Cooking Advice
The 20 Most New Englandy Dishes
Yankee Magazine’s first food editor chose these recipes as the 20 “most typical” New England dishes back in 1939. Do her selections ring true today?
By Amy Traverso|Mar 14 2022|
Coffee By Design | Portland, Maine
Photo Credit : Katherine KeenanYield:
Ingredients
Instructions
I’m pretty excited about this list. It makes sense to me. I am also super excited about the “Yankee Cookbook” I just picked up an original 1939 copy for 50 cents at a book sale in Gainesville, Florida. It was an amazing find 🙂
Now living in Atlanta after a whole lifetime (60 yrs) in New England and almost all on the list are my favorites .. Yes we could probably add a few more…. And that is why I try to make an annual trip North to munch out on as much of the New England goodies as I can…. And visit as many beaches as I can while visiting friends and relatives.
I do get Yankee…. as a gift from my nephew and I do not throw them away…. I even have an oldie I came across from July/Aug 2004.
I remember digging up Quahaugs at low tide so Mom could make Chowda and Stuffies…
Looking forward to the cookbook…. it will make great gifts for the holiday !!!!
I know growing up every Saturday night we had baked beans and hot dogs….but..lobster and clams are right up there with me in regard to a typical NE dinner…however… 🙂 Indian Pudding at Durgan Park can’t be beat nor strawberry shortcake there….and mother’s rhubarb pie…too hard to decide and I am salivating just thinking of choices….
MOST typical? Not by a long shot! Where is Shepherd’s Pie? Where are Whoopie Pies? And lobster is much more commonly boiled than broiled. You got a collection of specialized recipes, but they are not “typical” New England fare. What about deep fried haddock? To be sure, you included some – baked beans, brown bread, Indian pudding, clam chowder, Johnnycake, red flannel hash (what about New England boiled dinner – the precursor to that hash?), Apple pandowdy…you got several, so I’ll give you a “C” for not too bad. BTW, why isn’t Moxie anywhere – or does it have to be a recipe? Moxie float…
I would vote for #9. I am hoping it is referring to “Salt Codfish Gravy”. My father was born and raised in Maine and we’d have this delicious dish often for breakfast with boiled potatoes! Talk about a meal to stick to your ribs! I don’t know a single soul who knows what this dish is. They don’t know what they’re missing!
Lobster, lobster, lobster!!!
yeah I didn’t see the clam fritters, or fried clams
Everything on this list I can make for myself now that I live in Tenn. But I sure can’t make Fried Clams here, if you leave New England all you can get are those nasty clam strips.
Need to add Boiled Dinner and Clam pie.
clam chowder for one, american chop suey and lobster roll
Delicious list but seems a little more typical for the coastal communities—-growing up in the landlocked Northeast Kingdom of Vermont the Pot roast–hash–chicken pot pie–etc. were more typical dinners…
Boiled dinner, fried clams and ginger bread are staples missing from your list.
Thanks for your feedback, Patricia! Remember that this list was generated in 1939. There are many dishes that I would add to it if I were making my own list today. But I think it’s interesting to see how our ideas about New England cooking—and what defines it—have evolved since then.
Good point! Thanks for weighing in….
I could not agree more, Patricia! I have never heard of baked beans being boiled first. You need about 6 to 8 hours of baking in a 300 oven to make a good baked bean. My family uses either pea beans or kidney beans, depending on what is on hand. Also the clam chowder recipe should be soft shell clams, not the hard cherry stones.
There is a Vermont Turkey, but it only shows how to dry cure. Where is the directions on how to make the turkey with the fixin’s. What about the stuffing?
I have never had cole slaw the way it is described here. What about the red cabbage and the carrots? Sour cream dressing, um no! Little Mayo, red wine vinegar and a bit of sugar…..yum!
Where is the old fashioned clam bake?
The fish chowder without haddock or cod? Pollock, come on, any fisherman and/or lobsterman round these parts knows we used to use it as bait fish. Good lord. I always likes Yankee Magazine and Imogene has long been one of my faves, I have lots of her recipes, but she would never have approved of half of these. I have her recipe for baking beans in a wood stove in the side chimney, now those are some tasty beans!
