The Flavors of Winter and Where to Find Them in Cape May

Some flavors instantly evoke certain images. Take, for example, watermelon. You immediately think of summer. Pumpkin is synonymous with fall, and if I said chestnuts, fruitcake, and gingerbread, you would know there was a chill in the air. Every season has its signature flavors. 

Traditions

The flavors of winter are often associated with holidays and family traditions that have been passed down for generations. The flavors and foods we associate with those holidays were often expensive and therefore reserved for special occasions. They were also time consuming to prepare or were simply unavailable at other times during the year. The last point is probably the most important as we think about how our traditions began. 

A hundred years ago, long distance transportation of produce was slow and difficult via a network of railroads or by steamship. It wasn’t until the development of the interstate highway system in 1956 that shipping via truck became efficient. And so, we ate what was in season. Fresh asparagus was only available in the spring; tomatoes and corn in the summer; turnips, Brussels sprouts, and root vegetables in the fall.

Before home refrigerators became commonplace in the 1940s, vegetables and other perishables were most often kept in a root cellar. Winter squash like pumpkin, butternut, and acorn could be kept for months. Foods that wouldn’t survive, like beans and peas, were dried and then reconstituted. Fruits, like figs, prunes, and grapes were also dried while others were cooked and made into jams and jellies. Meats were salted or cured. 

Not only what we ate but how we prepared our food changed with the seasons. The lack of air conditioning during the summer months meant no one wanted to use the oven and heat up the house. So slow cooking (stewing, braising and roasting) was reserved for wintertime. 

When I was a child growing up in northern New Jersey in the 1960s, Christmas dinner was much like Thanksgiving. But as time passed and ingredients became easier to acquire and afford, our traditions changed. Roast turkey gave way to standing rib roasts and beef tenderloin. Pumpkin pies were replaced by chocolate yule logs, cheesecake, and poached pears. Of course, there was always some cranberry sauce, candy canes on the tree, and egg nog for all. 

The Flavors in Cape May

If you really want to experience the flavors of winter, make a reservation at one of our fine dining establishments that changes the menu seasonally. Some winter flavors like chestnut, persimmon, and pomegranate are a little hard to find these days. You won’t find liver pate either, except at Maison Bleue, but you will find foie gras at Grana, Union Park, and the Washington Inn. You can even top a steak with it at Peter Shields. If you want your prime rib to be standing, rather than horizontal, you will have to prepare it at home. However, you can enjoy short ribs at more places than you can count. 

Begin your evening with a pear martini at the Ebbitt Room or Oyster Bay. The Washington Inn even has an alcohol-free version. Warm up with a fig-flavored winter mule at Peter Shields or Lucky Bones, who is also kicking up maple orchard cider with bourbon and adding cranberry juice to margaritas. Speaking of margaritas, you can enjoy a prickly pear version all year long at Taco Caballito. If you’re a beer lover, the Cricket Club has an autumn spice version that is flavored with pears and a dry apple (hard) cider. 

Braised Beef

Short Ribs seem to be on everyone’s hit parade this year. Usually a winter dish, they have appeared on menus all year. Once considered to be a less desirable cut of beef, short ribs are the perfect entrée to order when you are dining out because of the time it takes to prepare them at home. You will find them at all our fine dining establishments including the Blue Pig, Bryne, Grana (with rigatoni), Hemingway’s, Pier House, Sea Salt, Washington Inn, Tisha’s, Union Park, and Vintage. The Cricket Club also serves them over fries as an unusual and very satisfying starter. You’ll need to share it if you want to save room for an entrée!

Roasted Chicken

At Oyster Bay you can celebrate any day of the week by ordering roasted “holiday” chicken with all the trimmings. The Ebbitt Room is serving theirs with sundried cherries, figs, and Cipollini onions. 

Glazed Pork 

Grana is adding a maple glaze to their pork belly appetizer, and Peter Shields is spicing up pork tenderloin with autumn flavors. The Cricket Club is serving a perfectly grilled, tender and juicy espresso-rubbed pork chop with a divine bourbon maple demi-glace. They top it with a little bacon fig jam (which in my opinion is gilding the lily) and serve it with mashed sweet potatoes. Their Simply Autumn ale is a great accompaniment to this dish. It was all fabulous. 

Root Vegetables

Winter squash and sweet potatoes are accompanying many entrees this winter as you might expect—sometimes roasted, sometimes mashed or pureed. Even parsnips are making a brief appearance. 

The Cricket Club and the Washington Inn are turning butternut squash into a creamy soup as are Grana, Maison Bleue and Tisha’s. The Ebbitt Room uses honeynut squash as the basis for theirs. Butternut can also be enjoyed in risotto at the Ebbitt Room as well as Grana and Peter Shields. 

Union Park is serving a vegetarian entrée comprised of delicata squash, roasted carrots, and dates. Honeynut appears again at the Washington Inn, this time as an entrée, and Tisha’s is preparing stuffed pumpkin gnocchi. Pumpkin is also flavoring the grits that are served with shrimp at Union Park. 

But the most unexpected winter squash creation can be found at Lucky Bones where they present their Harvest Pie all year round. It’s a brick oven pizza topped with butternut squash, caramelized onions, and prosciutto and finished with a nutmeg cream drizzle—unusual and delicious.

I must admit beets have never been a favorite of mine—apparently, even as a baby. And so, the fact that they have been ignored for decades has never disappointed me. However, they have been rediscovered lately, usually appearing in salads and combined with a wide variety of other ingredients. There are at least a dozen restaurants in Cape May that have cooked up their own unique recipes. Beets are being paired with everything from pears and fennel to arugula and Vidalia onions. Cheeses like burrata, gorgonzola, and whipped feta provide creaminess while sweetness is coming from ingredients like pumpkin seed brittle and date vinaigrette.

Winter Fruits

In addition to appearing in the cocktails mentioned above, winter fruits are also being used mostly in salads. Arugula is topped with roasted vegetables, shaved fennel, and Medjool dates at Lucky Bones and paired with cranberries and apples at the Mad Batter, who is also topping mixed greens with roasted pears. Ocean 7 has a pear salad, too. Theirs is accented with candied pumpkin seeds and crumbled blue cheese. Figs, too, have found their place in salads with spinach at the Cricket Club, arugula at the Ebbitt Room, and burrata at Peter Shields. 

I was disappointed to not find chestnuts anywhere, not even in soup. However, as of the writing of this column, our restaurants had not yet started to serve their winter (holiday) menus—so, there is still hope. In addition, most of our eateries do not publish their dessert menus online so we cannot provide you with accurate suggestions for satisfying your sweet tooth. But if you care to end your meal with a dessert martini, Lucky Bones is adding pumpkin spice to their white Russians, and Washington Inn is featuring a Pumpkin Spice Latte concoction. 

Cheers, bon appetit and happy holidays!