January 2016 - OLD LINE PLATE

Welsh Rarebit, Margaret Gadd Ashley

January 24, 2016January 13, 2019

I actually cooked this dinner quite awhile ago but I haven’t posted it because of frustrations. The recipe was contributed to “Queen Anne Goes to The Kitchen” by Margaret Gadd Ashley of the Centreville area. Despite some obvious relation to Janet Gadd Doehler of “Cheddar Chowder,” I couldn’t find out much about Margaret Gadd Ashley. I believe she was born in 1908. She passed away in 1980. Her husband descended from a family of blacksmiths who operated in Kent and Queen Anne’s county from the late 1800s up until World War II when a scarcity of materials made the trade impractical.

The story of the Ashley blacksmiths, as well as every grueling detail of a property they once owned can be found in this epic Maryland Historical Trust report.

Weird comic from 1940.

There are a few specious ideas about the origins of Welsh Rarebit and its name that annoy me too much to even write about… so I’ll stick to Wikipedia on this one.

Michael Quinion writes: “Welsh rabbit is basically cheese on toast (the word is not ‘rarebit’ by the way, that’s the result of false etymology; ‘rabbit’ is here being used in the same way as ‘turtle’ in ‘mock-turtle soup’, which has never been near a turtle, or ‘duck’ in ‘Bombay duck’, which was actually a dried fish called bummalo)”. – Wikipedia

Wikipedia also claims that “The word rarebit has no other use than in Welsh rabbit” but this recipe in Eat, Drink & Be Merry in Maryland contradicts that:

No cheese in sight. The above actually sounds like a recipe for panhas/scrapple. The conflation is indeed curious.

In his 1926 edition of the Dictionary of Modern English Usage, the grammarian H. W. Fowler states a forthright view: “Welsh Rabbit is amusing and right. Welsh Rarebit is stupid and wrong.” – Wikipedia

Aside from that recipe, the only other Welsh Rarebit/Rabbit recipe in my database is from Mrs. B.C. Howard’s 1881 “Fifty Years in a Maryland Kitchen.”

Origins and etymology aside, this is obviously a delicious and satisfying dish and a good meal for a cold winter night.

1887 rarebit humor

Recipe:

1.5 Tablespoon butter
1.5 Tablespoon flour
1.5 Cup milk
2 Cups sharp cheese
.5 Teaspoon mustard powder
.5 Teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

Make a roux of butter & flour on low heat. Gradually add milk. Add cheese and let it melt slowly; then add other seasonings. Pour over Uneeda biscuits, English muffins, or toast. Optional: Gently broil for a minute or two before serving.

Recipe Adapted from “Queen Anne Goes to The Kitchen”

Apple Toddy

January 20, 2016November 30, 2019

Once again we return to “Maryland’s Way,” this time for a patience-testing take on a most cherished Maryland libation.

This recipe for “Apple Toddy,” one of many that I considered, comes from Louis Dorsey Gassaway (b.1862) of Annapolis. Although his mother was a member the notable Dorsey family, L. Dorsey Gassaway appears to have led a relatively humble life as a bank teller at the Farmers National Bank.

That doesn’t mean that he didn’t know how to party. This toddy recipe involves a lot of booze and a full year’s maturation.

Gassaway was also a member of the Freemasons Annapolis Lodge No. 89, where the “Gassaway” dining room bears his name to this day.

Like many of the “Maryland’s Way” recipe originators, Gassaway was also involved in documenting and preserving local history – collecting and publishing family histories… that sort of thing. Gassaway passed away in 1940.

“Forgotten Maryland Cocktails” by Nicole & Gregory Priebe was an invaluable resource for this recipe as I am not so schooled in booze.

According to the book:

“From the middle of the eighteenth century to the dawn of the twentieth, the toddy, a versatile and resilient precursor of the cocktail, dominated the landscape of American drinking…. Around the 1780s, a variant of the toddy appeared, even more popular in the Chesapeake region than the original: the apple toddy… Maryland had a special fondness for the drink that stretched into the early decades of the 1900s.”

The Gassaway receipt called for Peach Brandy, which I could not find. Thankfully the Priebes advise that a fine apple brandy is a good substitute. Instinct told me to avoid brandies which bore the word “flavored.”

The receipt did not specify on whiskey, so I used Pikesville Rye, “probably the most authentic” choice according to “Forgotten Maryland Cocktails.”

As for apples, my options were endless. Apples are king at the farmers market this time of year. I asked the very first orchard I came across for an apple similar to “Stayman” or “Winesap” and was recommended “Enterprise”. I went on to notice
that other vendors had Stayman and Winesap varieties, including
“Stayman Winesap.” Any of these types of apples will do, I’m sure.

I can’t comment on the outcome of this recipe, as it will be stored away until next winter. The Priebes cautioned that “for the uninitiated, the apple toddy can be quite the potent drink, especially if undiluted.” I only hope that I can remember the instruction to add water. Maybe I should write it on the jar…

I highly recommend this book to Maryland enthusiasts. In addition to many other drinks, it offers much more information on the Apple Toddy, chronicling its decline, resurrection, and a cautionary tale should you not “dilute! dilute! dilute!*”

Recipe:

4 Stayman or Winesap apple
4-6 cloves
½ pint brandy
½ pint peach brandy
½ pint Jamaican Rum
¼ lb sugar
1 quart Whiskey, Maryland Rye preferred

Stick a few cloves in half of the apples and bake all until ready to burst. Dissolve sugar in a few tablespoons of water. Put the baked apples in a gallon jar.. Pour the liquors on them, cover the jar and let sit for 12 months.

