?emima the CODE ? T w o C e n t u r i e s o f ? ?frican ?merican ?ookbooks ?oni ?ipton-?artin F o r e w o r d s b y John Egerton & Barbara Haber Mammy’s Cook Book K at h ar i n B e l l 1927 160 pages I t is surprising that a book with “Mammy” in the title has only one or two of the classic stereotypes you would expect. As a matter of fact, this self-published book offers a selection of dishes that capture the full and wonderful array of recipes prepared by an admired black cook for her “white folks,” with unique and classic period pieces sprinkled throughout. When Bell credited these recipes to Sallie Miller, she strayed from the publishing trend of plantation-style cookbooks written by white southern belles claiming to record family history. Instead, her homage unwittingly affirmed the case for African American intellectual property rights. The cover features an illustration of a grinning black woman wearing a headscarf and a checkered top. The foreword explains why Bell gathered more than 450 standard recipes from the cook and caretaker of her childhood—her mammy. In these ways alone it is representative of its time—an era when William Faulkner and Zora Neale Hurston were painting adoring portraits of black women and black life, and Al Jolson sang of mammy: “God made her a woman and love made her a mother.” Otherwise, there are no caricatures. The usual colloquialisms and vernacular language of the 42 The Jemima Code “slave street” are absent. The recipe titles don’t directly attribute the formula to a woman named Mammy or even Aunt So-and-so. Curiously, there are only a handful of the recipes traditionally associated with black cookery—croquettes, greens, gumbo, and okra. Bell adds a teaspoon of sugar to Miller’s southern cornbread, a practice often observed in black cornbread recipes. The author obviously witnessed the brilliance of the cook in her midst. Miller’s accomplished cookery is organized alphabetically by category: from beverages and breads to soups, special dishes, and vegetables. A section called “Things Worth Knowing” is a gem, chock-full of useful kitchen tips that would be considered standard knowledge today, and a refreshing contrast to the caricatures that dominated cookbook publishing during this era. Inspired dishes such as Tipsy Pudding (a kind of tiramisu), shirred eggs on toast (called Golden Rain), and several frozen salads made with tomatoes, cucumbers, or cream cheese and served like ice cream demonstrate that the cook understood the secrets of cooking delicate egg custards, and these dishes stand alongside the whips, fools, and goofy gelatin salads so popular back then. 3 FOREWORD With the dying out of the black mammies of the South, much that was good and beauti- ful has gone out of life, and in this little volume I have sought to preserve the memory and the culinary lore of my Mammy, Sallie Millerfamous cook. She possessed moreover, all those qualities of 10yalty and de- votion which have enshrined her and her kind, in the loving hearts of their ?White Folks," to whom they Were faithful, through every vicissi- tude and change of fortune. Most of these recipes: were Mammy?s, re- duced in quantity to meet the needs of small families, and the high price conditions of the present day. All of them have been tried out, and I have given full details, hoping, even the most inexperienced cook can use them. I have always felt the need of having under one cover. instructions for making the plain every day things, as well as the so-called, fancy dishes. In this book I have endeavored to assemble both, and I hope that it may prove a help and inSpira- tion to all who possess it. KATHARIN BELL. A Recipe to Cure the Blues When everything looks dark and drear And nothing seems Just read and try this recipe And soon you?ll begin to smile. Take a dash into your garden, Fill your lungs with God?s fresh air, Mix the earth around your flowers, Dissolve in it your care. Stir in happiness for someOne, Add to it a task undone, Measure out a lot of work And a little play and fun. Soon you?ll find your heart uplifted, And your lips will sing a song, As you count your many blessings, You?ll find your worries gone. Roquefort and Tomato Salad Rub 2/3 cup of Roquefort cheese to a cream with 1 tb. of butter and roll into six even sized balls. Peel six tomatoes and scoop out center, placing a cheese ball in each and cover With a mixture of 1/2 cupful of chopped green pepper and 1 cup chOpped tender celery. Place on lettuce and pour a lemon French dressing over it and serve cold. Tomato Surprise Scoop out tomatoes and fill with