Patricia, I thought I was missing New England when I read the 1939 list – but you had to go and mention MOXIE?!?
#homesick
#Western Mass
I grew up in RI, and we most often used Quahogs steamed and ground to make chowder. OF course , my dad was a shell fisher for many years and the good stuff went to market, Quahogs were cheap and easy and tasty option.
Your Cape Cod Turkey sounds a lot like my mothers Cream Fin and Haddie. The salted Cod was simmered in the white sauce and that was served over mashed potatoes. A very common Friday supper. Peas were often served on the side.
I was curious about your mother’s recipe. Tried looking it up in Google. Found a slight spelling variation. Creamed Finnan Haddie. Sounds just as delicious!
What about clam cakes (RI), maple walnut ice cream, and steamers?
Wonderful, traditional, always found on our tables for over 60yrs; have to add New England Boiled dinner, Corn Chowda, and Salmon Pea Wiggle… 🙂
blueberry slump!
My English born grandmother and native born mother lived in Maine until grandfather died. They moved to Massachusetts, but brought Maine with them in the form of food in addition to the above mentioned dishes. For instance, baked bean sandwiches, Whoopie Pies, creamed salmon with peas over mashed potatoes, pickled beets, gingerbread, New England boiled dinner, grapenut custard, bread pudding, turnip and carrots mashed together, boiled lobstah, deep dish apple pie and the best turkey stuffing ever!
I’ve heard of it, and I love it! My grandmother used to use quite a few Depression-era recipes in her everyday cooking, and at least half of those included putting meat or fish in milk gravy–including hot dogs. Codfish (salted or unsalted) in milk gravy over mashed potatoes was always my favorite! Which reminds me that I haven’t had it for awhile…I should make it.
And don’t worry, I get the exact same blank stares and questioning looks when I mention salmon loaf, another weeknight dinner staple at my house growing up.
@kathy borges,here in west virginia you can’t even get the strips.i used to fill up on fishermans platter at bob’s clam hut in kittery,maine on old rte 1,they could not be beat.
I would surely trade out the Oysters for fried clams!!!!
Not a single blueberry muffin or pie or anything blueberry. I’m really surprised at that.
I guess I must be pretty lucky I can get great Fried Whole Belly Clams here in Las Vegas at a little place called “Lazy Joe’s” Google it, its just a little place in a strip mall…
http://lazyjoesfishandchips.com/menu/…
On the contrary, boiling the beans before baking is a New England tradition. I learned it from my grandmother, and I did it today, although today, I finish them in the slow cooker rather than a slow oven.
The codfish cakes (instead of the codfish balls) were also authentic. I believe the salt cod was soaked longer than an hour, though. We also had creamed salt cod with hard boiled eggs chopped and added to the sauce. But I never heard of the term Cape Cod Turkey.
Lobster rolls would be one of the additions, not to mention a New England clambake, just to cover the prep time spectrum! Jordan Marsh’s blueberry muffins? Boston Cream Pie? Broiled or Baked Stuffed Schrod?
Salmon Pea Wiggle over Saltine crackers, Dried Beef Gravy over baked potato-ALWAYS served with home canned stewed tomatoes, and not that awful gravy made with cornstarch either, the good white sauce, made with real buuter and flour roux, then add raw milk, yum! My Grandmother King’s Macaroni and Cheese, made with sharp cheddar, and cooked like you would a custard in the oven, non of that melted cheese on top of the stove junk! Also ALWAYS served with the home canned stewed tomatoes and Johnny Cake. Lastly, Tansy Cake-don’t find many people who know it, but it’s a one egg cake with chopped Tansy stirred in, then a warm pour over sauce made with Maple Syrup, Heaven!!
Mine too….now my family hets to eat the oldies…..never mind these gourmet looking dishes…we are New Englanders, best food evah.
I will have to say we had ‘brown bread’ on our Saturday night dinner of baked beans and hot dogs.
