Traditional New England Boiled Dinner

I'm naming this dish a New England Boiled Dinner to make the connection to the meal's past. According to American Food by food writer, Evan Jones, this was a popular meal on New England farms and was typically served in the middle of the day. The salted meat was placed in a pot over a fire in the morning, simmered about three hours while chores got done. After three or so hours, garden vegetables were added and simmered another hour.  The broth was valued for its nutrients.  It was all served together and was accompanied by cider vinegar or, more commonly, homemade horseradish sauce or mustard.

We had boiled dinners when I was growing up, but my French-Canadian family often used ham. I remember corned beef around St. Patrick's Day only a few times. It was usually a meal we would eat out. Either way, I always loved these meals and today always feel so content when I cook and eat a hearty boiled dinner with my family.

I bought all organic vegetables. They still had dirt on them and I loved the earthy fragrance!

I gently simmered Whole Foods' own corned brisket for 3 hours, then added vegetables to the pot for 30 minutes. After that, I added cabbage for another 30 minutes.  The beets were boiled separately until fork tender.

While the vegetables simmered, I made the horseradish dressing, removed beets, cooled, peeled and sliced.

I served it all together . . .

New England Boiled Dinner, from American Food by Evan Jones

3 1/2 lb corned beef brisket 

5 turns of freshly ground pepper

1 bay leaf

1 parsnip

1/2 rutabaga

3 large carrots

4 medium-sized potatoes

1/2 cabbage

6 small beets, preboiled and peeled

1 tbs horseradish

1 tbs sour cream

2 or 3 dashes of Tobasco

Method (reworded): Cover corned brisket with water, add pepper and bay leaf. Simmer the brisket over medium heat for 4 hours, but after 3 hours, add vegetables, except cabbage and beets. Before the last 20 minutes add cabbage, and before the last 10 minutes add beets. Remove corned beef, slice thin on the bias and lay out on a platter. Remove vegetables with a slotted spoon, cut into 4 or more serving-sized pieces and spread on the platter around the beef slices. Serves 4.  

Side sauce: mix horseradish, sour cream and Tabasco together.  

My changes:  I used a 4 lb brisket, used a whole cabbage that I quartered, 3 parsnips sliced in half lengthwise, 3 carrots also sliced in half lengthwise, 1 whole peeled rutabaga cut into 4 pieces, and I didn't add beets at the end (kept them separate).  In addition to bay leaf and pepper, I added a few whole cloves (about 6) for amazing flavor and aroma!  

Hope you enjoy this recipe as much as we did!

Fannie Farmer's Boston Baked Beans And Golden Corn Bread

What rich dark sweetness! I was brought back in time by this turn-of-the-century recipe. The strong molasses flavor gave me a sense of its popularity as a sweetener back in the day.

You may know from an earlier blog post that I'm taking a food writing course.  I'm also learning a little about American food history. When my text book, American Food, mentioned Fannie Farmer's The Boston School of Cooking Cookbook, I got excited thinking I had one! I ran over to the fireplace in the kitchen. There it was on the mantle. A prop. A member of a vignette of vintage books. Holding the book, I realized I had been brushing dust off its cover for a few years oblivious to its historical role in New England cooking. When I opened it, I saw it was originally written in 1896 and this is the 1938 edition!  How fun, I thought, to now try a few recipes.

Since we just covered Yankee foods, and my first assignment was a memoir about foods growing up, I chose to make Fannie Farmer's Boston baked beans for my family. I'm not from Boston but I grew up not far away in Woonsocket and remember having Petites baked beans on Saturdays. I remember going to Petites with my dad. There were always long lines and the beans were ladled into stoneware crocks. We would return to Petites often with a cleaned crock, ready for more beans. 

Staying with the historical theme, I thought it would be nice to cook beans in a vintage crock I have but was unsure about its safety so I used a cast iron pot instead.  First, I had to soak navy pea beans overnight. 

In the morning, I boiled the soaked beans. The recipe says, 

". . . cook until skins will burst, - which is best determined by taking a few beans on the tip of a spoon and blowing on them, when skins will burst if sufficiently cooked." 

Okay, what does that mean? Will it take 15 minutes? 30 minutes? An hour? I looked it up on the internet where a recipe said cook for 1 to 2 hours. Still, not precise timing. After cooking for about 1 1/2 hours (oops, forgot to set the timer for 1 hour) I tried the technique Fannie suggests and the beans kept flying off the spoon when I blew on them, which made our mini French poodle, Sammy, very happy.  I was amused at first but gave up after a few tries.

Next I scalded the salt pork. Then I scraped. Again, not really being sure what this meant. Then I trimmed and added the salt pork to the beans.

 After 6 hours, the beans looked and smelled amazing!

I failed at making her Boston Baked Bread recipe but I had a backup. I whipped up her quick and easy corn bread recipe and baked it in these small cast iron pans. The corn bread tasted great, in a rustic old-fashioned sort of way, even though it was a little dry.

Boston Baked Beans
1 qt pea beans (navy pea beans)
3/4 lb fat salt pork
1 tbsp salt
3 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp to 1 cup molasses, according to taste
1/2 tsp mustard, if desired
Boiling water

"Pick over beans, cover with cold water, and soak overnight.  Drain, cover with fresh water, heat slowly (keeping water below boiling point), and cook until skins will burst, - which is best determined by taking a few beans on the tip of a spoon and blowing on them, when skins will burst if sufficiently cooked.  Drain beans.  Scald pork and scrape, remove 1/4 inch slice, and put in bottom of bean pot.  Cut through rind of remaining pork every half-inch, making cuts 1 inch deep.  Put beans in pot and bury pork in beans, leaving rind exposed.  Mix salt, molasses, and sugar, add 1 cup boiling water and pour over beans; then add enough more boiling water to cover beans.  Cover bean pot and bake 6 to 8 hours in slow oven (250 degrees F), uncovering the last hour of cooking, that rind may become brown and crisp. Add water as needed.  If pork mixed with lean is preferred, use less salt."

Golden Corn Cake
3/4 cup corn meal
1 cup flour
1/3 cup sugar
3 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
1 cup milk
1 egg, well beaten
2 tbsp shortening, melted (I used butter)

"Mix and sift dry ingredients; add milk, egg, and shortening; bake in shallow buttered pan 20 minutes in hot oven (425 degrees F).  For shortening, butter, chicken fat, or beef drippings may be used."

Ham Broth
I don't have a recipe but this is what I did.  I bought a small ham from Whole Foods.  I added about an inch of apple cider to the pan and covered with aluminum foil.  Cooked until heated through.  When done, I put the remaining apple cider in a small saute pan (a little more than a cup), added about 1/4 teaspoon molasses (not too much as it has a strong flavor), about 1/2 teaspoon dry mustard, and reduced to about half.  I poured the broth over slices of served ham.

After all the effort, I was glad we all liked it! My favorite quote comes from my son. When he first tasted it he said, "What's it made with? Love? If it's made with love, love tastes weird." But, once he got used to the flavor he really liked the beans too.

New copies of Fannie Merritt Farmer's Boston School of Cooking Cookbook can be found here.