Eat Drink & Be Merry In Maryland Archives - Page 3 of 4

Cherry Bounce

June 18, 2015January 13, 2019

Old Maryland cookbooks such as “Eat, Drink & Be Merry in Maryland” tend to have a good amount of space dedicated to alcoholic beverages, whether their purpose is social, medicinal, or for further use in the kitchen.

Edwin Tunis Illustration, “Eat, Drink & Be Merry in Maryland”

For typical servants and housewives, brewing and alcoholic preserving was as essential a part of duties as canning and baking. For the more well-to-do and decadent, cocktails factor in as well (this blog may be the death of me come eggnog season.)

My friends’ backyard tree was brimming with rapidly ripening sour cherries and so we grabbed the nearest “bounce” recipe and got picking.

I had several options: Mrs. B.C. Howard alone has four recipes in “Fifty Years in a Maryland Kitchen.” Plus one for blackberry bounce (I wish I had that many blackberries.)

The Hammond-Harwood House cookbook “Maryland’s Way” has a recipe contributed by Sarah Perry Rodgers who says that “Miss Ridgley” of Baltimore used whiskey and Jamaica rum and that the Ridgley’s “were known for their bounce.”

Even the temperate Elizabeth Ellicott Lea has a recipe for “Cherry Cordial,” for medicinal use such as “female complaints.”

“The addition of ethyl alcohol rather than rum or rye, and the very large quantity of sugar all suggest this medical application. The social drink, made with rum in Maryland and rye in Pennsylvania, was infinitely easier to make and infinitely easier to drink than Lea’s concoction.” – William Woys Weaver, A Quaker Woman’s Cookbook: The Domestic Cookery of Elizabeth Ellicott Lea

I went with a recipe contributed by “Mrs. Wm. Courtland Hart” of Somerset County to “Eat, Drink and Be Merry in Maryland”

Beechwood in 1967, Maryland State Archives

It seems that Mrs. William Courtland Hart was Eliza Waters, of the well known Waters family, and an heir to the Beechwood estate in Somerset County, which she passed on to WIlliam Courtland Hart. The property eventually became the local American Legion.

Somerset County in Vintage Postcards By John E. Jacob, Jason Rhodes

Time and trends will tell us which of the many cordials, cocktails and wines will soon resurface on menus about town, but Cherry Bounce remains relatively known primarily due to its association with George Washington. Washington is known to have packed Cherry Bounce on a trip west in 1784.

“As the first first lady, Mrs. Washington served Cherry Bounce in the president’s house. Abigail Adams would write to her sister about “Mrs. W’s publick day” party on New Year’s Day, 1790: The two delicacies of the season were “a kind of cake in fashion upon this day call’d New Year’s Cooky. This & Cherry Bounce,” which were the customary treats of the holiday.” – The Wall Street Journal

Hot Martha Washington. who cares?

Martha Washington’s recipe involved using the cherry pits. Some recipes retain the cherry “meat” and then when you remove it later you can use them for other purposes. That may have been a nice frugal idea but we took the easiest path with Mrs. Hart’s recipe using the juice, heavily spiced with the usual suspects of the time, swapping nutmeg for mace. Other recipes bottle the mixture at later points but we bottled it immediately.

I forgot to photograph the brandy bottle but it was the finest middle-of-the-line.

We will crack open these bottles later this summer and figure out what the heck it can be used for. I’m guessing it will involve ice cream..

John Ridgely’s Shad Roe Croquettes

May 28, 2015January 13, 2019

Shad Roe season is over but I somehow forgot to post this one. As though you’re cooking along at home. Well if you are, you can make croquettes from basically anything, as my cookbooks frequently demonstrate. I had some leftover shad roe so I made these.

The recipe comes to EDBM care of “John Ridgely” of Hampton. Three generations of John Ridgely’s existed but my guess based on the time frame of “Eat, Drink and Be Merry in Maryland”, and the fact he is not named “Captain” in the book is that it was Captain John Ridgely’s son John Ridgely, Jr. (1882–1959).

