interviews Archives - Page 2 of 3

Interview: Kathy Wielech Patterson (co-author, ”Maryland’s Chesapeake”)

January 23, 2017January 14, 2019

Maryland having a bit of an upswing of interest in reflection on our local cuisine. If my cookbook collection is any indication, this tends to come in waves. At the turn of the 20th century, there was a general sentiment that Maryland food was high quality, and cookbooks banked on this reputation. Then came the wave of gas company and community cookbooks full of recipes that attempted to update the classics for modern cooking technology and budgets. The last wave was in the 90s, when, for whatever reason, an increased interest in ‘crab culture’ brought on a new series of Maryland seafood cookbooks.

This time around, people are turning a critical eye towards their own consumption and our relationship with the environment, and some of the human cost of harvesting and preparing the literal and figurative fruits of the region.

When I saw this new book, “Maryland’s Chesapeake: How the Bay and Its Bounty Shaped a Cuisine” by Kathy Wielech Patterson and Neal Patterson, I knew I had to get a copy but I wasn’t sure what to expect. More opinions on how to fry a soft-shell? Oyster wars recap? That same recipe for Smith Island cake?

The Pattersons have built a reputation on documenting highlights of Baltimore’s dining scene in local media, on their blog and in a number of books. “Baltimore Chef’s Table” is in itself a historical document, the kind of book that will preserve a moment in time for another generation of curious cooks. “Food Lovers’ Guide to Baltimore” is more of a compendium of information on restaurants, shops, and farmers’ markets, with some recipes thrown in for good measure.

In addition to enthusiasm about the growing number of dining options around the city, they also share an appreciation for the history and also the present and future systems that keep Baltimore’s culinary scene going. And that is what “Maryland’s Chesapeake” is about.

The Dundalk Eagle describes “Maryland’s Chesapeake” as “part history, part science book and part cookbook.” The book begins with a rough history for the uninitiated, but continues on with background about things like our tragic past of tobacco-farming and slavery, the decline and fall of Maryland’s strawberry industry, and the invasion of the Snakehead fish. Some of Jay Fleming’s beautiful photography is scattered throughout for good measure.

Jay Fleming

And there are of course recipes – not just for Smith Island Cake and pan-fried chicken but also some adventurous updates. Baltimore pastry chef Bettina Perry creates a new spin on the state cake; soft crab is given a chili-lime butter treatment care of Chef Mike Random of the B & O Brasserie.

“Maryland’s Chesapeake” may not be quite a cookbook, but it is an ideal book for those of us who read them.

How did you go about selecting which chefs to feature – and get them to share their recipes?

Our second book, Baltimore Chef’s Table, included recipes from 50+ local chefs, so we had made a lot of friends prior to starting Maryland’s Chesapeake and knew who would be the best collaborators. As soon as we knew we were going to write this book, I emailed Chad Wells and told him about it. I knew he’d be the best person to talk to about invasive species and fishing in general. It also helped that he was at Alewife at the time, located just two blocks from where I work at UMB, so I could pop down there at lunchtime and chat with him in person. Annmarie Langton from Gypsy Queen was also pulled into the project pretty early, as was Winston Blick from Clementine. Other chefs became involved when we realized they cooked amazing dishes using the requisite ingredients. For example, after we tasted certain of Zack Mills’ dishes at Wit & Wisdom, we knew we had to have them. And he’s such a great guy, he even let us use his photos. We needed a pastry chef to work on a modernized Smith Island cake and Bettina Perry was so willing and did an amazing job. Then there’s Scott Hines, who recently became the Executive Chef at B&O American Brasserie (such a well-deserved promotion and he’s doing some amazing stuff there). I needed four more recipes for various things and hoped he could give me one or two. He tackled them all. We’re pretty happy with the recipes in the book.

Smoked Oysters with Old Bay Seasoning Butter, Chef Zack Mills (Wit & Wisdom)

As someone who is an experienced cook who also is out on the dining scene frequently, can you talk about what the appeal is to go out when you can cook great meals at home (besides no dishes!)

