October 2015 - OLD LINE PLATE

Interview: Erick Sahler Serigraphs Co.

October 27, 2015January 14, 2019

The artwork in this interview really speaks for itself but for
the sake of having an introduction I’ll mention that I came across
these Erick Sahler Serigraphs Co. prints at one
of the newer bookshops in Chincoteague this past August. In a few short
moments I’d stocked up on postcards and a perceptive saleswoman sold me
on a print.
A bold graphic rendering of Smith Island cake has got to have some type of neurological effect on me. Resistance is futile.
Noticing how these prints celebrate so much of Old Line Plate subject matter, I hit Erick up for an interview.

“Most people believe the place they live is special, and I
appreciate that, but after traveling all across the United States, I
feel the Eastern Shore truly is unique.”

Did you have any formal art training?

I
like to make things — art, music, videos, anything, really, that
satisfies my creative itch. I trained with Chesapeake Bay maritime
artist C. Keith Whitelock when I was growing up, and that was the spark
that ignited my passion for the Eastern Shore. I got on-the-job training
designing and making silkscreen prints for Chesapeake Screen Printing
during my high school and college years. I graduated in 1989 from UMBC,
where I studied graphic design, illustrating and lettering before the
era of computers.

It’s
interesting that you have decided to pursue your work on the Eastern
Shore where so many other artists might have gravitated to major
metropolitan areas or what have you. Can you talk some about your
decision to settle in Salisbury?

After
my first year of college, I dreamed of working for an advertising
agency on Madison Avenue. After my second year of college, I decided
working for an advertising agency in Baltimore would be a better fit.
After my third year of college, I longed to come home, to return to the
Shore. Most people believe the place they live is special, and I
appreciate that, but after traveling all across the United States, I
feel the Eastern Shore truly is unique. So many others agree, and I
believe that’s why my artwork resonates — it’s a reminder of all the
good things about life on the Delmarva Peninsula. I can’t imagine living
or making art any place else.

I
see on your site that you have been at it for some time, but I only
became aware of your work recently. Has anything changed or have you
been creating more retail products or something? I swear I used to have
the hardest time finding really good postcards on Chincoteague and the
Eastern Shore!

I’ve
been creating Eastern Shore-themed silkscreen prints and stationery
since the summer of 2011. Prior to that, I worked 22 years in the
newsroom of the Salisbury paper. When the recession hit and the
newspaper industry began circling the drain, I decided it was time for
Plan B. I was in my mid-40s and figured if I was ever to strike out as
an artist, the time was now. My family supported me, and after two years
of planning, researching and building a print shop over my garage, I
gave my notice and launched a new career. Ever since, I’ve worked
full-time (and then some) designing, printing, packaging, framing,
marketing, shipping, accounting — every aspect of the business. I’m a
one-man shop.

Any particular influences on your style? A lot of it reminds me somewhat of WPA park posters.

Yes,
definitely the WPA artists of the late 1930s. Those designs were also
printed using silkscreens, so the process and style are similar. I’ve
been a lifelong fan of Joseph Craig English, who makes incredible
silkscreen prints of scenes in the Washington, D.C. area. I’m a great
fan of Norman Rockwell, for his ability to tell the great stories of
regular Americans. I also find great inspiration in the simple but
powerful work turned out for decades by Hatch Show Print in Nashville.

Can
you talk some about your inspiration process — some of the art appears
to have been originally commissioned or created to a specific end but
some of it seems like random appreciation.

You
are correct. I set out to produce nine or 10 new editions each year.
Most of those are targeted to certain markets or events. I have great
dealers in Chincoteague, Cambridge, Oxford, Berlin and Snow Hill, all of
whom I try to keep happy with fresh stock. I’m also involved in some
fantastic shows in Oxford and Bethany Beach, which I create new work for
each year. So the market does drive the subject matter, to some extent.
But it’s not all business, and a number of pieces were created from my
desire to celebrate what’s close to my heart. The Stock Car Races print
is one. The old Memorial Stadium print is another.

Are you a big Smith Island Cake fan? If so, what flavor is the best?

I’m
a traditionalist — I prefer the yellow cake with chocolate icing, like
the one in my print. But the carrot cake version is pretty fine too.

How often do you eat scrapple?

As often as possible! Brisk fall mornings are perfect for scrapple. I like it on toast with scrambled egg and melted cheese.

In
all seriousness though, you have several prints based around the local
edible specialties, care to comment any further on what these things
mean to you either as graphic inspiration or even personally?

