Tag: 250417

For whatever you’re cooking

G-Mom’s BBQ Sauce goes beyond the grill

By John Fladd

[email protected]

Nashua sauce-maker Allison Marques’ dream recipe comes from a childhood memory she wishes she had.

“G-Mom was my grandmother,” Marques said. “G-Mom had five kids and she was the best person I ever knew, really. “She actually passed away when I was rather young. I didn’t … grow up into my late teens and twenties with her alive, but I named the sauce after her. I don’t actually have a recollection of her making the sauce with me. I really wish I had that memory.”

It was many years after her grandmother’s death that Marques connected the barbecue sauce she loved with G-Mom.

“She made lots of other delicious things,” Marques said, “but I found out that the sauce was her recipe from my uncle, because he made the sauce for a long time … and then I found out that it was actually my grandmother’s recipe. And so my uncle Ken helped me understand how to make it. Because I’m not a chef; I’m not super creative in the kitchen. But I know a good thing when I taste it.”

The result was G-Mom’s BBQ Sauce. Once Marques and her uncle worked out the specific recipe — up till then “nothing was ever measured; it was a little of this, a little of that,” she said — she and her husband Casey worked up three versions of the sauce to bring to market.

“This product is too good to not share with other people,” she said.

“All the general ingredients stay the same for the base mild recipe,” Marques said. “In my opinion, if I’m going to bring something to market, I need my customers to know that they’re going to get the same product, the same delicious product, every single time. Then, as you bring it into a medium flavor or a hot flavor, you add more peppers or sauces and things like that in order to make it hotter. We’re planning to move into an even spicier flavor, which I know some of my booth visitors are excited about at the shows we present at. But as we go to move into the hotter realms, I want to obviously be truthful and honor my grandmother’s recipe. I can always make it hotter, but we can’t always make something that’s already hot hotter and taste better.”

“My grandmother’s recipe, the G-Mom’s barbecue sauce flavoring, is unlike any other sauce that I’ve ever tasted,” Marques said. “It’s got a nice depth of flavor. It’s definitely got a sweetness to it. You definitely taste the tomato base. It’s not super vinegary, but it does have depth; I know in using Worcestershire sauce, it adds a depth to my sauce.”

Marques said that while it’s a good barbecue sauce, that label can be a little misleading.

“The sauce itself doesn’t distinctly isolate itself to barbecue,” she said. “It brings out the flavor of whatever you’re cooking and that’s really what’s so special about this sauce. When I think of ‘barbecue’, I think ‘OK, I can only have this if I make pulled pork or if I’m smoking something on my smoker.’ This sauce can really go on anything, and … I’ve had vegetarians buy the sauce, and they’re saying, ‘I want to put this on rice and vegetables. I want to put this on tofu.’”

“One of the biggest things for me,” Marques said, “is seeing children try the sauce who don’t eat anything, who are super-picky. And their moms are like, ‘I can’t believe she’s eating this right now. I can’t believe she is enjoying this.’ I have story after story after story of people trying this. Seeing the joy on their faces has been really fun.”we call it. We cook them to order so they get them hot off the press with everything like the frosting is like put right on top melted.”

G-Mom’s BBQ Sauce

G-Mom’s BBQ Sauce comes in three varieties — Mild, Medium and Hot — and is available through gmomsbbq.com.

Featured photo: Courtesy photo.

Doughnut batter in a waffle iron

New Dessert House satisfies a sweet tooth

By John Fladd

[email protected]

Have you ever eaten a doughnut and thought to yourself, “This is excellent. I really, really like doughnuts, but I think it would be better if it were crispier, somehow.”?

Tanya Grenier has you covered.

She and her husband are the brains behind Tanya’s Waffle-Donuts. The Boscawen businesswoman described her product this way: “They look like a waffle,” she said. “They taste like a doughnut, but they’re not deep fried. They’re all made from homemade recipes, made from scratch.”

The idea for the waffle-doughnut came from a family trip, Grenier recalled.

“We were at an Airbnb with our daughter and our son-in-law,” she said. Her daughter asked her dad if he could make doughnuts for breakfast. “So they had all the ingredients to make them, but we didn’t check and they ended up not having oil. So we were like, ‘Oh, we can’t deep fry them.’ We ended up making pancakes with the batter. They looked like a pancake in a pan, but they tasted like a doughnut. They were amazing, but then my husband said, ‘You know what would be really cool, though? If it was the shape of a waffle it would be a little easier to pick up and like look really cool with a waffle shape.’”