chicken salad and garnish With mayonnaise and serve on lettuce. Shrimp and Tomato Salad Chop shrimps and tomatoes together with a little celery and mayonnaise and serve on lettuce leaves. Summer Combination Salad Use hearts of lettuce for a foundation. Cut up to- matoes, add chopped celery, green onions, sliced cu- cumbers, radishes and small string beans and serve ice cold With French dressing. Frozen Tomato Salad cup ground celery 2 salt 1 medium sized green 6 tomatoes . pepper, ground 1/2 t. onion juice Cut top off six tomatoes, scoop out all the insides. Put this and celery and pepper through meat grinder, using only tender stalks of celery. Season with salt and onion juice and a little cayenne pepper and leave all the juice, as it should be very thin. Mix in plenty of mayonnaise and freeze as ice cream. When ready to serve fill tomato hulls full and serve on lettuce leaces. Frozen Cucumber Salad 4 large cucumbers 1 stalk celery 1 green pepper 1 small onion Cut cucumbers in halves scrape out in- sides into a pulp, taking out as many seeds as poss1ble. 101 . .. I 2 CHEST OF FINE FOODS Homlh Edition) sionul lul Fon Worm l? l\ Hu- ?an? - lung .unl [\rlullml I- \mn l\ [and] nu and l?rofcs? Ln-lelmdlul u! \ulh uhlu Sulumh :1 plum umk dicti- I T: lian ul (.Imp Hum lulu HhL'lx? vm It'dl?x'x rm? m? 1GC [0 nourish. :md nukr happy Ihv lmvuln-J. ml hm uulx, gm-xlx ?5 Fifteen yum In I um [mliiu um] luml I I strator, I 1mm cmpluyul In! Ila-Jul [1.1mm ul l.lm.rlmn in Ch?rgc of \L'l\l\k [I'm \th ul I Prairie Vic? (ulhu Hill In I 1: Service ?hull uur HI. I mumh ml lcmx. and [he Kale Dcpurtmunt ut lmlmuml rm! \u-rc Imul Texts lhruughoul Ihl- Stlulc My um I leader in the uk. In! \ln" that ?.15 [l .nul .Iunny Ihc Inn! (7 years. I \cl' Inlu n-[uI Illnill Hn' Food apprentrcexhlp [uugmm HI Mn \Icu agcrs. hukcrx. ?nun-n Chnolug) 1r \l . xtundsulx IngL?l' \cn dining and pmJL'Ll hind man? 11 the loud Mammy cnoka senice mnlusll)?. nu quu-x mlu uhurc mu nu ll LUCILLE B. SMITH 966 E. Terrell Avenue . Fort Worth 4, Texas I i I Recipe For A Good Life TREASURE oF FINE Focus Take equal parts of kindness unselfishness and thoughtfulness: mix i 11 an atmosphere of love; add the splce of usefulness; Scatter a few grains of cheerfulness; season with smiles; stir a hearty laugh, and stpense to EVERY MEMBER OF YOUR FAMILY Reprmted from the Conner .1 I 4? rs -sspr??dsan Fri . (13113 531' Appetlz .5 TREASURE cH 9- 10- ?sta 1- MePh1 1 3 0y Canape 3:5 12? 4 Chill 3011 1? egg?? Ju1 saltcheese Square 14, c. Melts bee ea ?2 9 27, emiPer, 1 t. Arnie 6 Ch . ismli - cuxts 2" ecceat batter 83 yolk San 1168 sauce 7 Chill Br chil. BIS pes't MIX d?qdd a (13,811 ed Itbse. 8 chill f? ?a (see Milt)?? 0 base 61 41:31: of 8111:} ?17 :d'dtb 11"paat lock 0 cu . 91255 "It to over oys ea with tte 1 0'11 Hat Paprika 1* telSeal 6 2 fol . Wee 8121: at 81? "It 5 1.0% 435 with 15 0.2-1: 039 col deg-Fees Pei 3131? Des. Inf eel-at 0 minute 1:136 el?V-e Lucille’s Treasure Chest of Fine Foods Lucille Bishop Smith Fourth edition Fort Worth, Texas, 1941 I n more than 200 simple recipes organized to “lift culinary art from the commonplace,” this precious receptacle—literally, a box of recipe cards—lays out the author’s “long and practical experience in catering and professional service.” It is easy to imagine Smith standing at the stove, gently coaching young African American cooks toward culinary proficiency while referring to her numbered and titled recipe cards, each one typed single-space and tucked into a well-organized cardboard box. “Wah-ka-mo’-lay”: she indicated the pronunciation on the card for Guacamole Ring, an avocado salad shaped in a mold. There are eight categories for sweet treats, including cold, frozen, and hot desserts. The set includes recipes for a few iconic southern specialties, such as hush puppies, spoon bread, fried chicken, hominy casserole, and barbecue. But no mention of organ meats or greens. She bakes breads with healthy, whole grain flour and bran, spices poultry with Creole seasonings, and delivers what may be the first published recipe for “Japanese” Bean Pie (favored by black Muslims). Baked fish is dressed with bread or mushroom forcemeats. But she contributed much more to the food industry than just the recipe cards in this box. A baby blue card from the front of the deck, entitled “Recipe for a Good Life,” epitomizes Smith’s ambition to empower others by using food as a tool of social uplift. She lived productively, embracing a job that was one of the few trades considered “appropriate” for a woman of color—perfecting her craft for more than forty years before the first edition of this compilation was assembled. During that time, she raised funds for service projects, fought to raise standards in slums, developed culinary vocational programs in Texas, conducted itinerant teacher-training classes, established the Commercial Cooking and Baking Department at Prairie View A&M University (a historically black college near Houston), compiled five manuals for the state Department of Industrial Education, served as food editor for Sepia magazine, and brought the first packaged Hot Roll Mix to market. 