December 2016 - OLD LINE PLATE

Amalgamated Maryland Eggnog

December 23, 2016November 24, 2019

“Christmas comes but once a year, when eggnog takes the place of beer.” – 1918

These days, Christmastime can feel tainted with greed; shopping and spending, forging memories with limited edition Coke cans, thoughtless gifts and waste. There was a time, over a century ago, when things were more simple and pure. Back in those days, before the black friday sales or even department store extravaganzas, the Christmas holidays were more grounded, centered in the true reason for the season… getting #$@%*! up.

Make no mistake – our agrarian ancestors indeed worked their fingers to the bone day in day out for the most of the year. But when winter rolled around, harvests were put up, hogs killed and cured, one of the primary chores to attend to was… partying. Families would travel or host visitors; when possible, food was shared in all directions; spirits were consumed, often to excess. The large quantities called for in old eggnog recipes hearken to a time when a huge batch was made in late November, to serve to guests throughout the season.

This annual cycle remained in the social DNA even as the nature of work changed, and more and more people flocked to cities and manned machines year round (or sat in offices and collected on the work of others.) In this environment, things could get a little… chaotic.

Especially in the rough-and-tumble environment of late 1800s Baltimore, the winter holidays correlated with a time of increased accidents, petty crimes, and some not so petty crimes. We’ll get the unpleasantness out of the way and start with the latter – eggnog poisonings.

I found several incidents of murder or drugging by eggnog. The ubiquitous holiday beverage with its potent combination of liquors must have been a most tempting vehicle for sinister motives in December.

More innocuously, eggnog was generally associated with the type of rowdiness that drew the finger-wagging of the temperance movement and the cautioning of elders. In 1890, two Baltimore men, aged 19 and 21, successfully used “egg-nogg” as a defense when they went to trial for stealing a horse and buggy on a lark.

Each year, news editorials appeared, admonishing would-be eggnog hellions to stop the insanity. In 1905 a Baptist reverend took to the pages of the Afro-American to decry the debauchery, firecrackers and revealing clothing associated with Christmas revelry. Many young men, he warned, have their “lives blotted out” on this one day, and many young women “start to hell.”

“The enjoyments of the Christmas festival were accompanied, as usual, with the usual number of accidents, some resulting from the careless use of firearms, whilst others may perhaps be attributed to the too free use of “egg-nogg and apple toddy.” – Baltimore Sun, 1868

During the holiday season, temperance advocates gladly took on the title of “Anti Egg-Nog Movement” when holding meetings.

Still, the popularity of eggnog continued right on up to -and through- Prohibition. In 1921, the Sun declared that “1921 eggnog is properly seasoned with real Jamaica rum, bootlegged at $8 a quart.”

I have over 30 eggnog recipes in my database. Curious to compare differences, I normalized some of the recipes to a 12-egg standard and compared liquor ratios. Findings? The 50’s were a boozy time. The party seems to be in Howard county.

Most Maryland recipes call for a combination of brandy and either rum or bourbon. A few use all of the above. According to “Forgotten Maryland Cocktails”, the combination of liquors such as cognac, Jamaican rum, and Madeira are typical of a “port city” eggnog, which makes sense. Peach brandy was a very popular addition as well.

Some recipes use cream, some use milk, while others use both. Egg whites, no whites, top the nog with beaten whites? To nutmeg or not to nutmeg?

I couldn’t decide which recipe to try. Compromise: all of them. I calculated an average amount of liquors, cream and milk. I decided to wing it with the whites and ultimately left them out. I also opted to leave out ‘unusual’ inclusions such as cloves or evaporated milk. The result is what I’ll call Amalgamated Maryland eggnog.

I’ll end this post with commentary from one of eggnog’s rare printed defenses. In 1910 the Annapolis Capital paper quipped: “With eggs at 42 cents per dozen the Mint Julep Association is glad it does not belong to the Eggnog Clan.” The Baltimore Sun indignantly reprinted the comment with the reply: “Clan, sister? It is a hierarchy, a universal brotherhood, a winged seraband that measures its membership by the millions and counts its kingdoms by the stars.”