A waffle donut covered in frosting and sprinkles.
Courtesy photo.

The Greniers spent three years developing a recipe that would work.

“Basically,” Tanya said, “you can’t use a waffle recipe or a doughnut recipe. What you need to do is you’ve got to kind of combine them to get them to rise because most doughnut recipes are made to be deep-fried, and these are not.” Eventually, she said, the recipe came together. “The best part of these is they have less sugar than a regular doughnut, but they still taste just like a doughnut, but they’re not greasy. They’re light and fluffy. They’re not fried in oil at all. They’re all made in a waffle iron.”

Once the base recipe was worked out, the Greniers were able to develop a large number of variations on the doughnuts themselves, and an equally large number of frosting types, which have lent themselves to many combinations.

“We make a cake waffle doughnut, which is our original waffle doughnut,” Tanya said. “It has a little bit of cinnamon, a little bit of nutmeg. We make a chocolate waffle doughnut, which is like a milk chocolate, almost — not a dark chocolate but like a milk chocolate doughnut. We make maple doughnuts and apple doughnuts. We’ve done banana doughnuts. We do a cornbread waffle doughnut. We do a potato waffle doughnut. We do carrot cake ones.”

The Greniers package some waffle-doughnuts for individual sale, but they are happiest when they serve them hot and crispy from their food truck.

“The food truck is called the Waffle Donut Wagon,” Grenier said, “and then when we sell them pre-packaged it’s called Tanya’s Homemade Waffle Donut. We usually only sell [the individually wrapped ones] at special indoor craft events. We’ve done horse shows, we’ve done weddings, birthdays, bridal showers, pretty much anything you can think of. We do that with the truck just because we can offer food items plus they’re hot off the press as we call it. We cook them to order so they get them hot off the press with everything like the frosting is like put right on top melted.”

Tanya’s Waffle Donuts and the Waffle Donut Wagon

Tanya’s Waffle Donuts and the Waffle Donut Wagon can be found at events throughout New Hampshire and can cater any event. Call 785-6283 for more information, or search for “Waffle Donut Wagon” on Facebook or @waffledonutwagon on Instagram.

Featured photo: Courtesy photo.

The Weekly Dish 25/04/17

News from the local food scene

By John Fladd

[email protected]

• New ownership: The Sal Terrae line of spices has been purchased by Smokin’ Tin Roof Hot Sauce (899-7369, smokintinroof.com), according to Smokin’ Tin Roof owner Phil Pelletier. According to a post on Facebook, “We are very excited to announce and welcome a new line as a part of the Smokin’ Tin Roof family, Sal Terrae Spice Co!! You will now be able to purchase these great products at events, future store locations, and online.”

• Taco Tour participating restaurants: With just two weeks left until the Taco Tour (tacotourmanchester.com), Manchester’s biggest food day of the year, the Greater Manchester Chamber released the names of more than 90 participating restaurants and organizations in an April 9 press release. The list includes businesses as different from each other as 815 Cocktails & Provisions, New Hampshire Fisher Cats, and Thai Food Connection. To view the full list of participants (as of April 8), visit manchester-chamber.org/taco-tour-manchester-2025-list-of-participating-restaurants.

• Chili cook-off: Rockingham Brewing Co. (1 Corporate Park Drive, Unit 1, Derry, 216-2324, rockinghambrewing.com) will host its Fourth Annual Chili Cook-Off on Saturday, April 19. On its Facebook page the brewery posted, “This is a non-ticketed event. We’re open 1 to 8 p.m. and as usual, chili & seating are both first come, first served. … BUT our worthy competitors are making TWICE as much chili this year, so there should be plenty for all. Please be patient as we work to get you all served ASAP.” The names of this year’s chilis are “Piggy Back,” “Silence of the Hams,” “Night Owl,” “Jort Munder” and “Ten.”

• Cooking with kids: According to The Culinary Playground’s (16 Manning St., Derry, 339-1664, culinary-playground.com) website, there are openings in two cooking classes for children this week. On Saturday, April 19, from 10 a.m. to noon, children ages 6 to 10 can learn to make a carrot cake trifle. There is a second class from 1 to 3 p.m. for kids 10 and up. On Wednesday, April 23, preschoolers can make carrot apple muffins in sessions at 11:30 a.m. and 1 p.m.