No dishes is definitely a perk to going out to eat! But even though Neal and I are both pretty good cooks, and I’m always fiddling with new recipe ideas, sometimes it’s just nice not to have to think about it. Everybody likes to have someone else take care of them, even if it’s just for a couple of hours. And Baltimore’s restaurant scene has grown by leaps and bounds recently. A dozen years ago I wouldn’t have imagined places like Ekiben and R House and the re-imagined Belvedere Square Market with its smoked fish and ramen joints. Baltimore has always been a couple of years behind when it comes to food trends, but now it seems we’ve caught up. And so much of it is stuff we can’t make at home as easily, like good pizza or sushi or arepas. I mean, we *could* make them, but someone else is going to do those so much better, so why even try?

One of the most interesting discoveries for me was the Stream ReLeaf project for reforesting the banks of Chesapeake tributaries with Black Walnut trees- how did you come across that?

Google! Sometimes doing research on one topic leads down a rabbit hole of amazing discoveries. We found out a lot of information that way. The Internet is a great resource.

Another strong message in the book is the incorporation of invasive species into our food culture – things like snakehead fish. Was that an aspect of Maryland food you were already pretty familiar with or did you learn about it as a part of book research?

As I mentioned before, we were already friends with Chad Wells, who is a sworn enemy of invasive species, particularly snakehead and blue catfish. He had orchestrated an all-snakehead dinner at Alewife a few years ago and though Neal and I didn’t attend, we had heard all about it. He suggested we attend the Potomac Snakehead Tournament last year, which gave us a closer look at the uglies. It was astonishing how many pounds were caught in a relatively small stretch of the river and really drove home the fact that there were more and more of them out there, constantly multiplying. If we don’t eat them into local extinction, our native species don’t stand much of a chance.

Was there anything that *you* learned that was surprising to you?

Crab aquaculture was the big surprise for us. We knew about farmed fish and oysters, which seemed almost easy. But crabs are travelers, moving up and down the vast length of the Bay to live and spawn. They way Dr Zohar and his team worked out how to fool the crabs into thinking they were traveling was pretty damn ingenious.

Jay Fleming

Your research included everything from Miss M.L. Tyson to John Shields – do you have a personal favorite Maryland cookbook?

Personally, I don’t have any favorite cookbooks. We own tons of them, but I mostly use them for inspiration. I read them from cover to cover, absorbing ideas and techniques, and then I cook. Rarely do I follow a recipe to the letter, and then only because it’s science-y, like baking. Once I understand how to make something, I can make it without using a reference, and I think this is the way most people used to cook. If you look at some of those old cookbooks, there are recipes that have a list of ingredients but the method is very vague. Home cooks then already knew what to do, because they cooked every day from scratch. Now we have convenience food and microwaves and so many restaurants and we’ve lost (or never developed) a cooking “muscle memory.” So while I can go into the kitchen and rustle up a crab soup off the top of my head, for this book we needed some classic tried-and-true recipes. And like everything else in the book, that required research, which required acquiring cookbooks. And when one cookbook didn’t seem definitive enough, we had to buy another, and another.

Do you have a favorite place to get Maryland tomatoes?

My favorite place for Maryland tomatoes is our backyard. We have been growing 6-8 varieties of heirloom tomatoes for the past few years. It’s great to walk outside and pick what we need. We live just outside the city, and apart from the various farmers’ markets, there’s no real source for good tomatoes in the area. We used to be able to get decent ones from the Arabbers carts when I lived in Fells Point in the 70s, but they probably get theirs from Sysco now.

What are the main ‘takeaways’ that you hope that the book adds to the ongoing (beginningless, endless) Chesapeake food conversation?

I would hope that readers would understand that we’re all in this together. That the problems the Bay is facing aren’t just abstractions, and that we can’t just go on blithely eating crabs forever and not worry about it. Seemingly small things, like not putting chemicals on their lawns and picking up after their dogs, are helpful. Making donations to organizations like the Chesapeake Bay Foundation and the Oyster Recovery Partnership so they can further their great work is also a valuable way to participate in helping the Bay recover.

