Hammond-Harwood House Museum in Annapolis Revisits Its Iconic Maryland Cookbook

In 1963 the Hammond-Harwood House Association published ”Maryland’s Way, The Hammond-Harwood House Cook Book.” This cookbook includes over 700 recipes sourced from centuries-old manuscript recipe books and contributions submitted by Marylanders statewide. Since its inception over 60 years ago, it has sold over 100,000 copies and is still in demand. King Charles even has a copy of it! To celebrate the 250^th anniversary of the construction of Hammond-Harwood House in Annapolis, the museum leadership deemed it time to revisit this iconic Maryland cookbook from a new angle. In September, a new companion book, “Cooking Maryland’s Way: Voices of a Diverse Cuisine,” written by food historian Joyce M. White, supported by several contributing authors, reflects on the chief cultural influences of Maryland’s early foundational cuisine: Native American, African American, German, and British. Within the pages of this book, extensive research on selected Maryland classic foods and methods of preparation brings the history of early Maryland’s diverse cuisine into sharp focus. 

Succotash, hominy, and baked acorn squash, among several other recipes, explore the culinary traditions of Maryland’s Native American people. Contributions submitted to the book by members of the Pocomoke Indian Nation of the Eastern Shore reveal the complexity of the Nation’s cuisine and the important place foods and food memories play within their cultural traditions today. When Europeans settled Maryland in the 17^th century they exerted a huge influence on the development of a new local Maryland cuisine. The new book explores how foods and farming techniques from the Native Maryland population were merged with European food traditions to create a new compendium of fare. While the British exerted the largest influence, Pennsylvania Dutch immigrants also influenced the cuisine of early Maryland. For example, recipes from the original Maryland’s Way cookbook for corned beef and sauerkraut tell Mrs. Shinah Solomon Etting’s story. Etting was a Pennsylvania Dutch Jewish woman who moved from York, Pennsylvania to Baltimore in 1778 where she ran a boardinghouse and was known for her excellent meals. She was also known to have a lively and affable personality. 

Voices of key African Americans who shaped Maryland’s early culinary history are also resurrected in this companion book. They include Sybby Grant, Agnes Moody, Lucy Smith, and Joseph Peterson, among many others. Select recipes from the 1963 Maryland’s Way cookbook are used in the new book as springboards into discussions about these people and their influence on the development of Maryland’s early cuisine. Recipes for terrapin and wild canvasback duck are used to tell the story of Sybby Grant who was enslaved as a cook by the Thomas family in Baltimore. Grant cooked in their home at One West Mount Vernon Place which is now part of the Walters Art Museum. A recipe for corn pancakes is used to tell the story of Agnes Moody who was born into slavery in Hagerstown in approximately 1840. Moody and her family escaped Maryland on the underground railroad and eventually settled in Chicago. In 1900, she represented the United States at the World’s Fair in Paris where she portrayed a version of Aunt Jemima in the corn kitchen. Cooking Maryland’s Way contains more information about her life and how she exploited this derogatory position to promote the rights of women and African Americans. Lucy Smith was a free African American woman who ran a successful bakery in Annapolis. In 1810, she rented a stall in the Annapolis city market, the first known African American woman to do so. A Maryland’s Way recipe for a favorite early Maryland bread known as Sally Lunn is used as the inspiration for telling Lucy’s story. In sharing their stories and those of others, the Cooking Maryland’s Way companion book pays tribute to the legacy of many skilled culinary artisans. Distressingly, Maryland’s Way recipes containing ingredients associated with slavery and rationing, such as cornmeal and herring among other foods, are also included in the book to emphasize the want and oppression suffered by countless individuals enslaved in Maryland; these include Charles Ball, Josiah Henson, Frederick Douglass, and Harriet Tubman, among many others.

If you want to explore early Maryland’s food history and learn more about the many people who helped shape it, copies of Cooking Maryland’s Way: Voices of a Diverse Cuisine may be ordered directly through Hammond-Harwood House’s website (www.hammondharwoodhouse.org), by scanning the QR code provided, or by calling 410-263-4683. All profits from the sale of the book will be used to fund diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives at Hammond-Harwood House Museum. Requests for book sales and signing events can be made by emailing [email protected] or by phone.

Joyce M. White can be contacted through www.atasteofhistory.net.