Beantown's Favorite Dishes Have Colonial Roots
Boston Gives its Name to Pie, Schrod, and Baked Beans
Jul 17, 2009
For the record, Boston food sources suggest that beans slow-baked in molasses have been a favorite local dish since colonial days, when the city was "awash in molasses" due to its rum-producing role in the "triangular trade route" between the West Indies, Boston, and West Africa. Even after slavery's end, Boston continued to be a big rum-producing city, and molasses ended up as a flavoring in many New England dishes including baked beans, Indian pudding, and gingerbread.
Baked Beans Have Pilgrim Roots
Another claim to the “Beantown” origin lies with the pilgrims, who were prohibited from cooking on the Sabbath. Puritan women could slow cook the mixture of navy beans and pea beans all day Saturday for that night’s meal, then reheat the leftovers for Sunday breakfast and lunch. Boston Brown Bread, the traditional accompaniment, was steamed along with the beans and also easily reheated.
Dishes Born at the Parker House
Other tasty reminders that bear the name of the Massachusetts capital are Boston Cream Pie and Boston Schrod, dishes that were both “born” at the Omni Parker House Hotel. The pie, which is not a pie at all but a golden sponge layer cake, is filled with custard and topped with chocolate frosting. It’s been on the menu since the day Harvey Parker opened the hotel in 1855. Now the official dessert of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, you can find it in one form or another at any Boston restaurant worth visiting.
Boston Schrod, a fish dish generally finished with a Ritz cracker crumb topping, and Parker House Rolls, soft, crustless rolls that get their special shape by being creased and folded in half for baking, are other favorites. The result is a light puffy bun most often served as a dinner roll, especially as part of a holiday dinner.
Boston Schrod is "Catch-of-the-Day"
If you’ve ever wondered why you don’t find Schrod at seafood restaurants anywhere but in New England, it’s because it’s not really a fish at all but the result of some good old-fashioned Yankee ingenuity. It seems that the fish-that-isn’t-a-fish (a bit like the pie-that-isn’t-a-pie) was so named by a Parker House chef whose goal was always to serve the freshest catch available.
Given the great variety of fish in New England waters, the chef never knew which one he would be using from day to day so he invented a catch-all word “Schrod,” which became symbolic of the catch-of-the-day. Today, Schrod officially means” young cod,” but it can also refer to haddock. Confused yet?
Where to Sample Yankee Cooking in Boston
- Parker's Restaurant at the Omni Parker House Hotel is where you’ll find a menu loaded with New England favorites.
- Beantown Pub (100 Tremon Street) is a casual eatery that capitalizes on the city’s famous moniker. A soup and sandwich menu is supplemented with Yankee fare like baked beans and brown bread, fried scallops with cole slaw and fries, and a daily turkey dinner.
- Durgin-Park (Faneuil Hall Fall Marketplace) is known for its slow-cooked baked beans, New England boiled dinners (a.k.a. corned beef and cabbage), fish and clam “chowda,” Yankee pot roast, and hot corn bread. Baked Indian Pudding (made with corn meal and molasses) is a house special.
- Ye Olde Union Oyster House was established in 1826. The famous seafood establishment remains the oldest restaurant in continuous service in the United States. The oyster bar and restaurant are famous for their New England shore dinners (clam chowder, steamers, lobster, corn, red potatoes, gingerbread or Indian pudding). Side orders of baked beans seem to go with everything.
- Originally called the Bull & Finch Pub before the popular television series was born at the Beacon Street site, Cheers is a make-no-bones-about-it tourist attraction, the pub capitalizes on the series’ characters with dishes named for Woody, Carla, and Frasier along with serious New England favorites like a mug of beans, a mug of clam chowder loaded with Maine potatoes, and Diane’s favorite dessert, Boston Cream Pie.
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