

Life Aquatic
Season 2 Episode 3 | 24m 36sVideo has Audio Description, Closed Captions
Carrie shows some of authentic Charleston’s best seafood secrets.
Carrie and her dad harvest oysters, which leads to a backyard oyster roast on Shem Creek. She takes her staff to the bay to learn how to crab with a local expert. Carrie demonstrates an original recipe for a delicious fish sandwich dinner.
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Life Aquatic
Season 2 Episode 3 | 24m 36sVideo has Audio Description, Closed Captions
Carrie and her dad harvest oysters, which leads to a backyard oyster roast on Shem Creek. She takes her staff to the bay to learn how to crab with a local expert. Carrie demonstrates an original recipe for a delicious fish sandwich dinner.
See all videos with Audio DescriptionADProblems with Closed Captions? Closed Captioning Feedback
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Learn Moreabout PBS online sponsorship♪ <Carrie> I love the water.
I love the sun.
Looks like there's a pod of dolphins out here.
Nothing better than growing up with saltwater in your hair <Tia> What's up, y'all?
Morning, crabbers.
We're going to go on an all out hunt for these blue crabs today.
<Carrie> Let's go oyster gigging.
>> There we go.
<Donald> Is it true what they say about oysters?
<Trey> Absolutely!
(both laugh) <Amy> Oh my goodness, these are beautiful.
<Carrie> Sea food is definitely a huge part of our life.
Oh my gosh!
♪ opening music ♪ <Carrie> I took my mom's best recipe and started selling handmade Southern biscuits.
Now I'm balancing a family, a business and biscuits every day.
Thank you so much.
I'm Carrie Morey.
And this is How I Roll.
♪ (running river water) ♪ <Trey> The Lowcountry.
It is an amazing place.
It's full of life, full of beneficial estuaries.
A big connection of small creeks and rivers that all dump into the St. Helena Sound.
Bunch of low laying land that has nothing but water, creeks and old rice fields laying in it.
♪ It means home.
It means comfort.
It's been here a long time and will be here for a long time.
There's no big factories, there's no runoff from power plants or anything like that around here.
So, it's just good, clean, pristine water ♪ <Carrie> I'm pretty excited to see the whole process.
<Donald> I'm going to let you do most of the work.
<Carrie> As usual.
<Donald> How'd you not bring any beer?
<Carrie> It's eight o'clock in the morning.
♪ So, Trey, are you the owner?
<Trey> I am.
♪ <Carrie> You look cute!
I'll have to take your picture.
<Donald> I've always been a cute looking guy, Carrie.
<Carrie> Look at me, Dad.
Couldn't ask for a more beautiful morning.
Let's go oyster gigging.
<Trey> There we go.
<Carrie> What do you call it?
<Trey> Oyster farming.
<Carrie> Oyster farming.
Okay.
♪ It doesn't get better than this.
♪ Tell me how this all works, Trey.
<Trey> So it's all connected underneath the water, and what it is, it's a line - essentially like a, like a clothesline that you would see in people's backyards.
And each line has 10 cages on it that's tethered to that line underwater, so it holds everything in place.
And then each cage holds six bags.
So, depending on the size of the oyster, it holds anywhere from 1200 oysters to 25,000 oysters, just depending on how big they are at the time.
In here, which is about 400 cages, we've probably got maybe a little over a million oysters in this lease alone.
<Carrie> Before we left the dock, I noticed in your shed, there looked like to be some sorting of oysters.
What's happening in there?
<Trey> The tumbler does it, a couple different things.
It grades them out by size.
So, it keeps all the like-sized oysters together.
That way they grow more consistently.
<Carrie> At the same rate.
Exactly.
And it also chips them up.
When you run them through that machinery, they have to work to stay closed, and their muscle is holding both shells closed, so they stay alive.
Well, when it does that, it's just like when you go to the gym.
You go and lift weights, your muscles get bigger.
It kind of trains them to stay closed, grow their meat.
in that you get a good meat to shell ratio with it.
That's how you form that deep cup.
That all you see when you go to restaurants, all the oysters are sitting on a platter of ice, and they all have a deep cup.
That's how you do that.
<Carrie> Then it comes back in the water to grow more?
<Trey> It does.
<Carrie> How long does it take from the beginning stages to when I can eat it?
<Trey> It takes about a year from the time we put them in our nursery, to the time they end up at, you know, a restaurant or somebody's home.
It's a never ending process of constantly grading and tumbling.
I'm going to pull this next cage up.
<Donald> I've seen this in other places but I didn't really know what, what they were doing or how it worked.
Very interesting.
<Donald> Where are you in the maturation process?
<Trey> This is...so this is, what we call like the teenage stage.
<Donald> Teenagers, okay.
