Eat Drink & Be Merry In Maryland Archives - Page 2 of 4

Mayor Preston’s Pone

November 15, 2015January 13, 2019

With the citizens of Baltimore eager to look forward, the 2016 mayoral election is already an issue that has been generating a lot of interest. That’s as much as I will say on that topic which I am opportunistically using to segue into yet another excuse to bake cornbread.

This corn pone recipe was contributed to “Eat, Drink and Be Merry in Maryland” by James H. Preston, who had served out his two terms as Mayor of Baltimore by the time of that book’s publication. Preston served from 1911-1919, which was an important time for Baltimore in terms of adapting to widespread automobile usage and other urban updates.

“As mayor, Preston established many elements of Baltimore city’s modern infrastructure: the completion of the sewerage and water systems, paving many roads and building others, providing the impetus for the formation of the Baltimore Symphony, and the establishment of a city flag.” – Maryland Historical Society

Preston may be most famous for the formation of a terraced park on a downtown strip of St. Paul street that is now known as “Preston Gardens.” Accounts differ as to the intentions for building this park. According to some, Mayor Preston was a visionary who “felt communities needed ‘a place to congregate, reflect and admire beauty.’” Other accounts describe the park plan as a way to remove a black community under the pretext of it being a ‘slum’ in order to promote segregation downtown.

“…the first clearance of a slum area was completed in 1919 and was followed by James H. Preston’s planned widening of St. Paul Street and the construction of a park (known to proponents as Preston Gardens and to detractors as Preston’s Folly.) This first iteration of slum reclamation set a pattern in which the promise of increased tax revenue motivated site selection more than did housing provision or public health.” – Infectious Fear: Politics, Disease, and the Health Effects of Segregation By Samuel Roberts

At least some of that might sound eerily familiar to informed Baltimoreans of the modern era.

1926 Postcard of Preston Gardens showing parking lot in foreground

Preston was certainly no visionary when it came to race, as this 1911 clip from the Afro-American demonstrates:

The St. Paul Street park lives on and remains beloved by many, even after alternating eras of neglect and restoration. Preston also oversaw the covering of part of the Jones Falls downtown to create the Fallsway. This drastic transformation is often credited as an advance in public health, concealing the filthy water and putting an end to the expensive, deadly floods that the falls occasionally experienced.

Another interesting event I found during Preston’s term was the 1914 “Star-Spangled Banner Centennial.” Five years later, a “Report of the City Officers and Departments“ documents praise for Mayor James H. Preston for devoting his “time and ability” for the planning of the celebration which “reflected the greatest credit upon the people of Baltimore and.. also brought our City of Baltimore to the attention of the world in a way most gratifying to all Baltimoreans…” In light of the continuing pride that Baltimore takes in all things “Star Spangled,” this event has had a lasting legacy.

History rarely leaves us with heroes or visionaries, and frankly neither do elections. The best we can ever seem to do is inch forward and perhaps reflect backwards.

Recipe:

3 Cups cornmeal
1 scant Teaspoon baking soda
3 eggs
1 teaspoon of sugar
1 Cup lard, melted
2 Cups buttermilk

Sift together corn meal and soda. Beat eggs and sugar together, add buttermilk and meal. Lastly, stir in the lard. Pour into hot skillet. Bake at 425 for fifteen to twenty minutes.

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

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

“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

findagrave.com

Currant Jelly

July 30, 2015January 13, 2019

When I saw all the bountiful berry offerings from Reid’s Orchard at the Waverly Farmers Market, I had to take action.

Nearly all of my Maryland cookbooks contain recipes for currant jelly. It was popular with meats, especially game such as venison. It is also a frequent ingredient in more complicated sauces containing onions and such.
Being a fan of a little sweet-tartness on sandwiches, I figured I will have a use for this.
Mrs. B.C. Howard includes three different recipes for currant jelly in “50 Year in a Maryland Kitchen.” One recipe promises to yield a result that is beautifully clear and “will keep perfectly.” I have no-one to impress so I was a little more haphazard.
I sense that the clearest of clear currant jellies was a bit of a status symbol to impress guests.

Another currant jelly recipe was contributed to EDBMiM by “Mrs. Clarence J. Roberts née Miss Frances Fairfax.”
My research suggests that this is a typo and the husband is Clarence M. Roberts, a politician from Prince Georges County. Frances’ father was either the 11th or 12th “Lord Fairfax of Cameron,” whatever the heck that actually means.
The Fairfax family’s Bowie plantation, Northhampton, is now an archeological site in the middle of suburban development.
I also referenced a recipe from Elizabeth Ellicott Lea (more on her at a later date.)
These books promise many further uses for the jelly, from a jelly-roll cake, meat-sauces or inclusion in an sweet boozy punch.

Recipe:

currants
sugar
water

The currants should be picked from the bushes during dry weather. Place the currants in a pot and crush lightly. Place over heat with a small quantity of water to keep from burning. As soon as they are cooked soft, strain through fine cheesecloth or a sieve until all the juice is extracted, then strain it slowly through a finer cloth to remove all impurities and pulp. Measure the juice and put it in a clean pot with an equal weight of sugar. Let boil for five minutes, stirring until the sugar is dissolved. Can immediately in sterilized jar(s).

Recipe adapted from “Eat, Drink & Be Merry in Maryland” and “A Quaker Woman’s Cookbook”

“Green Corn” in Imitation of Fried Oysters

July 23, 2015April 8, 2019

As a wise person once said:

“Green corn, we believe, is essentially a Maryland herb, for here only is it found in full perfection. Go south but a hundred leagues, and the best hotels will serve you corn that leaves a lingering feeling of imitation and inauthenticity. It is, as it were, a bit lousy. Go north, the same distance and you will find the green corn flabby and watery. Go west and it will disgust you utterly. In Maryland alone does it reach the flawless heights.” – Baltimore Sun, 1909 (via The Spokesman-Review)*

Green corn in this case probably means young corn. I wasn’t completely able to work that one out. However, there are many references to and recipes for “green corn” in old newspapers and cookbooks.
Most of them are positive but there is also this: During the “Maryland Campaign,” Confederate General Robert E. Lee’s first invasion of the North, many of his soldiers, after eating “green corn,” allegedly became ill with diarrhea en route to the bloody Battle of Antietam.
So like, green corn won the Civil War?

I came across this fritter recipe in a few places – first was “Eat, Drink & Be Merry in Maryland” as “Green Corn in Imitation of Fried Oysters” c/o Miss Rebecca Hollingsworth French of Washington County. They appear in “Maryland’s Way” as “Artificial Oysters” from “Aunt Ery.” I also came across them in a strange Baltimore Sun page in 1837:

Baltimore Sun Archives, September 23, 1837

I don’t know if the nubile young corn we got from One Straw Farm could qualify as this mystical “green corn” but I went for it anyway.
So the question now is.. did the result taste like oysters? Frankly, I didn’t get that. But they did make nice little sandwiches and snacks. You could really go any way with these.. part of a vegetarian meal, or in my case, make a sandwich, adding a little anchovy sauce to the bread for some umami of the sea. Still cheaper than real oysters, after all.
I guess the other question is.. did we feel any, uh…. less ready to face our foes in the battlefield? Thankfully, no. We survived with innards un-afflicted.