There is no book to go with this post, but I wanted to talk about a person and place that are near and dear to my heart, Harriet Tubman and the New Jersey shore. Sounds like a strange pairing, doesn’t it? I recently volunteered for the new Harriet Tubman Museum which opened in Cape May, NJ, last month. It was very gratifying to help shed more light on Harriet’s story, and I urge you all to visit the museum if you are ever in Cape May. It was a labor of love brought to fruition by local Cape May volunteers, and their work has been tireless and full of enthusiasm. (Visit harriettubmanmuseum.org to learn more.) I’ve been a fan of Harriet’s since my third grade book report project, but it’s never too late to learn more about her story. She did a lot more than most people realize, and Cape May was a bustling hub of daring, courageous, and ingenious abolitionist activity.

Harriet spent a few summers in the early 1850s working out of Cape May, likely in the hospitality industry. Situated at the very tip of the state, Cape May was an ideal landing spot when ferrying her charges from Maryland, through Delaware, and across the Delaware Bay to New Jersey, using the lighthouse at Cape May Point as a beacon. Harriet returned many times to the Eastern Shore, after working summers at hotel kitchens or residences in Cape May, earning money for her missions. The original lighthouse is under water, but you can still see, and climb, the current Cape May Lighthouse at the Cape May Point State Park. There are a few beautiful nature walks there as well.

A walk at the Cape May State Park, with the lighthouse in the distance. It’s thought that Harriet would land in this area by boat, and then walk her charges to a place of safety.

The Cape May area, like the rest of southern New Jersey, is rich in local products and resources. Salt is harvested here in much the same manner as it is in the marshy areas of France. There are farms which are famous for lima beans, blueberries, cranberries, and even vineyards. And a delicacy that has long been known to locals is the Cape May Salt oyster. They are plump, sweet and briny, and harvested near the end of the bay closest to the ocean, where the water is salty, giving them their name.

In the middle of the 19th century, right around the time Harriet was working in Philadelphia and New Jersey, oysters from Cape May were extremely popular. They were inexpensive and plentiful, and people ate them in all kinds of ways. One item that was very popular with housewives was oyster loaf, as it was made in taverns and bakeries, and then picked up by their husbands on the way home- an early version of the takeout dinner. A loaf of bread had the top sliced off, the inside was hollowed out, seasoned oysters were placed inside, and then the whole thing was buttered, the top was placed back on, and it was baked in the oven. It was the original bread bowl! Once home, it was sliced and eaten. I have not tackled that recipe yet, but I was able to get some Cape May Salts and fry them up in the manner that Philadelphia and the surrounding area was famous for in the 19th and 18th centuries.

According to the York Gazette, September 21, 1900: “The secret is in carefully handling the oyster after it has been breaded. How differently New York restaurants serve fried oysters! In almost every eating place in the city, one sees piles of oysters covered with batter that plainly shows the cook purposefully pressed them between his hands. When served they look more like liver pads than human food. Nothing short of a human ostrich could possibly digest them. The Philadelphia oyster, however, is a culinary poem.”

Or, the Philadelphia Inquirer, November 29, 1882:

Here are my fried oysters, and I hope they don’t remind you of “liver pads”:

I followed the above recipe but with some simplifications. I shucked the oysters, (to be fair, my husband shucked them- I gave up after the first one) and then dipped them in egg beaten with a small amount of good dijon mustard, and then I lightly rolled them in crushed breadcrumbs and cornmeal, which I seasoned with salt, pepper, and a bit of cayenne. Then I fried them in shallow vegetable oil in a wide, high sided pan. We ate them immediately over salad and with some chicken that I also fried using the same method. It was a delicious summer meal that everyone enjoyed.

Maybe Harriet Tubman made these in the kitchens where she worked? Or had Cape May Salts herself for lunch one day.

Don’t forget to visit Cape May’s beautiful new museum, walk the nature trails, and think about Harriet- you could be standing in the same spot where her charges took their first breaths as free people. What an amazing thought.

Wolf Hall. Many people have read it, or tried to read it and were put off by the writing. Hilary Mantel uses a tense that a lot of readers find confusing and difficult to stay with. I found it to be almost musical and a pleasant exercise for my brain, like light mental stretching. If I could write this way I would, but I don’t think I could manage it! Ms. Mantel is, to my mind, a terrific writer with an exceptional command of language.

