Lobster Rolls and Blueberry Pie: Three Generations of Recipes and Stories from Summers on the Coast of Maine

by Rebecca Charles, Deborah Di Clementi

Escape to the Maine seashore, an exquisite summer sanctuary where vacations stretch out forever during long, golden days and food is the stuff from which memories are made. The summers that acclaimed chef Rebecca Charles and her family spent swimming in the Atlantic, scouring the beach for shells, and eating shore dinners inspired her to open the famed Greenwich Village restaurant Pearl Oyster Bar. In this heartwarming memoir, Rebecca combines more than seventy of her favorite recipes with captivating family stories. Rebecca's adventurous granduncle Sam Goldsmith first took the family from the sweltering summer streets of Brooklyn to the exclusive seaside resort of Kennebunkport. But it was his sister-in-law Pearle Goldsmith, Pearl Oyster Bar's namesake and an opera singer with the Metropolitan and New York City operas, who fell in love with the rugged coast of Maine. Pearle passed this love on to her daughter, Eleanor, and her granddaughter, Rebecca. Now, in Lobster Rolls and Blueberry Pie , Rebecca recounts her family's three-generation love affair with the small Yankee fishing village and shares the recipes that have New Yorkers waiting in line for hours to taste what food writer Ed Levine described as "the best lobster roll I have ever eaten." Rebecca breathes new life into classic beach food. Whether re-creating an old-time clambake or grilling a whole pompano, she imparts the expertise that has made her one of the foremost seafood chefs in the country. She teaches the secrets of clamming, demystifies the selection and preparation of fish and shellfish, and helps you make these delicious Maine favorites in your own backyard, with recipes for her famous Pearl Oyster Bar Lobster Roll, creamy Scallop Chowder, Fried Oysters on homemade tartar sauce, succulent Lobster Pot Pie laced with sherry, and, of course, her famous Blueberry Crumble Pie. With her mouthwatering recipes and moving family stories, Rebecca will inspire everyone to create fond summer memories of their own.

Genres: Cookbooks, Cooking, Culinary, Reference

240 pages, Hardcover

First published April 1, 2003

Reviews

[Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

I just love cookbooks that combine recipes with stories of family. Food and family are two "F" words that go together. It is no coincidence that the traditions that many of us enjoy with our families combine the two. Such is the case with Lobster Rolls & Blueberry Pie: Three Generations of Recipes and Stories from Summers on the Coast of Maine.

Having never been to Maine, I lived vicariously through this book. Rebecca Charles is currently the owner and head chef of Pearl Oyster Bar in Greenwich Village. The namesake of the restaurant is Pearle Goldsmith, Rebecca's grandmother. Lobster Rolls & Blueberry Pie recounts the Goldsmith's summers in Kennebunkport, from the time Rebecca's great uncle Sam first took the family there to Rebecca's weeks there now. The pictures in the book are worth the price alone. Seeing the male striped bathing suits in the early 1900s makes you realize just how much things have changed. Charles also includes shocking stories about Jewish prejudice in Maine at this time and the heroes who dared to stand up to it.

I have not tried any of the recipes yet, but I am most looking forward to trying Pearle's Shortbread. This is not so much a cookbook as it is an extremely heartwarming, worthwhile memoir of summers gone by.

MY RATING - 4

See this review on www.1776books.net...

http://1776books.blogspot.com/2011/06...

[andrea · Rating 4 out of 5]

Being familiar with both NYC's PEArl Oyster Bar on Cornelia and Pearl Oyster and Spat Cellar in Kennebunk, Maine as well as most towns, it was a lot of fun to read - even if it were without recipes! I appreciate a lot of the back-stories on places/establishments familiar to me on Maine's southern coast, and I appreciate the candor with which Rebecca writes - the same candor she brings to introducing her approach to preparing many dishes. I'll be following some of her instruction for sure. and think it would be great if she would come out with an after word in which she could talk about both the current state of some of the landmarks and property history she mentions in the book but also perhaps some of things she'd change in some of the recipes, if indeed she would, or has. It was 2003 that she first published this account, so a while ago. I'm looking forward to catching her in the restaurant soon again to ask some questions.

[Libraryassistant · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a great little history! Pictures and tales from her grandparents and their family, who started the Maine summer vacation for the next generations. The cool thing, too, is that the Kennebunks, as she calls the 2 towns, were not just for the rich, the Goldsmiths weren’t. But they were rich in character.
Quite a few recipes from Chef Charles’ Pearl Oyster Bar in NYC, along with her history of getting to creating it. Sadly COVID did for that one.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book for the stories from summers on the coast of Maine, not for the recipes. I loved the stories. Many of the places were familiar to me, and surprisingly, a few of the people were too. I liked seeing Kennebunkport through the eyes of three generations of summer people.

[Kelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wasn't expecting this to be a memoir with a few recipes scattered in it. I was looking for more recipes (with pictures), so this just fell flat for me

[Daphne · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the first book I've read about, about Maine! It's really interesting. It's about three generations of a family that vacationed to Maine every summer for pretty much their entire lives. The author of this book even lived in Maine for a few years. Now she owns a a restaurant in New York that serves mostly Maine seafood. It's a true story, mainly a biography and it not only is a story, but also has some amazing recipes in it. They are all very fancy, so I don't know if I will ever make any of them, but they are good to have around in case I choose to try. I recommend this book for anyone that wants to learn more about Maine culture, cuisine and history.

Here is the book description off the back cover.

From the celebrated chef and owner of New York City's Pearl Oyster Bar comes Lobster Rolls and Blueberry Pie, which transports readers to the Maine seashore of the past, where summer vacations stretch out forever during long, golden days and food is the stuff from which memories are made. The story begins with Rebecca Charle's grandmother, Pearle Goldsmith, a Metropolitan Opera singer, who began a love affair with the coast of Maine. She passed down her passion for Maine and its food to her daughter, Eleanor, and granddaughter, Rebecca, whose Maine cuisine has New Yorker's waiting in line for hours at Pearl Oyster Bar. Lobster Rolls and Blueberry Pie is a warm and wonderful book, filled with more than seventy delicious recipes, beautiful, nostalgic photos, and moving family stories.

I've yet to visit New York City, but now I know the first reataurant I want to go to when I do go there...the Pearl Oyster Bar!!!

[C · Rating 3 out of 5]

The history of small town Maine is fascinating. I didn't really care for most of the recipes, and didn't find them to be as old-fashioned as I'd expected. The author laments that some of those that are older no longer work as well as remembered; indeed, a problem of trying to follow any historic recipe is that the quality and content of ingredients has changed drastically in recent decades thanks to increasing industrialization of the food supply chain. There are also some tips that seem sound for cooking seafood.

[Joanna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cool book. Somewhat of a memoir. It has to do with Kennebunkport, Maine, where I've vacationed. I just returned gel from there and took this book with me to read. Great recipes also and is love to go to Pearl Oyster Bar sometime!!

[Avis Black · Rating 1 out of 5]

Lobster Rolls and Blueberry Pie has pretty dull writing.