Snacking State-by-State: Delaware I - A Game of Chicken

This next post takes me about as close to home as I've gotten. From the concrete jungles of Wilmington, gateway to Philadelphia, to the shores of Rehoboth Beach and Fenwick Island, friendly both to families and to "Family". It's the only state east of the Mason-Dixon Line.

Snacking State-by-State: Delaware

Official Name: State of Delaware
State Nicknames: The First State, The Blue Hen State, The Small Wonder
Admission to the US: December 7, 1787 (#1, baby, and don't you forget it)
Capital: Dover (2nd largest city)
Other Important Cities: Wilmington (largest), Newark (3rd largest)
Region: Mid-Atlantic, South, Northeast; South Atlantic (US Census)
RAFT Nations: Clambake
Bordered by: Pennsylvania (north); New Jersey, Delaware Bay & the Atlantic Ocean (east); Maryland (south); Maryland & the Mason-Dixon Line (west)
Official State Foods and Edible Things: Blue hen (bird); Weakfish (fish); strawberry (fruit), milk (beverage); peach pie (dessert)
Eastern oyster (shellfish)
Some Famous & Typical Foods: oysters, clams, blue crabs, fish (bluefish, weakfish), lobster, chicken, peaches, Dogfish Head beer, strawberries

Much of Delaware's culinary landscape looks like that of Maryland and Virginia, specifically their Eastern Shores. One thing to note about Delaware is the importance of chicken: it's poultry country, as evidenced by the blue hen's status as the official state bird. An important staple in colonial times, it's even more so today, and has been since the 1920's [Delaware Guide, date unknown].

Also of note in this coastal state is, of course, seafood. The Delaware Department of Fish and Wildlife points out all the many varieties of seafood that are found in and off the waters of the First State: oysters, crabs, clams (available locally year-round), lobster (also found locally year-round, which I did not know).

One more thing I did not know is that Delaware is a major producer of peaches, or at least it used to be. Delaware was at one time the country's biggest producer of peaches. Today, the industry is much more small-scale [Delaware Guide, date unknown]

And of course, Milton and Rehoboth Beach are together the home of Dogfish Head, one of my favorite producers of beer. Their recipes are fascinating, and some of them go together with Delaware's major foods in fascinating ways. Take their Saison du BUFF, for example - a brew of thyme, rosemary, parsley and sage. This is a selection that goes well with any chicken dish. And so it goes that one of the dishes I try out from Delaware is just that: a chicken dish.

Since there are so many chicken dishes, and none are really specific to Delaware, I had to really root around for one. I finally found one from the Delmarva Poultry Industry, which apparently dates all the way back to 1948, and the very first Chicken of Tomorrow competition. Poster "Melly" from the Taste of Home forum posted back in 2004 that "the event featured the world's largest frying pan (ten feet in diameter), made in Selbyville [just above the Delaware-Maryland border - my note] and capable of cooking eight hundred chicken quarters at once" [Taste of Home, 2004]. Though I cannot confirm this, it makes for one fascinating chicken story, if ever there could be such a thing. Surely, at least as compelling as MST3K's disturbing glimpse into the Chicken of Tomorrow (here's Part 2 - note, this short was made in Texas, not Delaware)

The original recipe calls for 1/2 cup of Italian dressing. In a nod to Delaware's peach-infused past, I swapped the Italian out for a homemade peach vinaigrette.

The recipe: Easy Baked Chicken with Peach Dressing

Of course, first I had to make the peach vinaigrette (recipe posted by Vanessa Higgins at About.com). This was especially easy: just throw the following ingredients into the blender, and put into a cruet:


* one peach (preferably a fresh one but I could only find a small can at the time)
* olive oil, red wine vinegar, cayenne pepper and salt (had all of them on hand).

The recipe says it will yield 1/2 cup of vinaigrette, but I almost filled my cruet with about a cup to a cup and a half. If you don't have a cruet, your best bet is to go into the salad dressings section of the supermarket and buy a make-it-yourself kit, complete with a cruet. The one I found was $2.50.


Next you add the chicken to the vinaigrette. For this part of the recipe, you will need the following:

* the peach vinaigrette you just made (the original calls for 1/2 cup of Italian vinaigrette)
* one chicken (I cheated and bought one already cut up, about 4 pounds of chicken. I bought this one at Whole Foods for $9, a splurge since I don't buy much meat anymore)
* Italian bread crumbs (or else, toast four slices of bread and throw them in your food processor with about a tablespoon of Italian seasoning)
* salt and paprika (I used smoked paprika)
* I didn't have margarine, which the recipe called for. I was going to drizzle olive oil over the chicken instead, but yes, I did forget this step.

To make this, I had to skin the chicken. This is important - you want to bread the chicken, not the chicken skin.


Once done, put the chicken in a large gallon zip top bag with the vinaigrette, and let sit for at least half an hour. In retrospect, I wish I had made slits in the chicken flesh, and let it sit for a whole lot longer.


But I'll talk about that later.

While the chicken is marinating, mix the bread crumbs with the salt and paprika. You will coat each piece of vinaigrette-y chicken with this.


Place all pieces of chicken on a baking sheet (better coated than mine - the instructions call for aluminum foil, which I ran out of. Waah waaaaah.), and bake for 50 minutes at 375°F.


At the end, you will have lots of caramel-y peachy goo around each piece of chicken. The smaller pieces had a more intense and identifiable peach flavor, while the breasts and thighs will have far less of one. Please don't overcook, because you will dry it out. Thankfully, I did not do that.

