maryland food Archives - OLD LINE PLATE

Chicken Pancakes, Mrs. Frank Jack Fletcher (Araby)

May 28, 2017January 12, 2019

A lot of the names alongside the recipes in “Maryland’s Way” are associated with the Navy. This makes sense since the Hammond-Harwood house is in Annapolis, but it is interesting to see the different families that came to this region because of the Naval Academy and ultimately became lifelong Marylanders.

Frank Jack Fletcher was an Admiral during World War II, a commanding officer during World War I, and a lieutenant at the battle of Vera Cruz – part of the U.S. involvement in the Mexican Revolution.

That’s a lot of wars. According to Naval History magazine, he got a bum rap. I don’t know what his rap is, bum or otherwise, and I doubt he was too involved with this chicken recipe, what with all of his travels, so I’ll leave it at that.

Araby, willsfamily.com

Mrs. Frank Jack Fletcher was Martha Richards from Missouri; her family owned a hardware store in Kansas City. It’s unclear how the two met, but they were married in a rush in 1917 due to the United States entering the First World War.

In the 1930’s, the Fletchers purchased the historic Araby estate in Charles County. The house at Araby was originally built in the mid-1700s, and updated in the mid-1800s. The family of Colonel William Eilbeck owned the estate, and it is said that their only daughter Sarah once resided there with her husband George Mason. George Washington’s diaries mention frequent visits to Araby.

“Pancakes” illustration, Mrs Beeton’s Book of Household Management

Historic pancake recipes tend to refer to something more like crepes than the pancakes we currently know. Illustrations in the Mrs. Beeton books show the thin pancakes rolled and stacked; they could be filled with sweet or savory fillings.

The basic recipe for these chicken filled pancakes makes frequent appearances in the Aunt Priscilla column in the Baltimore Sun. With slight variations, it was printed in 1926, 1936 and 1943. The recipe that Mrs. Fletcher contributed to “Maryland’s Way” does not specify whether the chicken should be cooked, but cooked chicken is used in the Priscilla columns, sometimes suggested as a way to use up leftovers. I cooked the chicken first just to be safe.

Frank Jack Fletcher, The Pacific War Online Encyclopedia

While it is highly possible that Mrs. Fletcher encountered the recipe through the newspaper or somewhere else, it may be worth noting that in the 1940 census, she had a black servant named Theodore Hawkins. Frank Jack Fletcher was away on duty at that time, so Hawkins may have been hired to assist with things that the Admiral wasn’t available for. However, ten years earlier, Hawkins had been employed at a hotel or kitchen at a Naval site in Indian Head Maryland, under a cook named Daisy Taylor. As the appearances in Aunt Priscilla indicate, the creamy chicken pancakes were the kind of food expected under hotel chefs and caterers of Maryland. The recipe may have reached Mrs. Fletcher through her servant whom the family may have met at Indian Head (now Naval Surface Warfare Center). We can never know these things for sure but recipe genealogy is intriguing.

Frank Jack Fletcher survived all of the wars he served in, and died in 1973, with Mrs. Fletcher passing away just over a year later. Both are buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

Recipe:

.5 Lb mushroom
3 Tablespoon butter
2 tb grated onion or shallot
2 white onions
1 Cup finely ground chicken
1 Cup cream
salt
pepper, black
cream sauce
cheese, Parmesan

Chop mushrooms fine and sauté in 1 tablespoon butter with grated onion. Brown sliced white onions in 2 tablespoons butter, then remove onions with slotted spoon and save for another dish. Sprinkle chicken with flour and stir it into onion seasoned butter. Add mushrooms and cook gently for about two minutes. Add cream, salt and pepper to taste, and cook for a minute or two longer. Spread the chicken on crepes (recipe below) and roll up. Arrange them in an oven dish, cover with cream sauce, sprinkle with cheese and bake at 350° for 5-10 minutes, until just browned.

Crepes:

1 Cup flour
1 whole egg plus 2 yolks
pinch salt
2 Cups milk
2 Tablespoons melted butter

Sift together flour and salt. Break egg into center; add 2 yolks. Pour in a little milk and milk with a fork until smooth. Gradually whisk in the rest of the milk; beat in butter. Cover batter and let rest for 2 hours. Batter should be the consistency of whipping cream. If it is too thick, whisk in more milk. Batter should be the consistency of whipping cream. If it is too thick, whisk in more milk.
To cook, melt additional butter in a pourable container. Heat a skillet and pour in a little butter. Turn skillet so that butter covers bottom and sides. When hot, ladle just enough batter to cover the bottom. Cook until lightly browned on each side.butter covers bottom and sides. When hot, ladle just enough batter to cover the bottom. Cook until lightly browned on each side.

