Marjorie Standish - Cooking Down East: Favorite Maine Recipes

Contents TITLE Previously published material reprinted by permission. New material copyright 2010 by Down East Enterprise, Inc. ISBN: 978-0892729135 Design by Miroslaw Jurek Front cover photo by Russell French Set in Esta Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Standish, Marjorie. Cooking Down East : favorite Maine recipes / by Marjorie Standish ; with a new foreword and recipe notes by Primos James Beard Award-winning chef Melissa Kelly. p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-89272-913-5 (alk. paper) 1. Cookery, American--New England style. 2. I. I.

Kelly, Melissa, 1965- II. Title. TX715.2.N48S74 2010 641.5974--dc22 2010023097 Printed in China 54321 Books Magazine Online www.downeast.com Distributed to the trade by National Book Network Dedicated to the memory of my mother, who did not live quite long enough to see this cookbook become a reality, but who helped M.S. FOREWORD The very words Maine cooking start our memories flying backward. No matter how modern our kitchen, many recipes used there are ones handed down from one generation of Maine family to another. For a number of years, I have been collecting recipes that are representative of the delicious food served in Maine.

These recipes come from many sources, and many have not appeared in any published cookbookalthough these are all tried and true and have been used in Cooking Down East, the newspaper food column I have written for 20 years. Some of these recipes I learned from my mother, who got them from her mother; others came from family members, neighbors, friends, or acquaintances. Many were used by me in cooking schools when I worked for the Central Maine Power Company. Others were given to me by Maine housewives while I gave a range demonstration in their homes. Many have been sent from all over Maine by column friends. Or the telephone rings and someone has a recipe to share.

Yes, my Cooking Down East column has been a melting pot for Maine recipes. It has been a way of sharing. It is in answer to your many queries, When are you going to write a cookbook? that Cooking Down East is being published. There is something special about a Maine recipe. It is remembering the smell of beans baking or seeing yeast rolls rising in their pans in a warm place. It could be the bubble of brown bread steaming in its kettle.

Our thoughts hover around the cookie jar, and we remember sugar cookies, ginger snaps, brambles, hermits, filled cookies, and hard gingerbread. We open our old tin cake boxes and see ribbon cake, applesauce cake, dried apple cake, sponge cake, walnut cake. They may be frosted; more often they are not. A heavy iron soup kettle may hold a Maine fish chowder or a lobster stew mellowing. A beef stew may have dumplings, but dont you dare lift the cover till time is up. Even sounds are remembered: of your mother chopping red flannel hash in a heavy black spider; the clank of the metal spoon as she cleaned out the last of the frosting; the rattle as the lid was removed from a jar of pickles just brought from the cellar.

When a State-of-Mainer thinks of apple pie he sets his belt buckle forward a notch. He remembers the flaky pastry of his grandmothers day and the Northern Spies sliced into that pastry for his favorite pie. Yes, a goodly heritage is ours, and we still share the joy of passing recipes along from one generation to another. It is being done today just as always, perhaps a little more carefully. The recipes in Cooking Down East have definite amounts and specific temperatures and times especially helpful for young cooks. The choosing of these recipes has been done with care, for I believe others will prize them as I do, not only for their description of the good, plain, and nourishing food that is traditional in Maine, but also because they represent life in the Pine Tree State.

Marjorie Standish November, 1968 A NOTE TO 21ST CENTURY READERS In 1968, just as Marjorie Standish was publishing her first cookbook, I was turning three years old. It was a time in history when the womens liberation movement was gaining speed and the sisters of the U.S. joined together to protest the injustices that were ingrained into American society. It was a time when the stereotypical role of women was changing. Marjorie Standish was a women way ahead of her time. S. degree in Home Economics from Farmington Normal School in 1931. degree in Home Economics from Farmington Normal School in 1931.

She penned a column in the Maine Sunday Telegram for twenty-five years, guiding her readers, and listening to them, too, by discussing the old and the new ways of cooking, and by championing heirloom recipes as well as the new convenience products that were now available (i.e., canned soups, seasoned salts, margarine). She cherished recipes from her readers, from their family histories, and added them to her collection. Some were fads, some treasures, just as they are today. Cooking Down East is a collection of recipes, some fun and retro (Nuts and Bolts) some simple and delicious (Oyster Stew), a few strange, at least to me as a chef in this century (Hot Dogs Over Sterno). Reading Marjories cookbook is like opening a treasure chest: I am dusting off a few of the recipes and giving them a twenty-first-century spin. I can clearly remember my first experience in Maine.

I was on a family camping trip. We came to Maine as it was a place where there was still a bounty of wonderful ingredients, untapped in the woods, the sea, and best of all in the local communities. Maine has always been a step behind, and that is the reason I have always loved it. We are more cautious and maintain our traditions a little longer here; we may be resistant to change until we know the true value. And Maine cooking has always been down homefrom scratch and old fashioned. I believe that was a big lure for me to open a restaurant here.

It is a place with deep roots, rich land, and a heritage of farmers, fishermen, and good home cooks. We are hard-working people who understand the value in these ideals. The old ways that have always been maintained here, such as capturing the fruits of the harvestthe canning, the preserving, smoking, saltingare still hanging on if not having a resurgence with the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association and the small farms that are trying to do things the old ways, the right way, the natural way. In my cooking career I am always trying to learn the old ways, to stay away from the convenience and the processed and take the extra step to make it better. Like me, Marjorie enjoyed using the ingredients around her to showcase our Maine food products and to truly cook in a seasonable fashion. But today in Maine we are a bit more of a melting pot.

There have been many people from all different walks of life migrating to the state, bringing their family history, recipes, and culture, which in turn is transforming Maine cooking. There is a strong movement towards local and organic, so here is one instance where I can say Maine is ahead of the curve we have been doing it for decades. Marjorie teaches us the basics and some really good ways to bring great food, good ideas, and a passion for Maine ingredients to our friends and families. It was truly a pleasure to read through her recipeslike a tour of Maine with the nostalgic ties that bind us to our land. It has given me a greater appreciation to my sense of place and the opportunity I have to live and run a business here in Maine. Thank you Marjorie and to all of the Mainers who inspired her.

Happy cooking! Melissa Kelly June, 2010 CHAPTER 1