The highlight for guests on any of the schooner J. & E. Riggin’s trips is a traditional Maine lobster bake on the beach. But there’s so much more to show and tell before I get to the lobster bake! During the special “Two Annie’s” culinary tour onboard the historic schooner J. & E. Riggin, 24 fortunate foodies savored meals prepared by chef/co-captain and owner Annie Mahle and guest chef Annie Potts.
Emerging from our cozy berths to piping hot coffee and a breakfast spread of locally sourced fruit, pancakes one day, huevos rancheros the second, and always fresh-baked bread and muffins prepared on the turn-of-the-century burnished wood stove.
The Ultimate in Ocean View Dining
Fair weather at sea means all meals: breakfast, lunch, and dinner, are served on deck—the better to appreciate the salty sea air and the natural beauty of Maine’s rugged coastline, as well as witness the workings of a historic windjammer.
An Opportunity to Learn About Sailing
After breakfast, guests can assist the capable crew in hoisting the anchor and unfurling the sails. Hoisting the anchor is a task that requires at least five people – one to water the massive chain as it comes up, four people with strong backs and arms to pump the lever attached to the windlass, plus, one more to sing sea shanties. Sea shanties (or chanty) are work songs sung on large merchant vessels during the age of sailing. Sailors never touched a rope without them and it’s said that some sea captains, before hiring a man, would ask him whether he can “sing out at a rope”.
Our sail in Penobscot Bay was favored with fair weather and bright sunshine tempered by cool ocean breezes on the first day, followed by gentle rain at night. On Day 2 of our Maine food tour at sea, we awakened to a misty morning fog gradually lifting — the kind of atmospheric Maine I envisioned from fishermen’s tales of New England.
Days are spent on the top deck reading, chatting, playing cards, or simply gazing at the rocky coastline and rhythmic waves of the sea. One afternoon, we are shuttled in the Riggin’s yawl boat, Black Beauty, to the coastal village of Stonington.
Day Trip to Stonington, Maine
One afternoon, we are shuttled in the Riggin’s yawl boat, Black Beauty, to the coastal village of Stonington on Deer Isle to experience a slice of authentic Maine.
Stonington remains a fishing town much as it was at the turn of the century during the era of cod and mackerel fisheries, of major granite quarry operations, and of booming industry for Stonington. You can see the work of local craftsmen and artisans in the independently-owned shops that punctuate the town’s picturesque main street and savor tastes of local specialties—nosh on acclaimed Stonington lobster rolls or tickle your tastebuds with award-winning Gifford’s ice cream at Stonington Ice Cream and lobster shack overlooking the harbor or get amped on organic, small-batch coffee roasted in-house at 44 North Coffee
Talks and Culinary Demonstrations by Chef Annie Copps
In addition to the freshest food possible, the two days at sea featured food-focused talks, a knife skills demonstration, and learning all about the intricacies of Maine lobsters.
Chef Annie Copps is the first to tell you that she is not shy, in case you hadn’t picked up on that already. Chef Annie quickly became the darling of the tour with her big personality, approachable style, and engaging sense of humor. She began her talk about Maine foodways by telling us a little about her culinary background which included working with Julia Child for many years. Guests thoroughly enjoyed her insights into Julia Child’s never-dull life and experiences—Julia was a life-long learner and Chef Annie would like to follow her lead.
Maine Foodways: Lobster and Seafood
Speaking to our group about Maine foodways in broad strokes, Chef Annie opened by asking, ” If you think about New England, and specifically Maine, what do you think of?” The answer was obvious— lobster, of course. Lobster is a real delicacy especially if you’re not from New England. But Maine is known for all kinds of seafood: mussels, clams, oysters, squid, and fish.
Chef Annie noted, “we think about New England and the United States becoming a nation in the 1600s when the Pilgrims came over. In 1525, when the Portuguese came under Spanish rule, they sailed to the Atlantic coast of Canada and Maine. They knew there were people here because they started making maps of the area. The Portuguese sailors would arrive on their battered ships and there was a nation of indigenous people here who helped them repair their ships and taught them their ways of catching cod and other shellfish. The indigenous people included Maliseet, Micmac, Penobscot, and Passamaquoddy Indian tribes, collectively known as the Wabanaki, “People of the Dawnland”.
Maine’s first fishermen were Native Americans, who caught salmon and trout. Mounds of shells, called middens, tell us that they also ate clams. When British explorer John Cabot crossed the Atlantic Ocean in 1497, he found so many large cod on the Grand Banks of Newfoundland that he could scoop them up in baskets. When word of this bounty reached Europe in the early 1500s, Basque, Portuguese, Spanish, and French fleets numbering in the hundreds began annual voyages. {History of Fisheries in Maine}
There was no refrigeration or ice. Fish were heavily salted and dried, then, taken back to Europe—think Portuguese bacalao. Cod fished in the early 1600s were abundant and huge in size compared to today. When cod stocks began to dry up, mackerel and salmon became the mainstay as well as tiny cold-water shrimp.
