Maine cuisine (buying, store, dating)

[elston]

We are so used to opening a bottle of Wishbone or Paul Newman's salad dressing that we forget that homemade dressings were the rule not the exception "back when Hector was a pup!". My Grammy wouldnt have said she "made" a salad unless she made the dressing too. (except for mayonnaise).

Salads were torn (not cut) lettuce, perhaps some spinach or chickory or endive....thinly sliced celery, bell pepper, and garden tomatoes cut in wedges arranged on top.....perhaps some cooked beets too. The dressing was a tangy concoction of oil and vinegar, S&P....and perhaps catsup and a little sugar and maybe some dry mustard....and the salad bowl was rubbed with a cut clove of garlic.

Some home made boiled dressing was usually kept in a washed out jelly jar in the fridge or ice box.

All sorts of jellied salads with strawberries, banana, and even marshmallows and served with sweetened pineapple dressings also were the rage "back in the day". They are part of my Maine memories.

[Submariner]

Fiddleheads also work great in lasagna, or stir-fried.

[MainerWannabe]

There was a post on the other thread about cuisine of ME that really surprised me... "Lobster and Pine Cones

[elston]

Many Maine recipes start out with "dicing and trying-out" a piece of salt pork"......certainly most chowders....start out that way. "Try-out your salt pork and then fry your onion....." This step is the Maine version of "melt a small amount of butter or margerine in a pan...."
I think "trying out the salt pork" maybe uniquely Maine......and serving the tried out salt pork pieces on top of a bowl of chowder, is a Maine experience.

[Submariner]

We were recently corning some pork, and we had an interesting time finding the appropriate salts that go into the brine. Some of these skills appear to be dying out in our culture.

[elston]

Originally Posted by forest beekeeper

We were recently corning some pork, and we had an interesting time finding the appropriate salts that go into the brine. Some of these skills appear to be dying out in our culture.

I have noticed that the salt pork sold in the supermarket (Smithfields Brand) is definately not as salted and dried as what I remember from days gone by......it is a fresher piece of meat and doesnt keep as well. Perhaps it is the salt.

[msina]

Originally Posted by elston

Many Maine recipes start out with "dicing and trying-out" a piece of salt pork"......certainly most chowders....start out that way. "Try-out your salt pork and then fry your onion....." This step is the Maine version of "melt a small amount of butter or margerine in a pan...."
I think "trying out the salt pork" maybe uniquely Maine......and serving the tried out salt pork pieces on top of a bowl of chowder, is a Maine experience.

I still make my chowder that way and, serve it with the browned bits of salt pork on top. I find the Hormel brand of salt pork suits my needs better than some others.

[Maineah]

Originally Posted by msina

I still make my chowder that way and, serve it with the browned bits of salt pork on top. I find the Hormel brand of salt pork suits my needs better than some others.

I'm picky about salt pork too. Nothing ruins a chowder faster than bad salt pork. I also like the Hormel. It's consistant. If it isn't available I'll buy two pieces of salt pork with different use before dates on it. Usually one will be better than the other and as strange as it seems it isn't always the one with the freshest date. I find that often I have to start frying it to tell if it's good or not. If I get an off smell I will try the second piece. I have used as many as three pieces before I got one I liked the smell of. My only complaint is I wish they packaged about 1/2 of what they do as I always throw out 1/2 of it.

[Submariner]

Originally Posted by elston

I have noticed that the salt pork sold in the supermarket (Smithfields Brand) is definately not as salted and dried as what I remember from days gone by......it is a fresher piece of meat and doesnt keep as well. Perhaps it is the salt.

It is because they have changed the recipe.

My parents taught me to mix: sodium chloride, potassium nitrate and sodium nitrite.

The USDA site claims that sodium nitrite is the best salt for preserving food. But it has became extremely difficult to locate.

Googling I found a number of recipes that do not use sodium nitrite. If you do not use the recipes that have been tested and tried for centuries then you will not get the same results.

We had to go without the sodium nitrite, but what I did was I substituted the standard mixture of anti-bacterial / anti-fungal herbs. Should be fun to see how this last batch turned out.

[msina]

Originally Posted by Maineah

I'm picky about salt pork too. Nothing ruins a chowder faster than bad salt pork. I also like the Hormel. It's consistant. If it isn't available I'll buy two pieces of salt pork with different use before dates on it. Usually one will be better than the other and as strange as it seems it isn't always the one with the freshest date. I find that often I have to start frying it to tell if it's good or not. If I get an off smell I will try the second piece. I have used as many as three pieces before I got one I liked the smell of. My only complaint is I wish they packaged about 1/2 of what they do as I always throw out 1/2 of it.

I use the other half in baked beans.