The air is crisp and cold, and apples and cranberries are abundant, so what kind of pie could you possibly long for? Strawberry? I know that doesn’t sound possible, but here is a fun thing to do with these in-season fruits, both of which we… Read More
Scalloped potatoes have never been my strong suit, possibly because they are not a great favorite around here, so lack of practice has something to do with it. When Penny Woodward asked if anyone had a good recipe I thought, “Oh, yay, maybe I will find one I… Read More
The cold nights lately mean the growing season is winding down, or, in some places, really over. At our house, we take a look at what is left in the garden and make some hard choices about what to pull, dig, or pick and what to cover nightly,… Read More
It was a sweep for Willy Reddik at the fourth annual Belfast Pie and Story Festival. Willy brought two beautiful pies and the assembled public sampling among them picked her Mixed Fruit Medley as “The Best Pie Ever.” Willy said it was OK with her if I shared… Read More
A question about lumberjack pie has hung out there for quite a while. I didn’t find anything particularly authoritative about it, except that it is probably related to something called sea pie, a multilayered dish made from a variety of meats and potato with layers of pastry dough… Read More
We haven’t had dessert for a while. When we asked for spice cake recipes this spring, a batch of terrific recipes came in. I’ve been saving this one ever since and you can add it to your collection. It makes a lovely cake and comes with a neat… Read More
Quite some time ago, somebody asked me about using spelt. Spelt is an ancient grain, Triticum spelta, described by one source as the “grandparent” grain of wheat. It originated in the Near East, was domesticated in the Bronze Age, and from it, the common wheat, Triticum aestivum, was… Read More
Time to chicken out again. Pretty versatile stuff, chicken, susceptible to all kinds of improvements. I can’t remember where I saw this or heard about it – I jotted it down on a piece of paper and just found it in a pile, so I thought I ought… Read More
This is my new favorite pickle recipe. I learned about it last summer from my friend Kristina, who lives in Rockland. I made 20 quarts of them that we used up over the winter, spring and early summer – in short, whenever we didn’t have any cucumbers in… Read More
It is the last weekend of the summer and a good opportunity for barbecue. There are, you know, some people in this country that think there is no such thing as Yankee barbecue. I’ve even heard some North Carolinians say that there is no Virginia barbecue, and some… Read More
A little piece of Maine’s political history floated up with this week’s recipe. Marion Wright in Bangor had written asking about chess cakes, which she remembered her mother making. Marion had the basic process down: line cupcake tins with pie pastry, put in a dollop of jam or… Read More
Ratatouille is a favorite summer vegetable dish in our house. It was one of those hippie vegetarian dishes all my friends were making about 30 years ago, and I adhered to the “Moosewood Cookbook” version pretty steadily for a while. But under the tutelage of “The Silver Palate… Read More
Here is a good breakfast recipe for all that company we get. The problem is they won’t want to go home if they think more of the same might be in the offing. Tina in Holden remembered eating a make-ahead baked French toast at an… Read More
Last summer an old friend vacationed in Maine and saw this column. Nancy d’Estang of Noank, Conn., thought it would be nice to send along a recipe to share, and so included one for zucchini fritters with red pepper puree. How she knew that Mainers are likely to… Read More
Back in December I asked if anyone had a recipe for a Florentine-type cookie bar. I was thinking of some really wonderful ones I remembered an old friend used to make at Christmas, but then I became distracted with lefse and tourtiere, and never did a thing about… Read More
This began when Betty Martin wrote in saying, “I am looking for a recipe for fig bars. I have made them the same as I would for date bars but am looking for one with a cookie dough or pastry type dough.” She was looking, she said, for… Read More
The meatball recipes kept rolling in, and some of you asked about the ones with the blue cheese in them, so clearly we have to “do” meatballs again, and now I have a pile of fig bars to work on, too. So while I am dubbing around with… Read More
A few weeks ago we had a very spiffy recipe for veal scalloppine. At the time I observed that pork might be a tasty substitution for veal – well, actually, tastier. After the recipe appeared, Jane Jennings in Brunswick wrote to say, “I make a dish similar to… Read More
A couple of weeks ago, Phillida Mirk of Camden asked about how to make white chocolate behave itself in cake frosting. I was the wrong person to ask because I have not had luck with it either. It always turned out grainy, stiff, and miserable. But bless Helen… Read More
Aha! The secret is Parmesan cheese! Now how did I miss that all these years? I treated meatballs as if they were just a small, round kind of meatloaf, and I don’t put Parmesan in googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes = [[300,250]];… Read More
