2015 - OLD LINE PLATE

Gross’ Coate Stewed Mushrooms

December 23, 2015April 14, 2019

My uncle found a gigantic lion’s mane mushroom and gave me a piece. It was slightly browning, and compounded with the fact that these mushrooms are not exactly beauty queens, the photos are not appetizing. You’ve been warned – scroll down at your own risk.

This recipe was contributed to Eat, Drink & Be Merry in Maryland by Mrs. Charles H. Tilghman of Gross’ Coate. The recipe includes a peculiar instruction:

“Cook a silver spoon in [the mushrooms]. If the spoon becomes black [they] must not be eaten.“

Gross’ Coate, Maryland Historical Trust

I thought I should heed this advice, considering the sad state of my
mushroom. I used a necklace from my jewelry-making days, as I am not in
possession of any silver spoon. The silver remained untarnished, thank
goodness. I later looked into this and found that this advice is a
completely bogus way to detect poisonous mushrooms. Lucky for me, lion’s manes don’t really have a poisonous counterpart.

Gross’ Coate is a historical estate on the Wye River in Talbot County. Built in 1760, the property remained in the Tilghman family until 1983.

The tract of land had been patented by Roger Gross in 1658. Through a sale to Henrietta Maria Lloyd, the widow of Philemon Lloyd, and a subsequent marriage of her daughter, the Tilghman family ownership of Gross’ Coate began.

With additions spanning through 1914, the house once boasted a dairy, a meat house, large kitchen wing, and a new dining room that was built in 1815.

Gross’ Coate outbuilding, Maryland Historical Trust

In Eat, Drink & Be Merry in Maryland, Frederick Phillip Stieff wrote:

“Situated overlooking the beautiful Wye River it requires but little to imagine oneself on the banks of the Thames, excepting that there is not the turbulent river life of the latter although in the humble opinion of the writer far more beauty.”

Stieff may be downplaying the turbulence just a tad.

In 1790, famed American painter and recent widower Charles Wilson Peale paid a visit to Gross’ Coate to paint the Tilghman family, then under the charge of Richard Tilghman. It seems that Peale fell in love with Richard’s sister Mary (aka Molly). Richard forbade such a marriage and locked Molly away.

Peale resorted to taking laudanum to help himself sleep during this stressful ordeal, to no avail. Some say that he spitefully painted a scowl upon Richard’s face in his portrait of the man. As for Molly, she later went on to marry Edward Roberts, allegedly the “scapegrace of the county.” According to “The Big Book of Maryland Ghost Stories,” scapegrace means LOSER.

Molly Tilghman, & ole scowl-face Richard Tilghman, MDHS Museum Dept. 1973.13.3 & 1973.13.2

As for recipe contributor Mrs. Charles H. Tilghman, wife of Robert’s great-grandson, I couldn’t find out much about her except newspaper ads revealing that she’d lost a cow, was selling wheat, and an announcement forbidding trespassing on her property. Because everyone checks the classifieds before trespassing…

I had some extra cheddar-cheese pie crust, so I baked that into little crusts and put the mushrooms in there. Along with those raw carrots [seen in photos], which I did indeed eat, it made a nice lunch.

Recipe:

½ cup mushrooms
1.5 tb butter
½ tb or less white flour
black pepper
salt, ½ tsp

Peel & wash mushroom(s). Heat butter in a skillet or pot, on medium-low heat. Add mushrooms plus dusts of white flour. Season with black pepper and salt. Stir to prevent burning until water from mushrooms begins to collect. Cook for 45 minutes or until tender.

Recipe adapted from “Eat, Drink & Be Merry in Maryland”

Vegetarian Stuffed “Ham”

December 16, 2015January 13, 2019

I decided to do something a little different for my first post about Southern Maryland Stuffed Ham. Maybe something a little controversial.

There’s a lot of information to read about “Southern Maryland Stuffed Ham” out there on the internet and I don’t have too much to add. I have tried most of the ham providers commonly listed in these articles and they are all pretty good. Most recently I enjoyed some wonderfully spicy and tender stuffed ham from Chaptico market.

I have noticed, through a quick newspaper search, as well as the recipes in “Eat, Drink & Be Merry in Maryland” that stuffed ham’s popularity once spread beyond its known home of Southern Maryland (not counting other regional stuffed ham types throughout the South.) Stuffed ham Southern Maryland style was made and served well into Western Maryland.

