Weekends with Yankee

NARRATOR: Coming up on Weekends with Yankee, Richard explores northern Maine's winter wilderness by dog sled.

- So Shawnee, she's training to be a leader.

NARRATOR: Then Amy visits food writer David Leite at Portugalia Marketplace in Fall River, Massachusetts, where they cook up a cozy Portuguese stew.

- Look at that.

TRAVERSO: Whoo!

- Look at that, isn't that just beautiful?

TRAVERSO: Beautiful!

NARRATOR: And finally, it's off to the races at the U.S. National Toboggan Championship in Camden, Maine.

- Here they come!

NARRATOR: So come along with us for a once-in-a-lifetime journey through New England as you've never experienced it before, a true insider's guide from the editors of Yankee magazine.

Join explorer and adventurer Richard Wiese and Yankee senior food editor Amy Traverso for behind-the-scenes access to the unique attractions that define this region.

It's the ultimate travel guide from the people who know it best.

Weekends with Yankee.

– Major funding provided by: - Massachusetts is home to a lot of firsts.

The first public park in America.

The first fried clams.

The first university in America.

The first basketball game.

What's first for you?

- Grady-White-- crafting offshore sport fishing boats for over 60 years.

- Country Carpenters-- handcrafted barns and homes for over 50 years.

- On an American Cruise Lines journey, you can explore historic New England.

- New Smyrna Beach, Florida-- sandy beaches and laid back adventure.

Relax already.

NARRATOR: In the remote Mahoosuc mountain wilderness of northern Maine, on the shores of Lake Umbagog, the ancient practice of dog sledding thrives.

WIESE: Good morning, Polly.

- Hello, Richard, nice to meet you.

WIESE: Yeah, nice to meet you.

I'm so excited to be here.

- Yeah, I'm glad you came.

We should have a good day.

WIESE: Yeah.

- Going out dog sledding and with, you're with Mahoosuc Guide Service today.

WIESE: Well, I'd love to meet the dogs and see where we're going.

- Okay, sounds good.

Well, come right in here.

WIESE: All right, thank you.

- Hi!

(talking to dogs indistinctly) Oh, the baby girl!

(dog barking) Good girl, this is little Olga.

Because she's smaller than most of them but she's very good.

Very devoted.

WIESE: Boy, they-- look, the other ones look so upset that she's being pet.

- She's getting all the attention.

WIESE: All the attention.

- (chuckles) Yeah.

Our alpha female is right here, this is Amber.

- You be good, Bjorn.

WIESE: Hey, Amber.

- So she, she's very quiet, and... but she, she holds the energy of the dog yard.

WIESE: How long have you been involved with dog sledding?

- Well, I started dog sledding in... 42 years ago.

WIESE: 42 years ago?

- Yes, yeah.

- I grew up in Maine, but I went to Alaska when I was 20.

So, that's where I got into dog sledding.

Actually, in the Yukon territory in Canada.

WIESE: Going up to the Yukon is not for everybody.

- I mean, I'm a very adventurous person.

And, you know, at 20, heading up to Alaska by myself, I went up there and worked for the park service for a little while and then ended up making a life up there.

In the Yukon, we use the dogs for transportation.

They used to haul water for us and firewood, because we lived in the bush.

But after many years, I wanted to share these skills and the nature with people.

Then I decided to leave the Yukon, and came back to work for the Outward Bound School here in Newry, and that's where I met my partner, Kevin.

and we started our own business, Mahoosuc Guide Service.

And it's 32 years old now.

We offer dog sledding trips in the winter, and canoeing in the summer, and fishing trips.

Okay.

So we're going to start loading them.

(dogs yelping, barking) Okay, there's Layla, the last dog.

You ready, Richard?

WIESE: Absolutely.

- Okay, good.

Here we go.

My whole life is around the dogs.

We call them Yukon Huskies because their lineage came from the Yukon territory.

So they're freighting dogs.

So they have long legs, good coats, smart, hardworking.

They're good with people and huskies are bred for pulling.

They just love pulling.

So that's part of their nature.

They love to be outside and running.

