. He drained the cheeks and roe sacks and patted them dry on a paper towel, then gently placed them in the pan. He cooked them for just a few minutes on each side, being very careful not to break open the roe sacks when turning.
We sat down to two plates of the best-tasting seafood I have ever eaten. The roe was very tasty, mildly fishy, and quite rich. It had a texture not unlike scrapple. The cheeks were absolutely delicious, and nothing like the heavy, oily-tasting bluefish filets some folks don’t care for. The cheeks were light-tasting, solid, and steak-like in texture. Both went perfectly with the Spanish rice.
“I can’t thank you enough, Dewey”, I said after dinner as we sat on the porch. “You know I’m going to have to write a song called “Cheekin’ The Blues”, right?”
Dewey smiled. “Go for it, Paulie. But you’re gonna have to cut me in on it!” We laughed and talked well into the night.
Paul Evans Pedersen, Jr. is a author, singer-songwriter, journalist, storyteller, and jewelry maker born and raised in South Jersey. He has appeared on numerous TV shows including “Anthony Bourdain’s Parts Unknown” on CNN. His jewelry, “Pine Barrens Diamonds”, is made from old glass he digs in the Pine Barrens, and is available in shops and boutiques throughout the region.