Sounded like a copy of our eating schedule. However, we also had grilled cheese sandwiches with Maple Syrup on them, and home made ice cream – I especially liked the grapenut one. Also, homemade donuts and the donut holes fried in fat in a shallow pan on the stove, then sprinkled with granulated sugar on some of them!
Thank you printing this list and the fond memories of those days.
Sonya has the right list! Your list looks like one from Maine. I grew up in Vermont where we didn’t have such expensive tastes! The Indian Pudding and Baked beans for sure. I remember my mom making everything on Sonya’s list! Sheppard’s Pie and Scalloped potatoes were common meals. Maple Syrup pie,homemade applesauce and mayonnaise cake have been around for centuries but I get what you are saying about the time period.
I see several others have mentioned things that I would have, except Chinese Pie. Google it, there is quite a history lesson there in Wikipedia.
I’m a Southern native who moved to NH 10 years ago. Is this a list of dishes which originated in New England rather than things that are only generally served in New England? Some of these are common around the country (coleslaw, pumpkin pie, split pea soup and several others), but maybe they originated in New England.
There are some things that are commonly served here that are nowhere in the South, such as steak tips, which we had never heard of before moving here! Whoopie Pies are also a big deal here unlike the South.
This is awesome! I grew up on most of these and a few recipes have been lost with the loss of grandparents. Although quite a few of these dishes are still regulars in our family. So fun and I will look forward to seeing if I can re-create Nana’s Baked Beans.
The author — who created this list in 1939 — gave a brief explanation or the list: “I am basing the popularity of these dishes on the number of recipes sent in as a result of my daily radio broadcasts over the Yankee Network in Boston. For example, I received 377 recipes for baked Indian pudding—more than for any other one dish. So, naturally, it heads the list.”
Apple pie rocks with coffee ice cream on it!
You opened a whole can of memories….great selection but I also concur with many of the additions. Part of me never left N H.
Hey Guys….you forgot WHOOPIE PIES !!!!!
Oh yes ….and Fried Clams – WITH THE BELLIES !
Fried dough with maple syrup.
Great list! But let’s not forget the venerable lobster roll or fried clams!
My sister and I are “growing up in the ’30’s” kids. Being Catholic Friday suppers were fish night. Does anyone know the trade name of a New England boned salted codfish that came in a little wooden box with a slide top? I recall something like Captain ???? dried salted cod fish.
I would add steamed clams and Welsh rarebit. Along with several other people who commented,.we always had baked beans and hot dogs and usually brown bread for Saturday night supper. And although we weren’t Catholic we always had fish for Friday night supper but I don’t recall codfish balls. I wonder if they might be similar to fish sticks?
Where is LOBSTA STEW?
Growing up in the mid 40’s, and 50’s we had 14 out of the 20 items as regular fare. My mother made mashed potatoes every night and we had a dessert every night. Bread pudding, date nut bread, custard and stewed fruit with cream. We had a lot of pie. Apple, blueberry, banana cream and chocolate cream. Lots of cake too. Made from scratch with buttercream frosting. Life was good!
I was born and brought up in Vt. as was my husband. The only thing on the list that I don’t eat is the oysters. and that is because I am allergic to shellfish. We had beans and brown bread for lunch today. And, yes, I have made my own brown bread!! (B&M brown bread is good, too) We eat salmon and peas,. salt codfish, fish cakes, etc. and we have not lived in NE for over 50 years. But we are still New Englanders at heart.
I agree with grapenut pudding, homemade fried dough…what about beach plum jelly…stuffed quahogs and American Chop Suey!!!!!??
I remember being served what were called “New England One Pot Dinners” such as spareribs and sauerkraut, or “Blueberry Buckle”, cobblers, oyster stew, bread pudding, oh – so many I recall made by my grandmother (many on your list)……and of course carried on by my mother. Good eatin’!
Don’t forget chop suey and dilly beans 😉
How about…doughnuts, fiddleheads, anything blueberry. …
Steamed Lobster, not broiled, is the New England tradition.
Clam Pie …..