Recipes adapted from “Maryland’s Way: The Hammond-Harwood House Cookbook”

Vegetarian Stuffed “Ham”

December 16, 2015January 13, 2019

I decided to do something a little different for my first post about Southern Maryland Stuffed Ham. Maybe something a little controversial.

There’s a lot of information to read about “Southern Maryland Stuffed Ham” out there on the internet and I don’t have too much to add. I have tried most of the ham providers commonly listed in these articles and they are all pretty good. Most recently I enjoyed some wonderfully spicy and tender stuffed ham from Chaptico market.

I have noticed, through a quick newspaper search, as well as the recipes in “Eat, Drink & Be Merry in Maryland” that stuffed ham’s popularity once spread beyond its known home of Southern Maryland (not counting other regional stuffed ham types throughout the South.) Stuffed ham Southern Maryland style was made and served well into Western Maryland.

I can only assume that its decline in popularity had to do with the effort involved in making it, and maybe a shift in availability of different types of cured hams. Southern Maryland Stuffed Ham involves what differing recipes will call a “brined ham,” “country ham,” or “corned ham.” This is a very salty and not smoky or excessively sweet way of curing ham.*

Now, why a vegetarian ham? Mostly for the fun of it. But I’ll pontificate a bit:

I am not religious but I think that the concept of ‘saying grace’ as I once knew it should not be a lost art. Whether this is an articulated moment involving religious beliefs, or a silent secular ‘thanks’ and acknowledgement of what we are fortunate to have, I think that embarking on the act of eating is an ideal time to express ‘gratitude.’

This can mean so many things that it is overwhelming. We may thank the people who harvested the crops that are grown for us. We may reflect on the complex and often painful history that put American (& Southern, & Maryland…) food as we know it into our lives. We can contemplate the life of the animal that is now on our table. We can also consider the environmental costs of what we eat and enjoy.

Whether an animal life has meaning to you, there is growing evidence about the effects that our levels of meat consumption are having on the environment.
Having come of age in a bit of a punk/d.i.y. ethos, none of this is new to me, so I’ve had lots of time to process these moral conflicts. That is not to say I’ve come to total peace or resolution. After decades of thought, I am okay with admitting that I remain conflicted. For the time being, that means eating less meat when possible.

I came up with this recipe as an amalgam of seitan ‘ham’ recipes on the web. I really enjoyed it but I could be biased with a weird nostalgia for a time when vegetarian meats were a little less palatable than they are these days.

My favorite way to serve meat-ful stuffed ham is in a white-bread sandwich with mayonnaise. That is the probably best way to enjoy this seitan version, which is a little dry on its own. When I added some mayonnaise-based, celery-seed & black pepper coleslaw (not pictured) this became a really standout sandwich. The seasonings from the coleslaw already being a part of the stuffing, I figured it just made sense.

We had some kale on hand and used it for the stuffing, but I think this would be good with mustard greens. Any greens can be used, however. It would also probably be amazing with Bryant Terrys spicy mustard green harissa. The options are endless.

Anyway here is some background on Southern Maryland Stuffed Ham:

Places to get Stuffed Ham:

Murphy’s Town & Country – 21270 Abell Road, Avenue
Raley’s Town and Country – 13270 Point Lookout Rd, Ridge
Chaptico Market – 25466 Maddox Road, Chaptico
St. Mary’s Landing – Route 5, Charlotte Hall
WJ Dent – 44584 Tall Timbers Rd, Tall Timbers
McKays – (multiple locations)

Recipe:
Seitan “ham” loaves (makes 2):

3 cups vital wheat gluten
¼ cup nutritional yeast
2 tsp onion powder
1 tsp salt
1.5 tsp smoked paprika
1.5 white pepper
2 tb liquid smoke
4 tb grade A maple syrup
.5 tsp Maggi seasoning (or use some Braggs Amino Acids)
3 cups veg broth, divided

Mix together all dry ingredients in large mixing bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk together liquid smoke, maple syrup, Maggi and 2.5 cups of vegetable stock. Working quickly, fold liquids into dry ingredients. The gluten will quickly absorb the liquid and start to become… gluten-like. Knead the dough for about 2 minutes.
Form two loaves and placed in well-greased slow cooker. Remember, this grease is the primary source of fat in your ‘ham.’ Cover with remaining stock. Cook on low for 2 hours then turn to high & cook for another three hours.
Remove and let cool.