I can only assume that its decline in popularity had to do with the effort involved in making it, and maybe a shift in availability of different types of cured hams. Southern Maryland Stuffed Ham involves what differing recipes will call a “brined ham,” “country ham,” or “corned ham.” This is a very salty and not smoky or excessively sweet way of curing ham.*

Now, why a vegetarian ham? Mostly for the fun of it. But I’ll pontificate a bit:

I am not religious but I think that the concept of ‘saying grace’ as I once knew it should not be a lost art. Whether this is an articulated moment involving religious beliefs, or a silent secular ‘thanks’ and acknowledgement of what we are fortunate to have, I think that embarking on the act of eating is an ideal time to express ‘gratitude.’

This can mean so many things that it is overwhelming. We may thank the people who harvested the crops that are grown for us. We may reflect on the complex and often painful history that put American (& Southern, & Maryland…) food as we know it into our lives. We can contemplate the life of the animal that is now on our table. We can also consider the environmental costs of what we eat and enjoy.

Whether an animal life has meaning to you, there is growing evidence about the effects that our levels of meat consumption are having on the environment.
Having come of age in a bit of a punk/d.i.y. ethos, none of this is new to me, so I’ve had lots of time to process these moral conflicts. That is not to say I’ve come to total peace or resolution. After decades of thought, I am okay with admitting that I remain conflicted. For the time being, that means eating less meat when possible.

I came up with this recipe as an amalgam of seitan ‘ham’ recipes on the web. I really enjoyed it but I could be biased with a weird nostalgia for a time when vegetarian meats were a little less palatable than they are these days.

My favorite way to serve meat-ful stuffed ham is in a white-bread sandwich with mayonnaise. That is the probably best way to enjoy this seitan version, which is a little dry on its own. When I added some mayonnaise-based, celery-seed & black pepper coleslaw (not pictured) this became a really standout sandwich. The seasonings from the coleslaw already being a part of the stuffing, I figured it just made sense.

We had some kale on hand and used it for the stuffing, but I think this would be good with mustard greens. Any greens can be used, however. It would also probably be amazing with Bryant Terrys spicy mustard green harissa. The options are endless.

Anyway here is some background on Southern Maryland Stuffed Ham:

Places to get Stuffed Ham:

Murphy’s Town & Country – 21270 Abell Road, Avenue
Raley’s Town and Country – 13270 Point Lookout Rd, Ridge
Chaptico Market – 25466 Maddox Road, Chaptico
St. Mary’s Landing – Route 5, Charlotte Hall
WJ Dent – 44584 Tall Timbers Rd, Tall Timbers
McKays – (multiple locations)

Recipe:
Seitan “ham” loaves (makes 2):

3 cups vital wheat gluten
¼ cup nutritional yeast
2 tsp onion powder
1 tsp salt
1.5 tsp smoked paprika
1.5 white pepper
2 tb liquid smoke
4 tb grade A maple syrup
.5 tsp Maggi seasoning (or use some Braggs Amino Acids)
3 cups veg broth, divided

Mix together all dry ingredients in large mixing bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk together liquid smoke, maple syrup, Maggi and 2.5 cups of vegetable stock. Working quickly, fold liquids into dry ingredients. The gluten will quickly absorb the liquid and start to become… gluten-like. Knead the dough for about 2 minutes.
Form two loaves and placed in well-greased slow cooker. Remember, this grease is the primary source of fat in your ‘ham.’ Cover with remaining stock. Cook on low for 2 hours then turn to high & cook for another three hours.
Remove and let cool.

Stuffing:

2 cups kale
1 tb red pepper (or more to taste)
.25 cup chives/onions/etc
2 tb parsley
½ tsp celery seed
1 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
hot sauce (optional)
juice of 1 lemon

Preheat oven to 350°. Finely chop all ingredients & mix well with lemon juice and hot sauce. Cut slits into each “ham” and stuff them full of the mixture. Cover with any additional stuffing. Bake for 20-30 minutes. Let cool completely before serving.

