Cuisine of New England

New England cuisine is an American cuisine which originated in the New England region of the United States, and traces its roots to traditional English cuisine and Native American cuisine of the Abenaki, Narragansett, Niantic, Wabanaki, Wampanoag, and other native peoples. It also includes influences from Irish, French, Italian, and Portuguese cuisine, among others. It is characterized by extensive use of potatoes, beans, dairy products and seafood, resulting from its historical reliance on its seaports and fishing industry. Corn, the major crop historically grown by Native American tribes in New England, continues to be grown in all New England states, primarily as sweet corn although flint corn is grown as well. It is traditionally used in hasty puddings, cornbreads and corn chowders.

Many of New England's earliest Puritan settlers were from eastern England, where baking foods (for instance, pies, beans, and turkey) was more common than frying, as was the tradition elsewhere. David Hackett Fischer, '' Albion's Seed: Four British Folkways in America'' (Oxford University Press US, 1991) 30-50

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Three prominent characteristic foodstuffs native to New England are maple syrup, cranberries and blueberries. The traditional standard starch is potato, though rice has a somewhat increased popularity in modern cooking. 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. Ground black pepper, parsley, garlic, and sage are common, with a few Caribbean additions such as nutmeg, plus several Italian spices.

Use of cream is common, due to the reliance on dairy. The favored cooking techniques are stewing, steaming, and baking. Many local ingredients, such as squash, corn and local beans, sunflowers, wild turkey, maple syrup, cranberries and dishes such as cornbread, Johnnycakes and Indian pudding were adopted from Native American cuisine.

History

Early history

The traditional diet of the Wampanoag Indians included chestnuts, beechnuts, walnuts, beans, multi-colored corn (called " flint corn"), and varieties of squash and pumpkins. Not strictly vegetarian, the traditional diet of the Wabanaki people is plant-centric and based on corn, beans, squash, sunflower seeds, sunchokes and ground cherries. The Wabanaki tribal nations did make plant milk and infant formula from nuts.

American colonies

In 1620, the newly arrived Pilgrims faced the prospect of surviving their first winter in Plymouth Colony. The climate was harsh and the growing season was shorter than they were accustomed to due to the long and frosty winters.

The newly arrived colonists brought vital techniques of food preservation like smoking, curing and drying that helped them survive the harsh New England winter. They also received help from the Wampanoag, who taught the newly arrived Pilgrims how to grow the staple crops of squash, beans and corn. It is not known for certain what crops were grown in early colonial gardens, but later sources mention turnips, onions, carrots, garlic and pumpkins.

The Pilgrims used corn to make hasty pudding and Wampanoag recipes like popcorn, '' sagamite'' and '' nasaump''. The Wampanoag Indians also taught the Pilgrims to bake in hot ashes, and ash cakes (also called johnny cakes or breakfast bannocks) became a staple breakfast bread. Beans were used to make stews or combined with corn to make succotash.

Many of New England's earliest Puritan settlers were from eastern England and brought with the traditions of English cuisine with them. Roast duck, goose, lamb, and hams were brought to the so-called "New World" as farmyard stock as soon as the colonies began to prosper.

Even today, traditional English cuisine remains a strong part of New England's identity. Some of its plates are now enjoyed by the entire United States, including clam chowder, baked beans, apple pies, baked or roast turkey, pease porridge, and steamed puddings.

Thanksgiving

The first Thanksgiving meal was shared by the Wampanoag and Pilgrims at Plymouth Rock. The menu would have been considerably more humble than the modern Thanksgiving dinner which typically includes turkey with stuffing, cranberry sauce, candied yams, mashed potatoes and pumpkin pie. Though filled pastries were common in English cuisine, the colonists did not have wheat flour or butter, so pie would have been absent from the original Thanksgiving table. White potatoes and sweet potatoes had not yet reached North America, and the first literary mention of cranberry sauce dates some 50 years after the first Thanksgiving meal.

The original menu included "Indian corn", wild fowl, including wild turkey and waterfowl, and venison. These are only foods mentioned by primary sources, however food historians have speculated as to what else may have been served. In addition to wild turkey, duck and goose, swan and passenger pigeons were plentiful.