John Ridgely, Jr. with wife, Jane Rodney Ridgely, and servant in 1948. Photo by A. Aubrey Bodine

This page gives a rundown of the familiar name of Ridgely in the area – note the transition to our concept of modernity between John Ridgely Jr’s two wives.

The main house at Hampton was completed in 1790 – at the time, the largest private home in the United States.

1950s postcard of Hampton mansion

In the 1800s it came to be one of Maryland’s largest slaveholding estates, with more than 300 enslaved people working the house and fields.

Hampton Slave Quarters, Discover Black Heritage

Much of this population was freed upon the death of Maryland governor Charles Carnan Ridgely, but his son John Carnan Ridgely is shown to have purchased many more during that time period. A case study by the Maryland Archives offers a possible glimpse into the life of enslaved people living at Hampton.

“It must have been a surreal experience for blacks moving into and out of slavery at Hampton, literally passing each other on the way to different futures.” – Ridgely Compound of Hampton Towson, Baltimore County, Maryland By Dr. David Taft Terry

The lavish and famous property became harder to maintain without slave labor after Maryland enacted Emancipation in 1864 and reduced in size and grandeur over time.

Between 1948 and 1979 the mansion changed hands, including Preservation Maryland, a few times as a historic site before coming under the care of the National Park Service. Hampton and its surrounding structures including slave quarters, dairy and dovecote are part of the historic site and tourist attraction.

Historical marker, burgersub.org

Shad roe croquettes appear in many cookbooks, especially in the late 1890s and early 1900s.

These instructions make them from scratch and suggest boiling the roe sacs. I’d say simmer them in about ½” of water and then flip.

I served them with a tartar sauce of sorts made from some pickled beets. Very tasty. If you are frying things and dipping them into some mayonnaise-based sauce and it is not delicious then you need to get it together.

Recipe:

shad roe, cooked
Salt to taste
1 Tablespoon butter
3 Tablespoon flour
.5 Pint cream
1 Teaspoon juice lemon
1 Tablespoon minced parsley
2 egg yolks
1 egg, beaten
1 Tablespoon boiling water
breadcrumbs
lard

Heat cream to boiling point in double boiler, cream butter and flour, add to cream. Add 2 eggs and stir until thickened. Remove from heat and add salt, add lemon juice, and parsley. Add drained shad roe. Chill mixture. When thorughly chilled mold into chops. Beat 1 whole egg, add 1 tablespoon of boiling water and mix thoroughly. Dip chop first into egg and and dip it into the bread crumbs, then fry in boiling lard or oil.

(tiny skillet)

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

Scrapple, a first attempt

April 21, 2015April 16, 2019

In 2007, my friend hosted a “gross food” party. Everyone was requested to bring something from their childhood, a family favorite perhaps, something that might strike outsiders as a little gross.
Ketchup Fried Rice was enjoyed. There was Ribs & Kraut. Some bozo who didn’t catch the net brought Popeyes. I took the opportunity to slice up a block of RAPA Scrapple, cook it to ideal crispness on each side, and then fold each slice in a piece of un-toasted white bread.

It was in this manner that scrapple was served at my grandparents’ trailer in Chincoteague, to a line of kids and about half as many adults before the tedious ritual of beach preparations or fishing trips.

Scrapple, Lexington Market

I checked with my grandmother and she says that she remembers eating scrapple her whole life. She also remembers ‘Panhas’ as a distinct but similar food from scrapple with a higher cornmeal content, whereas William Woys Weaver’s wonderful book “Country Scrapple” gives the impression that they are in fact the same thing.

My grandmother also stated that she believed scrapple originated in the South. This is a common misconception but scrapple is a Pennsylvania, Delaware and Maryland thing – with possible Native American and definite German origins, as well as regional adaptations and variations such as the Cincinnati specialty “Goetta,” featuring oats in lieu of cornmeal. Early recipes often featured buckwheat flour, and the selection of organs and meats used seems to vary to this day.