“Maryland’s Chesapeake: How the Bay and Its Bounty Shaped a Cuisine” at the Ivy Bookshop

Bacon & Oyster Pie recipe from Chef Adam Snyder (recipe coming later this week…)

Interview: Jay Fleming

May 4, 2016January 13, 2019

Marylanders love our watermen. They bring us crabs, after all. But for the most part our images of these people have crystallized into an idealized amalgam created from 50-year old photographs, crab-shack signs and stereotypes. The photography of Jay Fleming has been a welcome vehicle to update those images and to ponder the life and labor that goes into putting crab-cakes (and more) onto Maryland tables. If you’re on Facebook you may have seen his frequently-shared photos, capturing moments of the workdays on the water and in the picking-plants, as well as under the sea (or bay as the case may be).

As a wannabe-historian I’m grateful for a window into this part of the food system and the economy of our state (among others).

This body of work is slated for publication this fall in Fleming’s first book “Working the Water.” Coming soon to a coffee table near you. I asked Jay a few questions, thereby creating the opportunity to put some good photography on this blog, for once.

‘Hunting for ducks and geese in the marshes of Dorchester County’

Growing up in Annapolis with a parent working for DNR, Fleming got engaged from an early age with the outdoors through hiking, fishing, and sailing. “Photography gave me a purpose,” he says, “for seeing different parts of the bay and exploring and documenting and sharing that with other people.”

‘A egg bearing female crab crawls across a oyster bar in the shallows near Cape Charles, Virginia’

In 2013, after building an impressive portfolio of commercial and wildlife photography, he focused close-to-home on a project documenting the journey of Chesapeake Bay seafood from the depths of the bay to the processing plants.

“The book is a photographic documentary of the Chesapeake seafood industry and show[s] all the different fisheries that exist on the Chesapeake Bay, the processing of seafood, and the people who are involved in it as well as the natural environment. I’m trying to create an all-encompassing vignette of the seafood industry.”

‘Oyster shucking at a seafood packing house on Virginia’s Northern Neck’

Fleming’s balance of art and documentation recalls the beloved work of Aubrey Bodine and other Sun photographers of the past. But the world shown in Fleming’s photos has changed quite a bit since those analog black-and-white images.

“Documentation of the seafood industry hasn’t been done for a long time and those older pictures inspired me because I’m born and raised in Annapolis, which used to be a huge port for seafood, there used to be quite a few picking houses, oyster shucking houses, and skipjacks used to tie up in Annapolis and now none of that exists and there’s only a handful of watermen that live here.”

‘Working the shorelines of coves and creeks in the Choptank River for oysters ‘

Before embarking on the project, Fleming, like many Marylanders, had misconceptions about what is and isn’t changing in the industry. “If you look at those pictures from the 60’s and 70’s, even the 80’s, you would think that the seafood industry was completely gone. I had a notion that there were very few watermen left on the Chesapeake Bay but I learned that it is still very vibrant and active. In some areas it is the main source of income for a lot of people. Going to the Eastern Shore and seeing these places like Tangier [Island] which are truly working communities you get a sense that [the industry] is alive and… somewhat well.”

Which is to say it’s not an easy life. “For the watermen and people in the packing houses, their way of life is dependent on natural resources and the environment. That stuff is out of anybody’s control. It’s a way of life that’s a lot different than most people are used to.”

In addition to the ever-fluctuating crab populations, watermen have to contend with regulations, which, while aimed at long-term preservation of their industry and the resources it depends on, may sometimes leave career fishermen feeling like they’re subject to extra scrutiny.

Despite this, after some hesitations from wary watermen, he has been welcomed into their workplace. “Ultimately people understood that I was not trying to portray the industry in a negative light and that I was interested in what they were doing, and I’m hoping that my photographs can help people understand local seafood.”