We are back to spices and spice cake. You may remember that when the call went out for spice cake, three sorts turned up: a basic old fashioned spice cake, a rich and elegant version resplendent in sour cream, eggs, and a yummy icing, and the eggless version. Read More
It is chili again. Actually, at this moment in the outside world, it is chilly as coastal Maine often is in June. So here is a warm-you-up chili for supper, or, if it is already warm when you get around to cooking this, put it on the hot… Read More
We have been having a lot of dessert lately so it is time for a main course and since some of you have enjoyed chicken recipes we have had in the past, it occurred to me to share a personal favorite. It is easy and delicious. Read More
This really delicious recipe for apple rhubarb pie came along early last summer after we featured some rhubarb dessert here. But my rhubarb was already getting stringy and I didn’t want to use any more of it. So I thought, ‘I’ll hold onto this,’ because, you see, I… Read More
When Burke and Midge Welldon, my neighbors just up the road, read the Welsh Rarebit recipe last fall, they were reminded of an old family favorite called Rinktumdiddy. You may remember that Welsh Rarebit is a seasoned melted cheese dish served on crackers or toast. Read More
Quite a while ago, I received an anonymous request for Veal Scaloppini Calabrese. Now you would think this would be a pretty straightforward little number, but nooooo. As always, many good folks sent along recipes and advice – for lots of ways to cook veal scaloppini. The Calabrese… Read More
The hardest part of making dinner is figuring out what to cook, right? Sometimes the hardest part of writing is figuring out what to write about, too. That’s why I welcome your questions! This week, though, my idea for a supper and column came from my husband, Jamie,… Read More
A month ago we featured a good old-fashioned spice cake. At the time, I remarked that among the recipes I received there were three types. One was a very rich, elegant version, suitable for a special occasion. And here it is. Ruth Thurston of Machias… Read More
Here is an Easter Bread from several countries, called by several names, spiced with anise or cardamom or orange or lemon peel or vanilla, usually braided and formed into a wreath and baked with colored eggs tucked into the folds of the braids. Some are sprinkled with multicolored… Read More
The first time I ever had arroz con pollo was at my Ecuadorean-born college roommate’s house. Her grandmother lived with them, and for dinner that night, she cooked up a pot of the dish – I recalled liking it very much but in those days I wasn’t paying… Read More
Happy April Fool’s Day. Did anybody “get” you yet today? This is too good an opportunity to pass running this Mock Apple Pie by you. Not designed originally as an April Fool’s joke, Mock Apple Pie (and other mocks such as mock cherry and mock mincemeat) have been… Read More
Editor’s Note: Apologies to readers for the 2 cups of sour milk called for in last weekend’s Graham Rolls recipe. The correct amount is 1 cup of sour milk. Thanks for the calls alerting us to the error. Way back in June 2005, when oysters… Read More
Graham flour is pretty interesting stuff. Marilyn Hall in Oakfield wrote to ask about it because she found a lot of muffin recipes calling for graham flour. She had hunted all over for it, even in nearby Canada, and was beginning to think it didn’t exist anymore. Read More
We eat a lot of stewy, soupy things around here, and like them a lot, but every once in a while I get a hankering for chicken. Back in the fall I spent an evening with friends who made arroz con pollo, which means “rice with chicken” in… Read More
A bachelor I know has a nifty strategy for providing himself with several suppers a week. It means tolerating a bit of repetition, but there are worse things in life. And it means letting a bit of Southern cooking into his house. He makes up… Read More
Scallops are a bit of a luxury, even for people along the coast. They sure are good, though. Back in January, when Dana Holbrook over across the bay from me asked what I did with them, I thought, “Hmm, actually I don’t.” That is, I hardly ever have… Read More
For one Valentine’s Day several years ago, I watched a TV cooking spot being taped for one of those morning shows. The host was a very good and earnest cook intent on reforming American diets, and she had two ideas, one that was really good and one that… Read More
Dana Holbrook of Cape Rosier asked what my favorite seasonings are, and I invited you to tell me what yours are. I hope I will hear from more of you about your favorites. Meanwhile, I would like to tell about why I love curry. Most… Read More
A couple of weeks ago Judy Hakola in Orono wrote saying: “I have come across a number of good yeast bread recipes in my cooking magazines lately, most of which are for use in bread machines. I don’t have a bread machine, nor do I want one. I… Read More
The Welsh Rabbit recipe you saw here a few weeks ago brought me the nicest visit with a couple of honest-to-goodness Rebekahs, Connie Clements and Helen Witham, since, you may recall, I used a recipe from an old Rebekah Cookbook I have. Connie, a Rebekah… Read More