Kiddie Pool 25/04/17

Family fun for whenever

Free wild fun

• Discover Wild New Hampshire Day brings the state’s outdoor adventures to the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department (11 Hazen Drive in Concord) on Saturday, April 19, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. The free event features more than 100 educational and experiential exhibits, live animals, archery, casting, flying, an air-rifle range, retriever dogs, crafts, a Fish and Game biologist, a food truck alley and more according to the website. See wildlife.nh.gov/dwnh for a map with participating presenters and activities.

More museum

• Get an extra day to see SEE Science Center (200 Bedford St. in Manchester; see-sciencecenter.org), which is open Mondays, April 21 and April 28, for April school vacation in addition to its regular Tuesday-through-Sunday days of operation. SEE is open 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on weekdays and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekends. Admission costs $14 for ages 3 and up.

• The McAuliffe-Shepard Discovery Center (2 Institute Drive in Concord; starhop.com) is slated to be open daily Wednesday, April 16, through Sunday, May 4, from 10:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission costs $13 for adults, $12 for 62+ and ages 13 through college, $10 for ages 3 to 12 and free for ages 2 and under. Planetarium shows are an additional $7 for ages 3 and up.

Papas Feroces

• The Fisher Cats continue a series of games against the Harrisburg Senators. On Thursday, April 17, at 6:35 p.m., it’s New hampSHIRE Night, with a theme around wizards and adventure. On Friday, April 18, at 6:35 p.m. the team will play as their Copa de la Diversion alter egos Gatos Feroces. On Saturday, April 19, at 4:05 p.m., the team will play as the New Hampshire Space Potatoes, honoring the Granite State’s potato and UFO history. And at the Sunday, April 20, game at 1:35 p.m., the first 1,000 fans will get a free scarf. See milb.com/new-hampshire.

Storytime

• Bookery Manchester (844 Elm St. in Manchester; bookerymht.com) will host a storytime with author Duane “Archie” Archambault and his new book Conga’s Rescue Adventures, illustrated by Kolorful Highlights, on Saturday, April 19, at 1 p.m. Reserve a spot online.

Bunnies & eggs

• The Carriage Shack Farm, 5 Dan Hill Road in Londonderry, carriageshackfarmllc.org, will host an Easter Bunny Party on Saturday, April 19, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Kids can collect six eggs from egg stations, decorate their own Easter egg, take photos with the Easter Bunny and meet the farm animals, according to the website. Admission costs $12.95 per person for ages 16 and up, $11.95 for seniors and military, and $10.95 for children 15 and under, the website said. Buy tickets online or purchase them at the gate, the website said.

• Hudson’s Best Easter Egg Hunt will take place Saturday, April 19, with sessions at 10 a.m. and 11 a.m. at Inner Dragon Martial Arts, 77 Derry Road in Hudson. The event will feature egg hunts, a photo op with the Easter Bunny and more, according to the description at funnels.hudsonmartialart.com/egghunt, where you can register for a time slot.

• Charmingfare Farm in Candia wraps up its Egg-citing Egg Hunt this Saturday, April 19, and Sundays, April 20 (Easter Sunday). Kids between the ages of 2 and 12 can hunt for a dozen eggs in Grandpa’s Barn, the website said. The event will also include an opportunity to meet the Easter Bunny, visit farm animals (including new spring babies) and more, according to the website. Time slots between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. are available on those days. Admission costs $29 per person.

Treasure Hunt 25/04/17

Hi, Donna.

The New Boston Historical Society wonders what you might know about an old urn that’s now in the Whipple Free Library. It’s 12 inches tall.

We have a photo made from a glass negative that shows this urn and its twin in our town’s first public library, c. 1890-1900. This library was in one corner of what’s now Dodge’s Store. In 1927 a new library was built, and the two urns plus the clock that’s between them were moved across the street to the brick building that’s now our museum. (You spoke about antique collecting here in September 2011). I saw no maker’s marks anywhere on the urn, including under its base. Thanks for reading this!

Dan

Hello, Dan.

Your silver-plated mantel clock set looked great on the fireplace mantel in the photo you sent. To me that makes it a great piece of New Boston’s memorabilia.

Mantel clock sets were very popular during the late 1800s and early 1900s (Victorian era). Some were simple, some elegant. They were ceramic, silver, silver-plated, etc. I have seen some of the vases that weren’t even deep and were weighted with cement to just appear vase-like. I think your value lies in the maker of the mantel clock and its condition. The one fumed (darkened aged silver look) vase is beautiful but its value is now in being a vase. It’s unfortunate for the loss of the other one.

Depending on age, style, maker, condition and material, values can range from a couple hundred dollars to thousands. But that is for a three-piece set. I think, as is, values could be in the range of a few hundred dollars together.