Stuffing:

2 cups kale
1 tb red pepper (or more to taste)
.25 cup chives/onions/etc
2 tb parsley
½ tsp celery seed
1 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
hot sauce (optional)
juice of 1 lemon

Preheat oven to 350°. Finely chop all ingredients & mix well with lemon juice and hot sauce. Cut slits into each “ham” and stuff them full of the mixture. Cover with any additional stuffing. Bake for 20-30 minutes. Let cool completely before serving.

Recipe notes:

*As you can see, despite what has been said about the country hams for stuffing, I did use liquid smoke and smoked paprika to flavor the seitan. I felt that the flavoring was needed. An interesting option later occured to me: black salt. Available in Indian grocery stores, this very sulphery salt might impart a bit of a cured flavor. I’d use that for the salt and omit the liquid smoke. If you try this, do tell me how it is!

-The variable baking time is a matter of preference. The greens will begin to cook but the outside of the seitan loaf will begin to toughen as well – especially parts that are not covered with stuffing. If you are working with tough greens or you like your greens well cooked, you could always blanch them before making the stuffing.

Interview: Joyce White

September 30, 2015January 13, 2019

Joyce White kitchen demo, Hampton Mansion

In a way, White Potato Pie led me into the world of uniquely Maryland food, and so it is fitting that it also led me to the website of one Joyce White, culinary historian.

As the foremost expert in Maryland food (in this author’s humble estimation), Joyce White’s expertise spans far beyond that into American and European historic foodways. She has recently curated a Maryland exhibit at the Southern Food and Beverage Museum (oh no, someone called Maryland the South! Here come the angry letters from all sides). I recently had the privilege of attending one of her engaging demonstrations, and I would recommend that food history enthusiasts follow her website for updates on similar opportunities. She has appeared at countless museums and libraries such as the Maryland Historical Society, Riversdale House, Sandy Spring, and the Charles County library, plus senior centers, genealogical societies and similar venues all over the DC/Maryland region. Although she has not authored any print publications currently, she may be writing a book on late 18th – early 19th century baking in America, highlighting British origins of the recipes.

A little bit about yourself and the path that led you to be a food historian:

I started out with food history as an intern at the Geneva Historical Society in New York State during college. I was forced to dress as an 1840s kitchen maid for a program for local 4th graders, I had to make a cake with them in the hearth. I never had done any historical cooking before, nor had I ever even built a fire. It was a good way to immerse myself in open hearth cooking as I had to do this several times per week over the course of the spring semester.

What type of perspective do you think that your work has given you into Maryland/American/World history?
I have learned so much and am continually learning every day. What I enjoy is being able to make connections between time periods (change over time),
regionalism (how the local economy, natural landscape, and rate of immigration and industrialization) affects the food choices that are made. I try to focus less on the origins of foods and more on what makes them persist within a culture. How do recipes adapt over time? Do recipes fall out of fashion and why? How are old world food traditions incorporated in a new world setting and time?

Do you have particular favorite “culinary eras” or geographic regions?
I seem to spend lots of time on eastern US foods from the late 18th – late 19th century. It is a time in Maryland that is still very British in foundations but also a time when a definite American angle becomes obvious in the food choices made. For example, hominy corn (a very American crop associated with lower classes originally from settlement through the 18th century) eventually becomes popular with all classes in Maryland (hominy croquettes found on a high class menu for Baltimore’s Hotel Rennert by the late 19th c.).

Have you noticed any increase/decrease in public interest in culinary history and if so do you have theories as to why?
People seem to be very interested in my programs. Of course, I try to provide topic options that are appealing such as Chocolate, Tea, Maryland, and Dessert.
It also doesn’t hurt that I offer samples at the end of all of my programs! I am actually at a point where I have to decline invitations to speak because there just aren’t enough days in the week and hours in the day for me to do it all.

Are there any other historians, writers, chefs, whose work you admire or who have influenced you?
Ivan Day, British Food Historian
Peter Brears, British Food Historian
Susan Plaisted, Pennsylvania Food Historian
Leni Sorenson, Monticello
Michael Twitty, Kosher Soul
Elizabeth David, cookbook author
The Two Fat Ladies (mainly for their very British take on things and humor)
And many more …

You contributed to an exhibit on Maryland food at the Southern Food and Beverage Museum – can you tell us anything about that for those of us who haven’t seen it?
I wish I could – I haven’t seen it yet! The exhibit was just installed this past spring. I did the research but was not involved in the actual exhibit design and
installation. There is a bit of anxiety in this type of collaboration because I cannot be sure those on-site will interpret my research correctly. A trip to New Orleans is on the list and I will hopefully get there sooner rather than later.

