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Cookbooks
Looking at the way Mainers eat, and how, and why, gives interesting insights into who we are—our culture, our habits, our tastes big and small—as well as concrete, practical information for anyone who wants to partake of the state’s edible bounty. The following books explore aspects of the state’s culinary personality, and also provide some yummy recipes that visitors may want to try, such as traditional recipes for stuffed clams or contemporary seafood dishes.
You can find Maine cookbooks at the state’s independent bookstores or at Amazon.com.
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The L.L. Bean Game & Fish Cookbook
L.L. Bean claimed to own the first freezer in Freeport. He used it to preserve venison, salmon and other fish and game, which he and his friends cooked from a large assortment of sportsmen’s recipes. This comprehensive and authoritative cookbook includes the best of that collection, plus other fish and game recipes collected by his descendants over the years. Many of the recipes are suitable for preparing over a campfire. The cookbook is mainly edited by the legendary Judith Jones, whose clients have included James Beard and Julia Child.
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Lobster Rolls and Blueberry Pie
Rebecca Charles has spent every summer of her life in Maine, as did three generations of family members before her. She also cooked for a decade at the elegant White Barn Inn in Kennebunkport, before moving to New York City, where she opened the critically acclaimed Pearl Oyster Bar. This book—lauded by Alice Waters and Mario Batali, among others, and with an introduction by Calvin Trillin—is a combination family memoir and book about beach food, with many fun recipes.
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Mainstays of Maine
This is not a cookbook, but it’s a classic of Maine food and foodways, written by a well-known author from Harpswell. Here’s an excerpt: “Maine is bayberry and sweetfern and fern-brake and balsams, and I like to think that its people and their foods are pungent and sharp-flavored also. A Maine blueberry cannot help smelling like pitch-pines on a scorching hot day, for it ripened on just such a day and among those pines. A Maine boy acts the way State of Maine huckleberries taste. He cannot help it, for on any day in late August about half his weight is huckleberries.”
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Dishing up Maine
Ranging from Kittery Point to the Canadian border, this savvy all-new guide to the diverse food finds along the Maine coast covers everything from high-end restaurants to small caf~s and clam shacks with an ocean view. Sit and enjoy a microbrew at an outdoor café in Portland’s vibrant and diverse Old Port; relish a hot cup of New England clam chowder with authentic Pilot Crackers—just like the natives do; dig into a bowl of steamed mussels as you watch the boats come into dock.
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The New England Clam Shack Cookbook
For those who can’t make the trip, there are recipes from Two Lights Lobster Shack in Cape Elizabeth, Maine, where the fresh lobster is drizzled in butter and perked with paprika; there is also Roast Bluefish, which is caught in the Long Island Sound by the same men who immediately grill it over hickory and oak with just a little lemon and butter. Even a Grilled Cheese Sandwich with Tomato gains elite status-served by the Cod End Cookhouse in Maine, done up on bread made of oatmeal and molasses
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Chow Maine
In this guidebook, Nancy English, a veteran food writer for the Portland Press Herald, gives brief descriptions of Maine restaurants, cafes, lobster shacks, breweries, wineries, markets and more, located primarily along the coast. The author also reveals the many interesting and delicious food sources that the rocky coast has to offer, from lobster pounds to farmer’s markets and greengrocers, so that even those looking to cook for themselves—from a traditional lobster bake cooked under fresh seaweed to a delightful vegetarian spread for friends—will be able to find the best of the best along the many miles of winding shores and hidden coves. Find the freshest blueberries, apples, and greens.
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Sea Vegetable Celebration: Recipes Using Ocean Vegetables
Erhart and Cerier are two of the state’s best foragers. They developed the first organic standards for harvesting seaweed, which they sell under the label “Maine Coast Sea Vegetables.” This book provides advice for cooking seaweed and other sea vegetables, and even for harvesting your own. Gourmet and natural food enthusiasts will delight in over 100 delicious recipes using nori, kelp, dulce, and other sea vegetables in baked goods, soups, salads, main dishes, and more. You’ll also learn about the varieties of sea weed, their healthful benefits, and tips on using sea vegetables for pets, plants, and as beauty aids. Includes color photos.
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The Arrows Cookbook
Located in Ogunquit, Maine, Arrows is a country restaurant owned by Clark Fraiser and Mark Gaier, who are also its chefs. The Arrows Cookbook, written by the pair, offers 150 recipes from the dining spot, contemporary food like Plank-Roasted Salmon with Rosemary-Mustard Vinaigrette, Baby Bok Choy with Chives and Smoked Ham, and Grilled Sea Scallops with Chile Pepper Sauce. These attractive, uncomplicated dishes are suitable for company or “dressier” weeknight cooking. What sets the book apart from similar works is its attention to the “backyard” garden that supplies the restaurant with over 250 varieties of fresh seasonal produce. The authors’ garden smarts yields useful advice, including “How to Build Herb Boxes,” “14 Easy Seeds,” and “Heirloom Gardening.”
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Recipes from a Very Small Island
Linda Greenlaw is a well-known lobsterer who lives on Isle au Haut, as does her mother, Martha. They’re especially passionate about seafood, cranberries and blueberries. They share some of their favorite recipes in this well-received cookbook. Linda Greenlaw has proven herself to be a talented fisherwoman and author. And now she shows that she’s also a pretty good cook, with this book, co-written with her mother. The two share seafood-heavy recipes tested in the kitchens of their homes on Maine’s Isle au Haut, as well as tales—mostly written by Linda—of life on the island (her essay on the improbabilities of pulling off a clambake is a riot). It’s a charming collection.