This is our dog tree.

Starts back in 1979 when we first started breeding dogs, and this is the lineage.

So the round are female, the square are males.

So this is all the breeding.

WIESE: And you remember every one of them?

- Yeah, I do.

Okay.

So this is dog sledding 101.

WIESE: Okay.

- Okay.

So we're going to bring the dogs down in a minute, because once the dogs are hooked up, we want to go right away.

So this is a sled.

These are the runners here, so if there was one person, you could have one foot on each runner.

But there'll be two of us so we're going to share, I'll be on this side.

You can be on that side.

WIESE: Right.

- Sled is tied off to the post with, this is called a snub line, because when we hook the dogs up, if it wasn't tied off, you know, they would take off.

This is the brake.

So we can each put one foot on the brake when we need to, and then when we're not on it, bring it back.

Number one rule with dog sledding is not to fall off and let go.

And I'm going to show you this if you want to.

To stop the dogs, foot on the brake.

WIESE: Sure.

- Whoa.

- You're ready to go?

WIESE: Yeah, yeah.

- We'll get going.

WIESE: Let's get them going.

- All right.

(dog whining) WIESE: That was an amazing ride.

You know, it took me somewhere.

I felt I was out in the wilderness.

It seemed like the team was very in sync, but I know they each have different personalities.

- So Shawnee is already-- she's young.

She's training to be a leader, she's getting trained by Amber.

But Shawnee is really tuned into me.

It's amazing how she'll just, if I think a command, like, think, "Oh, I'm going to stop and let them cool down."

She'll just stop.

So she's not waiting for it.

WIESE: That's amazing.

- Yeah, it's amazing, I've only had three or four dogs that do that and she's got to be one of them.

You can have many lead dogs in the team and they can trade off as well, but they have to be able to learn the commands.

Gee, to the right, haw, to the left.

Hold the line out tight.

So not every dog wants to be a leader, it takes confidence.

That's something that they're born with.

Well, now the dogs have had a little rest, cooled off, and we're going to keep going and get to our lunch spot.

Okay.

Tighten up, let's go.

Good girl, Amber, that's it.

Good doggy.

WIESE: So when you have people who come, is there a transformation you're looking for or see often?

- Our trips, it teaches people to live the moment, and to forget everything else in your life, and just be in the moment of mushing the dogs down the trail.

It's nice to just hear quiet and the dogs' breath, and the runners on the sled, on the snow, and that's all you hear, really.

They have very good communication just amongst themselves, like a pack of wolves, or pack of coyotes.

They just really tune into my every emotion and feelings.

And us humans have a lot we could learn from the animals.

WIESE: I have to tell you with the fire, and the dogs, and sort of the wilderness feel, I easily feel like I could be up in the Yukon or up in Alaska.

- Yeah.

WIESE: It has that kind of really solid adventure feel to it.

I want to thank you for this experience because it renews my faith that you can find a real wilderness experience in our own backyard of New England.

So I enjoyed it, thank you very much.

- Well, thanks for joining us.

(dog barking) TRAVERSO: I'm at the city gates of Fall River, Massachusetts.

The city emerged from Wampanoag land into a leading center of the American Industrial Revolution.

In fact, at one point, most of the cotton textiles in the country were produced right here.

Those mills attracted waves of Portuguese immigrants and now about 50% of the city claims Portuguese heritage.

So I'm going to be meeting up with my friend, the food writer David Leite, who was born here, to learn more about Portuguese food and culture.

- Hey!

Isn't it wonderful?

TRAVERSO: It's so beautiful.

- Oh, it's so good to see you!

TRAVERSO: It's so good to see you too!

How's everything?

- Good, good.

TRAVERSO: Oh, you already got treats.

- I've already ordered a little bit.

TRAVERSO: Thank you!

- These are called pasteis de nata, which is basically cream custard pastry.

- Uh-huh.

- And the best way to describe it is to eat it.

TRAVERSO: I am going to.

- You should hear a nice, big wonderful crunch.

(crunching) There it is.

- Isn't that fantastic?