Recipe notes:

*As you can see, despite what has been said about the country hams for stuffing, I did use liquid smoke and smoked paprika to flavor the seitan. I felt that the flavoring was needed. An interesting option later occured to me: black salt. Available in Indian grocery stores, this very sulphery salt might impart a bit of a cured flavor. I’d use that for the salt and omit the liquid smoke. If you try this, do tell me how it is!

-The variable baking time is a matter of preference. The greens will begin to cook but the outside of the seitan loaf will begin to toughen as well – especially parts that are not covered with stuffing. If you are working with tough greens or you like your greens well cooked, you could always blanch them before making the stuffing.

Broccoli Crab Soup

December 10, 2015January 13, 2019

Published in 2003, “I Can Cook You Can Cook” may not be the most historic in my collection, but it does offer a snapshot of a Maryland food personality and a time and place from whence it came. (Most cookbooks do, which is why I love them.)

The book itself hearkens to a less “sophisticated” era in cookbooks, in contrast to modern photo-laden coffee-table cookbooks. The recipes are mostly simple weeknight fare.

More importantly, the book serves as a record of its character of an author, Wayne Brokke. While you may not find artfully-composed photos accompanying each recipe, instead the book is peppered with Brokke’s stories and humor.

Beginning in 1978 Brokke operated a restaurant in Federal Hill called.. “The Soup Kitchen” (I know). He later opened a second location in the exciting new 1980 Harborplace development and later branched out into barbeque.

Following the trajectory of Brokke’s restaurants (and eventual advisable name changes) leads to documentation of the vicissitudes of Harborplace since its opening in 1980. Baltimore was abuzz with high hopes for this pocket of commerce. The press followed up occasionally as it experienced seasonal slumps in winter, business turnover and eventual stability.

1980, Baltimore Sun

“Wayne Brokke, proprietor of Wayne’s Bar- B-Que and one of the harbor’s original merchants, told me that Harborplace had experienced ups and downs over the past two decades. After an initial surge of success there was a period, about 10 years ago, when restaurants were closing and things were looking sketchy, he said. But in the past three years business has been on an upswing, he said, and now the harbor is booming – literally. As Brokke spoke, the Pride of Baltimore II fired its cannon, its way of saying good- bye to the crowd on the docks. “ – Rob Kasper, Baltimore Sun, 2000

Most Baltimoreans don’t spend much time in the Harbor, and I don’t actually remember Wayne’s Bar-B-Que. Sun reviews range from considering Wayne Brokke to be a fixture and a culinary master, to dismissing his restaurants for being too “trendy” and his cooking “a joke.” After reading these reviews plus stories about the various lean times and rent hikes, I shared in Brokke’s relief at leaving the industry.

Harborplace ad featuring Wayne Brokke front left

In a Baltimore magazine article he lamented the high rents and unoriginal shopping options left at Harborplace.

“Over the years, what was Baltimore’s main street got turned into just another mall,” says Wayne Brokke, who ran Harborplace eateries, like Wayne’s Bar-B-Que, for 23 years

“In the early going, the Rouse company celebrated the tenants and appreciated how we all put our blood, sweat, and tears in there,” Brokke says. “After a while, they shifted focus more to the bottom line.” – Brennen Jensen, Baltimore Magazine, 2010

According to a 2007 article updating his whereabouts, he was dabbling in commercial acting, real-estate and earning a philosophy degree from UMBC. During the 1990s, Brokke had also done a cooking segment on WBAL-TV. Readers, if you have recordings of this please do share.

Since Wayne Brokke is most famous for his soups – award winning crab soup being foremost- I made a soup recipe that he declared to be a “favorite of Mayor Schafer.” We had some broccoli from the CSA so “Broccoli Crab Soup” seemed as good as any.

I felt some reservation buying crabmeat, considering that I could have simply made this recipe without but I must say that the addition was DELICIOUS. This soup was so good, so wonderfully rich, and the crab flavor spread throughout to really enhance the dish.

As soups often do, it improved the next day. There was no day after that because we ate it all.