The great and terrible thing about the holiday season is all that rich food. By about the last week of December, I was feeling kind of desperate for a salad, but we still had New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day to navigate. This year I attended a… Read More
Once this weekend is over, most of us will be back to something resembling normal life, only with thinner wallets and thicker waistlines. Maybe this recipe for Peasant Soup can help with both. Mim Hart in Hampden sent this along back when we asked for… Read More
I was all fired up to test and write about those wonderful toffee-flavored little cookie bars that some call Florentines, until I remembered that Dec. 25 is the first day of Hanukkah. One of the dishes associated with the annual Jewish festival of lights is latkes, potato pancakes,… Read More
“There are probably as many recipes for tourti?re as there are Quebe?ois,” wrote Peggy Gannon of Palmyra. There certainly are, and this query brought a lovely cluster of them with wonderful memories to match. Tourti?re is a spiced pork and potato pie, traditionally served on… Read More
There are lots of Norwegians in Maine, and I am going to make a bet that a fair number of them make lefse for holiday dinners. I first had lefse when a neighbor of mine, Craig Olson, made his usual batch for Christmas Eve supper, and Jamie and… Read More
The apple dumpling recipe from a few weeks ago elicited some wonderful memory-filled comments. Grace Perkins, 96, of Bangor described her mother’s apple dumplings and declared that cheese, bacon or anything of the sort in a baked apple or dumpling was “heresy.” Virginia Tozier in Enfield recalled her… Read More
My mother used to say that eternity was two people and a ham. I never understood what that meant because the hams she bought were little parchment-wrapped daisy hams, the tinned ones or only occasionally a small picnic ham, which in our family of four disappeared pretty darn… Read More
In our continuing quest for good tasting, inexpensive and reasonably healthful fare, here is a vegetable offering I picked up from a friend a couple of weeks ago when I was moaning aloud about not being able to think of enough ways to cook turnips. Read More
It is the middle of hunting season. If moose is your meat, you have already been on the hunt and either have some in the freezer or not. If you haven’t got your deer yet, there is still time, at least for some hunters. Our island bow hunters… Read More
It is time for a simple supper. I was thumbing through some of my old Maine Rebekah’s cookbooks, of which I have two or three vintages. One is a fourth edition of the 1939 book, printed in 1944. I like all the little jingles and quotes that precede… Read More
Someone was joking with me the other day about eating roadkill for dinner. They hit a deer and found some useful parts left. Where we live, the only predators deer have are earnest and patient bowhunters – and cars. Still, most of the deer meat in our freezer… Read More
The turnips in our garden are huge this year. Actually ours are Swede turnips, aka rutabagas. My husband, Jamie, whose Cape Breton-born, Scotch-descended mother never missed a chance to put them on the table, grew up eating turnips nearly every night. It cured his brother Brian for life. Read More
Baked apple dumplings are literally as easy as pie and one step shorter. I always forget this dessert until there are fresh apples, so this week when I thought of it I decided, even though no one asked, to give you a recipe for them. Only one other… Read More
Frugal, delicious, healthful: this Cabbage Beef Soup sent by Lucile White of Bangor, given to her by her neighbor Wilma Lynch, wins on all points. Cabbage Beef Soup is almost a misnomer because there are several other ingredients in the soup in similar proportions but, of course, Beef,… Read More
These warm early fall days when we might rather be outside than cooking supper inside, are a good time for making a significant, filling salad. Here is how it works at our house. The object of the game is to clean out the fridge and make supper with… Read More
Let me tell a story about spaghetti sauce and learning to cook. My mom, a straight-from-the-box or can-kind-of cook, only made cookies from scratch (900 at Christmas) and concocted something my dad called Heartburn Soup from dribs and leftover drabs which I thought was actually very good. Her… Read More
It takes a little while for fresh, truly local corn to come to our corner of the world, but it is surely here now, though we have been seeing “fresh” corn from away in the stores for a while. I hesitate to call it fresh because I know… Read More
Lots of modern pickles have a sweet side to them, but several hundred years ago, when people put cukes into spiced vinegar with some salt and called it a day, pickles had a real bite. A few years ago I heard about a “muddy water” or “riley water”… Read More
The other day, I was helping at our school’s Horticultural Program Greens Sale where we sell more than just greens. We have new potatoes, a few tomatoes, new onions, green beans, cucumbers, and summer squash and zucchini. One of our customers picked up a zucchini, thoughtfully regarded it… Read More