Do you still do any active research/learning and if so, what type of subjects are you exploring?
Always. I am constantly researching and revising all of my current programs and always thinking of new program topics. I am looking at creating programs based on the foods of Jane Austen, the foods of the Edwardian period for a Downton Abbey program, and the foods of Shakespeare.

What comes to mind when you think about Maryland food traditions specifically? Anything particularly unique or notable?

Recipe fossils, meaning something that was popular at one time but not so much any more:

White Potato Pie (look at my blog for that one);
Baltimore Fish Peppers: a type of very spicy African serrano pepper that was picked unripened and dried. It was made into a powder used to spice fish dishes (the light color of the unripe pepper did not discolor the fish dishes). Very popular in the late 19th century, not anymore though.

Beer – Baltimore was flooded with breweries in the 19th century. There were 40 breweries by the end of the century!

Muskrat – An Eastern Shore tradition popularized during the Great Depression of the 1930s

Pennsylvania Dutch Influences:

Smearcase Cheesecake
Scrapple
Pot Pie
Fastnacht donuts for Shrove Tuesday
Markets
And many others …

German influence: Sauerkraut with turkey for Thanksgiving and pork for New Year’s Day

What, if anything, do you feel is left for culinary historians to learn at this juncture? Are there any particular resources that haven’t been tapped to their fullest potential?
There is always more to learn. I would love to spend several days exploring local and national archives looking for hand written recipe manuscripts and journals dating as far back as possible. You can get a fantastic insight into the preferences of our ancestors by looking at their personal recipe books. You can
see which recipes are more popular than others (grease stains, notations in the corner, etc), and you can really see what types of crops were popular on a
seasonal basis. If only there were more hours in each day!

Joyce White’s Nutmeg Grater

Any ways in which your work has affected your home/personal cooking habits?
My family is less than enthusiastic about most of the historic cooking I do. I get made fun of a lot. My husband calls me Martha Washington Stewart! However, they are happy for me to try new things as long as I have a back-up in case they don’t like my experiments. I live with some very picky eaters!

Visit “A Taste of History with Joyce White”

Steaming Crabs

September 18, 2015January 13, 2019

Crab season is finally in full swing for those of us who cling to the ‘late-summer through Thanksgiving is crab season’ principle. In my opinion, September is a great time to enjoy crabs because the weather is usually amazing, the last of the corn and watermelon are demanding to be eaten, and the frenzy of summer fun times is finally over.

This is the time when you can really kick back and appreciate the crab.

Warning: this post is FULL of my opinions.

First off, let me address southern naysayers who declare that steamed crabs have no flavor. Well, the flavor of a crab comes from the crab, not from all the spice. If I want to enjoy a bunch of spices (and I often do) I will get some cheap shrimp, rice, etc. When I shell out (ha) for crabs I want to taste the succulent crab meat.

Furthermore, I do not like to dip crab in butter for this same reason. Or vinegar! God, I’m getting worked up now… steamed even.

Not many people steam their own crabs anymore. You can get great crabs all steamed up for you at no extra cost, saving the kitchen space demanded by a gigantic pot, keeping your fingers intact, and avoiding the horrors of killing a live animal before your eyes.

Aside from the experience and the excitement of your meal possibly giving you the attack you rightly deserve, the main difference in home-steamed crabs is going to be the seasonings.

I’m not as Old Bay-crazed as advertising directed at me seems to believe – I like J.O., Obrycki’s, all the other crab seasonings… J.O. is the one used by crab houses for the most part. So it is interesting to actually steam some crabs with Old Bay and taste the difference.

Beer versus vinegar: I don’t want to impart any sour taste so I stick with *flat* beer. Vinegar is more popular in places with a history of temperance such as Smith Island.

Live crabs: Don’t submerge them in water but do keep them cool and wet. A wet cardboard box works well. They are prone to escape so watch out, keep the box folded closed. And mind your fingers.

Corn: I like grilled corn but steamed corn is pretty good too, especially when it’s in season and freshly picked.

A
dozen crabs and six ears of corn is a lot for two people but you can scrape
off the extra corn and pick the extra crab meat and put it into your
morning omelet or tomorrow’s soup.