Diamondback terrapin in eel grass

Fleming’s background in wildlife photography shines in photos that offer viewers a rare glimpse into the murky grasses of the bay. We get an up close view of crab neighborhood and grassy boudoir. “Most of my underwater photography on the bay is done between mid-April and the end of May. Once the water tops 65 degrees, algae will start to bloom and reduce water clarity.”

This is not to say the collection doesn’t include photos of the dazzling sunsets over the bay, handsome ships, and bucolic fishing communities.

‘Annapolis crab potter, Brian Walton, picks up crab pots at Hacketts Point near the Chesapeake Bay Bridge.’

“I love so much stuff on the water like these coastal towns like Crisfield and Solomon’s Island. They have so much history involved. The Chesapeake has a lot of shoreline, all these little towns are very different and very unique and all the people are different.”

His favorite Maryland dish? “Soft crabs. I love fried soft crabs.”

“Part of the fun for me is [that] i go to these places and I get to bring back soft crabs, or rockfish, oysters… One of my goals is to help people make that connection with their food and who’s handling it. A lot of people are really disconnected from their food. I enjoy knowing where my food comes from and making that connection. It makes it more meaningful.”

‘A Yellow Lab poses on the stern of a Tilghman Island crab potting boat’

All photos Jay Fleming, http://www.jayflemingphotography.com/

Interview: Mark Warner, “Eating in the Side Room”

March 30, 2016July 15, 2020

I fully admit to being most titillated by weird tales of spite houses and diarrhea from green corn, but in between those cheap thrills I do attempt to do some actual learning.

Recently at the Eddie and Sylvia Brown African American Collection at the Pratt Library I came across a book called “Eating in the Side Room” by archeologist and anthropologist Mark Warner.

“The story of how the house lived in by the Maynard and Burgess families came to be excavated and ultimately preserved by the city of Annapolis is inextricably linked to the ongoing relationship between black and white communities in present-day Annapolis. It is a story that starts with some nails and really old graffiti and continues to this day with debates about whose pasts deserve to be preserved.” – (Mark Warner, ‘Eating in the Side Room’)

Not too far off State Circle in Annapolis, several generations of two African American families made their home on Duke of Gloucester Street alongside a few of the other most affluent black citizens of the town. Working as waiters, washerwomen, and cooks at the nearby Naval Academy, these families built lives and navigated their way through a culture of oppression and second-class citizenship.

They also, like all people, left behind clues about how they lived and what they ate, bit by bit as garbage was discarded into a privy and scattered about the yard.

Archaeology in Annapolis

John Maynard was born free around 1800. In the 1830s with his newly-minted freedom papers in hand, he worked to purchase his own wife and her daughter from slavery. In 1847 for just slightly less than the cost of their freedom, he purchased two lots in Annapolis. The property he built became their home and the home of their decendents, plus a network of in-laws, relatives and boarders from the 1850s to the 1980s.

What was left behind provided insight into the lives of some of the less famous citizens of one of Maryland’s most historic cities.

This book was most interesting to me in that it revealed some archeological methods, and illuminated the ways in which archaeology and food history intersect. The science of archeology became apparent once I got to “epiphyseal fusion” and a chart summarizing “faunal data.”

The past, revealed by trash discarded into a privy a century ago, luckily for excavators, did not contain an “identifiable quantity of human waste.”

Maynard Burgess House “before renovations” Halpern Architects

Excavated bones reveal the types and cuts of meat consumed by the families & the ways in which the meat was obtained – commercial butchering versus wild-caught or home-butchered. For example, the presence of chicken heads in comparison to other body parts may reveal that chickens were raised and not store-bought. From the bone of a turkey, it is apparent that the bird had a bacterial infection and was nursed back to health rather than summarily slaughtered. Remnants of shot indicate hunting.

