A local chef brings a dash of hip to an unlikely <\/span>traditional cuisine. Welcome to the new \u201cShaker Gourmet.\u201d <\/span><\/h3>\nby Judith Gaines<\/span><\/p>\n\n
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Y<\/span>ou have to take off your halo-like bonnet to anyone who wants to celebrate Shaker cuisine. One of the sect\u2019s most avid cooks, Eldress Bertha Lindsay, once described their food as \u201cplain country cooking.\u201d Others have called it \u201cnutritious and wholesome.\u201d Try: borrrrrring<\/em>.<\/p>\nThe only three surviving Shakers live at Sabbathday Lake off Route 26 west of Gray, and with their practice of celibacy, the future doesn\u2019t look great\u2013food-wise or anywise.<\/span><\/p>\nBut Chef Sebastian Carosi thinks their culinary strengths have been overlooked and may be coming back in style. A few years ago, during his time heading culinary operations at Canterbury Shaker Village (operated exclusively as a museum since its last resident passed in 1992) in New Hampshire, he sifted through scores of old recipes. \u201cI was wowed by their commitment to sustainable, organic ingredients,\u201d he says. \u201cThey only used what they grew, and they used everything they raised. They even used pigs\u2019 blood to make pastries and made gelatin from pigs\u2019 feet.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\nModern locavores might be intrigued to discover how some \u201cfound foods\u201d on Shaker property make their way into meals. \u201cThe Shakers stew cattails, saut\u00e9e milkweed pods, and put nettles in their soups,\u201d Carosi says. \u201c\u2018Coffee\u2019 is a brew of barley, peas, roasted carrots, and the root of an herb called avens.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\nAlthough their food is fairly simple, \u201cthey believe in keeping up with the times,\u201d he says. So Carosi, who lives in Kennebunk and heads the New England Farm 2 Fork Project, is \u201cbringing Shaker food into 2010\u201d with a series of meals and workshops at private farms and Shaker sites around the region.<\/span><\/p>\nAt a recent dinner held at the Raven Hill Orchard Farm in East Waterboro, 26 attendees gathered in the barn\u2019s post-and-beam loft, the mood set by tea lights in Mason jars and vases of local wildflowers on rustic tables. After nibbles of local cheese\u2013the Shakers make their own, probably Colby or farmhouse cheddar\u2013the meal began with \u201ccrispy-fried, local, buttermilk-soaked, barnyard chicken livers on toast with oak-aged black vinegar cream, young rocket, and pickled heirloom orchard apples,\u201d Carosi says. These dishes \u201care inspired by the Shaker philosophy of frugality and their good sense in pickling what they have a lot of. And they have a lot of apple trees, about 1,900 at Sabbathday Lake.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\nNext came \u201ccountry-fried American Bourbon Red Turkey,\u201d in keeping with the Shakers\u2019 interest in heritage breeds. This was served with \u201cpickled mustard greens and creamed corn misaquatash,\u201d somewhat like a Shaker dish of steamed beans and corn in cream, but Carosi gussied it up with fresh chives, parsley, and green onions. The salad was \u201cthe freshest mess of field greens, herbs, and flowers, with a switchel vinaigrette and smoked trout.\u201d Switchel, he explains, is a refreshing drink the Shakers love, especially during haying season: a mix of vinegar and ice water with ginger, molasses, and maple syrup.<\/span><\/p>\nRoasted \u201cSabbathday Lake herb-rubbed Berkshire pork tenderloin\u201d was served with bacon-fat spinach, chou chou, and smoked hamhock-stewed heirloom Maine white beans\u201d\u2013dishes based not on particular Shaker recipes but on their philosophy and style, described by Carosi as \u201cembracing ingredients that are whole, pure, best-raised, carefully tended, and heartily presented. They wouldn\u2019t want any skimpy dishes on the table.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\nEntrees were accompanied by squash rolls, which the Shakers make with canned pumpkin, as did Carosi. Everything was washed down with \u201cShaker-spiced Concord grape drink,\u201d made with lemon peel, cinnamon sticks, cloves, allspice berries, sugar, water, and Concord grape juice. Dessert was traditional spiced applesauce cake.<\/span><\/p>\nLike most of the participants, Lisa Rancourt, 41, of Saco, says she didn\u2019t know anything about Shaker cooking before she went to the dinner. \u201cI never heard of Switchel or chou chou or half the things on the menu. I just know they tasted damn good\u2026And I got a little history lesson about the Shakers.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\nThat, more or less, is Carosi\u2019s goal. \u201cI don\u2019t want what the Shakers do to be lost.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\nAsked about interest in Shakers and their food ways, Brother Arnold, one of the remaining members of the sect, says he hopes it brings more tourism. And interest is on the uptick. Mother Ann Lee, who founded the American sect in 1774, said there would come a time when the number of Shakers \u201ccould be counted on one hand,\u201d and then there would be a revival of popular interest in them.<\/span><\/p>\n\u201cThere you have it,\u201d Brother Arnold says. <\/span><\/p>\n>><\/strong><\/span> <\/strong><\/span>Join Carosi\u2019s dinners: <\/strong>thenewenglandfarm2forkproject.com<\/a><\/strong>. <\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n
