Cookbook collectors – and they are legion – will want to get their
potholder-cove s on At Home, At Sea: Recipes from the Maine Windjammer J.
& E. Riggin
By Anne Mahle. Mahle, along with her husband Jon Finger, owns the Maine
windjammer J. & E. Riggin, which sails out of Rockland, taking 24 passengers
in weeklong cruises on Penobscot Bay. After years of urging by passengers, Mahle
finally joined with photographer Frank Chillemi and designer Dana Degenhardt
(who is also a Culinary Institute of America graduate) to produce this handsome,
practical, whimsical and useful book, which is much more than a cookbook.
There are many windjammer cookbooks around and most of them are very good.
Mahle, however, has raised the bar very high in making her effort a pleasure to
read. The photos are gorgeous, the recipes easy to follow, there is room on each
page to make notes, the story of life on a windjammer is warm and entrancing and
the book is even designed to stay open on the counter while in use.
Why would one add this book to an already huge collection? Because it could
easily be the only cookbook you would need, for starters. It’s not Fanny
Farmer or Joy of Cooking, but it has delicious, fairly simple and nutritious
recipes to take you through each meal of the day, plus appetizers. There is a
good dietary index and even recipes for natural cleaning products. Mahle’s
sense of social responsibility shines through on every page, with her dedication
to using locally grown, well-raised products and creating as little waste as
possible in an industry not noted for such enlightened approaches to tourism.
But the bottom line is the recipes. They’re really the kind you’ll turn to
over and over again: whether it’s Crepes Eggs Benedict or Buttermilk Pancakes
for breakfast; Chicken, Roasted Red Pepper and Couscous Salad for lunch; or
Black Forest Pork Stew for dinner, Mahle adds an individual twist or touch that
will make the recipes a favorite over and over again. It’s a beautifully
crafted book and would make the best possible souvenir to take away after a trip
to the Maine coast.
