Mama Chris's Cooking



Mama Chris, Thanksgiving 2010

 Every family, regardless of origin, has food traditions passed on from the previous generations to the next.  Over time new favorites are added while some of the staples remain the same.  For me, tasting food that has been done exactly the same way in my family over many years is the definition of comfort food.  The smells and tastes of certain dishes have the power to instantly bring up memories and the feelings associated with those memories. Stories are created around these dishes. In my family these stories are often recalled and told as we prepare the dish, or in some instances attempt to make the dish.  While we eat, we remininise about all the times we have shared the food over generations of our families.   I have come to realize that we are a stereotypical Southern family of storytellers so maybe you all aren't talking about your food and memories.  But to us, food is just another catalyst to tell a great story.

In my family my grandmother, Mama Chris, was the one responsible for teaching us how to cook and passing on traditional family recipes.  Two that instantly come to mind when I think of the foods she is known for are her biscuits and cornbread dressing. 

FLUFFY OR FLAT BISCUITS?
If anyone in my family has yet to master my Mama Chris's biscuits they haven't told me.  The rest of us need the required measuring utensils.  My grandmother is skilled in just using her eyes and her hands.  She has happily shown anyone who asked how to make them but we have a difficult time understanding just exactly how much is a  good amount or just a little of something.  You would think that with measurements so vague quality would be hit or miss but her biscuits never fail to be consistently good.

But then again she has had a lot of practice. When she was 12-years-old, her mother was sick for a short time and could not prepare the biscuits for their family. Since biscuits were a daily breakfast food in her home someone needed to make them. Mama Chris tells about her father pulling her aside during this time to teach her how to make the biscuits.

When I asked Mama Chris to give me the recipe for this blog, she stayed true to the family characteristic by telling stories. The moral of one story was to use self-rising flour.  She remembers being quite proud of her baking ability after she became skilled at making biscuits.  She tells about going to spend the night with her friend Polly who's mother, Mrs. Beulah, was out of town.  A young Mama Chris proudly tells Polly's dad, Mr. Ollie,  that she will take care of the biscuits for the morning.  Mr. Ollie gets up the next morning to slice the meat for the breakfast and Mama Chris begans the biscuit preparations. She said they looked beautiful as she put them in to bake.  But unknown to Mama Chris she had been taught to make biscuits with self-rising flour. The Ainsworths used only regular flour.   She remembers being incredibly embarrassed because she had been so proud to show off her biscuits only to have her beautiful biscuits come out flat with no taste.  Mr. Ollie laughed it off. However, Mama Chris never forgot and self-rising flour became a staple for her.

For the rest of us, we can make biscuits but need a recipe. Martha White Self-Rising flour has a recipe on the package that is very close to my grandmother's but it has measurements.  Good luck to any of you who are brave enough to attempt the following recipe written in my Mama Chris's own words. It is important to note that when sharing these recipes with me she proudly told me they didn't own cook books.   She said, "These two recipes are not from any cook book, just from long ago cooking from scratch."

Old Fashion Biscuits
Flour
Shortening (Crisco)
Buttermilk

Put flour in mixing bowl. Hollow out space in flour, put in shortening about 1 cup. Pour buttermilk gradually while mixing flour in the shortening.  Then start bringing flour from edge of mixture and gently fold into a mound pinching up the sides, a ball of dough should be forming. Roll into small balls and drop into greased baking pan.  Bake at about 450 degrees until brown.  Mama Chris concluded the recipe with, "I always like to put a bit of butter on top of the biscuit dough - pat lightly, made them brown pretty."



Telling stories


WANT TO UPSTAGE THE TURKEY?
The other recipe that deserves an honor higher than any turkey or ham at our holiday table is her Cornbread Dressing.  In our family, the meat is the side to the dressing.  When my grandfather was still alive and they would travel to whichever one of us was hosting the holiday dinner he had the honor of carefully carrying the huge pan in to the house.  They were always greeted with celebratory status as they walked in with the dressing.

Now my family is scattered around the country so around the holidays the annual phone calls start as we try to remember exactly how to make the cornbread dressing.  Below is the much loved recipe.  You Southerners will understand when I say we are a no-sage family.  For you non-Southerners, there are two types of families in the South.  The no-sage versus the sage.  And by the way, for clarification for my Yankee friends, do not confuse your stuffing with cornbread dressing. It is not, nor ever will be, the same food. And no it isn't even similar.  Still confused?  Would you ever say that bread pudding is the same thing as fruit salad? Never because it is not the same thing.

Now that you are clear that we are a no-sage family you must understand that this spice is quite a big deal. In the South, the sage families, will always say, "Just a touch of sage is all you need." To a no-sage family, just a touch in the cornbread dressing has the potential of ruining it or at the very least significantly changing it.  Therefore if you want to make the following recipe do not attempt to change any of the following steps including adding sage - not even just a touch!



Cooking

 Warning: Looks deceptively simple but very easy to mess up if the steps are not precisely followed.

Again in Mama Chris's words:
Cornbread Dressing

1 good size pan of cornbread (don't put sugar in your cornbread -ever)
3 slices of loaf bread
1 cup cracker crumbs
2 boiled eggs
1 big onion
4 stalks of celery
Broth (chicken or turkey)
Salt and pepper to taste

Best to bake cornbread a day or two ahead. Best for bread slices to be a day or two old. Boil diced onions and celery ahead of time. Crumble crackers, cornbread and loaf bread into a large mixing bowl. Dice boiled eggs. Mix all ingredients with plenty of broth (my note: dressing will appear moderately soupy - enough broth is key to having a moist dressing after it has been baked). Pour into a large baking dish and bake at 400 until brown edges show up.

She concluded that anyone cooking these recipes should just use their imagination if you want larger amounts. Anybody hungry yet? Happy bread baking!