“Fishing and raising chickens ultimately provided black families with added social and economic benefit. Foods that African Americans were able to procure or grow on their own… helped family members form bonds with their neighbors, assist relatives and friends.. [and] shielded them, to some extent, from the challenges they faced when confronting white society.”
– (Mark Warner, ‘Eating in the Side Room’)

In bottles found on the site, archeologists noted a preference for national brands, as opposed to bottles labeled by local merchants.

“In purchasing national brands that were sealed by the manufacturer, the Maynards and other blacks in the region were shielding themselves from local white merchants misrepresenting the medicines they were dispensing or the age of the milk they were selling or the strength of the alcohol”
– (Mark Warner, ‘Eating in the Side Room’)

Shopping for food in a society where they weren’t afforded the same respect and trust that white neighbors enjoyed exposed them not only to potential humiliation but to fraud.

Antique bottles, Etsy sale

In in “Eating in the Side Room,” much is made of the Maynard/Burgess families’ apparent preference for pork. During eras where the white middle class was aspiring to eat more beef, families like the Maynards may have continued to enjoy pork along with the tradition and social ties of that food.

The book also references some local oral history interviews. Black Annapolis resident Margaret Green recalls raising chickens and rabbits, growing kale and carrots, canning tomatoes and baking black walnut cookies. While these individual stories can never fully speak to every experience, they have been influenced by and then folded back in the greater narrative of Maryland food culture over time.

Anyway, this entry isn’t just a book report.. it also happens to be an interview. I reached out to Mark S. Warner in what proved to be an interesting interview that disproved many of my misconceptions…

1) What led you to working in Archaeology in Annapolis? You live in Idaho but now are forever connected with these Annapolis families…

My relationship with Archaeology in Annapolis predates my time in Idaho. I actually was living in Washington DC when I decided to go to school to see how serious I was about anthropology. University of Maryland accepted me and it was pure serendipity a faculty member there, Mark Leone had already built the Archaeology in Annapolis project. I just happened to be there when there was a concerted effort to begin to understand the histories of African American Annapolitans through archaeology.

2) Is it possible to give a quick overview for a layman on archaeology methods used at a site like this, for history of that era? A lot of people may not be aware that work of this nature is still being done, or that there is anything to uncover.

In many ways an archaeological excavation is quite similar regardless of whether you are working on a site that is 100 years old or 10,000 years old. We are trying to recover past histories through the things that people leave behind, either intentionally or unintentionally. Talking about historical archaeology in particular, a quick definition is that is it is the archaeology of the recent past. As for why you would excavate a place where people lived so recently I would make two points. First, the trash anybody leaves behind tells a story about people’s lives that is almost certainly one that would not be recorded in their diary or anywhere else. What someone ate, for instance is a routine part of daily life – but because it is so routine it is often forgotten. My second point is this. In the case of the Maynard and Burgess families, there are almost no records of their lives, other than their names in the census and some notes in newspapers, their lives are almost forgotten, but what we happened to find through archaeology tells us a great deal about how they lived 150 years ago.

Maynard Burgess House, Maryland Historical Trust

3) It seems that a lot of the material studied relies on methods used for trash disposal at that time. Can you comment on that? Are we losing links to the path by the way we live and dispose of our garbage and human waste?

Nope, humans have always been pretty messy. However, how we get rid of our trash has changed. In many (but not all) locales folks have their trash hauled off to a landfill. Those things are going to be of incredible interest to archaeologists thousands of years from now – and even if you look at the work of the late Bill Rathje you will see that they are already attracting some attention from archaeologists. As an FYI Rathje made a long career of studying contemporary trash, first by conducting surveys of the trash contemporary households were throwing out and somewhat more recently by literally excavation small portions of landfills. His book “Rubbish” is an interesting look at contemporary trash and what it tells us about our behaviors.

4) Why a book? Is this material for a course? If so, what other types of materials are used for teaching about this (further reading for us ‘independent scholars..’)

Well, part of it is a convention for what us teaching types are supposed to do. That being said do know that this book was very slow in coming out, several years ago some of the findings from the project were part of a display at the Banneker-Douglass Museum in Annapolis.

