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New England cuisine is a type of American cuisine found in New England, in the northeastern region of the United States. New England cooking is characterized by extensive use of seafood and dairy products, which results from its historical reliance on its seaports and fishing industry, as well as extensive dairy farming in inland regions.
Two outstandingly characteristic ingredients native to New England are maple syrup and cranberries. The standard starch is potato. Parsley and sage are common, with a few Caribbean additions like nutmeg. Due to the reliance on dairy, creams are standard. The favored cooking techniques are stewing and baking.
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History
Well into the 19th century, molasses from the Caribbean and honey were staple sweeteners for all but the upper class. Many herbs were uncommon, particularly Mediterranean herbs, which are not hardy in much of New England away from the coast. As a result, most New England dishes do not have much strong seasoning, nor are there many particularly spicy staple items.
Prior to Prohibition, some of the finest rum distilleries were located in New England. The Boston Molasses Disaster occurred on January 15, 1919, in the North End neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, when a huge molasses tank used to prepare rum collapsed.
Even today, traditional 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, and homemade ice cream. In the past two centuries, New England cooking was strongly influenced and transformed by Irish Americans, the Portuguese fishermen of coastal New England, and Italian Americans.
The oldest operating restaurant in the United States, the Union Oyster House, is located in Boston, Massachusetts.
State dishes and staples
Maine is known for its lobster. Once a poor man's supper, lobster has now become a dish of the middle and upper classes. Northern Maine is known for its potato crops, second only to Idaho in US production. Moxie, America's first mass-produced soft drink and the official state soft drink, is known for its strong aftertaste and is found throughout New England. Although originally from New Jersey, wax-wrapped salt water taffy is a popular item sold in tourist areas. Wild blueberries are also a common ingredient or garnish.
Vermont is known for its cheddar cheese and other dairy products. It is best known outside of New England for its maple syrup, which is generally considered to be of the highest quality available in America. Maple syrup is used as an ingredient in many Vermont dishes, including baked beans. Rhubarb pie is a common dessert and is often combined with strawberries in late spring.
Coastal Massachusetts is known for its clams, haddock, and cranberries, and previously cod. Apples are grown in the Commonwealth's interior. Boston is known for, among other things, baked beans, bulkie rolls, and various pastries. Hot roast beef sandwiches served with a sweet barbecue sauce and usually on an onion roll is popular in Boston's surrounding area. The North Shore area is locally known for its roast beef establishments.
Southern New Hampshire cuisine is similar to that of the Boston area, featuring fish, shellfish and local apples. As with Maine and Vermont, French-Canadian dishes are popular, including tourtière, which is traditionally served on Christmas Eve. Corn chowder, which is similar to clam chowder but with corn and bacon replacing the clams, is also common. Portsmouth is known for its orange cake, often containing cranberries.
Rhode Island and bordering Bristol County, Massachusetts are known for Rhode Island clam chowder (clear chowder), quahog (hard clams), johnnycakes, coffee milk, celery salt, hot dogs, grinders, pizza strips, dynamites (a sloppy joe-like sandwich), and Del's frozen lemonade. Another food item popular in Rhode Island and southern Massachusetts is called a "New York System[1] weiner," although, ironically, they are unknown in New York (including Coney Island). This food consists of a weiner (similar to a hot dog but skinnier and more orange in color) on a steamed roll with meat sauce and, often, mustard and raw onions ("all the way"). This hot dog is quite popular at the popular restaurant Coney Island in Worcester. Portuguese influences are becoming increasingly popular in the region, with Italian cooking already long established. The coastal communities and islands, including Block Island, offer more colonial New England fare than the more recent immigrant-influenced varieties found around the Providence area.
Connecticut is known for its apizza (particularly the white clam pie), shad and shadbakes, grinders (including the state-based Subway chain), and New Haven's claim as the birthplace of the hamburger sandwich. Italian-inspired cuisine is dominant in the New Haven area, while Southeastern Connecticut relies heavily on the fishing industry. Irish American influences are common in the interior portions of the state, including the Hartford area. Hasty pudding is sometimes found in rural communities, particularly around Thanksgiving.
Typical foods
- Various types of seafood (often fried, baked, broiled, or boiled):
- Apple cider, hot apple cider
- Apple Pie, Apple Crisp and Apples themselves bought from local orchards.
- Blueberries, especially in Blueberry pie
- Boiled Dinner
- Boston baked beans
- Boston creme doughnuts and other pastries
- Brown bread, not to be confused with whole-wheat bread; a molasses-sweetened bread, often studded with raisins, typically steamed in a coffee can
- Chowder, or more specifically, New England clam chowder
- Cranberry cocktail, cranberry mash/crushed cranberries, jellied cranberries and cranberry bread
- Fluffernutter
- Concord Grapes
- Frappes, or cabinets in Rhode Island (see milkshakes)
- Fried clams
- Hasty pudding
- Hot buttered rum
- Ice creams from local dairies as well as companies like Ben & Jerry's
- Indian pudding
- Johnny cakes
- Lobster roll and Crab cake
- New England boiled dinner
- New England clam bake and New England Clam Boil
- Whoopie pies
- New England also has its own lingo. In New England hot and cold sandwiches in elongated rolls are called Subs or especially Grinders as opposed to Hoagies, Gyros or Hiros. This is short for submarine sandwich, which was invented in Massachusetts.
New England is also known for many of its fine local lagers and ales, the most famous of which is Samuel Adams of the Boston Beer Company in Boston, Massachusetts, even though the recipe for the beer does not come from New England. Also included is the regional alcohol based Cider drinks, especially the Vermont based Woodchuck brand name.
Notable food and drink companies
Connecticut
- Bigelow Tea Company (Fairfield)
- Foxon Park (East Haven)
- Hosmer Mountain Soda (Willimantic)
- Pepperidge Farms (Norwalk)
- Stew Leonard's (Norwalk)
- Subway Sandwiches (Milford)
Maine
Massachusetts
- Boston Beer Company, maker of Samuel Adams (Boston)
- Dunkin' Donuts (Quincy)
- Friendly's (Wilbraham)
- D'Angelo Sandwich Shop (Dedham)
- HP Hood Milk (Charlestown)
- Legal Sea Foods (Cambridge)
- Marshmallow Fluff (Lynn)
- Necco Wafers (Boston)
- Ocean Spray (Middleborough/Lakeville)
- Kelly's Roast Beef (Revere, Saugus, Natick, Danvers, and Medford)
- Papa Gino's (Dedham)
- Polar Beverages (Worcester)
- Howard Johnsons {Quincy}
New Hampshire
Rhode Island
Vermont
- Ben & Jerry's (South Burlington/Waterbury (factory))
- Cabot Creamery (Cabot)
See also
Further reading
Mosser, Marjorie; Kenneth Roberts (1978). Good Maine Food, Down East Books. ISBN 0-89272-038-7.
Stetson, Barbara Sherman (1993). The Island Cookbook, Favorite Recipies Press. ISBN 0-87197-370-7. Cuisine of Rhode Island and southeastern Massachusetts, with extensive notes on local history and personal anecdotes from the author.
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- This page was last modified on 1 December 2008, at 01:09.
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