Castle Rock Kitchen

Introduction


Stephen King’s Maine is not the one you know. The border between realities has worn thin in places, and the horrors that dwell on the other side cross over—sometimes unseen, other times with devastating results. The following recipes come from that Maine, so it’s fitting to have someone who lives there share them with you.

You may have met Mrs. Garraty before, at the beginning of the first novel Stephen King ever wrote: The Long Walk. In the story, set in a not-so-distant dystopian future, one hundred young men volunteer to undergo an annual Walk that starts on the Maine–New Brunswick border and proceeds south until just one Walker is left standing.

Ray Garraty is the home-state favorite, and a bona fide Maine’s Own, his family having lived there for generations. His mother, Mrs. Garraty, although a minor character, has an authoritative voice when it comes to Maine home cooking; she has access to family and regional recipes passed down for decades, including her Hermits for the Road (page 187), which she gives to Ray just before he starts the Walk. She also has insights into the other Stephen King stories set in Maine, having heard the tales from Castle Rock, Derry, and Chester’s Mill, to name just three of King’s fictional towns.

Other characters have influenced Mrs. Garraty’s narrative voice: Dolores Claiborne, inspired by Nellie King, the author’s own mother; Stella Flanders from “The Reach,” the most Maine character he ever wrote; the moms from It; and the housewives from Needful Things. They’ve all come together to create a cookbook homage to the great state of Maine and its storytelling King.

Join Mrs. G. and me in our Castle Rock Kitchen to explore Stephen King’s Maine multiverse and eighty recipes, from the mouthwatering to the macabre, inspired by his stories. Frighteningly delicious adventures await!