Inspired by Maine

THE MEAL

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I’m a little over halfway through this state meal challenge, and I’ve loved getting to see the culinary trends in neighboring states. The East Coast was all about seafood. I got to cook with shrimp, salmon, crab, lots of clams, and now lobster! We’ll be heading inland after this, and I don’t have any more seafood dishes planned until we get to West Coast, so this was an awesome last hurrah for the East.

LOBSTER ROLL ON SPLIT-TOP HOT DOG BUNS

While the lobster roll is popular throughout New England, no state is known for its lobster more than Maine. Lobsters have always been abundant in the waters of Maine, but funny enough, they used to be considered poor-man’s food and were even given to prisoners as cheap, undesirable rations. But then the Rockefellers took a liking to lobster while staying in their summer home in Maine, and suddenly lobster became the hip new thing. Ever since then, it’s been considered a delicacy, with the exorbitant price to match. Fisheries in Maine have only grown since the 1900s, accounting for around 80% of lobster sales in the U.S., and exporting millions of pounds of lobster as far as China every year.

Thanks to Maine’s efficient same-day lobster shipping throughout the country, I’ve actually tried real Maine lobster before, at Freshie’s Lobster Roll in Park City, UT. But, friends, it is SO EXPENSIVE to buy fresh lobster, and having never cooked real lobsters before, the amount of time it would have taken to shell it myself just wasn’t worth it to me. Since I’m trying to be frugal and since I have had the real thing before already, I went ahead and saved myself the trouble by using $2 imitation lobster instead.

I know, I know, I’m a heathen. But the recipe I used was still delicious and can be easily used with real lobster if you have it. If, like me, you can’t or don’t want to buy real lobster, the imitation kind was surprisingly good! Tossed with celery, chives, mayo, and lemon, the lobster salad was creamy, a little salty, and vibrant. It’s filling without being too rich or heavy, and like I said, just as good whether you use cheap or expensive meat.

Traditionally, lobster rolls are comprised of the aforementioned lobster salad stuffed into a hot dog bun. But not a regular hot dog bun like what you’d see at a ballpark or BBQ. No, these buns are split through the top, not the sides, and are toasted in butter before being loaded with crab salad. Split-top buns were specially made by a Maine bakery in the 1940s for the restaurant chain Howard Johnson’s, so that they could have their fried clam sandwiches stand upright. Now this style of bun is what makes New England hot dogs unique, and they’re primarily what’s used for lobster rolls as well.

These homemade hot dog buns were extremely easy to make, and they tasted so much better than the store-bought kind, which always taste a little stale or fake to me. A lot of recipes I saw required that you buy an actual New England hot dog bun maker pan, but again, I’m trying to be frugal. So after shaping the dough, I just arranged them in a regular 9×13 baking dish with the sides touching, and they turned out great!

BLUEBERRY LEMONADE

In addition to its lobster, Maine is also known for its blueberries. Blueberries grow naturally and easily in Maine and were widely used by Native Americans in the area for their nutritious, medicinal, and preservative properties. European settlers started cultivating them in the 1800s, and in the 1950s, Maine was the largest producer of blueberries in the country. Blueberry pie was named the official state dessert in 2011.

I decided to make another dessert instead of blueberry pie, but I wanted to incorporate blueberries somehow. And know what goes really well with blueberries? LEMON. And you know who loves any excuse to make lemonade? ME.

Blueberry lemonade is very easy to make—just make lemonade from scratch and add pureed blueberries! Adjust the water or sugar to taste, et voila! But I learned a new trick making this latest batch of lemonade, which is to add lemon peel to the pot when making the simple syrup. It took the flavor up to eleven and gave it an extra vibrant color. I don’t think I’ll make it any other way from now on!

WHOOPIE PIES

Though blueberry pie is the official state dessert of Maine, the official state treat is the whoopie pie. These treats—two chocolate cake-like cookies filled with a marshmallowy cream filling—most likely originated in Amish communities in Pennsylvania, but they were first sold at Labadie’s Bakery in Lewiston, Maine, in the 1920s. They’re said to have gotten their name from the shouts of “Whoopie!” that children would let out when they found them packed in their lunch boxes. Maine is so fond of these treats that there’s an official Whoopie Pie Day (June 25th) and a Whoopie Pie Festival. Maine was also home to the world’s biggest whoopie pie, weighing in at over 1,000 pounds!!

I really liked these cookies, but they’re made up of two components that I’m personally not super fond of—cake and marshmallow. I have a huge sweet tooth, but cake and marshmallows individually have always weirdly seemed too sweet to me, like they give me an immediate sugar buzz. Put them together, and I could only take a couple bites before feeling like I’d overindulged. My family has a recipe for “homemade oreos,” though, that’s very similar in concept, but it uses a denser chocolate cookie made from devil’s food cake mix, and we just use regular canned vanilla frosting. They’re different from whoopie pies, but similar enough that making these cookies made me happy and nostalgic.

Overall, this meal was scrumptious. There wasn’t a single thing about it that I disliked, and I’m definitely going to make homemade hot dog buns and blueberry lemonade again sometime. Also, thanks to using imitation lobster, this was one of the most affordable meals I’ve made so far! I highly recommend trying some of these recipes yourself.

So how do you think I did? Let me know in the comments if you have any suggestions for improvement, and be sure to tune in next time for my take on a meal inspired by New Hampshire! If that’s where you’re from, what do you think I should make to represent your state? Bonus points if you have reliable recipes or pro tips before I make the attempt! Thank you for reading!