There is the Saison du BUFF in the background. It's a nice, herbaceous beer that goes well with many chicken dishes, such as this one. Also notice the blob in the background. This is Delaware Spoon Bread, for which there are a hundred versions. The one I used came from a small, plastic spiral-bound cookbook by Jennie Robillard, A Collection of DelMarVa Recipes.

As the DPI suggests, this really is a simple recipe. Next time I may try the Italian dressing, because I was hoping for something much more peachy tasting than this. You live and learn. Unexpectedly, if anything tasted more peachy it was the breading. One of my favorite ways to eat chicken is with a lot of breading (Can you say "It's Shake and Bake, and we helped"?). I loved how fluffy, goopy and peachy the breading got. And the chicken, a local chicken that wasn't the typical Freakchicken you might buy at the supermarket, actually tasted more like a chicken! And it was juicy and delicious.

Sources:

Delaware Guide. "Delaware Food." Delaware Guide, date unknown. Copyright 2004-2011, IIWINC (Interactive Internet Websites, Inc).

Delmarva Poultry Industry. "Easy Baked Chicken." Delmarva Poultry Industry Inc., 2011.

Epstein, Becky Sue, and Ed Jackson. The American Lighthouse Cookbook: The Best Recipes and Stories from America's Shorelines. Cumberland House: Naperville, IL, 2009. Portions also available on Google Books.

Hense, Zina. Delaware Fresh Seafood (guide). Delaware Division of Fish and Wildlife in cooperation with the Atlantic Coastal Cooperative Statistical Program (ACCSP), 2008.

Higgins, Vanessa. "Peach Vinaigrette Salad Dressing." About.com: Local Foods, date unknown. Copyright 2011, About.com.

Jennie Robillard. A Collection of DelMarVa Recipes. Eastern Shore Arts & Crafts Center: Princess Anne, Maryland, date unknown.

Some information also obtained from Wikipedia's "Delaware" page and other pages, and the Food Timeline State Foods webpage link to "Delaware”.

Snacking State-by-State: Delaware II - Gettin' Raw (with Oysters)

As you may recall from the previous post - and from many a visit to this state that has such a massive coast - seafood is a very important part of eating in Delaware, as anyone who has visited the state will attest to. I tried to find a good recipe to showcase the seafood of Delaware and Delmarva.

Snacking State-by-State: Delaware

Official Name: State of Delaware
State Nicknames: The First State, The Blue Hen State, The Small Wonder
Admission to the US: December 7, 1787 (#1, baby, and don't you forget it)
Capital: Dover (2nd largest city)
Other Important Cities: Wilmington (largest), Newark (3rd largest)
Region: Mid-Atlantic, South, Northeast; South Atlantic (US Census)
RAFT Nations: Clambake
Bordered by: Pennsylvania (north); New Jersey, Delaware Bay & the Atlantic Ocean (east); Maryland (south); Maryland & the Mason-Dixon Line (west)
Official State Foods and Edible Things: Blue hen (bird); Weakfish (fish); strawberry (fruit), milk (beverage); peach pie (dessert)
Eastern oyster (shellfish)
Some Famous & Typical Foods: oysters, clams, blue crabs, fish (bluefish, weakfish), lobster, chicken, peaches, Dogfish Head beer, strawberries

I wanted to try this wonderful Delaware Crab Puff recipe from Fenwick Island - showcased in the American Lighthouse Cookbook by Becky Sue Epstein and Ed Jackson (also on Google Books). As delicious and easy as this blue crab recipe sounds, I did not feel like putting out the expense for even half a pound of crab meat - the cheapest I found from the Chesapeake was about $10, on sale, again for half a pound.

So I got lazy. I got real lazy.

Recipe: Oysters on the Half-Shell

This is really difficult. Here's what you need:

Yes I bought these back when there was still all that snow. I write these posts a few weeks ahead of time. By now I'm probably writing my Georgia post.

* oysters, in the shell - and alive (Quick! Don't tell PETA!) - I found oysters on sale at Wegman's for 99¢ each
* Tabasco sauce and lemon wedges

Here's what you do:

Use your oyster shucking knife to pry open each oyster, usually somewhere near the joint (yes, I've done this before).

Some are easy to open...

...and some are not so easy to open.

Place them lovingly on a plate, douse each one with Tabasco and/or lemon, and gulp it down. Make sure there are no little bits of oyster shell going down with it.


Some people are not raw oyster people. I am happy to say I am a raw oyster person. I love the things. If you're not, you can pan fry them, put 'em in a pie, deep fry, tempura fry (that's a nice twist), put 'em in a dressing... The possibilities are endless. What better thing to eat while whiling away the humid summer evenings on the porch of a Rehoboth Beach guest house, or restaurant, or bar (preferably one with as few douchebags as possible), with a bunch of raw oysters, some Tabasco, a little lemon, maybe some Old Bay and the Dogfish Head of your choice?

Oyster liquor washed from my hands, I am ready to move on. Alphabetically, the next state in my list is Florida. But hold on just a bit! Before we get to the land of key limes, conch fritters and Cuban sandwiches, we have to make a detour. You didn't think I would forget the Nation's Capital, did you? Of course not. I'm heading straight through the District of Columbia, no MARC Train necessary.

Sources:

Delaware Guide. "Delaware Food." Delaware Guide, date unknown. Copyright 2004-2011, IIWINC (Interactive Internet Websites, Inc).

Delmarva Poultry Industry. "Easy Baked Chicken." Delmarva Poultry Industry Inc., 2011.