<Trey> Okay, so these are - the next move these will make is when they go to our finishing site about three miles that way.
<Carrie> Can we eat one?
<Trey> Absolutely, you can.
So that's the final product.
<Carrie> Gorgeous.
<Trey> See how it's got- when you hold it up to the sun?
<Carrie> Yeah.
<Trey> How it's like translucent here?
<Carrie> Uh huh.
<Trey> Everything else is meat.
The meat to shell ratio is really good in these.
<Carrie> Let's feast.
<Carrie> Thank you.
<Trey> You're welcome.
<Carrie> Oh my gosh!
<Trey> Is it good?
<Carrie> It's more than good.
(Trey laughs) It's delicious.
That salty water.
<Trey> It's a Lowcountry oyster, right?
<Carrie> That's a Lowcountry oyster.
<Donald> I mean, I'm a longtime oyster eater now.
<Trey> Hey.
<Donald> Excellent.
<Trey> Thank you.
<Carrie> It really is.
<Donald> That's really good.
<Trey> Yeah?
<Donald> Mmm hmm.
<Trey> All right.
<Donald> Really good.
Is it true what they say about oysters?
<Trey> Absolutely.
(Both laugh) ♪ <Carrie> Yeah.
I can just keep those in my refrigerator all week long.
<Trey> All week.
<Carrie> My girls are gonna be in heaven.
Oysters for breakfast.
Trey, this was awesome.
I knew that I was gonna love it.
But I didn't know how much I was gonna love it.
So, thank you.
♪ When I found out where Trey's oyster harvesting was going to happen, I had to call Aunt Gail and Cousin Elizabeth because it's really close to Rockville.
So, they have been telling me about P.M. King's Grocery which has been in Rockville forever.
And I'm excited to go see it and have lunch with them.
♪ <Judy> P.M. King was my daddy.
(laughs) He built the store in 1947.
And he opened it with a stick of bologna and three loaves of bread.
<Andrew> We got married at the tea plantation right down the road.
And my wife's an artist and I always wanted to open up a food establishment.
So, after we got married, we moved into the house.
It just so happened the grocery store was in the front yard.
So, we said let's do this.
<Carrie> I'm so glad you shared this with me.
<Gail> Well, it's just a part of my childhood.
<Carrie> I'm hungry.
Let's eat.
♪ music ends ♪ <Andrew> Her granddaddy made chicken salad.
That's we had almost every meal.
But she's like, "you need to make this like a rendition of my granddaddy's."
So that's what I did, and it's just taken off.
It's been great.
<Carrie> Not only are we getting lunch, but I get to do a little grocery shopping.
<Gail> Mmm hmm!
<Natalie> We get produce from Wadmalaw Island and then we also get it from neighboring islands.
<Carrie> But these are all local farms?
<Elizabeth> Yeah, it's so cool.
Natalie goes around.
She's made friends with the whole community and all the farms around here.
<Bill> This was all farms for acres and acres and acres back, from the colonial days.
The crops here are blackberries.
It really is a passion and I really love growing things.
He takes my berries or anything that I've gotten.
He keeps 40% I keep 60% and the people around here eat at that gourmet grocery store there.
You can get anything you want depending on who's brought what.
And all of its good.
I'm really living a dream.
I love doing what I'm doing and living where I'm living.
♪ <Carrie> What's your favorite here?
<Elizabeth> I love the chicken salad.
I love the BLT.
<Andrew> We do deli sandwiches, barbecue.
We sell a lot of hot dogs.
We actually have a new hot dog, the El Pancho.
Is that it?
<Gail> They had hot dogs back when I was a child.
<Carrie> I'm getting that new hot dog you just put on Instagram.
Yeah!
The El Pancho?
>> Please.
The El Pancho.
<Andrew> It's pimento cheese, Fritos, and candied jalapeno relish.
♪ music ends ♪ ♪ harmonica tune ♪ <Tia> What's up, y'all?
Good Morning, crabbers.
<Carrie> This company retreat has nothing to do with the business of biscuits.
It's an opportunity to push them a little bit outside of their comfort zone, to do things that they would never do.
<Tia> I am Tia.
I am a true Charleston native.
I'm born and raised from right here in downtown Charleston.
I am 42 and I went crabbing when I was 37, for the first time in my life.
<Carrie> This is a must do in Charleston, you have to do a crabbing experience.
<Tia> When people visit here most of the time, I've learned they've never even seen a live shrimp before and they darn ain't sure ain't never seen a blue crab before.
So now I'm going to change that, and I also don't want another person, nobody, to be 37 and not have a relationship with this water.
Blue Crabs get their name from the blue on the inside of the male claws.
Feel the points all along the outside, all along the edges.