Recipe:

12 eggs, separated
3 pints cream
2 pints milk
1.25 pints brandy (peach if you can find it, apple is the likely option)
.5 pints Jamaican rum
.5 pints Bourbon
9 oz sugar (or to taste)
nutmeg (optional)
1 tsp vanilla extract (optional)

Beat eggs until smooth and yellow. Gradually beat in sugar, followed by liquors, vanilla (if using) and finish with milk and cream. Optional: top with beaten egg whites or fold them in last. Top with nutmeg if desired.

Hutzler’s Potato Chip Cookies

December 21, 2016January 13, 2019

“Every year in the 50s, my mother, my grandmother and I went downtown to do our Christmas shopping,” A. Zoland Leishear fondly recalled in the Baltimore Sun in 1989. The store had been closed all of two months and the nostalgia was stirred. Leishear recalled a picturesque scene of streetcar wire sparks lighting up the snow, dazzling window displays and shopping trips ended with hot fudge sundaes.

feature in the Baltimore Sun, 1989

Hutzler’s had it’s origins in the late 1850’s, and opened the famed “palace” on Howard street in 1888. Long before Hutzler’s charmed patrons from Barbara Mikulski to John Waters, the stores may well have been patronized by early Maryland cookbook authors Jane Gilmor Howard or “Queen of the Kitchen” Mary Tyson.

1930 advertisement for Hutzler’s

A generation later, department store shopping had developed from a convenience into an experience. Good food is such a direct route to pleasant associations that it makes complete sense that retailers would want to impress on shoppers in this way. Any fan of IKEA meatballs could attest to that. Whether it is these potato chip cookies, the cheddar bread or something more substantial, many shoppers have fond recollections of snacks and meals eaten at one of Hutzler’s numerous dining facilities.

Jacques Kelly (who has to be quoted in this blog more than any other individual!) reminisced:

“What do I miss about Hutzler’s? For starters, the coffee chiffon pie from the Quixie restaurant. When that particular lunch area closed about 1972, I wrote a two-page letter of complaint.”

As is so often the case when we look to the past -especially in Maryland- these pleasant memories are not a universal experience. In the 1910s, columns began to appear in the Afro-American, complaining of Hutzlers and other department stores increasing efforts to alienate black shoppers. This period of segregation lasted from roughly 1930 to 1960, during which time black patrons couldn’t dine in Hutzler’s, try on clothing or hats, or open store accounts.

As sit-ins and protests erupted at lunch counters and department stores around the city in the 60s, Hutzler’s eventually changed with the times.

Michael Lisicky’s comprehensive book “Hutzler’s: Where Baltimore Shops” recounts the Hutzler empire’s rise and fall. Alongside so many other institutions, its lifespan was a reflection of the beauty, excess, and disgrace of Baltimore.

Hutzlers Towson Valley View Room Jan 1989, Kevin Mueller on flickr

Back to the food. I reached out to Lisicky who offered this insight into why the food memories of Hutzler remain so near and dear to many Baltimoreans:

“There was a time when department store restaurants, or tea rooms, acted as some of the finer dining spots in the cities they served. That was especially true at Hutzler’s. Hutzler’s 6th floor Colonial Restaurant was one of Baltimore’s finer diner rooms and was a downtown social epicenter. Most people called it the Tea Room but Hutzler’s never did. In the end, it didn’t matter and still doesn’t. The Maryland Historical Society houses many of the store’s archives, including the recipe files for the Valley View Room at Towson. A number of Baltimoreans preferred the food downtown. Hutzler’s diehards say that Towson wasn’t downtown, at least culinary-wise but that popular and important Towson store kept the company alive. People fondly recall the Chicken Chow Mein served in the downstairs Luncheonette. It was cheap and was an introduction to ethnic food for many mid-century diners. Little did they know it was made with turkey. The most requested recipe from Hutzler’s? Lady Baltimore Cake. Of all of the recipe cards that still remain, Hutzler’s Lady Baltimore Cake recipe went the way of the store. Department store restaurants are few and far between these days. I’m not sure where exactly to send people these days, at least within an easy drive. There’s always Nordstrom, they are an anomaly, but they aren’t Hutzler’s.” – Michael Lisicky, department store historian

“Where Baltimore Shops” contains recipes for crab cakes, imperial crab, crab and shrimp casserole, deviled filet of cod, Scampi di Marsala, Spaghetti a la Caruso, shrimp salad, cheese bread, chocolate chiffon pie, and fudge cake.

