A New Side of Linda Greenlaw
My first reaction to the idea of this particular cookbook was somewhat cynical. Is Linda Greenlaw going Martha Stewart on us? Was someone thinking that Linda Greenlaw’s readership would expand exponentially if more readers of “traditional” female-oriented genres could identify with her?
What has marked Greenlaw as “untraditional” is her profession; she’s succeeded in the traditionally male domain of fishing, and writes about that world as an insider. “Let’s increase her femininity quotient,” somebody in Packaging might have posited. “And what’s more womanly than being good in the kitchen?” So, the next Linda we’d get would be the dutiful daughter who, with her mother’s example and influence, masters a mean meal as well.
Whatever its motivation, the book works. Some of that can be credited to the beautiful, full-color and often full-page photographs of eye-pleasing, mouth-watering foods. Folksy, good-humored repartee of Martha and Linda introduces each recipe, and Linda’s witty and wry anecdotes describing memorable eating occasions are bright spots.
The recipes have a rather traditional New England approach and take into consideration what’s locally grown and readily available. Based on the Greenlaws’ location – Isle au Haut in Penobscot Bay – this involves seafood such as lobsters, crab, clams, mackerel and hake, as well as veggies and fruits from a northerly and short growing season, such as blueberries, cranberries, apples, pears, peas, potatoes, and cabbage. But the cuisine isn’t limited to ingredients you could find fresh from the garden or the local grocery on one-store islands.
There are some exotic combinations representing the “fusion” cuisine of coastal Maine: Thai curry sauce for mussels, a Creole remoulade on local shrimp, citrus tartar sauce with mackerel, jalapeno salsa with codfish cakes, and drinks such as “Dark and Stormy” and “Whiskey Fruit Punch.” Of course, the author of The Lobster Chronicles and mom feature a lot of recipes for their favorite crustacean. Depending on your degree of familiarity, you might also associate the Greenlaws with Jell-O shots.
Linda reports her editor insisted on the recipe’s inclusion after his own memorable introduction to them. Disembarking from the mailboat on his first visit to Isle au Haut, Linda’s family welcomed him with trays of the cranberry gelatin and orange vodka concoction.
The recipe, with a rum option, is introduced with his heartfelt “So Jell-O shots will always symbolize for me Greenlaw hospitality.”
The book’s collection ends up being an interesting combination of the familiar with a soupcon of zing, zest and Zen. On the book’s cover, the two authors pose, beaming behind an array of ingredients for the feast they’re obviously preparing. Intended as inspiring, I also factor into this picture “exhausting,” imagining all the hard work and hours of time ahead. Linda and Martha look so enviably cool, calm, and collected. I only wish in the same situation, I could be like that: enjoying a moment of Zen.
Maybe these recipes are the ticket.
Tina Cohen writes from kitchens in Old Harbor, Vinalhaven, and Amherst, MA.