Labors of Love

Saluting Home Cooks and Heirloom Recipes

article by GEORGIANN POTTS  | heirloom recipe photography by PRAJAL PRASAI

The late Louisiana chef, Paul Prudhomme, once said, “You don’t need a silver fork to eat good food.” He was a spectacular chef and a very wise man. Fancy linens, sterling silver cutlery, fresh flowers, and candles do not make the meal – the food does. I agree with Prudhomme. Some of the finest meals I have ever enjoyed were in someone’s home, eating a home-cooked meal.

Frankly, here in Louisiana it’s pretty difficult NOT to find great food being prepared in home kitchens. Food preparation is a way of life here – in the cities or along the bayous – and preparing it for those we love brings joy.

Cookbooks: Blueprints of Love…

In what I thought was a stroke of genius many years ago but later discovered was fairly commonplace, I created a cookbook of favorite family recipes for my stepson. JB was already curious about cooking and showed real promise. I bought a blank book and filled it with dishes I knew he loved. On the very first page was “Daddy Mooty’s Barbeque Sauce” – a family recipe that originated with JB’s great grandfather when he ran a sandwich stand across from Legion Field in Alabama in the 1930’s. I was delighted not long ago to see JB refer to that recipe in a FaceBook post. He called it an “heirloom recipe” – exactly what it is!

The occasion for which such cookbooks are made vary – weddings, going off to school, moving into a first apartment or home – but the sentiment is the same. Everyone needs comfort food. Niki Frank was the lucky recipient of such a cookbook from her aunt who created a binder of family recipes from Niki’s grandmother, great aunt, and herself when Frank got married. Dannette Sager put together cookbooks for each of her daughters. They contained recipes from her, the girls’ grandmothers, aunts, and friends. Her daughters refer to them often.

Sometimes that special family recipe originates from a long-lost cookbook. Loura Barr and her sister grew up loving a banana quick bread that their mother made from an old Creole New Orleans cookbook (A Book of Famous Old New Orleans Recipes Used in the South for More than 200 Years published in 1959) since the earliest days of her marriage. Barr’s sister had several of the pages from the original cookbook, but not all. In 1983, while on a trip to New Orleans, Barr found copies of the old treasure and bought one for her sister and one for herself.

The late American cook Julia Child had it right: “You don’t have to cook fancy or complicated masterpieces – just good food from fresh ingredients.” Home cooked meals are often simple dishes that take little time to prepare. Our great-grandmothers invented “30 minute meals” long before these became part of our pop culture.

Iron Treasures . . .

Many treasures are to be found in home kitchens, but none are as precious as iron cookware passed down through the generations. Most frequently mentioned are iron skillets, seasoned to perfection by loving cooks who appreciate their importance. Not surprisingly, fried chicken is the food most often associated with them – usually in the same sentence.

Paula Walker loves the iron skillet that her grandmother handed down to her. Her fried chicken was the best Walker has ever eaten, and the recipe for it may have originated with her great-great grandmother. Becky Dance inherited the iron skillet that her mother taught her how to fry chicken in. “I was 12 at the time, and am now 62,” Dance explains. “Mama stood around the corner and told me how to cut up the chicken and fry it. She was expecting my baby sister and couldn’t stand the sight of uncooked food. You should have been a fly on the wall when she was teaching me how to cut up a chicken using words only from around that corner!” For Brittani Durand, nothing says “family” like her late grandmother’s Mexican cornbread baked in the cast iron skillet given to her by Grannie about five years ago. Durand is teaching her son, Tucker, to make his great-grandmother’s special dish thus continuing the tradition of “passing down.”

John Jones and his siblings all agree that their mother’s pot roast is their favorite food memory. Betty Ann Jones was a bride in the 1940’s and learned to cook from relatives and out of necessity. Jones remembers that her menus were basic, but “rotated strategically” with enough leftovers to make sandwiches. Even with her recipe, the Jones children have never been able to duplicate the taste exactly. “One theory is that the magic came from her large cast iron Dutch oven with the heavy lid,” Jones says. “It looked like a skillet on steroids. When we saw it on the stovetop, we knew a fork-tender roast smothered in her awesome thick gravy was in our future!”