Tracy,
my wife, is a foodie. Each summer we travel across the U.S. with our
two girls and a big dog-eared book called “Road Food” by Michael and
Jane Stern. We have driven hours off the main route for a pile of ribs,
or barbecue, or even some hot dogs. So we really appreciate local food —
and usually the more low-brow, the better. That’s what initially drove
my “Delmarva’s Finest” collection, which features blue crabs,
Chincoteague and Choptank oysters and Smith Island Cake. My Scrapple
design — a parody of the Apple Computer logo — was a one-off for the
annual Apple-Scrapple Festival in Bridgeville, Del.

Your
postcards/posters nearly create a travel brochure for Delmarva. Can you
outline an ideal day or weekend spent traveling around the region?

You
can travel one hour from Salisbury in any direction and be in heaven.
Rehoboth, Bethany, Ocean City, Assateague, Chincoteague, Onancock,
Crisfield, Deal Island, Hooper Island, Cambridge, Oxford, St. Michaels.
Take your pick — and they all have dynamite places to eat along the way.
My don’t-misses would include a pint of Indian Brown Ale at Dogfish
Head in Milton, Del.; Thrasher’s french fries on the Ocean City
Boardwalk; scoops of Java Jolt and Marsh Mud at the Island Creamery in
Chincoteague, Va.; the flounder platter at Metompkin Seafood in
Mappsville, Va.; the Buffalo wings at Adam’s Taphouse in Fruitland, Md.;
and a maple doughnut at Bay Country Bakery in Cambridge.

I see you have a Chesapeake Retriever — Maryland pride or just by chance?

That’s
funny — his name is Chance. I was a UMBC Retriever, but actually my
fondness for Chessies goes way back. My “Offseason” print shows me with
our Chesapeake Bay retriever on the beach at 53rd Street in Ocean City
in the spring of 1972. They’re a great breed — smart, loyal, independent
— and a perfect fit for life on the Eastern Shore.You can’t keep them
out of the water.

View more artwork, buy prints or contact Erick Sahler at www.ericksahler.com

Maryland Beaten Biscuits

October 22, 2015November 25, 2019

Note: yes these look ugly. The recipe is almost 200 years old and had no measurements. Of course your biscuits are better; that wasn’t really the point here.

In December of 1953, Governor Theodore McKeldin and his wife Honolulu “Lulu” Manzer McKeldin celebrated the holiday season by serving guests a “typical Maryland dinner.” The menu included oyster stew, wild duck, and Maryland beaten biscuits.

Of all the foods that bear the state’s name, Maryland beaten biscuits once enjoyed the most widespread popularity – and for the longest span of time.

Beaten biscuits originate from the early 1800s, when reliable chemical leavening agents and sometimes yeast were not readily available. According to culinary historian Joyce White, “bakers
pounded or beat the biscuit dough to introduce air into it, and the
beating also served to disintegrate the dough’s protein (gluten).“

Advertisements around the country advertised both the biscuits and the implements to make them throughout the late 1800s and early 20th century.

1928 advertisement from the Morning Register, Eugene Oregon

The concept of laboriously pounding the heck out of the dough yourself, having an enslaved person do this labor for you, or purchasing a bulky appliance to assist with this task raises some philosophical questions about food.

Although the most famous bakery to produce them, Orell’s in Wye Mills,
was on the Eastern Shore, Maryland Beaten Biscuits were popular
statewide, and other bakeries produced them throughout Maryland, even in
the panhandle. “The News” of Frederick described hail that fell during a 1914 storm “as
big as Maryland beaten biscuits.”

Southern Heritage Cookbook illustration featuring a “biscuit brake.”

Their popularity certainly endured for the longest on the Eastern Shore. When Herman Miller “Dick” Orrell III, the heir and owner of Orell’s Beaten Biscuits passed away at 83 in 2013, the bakery closed with the intention to eventually re-open. The Maryland Beaten Biscuit Company in Sudlersville sometimes peddles the biscuits at farmers’ markets in that region.

“Maryland’s Vanishing Lives” by John Sherwood features a photo of an elderly couple, Roby and Elma Cornelius of Rock Hall, brandishing a baseball bat and an axe, with trays of golf-ball sized biscuits proudly laid out before them.

“There is something highly amusing in watching this peace-loving, elderly couple banging away with a baseball bat on a helpless mound of dough, but the results are wonderful and soothing. And, after all, it is a Maryland tradition they’re carrying on.” – John Sherwood, Maryland’s Vanishing Lives

1881 advertisement

Not everyone remembers the biscuits so fondly. My cousin recalls, “my grandmother always had Orrell’s from Wye Mills waiting for my dad when
we would visit. Great memories, but wow those things were hockey pucks.“ To modern diners, fluffier and flakier biscuits are more appealing.

