Say Cheese...

Last weekend, my wife and I took a trip to Boothbay Harbor, Maine.  We love traveling to Maine at least once a year and we wanted to make sure to get in one last small trip for ourselves before the baby comes.  Nothing fancy--just an opportunity to take small day trips up and down the Maine coast during one of the quieter and prettier times of the year.

Thanks to a little research on the Interwebs prior to the trip, my wife found a new place for us to stop at this year called The State of Maine Cheese Factory.  It's a small-batch local cheese producer and their cheesemaking facility and retail store happens to be on scenic Route 1 between downtown Rockport and the picturesque town of Camden.

I love visiting small artisan food producers whenever we're traveling.  A few years ago, we were in Grafton, Vermont and had a similar opportunity to visit the Grafton Village Cheese company.  It's great when you can sample a fantastic product and speak to the people who make it at the same time.  They're always so passionate about what they do.  They weren't making cheese the day we visited, but the woman manning the store was eager to answer any questions we had about the product and the process.

Even more fantastic is that stops like these are often a great time to get outrageous discounts.  You see, most cheesemakers form the cheese into large blocks and then cut the blocks to make the familiar 8 or 12-oz packages you see on store shelves.  Since a block never divides evenly, they end-up with ends and trimmings.  These ends, they often package in a vacuum-pack bag and sell at a deep discount.  It's not uncommon to find $10/pound cheese at 30 to 50% off.  You just have to slice it a little more creatively to fit on your cracker (or better yet...cook with it).

We ended-up walking away with a large package of their Katahdin Cheddar (named for Mount Katahdin, of course) and a container of their popular snacking curds (unaged chunks of cheese with a mild sweet, almost mozzarella flavor).  I absolutely love the cheddar.  It's made in the traditional style of a Vermont sharp cheddar, without being overly bitter.  It has a nice creamy finish that goes great with just about anything.  I've been eating it on Ritz crackers with a glass of apple cider.  I'm also hoping to use some of it to make Homemade Mac & Cheese.

Do you ever stop at local food producers when traveling?

Popcorn Update

In my post the other day about the Locally Grown Popcorn, I promised a update once I popped it...



As you can see, it popped-up quite normally. And, with a little butter and some salt, it tasted great! Maybe a little more flavor than store-bought.

It strikes me odd that we've let something even as simple as popcorn go by the wayside in terms of flavor and quality. The stuff in the microwavable bags just tastes awful. I've never been able to get used to the chemical after-taste of whatever it is they put on it. Perhaps I should share my recipe for old-fashioned stovetop popcorn. It's cheaper, healthier, and requires no special equipment.

Stovetop Popcorn

A heavy-bottomed sauce pan with a lid and a long handle
About 1/2 cup of popping corn
2-3 tablespoons vegetable oil
table salt
2-3 tablespoons real butter

1) Add just enough oil to the pan to coat the bottom. Place three popcorn kernels in the pan, cover, and place it over high heat.
2) As soon as all three kernels pop, remove the pan from the heat. Add enough kernels to form about a single layer on the bottom of the pan. Quickly replace the lid and place it back on the burner.
3) Gently shake the pan to toss the kernels every few seconds. Once kernels start to pop, reduce the heat to medium-high and toss vigorously over the burner to prevent burning.
4) Once the popping begins to slow-down, remove the pan from the heat and crack the lid open slightly to allow steam to escape (but not popping corn!). Let the popping subside.
5) Pour hot popcorn into a large serving bowl. Sprinkle generously with salt.
6) Place butter in the hot pan and swirl to melt it without turning it brown. Place pan over still-warm burner if needed. Once melted, pour the butter over the popcorn and toss well with your hands.
7) Serve, preferably while watching a great movie.

An Interesting Find: Locally Grown Popcorn

Last week, I was prowling about the farmer's market and I happened upon a table that was selling stalks of locally grown popcorn. I remembered reading a post over at the Chiot's Run about growing popcorn I'd been intrigued. I'd never put much thought into how the dried little kernels made it from a stalk into the package. So, I snatched-up a few stalks.

As I paid the woman, I asked if there was anything special I needed to know about popping them.

"Oh, you just scrape them off," she said as she mimed a scraping motion, "and pop them in a pot with some oil like usual."

As it turns out, popcorn starts its life much like sweet corn. The farmer then pulls the husks back at the end of the season and allows them to air-dry on the stalk, hoping birds don't start treating the field like their own personal buffet.

As it also turns out, the scraping of the kernels is not quite so easy as the woman made it sound. Well, not all that easy in a condo, at least. As you scrape, either with your fingers or something like a knife, the kernels pop out and probably a quarter of them land everywhere but in the bowl. I'm still finding them all over the dining room. :-)

I now have a small container of tiny kernels sitting in the pantry, waiting for a a good movie to arrive from Netflix. I'll be sure to post some photos of the popped corn when we get around to making it and let you know how it tasted.

Food Pilgrimage: The Lobster Roll from Red's Eats

Every so often, a local restaurant or a Mom & Pop joint creates a dish that becomes legend. It's either "the biggest" or "the spiciest" or thought by just about everyone to be "the best" (there are always one or two who disagree). Red's Eats in Wiscasset, Maine did this when they developed what the late owner, Al Gagnon, called "a proper lobster roll."

Al knew, as most Mainers do, that the lobster roll is about the lobster and the bun. Nothing else. It's not about the dressing, the seasoning, fancy toppings, or even lettuce. He knew that a proper lobster roll is made with a New England-style hotdog bun (the ones with flat sides), buttered and grilled on a hot griddle, and filled with enough chunky lobster so that you can barely pick it up to eat it. He knew the lobster had to be fresh, not frozen, and naturally sweet. To settle the argument of a dressing, Al served each sandwich with a choice of drawn butter or mayo on the side (or both if you like).

This perfect Maine lobster roll became legend and is now a top tourist destination in historic Wiscasset, Maine, along scenic route 1. As you cross into the town and begin seeing the signs of a classic New England seaside village (proudly on the national historic register since 1976), there's Red's Eats, a small, fire engine red "seafood shack." In any other picturesque town of its caliber, the building would look out of place--an eyesore amongst beauty. Yet for some reason, Reds seems to fit right in. Wiscasset wouldn't be the same without it.

The line is long, sometimes stretching around the building and back an entire block to the train tracks and the waterway behind. In the dead of summer, you could wait up to an hour for your sandwich. But it's worth the wait. Even though Al himself passed away last year, his daughter works the takeout window in his place, waiting on just one customer at a time and giving each her best smile and a dose of Maine hospitality. While this may seem inefficient, it somehow works out and oddly allows each customer to find a seat in the small outdoor dining area once his or her order is called. Don't dare have a family member save a seat until your order is placed. You'll just interrupt the delicately balanced rhythm.


And did I mention the lobster roll? Over a whole lobster in every sandwich, sweeter meat than you've ever tasted in your life. Much of it is caught in the waterways just behind the shop.

Michelle and I made our annual pilgrimage to Red's this year as part of our first anniversary getaway to Maine. We weren't disappointed. It was every bit as delicious and carefully prepared as if Al had done it himself. In fact, his daughter even went back to the girl making the sandwiches to add a few pieces to Michelle's sandwich because she knew it wasn't quite right.

Next time you're visiting coastal Maine, stop by Red's and have yourself a proper lobster roll. I promise you won't regret it. They're open seasonally, this year until Columbus day weekend. They don't have a website, but this blog is about as good as one and contains all the relevant info and a link to a great YouTube video of an interview with Al himself.