In those times birds were typically stuffed with onion and herbs and one 17th-century recipe for goose includes a stuffing of chestnuts. It is likely that the meal included local seafood like clams, mussels, lobsters and eels.

19th century

Since the 1800s New England's culinary traditions have been influenced by the arrival of Irish Americans, Portuguese Americans, and Italian Americans. Irish-style braised pickled beef was the origin of New England boiled dinner.

"Country stores" sold homemade jams, fruit preserves and penny candy. Common crackers are still made with the original recipe dating to 1828.

Vegetarianism was practiced during the 18th and 19th century by individuals and families in Maine before the start of the modern vegetarian movement in 1817 in Philadelphia.

20th century

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. Dessert often includes a seasonal fruit, for example strawberry shortcake and blueberry pie.

21st century

In the 21st century, more people in New England were eating vegan and vegetarian meals and more restaurants were serving them. In a ''Boston Globe'' article in 2022 it was reported how that four of the most traditional foods of New England cuisine (lobsters, corn, blueberries, and coffee) are among crops affected most by climate change and temperature and humidity changes.

Traditional foods and drinks

Beer and alcohol

Drinks in the Colonial era were made with local ingredients like honey, molasses, apples, hops and wild berries. These drinks included apple brandy ( applejack), fruit wines, rum and mead. Some of the finest rum distilleries were located in New England prior to Prohibition.

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. The beverage was warmed by plunging a hot poker into the drink to caramelize the sugars creating the drink's characteristic hot froth.

Like the flip, the Rattle-Skull was a mix of beer (in this case a dark beer like porter) and hard liquor—usually a mix of rum and brandy. The beverage is flavored with lime and garnished with nutmeg.

The Stone Fence was a mix of hard cider and rum. Reportedly, Ethan Allen and his men drank it before their raid of Fort Ticonderoga in 1775. Egg cider was made by cracking eggs into heated cider and adding a sweetener like molasses.

The cider-based beverage syllabub was made with rum, cream and sweetener. Mulled cider could be made with sweetener, spices, rum and egg yolks.

Birch beer, made with sap from the '' betula lenta'' tree, was made by both the English and early American colonists. The ''betula lenta'' is known for producing a fragrant sap with a unique minty flavor. John Mortimer wrote that birch beer was usually made by the poor by boiling birch sap with sugar and fermenting it with yeast.

Many local breweries produce lagers and ales. Notable examples include Samuel Adams of the Boston Beer Company in Boston (even though the recipe for the beer does not come from New England); Sea Dog Brewing Company of Bangor; Shipyard Brewing Company of Portland; Smuttynose Brewing Company of Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Vermont-based Woodchuck Draft Cider is a popular alcoholic cider.

New England has also played a major role in the craft beer revolution, with Maine, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Vermont having notable breweries such as Harpoon Brewery, Allagash Brewing Company, Treehouse Brewing Company, Trillium Brewing Company, The Alchemist Brewery, Jack’s Abby Brewing Company, Long Trail Brewing Company, Kent Falls Brewing Company and Two Roads Brewing Company.

Baked beans

Colonists learned to make baked beans from the Native American people. Baked beans are slowed cooked in an oven at a low temperature. They are sweetened, traditionally with maple syrup or molasses. The molasses is what sets them apart as New England baked beans. The Pilgrims and other early colonists were forbidden from cooking on Sundays, when these Christian communities observed the Sabbath, and this made baked beans a meal that is common for Saturday night dinner and all day Sunday. Two regional styles are Boston Baked Beans and Maine Baked Beans. The difference between the two styles is that Boston beans are made with small white navy beans or pea beans with thin skin while Maine beans are made with native bean varieties with thicker skins. These varieties are Marifax, soldier beans, and the most popular baked bean variety in Maine is the yellow-eye bean.

Casseroles, soups and stews

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. Modern recipes can be made with any ingredients available at markets. Seafood casseroles are made with cream sauce and bread crumb topping.

