According to the New York Times, Matt Jennings “defeats the cliches about bland New England food.” At his restaurant Townsman in Boston, and at his previous restaurant Farmstead in Providence, Jennings shakes up the notion of what defines New England cuisine by reworking the classics. It's not the meat-heavy boiled dinners or cream-laden chowders of the past; instead, it's a celebration of the best fresh ingredients that come from a biodiverse region with four true seasons and verdant forest and deep ocean and everything in between.
In his debut cookbook, Jennings honors the traditional foods of New England while turning them on their head: maple flavors the dressing of a Little Gem lettuce salad as well as the dipping sauce for dumplings, molasses and cider are used to marinate chicken wings, a blueberry sauce accompanies a roasted lamb dish, and Moxie (the official soft drink of Maine) flavors beans and short ribs. New England favorites updated Jennings's way—pot roast dinner, clam rolls, lobster rolls, brown bread, frappes, and Boston cream whoopie pies—accompany long-form stories about putting together the perfect cheese board, cooking in the shoulder season, the rules for making tartare at home, how to throw an old-fashioned ice cream social, and more. Jennings celebrates the ingredients, geography, climate, history, and traditions of this region in what is sure to be a top cookbook next fall.