TRAVERSO: It's so good.

Oh!

- Ooh, and speaking TRAVERSO: Mm, thank you!

- Of more things, so this is a gal�o, kind of like cafe au lait.

TRAVERSO: It's so good.

And what's this?

- Now this is a Portuguese roll.

It's really crunchy and lovely, and then the pt inside is actually chourio pt.

TRAVERSO: Oh, my gosh.

- It's Portugal in a bite.

You can taste the paprika.

TRAVERSO: Mm-hm.

- Wine, the salt, the heat, a little bit of heat there.

TRAVERSO: So David, I've been wanting to come here forever.

- And I'm glad you finally got here.

TRAVERSO: It's so amazing, I've heard it described as the Eataly of Portuguese food.

- Mm-hm.

TRAVERSO: And it's like a wonderland.

- I think of it as Land of Oz for Portuguese people, and you're our Dorothy.

You're exploring the Land of Oz.

(laughter) TRAVERSO: We're definitely not in Kansas anymore.

- You're not, not anymore.

TRAVERSO: You grew up here in Fall River and you are Portuguese.

- I am, and my story growing up was I didn't want to be Portuguese.

I wanted to have blonde hair, blue eyes, a last name of Johnson or Pugh, or something like that.

TRAVERSO: Right!

- And then when my grandmother died in 1992, I realized certain recipes died along with her.

TRAVERSO: Right.

So that's when I started getting involved in developing recipes and it started out with Portuguese recipes and Portuguese food, and I keep coming back here because it's just home.

TRAVERSO: Yeah.

Now this morning I was out at the city gates.

- The city gates.

TRAVERSO: What's that?

- So many immigrants went through those gates to come here-- I just think it's this wonderful connection between the past and the present, from the old world to the new world.

So it's a very special meaning.

TRAVERSO: Well, I feel like there is so much for me to learn here today, and one way I want to do that is by cooking together.

- I have a special recipe from my cookbook that I want to make with you, but I got to shop for ingredients.

TRAVERSO: Okay.

- So I'm going to introduce you to the owner of the shop, and he's going to give you a much better view of the store.

- Hi, Amy, pleasure meeting you.

- So you kids do this, I'm going to go shop.

All right?

TRAVERSO: Okay, all right.

So kind of, give me a sense of the layout of the store here.

- Behind us here, we have our wine section.

TRAVERSO: Right.

- Which is the largest Portuguese wine section in the States, in fact.

TRAVERSO: Wow.

- We have over 800 Portuguese wine SKUs.

And here on the right-hand side, we have probably our strongest category in Portugal... TRAVERSO: Right.

- Which is tinned fish.

TRAVERSO: Just the packaging alone is so beautiful.

- Exactly.

TRAVERSO: Is there a region of Portugal that's known to have the best olive oil?

- I would say that's Alentejo.

Also, a really well-known wine region.

TRAVERSO: Right.

- To the left, we have our sausages.

TRAVERSO: Oh, my God, look at those, they look so good!

So I think the two that people are probably most familiar with are chourio... - And linguia.

TRAVERSO: And linguia.

- That's correct, yeah.

TRAVERSO: Right, yeah.

- A lot of the chourio and linguia are cooked into stews or dishes.

TRAVERSO: Right.

- Although there are some chourios now that are ready to eat.

TRAVERSO: I'm seeing something here that I've heard about, which is that you have this incredible collection of salt cod.

- Would you want to take a look?

TRAVERSO: Oh, wow.

You know, it's a strong smell, but it's a good smell.

- Yeah, I agree, I mean, I grew up on it, so... TRAVERSO: Yeah.

- The interesting thing about salt cod, it's the national dish of Portugal.

TRAVERSO: Right.

- But we don't fish it off our coast.

So our fishermen, have been for generations, coming to Nova Scotia to fish it.

TRAVERSO: Right!

- Gloucester, New Bedford.

TRAVERSO: So in the 1400 and 1500s, Portuguese fishermen were sailing to North America, right?

- Chasing cod at the time and salting it on vessel.

TRAVERSO: And so this was preservation before you had refrigeration?