Cooking “By Ear” . . .

Author Linda Henley understands cooking “by ear.” Henley explains it this way: “If God had intended us to follow recipes, He wouldn’t have given us grandmothers.”

There likely isn’t a daughter alive who hasn’t struggled to cook a dish from random notes and comments left by great family cooks who didn’t use formal recipes. Diane Sapien loved her mother’s blackberry cobbler, but doesn’t have the exact recipe. Sheila Cannon had the same problem recreating her Grammie Evans’ banana pudding, but solved it by having her grandmother make the pudding for her. At each step, Cannon measured the amounts of each ingredient so that the family would have a written recipe.

Dannette Sager laughingly remembers what happened when her grandmother saw her measuring ingredients for the first time. “My grandmother was amazed when I took a Home Economics class and would measure ingredients when I was cooking,” Sager remembers. “She loved watching me recreate what I had learned at school. She never owned measuring cups or spoons!”

Holiday Tables . . .

Traditional holidays call for traditional family dishes – and many believe that if even one anticipated dish is missing, the holiday just isn’t the same. These dishes can be main dishes or sides, but all are associated with years of memories surrounding those special times.

Sally Hines still prepares a luscious multi-layered fresh coconut cake – a cake she remembers being on the table every Christmas when she was a little girl. Now in her 90’s, Hines makes the cake with the same love that her mother did before her.

Carolyn Trawick shares Hines’ love for a holiday cake. Her favorite is a Lady Baltimore cake that always had a place of honor in her family’s Thanksgiving and Christmas celebrations. Served with a compote of Charlotte Rouge (a rich gelatin-based fruit mix), this dessert was a “must.” The only difference today is that her mother made the cake from scratch and today’s generation uses a white cake mix.

Often favorite dishes are variations of an old staple. David Gilliland remembers his mother making a fruit, Jello, and Coca Cola dish the family called “Christmas Salad” every year. He wrote the recipe down as his mother made it so that it would be saved. Gilliland says it is always a hit, especially with those who have never tasted it before.

Sweets, whether in dessert or salad form, have a prominent place during the holidays, but savory dishes – specifically fowl and cornbread dressing – reign supreme in Southern kitchens. Two cooks – one a Louisiana fellow now transplanted to the Pacific Northwest and the other, a lady who has remained right here at “home” – both sing the praises of home-cooked chicken or turkey with traditional cornbread dressing.

Joe McLaughlin, now head of his own family far from his Southern roots, still maintains the food traditions that he grew up with here. “From my grandmother’s and mother’s kitchens in Louisiana to my own kitchen here in Bend, Oregon, the recipe that has survived the years (and the miles!) is Chicken and Cornbread Dressin’,” McLaughlin says. “We make lots of it every Thanksgiving and Christmas – enough to feed several families for several days. In our family, it’s not the holiday season until you can smell this dish cooking!”

Alberta Green’s mother Alberta Brown (for whom Green was named) makes

Traditional holidays call for traditional family dishes – and many believe that if even one anticipated dish is missing, the holiday just isn’t the same. These dishes can be main dishes or sides, but all are associated with years of memories surrounding those special times.

Sally Hines still prepares a luscious multi-layered fresh coconut cake – a cake she remembers being on the table every Christmas when she was a little girl. Now in her 90’s, Hines makes the cake with the same love that her mother did before her.

Carolyn Trawick shares Hines’ love for a holiday cake. Her favorite is a Lady Baltimore cake that always had a place of honor in her family’s Thanksgiving and Christmas celebrations. Served with a compote of Charlotte Rouge (a rich gelatin-based fruit mix), this dessert was a “must.” The only difference today is that her mother made the cake from scratch and today’s generation uses a white cake mix.

