Back from the Maritimes

Clams and Scallops and Fish! Oh My!
We are back in the USA! After two months of maritime experience, we have left the lands of fried haddock, clams, scallops, lobster and chowder. I have to say that the menus left me nostalgic for the variety we have available to us in the US. The problem is that, although the food was good there, the seasoning and creativity left both Kay and I wanting more innovation from the Maritime chefs. It just got boring to have fried everything—except lobster. Fish daily was not my cup of anything! The chowders were just the same all the time and I really wanted to start messing with the preparations. I kept asking if scallops always had to be fried. I would have … added more garlic, sprinkle in some thyme, etc. The best chowder I had was at Magnolia’s in Lunenberg. Sadly, none of the others came even close—it was all about the thyme in the milk-based broth. So, I thought I needed to think about my own preparations and do some research about these classic dishes got started and how I would make them.

Rather than making my recipe entries here on this blog I have made the entries on the Second Saturday Blog for your enjoyment. You can find them there at--

http://secsat.blogspot.com/


Such an Olde Dish
The Oxford English Dictionary traces the word chowder to “chaudiere” as it was made in the fishing villages in France from Bordeaux to Brittany. There are also references made in the Cornwall region of England. These two regions are located across the English Channel from one another. When the ships returned from the sea, every village had a large chaudiere or pot waiting for a portion of each man's catch, to be served later as part of the community's welcoming celebration.

The recipes moved to the Americas with these travelers. Clams and oysters were already being consumed in such quantities along the Atlantic coast by the American Indians that, in some favorable gathering-places, empty shells were piled into mounds ten feet high.

The Northeastern Indians made considerable use of fish, but the Pilgrims were slow to follow their example as they did not care much for fish. They were mostly farmers after all. Fish chowder was a popular dish among Northeastern Indians, but as this dish seems to have been created spontaneously in one form or another along every coast in the world, we can hardly credit the Indians with having introduced it to Europeans. Clams became accepted to them in time, but it is on record that in 1620s the Pilgrims fed clams and mussels to their hogs with the explanation that they were "the meanest of God's blessings."
------ Source: Eating in American - A History, by Waverley Root and Richard de Rochemont

Alas, too much of a good thing can be boring—especially on my palate.