3 T h e S e r va n t P r o b l e m 57 Cooking with Soul Favorite Recipes of Negro Homemakers Compiled and edited by Ethel Brown Hearon chairman, Home Economics Department, Rufus King High School Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 1968 193 pages  or this community cookbook project, a high school teacher rallied students in her family living classes to provide a snapshot of soul that would contradict the confused notion that black food was unhealthy food. Specifically, their goals were “to share with other cultures foods generally liked by Negroes, to indicate the nutrients in certain ‘soul’ foods, and to develop a sense of race pride by sharing with others the knowledge and experiences of the Negro in the art of food preparation.” The kids hung signs and solicited nourishing recipes rich in taste and in nutrients. A drawing of the front of the school served as the frontispiece. The editor’s biography, the names of her student contributors, and a chart of the nutritional content of popular soul foods follows. Photographs of students making ice cream, stirring potato salad, and arranging bowls and platters of food on a picnic table, taken by the Milwaukee Journal, accompany chapters that cover a wide range of specialties, probably tested over and over again—including wild game (opossum, raccoon), mainstays (oxtail stew), and novelties such as Aunt Hattie’s Muscadine Wine. 90 The Jemima Code Each chapter starts with a brief history. Some explain the types of vegetables that would have been common in the home garden, the ways corn (fresh or dried) was cooked on the farm, and the benevolent art of Negro baking for bake sales, church suppers, and family dinners. There is also a definition of soul food: “Soul food is any food which allows itself to be prepared according to the dictates of an individual’s taste buds . . . Anyone can cook with soul; the only requirement is to season while preparing and be absolutely sure it tastes just the way you intended it to.” To ensure that readers can find a wide spectrum of those varying flavors, and to perhaps avoid offending contributors by rejecting their submissions, the book presents some popular southern dishes multiple times: Chicken and Dumplings occurs in triplicate; Macaroni and Cheese appears five times or more (made with and without eggs, starting from a packaged mix); and Tuna Casserole, a mix of canned soup and tuna, is baked with or without peas, with potato chips, mixed with macaroni, or served over rice; Cornbread shows up in a dozen ways—and that number doesn’t include the classic meal breads: spoon bread, hot-water cornbread, pone. 3 Barbara Fowler, Homeroom 304 prepares po- tato salad for mock picnic dinner. Photo: Courtesy - The Milwaukee Journal: Jack Hamilton, photographer. 90 Michael Anderson, Homeroom 414, makes homemade ice cream using the hand?turning freezer. 163 POTATO SALAD 6 - 8 med. white potatoes 1/2 c. celery 6 eggs, hard boiled, 3 sweet pickles diced 1/2 0. salad lt. salt dressing 1/2 t. pepper Peel potatoes, cube and wash. Boil in saucepan. Hard boil eggs in separate con- tainer. Wash celery and chop finely; also finely chop pickles. After potatoes have cooked, drain off water, cool. Combine all ingredients exceptl egg, and mix thor- oughly. Slice remaining egg, cut slices in half, and arrange around bowl as garnish. Barbara Fowler COLE SLAW 1 med. size cabbage 3 T. vinegar 6 carrots 1 0. salad 3 T. sugar, or to taste dressing Grate cabbage and carrots in large mixing bowl. Add sugar, vinegar, and salad dress- ing. Mix thoroughly. Add more sugar if desired. Dianne Stubblefield 91 West Oakland Soul Food Cook Book Edited by Dorothy Kuffman Oakland, California: Peter Maurin Neighborhood House, c. 1960s 47 pages  he Neighborhood House opened in the Bay Area in 1963, and by 1966 it had expanded its outreach to offer daily activities that included adult literacy classes and boy’s carpentry instruction. It housed a community preschool and provided home rehabilitation. This eclectic fund-raising cookbook offers a snapshot of a community struggling with dilapidated housing, overcrowding, hunger, and homelessness and trying to make its way back to stability. Its mission needed some cash. A publishing team tapped the neighborhood, volunteers, and staff members for more than one hundred recipes for dishes that put the “soul” in soul food. Dozens of illustrations depict West Oakland street scenes and families at table and in educational and work settings. The distinctive artwork is richly illustrated with decorative lettering—a kind of handmade memento that conveys a personalized outreach to supporters. A donation of two dollars benefited the Peter Maurin Neighborhood House on 7th Street. 