OLD LINE PLATE - Page 5 of 67 - COOKING / MARYLAND / HISTORY

Ritz Dessert, Maude Schell

November 7, 2023November 7, 2023

New blog posts have been rolling in very slowly since I’ve been busy promoting “Festive Maryland Recipes.” Sometimes I get nervous about letting my research fall by the wayside.

But I’ve been tending to an aspect of Old Line Plate that has become every bit as important to me: connecting with people.

The pandemic made me realize how much this blog experience has changed me as a person. I am, yes, much more cheesy than I used to be, but also less insecure, and less drawn to the negative. My knowledge of how lucky I am to have this has helped me to hold it together when life gets confusing.

What I’d never have guessed is the myriad ways that Old Line Plate has helped me cross paths with kindness. I receive emails from people who find their family recipes on my website. But I’ve also met friendly eBay sellers, librarians, cookbook collectors, generous church groups, and other bloggers and writers.

Having to swallow my shyness and encourage bookstores to carry “Festive Maryland Recipes” was not the easiest thing for me to do. I didn’t know that the process would actually put me in touch with even more nice people.

Some of my favorite stories in “Festive Maryland Recipes” are from Western Maryland. I’ve been eager to spread the word on Frostburg’s Cornish Saffron Bread for years. It so happens that that very town has a long-standing independent bookstore. I reached out to Fred Powell from Main Street Books and he kindly supported us by stocking the book.

Fred established Main Street Books in 1989. He was new to the bookselling business and was simply trying to fill a need in Frostburg. He involved himself heavily in the local community by volunteering, sponsoring sports teams, and connecting with readers who would become his customers.

Queen of Oude Sauce, Merganthaler Recipe Scrapbook

October 27, 2023October 28, 2023

“At the funeral of the Queen of Oude, a diadem was placed on her brow,” read a story in the Baltimore Daily Exchange in 1858. The short report, filed under “Foreign Miscellany,” focused on jewels, describing “a necklace of lapiz lazuli round her neck, and circlets of amber round her arms and legs. A number of amulets were also attached to the covering in which her body was enveloped.”

Throughout Europe and the United States, newspapers reported on the Paris funeral, which the Fayetteville Semi-Weekly Observer in North Carolina dubbed “a rare spectacle for the pageant-loving population of that great metropolis.”

“The crowd of curious spectators was so great that it was almost impossible for the procession to move along,” the Observer observed. For years afterward, fashion columns reported that ladies in Paris and London emulated the tasseled silk scarves worn by Malika Kishwar, the last Queen of Oude.

The story of how Kishwar ended up dying in Paris, to be buried in the world-famous Père Lachaise cemetery along with Chopin, Oscar Wilde, and Jim Morrison, is a rather sad footnote in the story of British colonialism in India. Obviously, that history is too involved for my little food blog.

*George Duncan Beechey (1798-1852), Portrait of Begum of Oudh, Lucknow, India, circa 1840*

Located in the present-day region of Uttar Pradesh, Oude (alternately spelled Oudh, Avadh, or Awadh) was a princely state in India, meaning it wasn’t directly ruled by the British. When enab Aliya Begum aka Malika Kishwar was born in the city of Lucknow, around 1805, the British were in the business of intervening to appoint government officials, and demanding revenue from the kingdom, while also gradually placing regions of the state under more direct rule.

Crab Meltaways, Juliana “Jukie” Todd

September 24, 2023October 11, 2023

Open just about any Maryland community cookbook from the 1980s, and you’re likely to find a recipe for Crab Meltaways. They’re easy, tasty, and great for company.

Most recipes call for “Kraft Old English Cheese Spread,” a product that, as far as I can tell, debuted in the 1930s. It is likely that the recipe for Crab Meltaways (also known as “Crabbies”) was developed by Kraft in the 1960s, but there are other variations without the product. John Shields included a recipe from Susan Corsaro in his 1992 “Chesapeake Bay Crab Cookbook,” using cheddar cheese, fresh garlic, and parsley.

