FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Monday, Dec. 8, 2014
Contact: Kristen Schulze Muszynski, communications director
626-8404/cell: 441-7638/ Kristen.muszynski@maine.gov

 

Secretary of State Matt Dunlap to Cook Vintage Recipe from Maine State Archives Cookbook 

BANGOR – A taste of Maine’s culinary past will be showcased this Friday as Secretary of State Matt Dunlap prepares fish balls, a vintage recipe from the Maine State Archives.

The fish balls recipe is just one of dozens found in the four historic promotional cookbooks stored at the archives: “99 Potato Recipes,” (1938) “Maine Sea Foods: A Sampler,” (1939) “121 Tested Recipes Made with Famous State of Maine Canned Foods” (1941) and “The State of Maine’s Best Seafood Recipes,” (1945). All feature a variety of recipes, historical accounts, photographs and drawings.

Dunlap, who has more than 20 years of experience in the food service industry, will create this Maine delicacy on Friday, Dec. 12 at 11:30 a.m. at the R.M. Flagg Maine Kitchen Cooking School demonstration kitchen, 1212 State St., Bangor. Before entering the world of state government, Dunlap worked as the lead cook for the University of Maine and in restaurants in Bangor and Bar Harbor.

The cookbooks were originally developed by the Maine Economic Development Commission and the Department of Sea and Shore Fisheries to promote the state’s signature foods. The Maine State Archives has carefully scanned and transferred these vintage cookbooks as PDFs on CD and now offers them for purchase on the state website, http://www10.informe.org/webshop_ifw/?storeID=5 .

Each booklet offers not only quality, time-tested recipes for Maine’s most notable foods, but also a fun look back at cookbook design, photography, fisheries management, and the prevailing notions of cooking at that time.

These vintage cookbooks are just a few of the many hidden treasures at the Maine State Archives and they make a great holiday gift idea – not only for those who love to cook, but also for those with an affinity for Maine history or Maine foods.

The event is open to the public and press.  Interviews with archives staff can be arranged and PDF images from the cookbooks are available by request.