Take this passage about the peeling of an apple:

Standing in a wash of chary autumn sun, he holds an apple in his hand. He pares it with a thin blade, and the peel whispers away from the flesh and lies among his papers, like the shadow of an apple, green on white paper and black ink.

Wolf Hall examines the events taking place around the court of Henry VIII at the time of his divorce from Katherine. While most readers are already familiar with this story, it’s getting inside the mind of Thomas Cromwell, the court’s Machiavellian, roguishly charming facilitator, that makes the book interesting. (See the bottom of this post for some of my other favorites in historical fiction.)

So: to the recipes.

On page 472, the household servants are in the half light of morning, picking mushrooms for a torta al funghi, and will also be serving eggs baked in cream. These are two simple dishes that are open to wide interpretation, so if you don’t like the way I’ve done them here, it’s easy to tweak them to fit your own imagining.

I’ve sauteed a mix of wild mushrooms from the grocery store with olive oil, butter and fresh thyme, salt and pepper. Thyme always goes well with mushrooms. When they were just short of being done, I turned off the heat and stirred in a few tablespoons of mascarpone cheese that I already had in. You can use ricotta, or cream cheese, or just sprinkle in something that will melt- any kind of shredded Italian cheese.

For the crust, I didn’t feel like making my own today. This is supposed to be a quick meal so I used a ready- made crust I had in the freezer, that you defrost and roll out. I’m not embarrassed! And neither should you be. That said, if you want to make your own, I find the King Arthur Flour recipes are usually fool- proof. Just don’t pick something too crumbly or flaky, as you won’t be able to cut the tart into slices.

Roll out your pie crust into a circle, and when the mushroom mixture has cooled enough, place it in the middle of the circle. Fold the edges of the crust over into a rustic tart. Cook at around 350 to 375, for anywhere from twelve to twenty minutes. I made this a few times and found temperatures and times vary according to the crust recipe used.

After baking. Great for any meal, just slice and serve.

Eggs baked in cream- so simple! The hardest part about this was finding a small enough cooking vessel that could be used in the oven. I finally found an oven- proof dish that was the right size for two eggs. One for me and one for my husband, and a delicious breakfast it was. (You can do this in ramekins also, one egg per dish.)

Butter your dish generously. Crack your eggs into the plate, then cover with heavy cream. If you wanted you could add sauteed greens here, in with the eggs, or some ham, or even some mushrooms if you saved any. I didn’t have any of those things so we just did simple toast slices. I very generously buttered some bread, cut it into slices and arranged it in the pan around the eggs. I baked this at 375 for 20 minutes but again, you should check to see how you like yours done. I wanted the yolks to be mostly set but a little jammy. You could also add fresh herbs to this. I added just salt and pepper.

Be sure to generously butter your dish all the way to the edges. I used some thick white toast here but you can use any kind of bread you like, and add in greens or veggies.

After baking. Bake until the yolks are the way you like them but the whites are set. This was very simple and very delicious!

If you are interested in historical fiction, here are just a few of my suggestions, (professional librarian cap in place):

Bernard Cornwell, and Edward Rutherfurd, obviously. I particularly like Cornwell’s The Saxon Tales series (subject: vikings, made into the BBC series The Last Kingdom), his various Agincourt era books, and the King Arthur series. The New Forest, by Rutherfurd, is another favorite of mine.

Rosemary Sutcliffe wrote one of the best King Arthur series, ever, in my opinion. You can follow that with The Merlin Trilogy by Mary Stewart.

Anya Seton is old school historical fiction. My favorite is The Hearth and Eagle, set in and around Marblehead, Massachusetts in the 1700s.

The Shadow King by Maaza Mengiste. Ethiopian women become warriors during the Italian invasion of Ethiopia.

The Pillars of the Earth series by Ken Follett. Then you can watch the tv series with a young Eddie Redmayne.

Is Cold Mountain historical fiction? I think so.

For younger readers, Chains, by Laurie Halse Anderson, and Fever. Woodsrunner by Gary Paulsen.

The Awakening Land series by Conrad Richter. The Trees, The Fields, and The Town. Another old school historical fiction pick from the 1950s focusing on American settlers moving west in the late 1700s.

Happy reading! Support your local library and ask a librarian near you for more suggestions.

Harriet Tubman's Oysters, Perhaps

Cromwell, Mushrooms, and Eggs