Epstein, Becky Sue, and Ed Jackson. The American Lighthouse Cookbook: The Best Recipes and Stories from America's Shorelines. Cumberland House: Naperville, IL, 2009. Portions also available on Google Books.

Hense, Zina. Delaware Fresh Seafood (guide). Delaware Division of Fish and Wildlife in cooperation with the Atlantic Coastal Cooperative Statistical Program (ACCSP), 2008.

Higgins, Vanessa. "Peach Vinaigrette Salad Dressing." About.com: Local Foods, date unknown. Copyright 2011, About.com.

Jennie Robillard. A Collection of DelMarVa Recipes. Eastern Shore Arts & Crafts Center: Princess Anne, Maryland, date unknown.

Some information also obtained from Wikipedia's "Delaware" page and other pages, and the Food Timeline State Foods webpage link to "Delaware”.

A few random bites: February Edition

Just a few things I've missed saying...

1) In doing research for my next "Back to the Beltway" post (coming up at some point in the next few weeks, just with the gas prices and expense and all), I was surprised, shocked and dismayed at all the eateries in Linthicum that have seemingly shut down. One hot dog place, Duncan's Famous, hasn't been there for a while. Granted, they once gave me the creamiest hot dog that I have had in ages, not since the Soda Pop Shop near Baltimore Highlands, late 80's.

2) Lunch on Friday was at the House of India in Columbia. I had to get in and out, which I did with ease. It was quite good: some of the least bony chunks of goat I have eaten in a while. plus tasty and toothsome ras malai and various chicken, chickpea and rice dishes. One dish I was not so hot on was the dhabha chicken, which tasted and had a texture like warmed over day-old Chinese takeout, and I don't mean from a good place. And yet there it is smack dab in the middle, piled up as if to say "Taaaaaake meeeeeee. You KNOW you waaaaaant meeeeee." Next time I go back I'll just get everything else. Though at $12 for the weekday buffet, it is a wee pricier than some other buffets that are just as good. I guess you're paying for the "Columbia" experience.

3) The latest beer tasting I did at the Wine Source was of R.J. Rockers out of Spartanburg, South Carolina. Most of their beers were lovely though I was particularly captivated by their winter seasonal, The First Snow Ale. Billed as a "malt beverage brewed with honey and spices", the beer's nicest quality is its gingery punch. I rarely leave with a whole six pack ($9) but I did this time.

4) A gas station in Glen Burnie sells Pepsi from Mexico, made with actual cane sugar. Not as sweet as the HFCS stuff.

5) Along those lines, I have been quite good at drinking less soda. I've been averaging 1.5 cans a day - down from about 3. Let's see how much more I can cut back.

6) Try and figure out why I spent the past week making doro wot (Ethiopian chicken stew), GamJa salad (Korean potato salad) and curtido (Salvadoran cole slaw) - and ate it all at once. Go on.

How to Burn a Pot of Anything

I am officially incapable of cooking anything on the stove in a covered saucepan without burning the hell out of it. I do not know why this happens to me, but it does. I set the fire as low as I can, leave it like the recipe says, then come back and find a charred mess on the bottom.

This happens all the time with rice. Tonight I was trying out Lundberg's Brown Rice Couscous, which I found at the Milk & Honey in Mount Vernon. Now y'all might be wondering "Oh my God, how in the world can anyone burn couscous!?" Well, the instructions say to cook the couscous over a low flame for 15 minutes before removing from heat,so it's not conventional couscous. But still, I had to leave it, and of course, it burned.

I have a theory: my stove hates me. I mean, I can only set the flame so low before I turn it off. And still it's not enough. So screw it: I'm microwaving everything - and if not I'm throwing it in the rice-cooker.

Punched!?!?!?

I really don't know what to say. From SNL. Of course.

Cutting Back on Soda: Update #1

Just a brief update on my quest to not drink so much soda/pop/coke/whatever. This time last week, I was drinking about 3 cans (roughly 36 oz) soda a day. Mind you, I was trying to drink as much in water, but still. Since Tuesday, I've managed to cut myself back to 1 1/2 cans (18 oz) a day, with a little more in case I am driving around very late (like on my super long 8AM to 10PM Wednesdays). The secret? Actually, a few secrets:

1) I've been drinking half a can at a time, and sealing the can back up with that "seal wrap" that works so much better than plastic wrap (for most things at least)

2) I've also been drinking a lot more water and homemade iced tea. I don't touch the pre-made store bought bottled stuff. That has enough crap in it that I might as well stick with the soda.

So, that's how it's working so far. Another update is coming next week.

A Dinner Party with Nick Malgieri

I was so fortunate the other night to stop by Julie Thorne's (Kitchenography's), where many area food bloggers were congregated, for an event organized by Dara Bunjon (Dining Dish and the Baltimore Dining Examiner column): an evening with pastry chef and author Nick Malgieri. Though I did not get to stay too long, I did get to meet Nick, see a lot of my fellow blogheads, meet some bloggers that I had not met before (or had only met through online social media), and eat some delicious food. I did nibble on appetizers - those mushroom caps were almost gone when I got there but the few I had were delicious - and cookies.


And I chatted with Nick, who is a charming man. Though the chat was brief, a few of us did talk with him about Thai food. He wanted to find out a good place to get some in town, and told us about one author who spent time in parts of Thailand that most American chefs have never seen, bringing in unique Thai ways of cooking that most of those chefs did not even know or believe existed! (If only I could remember that author's name!!! I need to be the anthropologist and bring notepad and paper with me at all times.)

