Photographs by Glenn Scott
Down East: 2003
Hardcover, index $28.00
If your idea of a terrific shore dinner is steamed lobster, period, far east down east could be a shock to your system. Or, it could open new avenues of culinary exploration. For people who want to do more with some of Maine’s staple seafoods, it offers a number of interesting ideas. It certainly isn’t your standard collection of old, comfy recipes.
The author is a New Zealander by birth who wound up living near Boston after some detours through the foods and cultures of Asia. In this, his fifth book on Asian cooking, his stated object is to combine “the harvests of New England while utilizing the style and flavors of Asia.”
Thus, standard fish chowder becomes “A Chowder from the Far East” that combines shrimp, coriander, chili powder, coconut milk, potatoes and soy sauce, among other ingredients. The result, quite easy to make, is a rich and satisfying melange of tastes.
An introductory section explains and illustrates many of the ingredients called for, so you needn’t be intimidated by, say, cumin or pickled ginger. And because cookbooks are no longer just collections of recipes, but sources of learning about other cultures, this one offers a series of marginal notes on the foods and customs of Asia.
Fish sauce, for instance, which is an ingredient in many of the author’s recipes, is called nam pla in Thailand and nuoc mam in Vietnam. The Romans knew it as
liqua men. I was afraid it would be hard to find in Maine’s relatively un-urban setting, but a few phone calls located it at the Belfast Co-op, Rising Tide Co-op in Damariscotta, and Good Tern Co-op in Rockland.
The recipes, whose results are beautifully photographed by Glenn Scott, tell you how many are served by each version and give the cooking times. Preparation times, however, are up to the cook; it’s generally easy to figure out prep time by doing a careful read-through of a recipe’s details. And one of the nice things about Asian cooking is that a lot of the chopping and other advance work can be passed on to other willing hands around the kitchen.
Most of these recipes are meat- and fish-based, although there are a few for non-meat eaters, such as Green Vegetable and Coconut Curry. The book allows you to create an Asian menu from Starters & Snacks through Desserts, although I did not test any of those. And if your ambition extends to “bigger,” more complex dishes than soups or scallops, try Tea-Smoked Duck or Asparagus and Quail Curry or even Braised Lamb Shanks with Asian Spices.
An interesting choice of recipe for this time of year is Marinated Fried Sea Scallops, which includes scallops, ginger, dry sherry, lemon, soy sauce, and other things. Yum.