Today we're gonna be talking with chefs, Oscar Johnson and
chef D C Cooper of Jimmy Pearls Virginia Soul.
This is a tidewater Virginia focused restaurant.
It's fascinating.
It's delicious.
And it's got a long history.
Let's go inside and see what they've got cooking.
[MUSIC] >> We're taking y'all back home to
Hampton Virginia and Lawrenceville Virginia was a little bit
of fried croaker on the piece that we like to call fish and potatoes.
And this is our take on Black culture,
coming from Tidewater region 757 Hampton roads.
This is a staple dish that Coop and I can both speak to.
>> We usually when we do a fish fry, it's a family event.
It's all about fellowship.
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Fish fries is a African American culture, going way back during the time where
enslaved Africans were allowed to go like on Saturday,
Saturday is like a short day of work in the field.
So there was allowed to go and go fish or go hunting or whatever.
[MUSIC]
>> So what are we doing now with the oil?
>> Did it nice and hot, cocoa cooks up pretty quickly.
I would like to say about 3.5 minutes on each side, maybe four minutes.
And like I said, we're looking for a real nice crispy piece of fish.
Seasoning it however you like,
we have our signature pearl spice here at Jimmy Pearls.
This is pretty delicate, doesn't really call for you to marinate it for so long.
>> So our first spices, like our homage to the whole big picture.
>> Okay.
>> So I'll tell you right now the he degree and
especially our first, seven goes well with sea food.
>> I see you're using flour not corn mill.
>> It just kind of depends on the mood, but I think that more so than anything,
we've always had like a seasoned flour of some sort.
>> But is it like a heavier fish takes cornmeal because catfish is like
very thick.
>> Right, and I would like to think that and like I said,
fish that carry a lot more moisture than other fish.
I would say that the corn mill kind of helps that and gives it a nice crunch.
It lasts a lot longer.
>> So why croaker, why not whiting or
some other fish like that, what's the significance?
>> So croaker is like in the Caribbean culture, like they have snapper,
excavation and stuff like that.
And that's probably one of the predominant fish that they use and they fry it whole.
And so the croaker is our, I would like to think of it as our snapper.
This has just been a staple, in our hometown for years.
Like I mean you can speak to anyone's family, in the 757 area,
even stretching further straight down 85.
I mean, no matter where you go, everyone knows about croaker.
Everyone has a connection to it.
>> So what I do is with my fried fish, always try and
mash the potato side items that goes with it.
It can be fries, they can be pickles, they could be okra pickles, tomato.
>> [MUSIC]
>> So we're pretty much just like crisping them up at this point.
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All right, so we're gonna get ready to plate this thing up.
Some croakers, some white bread, we got the baked potatoes,
we like to call them, a little pickle succotash.
Traditional succotash my family is pretty much like a stew,
stewed tomato base with some fresh lama beans and fresh corn,
some bell peppers and onions, some seasoning.
>> Kind of like what it tasted like before I hot sauce on.
>> And that's what I do too, tasting first.
>> Yeah. >> I couldn't then go to hot sauce on it.
Because what the hot sauce does,
anything with vinegar what it does is it cleans your palate.
>> Perfect, perfect.
>> So it melts in your mouth, you can eat the whole entire thing.
>> I cant eat this whole plate.
>> She being nice.
>> I'm being nice, I can eat this entire plate.
>> [LAUGH]
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