To serve, add 3 pints of cold water, plus a lump of ice.

Recipe adapted from “Maryland’s Way: The Hammond-Harwood House Cookbook”

*That’s a little Dr. Bronner’s reference for you there. I can’t say the word dilute just once thanks to Dr. Bronner.

Mrs. Frederick W. Brune’s ‘Confederate Waffles‘

January 15, 2016January 13, 2019

This recipe comes from the “Maryland’s Way” cookbook via a “Mrs. Frederick W. Brune’s Book, 1860.” The source is likely the Brune Family Papers residing at the Maryland Historical Society. Other than delicious cornmeal waffles, the recipe led only to dead ends, with no real resolution or intrigue. There, I said it.

The Brune family legacy spans many generations in Baltimore, starting with the first Frederick W. Brune, a German who became a prominent Baltimore merchant after immigrating in 1799.

His son, and his son were also named Frederick W. Brune, so the whole thing gets confusing. Timing suggests this book belonged to the wife of Frederick W. Brune II, maiden name Emily S. Barton.

Frederick W. Brune II was a founding member of the Maryland Historical society (MDHS). His son Frederick W. Brune III was a president of MDHS, as well as chief judge in the Maryland Court of Appeals.

The “Confederate Waffles, Mrs. Hubard’s Way” mystery remains. I couldn’t figure out who Mrs. Hubard was, although there was a Confederate colonel who could have known the family through politics. The recipe is not labeled as “Confederate” in the family papers. It may have been an addition for publication in “Maryland’s Way.” An employee at MDHS was so kind as to look into the Brune family papers for me, adding that they do not know whether the Brunes were confederate sympathizers but “it seems likely, because if you were in rich in Baltimore..” The name could possibly be a play on the corn-based Johnnycakes, which originate in New England.

Well there you have it. Hopefully I’ll return next week with something a little more interesting.

Recipe:

1 cup corn meal
2 cups boiling water
4 tb butter (optional: use part bacon grease)
2 eggs, beaten
1 cup flour
½ tsp salt
3 tsp baking powder
2/3 cup milk

Stir cornmeal into boiling water until smooth. Add butter and stir until melted. Let cool before stirring in eggs, followed by flour, salt and baking powder. Thin with milk & pour batter into heated waffle iron.

Recipe adapted from “Maryland’s Way: The Hammond-Harwood House Cookbook”. Served above with berbere-spiced black-eyed pea fritters from “Afro-Vegan” by Bryant Terry

Robert Morris Inn Cranberry Muffins

January 7, 2016January 13, 2019

Hopefully I’m posting this recipe in time to catch any post-holiday abundance of fresh cranberries available in grocery stores near you. It’s finally cold in Maryland, and a warm muffin from the oven falls somewhere on the list of comforts for chilly days… probably.

There are quite a few recipes online for Orange-Cranberry Muffins and it is likely that they are all pretty good. This particular recipe, however, uses the aforementioned fresh cranberries. Also, it is attributed in the “Southern Heritage Cookbook Library” to the historic Robert Morris Inn on the Eastern Shore.

The Inn is built upon the one-time home of Morris, father of the “financier of the revolution.” The latter also once lived there as well. He’s the one everyone cares about with that whole Declaration of Independence signing and whatnot.

The elder Morris was a merchant who imported goods into the busy little port in Oxford. At the time Oxford and Annapolis were the bustling ports of Maryland – Baltimore rose to significance later.

1745 advertisement for imported goods

After Morris’ death in 1750, the house was converted to a hotel. Through the decades the inn changed names and owners and expanded too many times to list (which didn’t stop the current management from trying). Most of the presently visible exterior was constructed around 1870.

Today, visiting the inn from the west makes for a quaint trip; taking the Oxford-Bellevue Ferry across the Tred Avon River, the inn is the first prominent Oxford building that comes into view.

Oxford-Bellevue Ferry

For the record, I tend to believe that the muffin recipe is a
more recent product of the famed inn. When Robert Morris, Sr. arrived in
Oxford in 1738, the word ‘muffin’ would still have referred to what we
now think of as an English muffin. Which makes sense when you think about it.

Newspaper searches turn up a flurry of mentions of the Robert Morris Inn in the early 1950s. The Inn has remained a well-known charming getaway ever since. The muffin recipe probably came to be some time along the way.

Today the inn is owned by chef Mark
Salter. This past summer I enjoyed a nice lunch there, although muffins were not on the menu. The surrounding historic town of Oxford is lovely, with a tiny river beach and a nearby destination for amazing ice cream.

A lot of us here on the other side of Maryland may not be passing through Oxford until beach season, but these delicious muffins could be a fall and winter staple.

Recipe:

½ teaspoon grated orange rind
¼ cup plus 2 tablespoons orange juice
1 egg, beaten
2 tablespoons butter, melted
1 cup flour
½ cup sugar
¾ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
½ cup chopped fresh cranberries
¼ cup chopped pecans (I used walnuts)

Beat egg in a small mixing bowl, then beat in orange rind, juice, and butter. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, soda, and salt.
Make a well in center of dry ingredients; pour in orange juice mixture.
Stir just until dry ingredients are moistened. Gently fold in
cranberries and pecans.

Spoon batter into greased muffin pans. Bake at 350° for 25 minutes. Remove from pans, and serve warm.

Recipe adapted from Southern Heritage (Oxmoor House)