Stuffed Clams …..aka Stuffies ,
Fried Calimari Rhode Island Style ,
Breaded Deep Fried Calimari finished with Butter & pickled Banana Peppers
American Chop Suey,
New England Boiled Dinner,
Come on lets think a bit more ……..
Mark – I like your list. We have seafood here in Florida and we just prepare it New England style. Love New England Seafood Dinner.
A good list. I would include New England Boiled Dinner and clamboil.
Please remember the New England Boiled Dinner – Smoked shoulder simmered along with potatoes, carrots, cabbage, turnips – nothing tastier with butter on those potatoes! Easy and delicious. I
I would like to submit dandelion greens and fiddle heads!
After reading through this list I am really hungry for some good Yankee Food like I grew up on, which we don’t get in Texas.
I’m a Pennsylvania girl. This was all interesting reading.
I have been subscribing to Yankee for YEARS.
My Gram used to make Cabbage Oyster, a very simple dish of cabbage and milk/cream, but no oysters! I suppose it was called that because it looks like a chowder, maybe oyster chowder? Simply delicious!!
Never in my life had Indian pudding.. Don’t think I’ve ever seen it anywhere but Durgin park. I’ve lived in Massachusetts my entire life. My Mom made Finnan Haddie, had it on toast with mashed potatoes and peas on the side all the time! Finnan Haddie is smoked where plain salt cod isn’t. SO DELICIOUS, but it did make the house smell fishy! I never had creamed oysters, but we used to have oyster stew. ( it was like a chowder)
We always had salmon on the 4th of July! My Mom’s family was Swedish, think alot of what we ate came from there! I wouldn’t eat creamed herring or beef tongue though!
Beef tongue is delicious
Ditto, Wendell!!! My dad shopped at Haymarket and Dock Square markets, and beef tongue was a fairly frequent purchase. My mother would make raisin sauce to serve with it…..YUMMM!!
What a great list but I was surprised to see that Molasses Cookies wasn’t on it! My grandmother lived in northern New Hampshire and was one of the best New England cooks ever. My mother and I have spent the last 10 years trying to figure out what her Molasses Cookies recipe was!
I’m curious about what type of Molasses Cookies? The crisp, lacy kind, or chewy or thick and cake-like?
What about boiled dinner? Corned beef brisket or ham and potatoes, carrots and cabbage? served with vinegar and mustard?
Yes! But I thought they just wanted historical stuff.
Apple pie and ice cream, apple crisp!
Hermits – I loved them!
I grew up in northern NH, away from the coast, so we didn’t eat much seafood. My mother did prepare salt cod(from the little wooden box), but didn’t make us eat it. Most of the other items were on our menu at home. My father especially loved red flannel hash and baked beans. American Chop Suey was served every week! We also ate tortiere (pork pie), a French Canadian speciality.
Yes, we had tourtière every Christmas Eve!
Ah! you are the first to mention Blueberries. My favorite was wild blueberry pie. We would go out and pick the wild berries, and my mother would make the best blueberry pie that I have ever had. Those cultivated berries just don’t cut it.
We were all from Massachusetts, but my mother always made baked bean sandwiches with the left over beans from Saturday night, gingerbread, (my favorite ‘cake’), and the creamed salmon with peas. You DO have to be from New England to wrap your brain around a baked bean sandwich; I still eat them.
You all have made me quite hungry. I was thinking of cod fish cakes just last night and from there it went on to creamed cod over boiled potatoes, baked beans, with bean sandwiches the next day (with mayonaise,of course) boiled dinner with hash the next day. I am older than dirt and a native New Englander so I could just go on and on. Thanks for the memories.
Boston Cream Pie, coffee jello, linguica sandwiches, chow mein sandwiches
This just brought back in a flash the cod fish cake’s, creamed cod,on Friday or Haddock .That was the considered the cheap fish,but it sure was tasty to me. And yes my gram boiled her Beans as i remember for a while before putting them in the oven for the whole after noon to be ready for supper.She made her Brown Bread also. And hot Dogs completed the picture. Every Sat. afternoon Mom ,my Sister and i would walk over to Meme’s house and visit until my Dad came from work and Aunt’s and Uncle’s and Cousin’s came and we would all sit and share a meal.The children today are missing something special as that way of life is slowly being lost. One of our favorite’s was corn chowder nothing special, but made from scratch was heaven.