It’s also important to recognize that there are different things for different audiences, yeah this book is kind of an academic book, but hopefully some of what I was able to talk about can be shared with different audiences as time goes on .

5) You mentioned surveying old cookbooks as part of your research – can you name a few that were particularly notable or illuminating?

Actually I’d like to mention a person. Barbara Jackson-Nash. She was the Director of the Banneker-Douglass Museum when we were working on the Maynard Burgess house. She also collected cookbooks and she was the one who kind of led me to realize that indirectly cookbooks can also tell you things about the people who wrote them.

6) Is there anything about the ideas you put forth in the book that might be seen as controversial or will be under particular dispute?

You never know. The thing is I don’t necessarily think it’s controversial but I would certainly hope some of what I have in there is at least thought-provoking. In some ways I’m looking at the relationship between food and identity. Think about everyday life today, you aren’t necessarily thinking explicitly about making a statement about how you represent yourself by your food choices, but studying them can be revealing and in some circumstances food can be a very, very important symbol of community, of family, of whatever.

7) Have you experienced any particular frustrations or barriers in studying the history and lives of ‘everyday’ people? In Annapolis of course, there were many ‘notable’ citizens whose pasts might receive the lions share of funding, attention, etc..

Actually it’s just the opposite. One of the things I love about historical archaeology is it’s power to recover fragments of people’s lives that are lost. To me it’s a more unique narrative to talk about the Maynards and Burgesses than it is to talk about yet another prominent community figure in the nineteenth century. I would also say that while there certainly is a ways to go it is gratifying to see progress on some fronts. It’s taken 25 years but it looks like the Maynard Burgess house is actually going to be renovated.

Plaque on the Maynard-Burgess House

Interview: Erick Sahler Serigraphs Co.

October 27, 2015January 14, 2019

The artwork in this interview really speaks for itself but for
the sake of having an introduction I’ll mention that I came across
these Erick Sahler Serigraphs Co. prints at one
of the newer bookshops in Chincoteague this past August. In a few short
moments I’d stocked up on postcards and a perceptive saleswoman sold me
on a print.
A bold graphic rendering of Smith Island cake has got to have some type of neurological effect on me. Resistance is futile.
Noticing how these prints celebrate so much of Old Line Plate subject matter, I hit Erick up for an interview.

“Most people believe the place they live is special, and I
appreciate that, but after traveling all across the United States, I
feel the Eastern Shore truly is unique.”

Did you have any formal art training?

I
like to make things — art, music, videos, anything, really, that
satisfies my creative itch. I trained with Chesapeake Bay maritime
artist C. Keith Whitelock when I was growing up, and that was the spark
that ignited my passion for the Eastern Shore. I got on-the-job training
designing and making silkscreen prints for Chesapeake Screen Printing
during my high school and college years. I graduated in 1989 from UMBC,
where I studied graphic design, illustrating and lettering before the
era of computers.

It’s
interesting that you have decided to pursue your work on the Eastern
Shore where so many other artists might have gravitated to major
metropolitan areas or what have you. Can you talk some about your
decision to settle in Salisbury?

After
my first year of college, I dreamed of working for an advertising
agency on Madison Avenue. After my second year of college, I decided
working for an advertising agency in Baltimore would be a better fit.
After my third year of college, I longed to come home, to return to the
Shore. Most people believe the place they live is special, and I
appreciate that, but after traveling all across the United States, I
feel the Eastern Shore truly is unique. So many others agree, and I
believe that’s why my artwork resonates — it’s a reminder of all the
good things about life on the Delmarva Peninsula. I can’t imagine living
or making art any place else.

I
see on your site that you have been at it for some time, but I only
became aware of your work recently. Has anything changed or have you
been creating more retail products or something? I swear I used to have
the hardest time finding really good postcards on Chincoteague and the
Eastern Shore!