Susan Chase e-mailed me in early July asking: “I am trying to locate a recipe for a cake a friend made for birthdays when I was a little girl. The cake was called ‘Oogle’ (rhymes with Google) Cake and was a combination of chocolate and white or yellow,… Read More
About now, the plethora of garden vegetables makes me forget that I ever thought it was such a good idea to plant them all. Some of you actually get to choose how many vegetables you want in the house because you go to the store or the farmers… Read More
If Kristen Lainsbury’s Swiss chard situation is anything like mine right now, then she will be able to put this week’s recipe to good use. You may recall that she wrote, “Last year I grew more Swiss chard than I needed, and I got so tired of saut?ing… Read More
A little while ago, Peggy Drinkwater in Greenbush wrote asking for a recipe for something called Orange Parfait that she remembered her mother making. It needed orange gelatin, canned milk and oranges mixed together, with a graham cracker crust underneath. Several helpful souls, including Pauline… Read More
Imagine an upside-down shepherd’s pie topped with tomato sauce. That is how to make Red Top, whether the Vinalhaven version or not. Maura Michael helped me out with this one by loaning me a copy of a community cookbook called “Fish Scales and Chocolate Chips:… Read More
Good sweet Maine crabmeat is just the ticket for the bisque that Laurie Littlefield was looking for. I know some of you with lobstermen neighbors can get crabs from them, and pick the meat yourself, while others will have to buy some. Even canned crabmeat is fine in… Read More
A couple weeks ago, Dottie Gagne of Greenville asked for “any chili recipe as long as it is GOOD.” Nobody sent in a recipe, so I decided to go hunting for one. I asked people all around – at my bank, at a graduation party – and after… Read More
It may have been my imagination, but it seems to me every time I have turned around lately, someone asked me if I needed any rhubarb. Darn stuff was like zucchini. I have four plants, and so had plenty for rhubarb crisp and rhubarb chutney, but I thought… Read More
Where some people have a sweet tooth, others have a sour tooth: they like lemons, limes and other pucker provoking fare. So when Marguerite Gallison of Bangor asked for lemon cake baked in a small tin, “yellow like cake, but more firm than cake,” and when it is… Read More
Maine is so blessed with artisanal bread bakers that fewer of us are making our own whole-wheat bread these days. Still Lucy Johnston, who works in Greenville, wrote, “I would like to find a really good recipe for home-baked whole grain bread … I’d like a really palatable,… Read More
That cold, miserable weather we seem to have finally escaped really stretched out the Comfort Food Season. If it had been as warm and sunny as lots of us wished it were, we’d have been outside at the picnic table a lot sooner eating pasta… Read More
Quick, before they’re gone, get some fiddlehead ferns to pickle and marinate. Since I am not privy to one of those wonderful places where the fern plentifully pokes up its delicate, dark-green, curled little self, I get mine at a local produce store. Fiddlehead hunting is one of… Read More
Blue Howard of Gouldsboro recently requested recipes for preparing fennel. Truthfully, I had never actually cooked that bulbous, anise-flavored vegetable. Though I once had some simply roasted with other vegetables and thought, hmmm, this is nice. I never got around to trying it myself. June… Read More
Holy Muffin! You really like those Jordan Marsh Big Blues, don’t you? I am the proud recipient of no fewer than 27 recipes, thanks to the generosity of all who responded, often with a story about how you originally obtained it. Jordan Marsh is no more, but this… Read More
A lobster’s own packaging turns out to be the best container for freezing, and good old Maine Bakewell Cream is the secret to well-risen biscuits. You’ll recall we had a query about how best to freeze extra lobster for later use. One reader suggested if… Read More
Steamed puddings are so old-fashioned and comforting, and for many of us, chocolate is one of the essential food groups. Many thanks to all who sent recipes in response to a request from an affectionate wife for the rich steamed chocolate pudding that her husband recalls his mother… Read More
Remember when apple crisp had that wonderful flour, sugar, and butter topping that baked up all crisp and golden? Cathy Bean of Searsmont asked a couple of weeks ago about an “old-fashioned cafeteria apple crisp” she remembered from grade school. Her recollection was it didn’t seem to have… Read More
Last week Maggy Reynolds of Islesboro asked for chicken cacciatore and-or chicken fricassee recipes. She remembered one was in a tomato sauce and the other had a creamy sauce. The cacciatore has the tomato-based sauce. At its core, it’s an Italian recipe that is sometimes… Read More
Editor’s Note: Starting today, Sandy Oliver, author of “Saltwater Food Ways” and publisher of the newsletter “Food History News” will write this weekly column from her home in Islesboro. So many times, we have heard upset friends saying things like, “My grandmother made the best… Read More