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New England cuisine is an American cuisine which originated in the New England region of the United States, and traces its roots to English cuisine. It is characterized by extensive use of seafood and dairy products, resulting from its historical reliance on its seaports and fishing industry, as well as extensive dairy farming in inland regions.
Many of New England's earliest Puritan settlers were from eastern England, where baking foods (for instance, pies, beans, and turkey) was more common than frying, as was the tradition elsewhere.
Two prominent characteristic foodstuffs native to New England are maple syrup and cranberries. The traditional standard starch is potato, though rice has a somewhat increased popularity in modern cooking. New England cuisine predominantly uses ground black pepper, although parsley, garlic, and sage are common, with a few Caribbean additions such as nutmeg, plus several Italian spices.
Use of cream is common, due to the reliance on dairy. The favored cooking techniques are stewing, steaming, and baking. Many local ingredients, such as squash, corn and local beans, sunflowers, wild turkey, maple syrup, cranberries and dishes such as cornbread, Johnnycakes and Indian pudding were adopted from Southern New England Algonquian cuisine.
Early history
Early history
The traditional diet of the Wampanoag Indians included chestnuts, beechnuts, walnuts, beans, multi-colored corn (called "flint corn"), and varieties of squash and pumpkins. Not strictly vegetarian, the traditional diet of the Wabanaki people is plant-centric and based on corn, beans, squash, sunflower seeds, sunchokes and ground cherries. The Wabanaki tribal nations did make plant milk and infant formula from nuts.
American colonies
American colonies
In 1620, the newly arrived Pilgrims faced the prospect of surviving their first winter in Plymouth Colony. The climate was harsh and the growing season was shorter than they were accustomed to due to the long and frosty winters.
The newly arrived colonists brought vital techniques of food preservation like smoking, curing and drying that helped them survive the harsh New England winter. They also received help from the Wampanoag, who taught the newly arrived Pilgrims how to grow the staple crops of squash, beans and corn. It is not known for certain what crops were grown in early colonial gardens, but later sources mention turnips, onions, carrots, garlic and pumpkins.
The Pilgrims used corn to make hasty pudding and Wampanoag recipes like popcorn, sagamite and nasaump. The Wampanoag Indians also taught the Pilgrims to bake in hot ashes, and ash cakes (also called johnny cakes or breakfast bannocks) became a staple breakfast bread. Beans were used to make stews or combined with corn to make succotash.
Many of New England's earliest Puritan settlers were from eastern England and brought with the traditions of English cuisine with them. Roast duck, goose, lamb, and hams were brought to the so-called "New World" as farmyard stock as soon as the colonies began to prosper.
Even today, traditional English cuisine remains a strong part of New England's identity. Some of its plates are now enjoyed by the entire United States, including clam chowder, baked beans, apple pies, baked or roast turkey, pease porridge, and steamed puddings.
Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving
The first Thanksgiving meal was shared by the Wampanoag and Pilgrims at Plymouth Rock. The menu would have been considerably more humble than the modern Thanksgiving dinner which typically includes turkey with stuffing, cranberry sauce, candied yams, mashed potatoes and pumpkin pie. Though filled pastries were common in English cuisine, the colonists did not have wheat flour or butter, so pie would have been absent from the original Thanksgiving table. White potatoes and sweet potatoes had not yet reached North America, and the first literary mention of cranberry sauce dates some 50 years after the first Thanksgiving meal.
The original menu included "Indian corn", wild fowl, including wild turkey and waterfowl, and venison. These are only foods mentioned by primary sources, however food historians have speculated as to what else may have been served. In addition to wild turkey, duck and goose, swan and passenger pigeons were plentiful.
In those times birds were typically stuffed with onion and herbs and one 17th-century recipe for goose includes a stuffing of chestnuts. It is likely that the meal included local seafood like clams, mussels, lobsters and eels.
19th century
19th century
Since the 1800s New England's culinary traditions have been influenced by the arrival of Irish Americans, Portuguese Americans, and Italian Americans. Irish-style braised pickled beef was the origin of New England boiled dinner.
"Country stores" sold homemade jams, fruit preserves and penny candy. Common crackers are still made with the original recipe dating to 1828.
Vegetarianism was practiced during the 18th and 19th century by individuals and families in Maine before the start of the modern vegetarian movement in 1817 in Philadelphia.
New England Boiled Dinner
Modern
Modern
In the post-World War II era, July 4th celebrations frequently feature steak, hot dogs, hamburgers and grilled chicken. In the more distant past lamb was more traditional inland, and coastal communities in New England typically served salmon with dill mayo, peas, new potatoes and corn on the cob. Dessert often includes a seasonal fruit, for example strawberry shortcake and blueberry pie.
New England Clam Chowder
Shrimp Bisque
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