Working Waterfront

The recipe is just part of the story

It’s a terrible job writing recipes. I know this because during the past 40 or so years, I’ve written around 1,400 of the little stinkers. The biggest chunk of those were recruited from friends, neighbors, and readers which I tried out, reworked a little, and published for a weekly column… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Digging deep into Maine’s recipe pantry

Both books feature Oliver’s homespun stories about recipes, contributors, and history, and offer real insight into authentic Downeast cooking, from both the past and the present. And you don’t need to feel you’ve embarked on scholarly research while perusing recipes here SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Food for the finicky feline

In the kitchen, on the floor next to the cookstove, Yandro finds his food. Before this pale orange, furry little being came here to live, he sat on a stool at a dining table, on which he was allowed to put his front paws, and only his front paws, to… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Cooking on wood

Last weekend we stacked firewood in the barn, collecting and piling small pieces separately for kindling. Over the 30-plus years I’ve cooked on a wood burning kitchen stove, I’ve gotten mighty fussy about firewood, and can tell just by looking at a stick whether it will fit the kitchen stove… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Cooking on wood

Last weekend we stacked firewood in the barn, collecting and piling small pieces separately for kindling. Over the 30-plus years I’ve cooked on a wood burning kitchen stove, I’ve gotten mighty fussy about firewood, and can tell just by looking at a stick whether it will fit the kitchen stove… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Summer in a jar

I’ve filled mason jars full; good use for small peaches whose skins slip off easily after being scalded and slide into a jar without argument. A light syrup of two parts water to one of sugar is all that’s needed. I usually leave one pit in the jar to intensify the peach flavor. SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

The evolution of taste

Flavor matters so much when we eat. Cooks sample as they go along to make sure the seasoning is just right, that the balance of salt, sweet, spicy, sour, bitter, and umami is pleasing. Still, each of us experiences flavor in highly personal ways, hence, “De gustibus, non disputandum est.”… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Loving beets… or not

One of the best modern ways I’ve discovered for serving beets is to boil them, cut them into thick slices, and then drench them in butter into which you crumble lots of blue cheese. SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

The baggage of being a vegetarian

By the summer of 1979, like many human beings around the globe and in times past, I ate relatively little meat. It wasn’t a matter of principle. I ate vegetables and grains largely for economic reasons, employed at a job qualifying me for food stamps for which I never applied.… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

How to shop at a farmers market

If you enjoy frustration, grab a recipe card for a dish you can’t wait to try, and then prowl among vendors at a farmers market. Likely you won’t find everything you need for your recipe at one time. That’s a kind of top-down market experience that you just can’t get… SEE MORE