I’ve
been creating Eastern Shore-themed silkscreen prints and stationery
since the summer of 2011. Prior to that, I worked 22 years in the
newsroom of the Salisbury paper. When the recession hit and the
newspaper industry began circling the drain, I decided it was time for
Plan B. I was in my mid-40s and figured if I was ever to strike out as
an artist, the time was now. My family supported me, and after two years
of planning, researching and building a print shop over my garage, I
gave my notice and launched a new career. Ever since, I’ve worked
full-time (and then some) designing, printing, packaging, framing,
marketing, shipping, accounting — every aspect of the business. I’m a
one-man shop.

Any particular influences on your style? A lot of it reminds me somewhat of WPA park posters.

Yes,
definitely the WPA artists of the late 1930s. Those designs were also
printed using silkscreens, so the process and style are similar. I’ve
been a lifelong fan of Joseph Craig English, who makes incredible
silkscreen prints of scenes in the Washington, D.C. area. I’m a great
fan of Norman Rockwell, for his ability to tell the great stories of
regular Americans. I also find great inspiration in the simple but
powerful work turned out for decades by Hatch Show Print in Nashville.

Can
you talk some about your inspiration process — some of the art appears
to have been originally commissioned or created to a specific end but
some of it seems like random appreciation.

You
are correct. I set out to produce nine or 10 new editions each year.
Most of those are targeted to certain markets or events. I have great
dealers in Chincoteague, Cambridge, Oxford, Berlin and Snow Hill, all of
whom I try to keep happy with fresh stock. I’m also involved in some
fantastic shows in Oxford and Bethany Beach, which I create new work for
each year. So the market does drive the subject matter, to some extent.
But it’s not all business, and a number of pieces were created from my
desire to celebrate what’s close to my heart. The Stock Car Races print
is one. The old Memorial Stadium print is another.

Are you a big Smith Island Cake fan? If so, what flavor is the best?

I’m
a traditionalist — I prefer the yellow cake with chocolate icing, like
the one in my print. But the carrot cake version is pretty fine too.

How often do you eat scrapple?

As often as possible! Brisk fall mornings are perfect for scrapple. I like it on toast with scrambled egg and melted cheese.

In
all seriousness though, you have several prints based around the local
edible specialties, care to comment any further on what these things
mean to you either as graphic inspiration or even personally?

Tracy,
my wife, is a foodie. Each summer we travel across the U.S. with our
two girls and a big dog-eared book called “Road Food” by Michael and
Jane Stern. We have driven hours off the main route for a pile of ribs,
or barbecue, or even some hot dogs. So we really appreciate local food —
and usually the more low-brow, the better. That’s what initially drove
my “Delmarva’s Finest” collection, which features blue crabs,
Chincoteague and Choptank oysters and Smith Island Cake. My Scrapple
design — a parody of the Apple Computer logo — was a one-off for the
annual Apple-Scrapple Festival in Bridgeville, Del.

Your
postcards/posters nearly create a travel brochure for Delmarva. Can you
outline an ideal day or weekend spent traveling around the region?

You
can travel one hour from Salisbury in any direction and be in heaven.
Rehoboth, Bethany, Ocean City, Assateague, Chincoteague, Onancock,
Crisfield, Deal Island, Hooper Island, Cambridge, Oxford, St. Michaels.
Take your pick — and they all have dynamite places to eat along the way.
My don’t-misses would include a pint of Indian Brown Ale at Dogfish
Head in Milton, Del.; Thrasher’s french fries on the Ocean City
Boardwalk; scoops of Java Jolt and Marsh Mud at the Island Creamery in
Chincoteague, Va.; the flounder platter at Metompkin Seafood in
Mappsville, Va.; the Buffalo wings at Adam’s Taphouse in Fruitland, Md.;
and a maple doughnut at Bay Country Bakery in Cambridge.

I see you have a Chesapeake Retriever — Maryland pride or just by chance?