98 The Jemima Code We don’t know exactly when it was published, but the David Walker Lupton Collection estimates that the year was 1969, which seems about right, given the number of dishes made from pieces, parts, and “secret” ingredients cooked in idiosyncratic ways. Canned milk, fruits, and vegetables, for example, were everywhere. Beatrice Hall added a tablespoon of butter to her potato salad. Mrs. Ivy Tillman laced her fish fry batter with vinegar. Mrs. Gertie Carey’s Fresh Lemon Cake was anything but, getting its tang from lemon flavoring and canned lemon juice. And Dorothy Fulcher stretched her dessert dollars by substituting vanilla wafers for flour in Vanilla Wafer Cake. What we have here on display is the main ingredient of soul cooking, improvisation, as the adulteration of the multicolored pepper dish confetti rice into “Confetteratte Rice” plainly signifies. ’Nuff said. 3 PAGE 3 . OAKLAW ?1 mm - SOUL "6mm. waged/7i . 7 1 i [34:7 Eqn??'am Hm ?1 075 -Mamtcw MC mun/ym 21v L, flaw!" ,1 In: Mv?v- Fla?1f Ola-M flit; if (Si/Pm ?3 lira/P55 ?ll/ii v? 4M War we Eivla .MA . at? 8.. 33.x! N: as CREDITS DOROTHY EDITOR JOHN BALDWIN ART AUDREY DEJOURNETT: BOBBIE TMOMA5 TYPESETTING PAGEZZ MRS. VIOLA CHITTERLINGS Take 3 lb. Wash well in several water. Put in deep pot Wl?l salted water. Put a potato in to keep down the smell, You may and one cut-up onion and 2 cloves garlic to the water if desired. Simmer 45 min., or until tender. Serve with hot sauce. MRS. PERNELLA JOHNSON Wash lbs. of fresh chitterlings in several ED waters. l?arhml in salted water, With 1 vinegar, until barely tender. Drain and dry thoroughly. Dip in flour seasoned with salt CHINE and cayenne pepper. Fry in deep hot {at (375?) until crisp and brown. Drain on paper towels. MRS. DOROTHY BRANNON '3 Clean 5 pounds ehltterlings thoroughly in luke- warm water. Bull in fresh water until barely tendL-r. Add: 2 vinegar 4 stalks celery, chopped 1 large onion, chopped 1 bell pepper. Chopped Cook until tender. Season with salt, pepper, to taste; it will take quite a lot of salt. MRS. RANDOLPH West end Nursery Take your parliolled about 2 lbs. Drain. Dry. Season with salt and Black Pepper Accent, and Cayenne. Dip in: Two Eggs, beaten well, Then 1114 flour, until well coated. Fry in hot deep fat, about =1 minutes, until browned. Drain. y. Dip seasoned Chile Sauce or use Hot Sauce to season. Serve with Potato Salad. Serves 4. MRS . LILLIAN JOHNSON 1 Jack rabbit or tame 1/2 cayenne pepper rabbit, ground sage 2 lb. salt pork, ground 1 10? chopped red 1/2 black pepper chili pepper Mix all together. Form into 12 large patties. Fry in pan until well done, MRS. LILLIAN 1 rabbit, cut up 2 salt 1 large onion, chopped tap black pepper 1 small can mushrooms 1 small bell pepper, or use fresh chopped Flour. season and brown the. rabbit in hot fat. Pour over I hot water and the vegetables. Cover and simmer until tender. Soul Food Classic Cuisine from the Deep South Sheila Ferguson New York: Grove, 1989 161 pages J ust when you think the soul trend has become passé, its authors having invoked everything from “gumption” to “voodoo magic” to explain the seductive thumbprint that black cooks left on every pot they stirred, Ferguson sashays onto the scene with an interpretation of soul pizzazz that goes well beyond highbrow discussions of African American foodways. It is food cooked with the senses and intended for young, hip cooks like her daughters. She writes in a fast-talking, jive style that is complete with snappy expressions and memories of cooking and eating at home with family and friends in order to demonstrate cooking the soul food way: “You must use all of your senses. You cook by instinct, but you also use smell, taste, touch, sight, and particularly, sound . . . These skills are hard to teach quickly. They must be felt, loving, and come straight from the heart and soul.” M a m m y ’s M a k e o v e r 209