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Mediterranean Women Stay Trim, Too
Kelly was the first chef now working in Maine to win the coveted James Beard Award as Best Chef in the Northeast. In this book, she discusses her philosophy of cooking and eating and offers some recipes that home cooks could prepare without too much difficulty.
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Stonewall Kitchen Favorites
Jonathan King and Jim Stott own Stonewall Kitchens, a Maine company that has risen to culinary stardom in the specialty gourmet foods industry. Gourmet food purveyors King and Stott may have made a name for themselves with preserves and condiments, but with this third cookbook they prove they can also handle dishes as wide-ranging as Huevos Rancheros and Rack of Lamb. The well-rounded collection features hearty American fare with a modern flair; a typical recipe is Three Moms’ Meatloaf, which calls for fresh parsley, thyme and rosemary, and includes tomato paste.
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Creative Coastal Cooking
Terry Libby is a food and arts writer who collected recipes from a dozen restaurants along the coast of central and southern Maine, from Kennebunk to Bar Harbor. The book is designed to show that many chefs are using traditional ingredients to create innovative combinations of flavors and textures. Creative Coastal Cooking includes some 200 delicious and practical recipes, as well as candid photos of both the chefs and the restaurants, travel information, and historical background.
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Good Maine Food
When author Kenneth Roberts wrote his seminal Trending into Maine, Mosser became his secretary. One of the chapters discussed dishes that he remembered from his days as a Maine farm boy. That generated so much response from readers who were nostalgic about the contents or indignant about what he left out that Mosser decided to write this cookbook, which includes commentary by Roberts.
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Fresh Maine Salads
Simonds, a self-described “foodie” living in Newcastle, Maine, has been baking her own cakes since she was 4 years old and catering for neighbors since she was 13. Some people might not think that “Maine” and “salads” go together, but Simonds shows otherwise, with innovative recipes showcasing fresh produce from local farmers’ markets. This book is innovative, delicious recipes from a Maine caterer, these salads go way beyond vegetables and way beyond being mere side dishes! Simonds shows us how to think of salads as the feature of a meal. She also includes recipes for delicious dressings and garnishes, and an appendix lists sources for many of the ingredients.
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Portland: Portrait of a Restaurant
This beautifully photographed book is designed to convey the character and flavors of Portland by looking at the food prepared at 18 of its restaurants. The restaurants include Five Fifty-Five, Duck Fat, Cinque Terre, Ribolita, Standard Baking Company and Vignola. Recipes are organized by season.
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Uncle Billy’s Downeast Barbeque Book
This cookbook includes enough saucy facts and homespun humor to make it worth a read. Some of the recipes are folksy gems, such as the Merrymeeting Bay Mud-Baked Duck, F.B.I. (which stands for Freeport Big Indian) Interstate Indian Pudding, and Grandmother Alice’s Red Flannel Hash.
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At Home, at Sea: Recipes from the Maine Windjammer
Chef Anne Mahle is not only the chef and co-owner of the historic Maine Schooner J. & E. Riggin, but she is the author of At Home At Sea: Recipes from the Maine Windjammer J&E Riggin, a cooking instructor and columnist for Maine’s largest newspaper, and for Maine’s only food magazine, Maine Food and Lifestyle. Annie and the Riggin have also been seen in the Boston Globe, Traditional Home and cooking with Al Roker on the Today Show. For more information on Anne Mahle and the J. & E. Riggin please visit www.athomeatsea.com or www.mainewindjammer.com.
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The Cliff House Cookbook
The Cliff House Resort & Spa in Ogunquit has 137 years’ experience cooking authentic coastal Maine foods. A new edition of their cookbook, The Cliff House: Food that has delighted guests since 1872, reinvents favorite New England classics and introduces spa cuisine with a fresh Maine twist. Chilled Maine Blueberry Champagne Bisque, anyone? Old time photos and chatty anecdotes are as delicious as the recipes themselves. The Cliff House dining room is the oldest continuing dining room in the State of Maine. It’s a delicious history to inspire the contemporary cook.
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Windjammer Cooking
This beautiful, full-color cookbook has 60 sea-tested recipes from Maine’s famous windjammer fleet as well as photographs and information on the windjammers, their owners, cooks and crew, and the beautiful coast of Maine. Recipes include hearty seagoing favorites like chowders, bisques, and stews as well as inventive new creations like Baked Salmon with Sour Cream Dill Caper Sauce and Chocolate Zucchini Cake. And no Maine cookbook would be complete without recipes for the windjammers’ famous lobster bakes on the beach.
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Fresh From Maine
Two of the state's culinary insiders have put together an intimate, far-ranging, and entertaining introduction to some of the best of those chefs and their food. A treat for curious cooks, travelers, and gastronomes, the book is packed with recipes and lush photography, its pages spiced with chefs' stories—and a few secrets.
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A Taste of It All
Thyme & Moss Publishing introduces author Georgia Manzo Joachim and her first cookbook entitled, 'A Taste of It All, Celebrating the Mood of Food'. This unique cookbook with its distinct Maine roots offers seasonal reflections, photography, superb menus and recipes, and suggested music, movie and book accompaniments - all to capture and celebrate the spirit, ambiance, and mood of cooking and its intimate relationship with life's seasons.
