Another winning cookbook by one of the champion promoters of our local foodshed! John Shields’ latest book is a repeat of a winning formula – a collection of recipes by chefs and home cooks all around the Chesapeake Bay and environs. He has interspersed the many intriguing new-twisty ones (Beans and Bacon with Grilled Goat) with tried-and-true ones (Sauerkraut), while inserting lessons on eating locally, conserving the environment, and local history.
There are the usual divisions of breakfast items, appetizers, mains, desserts, etc., but also sections on preserving, fermenting, and canning. Local food producers, like Firefly Farms and Hex Ferments, are prominently featured.
One would imagine that, after multiple cookbooks, television series, and years running restaurants, Chef John might be getting low on original ideas. One would be misinformed. Paging through the book, I looked for a recipe that would stop me cold – one that would make me think, “I have got to go cook that right now!” And sure enough, there it was: Spaghetti with Cantaloupe. With only a few ingredients, a pasta dish is transformed into something amazing: a delicious, savory and entirely seasonal treat (hint: locally grown fruit and a little tomato paste are the essential ingredients).
Amazingly Delicious: Spaghetti with Cantaloupe
At this year’s Baltimore Book Festival, Chef John demonstrated two recipes from the book. Wide Net Blue Catfish “Catties” are a riff on the regional Baltimore “coddie” (codfish cake), and an example of adaptive cuisine – taking the invasive blue catfish now infesting our waters and putting them to the highest possible use – making them delicious.
Chef John Cooks
“Catties” and Doggie
Apple and Mango Chutney Cobbler is another new twist on an old favorite. If, like me, you are never sure if your piecrust will turn out well, cobbler is the magic answer. The mango chutney both sweetens the apples and lends an exotic cast to an antique dessert.
Serving Cobbler, with a View of Federal Hill
The book is nicely designed, with no DOF (Dreaded Overleaf Fallacy, in which a cook is forced to turn the page to follow the recipe). The recipes are accessible and easy to follow. Another win for “the Culinary Ambassador of the Chesapeake Bay.”
The New Chesapeake Kitchen, by John Shields, Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, MD, 2018.