A South Carolina columnist printed a recipe for Maryland Beaten biscuits in 1982, with commentary:

”…[Maryland beaten biscuits] are pretty hard, and I tend to think that maybe the [Civil War] soldiers could have used them as bullets in their guns. But the biscuits do have a delicious taste… When I think I might have had to beat biscuits with an axe, I feel lucky to have fast food chains making them for me early in the morning.“ – Karen Petit, The Index-Journal (Greenwood, South Carolina)

Beaten biscuits still enjoy some attention in the South. A “Garden and Gun” article (”The Art of the Beaten Biscuit”) sang their praises in April 2015. In this article, as in the Wikipedia entry on beaten biscuits, no mention of Maryland can be found.

1909 advertisement

I roped some family members into taking turns beating some biscuit dough
on a recent afternoon. The biscuits we produced were a little tough on
the outside but they went well with a creamy gravy.

Recipe:

4 cups flour
1 tbs high lard
½ tbs salt
water

Sift flour and salt together. Cut in lard. Add water to make a very stiff dough.
Working on a sturdy table, beat the dough with a heavy mallet or axe head, about 30 minutes, or until bubbles form and pop when beaten. Form into small balls about the size of a golf-ball. Press each down lightly and poke with a fork. Bake at 400° for 30 minutes.

(Biscuit with smoked chicken gravy & crisped skin)

Corn Bread with Rice

October 17, 2015January 13, 2019

There’s no camping like fall camping! And there’s no better camp bread than cornbread.

Once again I turned to Mrs. B.C. Howard for a good camp recipe… if this could even be called a recipe. Really this is just a list of ingredients:

Dry rice you say? Well okay. I mixed the dry ingredients ahead of time. Camp cooking requires wise planning and mise en place.

The first thing I do at a camp site after pitching the tent is getting the fire pit setup in workable order.

On the fly tip for melting butter:

After about 20 minutes I checked on the bread and the top wasn’t cooking fast enough so I took a coal from the fire:

This cornbread was kind of dry and dense but that is not necessarily a bad thing! It went great with greasy eggs – would be perfect with chili.

Recipe:

1 Pint cornmeal
2 Tablespoon flour
4 Tablespoon raw rice
2 eggs
1 tb butter, melted
½ cup milk

Heat up a skillet or dutch oven 4-5 coals under and 6-7 on top, or in the oven at 425° Mix dry ingredients and stir in butter and milk. Beat eggs well & fold into batter. Pour into hot pan, bake for 20-25 minutes. When you can smell it it is done!

Adapted from “Fifty Years in a Maryland Kitchen” by Mrs. B. C. Howard

Interview: John Shields

October 13, 2015January 14, 2019

By the time “The Chesapeake Bay Cookbook: Rediscovering the Pleasures of a Great Regional Cuisine” was published in the early 1990s, Maryland Chesapeake cuisine’s star had nearly faded into obscurity (as the title suggests).
Mid-century cookbooks such as Mrs. J. Millard Tawes’ “Favorite Maryland Recipes” and the edited and updated edition of Mrs. B.C. Howard’s “Fifty Years in a Maryland Kitchen” revisited the classics, but today their recipes seem dated with some of the culinary peculiarities that marked that time.
The return to fresh and local was just beginning to gain steam, and Shields’ books and television appearances brought those ideals back home to Maryland when he left his West Coast restaurant behind.
I had always intended to interview Shields for Old Line Plate. It was opportune then to learn that a 25th Anniversary Edition of “Chesapeake Bay Cooking with John Shields” was being released this fall on its rightful home, Johns Hopkins Press.

My recording device failed me (don’t use this thing) but nonetheless we had an informative little chat.
For those unfamiliar with John Shields, he is known for the aforementioned book plus several others, in addition to hosting an engaging public television show demonstrating cooking techniques and traveling Maryland exploring our culinary heritage.
In the past, Shields’ books have served as interpretation for some of the recipes I’ve featured on Old Line plate. When an old “receipt” says “add some cornmeal and cook it until it’s done,” the Shields version can clarify a little.
While the mid-century visitations of Maryland food sometimes took a few too many liberties, John Shields maintains the integrity of foods like scrapple, Maryland Fried Chicken, and Shad Roe. (The latter two are featured in the new book.)

