North Adams, Massachussets: Storey Publishing, 2003
A particular culture and cuisine, out of season
Here’s a prescription for sufferers of Seasonal Affective Disorder, that problem during dark days of the year when depression creeps up on people. Read a book that seems steeped in sunlight, where every page makes you picture summer: long hot bright days that vanquish winter’s short cold ones. The fix is The New England Clam Shack Cookbook by Brooke Dojny. Dojny leads readers on an expedition through coastal New England, tasting the wares of clam shacks, lobster pounds, and chowder houses. Unsurprisingly, out of the 25 establishments covered, the most — ten — are in Maine. Lobster pounds dominate in Maine: there’s Thurston’s Lobster Pound in Bernard, Tidal Falls Lobster Kettle in Hancock, the Lobster Pound in Lincolnville, Cod End Cookhouse in Tenants Harbor, Shaw’s Fish and Lobster Wharf in New Harbor. Harraseeket Lunch and Lobster in South Freeport and Two Lights Lobster Shack at the entrance to Portland Harbor on Cape Elizabeth qualify as both lobster pound and clam shack. Then you’ve got the clam shacks Bagaduce Lunch and The Clam Shack in Kennebunkport. The one full-service, year-round chowder house the book covers in Maine is J’s Oyster Bar on the Portland waterfront. All the eateries featured are described with an abundance of illustrations, recipes and helpful hints, and legends and lore.
Since these restaurants are mainly seasonal, reading this book now may just frustratingly whet your appetite. What good is that, you ask, if you can get no satisfaction? Well, besides the lead time that reading this book now offers for plotting a culinary quest in season, appetizing recipes and photographs could be satisfying substitutes, mid-winter, for the real thing. And when you have seasonal access to raw ingredients, you may decide to save gas money and spend it on fresh seafood instead. For example, the chapter on chowders, stews and soups features a rich panoply of possibilities. Lincolnville’s Lobster Pound has a hearty recipe for Steamer Chowder full of soft-shell clams in whipping cream, butter, clam broth and potatoes. Thurston’s Lobster Pound’s recipe for Mussel Chowder combines olive oil, lots of garlic, and dry white wine as well as butter and heavy cream. J’s Seafood shares its Seafood Bouillabaisse recipe featuring garlic, red and green pepper, basil, oregano, soft-shell crabs, mussels, sea scallops, shrimp, lobster, crab and haddock. Lobster Stew from Shaw’s gets down to basics: lobster, butter, paprika, dry mustard, and half-and-half. Salivating yet?
But, you may protest: those ingredients are not on your diet plan. Alas, if you’re in search “lite” alternatives, this book won’t do you much good. Butter, oils, mayonnaise and cream abound, as well as high-carb no-no’s like potatoes and bread. Bold chefs may take inspiration from recipes here and create versions more in line with their dietary vision. Reading this cookbook is, happily, not just about the ingredients. The essence of the book is a portrait of New England culture as well as cuisine. We are given the ingredients of its coastline eateries: the families running them, the fishermen supplying them, the harbors and beaches that house them. There’s a lot of local color brightening these pages. This winter, a page a day may keep the doctor away.
Tina Cohen writes from Amherst, MA, and Vinalhaven.