- Exactly.

TRAVERSO: Fish will go bad very quickly, as we all know.

What are, like, the essentials of how to cook with, first, you have to soak it, right?

- Correct.

So yeah, you'd have to soak it for two to three days to reconstitute it and then it does have a firmness and a texture that you wouldn't find with fresh cod.

Yeah, it's meaty, very meaty.

TRAVERSO: Right.

- In fact, in Portugal, we eat salt cod with red wine.

TRAVERSO: Wow.

- Which, you know, it goes, it sort of defies what you should do when you eat fish.

With salt cod, there's nothing you discard.

TRAVERSO: Right.

- So even, sort of, these bits can be used for stews or with rice.

TRAVERSO: Right.

- We even have codfish tongues.

TRAVERSO: Oh, wow, look at that.

- Yeah, which are delicious in rice as well.

TRAVERSO: You have created an absolute food lover's paradise here.

The salt cod alone is enough of a draw, but the whole store's amazing.

David's been shopping and we're going to cook together.

Thank you for letting us use your kitchen.

- No problem.

Thank you very much.

TRAVERSO: It's been really lovely!

- Likewise.

TRAVERSO: David, I don't know what we're making.

- Okay.

TRAVERSO: But I know that these ingredients-- clams, smoked meat, and tomato, onion, and garlic-- can only add up to something delicious-- I see wine, olive oil.

- Right, you can't go wrong with these ingredients, right?

We're making clams and sausage in a cataplana, which is what this is.

TRAVERSO: This is, tell me about this thing.

- Well, it's a very, very old cooking vessel in Portugal.

The tradition is that they cooked in it, and then would bring it to the table, and they would open it up, and they would serve it.

Why don't you open it?

TRAVERSO: Okay.

I'm going to pull these like that and then do this.

- And then I'm going to start off by putting some olive oil, just a little bit.

TRAVERSO: Okay.

Olive oil.

Yeah, look at that, perfect.

- See, now it's starting to... it's getting a little hot there.

TRAVERSO: Okay.

I'm going to adjust the heat down a little bit.

- Throw some of the, this is chourio.

TRAVERSO: Chourio.

- Which is Portuguese, and then this is the cured ham.

(sizzling) Doesn't it smell amazing, right?

TRAVERSO: It's like paprika.

The best paprika smell.

- It's a Portuguese sauna.

TRAVERSO: And smoke.

- You want all of that smell.

- TRAVERSO (laughs): Yes, really good for your skin, too.

- Now, see how you're starting to get some of the oil coming out from the sausage?

TRAVERSO: Yeah.

- My grandmother would take all of that oil and she would strain it so there was nothing in it, heat it up, and she would make French fries in the oil.

TRAVERSO: Oh, my God.

- And they were orange French fries that tasted of chourio.

Okay, so you cook that until it's got a nice color.

Releases all that beautiful orange oil, put it aside, and I'm just going to add a little bit more olive oil, put in the onion.

And so then you want to add to that the bay leaf.

TRAVERSO: Okay.

- Okay.

Now, you know the rule with bay leaf, right?

TRAVERSO: Take it out before you eat it?

- Yes, exactly.

TRAVERSO: Okay.

I was like, "Is there another one?"

- No, that's the only rule.

(laughter) TRAVERSO: So about five, six minutes until translucent and softened?

- Yeah, translucent and softened.

Evenly orange-y kind of thing.

Then we'll throw the garlic in for a minute or two.

TRAVERSO: Okay.

- And after that, we'll take the tomatoes and the wine.

I just kind of do some nice good glugs.

TRAVERSO: Nice.

- And I think that's probably a good amount.

TRAVERSO: Perfect.

- So before we put the clams in... TRAVERSO: Uh-huh.

- You want to put paprika-- my mother says it always has to have paprika for color.

TRAVERSO: Mm-hmm.

- And so it's starting to simmer, right?

TRAVERSO: Yes.

- Right, why don't we put the clams in now.

Just dump all this in.

TRAVERSO: Okay.

- Okay.

Watch, I'm going to splash you.

