Mama was a very accomplished Southern Cook. Sadly, those skills did not pass down to me because I was too busy doing “important” things like after school activities, Girl Scouts, drama, or student government to do something as mundane as cooking.
Like a lot of Southern cooks, Mama would fry or boil everything to within an inch of its life, then smother it in butter and/or gravy. Not so good for the arteries maybe, but oh so tasty! And, boy howdy, could my Mama cook up a yummy pot of Brunswick Stew!
I recall helping her make Brunswick Stew once when I was about 8 or 10 years old. She brought home a hog’s head for the stew (yeah, a “real” hog’s head … it was the only meat we could afford at the time) that she boiled up with a bunch of onions and seasonings. When it was cooled, my task was to pluck all the meat off the head. Come to think of it, that experience probably added a lot to my early aversion to cooking.
Years and years ago when my soon-to-be Fiancé flew out to meet my family, he was astounded by the variety and amount of food Mama served. Shucks, a good Southern meal ain’t hardly worth fixin’ unless you’ve got at least 2 or 3 meats, half-a-dozen different vegetables, and 3 or 4 splendid desserts!
My husband was raised out west where “peas” are those round mushy green things that come in cans, so the variety of peas we have in the South amazed him. After more than two decades of Southern living, he has come to appreciate the tasty goodness of black-eyed peas, crowders, lady fingers, purple hulls, even butter beans.
He has also developed a liking for grits … after all, Grits Is Groceries! In fact, one of our favorite light evening meals is grits & eggs with bacon or sausage and muffins or biscuits. Mmm, mmm … it doesn't get much better than that. Oh, and no self-respecting Southerner would ever put sugar on their grits! The proper seasonings are butter with salt and pepper, topped with red-eye gravy, if you have it. If not, try mixing your helping of grits with scrambled eggs and crumbled bacon or sausage. Major yum!
Alas, my lack of culinary skills - or more accurately, my disinterest in cooking – has passed on to my daughters. My apologies to my sons-in-law! Fortunately for them, both of my married daughters have husbands who enjoy cooking, so my failure hasn’t totally ruined their lives. Oh, my family never went hungry … thirty-plus years of marriage and raising a passel of kids will force such skills on you, however much you may resist it. I can cook a decent meal, but I will never match Mama’s talent for good down-home cooking and it will never be one of my favorite things to do.
A couple of years ago my husband started working from home and gradually has assumed more of the cooking chores, especially since I now work five days a week. Hallelujah!! I gladly relinquish the kitchen to him as he is a much more creative cook than I am and is no coward when it comes to using spices. If he wants to continue cooking for the next thirty years, I will gladly wash the dishes!
So, hey good lookin’ … watch you got a-cookin’ tonight?
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