What we do know is that in 1945, Ollie Stewart, a correspondent for Baltimore’ s The Afro-American newspaper and the first Black correspondent to go abroad during World War II, came upon“ Poulet frit Maryland” at a banquet in Paris. Later, he sent a letter to the newspaper saying that the dish“ set a new standard for Parisian chefs.” The Chicken à la Maryland version, which was served with bananas or corn fritters, was known as a luxury dish for fine diners. It graced the menus of the upper class who were traveling on the B & O Railroad or staying at Baltimore’ s The Belvedere Hotel, an upscale establishment that is still operational today. It was also a lunch option on the first-class menu on the RMS Titanic’ s fateful last day on April 14, 1912.
FRIED CHICKEN, GERTRUDE’ S CHESAPEAKE KITCHEN
Visitors can still indulge in a rendition of this historical dish on Thursdays at Gertrude’ s Chesapeake Kitchen in the Baltimore Museum of Art in Charles Village. This venerable restaurant of Chesapeake Bay cuisine serves their crispy Maryland pan-fried chicken with mashed potatoes, broccoli and the classic gravy.
OYSTER STEW, TRUE CHESAPEAKE
OYSTER CO.
DANIELLE RABIDOU / LUV LENS PHOTOGRAPHY
Oyster Stew
Before blue crab reigned supreme, oyster was the state’ s specialty seafood.“ Crab was a minor character for a really long time,” Harris says.“ It was really oysters that were driving Maryland cuisine.”
Oyster stew, a rich, chowderlike, full-bodied soup, became popular in the 1840s when Catholic Irish immigrants replaced fish with oysters in their celebratory Christmas Eve meal. In her book“ Festive Maryland Recipes,” Harris quotes a 1978 article from the Baltimore Sun newspaper on the topic that reads,“ If one is slowly becoming a Marylander, one is learning to serve oyster stew on Christmas.” Harris has found 115 versions of the dish, making oyster stew one of the most frequently occurring recipes in the Old Line Plate database.
Today, this classic dish is on the menu at True Chesapeake Oyster Co. in Hampden / Woodberry, which makes its oyster stew to order with bacon, potatoes, salsify and tarragon. The restaurant sources its oysters from its own farm on St. Jerome Creek in St. Mary’ s County, which was found to be an ideal place for oyster farming in the late 1800s. Now, the restaurant has 5 million sustainably harvested oysters in the water at any given time.
TASTE
28 BALTIMORE. ORG