To Mr. Baker, with love! Hancock County Technical Center’s culinary arts director to retire
“I’m gonna miss most, and I think I’m starting not taking it for granted … the interaction daily with the students,” Bill said in a recent interview.
Food
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Plain black: Mourning dress advertised in early cookbooks
By Merry Post Special to The Ellsworth American Community cookbooks from the last quarter of the 19th century sometimes include advertisements that hint at the importance of public mourning customs. The “Excelsior Cook Book,” put out in 1891 by the Congregational Church of Rutland, Vt., includes two advertisements that show the need for proper mourning …
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Seaweed cuisine: Shake up your meals with Maine marine vegetables
“I was a completely blown away by how many varieties [of seaweed] there are. I just thought seaweed was seaweed.” — Kara Ibarguen, cooking instructor, Maine Coast Sea Vegetables
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Westward, Ho! Cake named for American explorer who mapped routes to Pacific Coast
By Merry Post Special to The Ellsworth American The European custom of naming foods after famous people gave us dishes such as Beef Wellington and Tournedos Rossini (named for the Duke of Wellington and the Italian composer, respectively). Americans usually reserved their honorific food names for desserts. Presidents Washington, Madison, Harrison, Tyler, Taylor, Lincoln and …
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From slave’s daughter to landlord: “Free woman of color” became successful businesswoman
Special to The Ellsworth American In the 19th century, chicken usually contained just chicken meat or chicken parts sauced with gravy and baked in pie pastry. I found a more interesting vintage recipe that brings to mind two remarkable Rhode Island women who shattered expectations for women of their time. One, Elleanor Eldridge, was the …
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Spoonful of tonic: Lydia Pinkham invented remedy for women’s ailments
Special to The Ellsworth American The 1800s were golden years for the manufacture of patent medicines. These untested proprietary products were sold over the counter. Before the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act of 1938, American entrepreneurs sold hundreds of dubious preparations as medicine with no legal requirement to list their ingredients or to prove efficacy …
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Great egg-spectations: Maine farmer pays tribute to humble food
“Just before COVID, I decided I wanted to write a cookbook,” said Steele, who has lived on a small farm in Dixmont for the past seven years with her husband. “I really wanted to write an egg cookbook.”
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Go Swiss and treat family to rösti potatoes
Rösti (RAW-stee) Potatoes are a classic fried-potato preparation from the German-speaking region of Switzerland. Originally a breakfast dish commonly eaten by farmers, this savory potato pancake has many creative adaptations. In the Swiss mountains, rösti usually comes with a fried egg, bacon or speck (cured pork belly) and or cheese. At a Swiss restaurant, rösti …
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No mocking: Provender shares recipes for its popular nonalcoholic drinks
“It’s become trendy and cool amongst peers. Fueling that further is the plethora of new choices on the market.”
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Easy, elegant dessert sure to please this holiday season
One of the easiest and most elegant desserts in my recipe collection is for a Bavarian Apple Torte. Not really a torte, more like a cheesecake, this creation starts with a buttery, shortbread crust that slides to a creamy, luscious filling topped with al dente tart-sweet apples in a cinnamon, almost caramel coating, and finishes …
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Chef/farmer shares thrifty, homemade gift ideas
Stonington chef and educator Cheryl Wixson likes making homemade holiday gifts. Her terrariums feature beachstones, mosses and other natural lements from her shore and woods.
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Chef Lou Del Conte concocts versatile vinaigrettes
HANCOCK — Lou Del Conte, the chef behind a line of artisanal pasta sauces inspired from his former Mount Desert Island restaurants, has launched salad dressings to make dinner time even easier. There are two dressings to start and more dressings to follow. One of the two available, Pecorino Romano Oregano Vinaigrette, had been the …