The ingredients are gently mixed, piled atop split English muffins (often cut into wedges), and frozen. From the frozen state, they broil into a bubbly melted pile of deliciousness.

One of my recipes suggests canned crabmeat because these don’t really necessitate the good stuff.

Jukie Todd from Crisfield didn’t have that concern. A lifetime employee of her family’s MeTompkin Bay Oyster Company, she surely had plenty of crab to work with. Her recipe was included in the Women’s Ministries Faith Fellowship Church’s 1989 cookbook, unfortunately named “Plantation Favorites.” Todd had died in 1986, so the recipe must have been shared by friend or family.

Spring Salad & Taco Salad, Employees at Fort Detrick

September 4, 2023September 4, 2023

Like most things in Frederick County, Fort Detrick was built on farmland. The military installation started as a small, privately owned airport established in 1929 and later named after World War I squadron flight surgeon Major Frederick L. Detrick. The site was used as an airfield up until the United States entered World War II. In 1943 it was rechristened Camp Detrick and made base of the newly-established U.S. Army Biological Warfare Laboratories.

Over the years the site expanded, eventually becoming the largest employer in Frederick County. Along with its expansion grew the rumors and stories, some true and some urban legends.

I grew up in Beltsville, Prince George’s County, near the the US Agricultural Research Center. I know all about how a gated site can serve as the nexus for intriguing lore for children and adults. Whether it was the legendary Goat Man, or the alleged sprawling lush marijuana fields hidden away on the Ag Center campus, the “Beltsville Farms” provided fodder for stories just as it provided salaries for friends’ parents.

My spouse similarly grew up in the shadow of Fort Detrick. He spent his summers in its swimming pool while his parents worked in laboratories. And at school, he heard tales of the menacing “Tower of Doom.”

Interview: Carolyn Wyman, “The Great Clam Cake and Fritter Guide”

July 30, 2023July 30, 2023

My friend Kate knew just where to take us to dinner when we visited. The exterior of the Governor Francis Inn in Warwick, Rhode Island didn’t convey much. But when we stepped inside surrounded by wood paneling and golden lighting, I felt like I’d been here a hundred times before. A stone-clad gas fireplace in the corner added to the ambiance. We settled into a half-booth, upholstered in a vintage floral straight out of an 80s hotel room.

Most importantly, we achieved our quest for the day and ate some damn clam cakes.

Kate had informed me well before our visit that I needed to eat a clam cake, and so, as we spent a day meandering in Providence, we stopped by two different places. Our timing was off and both were closed.

But no matter: Clam cakes and chowder were on the menu for dinner. I expected something like a hush puppy but instead, I was greeted with a light and fluffy interior, more like a funnel cake with little bits of clam throughout.

I’ve thought of those clam cakes from time to time in the months since our vacation. Because here in Maryland, there’s nothing quite like them. And because of the wisdom of bringing your out-of-town friends not to some novel foodie destination, but to your mainstay; take them to the place you go to all the time.

Clam Cakes and Chowder at the Governor Francis Inn

When Carolyn Wyman contacted me about her new book, “The Great Clam Cake and Fritter Guide: Why We Love Them, How to Make Them, and Where to Find Them from Maine to Virginia,” I couldn’t wait to get my hands on it for the recipes alone.

But the book is more than recipes. A history of clam cakes traces them back further than I’d have expected – well into the 1800s. And the pancake-like clam cakes of Maryland and Virginia make an appearance, with a sideline into Mrs. Kitching and Smith Island Cake. The little town of Saxis Virginia is represented, and the Chincoteague Firemen’s Carnival. Up and down the shore, people have found ways to stretch the flavor of clams into cakes and fritters.

Wyman’s book also includes a guide to clam cake and fritter destinations. Next time I find myself in Rhode Island, I have even more options to look into. One could even take a bike tour of clam cake establishments, with a stop for ice cream.

I interviewed Wyman about the book, and I made the classic clam cake recipe found in the book.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 … 65 66 67

Posts navigation