From Our Generation To Yours

 When I was about six years old, I can recall my grandmother Pearlie Mae calling me in the kitchen to help assist in preparing our family’s meal. My heart was racing because I was finally able to do “big kid” stuff and as she handed me the mixing bowl, I could remember how sweaty my palms felt. 

One by one, she handed me item after item from the pantry to put on the counter. I was careful to listen to every word. We had a medium size yellow and black stool that I stood on to measure up to the counter which allowed me to peer over the ingredients. She handed me a big silver bowl and a wooden spoon and a handful of measuring tools that had been handed down to her. First came the yellow cornmeal, then the white cornmeal and flour, sugar and butter followed. She guided my hand as I measure each ingredient delicately and warned me about not getting any shells in the mix as I cracked each egg one after another. 

Mixing by hand was a necessary task she explained. It allowed the ingredients to “marry” and prevented overbeating the mixture. At that time, I had no idea what that meant? She said, “Recipes were a good start but true cooking came from smells, taste, and touch…something you can’t capture in writing or measurement.” “It’s from the soul”. Laughter always found a comfortable place in our home and people would travel near and far to experience her kinship and cooking. The house was always filled with old classics like, Brook Benton’s “A Rainy Night in Georgia” one of her favorites or a Pattie LaBelle, Gladys Knight, Dinah Washington type filling your heart with love and sometimes pain of a love lost…but she said, “That was life”. 

While mixing, we would sing along and almost sync the rhythm of the hand mixer to the tune that was playing. Once she put it in the oven I could remember the warm, sweet, buttery scent that almost suffocated you every minute until it was done. I watched it rise in the oven anticipating that savory moment when you bite the first piece. 

It was then I was introduced to cooking and my family’s Southern Tradition.