Recipe:

1 dozen live male crabs
1 flat beer
½ cup crab seasoning

Put a can of flat beer and some water in the bottom of a steamer pot, to just below the rack. Put in your live crabs and then season them (that is the part that feels cruel somehow). Turn on the heat and steam for just under a half hour. Crabs will be red and hot.

Maryland Fried Chicken: lets do this

May 12, 2015January 13, 2019

Much like scrapple, Maryland fried chicken is a topic that I intend to revisit on Old Line Plate many times. There’s a lot of background, a lot of recipes, and enough confusion to go around.

So what IS “Maryland fried chicken”?

There is a European dish known as Chicken Maryland or Chicken a la Maryland, usually featuring bananas. This is probably the dish that is now famously known to have been on the menu of the Titanic.

There is a vanishing regional chain (outside of Maryland) known as Maryland Fried Chicken. Their main website is now shilling viagra and I never had the chance to try this chicken.

There are also some who would insist that Old Bay is essential to Maryland fried chicken. Old Bay and chicken make a fine combo but that is the kind of myopic thinking this blog stands firmly against.

There is also a controversial, questionable step included in some Maryland fried chicken recipes that flies in the face of modern fried chicken preference. That step entails steaming the chicken in the pan after frying it. This results in a very tender chicken but eliminates the crispiness. Sacrilege to some!

Fear not, that step is not essential. I am not sure when it became popularized but BC Howard’s book “Fifty Years in a Maryland Kitchen” mentions no such thing. It appears in two of the five fried chicken recipes in Eat, Drink and Be Merry in Maryland.

In my estimation, the main defining characteristic of Maryland fried chicken is the pan scraping cream gravy. Fried chicken is served up in this manner throughout the South but various sources throughout the years offer this style as “Maryland fried chicken.”

My primary source for cooking this time was ‘50 Years in a Maryland Kitchen’. I also referenced the recipes that appear in ‘Eat, Drink & Be Merry in Maryland.’

Albert H. McCarthy of Carvel Hall Hotel (erstwhile and now once again the Paca House) contributed the instructions:

“Cut young chicken into pieces and rub with salt, pepper and flour. Fry in hot fat to half cover the chicken until right brown. Serve with a cream gravy and waffles.”

BC Howard included a step which I feel is indispensable – brining the chicken. Her brine consisted solely of salt and water but I took a cue from my modern reference, a book called “Heritage” by Sean Brock.

I checked this book out from the library and it is beautiful but a lot of the cooking is fussy for my purposes. However, the author seems charming and gained my trust so I went with his brine which contains salt, sugar, and the secret ingredient of tea. He pan fried the chicken in many fats and topped it with the gravy (no mention of Maryland…)

The resulting chicken was very good but to my surprise it tasted like tea. (I’m not the brightest..)

In the future, to make sure that I enjoy the most Maryland flavor in my chicken I will probably stick with a salt & sugar brine only.

My next iteration of Maryland Fried Chicken will include the steaming step and a discussion of those who employed it throughout my recipe collection.

Maybe we can decide once and for all whether it is worth the sacrifice of crispiness – or perhaps whether there is room for both in life.

Recipe:

1 gallon water
38 tea bags (optional! or use less!)
1 cup salt
1 cup sugar
salt
pepper, black
flour
fat (oil, lard, bacon fat, etc.)
chicken
more salt
more flour
butter
cream
parsley

Put the water in a pot and bring to a boil over high heat. Remove from the stove, add the tea bags, and let them steep for 8 minutes. Remove the tea bags, or strain the liquid if you used loose tea. Add the salt and sugar to the hot water and stir to dissolve them. Pour the brine into a heatproof container and cool it to room temperature, then refrigerate until completely cold.

Cut the chicken into 8 pieces. Rinse with cold water. Place in the brine, cover, and
refrigerate for 12 hours.

After the chicken has spent 12 hours in the brine, make an ice bath in a
large bowl with equal amounts of ice and water. Place the chicken in
the ice bath for 5 minutes. (the ice will rinse away any impurities.)
Remove the chicken and pat it dry.

Season the chicken with pepper and then cover with flour (lightly salted). Cook bacon in skillet and set aside. Add additional oils until frying temperature and add the chicken pieces, turning and stirring them about to keep them from burning. It takes half an hour. Move to a towel to drain. Pour off off all the fat and melt a tablespoon or so of butter with an equal amount of flour. Add cream, parsley, salt and pepper. Stir until thickened. Pour this over the chickens and serve with waffles.