PORTLAND, Maine — When Karl Schatz and Margaret Hathaway began working in 2019 on the “Maine Bicentennial Community Cookbook,” the project and their hopes for it were modest.
“We envisioned a book that would highlight Maine’s resources and rich food traditions, sharing dishes found in all 16 counties,” they wrote. “We hoped to sell the cookbook from a little booth at fairs and festivals across the state…and in the manner of all community cookbooks, we planned to give a portion of the proceeds to organizations doing good in the community—in this case, fighting hunger in Maine.”
The book, released in 2020, sold briskly and received such a warm reception that Schatz and Hathaway have now produced a companion volume, “Maine Community Cookbook, Volume 2.”
It is, once again, a celebration of home cooking in Maine, deeply rooted in families who are brought to life through the photos and stories they shared.
And, of course, there are the recipes.
All you have to do is look at the names of these dishes to be transported to a different time or place: "Gramma’s Apple Pandowdy," "Steuben Side-Walk Society Oyster Stew," "Camp Kezar Baked Ducks," "Eastport Fish Chowder," and "Aunt Weeza’s Homemade Donuts,” for example.
Every entry has a story, all of them interesting, or illuminating, or both.
Consider the recipe, plucked from a grandmother’s cookbook for cod sounds and tongues:
“Cod sounds are the swim bladder, and the tongues are a muscle taken from the back of a cod’s neck. Both were considered delicacies at the time.”
Bet you didn’t know that.
As was the case with Volume 1, $2 from the sale of every copy of Volume 2 will be distributed to non-profits fighting hunger. So far, Volume 1 has raised more than $20,000 for that cause.