The book's flourishes are fun, but some of the best food in Dishing Up Vermont is simple. With just eight basic ingredients, the Flip-Over Apple Cake is a good example. Its slightly crunchy yet buttery underbelly serves as a fine foil for its tender, pretty apple topping. Though the book's recipe, contributed by the owners of a 114-year-old Vermont orchard, calls for Northern Spy or Rhode Island Greening apples, I found that a combination of Ginger Gold and Gala apples harvested in closer-by Pennsylvania tasted just fine.
Another recent book from the Northeast, The New England Clam Shack Cookbook (Storey Publising, 2008, $16.95) moves away from the orchards to the seafood shacks, lobster pounds and chowder houses of the coast. In her second edition of the book, author Brooke Dojny surveys more than 100 places to visit in the region for a can't-miss casual meal, and offers recipes and techniques from those who know New England seafood best.
Portsmouth Seafood Chowder, from BG's Boat House in Portsmouth, N.H., is the perfect recipe for a cool, leisurely afternoon, with a milky broth, thickened with half-and-half and a little cornstarch. It combines haddock (or any white fish), scallops and potatoes with a savory accent of bacon and onions.
The book has illustrated guides on cleaning and filleting fish and shucking clams and oysters. And if you're traveling to the area, Dojny offers three weekend dining itineraries around Portland, Maine; Newport and Bristol, R.I.; and along the north shore of Massachusetts.
The new fourth edition of the quirky Martha's Vineyard Cookbook (Globe Pequot Press, 2008, $19.95), originally published in 1971, has a lot of old, traditional recipes - even its newly included African-American recipes have been around the island a long time, says Wexler, whose co-author, Louise Tate King, died in 2000.
From the African-American chapter, we tried Pork Chops Under Milk, a simple and subtle slow-cooked dinner with the gravy baked right in.
The Brazilian population on the island has grown more recently, Wexler says. In addition to feijoada, a staple Brazilian dish of rice and beans, the cookbook includes new recipes for Baked Cauliflower with onions, peppers, tomato and olives, and an appetizer of Hearts of Palm on Toast Points.
There's also a chapter of historical recipes, called "old timers," with names like Potato Bargain and Chicken and Oyster Stifle.
tips from the new england books