TRAVERSO: Nice.

- Here we go.

So you want to, like, submerge as much as possible so they're going to start opening.

TRAVERSO: Right.

- And then you just give that a close.

TRAVERSO: Okay.

- Pop both sides.

TRAVERSO: Nice.

- Bada bing, we just let it stay.

TRAVERSO: Just let it, okay.

- That's it.

TRAVERSO: How long does this, what, couple of minutes till the clams open?

- No, maybe like ten to 15.

TRAVERSO: Oh, okay.

- Because those are big clams.

TRAVERSO: Right.

- See all that great steam?

TRAVERSO: Yeah.

- You want to get it before it all goes away.

TRAVERSO: Okay, all right.

- So pop.

TRAVERSO: Pop?

- And pop.

TRAVERSO: And then I'm gonna... - Very carefully, lift.

TRAVERSO: Just to be careful.

because there's steam.

- There's a lot of steam.

And look at that.

TRAVERSO: Whoo!

Beautiful!

- Look at that, isn't that just beautiful?

Now, what you want to do next is get your sausage in your hand.

TRAVERSO: Okay.

- And toss them in with, yep.

TRAVERSO: Sprinkle?

- Any of the oil that's there, you just let it go in.

TRAVERSO: Oh, nice.

- There you go.

TRAVERSO: The special sauce.

- Yep.

TRAVERSO: That looks great.

- And that, that's the dish.

Just for us.

Have just a little bit of pepper.

TRAVERSO: Nice.

Parsley.

- Not a lot of it, and that's it.

- And some of the ham.

TRAVERSO: Thank you.

- You're welcome.

TRAVERSO: All right, I've got a fork here.

I'll give you a fork too.

- Thank you.

It's going to be hot.

TRAVERSO: Mmm.

- Is that not good?

To me, it's so New England-y, as well as so Portuguese.

TRAVERSO: It's so New England-y.

It's sort of reminiscent of chowder in that it has the pork products and the clams.

- Mm-hm.

TRAVERSO: This is fabulous, and, you know, I've known you for a while, but I really feel like I know you better now that we've... - We've cooked together.

TRAVERSO: Yeah, yeah.

So thank you for sharing your culture with me.

- My pleasure.

TRAVERSO: This is so meaningful and so delicious.

- Thank you.

Thank you very much.

NARRATOR: In the middle of winter, hundreds of toboggan enthusiasts from all over the United States gather in Camden to celebrate the U.S. National Toboggan Championship, a tradition that has continued for over two decades.

(bells ringing, man speaking over loudspeaker) - The U.S. National Toboggan Championship is a fun, exciting, laid-back competition in the middle of winter here in Maine.

It is a race of traditional wooden toboggans.

- Whoo!

(excited screams) - America's, possibly the world's oldest only wooden toboggan chute, it's 400 feet long.

And we've got racers from all around the country, and most of them are from New England.

We make it so fun, that they want to get on that chute and try it out.

NARRATOR: The chute was built in 1936 by volunteers who also built a ski lodge and ski hill adjacent to the Camden Snow Bowl.

The wooden chute was later rebuilt in 1956, and after falling into disrepair, was brought back to life in 1990 by the efforts led by local historian, John "Jack" Williams.

- The Snow Bowl itself, and this toboggan chute, have been such a tradition in Camden, and I think probably because it was built by the volunteers.

And volunteers are people that have lived here for generations in town.

And they grew up here skiing on the mountain, and then when they weren't skiing, they were tobogganing.

Being here in Maine, in general, we're outside in the winter, we're not really that afraid of the cold.

When you get up to the top of the mountain, it's just beautiful here.

My father's name was Aubrey Young and he grew up in this town.

NARRATOR: Stuart's father, Aubrey, witnessed the original chute building as a young child and later helped rebuild it in 1954.

Stuart now carries on with his legacy preserving this local attraction.

- First time I went down, I was probably five years old.

I went with my father and my brother.

And it was all ice on the pond similar to this weekend, and we went all the way across to the ledges on the other side.

And it was, like, it took us forever to walk back.