Lobster Bake on Deer Isle Beach
The highlight for guests on any of the J. & E. Riggin’s trips is their traditional Maine lobster bake. It’s an all-you-can-eat feast that includes steak and lobster, fresh veggies, S’mores and more. After anchoring near an undisturbed island (we anchored near Deer Isle) in the early afternoon, the yawl boat ferries you ashore where you can explore the island, help with the dinner preparations, or just chill with a glass of wine and visit with the crew and other guests.
How To Do a Lobster Bake on the Beach
A lobster bake on the beach is a herculean effort – you don’t do it for only two people. For a traditional lobster bake you dig a hole about 5-6 feet deep and 10 x3 feet wide. A particular kind of rock is used as they cannot have any cracks or fissures which allow moisture in and makes them explode—in Maine granite rocks, worn by millenniums of wind and water, are abundant and ideal for a lobster bake. The rocks are gathered weeks before because hundreds of them are needed. A fire is built and the rocks are heated up to 500-600 degrees, then, moved to the holes.
On a Riggin tour, a lobster bake is accomplished with a huge galvanized steel tub filled with 2 to 3 inches of salt water set on a hot fire to boil. The crew rows ashore in advance to build the fire and bring everything needed for the lobster bake on the beach. While the water is heating, we help shuck corn and crew members prepare a crudité platter and gather several armloads of seaweed which act as a”lid” for the tub. The seaweed must be a particular Rockweed seaweed which imparts a special lemony-herbal flavor to lobster, corn, and potatoes layered in the tub. Layering begins with the lobster, corn, and potatoes, then, spread the rockweed on top.
When the water comes to a second boil, move the seaweed aside, and check to see if the lobsters are red all over. When the lobsters are done, the tub is carried away from the fire, the seaweed is arranged on the sand or a flat rock, the water is dumped, and the lobster, corn, and potatoes arranged on the “platter” of seaweed. Then, let the feast begin! Before every meal, Chef Annie, describes the food prepared for us in mouthwatering detail. On this eve, sailors are treated to steak, sauteed vegetables, lobster with butter, corn, potatoes, and, for dessert, S’mores fired your way!
Blueberries and Other Foods Maine is Known For
What else do you think of when you think of Maine? Blueberries!!
Maine blueberries are field blueberries – they’re sweeter, smaller, a little different in color with a more concentrated flavor. Blueberry season is brief—only about two weeks—and I knew we lucked out and caught blueberry season when I saw numerous blueberry stands on my drive to Rockland to board the historic schooner J.&E. Riggin for the 3-night culinary sail. Chef Annie Copps advised us all to be sure and get some blueberries before we went home and offered tips for freezing them: spread in one layer on a cookie sheet and freeze them, then put in freezer bags or containers. (Recipe for the Blueberry Lemon Coffee Cake shown above).
Potatoes Were a Primary Agricultural Product in Maine
I was surprised to learn that potatoes are also widely grown in Maine—67 varieties, in fact. Irish settlers arrived first in Boston, then, made their way to Aroostook County in northern Maine where they discovered the soil and climate were perfect for growing potatoes: abundant forest, very rocky terrain, and cool weather much like Ireland.
Usually, we think of Idaho as the major producer of potatoes, but in the 1940s Maine’s potato production was #1 in the nation. However, by 1994 Maine had fallen to the eighth-ranked potato producer and seventh in the number of acres devoted to potato cultivation in the United States. {Source: Arroostook County Tourism}
Hundreds of Apple Varietals are Grown in Maine
Also apples – 100s of varietals in Maine. Chef Annie talked about different kinds of apples: Cortland, Pippin, Roxbury Russet (from Massachusetts), Pink Lady, Spitsinburgs. Some are great for eating out of hand, some apples are very mushy when cooked and are great for applesauce, but not for pies (for example, Cortland apples). Apples are in season from August through October, depending on the location and varietal.
Chef Annie’s cookbook, Home at Sea: Recipes from a Maine Windjammer, is filled with all the delicious recipes made and served on the schooner. The Spiced Apple Muffins (pg. 166), Apple Crisp, (pg. 187), and Butterscotch Topped Gingerbread with Sautéed Apples (pg. 186) all sounded like scrumptious ways to use Maine apples to me!
If you think you would enjoy the freshest possible food, including seafood caught that day, the rugged coastal beauty of Maine, sailing, and relaxing days on the water, Pin the image below to your boards for future trip planning.
Stacey Wittig
Thanks for sharing your culinary adventure, Priscilla! It is now on my “After Coronavirus Bucketlist”