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The only three surviving Shakers live at Sabbathday Lake off Route 26 west of Gray, and with their practice of celibacy, the future doesn\u2019t look great\u2013food-wise or anywise.<\/span><\/p>\n But Chef Sebastian Carosi thinks their culinary strengths have been overlooked and may be coming back in style. A few years ago, during his time heading culinary operations at Canterbury Shaker Village (operated exclusively as a museum since its last resident passed in 1992) in New Hampshire, he sifted through scores of old recipes. \u201cI was wowed by their commitment to sustainable, organic ingredients,\u201d he says. \u201cThey only used what they grew, and they used everything they raised. They even used pigs\u2019 blood to make pastries and made gelatin from pigs\u2019 feet.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Modern locavores might be intrigued to discover how some \u201cfound foods\u201d on Shaker property make their way into meals. \u201cThe Shakers stew cattails, saut\u00e9e milkweed pods, and put nettles in their soups,\u201d Carosi says. \u201c\u2018Coffee\u2019 is a brew of barley, peas, roasted carrots, and the root of an herb called avens.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Although their food is fairly simple, \u201cthey believe in keeping up with the times,\u201d he says. So Carosi, who lives in Kennebunk and heads the New England Farm 2 Fork Project, is \u201cbringing Shaker food into 2010\u201d with a series of meals and workshops at private farms and Shaker sites around the region.<\/span><\/p>\n At a recent dinner held at the Raven Hill Orchard Farm in East Waterboro, 26 attendees gathered in the barn\u2019s post-and-beam loft, the mood set by tea lights in Mason jars and vases of local wildflowers on rustic tables. After nibbles of local cheese\u2013the Shakers make their own, probably Colby or farmhouse cheddar\u2013the meal began with \u201ccrispy-fried, local, buttermilk-soaked, barnyard chicken livers on toast with oak-aged black vinegar cream, young rocket, and pickled heirloom orchard apples,\u201d Carosi says. These dishes \u201care inspired by the Shaker philosophy of frugality and their good sense in pickling what they have a lot of. And they have a lot of apple trees, about 1,900 at Sabbathday Lake.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Next came \u201ccountry-fried American Bourbon Red Turkey,\u201d in keeping with the Shakers\u2019 interest in heritage breeds. This was served with \u201cpickled mustard greens and creamed corn misaquatash,\u201d somewhat like a Shaker dish of steamed beans and corn in cream, but Carosi gussied it up with fresh chives, parsley, and green onions. The salad was \u201cthe freshest mess of field greens, herbs, and flowers, with a switchel vinaigrette and smoked trout.\u201d Switchel, he explains, is a refreshing drink the Shakers love, especially during haying season: a mix of vinegar and ice water with ginger, molasses, and maple syrup.<\/span><\/p>\n Roasted \u201cSabbathday Lake herb-rubbed Berkshire pork tenderloin\u201d was served with bacon-fat spinach, chou chou, and smoked hamhock-stewed heirloom Maine white beans\u201d\u2013dishes based not on particular Shaker recipes but on their philosophy and style, described by Carosi as \u201cembracing ingredients that are whole, pure, best-raised, carefully tended, and heartily presented. They wouldn\u2019t want any skimpy dishes on the table.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Entrees were accompanied by squash rolls, which the Shakers make with canned pumpkin, as did Carosi. Everything was washed down with \u201cShaker-spiced Concord grape drink,\u201d made with lemon peel, cinnamon sticks, cloves, allspice berries, sugar, water, and Concord grape juice. Dessert was traditional spiced applesauce cake.<\/span><\/p>\n Like most of the participants, Lisa Rancourt, 41, of Saco, says she didn\u2019t know anything about Shaker cooking before she went to the dinner. \u201cI never heard of Switchel or chou chou or half the things on the menu. I just know they tasted damn good\u2026And I got a little history lesson about the Shakers.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n That, more or less, is Carosi\u2019s goal. \u201cI don\u2019t want what the Shakers do to be lost.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Asked about interest in Shakers and their food ways, Brother Arnold, one of the remaining members of the sect, says he hopes it brings more tourism. And interest is on the uptick. Mother Ann Lee, who founded the American sect in 1774, said there would come a time when the number of Shakers \u201ccould be counted on one hand,\u201d and then there would be a revival of popular interest in them.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThere you have it,\u201d Brother Arnold says. <\/span><\/p>\n >><\/strong><\/span> <\/strong><\/span>Join Carosi\u2019s dinners: <\/strong>thenewenglandfarm2forkproject.com<\/a><\/strong>. <\/strong><\/span><\/p>\nY<\/span>ou have to take off your halo-like bonnet to anyone who wants to celebrate Shaker cuisine. One of the sect\u2019s most avid cooks, Eldress Bertha Lindsay, once described their food as \u201cplain country cooking.\u201d Others have called it \u201cnutritious and wholesome.\u201d Try: borrrrrring<\/em>.<\/p>\n
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