“Raspberry pie, lots of sugar, and the most elegant crust of flour,
cider vinegar, and lard for the shipwrecked. “ I had learned the love
of cooking at this early age under the unconventional instruction of
Miss Ada. (Nana could not cook a bit nor did she ever try to, but she
could dance and sing and swim.) Ada’s dishes were a delightful
hodgepodge of Jamaican, Irish, typical Maine fare, and a new found
flair for Italian. With the resources of the barn, coops,
slaughterhouse, and lavish gardens up at the “Big House”, meals were
always a well orchestrated event. Ada had recently learned to make
pasta from one of Grandsir’s card buddies, Rome Cabone, a local store
owner and native Sicilian. For a couple of weeks, long strands of pasta
hung over a wooden clothes-drying rack. Her favorite way of preparing
it was with  Campbell’s Tomato soup. (That recipe needed some work!)

Today, Grandsir announced, we would make “Dublin Lawyer” to go with the
Raspberry Pie and Garden Water. (Garden Water: Empty glass milk jugs
would be taken to the spring, filled ¾ full, then back to the kitchen
to get a scoop of sugar and sprigs of mint and lavender from the
garden, shaken till the sugar dissolved, and chilled.) If we were
rowing out to Gooseberry Island for a picnic, a jug with a rope around
the neck would drag along side the skiff to chill in the seawater.

I was told if I picked the lobsters, I could row out to help deliver the
food.  So I got busy to my task and very caught up in the excitement of
helping the shipwrecked. As our skiff glided up to the stern of this
sailing yacht (mired in the mudflats), I got my first glimpse of
Hollywood. Gary Merrill, all tanned and dressed in swim trunks only,
greeted us. Three very beautiful ladies and two other somewhat pretty
men graced the deck (or rather, clung to it like goats on the side of a
cliff). Their attire seemed primarily made of wrinkled white linen and
madras plaids. From over painted red lips of the ladies protruded long
cigarettes complete with rhinestone studded holders.

The captain and steward of the yacht were an interesting contrast. Both
were covered in mud from their futile efforts to free the keel from the
flats. To say they stunk was putting it mildly.  Perched in the bow,
with my jaw dropped open, I would be the designated passer of the
picnic. Nana insisted she would row out in her prettiest Sears and
Roebuck summer dress with Ada all dressed up like Aunt Jemima, complete
with floured apron but very full of her big brown self, sprawled across
the stern seat like it was her throne.

I handed up the pie basket filled with “Dublin Lawyer”, the second pie basket with
raspberry pies, and finally the Oakhurst Milk jugs filled with Garden
Water. Not that these Silver Screen Stars looked like water drinkers,
but there it was. Mr. Merrill, in all his graciousness, thanked us and
offered Nana and Ada  black and white photographs of himself. They were
so excited, I thought they would both fall overboard and be swept up
into Ovens Mouth. Off we rowed back to shore.

By the time the tide was high, I heard lufting of the sails and “poof like that” the
river was empty except for a few lobster buoys (two of which were
mine). Nana got the rest of the summer out of sharing that story with
the neighbors, and by fall it was forgotten. When Christmas rolled
around, Elmer, the mailman, arrived at the door one day with a package.
It was a big box of fruit: oranges and grapefruit from Florida, along
with a card signed by Gary Merrill and Miss Rita Hayworth.

Dublin Lawyer aka Irish Lobster Pie (2009 version of the recipe)
2 pounds of chopped Certified Maine lobster claw and knuckle meat
1 cup of diced potatoes, (boil till al dente)
4 cups of sauce
(Sauce: 4 cups of basic white sauce combined with 2 Tablespoons of lobster paste and 1 Tablespoon of tomato paste)
Salt and pepper to taste
½ cup of good Irish whiskey (burn the alcohol off first then mix with sauce)
8 frozen biscuits (Robinhood Free Meeting House biscuits are the best choice)

In a baking dish, combine the lobster meat, potatoes, and sauce. Top with
biscuits and bake till biscuits are golden brown (30 minutes).

Serve with a nice green salad, and watch an old Gary Merrill~Rita Hayworth movie.

Margaret Salt McLellan is Executive Chef of Linda Bean’s Perfect Maine and 2008 Maine Lobster Chef of the Year