A Taste of the Adirondacks

Like most culturally rich areas, the Adirondacks has developed a distinct style of cooking.  As we have learned, the Adirondacks are filled with a large variety of plants, fish, and game, providing cooks with countless ingredients to craft unique dishes.  Adirondack Cookbook outlines some tasty and traditional meals from the park, and I have selected a few of my favorites to share!

Vegetable Soup in its Own Broth

The cooking of soups in the Adirondacks extends all the way back to the Native Americans, during a time before iron pots.  Instead, Native Americans used birchbark containers to cook food over the fire.  Surprisingly, as long as “the edge of the bark was not exposed to the flame, it couldn’t burn.”

For this particular soup, garlic and onions are browned in a saucepan with olive oil and a bay leaf.  Next, thyme, squash, zucchini, bell pepper, corn, and tomato are mixed in the saucepan.  After a few minutes, white wine is added, followed by tomato juice and water.  The soup is brought to a boil and then reduced to a simmer.  Once the veggies are soft, salt and pepper to taste are added.  The Mohawk and Abenaki Native Americans would make soups like this one when meat and fish were scarce.

Pork Chops and Applesauce

Pigs were “ideal animals for Adirondackers,” because they ate the leftovers from the house.  The pigs were slaughtered in the fall so that the meat wouldn’t spoil in the heat.  The families ate as much pork as they could and then preserved the rest for the winter through pickling and salting.

In this recipe, pork loins are seared in a cast iron skillet with rosemary, salt, and pepper, before being placed in the oven.  To make the applesauce, apples, apple juice, brown sugar, and cinnamon are brought to a boil in a saucepan.  The mixture is then pureed until smooth, and kept warm on the stove until served.

Maple Beer

To make maple beer, maple syrup is boiled down in order to concentrate the sugar.  The sugar present in maple syrup is then used to feed yeast.  Some old recipes suggest adding hops or spruce tips in order to prevent the “growth of undesirable bacteria.”

Adirondack Cookbook (Source: http://www.adirondackmuseumstore.com)

Not only is this book filled with yummy recipes like the ones above, but images from the Adirondack Museum are dispersed throughout the book, as well as interesting historical facts and quotes pertaining to each dish.

Source:
Bond, Hallie E., and Stephen Topper. Adirondack Cookbook. First edition. ed. Layton, Utah: Gibbs Smith, 2014. Print.