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Cooking, Slavery
Tilda Johnson relates that during slavery cooking was considered a very light and easy job. Any slave woman who was allowed to stay at the house and manage the pots and pans was almost a favorite, as only neat clean and careful women were selected for the job of cooking in those days. Sometimes the cook had many helpers but often when field work became rushed one woman would have to manage to carry on and that meant not only to cook the meals but churn the butter and bring water from the spring (nearly a mile away). Tilda lived on a large plantation and handled the job of cooking. "I was a gal of fourteen but I could do a womans work" said Tilda. I knew how to wash, iron, clean up and cook but my job was to cook so I never went to the Fields. I was often abused by de other slaves and called, "old puffed up house rat." I wasn't a house rat do as I used to get out chop wood pick up chips and pine burrs (to make my fire burn fast) bring three pails of water up the hill from the spring one on my head and one in each hand. I knew how to cook good plain food and at holiday time I cooked plenty pastry and other goodies.
A plain dinner consisted of plenty boiled meat, greens, beans, cornbread milk and butter, sometimes game or fish.
"My marsters favorite bread was ash cakes, and this is how it was made. A quart of meal, salt, soda, sour milk and a few spoons of sorgum mollasses make into a stiff pone that can be handled easily. Clean hearth with a rag. Place pone on the hot hearth and let it stand under the heat until a light crust forms, cover with ashes and cook until a smoke rises from the ashes, remove from fire, brush off ashes and wipe with a damp cloth. Many is de time when I has served my marster ash cake butter and cold buttermilk in de kitchen and dere was plenty of everything good on de big table, said Tilda. When dey had guests dey really "put on de dog" I used to roast little pigs whole. First rub pomgranite juice all over de meat make a dressing of stale bread hickory nuts and chicker pins (chinquapins -- nuts). Sprinkle salt pepper and flour over it. Put little pieces of butter all over it and put him in de old clay oven to brown. And when I'd take dat little raskle out you could smell him a mile. Den I'd lay him on a big platter, place an apple in his mouth, lay some molds of hogs foot jelly (red) round him and he'd be ready for de table. A lot of times de white gals who was too shame to eat a heap at de table would come out to talk to me and eat a heap more dan I could."
"You didn't ever hear of cooking make nobody sick in dem days lessen dey at too much" said Marry Joiner. (Marry used to cook for officers in the Confederate Army.) When asked what she liked to cook best Marry replied, "chicken" but one of de officers used to like a dumplin cooked in a bag. Roll out dough as if for pie put in fruit (berries) roll these in the dough put in a bag and boil in water. When this is done serve with a sauce made of butter and crushed mint leaves.
Fried Chicken
"Cut a chicken into large pieces, salt pepper and sprinkle with lemon juice. Dredge with flour that has a few grains of sugar in it. Fry with hot butter in a covered skillit. As each piece browns drop it into another covered skillit that has a little hot sweet milk in it. Let steam and serve.
Greens and dumpling
"Take young tender turnip greens and remove all of the stems, wash thoroughly, put into a pot that meat, salt an ham hocks have been boiling and hour put in a pod of red pepper a little salt and black pepper. Let simmer an hour remove from fire put in corn meal dumplings using a thin cloth between the greens and the meal dumplings. Even cook until the dumplings are done. This dish is good for any body," said Sally Green age 78.
Persimmon Loaf
Take de seed outen de simmon, cover de fruit wid sugar. Take one cup of flour and one cup of sugar to every four cups of persimmons. Add a little butter and an egg well beaten. Bake in the oven. Slice when cold. Hit goes well wid meats an makes nice sandwiches.
by Millie Young Cedar Grove Age 74
"Good eats didn't make folks sick in dem days" said Millie Boyd. I members being de table girl on the Hanses (?)
place near de riber and de table was eight feet long three feet wide and was loaded wid things to eat, besides dere was more in de pantry and more in de kitchen and food a plenty in de smoke house. I used to love to set up a table and wait on guests. I wore a blue polka-dot dress a wide white apron and a white turban cap. Dere were blue dishes bought from cross de water, silver shinning, plenty wine and mint julips, a black boy to fan de flies away and a big girl to help fill de glasses from de side table. Dere would be from four to six kinds of meat pies in stacks, cakes of every kind, plenty sauces and jelly, preserves, relishes, pickle food good food no truck and green grass (?) like you see dese days".
"Negroes had more better food and dey does now" said Granny Lee (Lums Quarters). Some of dem brought good pans from dey big houses and some of dem were smart enough to hustle around and get food deyselses. Just like Clarence Franks de man who used to kill hogs in de woods just to cut out de liver to fry." and plenty fine meat and game could be found in cabin homes. Game was plentiful too and squirrels were a great dish.
Squirrel Pie
Steam six squirrels 'til tender, remove from pot, season with salt, pepper and butter. Make a little thickening outen flour and sweet milk. Turn a bowl in the middle of a deep pie pan, put the mixture in and cover with a short crust of pastry. Cover pastry with butter. Put on heavy top of skillit and cook slowly in front of an open fire place.
"Don' forget to tell her about whut you kin do wid a coon," said Mary Willis to her mother Ellen Gooden (Vine St.) "Oh! said Ellen you don' see many coons now a days but den you'd catch em any day. I'se de best coon cooker dere is when I gits me a fine fat coon and he is dressed clean, den I rubs him all over in fine ground red pepper duckes him wid salt puts just a little water in my black iron pot and steams him 'bout two hours, takes him often de fire, sprinkles him wid vinegar, a dash of sugar, puts flour, butter, plenty black pepper on him and as he browns I pour on him hot water to make plenty good brown gravy. I has my rice in a nodder pot and when dey is all done I lays a row of rice around him in a large pan or platter, pours de gravy over de rice; chile let me hush cause you nor me can't stand no more of dat".
Potatoe Pone
"Grate raw potatoes into a bowl with a beaten egg, sweet milk, butter and a double grating of nutmeg, add one half cup of flour and one cup of sugar or one and one half cup of cane mollasses. Put in a skillit with a flat top cover with red hot coals. Ba ke until done. This is a grand dish said Callie Morris and all persons in Miss. like potatoe pone. Potatoe pone and cold sweet milk make a mighty good dinner. Sometimes you put parched shelled peanuts in it."