Often favorite dishes are variations of an old staple. David Gilliland remembers his mother making a fruit, Jello, and Coca Cola dish the family called “Christmas Salad” every year. He wrote the recipe down as his mother made it so that it would be saved. Gilliland says it is always a hit, especially with those who have never tasted it before.

Sweets, whether in dessert or salad form, have a prominent place during the holidays, but savory dishes – specifically fowl and cornbread dressing – reign supreme in Southern kitchens. Two cooks – one a Louisiana fellow now transplanted to the Pacific Northwest and the other, a lady who has remained right here at “home” – both sing the praises of home-cooked chicken or turkey with traditional cornbread dressing.

Joe McLaughlin, now head of his own family far from his Southern roots, still maintains the food traditions that he grew up with here. “From my grandmother’s and mother’s kitchens in Louisiana to my own kitchen here in Bend, Oregon, the recipe that has survived the years (and the miles!) is Chicken and Cornbread Dressin’,” McLaughlin says. “We make lots of it every Thanksgiving and Christmas – enough to feed several families for several days. In our family, it’s not the holiday season until you can smell this dish cooking!”

Alberta Green’s mother Alberta Brown (for whom Green was named) makes certain that everyone at her Thanksgiving table understands that her homemade Turkey and Cornbread Dressing is a gift handed down from generations of family cooks who have gone before. Brown’s mother has taught her daughter how to prepare it, just like her own mother taught her decades before. Today Alberta’s entire family cherishes not only the dish, but also the memories associated with it. These often come from the family’s annual tradition of everyone telling what they are thankful for while they eat. “It is a sight to see when we get together because of the size of our family. My parents have 9 children and 52 grandchildren, and there are even great-grandchildren now!” Green says. “My mom learned early how to stretch meals so that everyone would have enough, and always cooked from scratch. Her secret ingredient? Love!”

Home Cooking Knows No Boundaries . . .

Louisianans know that good homemade food recognizes no geographical boundaries. Instead it is truly a “gumbo” that reflects the various cultures that are found here. Mary Barrios grew up in a Latino home and learned early that Latino women love through their food. Sue Nawas learned the same thing from her grandmother in her Egyptian homeland. Uma Rangaraj also learned the universal language of “food love” within families the world over. All three ladies have learned to blend their own “favorite dishes” that were passed down to them from the older generation with new ones learned in Louisiana.

Among the many delicious dishes that her mother made, Barrios’ favorite is her mom’s Mexican Hot Tamales. A time-consuming dish to make, the end result is more than worth the considerable effort. Her mother was Guatemalan but had moved to Texas so her tamales reflect that move. “My mom adapted to her environment, and her tamales adapted, too!” Barrios says. “Our food was truly multicultural.”

For Nawas, thoughts of home invariably turn to a dish that could be made as a sweet (“Umm Ali”) or as a savory (“Roukak”). Both forms begin with a dough that was rolled out into very large but thin round sheets. These were cooked on mobile kerosene stoves until dry. Nawas’ grandmother would store these in large baskets, wrapping each in cheesecloth. Depending on the filling, they would become a sweet dessert or savory dish. Nawas has the filling recipes, but sadly doesn’t know how to make the all-important dough.

Rangaraj remembers that her mother’s kitchen in India was filled with cooking vessels and utensils – each designed to prepare a particular dish. Today these are only found in antique shops. Something also not found except in Tamil Brahmin kitchens any longer is “Vethakuzhambu”, a tamarind-based sauce that is a signature dish of this culture. It was originally made by her mother using berries from a common weed in South India. When the family moved to the north, the plant was not readily available so her mother substituted sweet green peas that had been introduced by the British. The dish tasted different, but was still delicious and a family favorite. “I prepare it often even though I don’t have Amma’s special stone pot,” Rangaraj says. “This sauce is not available commercially, or even in many Tamil Bramhan homes any longer. The spice mix that is the secret to the sauce is just that – a secret.”