Recipe:

1 lb crab meat
4 cups stock
2 Cups half-and-half
1 lb chopped broccoli
1 cup chopped onion
1 tablespoon curry powder
2 teaspoons chopped garlic
1 stick of butter
4 oz flour
1 Teaspoon hot sauce
a few drops of Maggi (my addition – optional)
salt
black pepper

Sauté chopped onion in butter with Maggi (if using) until onions are translucent. Add curry powder and garlic and stir to combine. On medium heat, add flour and stir a few minutes until smooth. Gradually add stock, whisking to combine. Bring almost to a boil and stir in broccoli. Cook for 15 minutes. Add half-and-half and bring to a simmer. Stir in hot sauce and add salt and pepper to taste before gently folding in crab meat. Allow to simmer for about 5-10 minutes. Serve hot.

Recipe adapted from “I Can Cook, You Can Cook!” by Wayne Brokke

Indian Pudding, Misses Lelia and Alice Taney

November 28, 2015January 13, 2019

“From 1896 to until 1954, they never really accepted the doctrine of “separate but equal” to which they now look back with so much longing.
They embraced the “separate” all right, but with stubborn consistency rejected the “equal.”
One gathers the impression that the only decision which has ever won their wholehearted approval was that of Chief Justice Roger B. Taney in the celebrated Dred Scott case.
Mr. Taney’s court held that in America a colored man has no rights which a white man under the law is bound to respect.
That was back in March 6, 1857.
The “Southern Manifesto” shows that almost a century later their thinking hasn’t changed one whit.“ – The Baltimore Afro-American March 1956

This unremarkable recipe for “Indian Pudding” was contributed to “Eat, Drink & Be Merry in Maryland” by The Misses Alice and Lelia Taney of Frederick County. Their claim to fame is their relation to infamous Marylander Roger Brooke Taney, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court from 1836 until his death in 1864.

The newspaper mentions I found featuring these two ladies consisted primarily of their obituaries or stories about the unveiling of various statues of Taney that were erected in Maryland.

A 1937 story in the Afro-American

While my grade-school education on the Dred Scott decision didn’t center much on Taney himself, a friend from Frederick explained it to me as it was taught to him in school: Taney, being the very opposite of an “activist judge” was interpreting the law as was his duty, and was not necessarily a racist or pro-slavery. He had, after all, manumitted his own slaves.

Many older articles in Maryland papers espouse that view of Taney. As recently as 1993, the Sun ran an editorial, “Happy Birthday Taney,” with the concluding statement that Sun staffer Theo Lippman Jr. “understand[s] why black Americans hate Taney, but we all need to remember
two things. (1) There was more to him than Dred Scott. (2) Dred Scott
probably advanced the timetable for emancipation by at least a
generation.”

Afro-American, 1957 (Dred Scott Decision centennial)

Many lamented that the statement about black people having “no rights which the white man was bound to respect” was taken out of context by misinformed “northern writers.” It is true that he was referring to the sentiment at the time of the writing of the Constitution. His ruling, however, in effect sustained that sentiment.

In 1986, Grason Eckel of Cambridge wrote in to the Sun suggesting
removal of the Taney statue in front of the state house:

”Though couched
in legal terms, Taney’s Dred Scott opinion contained a moral dimension
that repudiated society’s responsibility for the civil rights of blacks.
The opinion, therefore, became a symbol of shame.“ – Get Rid of Taney’s Statue, June 1986

In addition to statues, Taney has had some streets and such named in his honor, including a middle school in Camp Springs, Prince George’s County. This school faced turmoil after integration.

”To date the school athletic teams have been known as the Rebels, and the school emblem has been a confederate flag.
Integration at Taney – January 29 the school changed from about 99 per cent white to 20 per cent black – has been among the most touchy jobs facing the county school system…
Taney almost closed last month after a rock-throwing racial melee involving about 200 of the school’s 1,136 students.“ – Baltimore Sun, “Taney is Still Shaky with Race Tension”, April 1973

The president of the PTA dismissed the black students’ desire to change the name of the athletic team, under the basis that “they only number 20 percent of the student body [therefore] they would get voted down if they took a vote on the name.” I am not sure when the team name changed but the school’s name was changed in the 1990s. By then the student body was 83% black.

The Afro-American offers multi-faceted views of Taney. One article quotes him as saying:

”Slavery is a blot upon our national character, and every real lover of freedom confidentially hopes that it will be effectively wiped away. And until the time shall come when we can point without a blush to the language held in the Declaration of Independence, every friend of humanity will seek to lighten the galling chains of slavery.“ – Roger Brooke Taney, 1818

“Not until we read Henrietta Buckmaster’s new book, “Let My People Go,” did we realize that Judge Taney, an old scoundrel, was quite a decent individual in his younger days,” noted the 1941 editorial.

