Well, Vermont, it's one of those touchstone states that when you just say the name, it reads comfort. It's like a code word in TV shows that, you know, scandal. The president was going to retire to Vermont, Right? And, friends, we're going to go for a romantic weekend to Vermont. I mean, you just have to say Vermont. And it's the code word for comfort and solitude and loveliness and. And I think of the food that way as well. And because we have those six unique seasons, or at least we recognize them, there is a flow to our year that is so quintessentially Vermont. And what we look forward to, what we talk about, what we're craving, what we're all thinking about for the next month, that it is quintessentially Vermont. So the ephemerals in the spring, the gardening in that tiny, tiny season of summer, and then mud season, of course, where we're all tapping or thinking about tapping or smelling that lovely scent that comes from the sugar houses. It is. It is so uniquely Vermont. But it is something that I think every American shares that knowledge of. When you say Vermont, when you think Vermont, when you eat as a Vermonter, no tea, you think of comfort and loveliness and joyfulness. Tapping for maple sugar, by the way, and vamaner Vermonter. There's no tea like Mitten is mitten.
C (4:21)
Gotcha. Okay. My guest is Gesina Block Prado. The name of the book is My Vermont Table. So for people, your story in the intro in the book, you say up front, you know, I grew up in D.C. in the Arlington area. And you spent a lot of time there, obviously, you spent a lot of time in Germany and Austria with your grandmother helga, great name, L.A. you had a previous career as a lawyer and in the entertainment business. And then almost 20 years ago, you find Vermont, or at least you decide to put down roots in Vermont. What was it about Vermont that called to you?
B (4:52)
Well, when I was in Virginia, I was always a German girl. When I was in Germany, I was always the American girl. And I don't think that's an unusual thing for many Americans to feel is slightly displaced and never knowing where you belong. But when my husband took me, we were a courtin, and he took me to Vermont, first New Hampshire. And then we rode across the bridge into Vermont, across the Connecticut River. Heart just opened up and sang. I'm like, this is home. And because Vermonters often look at most people who live in Vermont as outsiders, I'm among very good company. I'm not alone. My people are there. So I Found home in that place because it spoke to Bavaria about the sweet little villages in Bavaria. It spoke to the Appalachian Mountains, which I adore because I love those gentle rolling hills. And it just spoke to comfort and. And it became home.
B (5:50)
Yeah. And mud season, which they're so practical. It's like. Oh, yeah, of course. That's what it's called, mud season. Because when the big thaw happens, the majority of our roads are dirt, and when the big thaw happens, there's lots of water and that dirt becomes mud. So, you know, driving in the. In the winter, no problem, but driving through mud, it's like when. When I was a kid, I was promised quicksand would be, you know, something that would. I would have to avo in my adulthood.
B (6:20)
Yeah, yeah. I was like, I'm expecting quick. So that never materialized. However, the mud is as close to quicksand as I was promised, so you're not going anywhere. But the good thing is, is that when you're stuck in the mud, you're going to smell the beautiful wafts of maple coming your way, because it's also sugaring season. And then stick season is when the leaves have fallen and it gets quiet because all the tourists have gone and the snow has not yet come, and you look up at the trees and all you see is sticks. But it's also near Halloween, so that eeriness is perfect. Right? It's like, it's a little foggy. It's a little creepy. It's a lot of perfect because it's Halloweeny time.
B (7:09)
Well, oftentimes in recipes, it calls for granulated sugar, and I'm talking about savory recipes. And the most typical would be, like, grandma's gravy, like a tomato sauce, where the tomatoes are never quite as sweet as they should be. So granulated sugar is usually added, but I say add the maple because it incorporates instantaneously because it is liquid. It also has that backbone of, like, that buttery ness to it. It is three times as sweet, but has fewer calories than sugar. Not that when you're making something super yummy, that that's what you're thinking about, but those are all. And it's a superfood. And it's maple. It's like such an American thing, right? Only we in the Americas make maple syrup. So it is such a beaut addition to things that need just that little, little hint of sweetness.
D (8:04)
Hi, yeah, no, thank you. I just wanted to give a shout out to a fabulous community farm in Manchester, Vermont. It's called Earth Sky Time. And they have fresh baked breads and spreads and dips and produce and the food is crazy good. And they have community concerts all the time and they really, they just add a lot to the community. And it's a family, wonderful, delicious place.
E (9:04)
And it's simple and silly stuff like milk and cheese and like meat from the butcher. And even when I go up there, I don't go out to eat that much. I end up cooking a lot. And it is just something so enjoyable about getting local ingredients, like slowing down, going to the farmer's market, going to the, you know, the general store to get stuff. And of course, like the maple syrup and the apples and all that stuff is good. I mean, the amount of craft beer, I'm always astonished every time I go up and delight.
B (10:24)
Well, they are a legend in Vermont. There was the Dog Team Tavern, and it sadly burnt down, but it was a historic tavern. And they were famous for their sticky buns, among other things. And they. The best part was they served them as an appetizer, which, like, as a child, like, as a child, I would have been like, this is my home. But it uses potato, both in that it uses the actual potato and. And the water in which the potatoes are cooked. So what it does is ends up making a very so spongy, glorious, sticky, sticky, sticky bun. And you can make them monstrous dinner plate size, or you can make them smaller, but the bottom line is that you need that potato to make them tender, tender, tender.