It does not contain the recipe for these famous potato chip cookies. Instead, the recipe has been circulated for years via the Baltimore Sun Recipe Finder, as well as other Maryland cookbooks such as my BGE “Chesapeake Bay Cooking.”

These cookies are best served with a glass of milk and some philosophical questions about nostalgia.

“There are places that may be as luxurious or as opulent. But there are none so fine, nor any so grand, none that capture my imagination or so define an experience as Hutzler’s, downtown at Christmas.” – A. Zoland Leishear, Baltimore Sun, 1989

Recipe:

1 Cup softened butter
1 Cup sugar
1 egg + 1 egg yolk
1 Teaspoon vanilla extract
2.5 Cups sifted flour
.5 Cups chopped nuts
.5 Cups crushed potato chips
egg white slightly beaten

Thoroughly cream butter or margarine and 2/3 cup sugar until fluffy. Beat in egg and vanilla. Fold next three ingredients into creamed mixture. Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Place 2-inches apart on greased baking sheet. Flatten with tines of fork in two directions. Brush with egg white and sprinkle with remaining 1/3 cup sugar. Bake at 350° for 15 to 20 minutes. Makes approximately 4 ½ dozen cookies.

Deer Steak a.k.a. Venison

December 7, 2016January 13, 2019

“If it wasn’t seafood it had to be venison which filled the larders of early settlers of Maryland.” – Geoff Fielding, Maryland magazine 1990

While oysters once captured the imagination and the economy of Maryland, the abundance of game played a vital role in keeping families fed. Deer, in particular, could provide a supply of meat well after domestic animals had been ‘harvested’ for the winter.

Even without the need for sustenance, hunting has been a popular past-time in Maryland. Sporty Theodore Roosevelt types would visit exclusive clubs where game was managed – and sometimes released into the wild – for the express purpose of hunting. Afterward, the hunters could retreat by the fireside in a luxurious lodge for fine food and of course liquor.

The Woodmont Rod & Gun Club in Western Maryland was only one such resort. Someone from that club contributed three recipes to “Eat, Drink & Be Merry in Maryland”: “English Pheasants,” “Wild Turkey,” and “Venison.”

Although it’s not as ubiquitous now, it’s still pretty likely that if you live in some of the more rural areas of the state, someone is trying to unload some deer meat on you this time of year.

Firearm season for white-tailed deer only lasts two weeks from Thanksgiving through mid-December, but the deer are quite abundant without other predators left.

Last year, during the combined archery, muzzleloader and firearm seasons, hunters harvested 84,022 deer. I recall a family friend from the Eastern Shore, out at a restaurant one February, excitedly ordering a steak, lamenting “I’m so tired of eating deer meat!”

Luckily for me, I don’t eat steak or deer enough to feel strongly about it. Recently when visiting family in Shady Side, I welcomed any cuts handed to me from a neighbor’s chest freezer that was piled high with game, dry-aged and vacuum sealed. For some, the sport and the culinary acumen go hand in hand.

Queen of the Kitchen, Miss M. L. Tyson

Most venison recipes are pretty similar. The main thing is the addition of fats to compensate for the leanness compared to domesticated meats.

The Woodmont Rod & Gun Club prescribes olive oil, butter, and grated onion. Miss M. L. Tyson recommends constant basting with butter. Some recipes include currant jelly.

Infuriatingly, the updated recipe in the “Maryland Gourmet” column in Maryland magazine has a caption that says they used beef steak!

*shake your fist at this*

So I just winged it. High heat in a skillet, bacon grease, frequent turning (yep), butter, deglazing the pan with a little wine after. It turned out great except that I should have cut the ring of fat from around the edge before cooking; it didn’t contribute much. (For me anyway. My dog disagrees.)

Every meat-eating Marylander should sidle up to a hunter. One man’s reprieve is another’s repast.