The Future of Home Cooking . . .

Anyone who has tasted a particular dish made at home and then compared it to one found in the commercial frozen food aisle knows the marked difference between the two. Those of us who belong to the generations that predated “fast food” understand the unique pleasure of sitting down to a favorite dish, lovingly prepared by a family member just for us.

Even more fortunate are those among us who learned to cook from family members who took the time to teach us when we were growing up. Chef Giada De Laurentiis is an advocate of teaching children early on the joy of learning to cook for themselves and others. She believes that will lead to being comfortable in a kitchen and a lifelong love for the craft.

Many professional chefs and cooks like De Laurentiis love creating new dishes through experimentation rather than following a recipe. As food show star Alton Brown famously said, “A home cook who relies too much on a recipe is sort of like a pilot who reads the plane’s instruction manual while flying.”

No matter where you are, so long as there are the aromas and tastes of home cooking to be found at your table, you will always be “home”. Bon Appetit!

Mama’s Tamales
(this will make up to 100)

Submitted by Mary Barrios

WHAT YOU’LL NEED
For Masa:
1 4.4 lb bag of Maseca: Instant corn flour mix (You can find on the Hispanic food aisle)
1 40 oz. bottle of corn oil
1 tablespoon and a half of baking powder
4 tablespoons of chicken bouillon powder
2 liters of warm water

For Meat mixture:
1 lb of Guajillo Chile peppers
2 heads of garlic
1 small onion diced
1 teaspoon of oregano
5 lbs of meat of your choice
(pork, beef or chicken)
¼ of a teaspoon of cumin
Salt to taste

1 packet of corn husks (Soak them in hot water while you are mixing all of your ingredients to soften.)

To create Masa, pour the entire bag of Maseca into a large bowl, add the baking powder, the chicken bouillion, and the oil. As you knead by hand, you will add the water slowly (more water may be added if needed). Add the salt as you mix as you will. You will mix for about 15 minutes to create the right consistency, not too dry or too wet. The goal is to break up any clumps and for it not to be sticky.

To make the meat mixture, boil the meat of your choice and chop into small pieces once it is cooked. While the meat is boiling, wash the chilies, remove the seeds and soak in hot water to tenderize them for five minutes. Put the soaked chilies, garlic, cumin, and oregano along with a cup and a half of cold water into your blender and blend. In a large pan, warm some oil and saute the meat along with finely chopped onion. After 5 minutes, you will add the chili mixture to the meat and saute for another 5 minutes.
Assemble the tamales. Remove the corn husks from the water. Spread a full tablespoon of masa onto an individual corn husk in the center (You can add more or less depending on how much masa you want) .Then add a spoonful of meat mixture to each in a line down the middle of the masa. Close the tamale by folding in the left side and then overlapping with the right side. Then fold the top end over.

Tamales cook by steam so there are pots that are designed just for tamales with a steamer basket or a steamer in general. If you do not have a steamer, I was able to Google instructions on how to cook tamales that provided directions on how to steam without a basket. As you line up in the pot, put one tamale lying down in the middle and the rest line them standing up with the opening face up resting against the tamale in the center. You will work your way around until the pot is full. Cook for 1 hour 20 minutes over the stove on high.

Carefully take 1 tamale out of the pot and let cool about 3 minutes. (Cover the pot and let the remaining tamales keep cooking while you taste.) Don’t try and pull the husk off before 3 minutes are up or it will stick. If the masa sticks after 3 minutes, then it’s not ready. Carefully fold and return to pot. Cook 5 minutes longer, then re-test.

Alberta’s Homemade Turkey and Cornbread Dressing

(This is a traditional Southern recipe that is made “by ear” – no serious measuring.)

Submitted by Alberta Green

WHAT YOU’LL NEED
5 turkey wings
2 turkey legs
Seasoning to taste (salt, pepper, sage)
1 1/2 stalks celery, diced
1 whole onion, chopped
1 bell pepper, chopped

Boil turkey wings and legs with seasoning – salt, pepper, sage, celery, onion, and a slice of bell pepper. When cooked, de-bone the wings and turkey legs and place meat to the side.

