Traditional Maryland Thanksgiving Dishes
When it comes to the traditional dishes that you will find on a Marylander’s Thanksgiving table, the origins of each dish can be traced back to one of many different cultures over the span of hundreds of years. With influences from Afro-Caribbean, Native American, and English cuisines these recipes weave together allowing us to bring history to the dinner table. While you might not be familiar with these recipes, each one is close to a dish that you already know and love. Why not serve up some Maryland state pride alongside your turkey this year? Included below are links to our favorite recipes for each dish.
Hoecakes
Hoecakes have been around since before Maryland became a state. Native Americans in the area pan-fried a simple cornmeal batter into small round cakes, a practice that would later be adopted by enslaved people. Hoecakes were named for the implement that they were cooked on, a flat iron griddle referred to as a hoe. Now in some cases these cakes were fried up over small fires alongside the fields with the flat part of the farming tool by the same name, but the name originated from the cooking implement used over the hearth in the home. The original recipes yielded thick dense cakes, but the modern version is much lighter thanks to the addition of leaveners and all-purpose flour. Hoecakes are best served with a generous drizzle of honey and a pat of butter. They are also great alongside soups, stews and chili. Whichever way you choose to serve your hoecakes, they are sure to be a delicious addition to your Thanksgiving table.
Find a fantastic recipe for Hoecakes right here!
White Potato Pie
You have probably heard of sweet potato pies, but did you know that white potato pies are a popular dessert on the Eastern Shore? Potato-based desserts arrived with English settlers coming to the region. During the colonial era, potato puddings were prepared with or without a puff pastry crust. For many people, this dessert would be made with the scraps of potatoes left behind after preparing other meals. While for many at the time white potato pie would be considered a frugal dessert option, there were three different recipes for it in the most popular cookbook at the time (Hannah Glasse’s “The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy”) and its popularity along Maryland’s Eastern Shore remains strong. Today’s recipes yield a delicious creamy custardy pie with a bright lemon finish. We recommend cooling it in the fridge for a day prior to serving for optimal texture.
Find the recipe for White Potato Pie here!
Stuffed Ham
Our journey into traditional Maryland dishes continues with a dish whose origins are wrapped in legend and historical theory. Stuffed ham is a corned ham that has pockets of a slightly spicy filling made with cabbage, kale, onions, and red pepper flakes. It’s rumored to have first been made by a slave from St. Inigoes hundreds of years ago as a special dish for the priests at the end of Lent. Many local historians believe that stuffed ham might have had a more humble start as a dish made from the less desirable cuts from the pig that were given to the slaves working the tobacco plantations. The meat would be stuffed with vegetables both to flavor it and stretch what they had. As with many other recipes that were created by the enslaved black people at the time, this dish was soon noticed by the plantation owners who wanted it served in their own homes. As time has passed stuffed ham has become a staple dish in Southern Maryland, served in cold slices in a sandwich or warm on a platter for the holidays.
Alongside your ham you might consider serving sauerkraut as a nod to the many German and Eastern European immigrants that popularized it as a Thanksgiving side dish in Baltimore. This high fiber lacto-fermented dish can help aide in digestion which can be highly beneficial on a day like Thanksgiving. Its tart flavor also pairs beautifully with the dishes heavy in cream and butter.
Find the recipe for stuffed ham here!
If preparing this dish yourself feels too daunting don’t stress, you can find it at several local markets in Southern Maryland or you can order it online and have it shipped overnight to you from WJ Dent & Sons. wjdent.com/order-stuffed-ham.html
Murphys
21270 Abell Rd, Avenue, MD 20609
(301) 769-3131
https://www.facebook.com/murphystownandcountry/
Monday - Thursday 8 AM–8 PM
Friday and Saturday 8 AM–9 PM
Sunday 8 AM–6 PM
Chaptico Market
25466 Maddox Rd, Chaptico, MD 20621
(301) 884-3308
https://chaptico-market.com/
Monday – Saturday 6 AM – 8 PM
Sunday 6 AM – 4 PM
WJ Dent & Sons
44584 Tall Timbers Rd, Tall Timbers, MD 20690
(301) 994-0772
http://www.wjdent.com/
Tuesday 10 AM – 7 PM
Wednesday & Thursday 10 AM – 8 PM
Friday & Saturday 10 AM – 9 PM
Sunday 10 AM – 8 PM
Oyster Stuffing
Oyster stuffing made its way to Maryland by the way of British colonists that spread their traditions of stuffing poultry with oysters. As time went on, the traditions turned into recipes that could be found in New England cookbooks. Oysters were very plentiful in the Chesapeake Bay up until the mid-1800’s. During its peak, the region produced nearly half the world’s supply of oysters. Due to this abundance, the recipes for oyster stuffing spread quickly throughout New England as well as the southern United States. That being said, you would be hard pressed to find a place that loves its oyster stuffing more than Maryland! You will find oyster dressing on many Maryland Thanksgiving tables, meaning that it’s been prepared in its own dish and not inside the turkey.
Find the recipe for oyster stuffing at this link!
Now if you are one of the many people who don’t enjoy the humble oyster, don’t worry! It shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone that some clever Marylanders have come up another recipe that uses our famous blue crab meat. With crab season coming to a close at the end of November it’s important to make the most of the time left. One of the newest recipes to find its way into Marylander’s hearts— and Thanksgiving tables— is crab stuffing.