The event was potluck/covered dish, and I got to bring a hot milk cake - recipe from John Shield's Chesapeake Bay Cookery book, which is now falling apart because I have used it so often (here's a similar recipe from the Sun).


I can only imagine the spirited conversation during the dinner party, but at least I don't have to imagine the delicious food. I did get to take some home with me, and everything I ate was delicious, from baked chicken to rice pilaf to meatballs, and everything in between.


Nick had made a Chocolate Bourbon Cake, which I did not get the chance to try since I needed to leave early. But I bet it was very good. This is just one recipe in his new cookbook Bake! which promises to "take all the intimidation out of baking" with delicious results. I am game, and may have to try and interpret that Chocolate Bourbon Cake to see what I missed.

The cake missing the slice? I brought that.

Annapolis Restaurant Week starts Monday

Yes, Annapolis Restaurant Week runs the last full week of February. If you are in or going to be in the Annapolis area, it's worth a trip. Annapolis Restaurant Week is a few dollars cheaper than Baltimore's: prix fixe lunch prices are $16, dinner prices are $30.

Cutting Back on Soda?

It's time.

I've been drinking soda - mostly of the Pepsi variety - for many years. As recently as eight years ago, I was up to over a liter a day! And I wasn't drinking the diet stuff - or the name-brand stuff - either. It was all Shasta and "Ralph's" generic brand (I was in California at the time). Then I started dating someone, a nice guy who lost a lot of weight due to aerobic kickboxing. I tried it, lost about 15 pounds, and started eating healthier. One of the things I started doing was kicking the sugary soda habit. I switched to diet, and it helped me lose the pounds. While that relationship went nowhere, at least I lost some weight as a result (thanks, Eric, wherever in San Francisco you are today).

I further cut down my soda consumption a few years later, after moving back to Maryland. I forced myself to drink more tea, and only drink - get this - three cans of soda a day. That's still a lot. A whole lot.

Now the time has come to try and cut the stuff out of my diet as much as possible - I'm hoping a few cans a week. What's spurring this on? A few things. For one, soda in any format really isn't healthy anyway. But what really did it was a recent report that suggests a link - not necessarily a cause and effect, but a link nevertheless - between diet soda and strokes and other vascular diseases. Mind you, there are flaws in the study, as Dr. Sanjay Gupta points out:

But all of the information about how much soda and sodium consumed came from the participants' own reports, not from a controlled setting. It's possible that they remembered or stated their habits incorrectly, or did not maintain those habits consistently over time. Researchers also do not know about the specific brands and flavors of diet and regular sodas consumed.

. . .

A 2007 study in the American Heart Association journal Circulation found that people who drink one or more soft drinks a day are more likely to develop metabolic syndrome, a heart disease precursor, than people who drink less than one soda a day.

Still, that study also only showed an association, and did not prove that sodas cause metabolic syndrome. There could be something else about people who drink soda regularly that directly leads to risk factors for heart disease. [Gupta & Cohen 2011]

While I could be healthier than I am, I do have some things going for me: I don't just eat crap. And I'm getting a lot more exercise these days than I used to - gym, soccer, yoga. One has to keep one's figure, right?

That said, no doctor - who isn't employed by Coca-Cola - will tell you that drinking so much soda is good for you. There can really only be benefits to cutting back. And while I don't intend to stop drinking diet soda altogether, I would like to cut back a good bit. And so, for a while at least, I'll be reporting on just how successful my quest to cut back on the fizzy drinks really is, what I replace it with, where will I get my caffeine!? (Not coffee, a drink I cannot stand) Oh, and maybe I should cut back on caffeine?

Snacking State-by-State: Connecticut II - Indian Pudding, Mom-Approved

While the last post's specifically clear clam chowder is typical of Connecticut, those famous New England desserts are more difficult to pin down to the Nutmeg State.

Snacking State-by-State: Connecticut

Official Name: State of Connecticut
State Nicknames: The Nutmeg State, The Constitution State, The Provisions State, The Land of Steady Habits
Admission to the US: January 9, 1788 (#5)
Capital: Hartford (3rd largest city)
Other Important Cities: Bridgeport (largest), New Haven (2nd largest), Stamford (4th largest)
Region: Northeast, New England; New England (US Census)
RAFT Nations: Clambake
Bordered by: Massachusetts (north); Rhode Island (east); Long Island Sound and Long Island, New York (south); New York (west)
Official State Foods and Edible Things: Eastern oyster (shellfish)
Some Famous & Typical Foods: oysters, clams, lobsters, haddock, typical New England dishes (Indian pudding, whoopie pie, chowder - including several types of clam chowder), Election cake, apizza (Neapolitan-style pizza pronounced "a-PEETZ"), Portuguese cuisine

I had considered the famous Election Cake, that confection of legend which, as is noted by St. Louis, MO, food writers Ann & Joe Pollack, is yeasty but not terribly sweet. I wanted a sweet dessert, dammit. It shouldn't be such a tall order - there's a reason why super-sweet and cakelike corn bread is called "Yankee cornbread" (one example found on the Pioneer Woman website - I still prefer mine Southern-style though). It is the same with the very sweet Indian pudding, a type of hasty pudding made with cornmeal (as the original English colonists called anything made with corn "Indian"). Funny though it may seem, but Indian pudding doesn't necessarily feature sugar. The recipe I used - from the original modern cookbook, Fannie Farmer's 1896 Boston Cooking-School Cook, but reinterpreted by Tammy Donroe from the Food on the Food blog - was sweetened strictly with molasses and maple syrup.