Boil a 1/2 dozen eggs and place to the side to cool.

Cook homemade cornbread and place to the side to cool.

Combine meat, cornbread, diced onion, peppers, celery, the juice from the boiled turkey, and boiled eggs in a large pan. Mix thoroughly.

Place in preheated oven for 45 minutes, until brown.

Grannie’s Mexican Cornbread

Submitted by Brittani Durand

WHAT YOU’LL NEED
2 cups yellow cornmeal
¾ cup flour
3 eggs
¾ cup cooking oil
1 cup sour cream
1 cup cream style corn
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup grated cheese
3 hot peppers

Mix all ingredients together. Pour into heated iron skillet. Bake at 450 degrees until brown and cracked on top.

Lady Baltimore Cake with Charlotte Rouge

Submitted by Carolyn Trawick

WHAT YOU’LL NEED
For Cake:
1 white cake made from boxed mix
1 cup raisons
1 cup chopped pecans
7-Minute Icing
Pecan halves for decoration

Bake a white cake following mix directions into 3 layers. Allow to cool. Mix raisons and chopped pecans into 7-Minute icing and then spread between each layer. Use remaining icing to cover the outside of the cake completely. Decorate with pecan halves.

WHAT YOU’LL NEED
Charlotte Rouge:
2 boxes of red or green Jello
1 small carton whipping cream
½ cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 small can crushed pineapple, drained
1 jar maraschino pitted cherries, drained

Prepare the Jello according to box directions. Whip cream with sugar and vanilla until stiff peaks form. When Jello begins to set, stir in drained pineapple and cherries. Gently fold in the whipping cream. Let finish setting. Serve in compotes along with Lady Baltimore Cake.

Uma’s Kerala Coconut Stew

(This is a lovely soupy stew of vegetables which was a family favorite in the cold winters of Northern India, but of course is just as good at any other time of year and is very easy to prepare. The traditional pronunciation is “shtoo.“ Just say that one word and any Keralite would know it! Serves 6)

Submitted by Uma Ran

WHAT YOU’LL NEED
Unsweetened coconut milk (1/2 can to start but save the other 1/2 can for use at end of cooking dish)
Oil 2 tablespoons
Spices:
Cinnamon 1 inch
Cloves 4 to 6
Whole black peppers 1/2 teaspoon
2 bay leaves
Fennel or anise seeds, coarsely ground
One large onion chopped coarsely
Red chili powder 1/2 teaspoon
Turmeric (a pinch)
Salt 1 1/2 teaspoons — add more to taste
Garlic 4 cloves coarsely chopped
Ginger root (thumb-sized) chopped (a paste of ginger and garlic would be best)
Vegetables:
1 large red potato peeled and diced
6 -8 cauliflower florets
1 cup French cut beans
Half a carrot sliced in thin fingers
1-2 cups green peas
Vinegar 1 tablespoon

Heat the oil in a deep pan and turn the flame down. Add the dry spices in the written order with fennel seeds being the last, in order to avoid burning the spices.

Next add the sliced onions and stir till transparent. Next add the red chili powder stirring for a few minutes to cook out the burning smell of chili. Then add the turmeric followed by potatoes.
Stir the coconut milk well and add half the can at this point with 1 cup of water.

Gently turn up the heat to medium and allow the potatoes to half cook for 5 to 6 minutes. Add the carrots, green beans, and finally cauliflower and peas. There should be plenty of gravy so add more water if needed, along with a few more spoons of coconut milk.

Simmer the stew for about 15 minutes with the pot lidded.

Turn off the stove and add the vinegar, stir well, and put the lid back on.
Serve with rice pilaf or thick wedges of buttered toast for a hearty winter meal. Boiled eggs make a good side with this. Enjoy!