WILLOW CREEK — Dean Moreau’s fish chowder has traveled farther than he ever imagined. The Dry Dock owner’s self-published cookbook, “From the Dock: Recipes and Stories from a Maine Mill Town,” sold out its first print run of 500 copies in three weeks and has gone into a second printing.
The cookbook features 65 recipes ranging from Moreau’s signature haddock chowder to molasses baked beans, brown bread, and a blueberry slump that has become the restaurant’s most popular dessert. Each chapter is introduced by a short essay about mill-town life, illustrated with black-and-white photographs from the Carnegie Library archives.
“I figured I’d sell a few copies to regulars and maybe the gift shop at the General Store,” Moreau said. “Then orders started coming from Portland, Boston, even one from someone in California who said her grandmother was from Willow Creek.”
The second printing of 1,000 copies is due in January and will be distributed through Northwoods Outfitters and the library gift shop as well. A cookbook signing and chowder-tasting event is scheduled for Jan. 12 at The Dry Dock.
Moreau said he is donating 10 percent of proceeds to the Willow Creek Historical Society.