Recipe: Indian Pudding

Donroe comes right out with the love for this dish: "This, right here, is the best Indian pudding in the world" (Donroe, 2010) as it pretty much is the same type of Indian pudding she ate growing up. Unlike with the clam chowder, I followed her recipe much more closely (this time halving it), omitting only the ginger, because I didn't have any. Yes I should be smacked. In its place I upped the nutmeg. This is the Nutmeg State I'm writing about after all.


* whole milk (easy enough to find)
* cornmeal (I used yellow, since no Southern cook would dare use yellow cornmeal in cornbread. I guessed it might be more culturally appropriate to use yellow for a New England dish)
* butter (mmmm, butter)
* molasses and maple syrup (had both - you will need them in equal amounts)
* egg (got it)
* salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and ground ginger (had everything but the ginger)

Indian pudding is more tedious to make than clam chowder, even if you shuck the clams yourself. The tedium comes not during the baking, but in the prep beforehand.

This is when you first heat the milk - slowly bring it to a simmer, and then slowly whisk in the cornmeal. This is what I am worst at - heating things like milk in a pot without it burning on the bottom. I am especially good at burning things to the bottom of pots. Even constantly whisking and stirring for the 20 minutes the recipe calls for didn't stop a little bit of burning on the bottom, but at least it did not infect the flavor at all.


Anyway, slowly whisk until thick enough to coat a spoon, and then add everything else but the egg, which will scramble. To stop this from happening, you have to temper the egg with just a little of the hot liquid. Add to the batter and pour into a dish. Bake at 325 for 90 to 100 minutes.

Indian pudding, before the oven...

...and after the oven.

Let it cool down for about 20 minutes, and serve. I ate mine with whipped cream.


Unlike Tammy Donroe (and probably, Brooke Dojny and even Fannie Farmer), I did not grow up eating Indian pudding. I hadn't even heard of it until a few years ago (same with that other true Yankee dessert, the whoopie pie, which I first thought was some type of Moon Pie). If I liked lots of molasses, I probably would love this dish. And it is a very good dish. But I hate to admit that the molasses-rich Indian pudding is not my most favorite dessert. It's certainly not the author's fault, since she says it even rivals a famous Boston-area Indian pudding, and Donroe's is a lovely dessert. I don't think it was my interpretation, though maybe I should've gone in for the ginger. It's just a particularly new flavor for me. I could get used to Indian pudding, though I may stick with more Southern desserts. And that is not a dig at New Englanders or Indian pudding lovers anywhere.

Next I head away from the Yankee coast to far more familiar territory than most I've been blogging about. The next stop on my All-American tour takes me across the Chesapeake to the far end of the Delmarva Peninsula. Not the quite familiar "Mar" part. Not the less familiar "VA" part either. Nope, it's all "Del" up ahead: next stop, Delaware.

Sources:

Chowhound.com. "What Constitutes a Good CT Clam Chowder?" Thread started June 16, 2009, by poster Scargod.

Dojny, Brooke. The New England Clam Shack Cookbook. 2nd edition. Storey Publishing: North Adams, MA, 2008. Portions also available on Google Books.

Donroe, Tammy. "Indian Pudding". Food on the Food, April 22, 2010.

Ericalea (poster). "A Family Recipe: Yankee Cornbread". Tasty Kitchen Blog, November 5, 2010.

Pollack, Ann and Joe. "Election Cake". St. Louis Eats and Drinks With Joe and Ann Pollack

Some information also obtained from Wikipedia's "Connecticut" page and other pages, and the Food Timeline State Foods webpage link to "Connecticut”.

Snacking State-by-State: Connecticut I - Clear Clam Chowdah

I have now reached Connecticut, the southernmost state of New England. And like the South and Southwest, New England is a region of the country with a lot of very region-specific specialties that are both 1) well-known around the country, and 2) still usually found in that region alone. It's also a region 3) whose specialties are not often state-specific, but found throughout the entire region. So this and many of my other New England posts may end up reflecting not just the culinary history of that state, but the entire northeastern-most corner of the country.

Snacking State-by-State: Connecticut

Official Name: State of Connecticut
State Nicknames: The Nutmeg State, The Constitution State, The Provisions State, The Land of Steady Habits
Admission to the US: January 9, 1788 (#5)
Capital: Hartford (3rd largest city)
Other Important Cities: Bridgeport (largest), New Haven (2nd largest), Stamford (4th largest)
Region: Northeast, New England; New England (US Census)
RAFT Nations: Clambake
Bordered by: Massachusetts (north); Rhode Island (east); Long Island Sound and Long Island, New York (south); New York (west)
Official State Foods and Edible Things: Eastern oyster (shellfish)
Some Famous & Typical Foods: oysters, clams, lobsters, haddock, typical New England dishes (Indian pudding, whoopie pie, chowder - including several types of clam chowder), Election cake, apizza (Neapolitan-style pizza pronounced "a-PEETZ"), Portuguese cuisine

Before this project, my total exposure to all things culinarily Connecticut consisted of: 1) New England clam chowder; and 2) the various food references in The Stepford Wives. I found that the first was not as clear-cut as I and every other non-New Englander had at first thought. The second caused various robotic phrases to echo through my head all throughout my cooking:

The food of Connecticut and of New England is true, hearty Yankee eating. Not "Yankee" in the "not Southerner" sense, or the "Come on, you Yanks!" sense, or especially the dreaded "pinstripe" sense. Despite all the New Yorkers, Connecticut is still, mostly, Red Sox land. This is "Yankee" in the original sense of the term: a New Englander. Or at least so E.B. White was said to have defined the term: a person from New England, specifically someone from Vermont who "eats pie for breakfast". Just wait until we get to Vermont sometime in 2012.