According to Weaver, the oldest datable recipe for American scrapple comes from Elizabeth Ellicott Lea, a Marylander (as the name makes clear) and Quaker who published her cookbook “Domestic Cookery” in 1845.
It is also stated that “the oldest scrapple maker still in business is Hemp’s in Jefferson Maryland,” founded in 1849.
Before that time, scrapple was made at home, often outdoors and in conjunction with sausage making.

“One [industrial era scrapple manufacturer] company does merit a mention, as it is a reminder that Baltimore is as much a scrapple town as Philadelphia. (Mencken disagrees – ed.) Henry Green Parks Jr. (1917-89), an African-American. began Parks Sausage Company in Baltimore in 1951. He converted an old dairy plant and soon put himself in open competition with firms like Rapa, which was essentially a Baltimore label. “More Parks sausages, Mom,” on radio advertisements is still remembered by many people today. The well-known Parks scrapple was the only Afircan-American brand to become a household word on a regional level.“ – Country Scrapple, William Woys Weaver

Parks went under and was bought by Dietz & Watson in 1999.

Source: Observer-Reporter, 1996

I’ve long held a defensiveness over the bad rep that Scrapple gets due to its name, and in the past I’ve jumped on the opportunity to serve it right. This however was my first time making it from scratch.

I started with a recipe for Scrapple from Mrs. J Morsell Roberts from “Eat, Drink & Be Merry in Maryland” but I also referenced a recipe from “Maryland’s Way,” the Hammond-Harwood House cookbook, and one from ”Chesapeake Bay Cooking“ by John Shields. His book is an excellent cookbook in itself but a valuable cross-reference for some of these minimal old recipes.

It’s lucky for us that Scrapple is so visually appealing because I haven’t found any good images for Mrs. or Mr. J Morsell Roberts.

The extent of my information is this:

Mr. J. Morsell Roberts died [1937 at] Calvert County Hospital.
Mr. Roberts was a member of an old Calvert county family, a son of the late Richard Roberts and Henrietta Morsell Roberts, and was very well known…. He was the husband of Mrs. Mollie Bond Roberts. – Calvert Gazette on mdhistory.net

I picked up a jowl at Lexington Market but I had to get the liver from a butcher shop. Perhaps I could have just gotten both at the latter and worked without the smoky jowl. I rinsed it, and the smoke flavor isn’t bad or overwhelming but it isn’t necessary.

Hog parts, Lexington Market

I also made my scrapple quite fatty. This was my first hog jowl experience. They are all fat. Weaver claims that the amount of fat included in scrapple increased over time due to various cultural factors. Mine may have taken it to new extremes. His book contains many recipes for scrapple. I intend to try some more this summer.
Lastly, my scrapple was a bit mushy. In a way, the mushiness ensured that it must be cooked properly, as it was impossible to flip until it had been well-crisped on one side.

There could be more to explore with scrapple in the future. Frankly, before reading Weavers book I had underestimated its very Maryland-ness. Any remnant of shame over this repulsive delight is purged from within me.

Recipe:

1 hog jowl
1 pork liver
salt
pepper, black
sage and/or other seasonings of choice
cornmeal
flour

Boil the jowl until the meat falls from the bone. (I did this in the slow cooker and added some onions I had to add flavor to the stock. Removed the onions later.) Save liquor it is boiled in. In a separate dish, soak the liver, changing water several times. Boil liver in separate water from jowl; throw this water away. Run all the meat through sausage cutter, then throw it in the reserved stock, season with salt, pepper, sage or other desired seasonings. Thicken with cornmeal the consistency of thin mush. Chill in a pan. To fry, heat a skillet with a very small amount of oil. Dredge slices in flour and fry until very crisp, turning once.

