History, recipes for Cortez's famed fish found in Sarasota Bay

I grew up thinking mullet was only for bait and smoking for dip. That was probably because when I went fishing with my dad, he used mullet for bait. And because he fished with a rod and reel and mullet are mostly caught with cast nets, they didn’t show up freshly caught on our table. Apparently I have been missing out on not only one of Florida’s oldest delicacies, but a piece of state history as well.

“The lowly mullet has played an important role in the growth of Sarasota and Bradenton,” wrote reader and mullet fan Pat Miller, whose letter provided the impetus for today’s column. In the early to mid-1700s, Cuban mullet fishermen built ranchos along Florida’s West Coast, where through the 1840s, they would dry and salt their catch, pack it in barrels and send it back to Cuba. By the late 1880s and early 1890s, according to a Sarasota Magazine article, the five-square-mile mullet fishing village originally known as Hunter’s Point was settled by families from North Carolina and in 1895 it was named Cortez.

Prompted by Miller’s letter, I looked a little further into mullet’s role in the history of this area. In “The Hidden History of Sarasota,” writer and historian Jeff LaHurd notes that when Sarasota was incorporated as a town in October 1902, its first town seal bore the motto “May Sarasota Prosper.” It also included a picture of a mullet, a sunrise above palmettos, and shells.

At Cortez blogger Ray Pringle Jr., at cortezvillage.wordpress.com, recalls listening to his family’s colorful stories and those of other commercial fishermen who lived and worked in Cortez over four decades from about 1915 to the 1940s.

During the war years, their families survived on the mullet they caught and smoked. In the 1950s, Pringle would go with his grandfather to Friendly City Market in Bradenton to trade smoked mullet for beef, pork, canned goods and other groceries.

“I never could understand why those folks in Bradenton would trade their good beef and pork for our crummy mullet,” recalled Pringle, “until one day, sitting with a friend of mine while I was attending school at Manatee High, one of my buddies and I were telling stories about each other’s experiences. The subject came up about smoked mullet. He looked at me and said, ‘You guys from Cortez sure were crazy for trading us those delicious smoked mullet for the beef and pork we got so tired of eating.’”

Another Mullet Tale

This is about an attorney who convinced a judge that mullet might not be a fish but a bird.

In 1919, shortly after opening his Tampa practice, Patrick Whitaker was retained by six commercial fishermen who had been arrested and charged with fishing during a closed season. They could not afford to pay him, so Whitaker agreed to defend them in exchange for a fish dinner.

As Whitaker watched his clients clean the mullet for dinner, he noticed that they had gizzards just like chickens and other birds. The fishermen explained that because mullet feed on the grass on the gulf or bay floor, they need gizzards to get the sand out of their systems.

At the trial, he told the judge that the men couldn't be charged with catching fish out of season, because the mullet couldn't be a fish. To support his argument that mullet must be some kind of aquatic bird, he produced a number of books showing that fish have no gizzards. He also pointed out that while whales and beavers both live in water, neither one is a fish.

The case was dismissed, and legend says, for a short time, commercial fishermen referred to mullet as “Indian River chickens.”

More Mullet Trivia

Citing the decision in a humorous historical column for Florida Weekly, historian and member of the Florida House of Representatives from 1982 through 1996, Vernon Peeples suggests that in time, “this aquatic fowl just might replace the turkey as the bird of choice” for Thanksgiving.

The trial and its decision are the subject of a poem by Sidi J. Mahtrow, which you can read at poemhunter.com. And perhaps most importantly, it resulted in the state legislature’s redrafting its fish conservation law to specifically mention mullet, whether fish or fowl.

The maritime museum in Cortez, says Miller, has an interesting and informative display of the village history and some excellent seafood is available nearby. Self-guided walking tour maps are available.

Mullet’s role in Florida history and its commercial fishing industry is documented in “Mullet: A Tale of Two Fish” at video.wgcu.org.

Not Just Bait

According to freshfromflorida.com, mullet is available September through January. And, contrary to what some of us previously thought, mullet fillets have found a place at the center of the plate. These recipes call for mullet, but if it is not available, substitute any plain white-fleshed fish, including flounder, grouper, sole, haddock, ocean perch and orange roughy.

Festive Mullet Fillets

Preheat oven to 400 F. Start with 4 mullet fillets, about ¼ pound each, fresh or frozen (thawed). Lightly oil a baking sheet. Dip fillets in 1/4 cup French dressing and then in 1 cup finely crushed cheese crackers. Place on baking sheet and sprinkle with paprika. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until fish flakes easily when tested with a fork. Garnish with lemon wedges.

Serves 4.

Smoked Mullet Romanoff

Remove skin and bones from 1 pound smoked mullet and flake with a fork. Cook 8 ounces of noodles according to package instructions. Drain. Combine with flaked mullet, 2 cups large curd cream style cottage cheese, 1 1/4 cup sour cream and 2/3 cup sliced green onions, 2 cloves minced garlic, 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce, ½ teaspoon liquid hot pepper sauce and 1/4 teaspoon pepper.

Put into a well-greased shallow 2-quart baking dish.

Sprinkle 1/2 cup parmesan cheese over the top.

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until heated through.

Serves 6.

From Florida Department of Natural Resources

Cortez Mullet Bake

4 mullet fillets, 4 to 5 ounces each

4 potatoes, sliced 1/4-inch thick

4 sprigs thyme, picked and chopped

1 cup panko crumbs

2 lemons, zested and juiced

1/4 cup butter, melted

Salt and black pepper

Fill a small pot with water and add a pinch of salt, heat to a simmer. Add potato slices and cook until just tender, about 5 minutes. Drain and set aside to cool.

Arrange potato slices on heavy, shallow baking dish. Place the mullet on top of the potatoes. Combine panko, lemon juice and zest, butter and thyme. Distribute over fish in a thin layer. Bake at 350 F for 10 minutes or until fish flakes easily. Serve hot.

From Chef Rich Demarse, Sandbar restaurant.

Grilled Mullet with Hot Mango-Honey Sauce

1/4 cup honey

1/4 cup rice wine vinegar

2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

1/4 teaspoon hot pepper sauce

1 tablespoon jalapeño, diced

1/2 cup pureed mango

4 (6-ounce) mullet fillets

Parsley sprigs for garnish

Preheat grill to medium hot.

For approximately 1 cup of sauce, combine all ingredients except fish fillets and parsley in a small bowl.

Reserve 1/2 cup to serve with cooked fillets.

Brush both sides of fillets with sauce; place fillets in a single layer in well-greased hinged, wire grill basket.

Cook on medium-hot grill for 5 to 8 minutes.

Baste fillets with sauce and turn; cook 5 to 8 minutes more or until fish flakes easily.

Serve with reserved sauce and parsley garnish.

From freshfromflorida.com

E-mail Linda Brandt at brandtlinda11@gmail.com