Perhaps you can divide Connecticut up into a few regions of its own, based on the types of clam chowders you typically find there. There is the southwestern corner - the so-called "Gold Coast" - which is culturally tied to New York City and its "Manhattan" clam chowder that seems to make true Yankees wretch. There is the northern, more specifically "New England", part of the state, whose clam chowder is most familiar to the rest of the country - a chowder which is characteristic of Boston. And there is the south coast, which runs parallel to Long Island to the south. Their clam chowder is one of several regional variations I had never heard of, along with the reddish Rhode Island variety and the milky, buttery kind you find in Maine.

The one I made is that typical one from southern Connecticut (by the way, here is an instructive discussion on the Chowhound website, where one transplanted Texan tries to wrap her head around what constitutes a true Connecticut-style chowder). Brooke Dojny, author of Dishing Up Maine and New England Clam Shack Cookbook, the source for the recipe I used, explains this chowder succinctly:

Southern New England clam chowder: Almost always starts with salt pork, thickened only with floury potatoes, and a broth-and-water base. Made with chopped hard-shell clams. [Dojny 2008:50]

Dojny notes that there is often fierce disagreement between different regions of New England - "or even people from neighboring towns in the same region" (Dojny 2008:50). Hopefully I will not have pissed off any angry Yankees when they muse over my very first attempt at Southern New England clam chowder.

The recipe: Semi-Clear Clam Chowder (Southern New England-Style)

I use Dojny's "Semi-Clear Clam Chowder" (also on Google Books here). She gets this recipe from Lenny & Joe's in Westbrook, Connecticut. And as with the other recipes I've interpreted for this series, I had to take a liberty here or there with the ingredients. The one thing I did not do: halve or quarter the recipe. This time, I made the whole thing:

Don't fret about that big bottle of milk, Nutmeg Staters - I did not use it, as you will soon find out.

* salt pork (about $4.50 for 12 ounces - I used about a quarter of the package, or three pieces)
* chopped onion (got it - I was also supposed to use celery, but this I did not have on hand)
* clam juice (about $2)
* water (not so difficult to find)
* potatoes ($2 from the farmers' market - about 1 1/2 pounds, or 5 cups diced)

* chopped hard-shell clams with their liquor (I spent much more money on this than I should have - after buying four cans of Chicken of the Sea clams from San Diego - total on sale $8 - I found a nice frozen tub of clams from Cape Cod - $5.50 - that were exactly the amount I needed)
* evaporated milk (I almost used whole milk, as you can see. I had no evaporated milk, but see below for the quick replacement I found for it)
* salt and pepper

What surprised me most about this recipe was how fast and simple it was, but I guess that's what a chowder is all about.

First, render the pork...

...which you should chop up, I might add...

Once rendered, remove and discard it and fry up the onions in the drippings. Add the water, clam juice and clam liquor, and then the potatoes.


Boil, reduce heat and keep it at a boil for a while (see her recipe for exact times).


Then comes the diva of this recipe - the clams. Add and simmer for a few more minutes. Then add the evaporated milk and seasonings, and - gasp - it's done!

A note on the evaporated milk: as you saw in that ingredient photo, I had originally thought to substitute regular milk for the evaporated, merely adjusting the limits as needed. That is not a good idea. What I needed to do was to go out and buy some evaporated milk (sorry, not going out mid-boil), or boil down that milk severely (which I had neither the time nor the patience to do), or else create a substitute from the dry milk in my pantry.

I went this last route, using quantities from this page on Buzzle.com that suggests mixing 2/3 cup fat free dry powdered milk with 3/4 cup water. Then use however much of it you need.


I was not sure how I would like this clam chowder, since like the rest of us outside of New England, I am used to the Boston kind. Though I still say I prefer the most famous variety, I found the semi-clear version very simple, filling, clammy (in a good way) and comforting. It is everything I imagine a clam chowder is supposed to be. It was not too overwhelming like a richer, butterier or creamier clam chowder might have been, and as such I found myself going back for seconds the first few times I indulged in this clam chowder. Oyster crackers were a simple and satisfying addition to this soup.

Sources:

Chowhound.com. "What Constitutes a Good CT Clam Chowder?" Thread started June 16, 2009, by poster Scargod.

Dojny, Brooke. The New England Clam Shack Cookbook. 2nd edition. Storey Publishing: North Adams, MA, 2008. Portions also available on Google Books.

Donroe, Tammy. "Indian Pudding". Food on the Food, April 22, 2010.

Ericalea (poster). "A Family Recipe: Yankee Cornbread". Tasty Kitchen Blog, November 5, 2010.

Pollack, Ann and Joe. "Election Cake". St. Louis Eats and Drinks With Joe and Ann Pollack

Some information also obtained from Wikipedia's "Connecticut" page and other pages, and the Food Timeline State Foods webpage link to "Connecticut”.

Sampling Ethnic DC, One Cuisine at a Time

I often go back and forth between Dan Rodricks on our own WYPR (88.1 FM) and his noon-to-two counterpart Kojo Nnamdi on WAMU (88.5 FM), partly due to subject matter, partly due to reception. Today was a Kojo day, and I was lucky to hear Corinna Shen, owner of Rockville's Seven Seas Restaurant, and Todd Kliman, food critic for Washingtonian Magazine. Shen is a big proponent of mixing the Americanized "Chinese" menu with the "real" menu, so that non-Chinese patrons will be more willing to see what Chinese patrons are actually eating - dishes made with loofah and duck blood and frog, that non-Chinese patrons might be reluctant to order, and Chinese restaurant owners may be even more reluctant to give to non-Chinese diners. Kliman gives some tips on how to get those "real" Chinese menu items - show that you respect the cuisine, that you have heard of some of these not-so-Western ingredients, and that you really are willing to eat anything. It still will not always work, but when it does, be prepared for dishes that look nothing like General Tso's chicken.

