Mamma's Kitchen

Mamma was a good, journeyman cook. I've always tried to cook like she did. As early as six years old, she had me in the kitchen teaching me to cook. No, as a six to to ten year old I didn't slave in the kitchen, but she talked to me about cooking as she went along. Mamma said that if a man could cook he would never go hungry, so I tried to learn and I helped out with the stirring and cooking. The big test came when I was about 11, she went to the hospital for a while and I did the cooking for the family and the field hands. I was very proud of my performance.

Now don't get me wrong here, Mamma was still a step or two ahead of everyone else when it came to cooking too. She even belonged to the local Home Economics Club sponsored by Clemson College (yep, even Clemson was a college in those days.) The name of the club Mamma joined was The Ellis Heights Home Economics Club. I always wondered about that name, "Who was Ellis?", and where were the heights? I found the answer 40 years later when I was training at Fort Riley Kansas. One of the housing areas on the ridge above the old base was named "Ellis Heights." Someone in our area at some time must have been stationed there and liked the name. The Clubs in those days weren't all about telling housewives to wash their hands and cook their eggs and hamburger well done. In addition to learning about running a tight ship at home, they observed pleasantries and shared recipes and once in a great while had a national meeting in exotic places like Louisville Kentucky.

The club system changed a lot in the 60's and most of the members just stopped going. Mamma still tried new recipes and if she didn't like them, threw them out the back door for the dogs. If the dogs wouldn't eat them we understood; but my brother and I always fussed when she did that. I remember several things that she and I did together later in life that were pretty good. We made a plum pudding (which is actually a drunken fruitcake - steamed, not baked.) There was a beef roast done in strong coffee - the dogs took a while to get rid of the evidence - and another beef roast cooked encased in a pound of rock salt. It wasn't bad.

I carry on Mamma's love of cooking and trying new exotic things to this day.

P. S. I just did a spell check on this and found out that "Mamma" is really supposed to be spelled as "Mama". Go figure. I've done it wrong for 60 years, so I AIN'T changing now.