Don't ever reach from the front, where they can see you, always come from the back.
Yes, they will do that.
<Instructor> Gonna reach back here up against these swimmers and up against the shell, put my fingers directly against the dock, move my hand and pick that crab up.
My hands just fit there, there's nothing that crab can do.
It's a great way to hold the crab, looks cool.
Picture, Do whatever you gotta do.
(Carrie laughs) Don't forget... <Tia> You guys ready?
We're gonna go on an all out hunt for these blue crabs today.
♪ <Carrie> Look at that tattoo!
<Tia> And that is the most practical thing about my life right there.
<Carrie> That's a keeper.
<Tia> And you can see that, that is a keeper!
<All> Keeper!
<Tia> Good job, lady.
Six and three quarter.
That is the number to beat.
<Carrie> Awesome.
<Tia> Nailed it!
<Carrie> Nailed it.
<Tia> All right.
Now swing for momentum and then open both hands at the same time, in the sky and then start dragging slowly like this.
Ah, it slipped, Right there.
My dude.
All day!
<Michael> There we go!
That's what I'm talking about!
(cheers) <Michael> Look out fish... <Tia> That's what I'm talking about!
<Michael> Gonna make us some shrimp kebabs.
<Carrie> Look at all your shrimp, Michael.
<Tia> Looky there (laughs) <Michael> I ain't never did this before.
<Amy> My dad would be proud.
If he were still alive, he would have liked to have seen me do this.
I haven't done this since I was a kid.
It's bringing back all these fun memories.
♪ This is fun.
<Carrie> Oh, looky.
Hey shrimpy.
<Tia> Yes!
Yes!
<Carrie> I have a fish.
I have a fish.
I caught a little fish!
♪ <Tia> That's what I'm talking about, baby!
<Ashley> Bout time for me to pick 'em up.
<Tia> Yes ma'am, you ready?
♪ <Carrie> That's a big one.
<Tia> That's a real big one.
Let's go put her in the bucket.
<Carrie> Awwe.
<Tia> Let's go put her in there.
♪ Six and a half.
<Carrie> Six and a half.
Is that the biggest?
<Tia> No, six and three quarters Ashley...Ashley's... got that six and three quarter right now.
<Carrie> Got you by a quarter, Ashley!
♪ >> I get so much from this experience.
I hope y'all took a lot from it too and I just love sharing crabbing with everybody.
<Crabber> Thank you, Tia!
<Tia> Thank y'all <Carrie> Tia!
That was awesome!
<Tia> Thank y'all so much!
Thank y'all.
♪ <Carrie> We're doing a little backyard Lowcountry oyster roast.
Anytime I can put oysters in my mouth and just the art of throwing a party.
These saltines are just buttered, and they have herbs like garlic powder, onion powder, smoked paprika.
Saltines and oyster roasts go hand in hand, but I thought it's always good to put a little extra butter on everything.
Right?
(Carrie giggles) ♪ It seemed like the perfect thing to do after farming oysters to have an oyster roast.
♪ You just need a fire and some really good oysters.
Maybe some good mignonette or cocktail sauce and some buttered saltines.
♪ music ends ♪ I have some great friends that are here that I spent a lot of time with in Nantucket where we used to do clam bake.
So, we've always talked about, "Come over "and let's do an oyster roast", which is kind of the Southern version of a clambake.
Hey guys, oysters!
[intelligible] Mom was gracious enough to let us have her backyard for the evening and it is gorgeous.
♪ <Trey> So you cook them in the big pots, and you put water in there and you actually steam them.
So, it's like in a steaming basket, You take them out, right when they start to pop open, that's the golden hour there - they're perfect.
<Friend> Look at that beautiful oyster right there.
You wanna try it?
You ready?
Good?
That's good stuff there.
<Trey> The way I like to serve them is steamed for the clusters and the ones in the half shell, eat them raw.
<Amy> Oh my goodness, these are beautiful!
This is the perfect one.
>> I love them.
<Caroline> Get in here, ladies!
<Friend> You always want to be on the high side of the table, so your shoes don't get trashed.
<Amy> I think I'm on the low side.
<Friend> We are.
We are.
<Caroline> Look for ones that have like kind of an opening already.
You put your knife in and you twist it up.
<Friend> Oooh baby!
I think I got a juicy one!
<Caroline> You have to put it in your mouth You can do it.
You can do it.
<Friend> Scrape it off.
Down the gullet.
<Caroline> You can have a cracker if you want.
>> Okay.
(friend giggles) <Caroline> Do you like it?
(laughs) ♪ <Carrie> C'mon.
Let's go.
♪ You're good.
You got this.
<John> I love to go out on a boat.
We do a ton of that.
