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News from Andy in the galley
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photo courtesy of Beverly Peyser
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Oh boy! I'm going sailing again. I had a great job with fascinating people, cooking for actors and I threw it over after a year to answer the siren call of the windjammer fleet. I'll try to attach a picture of my current place of business. Sure it's beautiful, but it's no Penobscot Bay.
What's in store? I hesitate to commit myself, but in my dreams, I dream of switchell. Switchell is a blend of cider vinegar and molasses and water. They ladled it out to the farm hands after haying. Sometimes they'd put in whole oats, sometimes they'd soak the oats in the switchell and then strain them out, giving your switchell a creamy glutinous consistency. As we have weathered the Summer of Callaloo and the Summer of Lovage, let this be the Summer of Switchell. I suppose there's a switchell app or website somewhere in the cloud, but let's not look it up.
I've lined up a farm to provide us with fruits and vegetables. I'm in close negotiations with my old shipmates Tom and Dayle Ward to buy all the produce from their place in Union. They also make sails.
And I've taken out my old copy of Maine Coastal Cooking, recipes reprinted from the Courier Gazette of Rockland, Maine, copyright 1963, incorporating The Accomplished Cook, which was printed in 1664. It says if you soak mutton in blood, it tastes like venison. In 1664 they called it "counterfeit venison". I envision a field test, where half the passengers get real venison and ... but let it go.
The one I'm dying to try is butterscotch rice pudding with salted pecan sauce. Parsnip stew sounds good too, especially in spring when the parsnips are sweet. I'll be using more molasses this season, especially at the start and finish, when it's chilly.
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