HAPPY THANKSGIVING--We rounded a curve on Bromfield Rd., that morning and were rewarded with the sight of a large, buck Whitetail Deer leisurely crossing just ahead of us; soft morning sunlight glowing on his generous rack of antlers.
Friend Jenny Lezak and I were headed to Malabar Farm for a day’s event called Hearthside Cooking—a hand’s-on, annual peek at the colonial style of preparing a traditional Thanksgiving Dinner.
We were greeted by friendly staff folks attired in period costumes and supported by nearly a dozen volunteers with cooking fires already ablaze in two large fireplaces and several outdoor primitive cook sites at the Pugh Cabin high on a forested hill near the sugar shack.
About 30 student cooks promptly assembled themselves in groups and began peeling, chopping, dicing, mixing and blending a commissary-full of ingredients that soon would turn into our lunch of sausage potato soup and cornbread with homemade butter; the soup slowly concocted then simmered to perfection in a large, cast-iron kettle over an open campfire.
“We prepare fresh all natural turkeys and hams raised here at Malabar Farm,” park naturalist Lisa Durham told the student cooks. “Many of the vegetables including our own fresh pumpkin, herbs and sweet potatoes also come from our gardens.”
Meanwhile, other ingredients under a carefully choreographed schedule would find their way to a host of Dutch-ovens, stacked sometimes in pairs and surrounded by glowing coals from the blazing wood fires.
Still others would wind-up in frying pans over open fires, simmering their way to a host of treats including such recipes as Cranberry Medley, Maple Baked Carrots, Corn Pudding and Irish Soda Bread.
This in addition to the turkey; some cooking in a reflecting oven at a near walk-in sized fireplace, others in cast iron pots simmering for hours over campfires—all scheduled for completion at an afternoon feast.
As a tired and hungry group of modern-day pioneers sat down to enjoy the results of their day-long labor, we were inspired by “A Thanksgiving Prayer” by Louis Bromfield which said, in part:
“...I thank you Lord for the gift of loving and being loved, for the friendliness and understanding and beauty of the animals on the farm and in the forest and marshes, for the green of the trees, the sound of a waterfall, the darting beauty of the trout in the brook...”
Thank you Mr. Louis Bromfield for making possible this rich heritage of your Malabar Farm.
Friend Jenny Lezak and I were headed to Malabar Farm for a day’s event called Hearthside Cooking—a hand’s-on, annual peek at the colonial style of preparing a traditional Thanksgiving Dinner.
We were greeted by friendly staff folks attired in period costumes and supported by nearly a dozen volunteers with cooking fires already ablaze in two large fireplaces and several outdoor primitive cook sites at the Pugh Cabin high on a forested hill near the sugar shack.
About 30 student cooks promptly assembled themselves in groups and began peeling, chopping, dicing, mixing and blending a commissary-full of ingredients that soon would turn into our lunch of sausage potato soup and cornbread with homemade butter; the soup slowly concocted then simmered to perfection in a large, cast-iron kettle over an open campfire.
“We prepare fresh all natural turkeys and hams raised here at Malabar Farm,” park naturalist Lisa Durham told the student cooks. “Many of the vegetables including our own fresh pumpkin, herbs and sweet potatoes also come from our gardens.”
Meanwhile, other ingredients under a carefully choreographed schedule would find their way to a host of Dutch-ovens, stacked sometimes in pairs and surrounded by glowing coals from the blazing wood fires.
Still others would wind-up in frying pans over open fires, simmering their way to a host of treats including such recipes as Cranberry Medley, Maple Baked Carrots, Corn Pudding and Irish Soda Bread.
This in addition to the turkey; some cooking in a reflecting oven at a near walk-in sized fireplace, others in cast iron pots simmering for hours over campfires—all scheduled for completion at an afternoon feast.
As a tired and hungry group of modern-day pioneers sat down to enjoy the results of their day-long labor, we were inspired by “A Thanksgiving Prayer” by Louis Bromfield which said, in part:
“...I thank you Lord for the gift of loving and being loved, for the friendliness and understanding and beauty of the animals on the farm and in the forest and marshes, for the green of the trees, the sound of a waterfall, the darting beauty of the trout in the brook...”
Thank you Mr. Louis Bromfield for making possible this rich heritage of your Malabar Farm.
In the photos from the top: Dutch Ovens are carefully tended near a huge fireplace in the Pugh Cabin. Ole flying friend and cooking student Dan Gregory mixes a bowl of yummy German Apple Cake. Potato Soup simmers in the large pot next below.
Nearing day’s end, naturalist Durham and Malabar Park Manager Louis Andres help in the feast’s layout and, bottom, an amply supplied plate heads toward a participant's dinner table.
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