I can remember that, I kept trying to hop on the toboggan.

My father kept saying, "Get off, get off!"

Three or four generations, people come in here, "Oh, I did this when I was a kid" and, you know, it's fun.

- I think that this race is so popular because it's so down to earth.

We have not changed anything.

We've not automated anything.

It's all hand work.

Even the chute.

There's nothing automated about the chute.

You pull the lever, you drop by gravity.

We put ice in the chute with a Zamboni.

- Going down the chute is the best, like, adrenaline rush.

(laughs) It's the anticipation of doing it, getting up there, being committed, you're, like, locked and loaded, and you can't change your mind.

(chuckles) And then you go down and it's so fun.

- Just like that.

- You're going to hold me in, Sean?

- Here they come!

- You're laying on a piece of wood going 40 miles an hour, hurtling down onto an ice-covered pond.

It's quite a... experience.

The first year, I was dragged here.

I always knew what was going on, but I just thought, "That's silly, what are they, racing sleds down a chute?

That's... whatever," but when I got here, I was like, wow, I was blown away by the spirit of competition and the fun atmosphere.

- There's a costume parade, usually in the middle of the day on Saturday, so...

I mean, there's like pink, you know, wigs the first year.

And we've done costumes every year.

- I build my own sleds and after I initially got hooked, I saw what it takes to be actually competitive at this event, and that's building your own sled from the ground up.

And that, for me, was harvesting the tree, getting it all milled, doing all the toboggan building, learning how to steam bend.

Basically, you're building a piece of fine furniture to go down this 100-foot toboggan chute.

The four-person championship is the pinnacle.

Everybody's here to win that.

Every five years, there's a what they call "The Worlds."

So all of the past four-person champions are invited to compete in the world championships.

So it's just... it's the pinnacle of the sport, to win that four... four-person division.

NARRATOR: In the 2022 championship, Jon's team, Whiskey on Ice, was able to fulfill the dream of winning the coveted four-person event.

- We can't give away the secrets of what makes a toboggan go fast.

That's very, very closely held around here.

You go around to any of these guys, gals, that have their toboggans out there waxing them, they won't tell you what they're really doing to it.

They'll give you some little hints, but not the real... not the real sauce.

- I'm not going to get into secrets of what makes a sled fast, it's been a ton of trial and error.

And it's very difficult because you spend hours laboring over building a toboggan, and you get here, and it runs not what you thought.

And you've gotta now... "Okay, you learned something and we're going to go back to the drawing board."

- The spirit of events gets everybody locally involved, and it's great for the Snow Bowl and it just gets people out.

- The town gets involved, - Yeah, Winterfest.

- There's events going on all week that build up to this.

It's just a big party on the pond here, and it does bring a tremendous amount of people in.

It feels like a summer weekend.

- For the economy here in this area, it's really the shoulder season for us.

So this is an opportunity to give the businesses that little extra boost to keep them going until summer, when everyone starts arriving.

We've got lots of generations of people that come here.

From, you know, kids that, their parents brought them, and now they're racing.

Parents that are bringing their kids to get them started.

It's just a real great family atmosphere and anyone can do it.

- Here we go!

(announcer speaking indistinctly) Out of Rockport.

37 miles an hour.

NARRATOR: For exclusive videos, recipes, travel ideas, tips from the editors and access to the Weekends with Yankee digital magazine, go to weekendswithyankee.com, and follow us on social media, @yankeemagazine.

Yankee magazine, the inspiration for the television series, provides recipes, feature articles, and the best of New England from the people who know it best.

One year for $20.

Call 1-800-221-8154. Credit cards accepted.

Major funding provided by: - Massachusetts is home to a lot of firsts.

The first public park in America.

The first fried clams.

The first university in America.

The first basketball game.

What's first for you?

- Grady-White-- crafting offshore sport fishing boats for over 60 years.

- Country Carpenters-- handcrafted barns and homes for over 50 years.

- On an American Cruise Lines journey, you can explore historic New England.

- New Smyrna Beach, Florida.

17 miles of beach.

Relax already.