That’s
funny — his name is Chance. I was a UMBC Retriever, but actually my
fondness for Chessies goes way back. My “Offseason” print shows me with
our Chesapeake Bay retriever on the beach at 53rd Street in Ocean City
in the spring of 1972. They’re a great breed — smart, loyal, independent
— and a perfect fit for life on the Eastern Shore.You can’t keep them
out of the water.

View more artwork, buy prints or contact Erick Sahler at www.ericksahler.com

Interview: John Shields

October 13, 2015January 14, 2019

By the time “The Chesapeake Bay Cookbook: Rediscovering the Pleasures of a Great Regional Cuisine” was published in the early 1990s, Maryland Chesapeake cuisine’s star had nearly faded into obscurity (as the title suggests).
Mid-century cookbooks such as Mrs. J. Millard Tawes’ “Favorite Maryland Recipes” and the edited and updated edition of Mrs. B.C. Howard’s “Fifty Years in a Maryland Kitchen” revisited the classics, but today their recipes seem dated with some of the culinary peculiarities that marked that time.
The return to fresh and local was just beginning to gain steam, and Shields’ books and television appearances brought those ideals back home to Maryland when he left his West Coast restaurant behind.
I had always intended to interview Shields for Old Line Plate. It was opportune then to learn that a 25th Anniversary Edition of “Chesapeake Bay Cooking with John Shields” was being released this fall on its rightful home, Johns Hopkins Press.

My recording device failed me (don’t use this thing) but nonetheless we had an informative little chat.
For those unfamiliar with John Shields, he is known for the aforementioned book plus several others, in addition to hosting an engaging public television show demonstrating cooking techniques and traveling Maryland exploring our culinary heritage.
In the past, Shields’ books have served as interpretation for some of the recipes I’ve featured on Old Line plate. When an old “receipt” says “add some cornmeal and cook it until it’s done,” the Shields version can clarify a little.
While the mid-century visitations of Maryland food sometimes took a few too many liberties, John Shields maintains the integrity of foods like scrapple, Maryland Fried Chicken, and Shad Roe. (The latter two are featured in the new book.)

Asked about how things have changed over those 25 years, Shields pointed primarily to innovations that may help bring Chesapeake delicacies back in a sustainable way. As John points out, traditionally, “oyster was king. It wasn’t until more recently that crab was popular.” And now oyster farming is taking hold and cleaning up the waters, companies such as Nice creamery are providing dairy from grass-fed and hormone-free cows, and local farms like One Straw are growing produce that tastes superior without sending damaging byproducts into the bay.
Where Maryland falls behind, according to Shields, is our lack of a practical distribution network for smaller farms. Models exist in other places such as Vermont and Portland.
Shields plans to explore some of these issues and their effect on the culinary scene in a future book.
Currently, Shields owns the locally beloved Gertrude’s restaurant at the Baltimore Museum of Art. I attended a recent event where proceeds were contributed towards the National Aquarium’s Sustainable Seafood Program. Since I didn’t get the ‘Soft-Shell Crab Moutarde’ that night I later made it at home to accompany this article. The recipe can be found in Chesapeake Bay Cooking.

According to Shields, some of the recipes have been cleaned up with some omissions or unfavorable changes made by the previous publisher corrected.
In the midst of wrapping up the re-released and updated book, and the flurry of press that goes with it, the executive pastry chef at Gertrude’s, Doug Wetzel, suffered liver and kidney failure while participating in a triathlon. He was in intensive care for months, and the Baltimore culinary community took to action.
Local chefs and restaurants pitched in to help raise money for Wetzel’s Medical care. Shields describes the response as “gratifying and humbling to see.”
To wrap up our chat, I asked about the controversial Maryland Fried Chicken steaming step, and Shields weighed in firmly “pro.” His recipe marinades the chicken in buttermilk, followed by a toss in flour. Next, “you brown the chicken in very hot oil, then cover the pan and reduce the heat to steam the chicken; this keeps the meat moist while producing a crisp coating.” Serve with the cream gravy. Alternative method: go get the chicken at Gertrude’s on Tuesdays.