Loving the memories!!
Fourth of July’s standard meal was salmon with egg sauce, new peas, and new potatoes! My mother also made dee-licious fish chowder ~ she’d purchase a whole fish (cod or haddock), then proceed from there; salt pork, potatoes, fish stock (the cooking liquid from the fish), and cream, the finished dish then served with common crackers. Another well-loved staple was “Garden Special” consisting of tomatoes, peppers, onions, and celery that was cooked down and “put up” in jars so that summer’s bounty from the garden could be enjoyed over the winter months. Other favorites included shredded-wheat biscuits (the big ones!) put on a baking sheet, spread with a bit of butter, toasted in the oven, then served with coddled (soft-cooked) eggs on top; also, baked bananas, a Sunday breakfast treat ~ slightly underripe bananas put whole in a baking dish, topped with orange juice and a sprinkling of cinnamon, then baked until the bananas softened. I could go on and on, but you get the drift…….
Thumbs up!
Diana, our family recipe for molasses cookies is known as Daddy Cookies as they were my dad’s favorite! The secret ingredient, believe it or not, is BACON FAT!!!
We grew up on New England Boiled Dinner and Beef Stew. Surprised to not see either one of them listed 🙁
You forgot Popovers…………….one of my favorite things in New England. I find them at a place in Portsmouth, NH called POPOVERS and at Jordan Pond – Acadia National Park.
Strawberry rhubarb pie, creamed chipped beef on toast, red flannel hash, refrigerator pickles, anadama bread, mock apple pie made with Ritz crackers, tripe (yuk!), liver and onions, and Fluffernutters!
Yes, yuck and Yummy!!!
No 20 is broiled lobsta, not boiled but Broiled which I assume means a baked stuffed lobsta. Even in the 60’s baked stuffed was preferred over boiled.
Oh how I loved seeing this list. I have made or eaten at least 90% of the food on the list. My family has lived in New England since the 1600’s and these recipes are timeless. Thank you for posting these. I think I am going to have to go out and get the incredients for Baked Indian Pudding and make it. YUM YUM
Wonderful list and comments! They warm my heart and make me smile as I recall all those great dinners made by my Mother and Grandmothers!
My fav. was my grandmother would take new potatoes from the garden along with fresh string beans cooked with salt pork, love it with real butter, yummy, miss you Tinker
I would have loved to see Wild Maine Blueberry Pie on this list. I dream about it.
Otherwise it was a fantastic list!
Where’s the fried whole belly clams, the lobstah roll, the steamers and the boiled lobster????
Hello? Maine blueberry pie did not make this list?
Grew up eating tomato sausages, American chop suey and brown bread. 🙂 As a kid I loved to drink lime rickeys or raspberry lime rickeys.
I live in Virginia now and no one knows what I mean with a raspberry lime Rickey!! Loved them!
I use to get lime rickeys at Hymie’s on W103rd St and Columbus in Manhattan back in the 1950s
Blueberry Slump! My great gram used to make that so good. I also think of a clam bake or pot of clams, corn potatoes and lobster boiled together when we got home from the beach.
I was born and raised in a French-Canadian enclave in northern Maine and many items mentioned in the 1939 list were common to us as well. In addition, we enjoyed a ground pork pate (creton) made up of ground pork and minced salt pork seasoned with nutmeg along with other spices. As I recall, it was spread on toast to which we added yellow mustard. Some preffered to heat it up slightly and mix it in with molasses and spread on toast especially during the winter months. Another favorite was “boudin” , a sausage made using a mixture of blood from hogs, diced salt pork, diced onions, seasonings; cooked long and slowly on stove top after which it was cooled poured into sausage casings and, as I recall, boiled to cook the filling. It could be refrigerated for future use by grilling in a skillet. Color of the finished product: black. And of course one cannot forget “ployes” made from a batter of buckwheat flour. The food I remember most fondly is a vegetable dish my mother made in early summer. We grew swiss chard, a dark green leafy vegetable which grows on white stalks. We also grew beets and early in the growing season, we would scatter pull some of the tiny beets to allow room for others to grow during the summer. My mother would par-cook the beets and squeeze them out of the thin skin leaving a bright red globule which she would add to the green and white swiss chard. The dish looked like Christmas in July.
