Cuisine of New England
It is characterized by extensive use of potatoes, beans, dairy products and seafood, resulting from its historical reliance on its seaports and fishing industry.
Traditional New England cuisine is known for a lack of strong spices, which is because of local 19th century health reformers, most prominently Sylvester Graham, who advocated eating bland food.
[4] Not strictly vegetarian, the traditional diet of the Wabanaki people is plant-centric and based on corn, beans, squash, sunflower seeds, sunchokes and groundcherries.
The newly arrived colonists brought vital techniques of food preservation like smoking, curing and drying that helped them survive the harsh New England winter.
[7] They also received help from the Wampanoag, who taught the newly arrived Pilgrims how to grow the staple crops of squash, beans and corn.
[13][14] In the post-World War II era, July 4 celebrations frequently featured steak, hot dogs, hamburgers and grilled chicken.
In the more distant past lamb was more traditional inland, and coastal communities in New England typically served salmon with dill mayo, peas, new potatoes and corn on the cob.
[20] The hot ale flip is a traditional drink historically made by mixing a pitcher of beer with rum, frothy eggs and a sweetener like dried pumpkin, maple syrup or molasses.
[26] The custom of bringing one-dish casseroles (also called hot dishes) to barn raisings and church suppers was not exclusive to New England, but included traditional variations of baked beans and succotash.
The earliest apple varieties produced in New England included Lady (1628), Roxbury Russet (1630), Pomme Grise (1650), Baldwin (1740), Porter (1800), Mother (1844) and Wright (1875).
[32] The first attempts at commercial cranberry growing were pioneered by Captain Henry Hall, who developed the technique of covering the vines with sand to accelerate the plant's growth.
Served cold or hot, lobster rolls can optionally include fixings like mayo or warmed butter, clam rolls dressed with tartar or cocktail sauce on a New England–style hot dog bun, and chow mein sandwich with noodles, celery, onions, meat and sauce in a hamburger bun, from Fall River, Massachusetts.
[38] The waters of the Gulf of Maine and Long Island Sound provide a rich variety of fish and shellfish that are a signature of the cuisine in New England.
Modern versions of the dish may include mussels, fish, crabs and non-seafood ingredients like chicken, sausage, potatoes and other root vegetables.
As a result, most savory New England dishes do not have much strong seasoning, aside from salt and ground black pepper, nor are there many particularly spicy staple items.
[20] Other dishes meant as desserts often contain ingredients such as nutmeg, cinnamon, allspice, cloves, and ground ginger which are a legacy of trade with the Caribbean region beginning in the 17th century, lasting well into the 19th.
Greek pizza (as understood in New England) is typified by its chewy, bready crust similar to focaccia, which is baked in shallow, round metal pan liberally coated with olive oil.
Maine cooks prefer old style bean varieties such as Yellow Eyes, Jacobs Cattle, Soldier, and Marafax.
[78] Maine grist mills grind yellow field peas to create a flour chefs use to make gluten-free and vegan foods such as mayonnaise.
[82] Ice cream was first made in Maine in 1825 at the Portland home of Asa Clapp to honor a visit to the city by Marquis de Lafayette.
[85] Maine sea captain Hansen Gregory claimed to have invented the doughnut with a hole in the center in 1847, and there is a plaque dedicated to him in his birthplace Rockport.
[93] Massachusetts had similar immigrant influences as the coastal regions, though historically strong Eastern European populations instilled kielbasa and pierogi as common dishes.
The South Shore area maintains a following for bar pizza, with many popular restaurants serving these crisp, thin, often heavily topped creations.
[101][102] Common plant foods in Massachusetts are similar to those of interior northern New England, because of the landlocked, hilly terrain,[103] including potatoes,[104] maple syrup,[105] and wild blueberries.
As with Maine and Vermont, French-Canadian dishes are popular, including tourtière, which is traditionally served on Christmas Eve, and poutine.
[109] Johnnycakes, variously and contentiously known as jonnycakes, journeycakes and Shawnee cakes, can vary in thickness and preparation, and disagreements over whether they should be made with milk or water persist.
[111] They were traditionally served as a flatbread alongside chipped beef or baked beans, but in modern times they are usually eaten for breakfast with butter and maple syrup.
The oldest operating restaurant is the White Horse Tavern in Newport, Rhode Island (it had, at one point closed for renovations since its inception).
[119] At local shops along the North Shore of Massachusetts, "three-way" roast beef sandwiches are often served on an onion roll and topped with mayo, barbecue sauce and white American cheese.
[121] D'Angelo's is a regional chain with locations in Connecticut, Maine, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts specializing in subs (called heroes in New York and hoagies in Philadelphia).