Recipe:

Heat skillet hot. Cut off the ring of fat from around the deer steak. Season with salt and pepper, etc. and immediately cook in hot grease, turning frequently. The internet says to cook it to 140°, I did about that and still managed a juicy interior – do not overcook.

Oyster Stew

December 1, 2016January 13, 2019

“A century ago in old New England and New York a bowl of piping hot oyster stew formed the traditional Christmas Eve supper, now practiced only by a few families who have preserved the tradition along with grandmother’s Chippendale and pewter… The homemakers of today would do well to revive this custom for the oyster has a happy way of inducing sleep of the deep and restful kind. Then too, it is easy to prepare, requires no expensive ingredients, no left overs striving for a corner in a refrigerator filled with Christmas foods. And then too, the ease with which the stew is digested may well prepare you to do justice to that Christmas dinner.” – Denton Journal, 1937

One of the main goals of Old Line Plate the blog is to highlight some of the less famed aspects of Maryland cuisine. Still, I probably deserve a slap on the wrist for under-representing the oyster. Crab may be king when it comes to Maryland seafood (or Maryland food, period) these days, but there can be no denying that the Maryland seafood industry was built upon the value of the oyster.

In fact, the most common recipe in my Old Line Plate database, by far, is for “Oyster Stew” (or “Stewed Oysters”). Coming in a distant second is recipes for “Jumbles” (including Waverly and Sotterly).

To get into the holiday spirit I thought I may as well take a crack at oyster stew. But where to begin? Almost all of the recipes are very similar. Variations occur in the use of fats or bacon, cream versus milk, flour as thickener, and of course seasonings. I knew that no matter what route I took I’d be disgracing someone’s sense of authenticity so I just winged it. I kept a few different versions on hand for reference.

One thing that really confused me was the way some recipes would cook the oysters in their liquor whereas some prescribed draining the liquor altogether. Keeping the precious oyster liquor made sense to me. Finally, an 1890 housekeeping advice book clarified a possible reason for this variance.

“When canned oysters are used, which is generally the case away from the sea-coast, do not use the liquor, but if fresh oysters can be had the liquor should always be used.” – “Home Dissertations,” published by Baltimore importers and grocers Hopper and McGaw.

It is worth noting that even in 1890, the “r” month wisdom was being dismissed as out-dated.

I said yes to bacon, onion and celery. So what of seasoning? To keep the 1890s vibe I skipped Old Bay in favor of its predecessor, “Kitchen Pepper.” Each cook would have their own unique combination for kitchen pepper. Mine contained mace, ginger, white pepper, nutmeg and a small amount of cinnamon.

Kitchen Pepper, “Fifty Years in a Maryland Kitchen,” Mrs. B.C. Howard

The tradition of eating oyster stew on Christmas is said to stem from a Catholic observance of abstaining from meat on that holiday. If that is true then the craze for oyster stew did not take long to spread throughout the region – “Fifty Years in a Maryland Kitchen” alone contains five different recipes.

I intend to revive the Oyster Stew on Christmas tradition. Serving up oysters to loved ones feels like a duty if “Home Dissertations” is to be believed:

“By taking oysters daily, indigestion, supposed to be almost incurable, has been cured; in fact they are to be regarded as one of the most healthful articles of food known to man. Invalids who have found all other kinds of food disagree with them, frequently discover in the oyster the required aliment. Raw oysters are highly recommended for hoarseness. Many of the leading vocalists use them regularly before concerts and operas; but their strongest recommendation is the remarkable wholesome influence exerted upon the digestive organs.”

Recipe:

1 pint oysters
4 slices of bacon
2 cups half and half or milk, scalded
Celery, diced
Onion, diced
Paprika, seafood seasoning, etc
Worcestershire
1-2 tb flour

Cook oysters in their own liquor until edges curl.

Strain oysters and combine liquor with milk on stove and heat to scald but do not boil.

Cook bacon until crispy reserving 1-2 tb of the grease if desired.

Sauté celery and onions in bacon grease or butter in soup pot until fragrant and softened. Sprinkle flour over and stir in; add milk and continue to simmer but do not boil. Stir in seasonings and oysters.

Ladle into bowls and garnish with chopped bacon, oyster crackers or toasted bread, seafood seasoning or paprika… whatever you want really.