I, too, am from northern Maine (Aroostook County) and know that many use nutmeg and other spices in creton, but we only used onions and summer savory, and still grow my own summer savory. It’s an herb that I use in meatloaf, chicken stew, etc.
American Chop Suey!
Well said. Clam cakes (made with quahogs), grape nut pudding and ice cream, maple syrup (a must have for pancakes), coffee syrup (I wouldn’t drink milk without it), McIntosh apples, fish & chips! So many wonderful things!
Here in Rhode Island clam cakes are one of the quintessential local foods. Anything made out of quahogs, our regional shellfish is popular here in RI – “steamers” – steamed clams, “stuffies” – large stuffed quahogs served with hot sauce, “little necks” eaten raw on the half shell, in addition to steamed mussels served with melted butter. Lobsters cooked in any fashion – not just broiled – are typical New England. I don’t know about apple pan dowdy, but certainly apple pie with a slice of cheddar cheese on top, and rhubarb pie too. Cod fish balls are not popular in Rhody, but baked or broiled cod with a butter and cracker topping is on every menu in the state. Corn chowder is typical New England too. I saw someone mention Finnan Haddie. My mom used to make that – delicious! Portuguese foods are very typical in southern New England – linguica and chourico, sweet bread, salted cod with tomatoes (bacalou). And don’t forget coffee ice cream! Long before the coffee culture took hold New Englanders loved their iced coffee and virtually no one outside the region ate coffee ice cream. Rhode Island children love their milk mixed with Eclipse coffee syrup! And since 1869 Saugy hot dogs, made right here in Cranston, have been the most popular hot dogs in RI.
Do you have a recipe for Finnan Haddie?
Welsh rabbit (or rarebit) on Sunday night. Make a roue with butter, flour and add dark beer, Add shredded sharp cheddar cheese until all is melted and creamy. Serve on toast or english muffins with a slice of tomato and a bacon strip.
I agree with the list. A few things I’d add: blueberry pie / muffins, strawberry and peach shortcake. We bought peaches by bushel baskets and put them up so we’d have peaches all year, and, grape nut ice cream. Mom made the ice cream more often than pudding. She was a great cook.
Lets not forget tuna wiggle, bread and milk, and chip beef on toast.
I was born in 1939 and I remember Mom or Dad serving us these meals, so it is pretty much right on… I would agree with her… being of French Canadian heritage there were a few other dishes served …
The list is a good one, however I thing boiled or steamed lobster is way more typical than broiled. Typo maybe be? As much as I like Indian Pudding, t don’t see it much anymore. Maybe the lobster roll in its many forms might be better in the top 20.
Where is the oyster and cracker stuffing?
I’m amused that the comments are so spirited. “How could you forget blah blah!?” “We never ate so-and-so, not even once…and then you fail to mention xxx?! Blasphemy!” Imogene Woolcott must be spinning in her grave. These are dishes that she, and she alone, found typical of New England in the 1930s. Unless you’re a commentor that’s over ninety years old, you weren’t even a kid when she made her list!
Lived in Oregon 40 years but my whole family was from Norway and So Paris, Me. We all cook like we are still in Maine. Still bake beans for most Saturday dinners! We never boil the beans first in our house.
Whoopee, for Whoopie Pies.
My favorite was flapjacks which changed with the seasons, sometime filled with strawberries or blueberries and winter months buttered and sprinkled with cinnamon & sugar rolled up and topped with good Male syrup. I always
loved Maple Sugar and snow!
Can the Brown Bread in a Jar batter be frozen to be baked later? Or how does the cooked brown bread freeze?