This is just the latest in a string of shows that Nnamdi has done about the varied ethnic food landscape of Washington, DC and the Maryland and Virginia suburbs. This Local Restaurant World Tour, as he dubs it, is by all means a go-to source for ethnic eating in Montgomery & PG Counties, Northern Virginia and the District. Just one look at the map on the Kojo Nnamdi Show website shows a map of the DC metro area splattered with maps of China, Greece, Thailand, Korea, Trinidad, Italy, Ethiopia and several other countries, some as far away from DC as Frederick and - yes - Baltimore (Da Mimmo's is currently the only Baltimore restaurant on the map). If you are in or around the DC region, and you know you will be eating, you must check out this map.

Let the Revolution Be Coated in 11 Secret Herbs and Spices

I'm not sure why current events and this food blog don't often intersect, but they should do so more often. Take the following video (h/t Chris Bodenner at Andrew Sullivan's Daily Dish blog at The Atlantic*). Here's the set up: the government media, supportive of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, current recipient of much anger from many protesters in Cairo and other cities in Egypt, are claiming that the protesters are being paid by foreign governments with - wait for it - Kentucky Fried Chicken and €100 (about US$135). Far from angrily yelling that this is ridiculous - which it is (KFC!? Please. I want In N Out Burger or nothing at all) - they openly mock the allegation. The video is in Arabic but subtitled in English.

I find the video both hilarious (for the absurdity of the allegations) and inspiring (that the protesters are just not running out of steam).

* Bodenner links from Robert Mackey at the New York Times who mentions Egyptian blogger Mosa'ab Elshamy, who points out the government's Kentucky Fried Allegations.

Because there's a very big football game today

I am very specifically not interested in this year's Super Bowl - and yes, that's because there are no Ravens in it. But many Bawlamorons will indeed be watching (and likely rooting for those Packers - the enemy of my enemy is my friend, yes?) Try not to gain too much weight during this game today, when the Super Bowl hits the big X-L-V. This video from CBS last year gives some tips, courtesy of the folks at Men's Health, on how to not put on too much weight today. Of course, nothing specific to this year's winners. Cheese would be the obvious choice for Packers snackers. As for Pittsburgh? Well, there are all those zombie movies, so...

Packers Cookies

Notice how much more prominent the Packers baked goods are on this table than the Steelers ones. Taken at the Columbia Harris Teeter.

Exits 7B, 8A and 11A Revisited

Once you get past Glen Burnie and Ferndale on the Beltway, you run into the dreaded 95 Clump. Nobody calls it that. Not even I call it that. But this is an apt description for how the various interstates and state routes - the northbound parts of Maryland 295 (Exit 7B), Interstate 895 (Exit 8A) and Interstate 95 (Exit 11A) - just all kind of come together, somewhat leading to the same place. If you drive the back roads to the locations I visited off of these exits, you find that you can pretty easily get to whichever one of these major routes you want with little effort.

Exits 7B, 8A and 11A -
Section of the Beltway - the Glen Burnie (S. Baltimore City, N. Anne Arundel County) and Catonsville (S. Baltimore City, SW Baltimore County) Sections
Towns & neighborhoods along the way - Morrell Park, Violetville, Westport, Lakeland, Cherry Hill, Pigtown, Brooklyn Park, Lansdowne, Baltimore Highlands
Routes that branch off - I-95, I-895, MD-295, US-1

Places that have shut down since I last visited

The first time I did this, I never bothered to take 295 to Westport. At the time I didn't want to travel that far from 695 for food. Also, there aren't a lot of notable places in Westport, so I didn't really explore. As my journey around the Beltway continued, I was willing to drive farther and father away from the Beltway (hell, I went all the way to Harford County by the time I got to the Northeastern section of the Beltway.

One Westport location I had noted the first time I did a redux post, of places I missed the first time, was the Cajun Blu Restaurant. It no longer exists. Or maybe it's just been renamed (see below). Surprisingly, this is the only location that is missing from the first time I wrote about it. Most other places I wrote about have remained open despite the recession. That is not to say that nothing has closed - there have indeed been closings. Take the Holiday Restaurant on Hanover Street in Brooklyn Park (closest to 895). I never had visited it, but now I don't really have the choice. The same is true for a lot of the restaurants in the area that have been hit during or even before the recession.

Restaurants that have since opened

When you drive up Cherry Hill Road, you will not see a sign for Cajun Blu. But you will pass by Ambrosia Catering (map).


Though I haven't stopped in, Ambrosia apparently has one big buffet on Sunday afternoons. I'm not usually free on Sunday afternoons, but maybe you are? If so, be prepared for a massive "soulful Sunday buffet" featuring many soul food favorites - from macaroni and cheese to collard greens, fried fish to black eyed peas. It's all there on Sunday afternoons for the price of $15 ($12 for seniors, $8 for kids). At some point when I have a Sunday free, I will need to stop in. As noted, Ambrosia also caters, and they have a wide variety of dishes they serve.

Restaurants I didn't get around to the first time

In contrast, I did get to visit a few more of the eateries in and around Morrell Park, conveniently located along US-1 and right off Exit 51 off of 95 North (if taking 95 South, you will have to take Exit 50B past Caton House (renovated since I visited last time) which I did visit the first time, towards US-1 and Lansdowne. Turn left at Washington Blvd.

