Mrs. Kitching’s Crab Salad and Pickled Watermelon Rind
In the southeast corner of the state of Maryland, 10 miles off the coast of Crisfield and straddling the Maryland/Virginia line, lies Smith Island, the last inhabited island in Maryland not accessible by bridge.
The island was first charted in 1608 by John Smith. Later in that century, British
settlers from Dorset, Wales, and Cornwall arrived, bringing a distinctive West Country
speech pattern and accent which remains to this day. The flag of Cornwall is even
incorporated into Smith Island’s flag. Since those early days, Islanders have survived
and thrived by becoming experts in all the ways of the water, and in harvesting its
many resources. It naturally follows that culinary expertise in making use of these
delightful resources has a home on this island chain, as well.
Mrs. Frances Kitching is a Smith Island culinary legend. She began cooking at the age of 8 and ran her renowned restaurant in the village of Ewell until she passed away in 2003 at the age of 84.
She never wore an apron, and she wouldn’t serve anything she wouldn’t eat herself: “I do for others what I do for myself,” she will tell you. “I don’t like muskrat, and I don’t want any little turtle fingers floating around in my soup.”
Mrs. Kitching’s Smith Island Cookbook, compiled by Frances Kitching and Susan Stiles Dowell, was first published in 1981 and is now in its 10th printing. It is available to be checked out from our Maryland Collection…and is full of excellent, no-frills traditional Maryland recipes.
Here are two classic recipes that could be classified as hot-weather comfort food. Special note: Mrs. Kitching (and many an eastern shore grandmother, including mine) would say that if you must use crabmeat that has been picked by someone else, you should pick it over again yourself. If you don’t, your guests will find the shells that were missed!
Recipes, quotations, and photos are from Mrs. Kitching’s Smith Island Cookbook, Frances Kitching and Susan Stiles Dowell, copyright 1981 Tidewater Publishers, Centreville, MD.
