Jamestown Couple Revive Colonial Cooking
Saturday, June 25, 2011
In an age of high-velocity cuisine, Jamestowners Keith Stavely and Kathleen Fitzgerald are bringing back the tradition of New England colonial food with a new cookbook.
Keith, the former director of the Fall River Public Library and his wife, Kathleen, a librarian at the Newport Public Library have been exploring colonial cuisine for years now. Their first public foray into traditional New England fare began with a book they co-authored in 2004, entitled Americas’s Founding Food: The Story of New England Cooking. Their first book, which was met with praise and interest from readers, led Keith and Kathleen to explore the annals for more colonial recipes. Using their historical backgrounds, the two scoured libraries and the Internet until they accumulated an impressive number of recipes for a new work. The culmination of their recipe arsenal is on full display in the new book, Northern Hospitality, Cooking by the Book in New England, which features nearly 400 recipes.
Colonial fare in the time of take-out sushi
In a time of convenient fast food, take-out sushi, and pricey Brazilian steakhouses, one might wonder why Keith and Kathleen are so genuinely interested in reviving the local foods of the past. They attribute this interest both to their backgrounds as historians and also towards their desire to refute the notion that “New England food consists almost entirely of Boston Baked Beans, steamed Boston Brown Bread, New England boiled dinner, and clam chowder.” The couple wants to prove that the actual history of New England food is “much more complex, interesting, and savory. It’s that more complex and interesting cooking tradition that we’re trying to bring back.”
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTTo elaborate on one of the more complex, interesting, and savory dishes, they referenced two of their favorite recipes, “To Alamode a Round” and “Peach Pie.” The recipe for “To Alamode a Round,” was crafted by an American woman named Amelia Simmons and published in Hartford in 1796. Keith explains that the recipe involves “simmering or slow baking a round of beef in wine, herbs, and spices. The dish was very popular. It was essentially the predecessor of pot roast, but it’s much tastier than pot roast.”
The scrumptious recipe for Keith and Kathleen’s “Peach Pie,” came from an 1844 cookbook written by a Mrs. A. L. Webster (admittedly post-colonial, but definitely historic). Keith explained with vivid detail, “With the peach pie, you include the peach pits in the filling. Mrs. Webster says they 'impart a most agreeable flavor to the pie.' She’s right. The pie is absolutely delicious. The thing is, the 'agreeable flavor' comes from a bit of cyanide that a peach pit contains. But fear not. A lot more cyanide than what’s found in the peach pits in one of Webster’s pies would have to be consumed before there could be any fatal consequences. We ate the pie ourselves and fed it to our family members. We all loved it, and we all lived to tell the tale.”
Not only do Keith and Kathleen espouse the love they have for New England food but they also tie their work to the Slow Food movement. In a go-go-go society it can be very difficult to find time to set aside a couple of hours to cook, but the couple believes that it is a very relaxing and important practice. “There’s a type of pleasure and reward that can’t be gotten any other way than by taking time with something. For example, Amelia Simmons has a wonderful recipe for “Plumb Cake”—made with both yeast and eggs (and flour of course, but no sugar), and filled with nuts, currants, raisins, and other fruit. There’s no substitute for the feeling of accomplishment you get when you’ve put it together, baked it, and it comes out of the oven all golden brown, magnificently risen up, and filling the house with a delightful aroma."