Keeping both pieces with the photo of the three-piece set is a sweet memory.

Donna Welch has spent more than 35 years in the antiques and collectibles field, appraising and instructing. If you have questions about an antique or collectible send a clear photo and information to Donna at [email protected], or call her at 391-6550.

Donna Welch has spent more than 35 years in the antiques and collectibles field, appraising and instructing. Her new location is an Antique Art Studio located in Dunbarton, NH where she is still buying and selling. If you have questions about an antique or collectible send a clear photo and information to Donna at [email protected], or call her at 391-6550.

Two-lane runway

Book recounts the roots of Manchester Airport

By Michael Witthaus

[email protected]

Charles Lindbergh’s historic solo flight across the Atlantic in 1927 was followed by a surge of interest in aviation. This so-called “Lindbergh Boom” inspired construction of a pair of runways on what’s now Manchester-Boston Regional Airport. A hangar and administrative building were added in the 1930s, and it became an Army base as World War II approached.

Today few physical traces of this history remain. Leah Dearborn, an Associate Director at Aviation Museum of New Hampshire, set out to find and document memories of Grenier Field, as the facility came to be known. Grenier Air Base: A Beacon on the Home Front was published late last year.

Dearborn will talk about her book and take questions during an April 18 appearance at the Bookery in Manchester. In a recent phone interview she shared her motivations for writing it, along with some of the fascinating things learned during her research.

“It’s an interesting era in history, and also one that’s slipping by us very quickly,” she said. “I think part of this project was driven by the urgency of some of this history. If we don’t do something about it right now, the remaining people who can tell us about it might not be able to in the near future.”

The story begins with a humorous twist: Civic rivalry is a big reason why the airfield came to be in the first place.

“Charles Lindbergh was doing a tour across the United States, and when he got to Manchester there wasn’t an airport,” Dearborn said. “So he had to skip Manchester and go to Concord. That spurred the movement for Manchester Airport to be built; I like to call it a spite airport.”

Many of those interviewed for the book were children during the war years, and their recollections were surprising. Flying was still relatively new, and accidents were frequent. In fact, American fatalities in flight training were significantly higher than those sustained in air combat.

“By 1943, there were six fatal training accidents per day,” Dearborn said.

Many crashes happened at Grenier, she continued. “Local kids would bike out to them, just out of curiosity … and they’d pull little souvenirs off the plane. Just learning about the childhood of these local kids who spent all their time at the base or around it, watching from afar, was pretty interesting.”

The base was named for Second Lieutenant Jean Grenier, a Manchester native who crashed in Utah while scouting a flight route. He was one of many Army pilots who quickly took over commercial mail delivery following the so-called Airmail Scandal in 1934. A rapid handoff of responsibilities, coupled with a brutal winter, resulted in many flying deaths.

“This was being done mainly by pilots with very limited experience, in open cockpit aircraft, in some of the worst weather in decades,” Dearborn said. “A lot of them lost their lives in the few months that this was planned, and Jean Grenier was, unfortunately, one of those.”

As Dearborn researched her book, a group of museum volunteers were engaged in reprocessing the archives. “When they found something in their effort that might connect back to what I was doing, they would leave it on my desk,” she recalled. “I’d walk in in the morning and find this stack of paper … that was really helpful.”

Among the valuable finds was a trove of newspaper clippings spanning the war’s early years to the 1950s. “Somebody at Grenier in the military was keeping tabs on the war abroad,” Dearborn said. “Anytime a New Hampshire soldier … made the news, somebody at a desk was taking a pair of scissors and cutting these out.”

At the Bookery, Dearborn will dive into favorite Grenier memories and display some photos. However, the best moments frequently happen after her presentation.

“People come with their own stories, and sometimes that’s where I get the best leads for new writing projects,” she said. “I ended up talking to a man who fought during the Battle of the Bulge for this book, and that’s exactly how I met him. I gave a talk on the history of ballooning, and a friend of his came up at the end and said, ‘You really ought to talk to this guy, he witnessed the Hindenburg fly over New England.’ Stuff like that is pretty invaluable.”

Grenier Air Base: A Beacon on the Home Front w/ author Leah Dearborn

When: Friday, April 18, 5-7 p.m.
Where: Bookery, 844 Elm St., Manchester,
Tickets: free; reserve at bookerymht.com

Featured photo: Leah Dearborn. Courtesy photo.

Stay in the loop!

Get FREE weekly briefs on local food, music,

arts, and more across southern New Hampshire!