American chop suey is a casserole dish made with ground beef, macaroni and a seasoned tomato sauce. Though unrelated to Hungarian goulash, in other regions of the United States it may be called American goulash amongst other names.

Fruits

Blueberries are made into jams and jellies and feature in breads and regional desserts like pies, cobblers and cakes.

Wild beach plums are foraged and used to make fruit preserves like jams and jellies. Beach plums were cultivated and used for the commercial manufacture of beach plum jelly in the 1930s, but beach plum products are no longer widely available in commercial markets.

The local purple concord grapes are a cross between native and European grapes. The large grapes are prized for their juiciness and used in the production of commercial grape juice, wine and grape jelly. It is a common ingredient in peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

Until the pilgrims planted apple seeds from Europe, the only regional apples were crab apples. Cross-pollination altered the results of these first attempts, but over the years thousands of new varieties were bred by the pilgrims. Massachusetts native John Chapman, known as Johnny Appleseed, was a nurseryman who spread apple trees across the midwest.

William Blaxton planted the first apple orchard in 1625. 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). In modern times apples are grown commercially throughout Massachusetts.

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.

Hot dogs

New England hot dog rolls are split on top instead of on the side, and have a more rectangular shape. While smaller than common hot dog rolls, New England hot dog rolls have a larger soft surface area which allows for buttering and toasting, which are also commonly used for convenient serving of seafood like lobster or fried clams. Hot dog stands in Maine have long sold vegetarian hot dogs.

Maple syrup

Maple sap is collected annually during New England's "sugaring season". The new sap is reduced and thickened to form syrup. An issue of ''Yankee'' dating from 1939 gives some details on seasonal recipes with recipes for maple-butternut fudge, maple-sauce ice cream and " Sugar on Snow". Sugar on Snow, a regional specialty also called maple syrup taffy, is made by pouring freshly heated maple syrup on fresh snow, forming candy with a taffy consistency as the syrup hardens.

Desserts like cobbler and maple custard pie were made with local sweeteners like maple sugar instead of sugar.

Molasses and rum were common in New England cuisine, due to New England's involvement in the Triangle Trade in the 18th century. Molasses from the Caribbean and honey were staple sweeteners for all but the upper class well into the 19th century.

Sandwiches

Sandwiches typical of New England's cuisine include baked bean on Boston brown bread; the Fluffernutter with Fluff marshmallow creme and peanut butter, usually served on Wonder bread, and the Maine Italian sandwich prepared using a long bread roll or bun with meats such as salami, mortadella, capicolla and ham along with provolone, tomato, onion, green bell pepper, Greek olives, olive oil or salad oil, salt and cracked black pepper.

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.

Seafood

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.

Commercial cod fishing along Cape Ann dates back as far as 1623 when salt cod was carried by merchant vessels to Africa, which returned with slaves for plantations in the Caribbean before carrying sugar back to New England. Cod, the fish for which Cape Cod is named, remains a staple of the regional cuisine to this day.

Bluefish can be found throughout Cape Cod and Nantucket during the summer months and is consumed smoked, broiled or sauteed. American lobster is usually consumed grilled, steamed, or boiled.

Breaded deep-fried clams are popular pub fare in New England. Regional clam varieties can be soft shell or hard shell and include razor clams, the latter of these is more likely to be caught by hand owing to how difficult it is to harvest them without damaging the beach upon which they dwell.

Hard-shell clams are sometimes called littlenecks, cherrystones or quahogs depending on their size. These are used to make New England-style clam chowder, and may also be consumed steamed or even raw. The preferred methods of preparing soft-shell clams (also called steamers) are frying or steaming.

Adapted from the American Indians, the clambake is a traditional meal in New England where clams, lobsters and corn are cooked over a firepit. Modern versions of the dish may include mussels, fish, crabs and non-seafood ingredients like chicken, sausage, potatoes and other root vegetables.

The official state fish are as follows:

Seasonings

Many herbs were uncommon, particularly Mediterranean herbs, which are not hardy in much of New England away from the coast. 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.

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