One place I technically did not get to the first time around was Polock Johnny's (map). I say technically because I treated it as if I had. Really though, the last time I had visited when I wrote that post was several years before. Kind of like the Georgetown Market (map), where I stopped many a time on the way home from high school for a foot long hot dog (ah, those were some late 80's/early 90's memories). But as for Polock Johnny's: I figured it was finally time to, you know, go back for real.

Polock Johnny's is a Baltimore institution. Despite the name, it does not serve Polish food. It does serve Polish hot dogs and regular hot dogs, in various combinations and lengths - their Original 5' Polish, their Large 7" Polish, their All Beef 7' Big John, and so on. You can also buy their dogs to go, from their fridge case in the front. And several of their dogs come in combos, with fries and sodas (milkshakes are more, and onion rings in place of the fries are extra). I went ahead and ordered a regular all beef hot dog with onion rings and a soda (about $6) with "the Works". Polock Johnny's famous Works consist of... er, I don't know! And I wouldn't know, since it's their own special recipe that they aren't divulging. But you can also buy tubs of "the Works" to take with you as well.


I did not dine in, but took my food home. Even after I got home half an hour later, the food was just as good for the wear: the dog was still juicy and the tangy, onion-y Works held up well to the travel. Is it any wonder people might buy tubs of this to go? I am not usually a big fan of take out fries, which is why I went with the onion rings. I found myself nibbling on these greasy delights all the way home, and about half of them were gone by the time I got there. Juicy and crunchy all at once, these are the thick onion rings you hope to find when you get take out.


Farther into Morrell Park along Washington Blvd, you head past DeSoto Road (I used to go that way to get to Gibbons sometimes, now shut down by the Archdiocese). Before you hit the old Montgomery Ward (now Montgomery Park) and the decades-gone Little Tavern, you hit the exit that takes you southbound onto I-95. Right off Exit 51 off of I-95 north is Italiano's (map), the latest in a few restaurants that have been in that location over the years (if you get off, the only way back on to 95 from there is south - remember that). I had seen Italiano's many a time in passing along 95 - it's that close - but never ventured to stop in.

The first time you visit Italiano's (they also have a drive thru) you will be greeted by a very large chef statue - maybe this is Italiano? - flanking a very snazzy counter and a nice, comfortable seating area. Mirrors and bright lights make it seem very big inside. If you eyes aren't drawn to our big fiberglass friend (he has menus, by the way), they'll probably be drawn to the big glass counter filled with Italian desserts. I might have gotten one of the desserts were it not for the dizzying array of options on the menu. This place has much of everything: pizza, pasta and stromboli, but also subs, sandwiches, Greek food, hamburgers, salads, crab cakes and other seafood dishes. I could have easily spent $20 or $30 at this place, so I showed some self-restraint and got myself a stromboli ($7.50 minus additional toppings - about $9.50 with one topping). The standard stromboli comes with tomato and cheese. I added sausage to mine. It came out 10 minutes later in a pizza box, which surprised me a bit.


When I got the stromboli home, I could see why they packaged it the way they did: it was a 12" pizza folded over, much bigger and flatter than most stromboli I've seen around town. Yes, I know this is the correct way to make them, but I haven't seen many like that lately. This stromboli was a few meals for me (eat it with tomato soup for a nice filling meal on a freezing cold day). Though I have had better stromboli recently (as recently as Glen Burnie), this one is pretty standard and I did enjoy it. The crust was a nice soft crust, perfect for dipping into tomato soup or sauce, and the sausage is in nice chunky slices, mixed in with the melted cheese and tomato sauce. If nothing else, this stromboli makes me want to go back to try what else is on their utterly humongous menu.

So, what did I miss this time?

Again, I have missed some spots, specifically in and around Brooklyn Park. I still, regrettably, have not made it to 895 Grill (map), though from the reviews I have read online its patrons love the food, the cheesesteak in particular. One spot I have never seen appears to be a Brooklyn Park institution - the Castle Restaurant (map). Then again, I cannot find anything about it. I know of no one that has eaten here. Urbanspoon doesn't even know about, and the City Paper has asked readers for more information. No cars were in the lot (granted, the info I found online says it opens at 4PM), but there was a big "OPEN" sign above the door.

Look! It's, um... open?

So if anyone has any info about the Castle Restaurant, please pass it along here. Or to someone!

Places I got back to

Italiano's (Italian/American/Greek/seafood) - 2229 Washington Blvd., Baltimore, MD 21230; Phone: (410) 468-3377

• Would I eat there again? Yes
• Would I go out of my way to eat there again? Perhaps

Polock Johnny's (hot dogs/fast food) - 3212 Washington Blvd., Baltimore, MD 21230; Phone: (410) 644-5997

• Would I eat there again? I have and I would
  
• Would I go out of my way to eat there again? Yes

A few places to look up later

895 Grill and Carry-Out - 101 Chesapeake Ave, Brooklyn, MD 21225; Phone: (410) 354-1968

Ambrosia Catering (catering/African-American/brunch) - 1810 Cherry Hill Rd., Baltimore, MD 21230; Phone: (410) 837-8701

The Castle Restaurant (I have no idea) - 3720 Potee St, Brooklyn Park, MD 21225; Phone: (410) 355-8300

Georgetown Deli (deli/fast food/grill/corner store) - 2829 Georgetown Road, Baltimore, MD 21230; Phone: (410) 644-7040 ‎