(Recipe Adapted from Eat, Drink and Be Merry in Maryland, Maryland’s Way, and Chesapeake Cooking with John Shields)

Pudding of Split Rusks w/ Wine Sauce

April 13, 2015January 3, 2023

“Eat, Drink and Be Merry in Maryland” again. This bread pudding comes care of Mrs. William D. Poultney.

According to the Maryland Historical Society:

“The Poultney family were descendants of Ellen North, said to be the first Anglo-American child born in the area that is now Baltimore. Thomas Poultney, Sr. (1826-1887) was a writer under the name Rabbi Ben Tomi. He married Susan Carroll, daughter of Charles Carroll, and their children included Evan, Thomas Jr., and C. Carroll Poultney. Evan Poultney (d. 1940, age 86) was a founder and the first president of the old Baltimore Club, with an avid interest in amateur theatrics. While attending Harvard University (from which he graduated in 1875), he was a member of the Hasty Pudding Club, and in Baltimore he supported the Paint and Powder Club.”

I had no idea what the Hasty Pudding Club was but apparently there WAS actual pudding involved. I’m not sure where William Poultney fits into that family but I’m sure that the love of pudding is in their blood.

Mr. Charles Parkhurst, director of the Baltimore Museum of art, chats with Mrs. William D. Poultney, a lender, and Mr. William C. Whitridge, a trustee of the museum, at preview of Maryland furniture of Queen Anne and Chippendale periods. (ebay)

Bread pudding comes in many forms in my household due to the leftover stale baguette segments or other bread leftover from sandwiches. Sweet bread pudding is more rare.
For this pudding I purchased some “rusks” at Punjab. I’ve always seen them there and wondered “what is the deal with ‘rusks’?” Well here is everything you want to know about rusks but didn’t care enough to ask:
Rusks are a twice-baked bread or biscuits. Popular in India for dipping into tea. Rusks are not biscotti but biscotti are maybe rusks? Okay that’s enough.
I wasn’t sure quite how to follow this recipe. Should the whites be mixed in before pouring over the rusks? I don’t know. It turned out okay. I added additional lemon peel on the top which was kind of moronic because it browned in the oven and looked like little dirt pellets.

Pudding will come back to haunt Old Line Plate many times, especially when I undertake some campfire cooking. Pudding is an early American staple and longtime favorite of famously English origin.

For the wine sauce I cross-referenced my Southern Heritage cookbook library as well as a different recipe in EDBMiM and whipped something together. There is never any reason why I would have some extra red wine around my household. However, I was visiting a friend who was trying out this weird non-alcholic red wine recently. No one really liked it so I took it home knowing I would find some use for it in the kitchen. Voila.
The pudding was kind of dry so I kept pouring more milk on it whenever I’d heat up a serving.

Pudding of Split Rusks:

16 rusks
.25 Lb butter
.25 Lb almonds
6 eggs
sugar
lemon peel

Pour some boiling milk over sixteen split rusks, then add a quarter pound of butter, a quarter pound of almonds, six eggs, sugar and lemon peel, and lastly add the whites of the eggs beaten to a froth. Bake and serve it up with a wine sauce.

Wine sauce:

“One-quarter pound butter, six large tablespoonsful of brown sugar, one egg, one glass wine (or more). Beat butter and sugar to a cream, add egg and beat until light, put in wine gradually. Cook until thick and nearly boiling.Stir constantly.”

Crab Flake Maryland, Charles Bitterli, Hotel Emerson

March 22, 2015January 13, 2019

I had some illustrious company and wanted to serve a classy meal. Where better to take cues from than the illustrious Hotel Emerson.

Hotel Emerson by Aubrey Bodine @ MD Historical Society

The hotel was the brainchild of Capt. Isaac Emerson, the man behind Bromo-Seltzer and its parent company, the Emerson Drug Co…the 220-foot-high, 17-story building at the corner of Baltimore and Calvert streets.. opened its doors a quick 20 months later….

