Customer Reviews

Union Oyster House Cookbook: Recipes and History from America's Oldest Restaurant

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I ordered this book for my husband, for Christmas. He loved it! Not only are there lots of photos, but there are several very interesting stories about the oyster industry, too. Recipes and history make for a great book any oyster lover will appreciate!

The Union Oyster House is the oldest continuously operating restaurant in the country. When you think that Daniel Webster and John F. Kennedy were among some of the famous and frequent patrons here, you might just want to stop by just to drink in the history (no pun intended!) Surprise, surprise, the clam chowder is to die for! And now I have the recipe to duplicate it at home! Even if you don't plan to cook all the delicious seafood recipes represented in this cookbook, you'll enjoy reading the history, not only of the restaurant, but of the city where the birth of our nation began. Another added attraction to this book, when you need to come up with a good trivia question, you can ask where the toothpick was invented. In this cookbook/history book, you will be motivated to duplicate the simple, yet wonderful, seafood dishes that will impress and win you many compliments, and then while your guests enjoy each yummy bite, you can educate them about city of Boston, where it all began!

Now for the very first time, America's oldest restaurant offers its history and traditional Yankees recipes in the Union Oyster House Cookbook.

Established in 1826, Boston's Union Oyster House is the country's oldest continuously operated restaurant. The building itself is so old that municipal records do not record its original function.

From 1771 until the beginning of the Revolutionary War it was the home of "The Massachusetts Spy," long known as the oldest newspaper in the United States. During the war it the pay-station for early Federal troops. Louis Phillipe, later King of France, was a guest and taught French to prominent Bostonians. Daniel Webster was said to drink a tall tumbler of bandy and water with each half dozen oysters.

Famous patrons of the Union Oyster House have included Paul Newman, Muhammad Ali, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Bill Clinton, Ozzie Osbourne and Edward Kennedy. John F. Kennedy preferred Booth 18 upstairs which now has a dedication plaque. In 2003, the Union Oyster House was named a National Historic Landmark.

As well as recounting the 180-year history of the restaurant and its Boston environs, Union Oyster House Cookbook has sixty of the restaurant's most famous recipes adapted for home use, including:

Oyster House Clam Chowder
Lobster Scampi
American Bouillabaisse
Shellfish in many forms: raw oysters and clams, Oysters Rockefeller, Clams Casino, Baked Stuffed Cherrystones, boiled and broiled lobster
Pan Seared Haddock
Boston Baked Beans
Hot Indian Pudding
Boston Cream Pie

Illustrated with historic photographs and artwork in color and black and white and including interviews with the owners Joe Milano and Mary Anne Milano Picardi, chef William Coyne and other long-time employees, this a both a practical cookbook and a testament to a restaurant that has been part of the fabric of Boston for 280 years.

Foreword by Senaator Edward M. "Ted" Kennedy

About the authors:

Jean Kerr is author of Mystic Seafood: Great Recipes, History and Seafaring Lore from Mystic Seaport. She is Editor of Taste of the Seacoast, the Boston-Portland, Maine food and wine magazine.

Spencer Smith is a publisher and writer based in Maine

This is an excellent New England seafood cookbook. The recipes are easy to follow without being too difficult. The clam chowder recipe is excellent.