For me, it just taps into the bio rhythms, it just makes me calm.
If Shorty makes it through the trip without falling in, I will be pleased.
Oh, must've been a field trip or something.
<Carrie> Oh yeah.
(kids yelling) (horn blows) <Kid> <John> You can have the black one.
♪ <Carrie> It looks like there's a pod of dolphins out here.
I mean, there's gotta be at least five or six.
Do you see them?
<John> Yup.
♪ music ends ♪ <Carrie> This is the Battery.
So, all of these are historic homes.
<John> And they all have their porches on their side, look at how they're all slanted.
So obviously the water goes off, but they all have these porches so that you can sleep on them in the summer.
You can get all those winds.
The city is, it's actually very much like New York.
So, you have two rivers that come down it and then you have the Atlantic Ocean.
I mean, it really does look similar.
<Carrie> Well, this is Fort Sumter, and this is where the Civil War started.
<John> Well, it's a really, really important thing to have because if you're in control of this, you're in control of the harbor.
<Carrie> I love the water.
I love the sun.
It's a lot harder for us to get out on the boat now that our children have travel with sports, but this is what we did every weekend.
Nothing better than growing up with saltwater in your hair.
<John> I'll come out and sometimes bring the computer and just get some work done.
Just anchor somewhere and clean the boat for two hours.
It's awesome.
<Carrie> I like it.
This is a good place to work, isn't it?
♪ This is the beach side of Sullivan's Island on the end, and we live just on the other side of Sullivan's.
♪ I'm not ready for it to be over.
♪ music ends ♪ Seafood is definitely a huge part of our life.
I am going to one of our favorite markets.
Mount Pleasant Seafood is the name.
It's been around since I can remember.
The great thing about having a local seafood market is I don't always know everything about fish.
I don't know how to break down a fish.
Having access to a fishmonger, they can tell you everything that you need to know.
I am making some fried fish sandwiches tonight, and what do you recommend?
<Fishmonger> <Fishmonger> <Carrie> I love flounder, but I worry about the bones.
<Fishmonger> We can take the pin bones out for you.
<Carrie> Oh you can?
<Fishmonger> Yes, ma'am.
The flounder is a really unique fish.
This is the white side of the flounder, the bottom side.
This is the dark side of the flounder, the top side.
This is where the backbone was.
And so, you just make a nice cut right there, and that separates, and then kind of make a little "V" right here, and cut out where the pin bones are, and you can feel to double check.
<Carrie> So they're just in that little section?
<Fishmonger> Just in that little section.
There's no more bones through the rest of the filet.
<Carrie> I'm so excited for supper.
<Fishmonger> Awesome!
Thank you for your help!
<Fishmonger> You have a good day!
>> I appreciate the little tutorial too.
<Fishmonger> Yes, ma'am.
<Carrie> Take care.
I am going to marinate the fish in buttermilk.
Buttermilk has some acid in it.
So, you know it's just going to keep it tender and moist.
This is just salt and pepper.
And fried food is comfort food.
That's just gonna go back in the fridge.
So, I'm just gonna boil these potatoes until they're tender.
And then I'm going to pull them out, dry them and then I'm going to take a fork and kind of scrape them and it's called ruffled potatoes.
And then I'll probably smash them down a little bit, put them in a super hot oven.
The potatoes have been ruffled.
And then this is the pistou.
It'll just give it an herby, pungent- makes potatoes better and, you know, potatoes can be kind of boring.
This is the beach towel method, so I can wash them vigorously and then dry them all.
It's great for lettuce too.
I'm just making our weekly salad dressing.
It has lemon zest, roasted shallots minced, Dijon mustard, a little white wine vinegar.
I put a little spicy honey.
Salt and pepper.
And then I'll whisk some olive oil in there.
Just a little soy sauce, just a little, to give it a little depth of flavor.
Oh yeah... Let's go.
All right, we're gonna make a chipotle mayo for the fried fish sandwiches.
One clove of garlic, the zest and juice of a lime, chipotle peppers, smoky, delicious, two onions.
Like a cup of mayonnaise.
So, here's the cilantro with the flowers.
And you can eat that.
...and the flavor of this is so - it's just so much better than cilantro in the grocery store.
I had no idea.
I'm mandolining cabbage for the slaw.
I'm a real simple slaw girl.
I like a good homemade dressing, which we already made and just a few vegetables.
♪ This has been sitting in the buttermilk and I'm just going to do a little dry coating of this seafood batter.
I'm gonna get it a little wet again, just because I want it to be really crispy and crunchy.
♪ ♪ (grease sizzling and popping) ♪ Oh my gosh, I cannot wait.
♪ ♪ ♪ music ends ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ How She Rolls is available on Amazon Prime Video.
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