The quote at the beginning of this entry was one of many which bitterly recalled the Dred Scott ruling and its dehumanizing language as Jim Crow and civil rights struggles continued.

Afro-American, 1957 (Dred Scott Decision centennial)

As for Alice and Lelia, it is possible that at least one of them resided at the Roger Brooke Taney House in Frederick, or that their parents did. Although Roger Brooke Taney once owned this property, he never actually lived there. An illustration of the “Taney Kitchen” in “Eat, Drink & Be Merry in Maryland” appears to be of that house . The historical home is open to the public and conducts hearth demonstrations that look far more delicious than this pudding.

Recipe:

1 Quart milk, scalded
cornmeal
.5 tsp salt
1.5 teaspoon ginger
.5 cupmolasses
2 tb butter

Scald milk. Stir in enough cornmeal to make a thin mush. Add salt, ginger, molasses, and butter. Bake in a tin or earthen pan for two hours.

Recipe adapted from “Eat, Drink & Be Merry in Maryland”

Sources: Mary Randolph

November 25, 2015January 17, 2021

Mary Randolph, Library of Virginia

Interest in culinary history tends to enjoy a boost around this time of year. Some excellent pieces have been written illuminating the historical foods consumed on Thanksgiving. As though our own traditions are not authentic or traditional enough, many of us feel compelled to dig into the origins of the very day that defines the word ‘tradition’ in the United States.

I admit to being less concerned with what the Pilgrims ate than I am with the foods found on Maryland tables for the holiday.

While there is some overlap, Marylanders and many Southerners especially may find that many of our Thanksgiving favorites made their way to the table through the same thorny and winding path as the other foods we know well.

One source that I cross-reference for this website is not a Maryland cookbook at all. Nonetheless, Mary Randolph’s 1824 book “The Virginia Housewife” is a crucial text whether you want to dissect the lineage of your “candied yams” or the so-called “Maryland Beaten Biscuits.”

Interpreter Pam Williams working from “The Virginia Housewife” at the Hays House, Bel Air

Mary Randolph was born in 1762, near Richmond, to a prominent Virginia family. In 1780 she married a cousin, David Meade Randolph. Mary Randolph was well-respected as the lady of their estate “Moldovia” and its slaves and servants.

It is claimed that Mary Randolph’s hostessing was so widely famous that Gabriel [no last name], an enslaved man who led an unsuccessful rebellion of slaves in the Richmond area, would spare her life to cook for him though he hoped to kill other slaveholders. This story is dubious as it is likely that a man fighting for the freedom of enslaved Virginians would be aware of who did the heavy lifting in the kitchen at Moldovia.

The Randolphs and their Federalist ties became their undoing when Thomas Jefferson removed his cousin David Meade Randolph from the position of Federal Marshal in 1802. Evidently the extravagant hospitality left little room for savings and the family’s finances soon went into decline. Mary’s enterprising solution was to open a boarding house in Richmond in 1808. For the next ten years, the venture expanded Mary Randolph’s fame as a hostess and cook.
The cookbook (containing many other household hints) came out in 1824, with a stated purpose that is fairly typical of old cookbooks: the altruistic intention of the book was to educate young housewives.

Advertisement in the Frederick Town Herald, 1832

New editions of the book continued to be printed for decades after. Mary Randolph died in 1828 and is buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

It is said that the book’s significance lies in its snapshot of the birth of true American cooking. While Amelia Simmons’ 1796 book “American Cookery” is considered the first American cookbook, Randolph did more than just incorporate some American ingredients to British recipes. Randolph’s book does not simply “make do” with the ingredients available to cooks in the young country – it celebrates them. “The Virginia Housewife” can be surprising in its adventurism, from Gazpacho to the loads of garlic found in some recipes. That spirit lays at the foundation of Southern cuisine.

This is why I have no intention of recreating humble, modestly seasoned dishes for Thanksgiving. Making the most of what we have in this day and age is not a necessity as it was to Simmons, it is a joy, as it was to Randolph, and to Jane Gilmor Howard after her. It IS the tradition that we carry on during the holidays and beyond.