Boston

Many years ago, I was accepted into Boston University and managed to go there for three semesters before heading back home to finish up at SUNY College at Buffalo. My father drove me to the airport to move to Boston. On the way, he ran out of gas. I made the flight but it was a harrowing way to begin my college career.

The dorms were full that semester so, before ending up in a cool brownstone on Buswell Street, the school put a bunch of us up in the Sheraton downtown for a few months. This was an incredible step up from my living situation at home. Kind of fairy tale-like.

I arrived in Boston with pennies in my pocket and no prospect of an income at all. My first meal in town was a submarine sandwich from a place across from the campus on Comm Ave. and they put pickles right on the sandwich! I loved that. But the sub took a good portion of my money, so I needed a plan.

BU had (maybe still has?) a mostly-vegetarian dining room, called the Banner Room, so I went to apply for a job there. That way, I figured, I could eat at least during my work shifts. I was hired and I worked as much as my schedule would allow.

I worked very hard and I learned many things about food service there. I also learned some about the great cuisine of New England. Having grown up in the Northeast U.S., the foods of New England were not foreign to me, but to be right in the heart of New England, and surrounded by all manner of wonderful sea foods, baked beans, sweet corn bread, chowders, pies, etc., was heavenly. If pressed, I would have a hard time deciding which U.S. regional cuisine I prefer more: New England or Lowcountry Southern. Well, I can't pick; I love them equally well.

There are so many fabulous cookbooks that cover the foods of New England and, of course, the Thornes write about it, too, and I am huge fans of theirs. One of my very favorite books is Rain, Hail and Baked Beans: A New England Seasonal Cook Book by Duncan MacDonald and Robb Sagendorph (Ives Washburn, 1958; reissued by Dover in 1993 with the title Old Time New England Cookbook). I adore the organization of the book by parts of seasons, such as early fall, fall, early winter, and so on. For this time of year, the chapter is called "End of Summer, August 2-September 9," and it includes simple but good recipes for Concord grape jelly, Rose petal jam, Deep-dish pear pie, Peach sauce, Cold fruit soup, Sauerkraut, and Fried pies.

The introductions to each chapter are fun to read. The text for the "End of Summer" chapter begins:
The rainy spell you may be complaining about
in August lasts longer than most people believe it
should. And when this happens, you are sure to be
reminded that it rained on July 15 last, the day of
St. Swithin. The superstition is that if it rains
on this day, it will rain for forty days and then
some. When St. Swithin died, he asked that he not
be buried inside the cathedral where he had
preached. Rather, he preferred being somewhere
outside, perhaps a long walk, so he could be nearer
to the people of his parish. But his instructions
were not followed out. He was buried within.
Several centuries later, when it was decided that
his wishes should have been complied with, his
remains were removed to a grave outside by a walk
beneath the cathedral eaves. On the day of his
reburial, legend says, it rained furiously and kept
on for weeks and weeks. Thus his connection with
heavy rains almost any time from July 15 and on
into August.
The authors go on to acknowledge the surplus of produce at the end of summer, they mention the cyclical decline in diversity of bird life in the region around this time of year, and talk some about the origin of the term Dog Days, and lots of other fun things. Great reading, good, solid recipes. A delightful book.

Another book about New England regional cuisine is The Transcendental Boiled Dinner by John J. Pullen (Lippincott, 1972). This is one that I picked up from my friend in Kansas, about whom I wrote about in my very first blog post. I knew nothing about the book before I began reading it last year, but was so smitten by it that I read it straight through in a sitting. Pullen was an excellent writer, and very charming and funny, and his book-length instructions, and admonitions, about how to prepare the very best "boiled" beef dinner (which, by the way, must never actually be boiled--only ever simmered) are so engaging that I will surely read the book a few times more.

There are, of course, many other books on the foods of New England, but these two are charming, if older, examples.

Here is a brief and absolutely delicious-sounding recipe from Rain, Hail and Baked Beans from the "Early Fall, September 10-October 20" chapter:

Squash Pie

1 1/2 cups squash pulp
2/3 cup brown sugar
2 eggs, beaten
1 cup cream
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ginger
1 9-inch unbaked pie shell

Combine ingredients. Mix well. Pour into pie shell. Bake in hot oven (425 degrees) for 45 minutes, or longer.