Cuisine of New England

The American lobster, a part of New England cuisine.

New England cuisine is an American cuisine which originated in the northeastern region of the United States known as New England. It 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. Many of New England's earliest Puritan settlers were from eastern England, where baking foods such as pies, beans, and turkey were more common than frying as was the tradition elsewhere. Two prominent characteristic foodstuffs native to New England are maple syrup and cranberries. The traditional standard starch is potato, though rice has a somewhat increased popularity in modern cooking. Although known for limited spices aside from ground black pepper, 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, steaming, and baking.

History

Main article: Cuisine of the Thirteen Colonies

Union Oyster House (1826) in Boston is the oldest continuously operating restaurant in America

Native American foods and cooking methods such as corn meal johnny cakes, oysters, succotash, and New England clam bakes were adopted by early immigrants to New England, as were many staples of their diet such as the nuts of the black walnut tree, the nuts of the shagbark hickory, popcorn, blueberries, blackberries and beach plums. Many of the animals they hunted were avidly adopted by the early settlers of Plymouth Colony and later Massachusetts Bay Colony. In England during this period, carrying weapons (especially guns) was forbidden to any but the upper classes. Upon reaching the New World, these Englishmen found themselves in a land where they could feast on venison from the white tailed deer and the Eastern moose and shoot pigeons for their meat (these were likely featured at the first Thanksgiving feast in 1621.)

Many of New England's earliest Puritan settlers were from eastern England and also brought with them traditions of dairy products and baking pies and other foods. Baked beans, apple pies, baked or roast turkey, pease porridge, and steamed puddings became common Yankee dishes; some are now common nationally during Thanksgiving dinners. Other foods they would have prized would include dishes like roast duck and roast goose, lamb, and hams, and all of the above were brought to the New World as soon as the colonies began to prosper as farmyard stock.

New England Clam Chowder (Boston variety)

Due to New England's involvement in the Triangle Trade in the 18th century, molasses and rum were common in New England cuisine. Well into the 19th century, molasses from the Caribbean and honey were staple sweeteners for all but the upper class. Prior to Prohibition, some of the finest rum distilleries were located in New England.

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 like nutmeg, cinnamon, allspice, cloves, and ground ginger which are a legacy of trade with the Caribbean Sea that began in the 17th Century and lasted well into the 19th.

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 (1826), is located in Boston.

State dishes and staples

Lobster Roll

Coffee milk, the official state drink of Rhode Island

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 at Louis' Lunch in 1900. 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.

Maine is known for its lobster. Relatively inexpensive lobster rolls (lobster meat mixed with mayonnaise and other ingredients, served in a grilled hot dog roll) are often available in the summer, particularly on the coast. Northern Maine produces potato crops, second only to Idaho in the United States. 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 a common ingredient or garnish, and blueberry pie (when made with wild Maine blueberries) is the official state dessert. Red snappers — natural casing frankfurters colored bright red — are considered the most popular type of hot dog in Maine. The whoopie pie is the official state treat. Finally, the Italian sandwich is popular in Portland and southern Maine—Portland restaurant Amato's claims to have invented the Italian sandwich (specifically, a submarine sandwich made with ham, cheese, tomato, raw peppers and pickles, served with or without oil, salt and pepper) in 1902. The city of Portland, Maine, known for its numerous nationally renowned restaurants, was ranked as Bon Appétit magazine's "America's Foodiest Small Town" in 2009.

Maple syrup is a major production food item of northern New England

Coastal Massachusetts is known for its clams, haddock, and cranberries, and previously cod. Boston is known for, among other things, baked beans (hence the nickname "Beantown"), 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, which slice tender roast beef extremely thin. Apples are grown commercially throughout the Commonwealth. Because of the landlocked, hilly terrain common plant foods in Massachusetts are similar to those of interior northern New England- including potatoes, maple syrup, and wild blueberries. Dairy production is also prominent in this central and western area. Cuisine in western Massachusetts had similar immigrant influences as the coastal regions, though historically strong Eastern European populations instilled kielbasa and pierogi as common dishes.

Boston baked beans

New England clam bake

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, and poutine. 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.

Rhode Island and bordering Bristol County, Massachusetts are known for Rhode Island clam chowder (clear chowder), quahog (hard clams), johnny cakes, coffee milk, celery salt, milkshakes known as "cabinets" (called "frappes" elsewhere in New England), grinders, pizza strips, clam cakes, the chow mein sandwich, and Del's Frozen Lemonade. Another food item popular in Rhode Island and southern Massachusetts is called a "hot wiener" or "New York System wiener," although it is unknown in New York (including Coney Island). Portuguese influences are becoming increasingly popular in the region, with Italian cooking already long established.

Vermont produces Cheddar cheese and other dairy products. It is known in and outside of New England for its maple syrup. Maple syrup is used as an ingredient in some Vermont dishes, including baked beans. Rhubarb pie is a common dessert and has been combined with strawberries in late spring.

Common foods

Johnnycakes

New England also has its own food language. In New England, hot and cold sandwiches in elongated rolls are called subs or grinders. This is opposed to the appellations hoagies or heroes in other sections of the country, in particular those closer to the New York City and Philadelphia areas, where the aforementioned names are more common. Sub is short for submarine sandwich, for which Boston, Massachusetts is one of three main claimants for inventing. In Maine, the Italian sandwich—a variation specifically made up of ham or salami, cheese, peppers, pickles, tomatoes and optional oil—is popular, though usually kept distinct from other subs.

Cranberries are native to New England

Whoopie pie

Boston Cream Pie

New England hot dog rolls are split on top instead of on the side, and have a more rectangular shape. While overall smaller, when separated they have a larger soft surface area because of the way they are baked which allows for buttering and toasting, which are also commonly used for convenient serving of seafood like lobster or fried clams. Regional bread makers often differentiate between these and the more traditional-style American hot dog rolls by referring to the New England variation as "Frankfurt Rolls" on packaging, with both commonly available next to each other on store shelves (though when purchasing a cooked hot dog or seafood "roll" from a restaurant or food stand, the Frankfurt style is almost exclusively used).

Like many of its sister cities of the East Coast, Boston shares a love of a sandwich that is made up of a long soft roll and filled with grilled sweet peppers, sweet onion, a little olive oil, and Italian style pork sausage, called a sausage and pepper sandwich; it is a nod to the Italian immigrants who settled in Boston a century ago, invented it as a quick snack, and now is part of the fabric of local cuisine. It is only served in the spring and summer and is a staple at Fenway Park, home of the Boston Red Sox baseball team.

New England has many local 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; and Smuttynose Brewing Company of Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Vermont-based Woodchuck Draft Cider is a popular alcoholic cider.

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Notable food and drink companies

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See also

• Cuisine of the United States

Further reading

• Cuisine of Rhode Island and southeastern Massachusetts, with extensive notes on local history and personal anecdotes from the author.

External links

Media related to at Wikimedia Commons

• "Antique Maple Syrup and Maple Sugar Labels", from the University of Vermont's digital archives. Published February 10, 2010, University of Vermont, Bailey/Howe Library, Special Collections.