GASTRONOMICS

Saveur salutes Hayward

By Sam Smith

We felt pretty good last month when Saveur — the high-gloss food magazine that can have you inexplicably excited about cooking with leeks or buying some new measuring cup — recognized Moody’s Diner in Waldoboro and Berwick-based cookbook author Kathy Gunst in the list of its 100 favorite people, places, and things in the world of food. The issue also tipped its hat to Rod Mitchell, proprietor of Browne Trading over on Commercial Street, for the hours-out-of-the-sea freshness of his fish. It was, all in all, fine recognition for Maine’s gastro set . . . but not too intrusive, you know?

Then came the March issue and its sprawling, 12-page feature on Sam Hayward, Fore Street co-owner and chef, and we started to feel a little like our best secrets were getting out. Really, was it necessary to tell everybody how good the place is?

But even for long-time fans of Hayward and his rustic cuisine, there is something to learn from the piece, whether it be his philosophy on presentation (“If I see one of my cooks making pretty plates, I slap him,” he laughs); his trick to making potent stock (roast the bones first); or his recipes for Pan-Roasted Fish and Shellfish Stew, Roast Rabbit with Wild Mushrooms, Two-Textured Duckling, Parsnip and Leek Soup, Braised Lamb Shank, Chive Mashed Potatoes, and Apple and Cranberry Upside-Down Cakes.

But the one secret we really wish had gotten out, the recipe for his drool-inducing appetizer of Wood-Oven Roasted, Rope-Cultured Mussels, was nowhere in sight.

“I can’t give that recipe out,” Hayward told the Phoenix. “It came to us from our first Chef de Cuisine, Alan McGrath, and as a point of honor I told him we’d never give it out. Every article that’s ever been written about Fore Street has wanted the recipe.”

So even though it will probably be even more difficult to get a reservation now — thanks Saveur — looks like we’re still going back to the source.