grace grits and gardening

ramblings from an arkansas farm girl

Frog Legs? Yes, please.

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Had any good frog legs lately? Deep fried with white cream gravy?

When I was in high school, the Wilson Tavern in Wilson, Arkansas had the best all-you-can-eat frog leg buffet on Friday nights. They were slap yo’ momma good.

Frog legs are a true southern delicacy, and my boyfriend, Steve, could make an impressive dent in that buffet. Sadly, The Wilson Tavern closed, but maybe someone in Wilson still has that recipe?

The Wilson Tavern
During the hot steamy Arkansas summers, hours after sunset, Steve taught me to frog gig. We spent many a hot date trolling ditch banks in a john boat looking for frogs. Romantic, no?

Steve wore a flashlight strapped around his head like a coal miner. It takes two hands to properly gig a frog. The victims were thrown into a burlap sack in the belly of the boat where they jumped and twitched sporadically. With my feet holding down the bag-o-frogs, I watched for water moccasins in the low, overhanging tree branches. Mississippi County ditches were tangled with brush and twisty vines, the perfect hiding place for snakes, and each came with an intricately crafted beaver dam.

Frog gigging was not a sport for the faint hearted. 

Recently at my neighborhood Dallas grocery store, I asked one of the workers to point me in the direction of the frog legs. She responded with a blank stare on her young tree-hugger face, as if I hailed from a far away galaxy.

After a pause she replied, “We have organic fruit from Frog Hollow Farm.”

I returned her stare knowing she wasn’t yet born when Yoda trained Luke Skywalker in that frog pond. Then she added, “And we sell organic wine from Frog Pond Winery.”

OhNeverYouMindHippieGirl. 

Apparently this particular grocery store was a big annual supporter of Save the Frogs Day. I didn’t have the heart to explain to the young grocery clerk that the cute little bright green and yellow tree frogs disappearing from the rain forests in Belize, with zero leg meat, aren’t the same ones we gigged in the swampy ditches of Keiser, Arkansas or ate at The Wilson Tavern. I kept this information to myself, paid for a bag of organic asparagus and politely left.

Soon I’ll be back in Arkansas for a visit. Maybe while I’m there, I will eat a platter of frog legs. They taste just like chicken. Only better.

talya

Musical Pairings:

Kermit, “It Ain’t Easy Being Green”
Brad Paisley, “Mud on the Tires”

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Comments

  1. Sure would love some frog legs and gravy. Wish the Tavern was still open; why doesn’t someone open it. Loved this read. Talya’s Mom

  2. I love frog legs. Strangely enough we ate them in the nicer restaurants in the Mexican border towns. Taught Will and Alyssa to eat them at Arturo’s in Progresso Mexico. When you find some let me know! I’ll be all over them!

  4. The Wilson Tavern and the Keiser Yellow Jacket….loved both of these places and had many fond memories at each one. I remember a few years ago I met my sister Muffett in Wilson to eat at The Tavern. We had just ordered when in walked Meg Ryan and a girlfriend. Apparently she had been in Memphis where her boyfriend Dennis Quaid was shooting Great Balls of Fire. Of course the patrons in The Tavern…being of southern charm…allowed the two girls to eat in peace. Got to love that small town charm!

    A few weeks ago, our local restaurant/tavern/gathering place closed it’s doors after many years of service. I’m not sure how long “Rosie’s” was located on Hwy 61 in New Madrid but it was pretty famous to folks from several surrounding states. I remember when I first moved to New Madrid over 30 years ago, my husband and I would come in from the field to have lunch there and Mrs. Rosie would join us at our table and tell us stories of when she was a young woman. We lost her several years ago and to be honest, Rosie’s was never the same after that….but I will always think of her and that place fondly when I reminisce about the early years farming side by side with Craig.

    Thanks again for the walk down memory lane and the Good READ!!!

  5. Funny! I have to say I never went frog gigging nor have I eaten frog legs. Nor could I eat rabbit or squirrel after seeing them hangin out of my dad and brothers hunting vests!! YUCK!!

  6. Loved the Tavern! Do you know who’s in the old photo? Great memories! Freddie Jo use to take “Jerry, The King’ Lawler there from time to time. No Meg Ryan – but around them parts, celebrity, nonetheless! Ha. Love reading Timmie Lynns comments too!

  7. I remember going to the Wilson Tavern over 55 years ago with my grandparents on Sunday after they took me to church at the Keiser Church of Christ. Great food then and over the years. I also remember the Quail Dinners. Great blog.

  8. Looking forward to going to the Wilson Cafe (the Tavern) this week. I don’t know if they have frog legs on the menu any more.

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