B (11:29)
Well, I. I don't know. I don't know these words. You say too much. What are these words? You know, baseball size is the perfect size. The other thing that we do with them, if you don't eat all of them, is you slice them up and you fry them as a leftover. So if they aren't big enough, then you're not going to get a good fry. So, you know, I think. I think ahead. I think ahead of all the things that you can do with these things.
C (11:53)
Here is Helga's potato salad. And this is the blurb you write for the little paragraph. My mother's potato salad's a staple on our holiday table, but the holiday was always and only Christmas Eve. We never had her potato salad any other day. Because we limit our Christmas Eve celebrations to immediate family. Only a few, select few had ever tasted the stuff. All right, tell us one about your decision to include this dish. Because you're saying, go for it, rest of the world.
B (12:23)
Well, I realized far too late. I think I was in my 40s. I'm like, wait a second. I'm a grown woman. I'm allowed to make this potato salad any time of year. But Helga, she had a very strong presence in my life. And the rule was only Christmas Eve. So when I realized, oh, I'm allowed to do this anytime I like, and it is so delicious. We all know potatoes potato salad's very innocuous there's nothing that you can do to it, really, to make it judge it to the point that it's the gem of the table. However, when you put this in your mouth, you will be transcendent. You will. You will realize that potato salad should be, and could be a meal of its own. And the fact that she never shared it beyond that one day and with a handful of people is extraordinary because my mother was a diva and she literally, literally a diva. So you would think the diva would want to share this with the world, but she, like, kept it contained. So now, mom in heaven, I am sharing your potato salad with everyone because you and the potato salad are so.
E (13:36)
Some time ago, I saw Jacques Papin make tarte Tatin on the tv, which. Which was a recipe that was created by the Tatin sisters, and it was kept secret. And people, restaurants from Paris, had to send spies out to find out what she was doing. Anyway, I immediately forgot his technique and made my own and just forgot about the white sugar. Just poured maple syrup in and cooked the apples in that. And then when it's time to put the puff pastry, I weave it into a basket because you're not going to get the crust from the maple syrup. So I don't flip it out. I just slice it with the top, which looks like a basket. Nobody. Nobody's ever rejected this.
B (14:36)
Making a great puff. Making a great puff and great apples. So the two together, it's such a simple recipe with beautiful ingredients. I think in most cases in food, beautiful ingredients will elevate anything and you needn't doctor it too much. But then also, you know, Chris, as Chris noted, maple will not go wrong with most things.
D (15:16)
Probably the. Thank you. The only thing that gave us a little pause was that, well, first of all, there's really no place to eat out around here, but we do like to cook. And one of the things we were concerned about was that we wouldn't be able to find the ingredients that we usually cook with. But I have to say we've been happily surprised that even things that you wouldn't necessarily expect to find up here, like pancetta and guanciale and things that we would use to make. We do a lot of Italian cooking. They're here. People are small, producers are making pasta or making these Italian specialty items. You know, we of course, expected great cheese. We live not too far from Jasper Hill, and we live down the street from a dairy farm. But we've just been so impressed, and we're eating better than ever, growing our own vegetables and of course, all the maple and the maple creamies.
C (16:14)
So we have a question from. Whenever we have a cookbook author on, someone usually tries to make something from the book. And our resident cookie monster, Zach, who came in and fixed your microphone, they tried to to make the oat crisp cookies, which were delicious. I've had four in the past two days. But they couldn't get them to come out with that thin, lacy look you describe in the book. Zach wants to give it another go.
B (16:40)
Make sure your oven is hot enough. That is number one. Because what it is essentially doing, because it's so butter forward, you need for that to spread and spread quickly. And with the right temperature of oven, it will do that. And you also want to make sure that it is preheated, heated, so that that cavity is radiating heat. So it's not just the temperature of the oven, it is the fact that it has been preheated. And because ovens are liars, you should.
B (17:39)
Well, it depends on what you're using it for. So there are four grades. There's golden, amber, dark, and very dark. And they look as they are described, but their relative maple punch is different. So if you go for golden, it's very light amber, a little more maple flavor, dark, very mapley, very dark, very mapley. And if you're baking with it, go for very dark. If you just like a hint of maple, go for maybe the amber, which would be the more traditional to most people's maple syrup. It depends on what you're using it for. If you're putting it in your coffee, go with whatever. Right. It's all delicious. A Vermonter will go for a syrup that is darker because we want that flavor.
B (18:47)
No, the apple pie that I do have in there is one that is. So it predates 1999. So it's called a Marlboro apple pie. I wanted to go out on technicality. Yeah. I wanted to go full historic. And the Marlboro apple pie is one that uses sherry. You puree the apples and I call. It's like what bananas are to bread, apples are to this pie. You want to get an apple that is a little over ripened and super sweet, almost like alcoholic. And it used to be the staple on Vermont Thanksgiving tables. And it's kind of been lost through the years. There is. There. It's like a custardy thing. So there's like a. There is a dairy element too. So it. It squeaks into. It is not a violation of that law. So. But I just, I think that is the best thing ever. That my favorite part of it, it has to be no less than half an ounce, no less than. And it has to be cheddar cheese. And like. But the fact that they didn't say Vermont cheddar cheese is kind of mystifying to me. And that the vanilla ice cream isn't Ben and Jerry's. These are things that I thought they could have put in there as well.
