Why I Love the L.L.Bean Book of New New England Cookery

I was born in Delaware, but after 20-some years of living in southern New England, I consider myself a bonafide East Coaster: I’ve dug a hole in the sand for a clam bake, clutched an iced coffee in the middle of winter, and evaded enough potholes to earn a lifetime of free lobster rolls. I love the fall and the warm tones it paints the treeline and, as a Rhode Island resident, I have a visceral reaction when I’m too far from open water. 

Like all good New Englanders, I also have a deep connection to L.L. Bean—but not in the way you might think. While most associate the Maine-based retailer with duck boots, slippers, and flannel, I equate it with fluffy pancakes dripping with butter and doused in syrup. You see, back in 1987, L.L. Bean released a cookbook: The L.L. Bean Book of New New England Cookery. At the time, the brand was rapidly expanding, bringing its New England aesthetic—and food and lifestyle—to a wider audience. 

The book, written by Judith and Evan Jones (a prolific pair of cookbook authors who worked with Julia Child), the cookbook pays homage to the cuisine of the land of L.L. Bean. It also contains a recipe for the best pancakes I’ve ever tasted.

On some special Sundays, my mom would tug her well-worn copy from the shelves, flip to page 404, and break out the hand mixer to beat egg whites, the secret to the fluffiest pancakes. I’d go ahead and pour half a bottle of fake maple syrup all over the griddled stack on my plate (sacrilege!).

She’d also frequently turn to recipes for casseroles (young kids will eat anything smothered in cheese) and in the spring, when the fuzzy ferns began to poke their curls from the damp earth, she’d flip to the recipe for Stir-Fry of Beef with Fiddleheads, a real treat. 

The cookbook has other delightful nuggets, like Squiggled Eggs (eggs with cheddar and crumbled sage cooked in half a stick of butter, then drizzled with scalded heavy cream, which keeps the mixture soft, luscious, and entirely naughty), Milkweed Bud Fritters, and recipes from immigrants who’ve made the region their home, like Portuguese Sweet Bread and Italian Snail Salad (made from local whelks). 

It’s also a cookbook that, while nearly 40 years old, is still relevant today (and thoroughly exciting and novel—I’d never heard of squiggled eggs!) in its recipes and lessons.

“New England has always been eclectic,” the Jones’ wrote in 1987. “The trouble may be that we have been myopic about the region. Assessing the Yankee psyche, we’ve seen only what we wanted to see—as if Currier and Ives lithographs were the reality of village and hill-farm life, as if black wood-burning stoves and biscuits rising, and beans cooking gently overnight, were as definitive today as a century ago.” They go on to say, “The new, New England cooking style is as much a mosaic of ethnic heritage as are the Red Sox fans that fill Fenway Park,” and “We have not collected ‘old country’ recipes, but rather we’ve tried to pack these pages with the ideas that show how Yankee eating habits are changing.”

They’re on the nose. I’ve seen the recipes and foods they wrote about in my day-to-day living in this northeast corner of the country. 

When I cycle on the local bike path, the fuzzy milkweed plants sway in the wind with butterflies resting on their pods. Drive by a local Portuguese-American Catholic church on a Sunday, and you’ll smell hot oil in the air as the parishioners fry up sugar-coated malasada doughnuts. Head to the tiny town of Central Falls and you’ll find shops peddling queso fresco stuffed arepas, courtesy of the local Colombian population. 

The food of Rhode Island—and the broader region of New England—is diverse, and The L.L. Bean Book of New New England Cookery invites you to experience the region beyond the tropes (though we do make a mean clam chowder). It’s also helped this wayward New Englander (who had a lovely time at college in Pittsburgh before, inexorably, returning to the Ocean State) appreciate this place she calls home.

FAQs

What are the six states in New England?

New England includes Massachusetts, Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Connecticut. 

Where can I buy The L.L. Bean Book of New New England Cookery?

You can find the cookbook on Amazon, Abe Books, Ebay, Thriftbooks, and other online booksellers.   

Why We’re the Experts

• Grace Kelly is the commerce editor for Serious Eats. 
• She’s lived in New England (Massachusetts and Rhode Island) for around 20 years. 
• Her mother cooked many recipes from The L.L. Bean Book of New New England Cookery when Grace was growing up, and she continues that tradition in her own household today.