And long before the current fashion for local ingredients, the Chesapeake Room offered a traditional Maryland-themed menu made from products raised on Capt. Emerson’s Green Spring Valley estate, Brooklandwood (now the home of St. Paul School for Boys). The hotel’s milk and cream came from Brooklandwood’s herd of Guernsey and Jersey cows, and the estate also produced chicken and eggs, as well as lettuces, tomatoes and other vegetables. The hotel even bottled its own water from a spring near Brooklandwood. – Mary Zajac

Please read the article for more on how the Emerson’s history is both illustrious and horrific.

In its later years, the Emerson was known for its “Hawaiian Room,” a seemingly immersive tiki bar. A lot of ephemera has been collected on this facebook page.

Drink menu from the Emerson’s Hawaiian Room.

Because our city’s self-loathing dates back further than I care to think about, the building was razed in 1971. There is a great web 1.0 site showing many of our lost hotels, as well as some still standing, at kilduffs.com.

This recipe was provided to Eat, Drink & Be Merry in Maryland by “Chef de Cuisine” Charles Bitterli. According to a trade publication called “The Alarm Clock”:

Mr Charles Bitterli the chef of The Emerson Hotel Baltimore Maryland was born in Switzerland. The years since 1904 have been a steady advance in his chosen profession. The first five years were spent in Swiss hotels and famous eating houses one year was spent in Paris at the Regina Hotel. ln order to gain the experience necessary for the goal in view Mr Bitterli was associated with the Amstel Hotel, Amsterdam; Royal Pavilion, Folkstone, England; Hotel dos Estrangeiros Rio de Janiero and The Exhibition Restaurant in Berne.

Mr. Bitterli arrived in New York City in 1915 and began his duties at the Hotel Astor. Some of the other well known houses with which he was later affiliated were Sherman Hotel, Chicago; Adolphus Hotel, Dallas, Texas; Hammel’s Restaurant, Miller’s Cafeteria, Motor Square Hotel and Chamber of Commerce all in Pittsburgh. Chef Bitterli shouldered his new responsibilities at the Emerson Hotel in September of this year and is well liked not only for the good food that leaves his department but also for his optimism and his sense of humor.

Bitterli in “The Alarm Clock,” “published monthly in the interests of the staff of Horwath and Horwath”

Searching google and facebook turns up possible relatives of Bitterli but I was unable to successfully contact anyone for more information.

This recipe from Bitterli appears on a New York Post page alongside diet and health tips from celebrities such as Dorthea Dix.

Crab being woefully out of season, I used this pricey and possibly shady meat from Garland Fulcher Seafood of North Carolina. I picked many shell bits from it. Not a huge deal but all in all the price, unfamiliar source and quality should serve as a cautionary tale to mind the seasons.

I made the mistake of using salted butter AND using the generous recommended quantity of a half ounce of salt so of course that was a disservice to the crab meat I’d paid so dearly for.

This method of serving something in a cream sauce, often in a chafing dish, was very common of hotels and railroads at the time and it of course always turns out a tasty salty creamy indulgence, apparently to the delight of travelers. I served it over asparagus on a crepe to our guests. Much water was consumed. I used the leftovers to make a less-salty cream of crab soup later.

1 Lb lump crab flake
1 Pint milk, scalded
.5 Pint cream
.25 Lb unsalted butter
.25 oz salt
1 pinch cayenne pepper
1 glass sherry
2 Tablespoons flour
toast

Melt half the butter in saucepan, add the flour and make the cream sauce with the heated milk, set aside to keep it hot. Heat the rest of the butter in a saucepan, add the crab meat and fry a little, trying not to break up the lumps. Add salt, pepper, cream sauce and cream. Let boil for two of three minutes, then add the sherry and mix well. Make sure that it doesn’t boil. Serve very hot in chafing dish with toast.