Hi Judi. We’ve never tried freezing the batter, but the baked brown bread (removed from the jars) can be wrapped tightly and frozen for future enjoyment.
Harvard Beets
Yay for “Havahd” beets!!! I go by the recipe in an old Fanny Farmer cookbook!!
Indian Pudding is by far the finest of New England deserts! Fish Cakes, Quohog Chowder, Franks and Baked Beans and Baked Haddock! All winners in my book!
Agreed. We woild have Indian pudding and Boston baked bread for desert on Thanksgiving (plus all the usual like pumpkin pie, apple, blueberry etc but I’d always g9 for the Indian pudding
Warm Stewed Rhubarb (on Vanilla ice cream);Lobster Stew (no flour, and served next day, ala); Graveyard Stew (toast in hot milk); Lemon Pudding
How about the Toll House Cookie, succotash and shepherd’s pie? And, my mother soaked salt cod overnight. She also made Blueberry Grunt, and Blueberry Slump.
My Mum used to make a dish called Smothered Beef and Shrimp Wiggle for Dad. We also ate asparagus on toast, though I don’t know how NE that is. She was raised in Greenville, Maine on Moosehead Lake. I always stop at Moody’s Diner if I’m there on a Thursday to have Indian pudding! That’s the only day they make it!
Love this great article! My late mother married in 1939 on Beacon Hill and was a true “Yankee New Englander” whose mother married a Nickerson and mom grew up on the Cape where we spent summers in their house built in 1776. Her forebears came here in 1721 landing in Portsmouth, NH. So I grew up eating all these great recipes. My late grandmother was a great cook and baker as was mom. I still make many of them! “Finn and Haddie” “Bubble and Squeak” and every Saturday night it was baked beans, brown bread and hotdogs when I was growing up. Still love those baked bean sandwiches too with some ketchup! Nana Nick made the best clam or corn chowders and also made homemade hermits and “Joe Froggers” which would could also finally get at the bakery here on the Cape! I also love making New England Boiled Dinner, cod, steamed cabbage and carrots and potatoes which is very much like the Irish corned beef, cabbage, carrots and potatoes dinner of my part Irish/Scottish heritage as well. We had a mini farm on the Cape back in the day and collected eggs from the hen house, had a rooster that woke up us every morning along with the sound of the bugle from Camp Tonset and would get our fish and lobster right off the boat at the end of the road! Great memories to go alone with the wonderful food! Recently I’ve been making recipes from my Durgin Park cookbook and I have the Kennedy Compound cookbook, Mystic Seaport cookbook which has very old recipes and the late decorative artist Peter Hunt’s cookbook as well with those famous old Portuguese recipes as well. So glad to see these fabulous recipes continue but also so sad to see that famous old fabulous Durgin Park restaurant close down! Boo! Glad I bought their cookbook!! Thanks for sharing one and all, too!
I love traveling to New England,haven’t been in 3 years,looking forward to next year,hoping to rent a cottage for a week..
I remember the fun of camping out at Nickersons on the Cape as a kid! Your note warms my heart.
Beautiful memories of your family.. 80 years old. Also have many wonderful memories of family and country. Praying our country will return to family, faith and country.
Good list for 1939. But today’s would have to include Blueberry muffins made with wild Maine Blueberries; Lobster (not everyone boils them in real seaweed!); and popovers.
One desert missing……Boston Creme Pie !!!
Flippers down Provincetown in the 50’s & 60’s. As a child they’d send me to the bakery by myself in the wee hours if the morning to get the dough before it had risen. It was cut into squares then put into hot oil till it flipped, making a hollow pillow – perfect for butter and/or maple syrup. Awesome.
Missed are the Ipswich fried clams!
Dynamites from Woonsocket
Fried clams and Boston Cream Pie
bread pudding, grapenut pudding, pate’ chinois (new england shepherd’s pie),scrod.
I lost my Apple-Pear Compote recipe from your magazine and can’t find it anywhere. How can I get a copy? It was published when the size was smaller than it is now. Any help is a greatly appreciated. Thanks!
I have the cookbook and love it! It’s truly a New England classic!