In last week’s column, I made mention of a ‘Summer Savoury Bread Dressing’ that reader Ken McEwen’s mother used to make when he was a lad back in the 1930s and 40s on the 8th Concession south of Dunvegan. The dressing was a mainstay when she was preparing a bird for the dinner table, be it a duck, Hungarian partridge, chicken or, I assume, even a turkey. And, to this day, Ken makes it when cooking a bird.
As the recipe’s name implies, the dressing’s key ingredient is summer savoury (Satureja hortensis), an annual herb that is similar to its perennial cousin, winter savoury, minus the latter’s slightly more bitter flavour. According to Farmer John’s Herbs in Nova Scotia’s Annapolis Valley, summer savoury is perfectly adapted to our relatively short growing season and is the “traditional herb of choice for Maritime families.” Used in the same way sage is elsewhere, those in the know claim summer savoury’s spicy aroma and peppery flavour is the perfect flavouring for fowl and pork. It’s also a traditional ingredient of Herbes de Provence.
I asked if Ken was open to sharing his mother’s recipe and he had no qualms. The ingredients are simple: white bread (cubed or torn into small pieces), minced onion, minced fresh ginger, melted butter or margarine, salt & pepper, and crumbled summer savoury. Ken has no quantities for these constituents. It’s all done to taste. “Building a good summer savoury
dressing,” Ken told me, “is not a science. It’s an art, limited only by one’s taste and imagination.” However, the process does take some time.
Ken usually unwraps the loaves of bread a week to ten days ahead of time to let it dry out. “That way it absorbs more favour and melted butter,” Ken wrote in his email. “If I recall correctly, my mom began drying her bread well before its use, and I know my cousin began drying hers in late November.” Then he mixes in the rest of the ingredients three or four days before cooking the dressing with the bird or roast.
“I also add a bit of minced garlic,” Ken admits, “which my Mom would not have had access to, nor used anyway.” Ken did say she put a sprinkling of dry ginger in hers, saying it aided digestion. When it came to adding seasoning, Ken’s mom was of the opinion “you use lots and lots of summer savoury.” And folks must have agreed with her. When they still had chicken suppers at the United Church in Maxville, Ken recalls that his mother was the one they called upon to make the dressing.
It came across loud and clear in my exchange with Ken that he loves dressing (as do I). He tells of a family he once knew who, after cooking a bird, threw away the dressing. “What a travesty. If one has to make a choice, throw away the bird. With dressing, some good gravy and a bit of cranberry on the side, and maybe a dollop of well cooked turnip (with butter and brown sugar added), you’ve got a tasty meal.”
Advent is nigh
The word “advent” is derived from Latin via Old English and means “to come” or “arrival.” However, it also has a wider meaning in the Christian church when, during the season of Advent, worshippers celebrate Christ’s coming into the world. Historically, Advent was patterned after the season of Lent, a six-week period of penitence and preparation for Easter. Similarly, the four weeks of Advent are a time of reflection on and preparation for the celebration of the Nativity. In the Presbyterian Church, this coming Sunday, November 28th, marks the beginning of the Advent or Christmas season in the Church year.
To usher in the 2021 Advent period, Dunvegan’s Kenyon Presbyterian Church will be celebrating the Sacrament of Holy Communion. Kenyon Church extends an invitation for anyone who wishes to join them in worship and this Sacrament. Worship is at 9:30 AM.
For your and everyone’s safety in these pandemic times all Covid protocols will be observed. As for the questions of whether these procedures address the need for proof of vaccination, the use of masks during the service or building capacity limits, the Dunvegan kirk’s Session will be discussing them at its meeting this week.
Anne of Dunvegan
Back at the beginning of October, Terry and I attended a Steak Night fundraiser at The Windsor Tavern for the museum in Vankleek Hill. While there, we bumped into Hannah. Hannah does have a last name, but like Cher and Madonna, she’s known affectionately in these parts by her given name. For over 35 years, the 83 year-old diminutive powerhouse has been teaching and preaching the benefits of yoga. She even held classes in the Dunvegan Recreation hall many years ago. The night we ran into her, she was wearing a very attractive woollen shawl. As she passed, she picked up a corner of the garment and said, “you’ll be interested in this,” and pointed to the sewn-on label, which read Hand Woven by Anne of Dunvegan. It took me a minute to realize that Hannah was showing me an original creation from the loom of Anne Merritt who, in the late 1960s and early 70s, lived and worked in Dunvegan.
I had read of Anne’s work in newspaper articles from the time. And I had seen her interviewed in the infamous “30 from Ottawa” program entitled Crossroads at Dunvegan with host Mary Lou Findlay. This 1974 CBC production shone a spotlight on inter-generational friction in Dunvegan. However, I had never seen an actual example of her work.
It was Steve Merritt’s mother, Priscilla Merritt, who taught Anne how to weave on a Swedish upright beam loom. (In 2000, Steve’s mom received the Visionaries Award from the American Craftsman Council for her lifelong work with fabrics.) Anne also took lessons from Jack Lenor Larsen at the Haystack Mountain School of Crafts where his parents were the founding co-directors. In other words, Anne learned from true masters of the craft.
After moving to Dunvegan and purchasing D.K. MacLeod’s impressive house across from the church, Anne and Steve opened Dunvegan Workshops, an artisan business specializing in “stringed instruments & hand weaving.” Steve, who still lives in the Dunvegan-ish area told me that Anne’s studio was on the west side of the house in what, from a photo from the time, appears to be a glassed-in porch with six huge windows. Steve’s mother had gifted her Swedish upright loom to Anne, and she put it to good use turning coloured yarn into one-of-a-kind treasures.
Steve was the sales representative for the Dunvegan Workshops. Once a month, he headed to Ottawa where he sold items at the Canadian Four Corners and the Snow Goose on the Sparks Street Mall. He also went to Montreal regularly to supply a couple of boutiques with Anne’s creations. While there, he would go backstage at the Montreal Forum and Place des Arts to sell hand-woven items to the performers and crew. Steve hinted that I’d be amazed at who bought Anne of Dunvegan’s weaving. “The 100% all wool hand woven pieces sold themselves because they were soft, beautifully coloured, practical, but classy items of apparel,” Steve told me. “Anyone today who has a handcrafted Anne of Dunvegan piece made 50 years ago owns a one of a kind.”
It’s a great shame that life went down the path it did. I really wonder what Dunvegan would look like today if Steve and Anne had stayed together… and that wondrous D.K. Macleod house hadn’t burned to the ground. Would Dunvegan Workshops have been the catalyst to turn our wee dot on the map into a hamlet of artisans once again? If so, in concert with our pioneer museum and perhaps an antique shop or two, it could have been a real ‘destination,’ much like Merrickville is.
PS: Hannah’s last name is Hamsa and she bought her Anne of Dunvegan shawl while working with Wayne Ronstad on his On the Road Again television show.
-30-