Asked about how things have changed over those 25 years, Shields pointed primarily to innovations that may help bring Chesapeake delicacies back in a sustainable way. As John points out, traditionally, “oyster was king. It wasn’t until more recently that crab was popular.” And now oyster farming is taking hold and cleaning up the waters, companies such as Nice creamery are providing dairy from grass-fed and hormone-free cows, and local farms like One Straw are growing produce that tastes superior without sending damaging byproducts into the bay.
Where Maryland falls behind, according to Shields, is our lack of a practical distribution network for smaller farms. Models exist in other places such as Vermont and Portland.
Shields plans to explore some of these issues and their effect on the culinary scene in a future book.
Currently, Shields owns the locally beloved Gertrude’s restaurant at the Baltimore Museum of Art. I attended a recent event where proceeds were contributed towards the National Aquarium’s Sustainable Seafood Program. Since I didn’t get the ‘Soft-Shell Crab Moutarde’ that night I later made it at home to accompany this article. The recipe can be found in Chesapeake Bay Cooking.

According to Shields, some of the recipes have been cleaned up with some omissions or unfavorable changes made by the previous publisher corrected.
In the midst of wrapping up the re-released and updated book, and the flurry of press that goes with it, the executive pastry chef at Gertrude’s, Doug Wetzel, suffered liver and kidney failure while participating in a triathlon. He was in intensive care for months, and the Baltimore culinary community took to action.
Local chefs and restaurants pitched in to help raise money for Wetzel’s Medical care. Shields describes the response as “gratifying and humbling to see.”
To wrap up our chat, I asked about the controversial Maryland Fried Chicken steaming step, and Shields weighed in firmly “pro.” His recipe marinades the chicken in buttermilk, followed by a toss in flour. Next, “you brown the chicken in very hot oil, then cover the pan and reduce the heat to steam the chicken; this keeps the meat moist while producing a crisp coating.” Serve with the cream gravy. Alternative method: go get the chicken at Gertrude’s on Tuesdays.

“Cymlings”

October 7, 2015January 13, 2019

According to culinary historian Michael Twitty, cymlings “have a special place in early African American history as they were one of the few squash commonly grown and consumed by the enslaved community.” And certainly this recipe hails from a plantation where that fact is relevant.

“The Plains” (also known as Ophan’s Gift, demolished in 1958) in St. Mary’s County had an interesting story. As you may know, Maryland was (legally) a slave state for nearly a year longer than the southern states that seceded from the Union. Nonetheless, the Union Army allowed for the recruitment of enslaved people as soldiers, and Lt. Eben White visited The Plains in 1863 to do just that.

Lt. Eben White

What actually transpired is unclear but an altercation took place and plantation owner Mr. (Colonel) John Henry Sothoron shot and killed Lt. White. The estate was then seized by the United States under the Confiscation Act, which allowed for the confiscation of property and the freeing of people enslaved by anyone who assisted the rebellion or who were “disloyal citizens.”

“Elizabeth (Somervell) Sothoron, the wife of Col. John Sothoron, and their children were placed under house arrest. On November 22, President Lincoln wrote a letter to Edwin Stanton, Secretary of War stating, in part, “It is represented that the family [Sothoron] are substantially imprisoned in their house by our soldiers and are on starvation. I submit that perhaps some attention better be given to the case”.” – Linda Reno, Leonardtown

Mrs. Sothoron and children left the plantation to live off of the charity of others for several years until the estate was returned to her posession. The family was finally able to return to the estate in spring of 1866. Col. Sothoron, who had fled to Canada after Lincoln was assassinated, was found not-guilty in the fall. The impartiality of this trial remains dubious.

The Plains, Southwest View (Maryland Historical Trust)

I admit to being put off of this recipe at first due to the fact that it seems like a waste.

I love cutting cymlings (aka pattypans) horizontally and grilling or roasting them. They have such a beautiful shape.

However
I had some that were slightly past their peak crispness and so I gave
this treatment a try. (This was in defiance of the recipe which called
for tender young cymlings.)

The cymling dish made a nice dinner
side. I used shallot, and the dish doesn’t cook long, so the onion
flavor was very strong. Straining the squash through a colander proved
to be one of those rare tasks that was more annoying than cleaning out
the food mill, so I ended up tossing it all in there instead.

Recipe:

tender young cymling (pattypan) squash
salt
1 Tablespoon butter, melted
1 Teaspoon chopped onion
salt
pepper, black
1 Tablespoon flour
.5 Cup milk
breadcrumbs
butter

Cut up cymlings and boil in salted water until soft enough to mash through a sieve. Add tablespoon of butter, teaspoon of chopped onion, salt and pepper to taste plus one tablespoon of flour mixed into a half cup milk. Put in baking dish. Cover with bread crumbs, dot with butter and bake until golden brown.

Recipe adapted from Eat, Drink & Be Merry in Maryland, contributed by Mrs. John H Sothoron, The Plains