Baked Bean Supper Love

July 3, 2009

Baker Settlement, NS

Turns out I am not the only person out there who enjoys a meal of baked beans.

Check out this recent Saveur article about the tradition of New England Baked Beans:

http://www.saveur.com/article/Kitchen/Full-of-Beans-1000089768

On a related note, I really enjoyed the picture of the pie shelves in this article:

http://www.saveur.com/article/Kitchen/Prize-Pies-Shelf

It looks like a scene from The Big Ex

Maitland Baked and Ham Supper

It's hard not to like what you get at this supper. Sadly, no pictures to share for this report. I am still kicking myself for not having it with me!

We passed by the Maitland hall ~3:30, and the hardcore locals were already lined up in the parking lot! After running a bunch of errands, we hit the supper on the trip back home. It was not as packed as we anticipated, with only about half of the seats occupied. Usually this supper is packed to the rafters, so not sure what else was going on that afternoon.

We sat right in front of a gorgeous table cake, complete with white icing dripping over the sides of the cake like soap suds running down the side of a car. There were several yummy side dishes on the table including: pickled beets, bread and butter pickles, coleslaw, an amazing broccoli salad and a vinegar based coleslaw (sans mayonnaise).

I chose ham as my option, but I realized later I could have had ham AND a weiner! Oh well, Lisa was kind enough to give me a bite of hers. Dinner was pretty standard. Dark, molasses-y baked beans, really good scalloped potatoes and good 'ole picnic ham. The bread basket was brimming with oatmeal bread, molasses brown bread, cheese rolls, pillsbury crescent type thingees and your standard dinner roll.

The 'tea guy' was absent from this dinner, I neglected to find out why. He's pretty much a fixture at these events, I hope he's okay. I managed to drink about 6 cups of their fine black tea elixir!

The highlight of the dinner were our dining neighbours. We sat next to a rowdy bunch of grannies and it was great! They weren't shy to ask for what they wanted,

"Now, I KNOW there's a cherry cake back there somewhere." probably because she baked it!
"WHERE did that chocolate cake go?"

Our resident table cake was the subject of lots of discussion:

"Are those raisins or chocolate chips?"
"I think they are raisins.."
"Oh, I don't care for raisins, must be a spice cake..."
"My father used to tell me that my mom would sweep dead flies in to my raisin box." Nice...

We kept getting prodded to take a slice of the cake, but eventually a nearby diner took the plunge. It was spice cake on the outside and a yellow cake on the inside:

"Ohhhh, it's a Tom and Jerry cake!"
"Yup, it's a Tom and Jerry cake..."

After my INCREDIBLE slice of custard pie (did I mention it was incredible?), I managed to scarf down a piece of the Tom and Jerry cake. The cherry cake further down the table had me looking, but there was 'no room at the inn', in my stomach!

Wow, I still want another slice of that custard pie!

Update! Here's a recipe for what looks like the same Tom & Jerry Cake:

Recipe for Tom and Jerry Cake

Ingredients:
2 cups sugar
1 cup butter
1 cup milk
3 cups unbleached flour
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
1 teaspoon vanilla
Angel Food Cake Pan

For 1st Bowl

In large bowl, mix the above ingredients with a wooden spoon.
Mix till smooth. You can use a hand mixer if you wish.
I have never made this with an electric mixer, so I cannot tell
you how the cake comes out.

Get another large bowl, and place 1/2 the batter into it. bowl.
Ingredients for the second bowl:
3 tablespoons Grandmas Molasses
1 teaspoon cloves, crushed
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 cups of raisins, which have been dusted with flour.
Mix all together with wooden spoon or hand mixer.

Place the mixture in the second bowl (the darker mixture)
into a greased and lightly floured Angel Food Cake Pan.
Now, pour the 1st bowl of light batter on top of the dark batter.
Place in a 350 degree oven for about 50-60 minutes.
Remove from pan when warm. You may use powdered sugar on top.

Old recipe by George J. Drolet, from
The Yankee Kitchen Cookbook 1969

Blockhouse Fire Department Baked Bean and Ham Supper

Blockhouse Fire Department
Blockhouse, NS
Jan. 26, 2008



I think the picture pretty much speaks for itself. It's a bit hard to recollect, given that this supper happened a month ago.

Each plate had an insane amount of ham, the hame had a pineapple ring garnish AND a bright red marachino cherry, delectable. The beans and scalloped potatoes evened out the plate. Service felt formal, but maybe it was due to the fire fighters dressed in their formal uniforms, who knew there was such a thing?

All in all, a welcome return of the community supper.

Chester Basin Legion Newfie's Breakfast

April 28, 2007
Chester Basin, NS

If you thought your neck of the woods was busy Saturday morning, you should've seen the parking lot of the Chester Basin Legion Hall! We were en route to a veterinarian appointment in the same town, so we thought we'd also stop by the Newfie Breakfast at the local legion hall. Sorry there aren't any pictures, I forgot my camera at home. :-(

To be honest, we were lucky to even find a spot to park, the lot was packed! A benefit ATV (4-wheeler) rally was being held the same morning for a local child who's undergoing some expensive medical treatments in Montreal. But really, I'm sure this happy group of 'off roaders' needs little excuse to gather and tear around the county on those noisy beasts of theirs.

The atmosphere inside the hall was chaotic to say the least. There was a small line forming, and we queued up dilligently. Some impatient fellow kept whining behind us, "this line's too long, why's it taking so long?" It wasn't that bad, I don't know what this guy's problem was...probably because he had a major 'hard-on' for going 'muddin'.

Once we got up to pay for the meal, we were presented with a rapid fire series of menu choices and options: "toast or biscuit? ham or fried bologna (thought they only gave that to prisoners...)? scrambled eggs? baked beans? pancakes? hash browns? fish cakes?" Phew, I felt full after just putting in my order! Volunteers scurried around the hall shrieking out numbers, "NUMBER 25?!! NUMBER 25??!!!" Fellow diners helped out occaisionally, pointing the desperate servers in the right direction.

As full as the hall was, there were plenty of seats available, tables were decked out with stiff, blue vinyl table cloths. Our food arrived suprisingly fast, and it was hot and hit the spot! The biscuits were tiny and yummy, the fish cakes and baked beans were my highlights of the meal. The baked beans were dark from the molasses and tender from hours of cooking. A couple of kids were scooted away from the stage where a nearby crock pot of beans was quietly simmering. Who knows how long they'd been cooking? Long enough to be delicious, that's for sure!

The tea was also great and actually distinguishable from the coffee, which isn't always the case at these functions. ^_^ We savoured our meal, the hall rapidly cleared out of ATV rally participants and all that remained were the locals and folks like us who stopped in for breakfast. If you happen to be in the area, they hold this breakfast on the 4th Saturday of every month and it is well worth the trip to Chester Basin, Nova Scotia!