FRIED PIES

She must have loved him...A LOT! Daddy, this is. Momma must have loved Daddy a lot to make fried pies for him. And she did it just for him, as I recall, although the rest of us were fortunate enough to be there at the right time to glean the festive remnants.

Apricot. That's the kind she made and I often wondered why she chose apricot. I assumed that it was the fruit of his choice. Once I went to the store in search of dried fruit for this project, I found that there weren't many choices. So...did she make apricot fried pies because Daddy really liked apricots or because he loved fried pies and that's the only fruit she could find? We'll never know unless my brother, Bob, enlightens me after reading this.

The first clue that this was a fried pie day was the smell of apricots cooking on the stove. I recall her boiling them in a saucepan for a while. This is the step I was most unsure about because I haven't yet found the recipe she used to make the fruit mash. Although I imagined she just used water, I figured she had to add sugar at some point because apricots are not the sweetest fruit on the tree. Ahhh...the Internet. What a weapon! I searched and quickly found a recipe that gave me an idea what to do.

I did find Momma's recipe for the crust and it was simple to do, probably because it called for so much butter. (She probably used margarine or as they used to call it, "oleo". The terms "butter" and "oleo" were used interchangeably.)

I can still see her moving quickly between the counter and the gas stove. It required one step in each direction. She would:
Quickly roll out a circle of dough about 5-6 inches in diameter.
Put a heaping spoonful of apricot mash in the middle.
Fold the crust over to make a half circle.
Crimp the edges with a fork to seal it.
Turn to the stove.
Gently lower the pie into the hot oil (or probably Crisco).
Turn back around to start the next batch.
Turn to the stove to check them just in time to turn them.
Turn back to the counter to finish the next one.
Over and over and over and over.

Back and forth. Back and forth. She was totally focused on the task.

I didn't fully appreciate why she ignored everything else when she was making these until I did it myself. My gosh, you don't have time for anything else! Once you begin this process, you'd better be ready! It only takes about 3 minutes for each pie to fry and if you turn away too long, those suckers burn! (I know because most of mine did burn slightly.)

I made them for our last Labor Day swim hoorah when an abbreviated part of the family would be together. I think they liked them. They said they were good, but by the time they ate them, the little delicacies had cooled off. I took some to work. (Teachers will eat anything!) They said they were good. They all said they were good...hmmm...were they just saying that?

Momma's were sensational! Mine were mediocre. But will I try them again? Not so sure. I don't really like to fry. Maybe if I find the rest of her recipe.

But you could try.

Momma's Fried Pie Crust

5 c. flour
1 c. + 1 T. Crisco
1 large can condensed milk (She always used Milnot. Can't find it here.)
1 egg
2 t. salt
1 t. sugar

There were no instructions, but here's what I did.
Mix flour, salt and sugar in large bowl. Cut in the Crisco. Mix the milk and egg together and pour it over the flour mixture. Blend until it forms a ball. Divide it into two balls and wrap each in plastic wrap. Chill for about an hour or more.
Makes about 16-20 pies.

When it's time to roll them out, slightly flatten the first ball and cut it into 8-10 wedges. (Leave the second dough ball in the frig until you're ready to use it. But in retrospect, I think I would have had it cut and ready to grab since the process moves so quickly.) Roll each wedge into a ball and flatten it on a floured surface. Roll it into a 5-6" circle. Fill with a slightly heaped T. of fruit. Fold and crimp the edges with a floured fork.
(You should probably try to get several of them ready to go before you heat the skillet. I used a cast iron skillet as Momma did for a more uniform temp. However, my ceramic stove doesn't allow the temperature to be regulated very well. Maybe that's why mine seemed to burn a bit.)
Fry two at a time in a skillet of hot oil for about 1 1/2 minutes on each side or until they are golden brown. Place on paper towels to soak up any extra oil.

Here is the recipe I used for the filling (well, sort of), courtesty of www.texascooking.com.
Grandma's Fried Fruit Pies
3 c. dried fruit
1 1/2 c. water
6 T. sugar
1/2 t. cinnamon
1/4 t. allspice (I didn't use this because I don't remember tasting allspice in Momma's pies.)
On very low heat, simmer the dried fruit in the water for 30-45 minutes, or until very tender. Add water if necessary to prevent scorching. Allow to cool; mash fruit slightly. Stir the sugar and spices. This step may be done in advance and refrigerated; however, warm up the fruit (microwave is fine) enough to take the chill off and make it workable before filling your pies.

Caveat: As I said, I didn't use allspice. I made two batches of fruit, 1 pkg. of dried apricots and 1 pkg. of mixed fruit. The apricots were better. Maybe I should have used 3 bags of fruit with more water and then the above recipe would have worked. As it was, I had to mathematically figure the proportionate amount of each ingredient and the fruit was a bit skimpy for the amount of dough. Probably using a lid would have made the fruit a little softer.)

Momma's Beanery

Momma and beans. They went together like peanut butter and jelly.

I should have begun this blog using this recipe, but I couldn't find the essential ingredient for the blog: her own testimony. Last fall while she was in the assisted living facility, I had this grand idea to create a cookbook for all of the residents to give as gifts to their families. None of them drove, I reasoned, so they were not likely to be able to select gifts for their loved ones. I was going to interview each and ask them to tell me a story about the recipe they remembered cooking and include those thoughts with the typed recipe.

I thought it was a great idea and fairly simple to do..... until I mentioned it to some of the residents who gave me a good longgggggggg, silent stare. Hhhmmmm, I thought quickly. Where do I go from here? It was only when one brave sweet little lady chimed in as the collective voice of all that the situation became crystal clear. "I don't remember any recipes."
This was going to be more difficult than I thought!

But, I decided to begin with my own momma because I had a bit more confidence that I could coach her along or find the recipe she suggested. Of course, I knew right away which one she would choose and she did! Beans.

It's funny how certain details stand out so vividly among the plethora of random memories we all hold in our heads only to be retrieved at just the right trigger. But I remember the pot she always used to cook them in. It wasn't a heavy pot. Just an aluminum dutch oven with a dome lid. But to us, it meant beans. And I particularly remember how she would "pick" the pintos (a term used for culling the rocks and bad-looking beans from the good) and wash them. I sort of laugh now at how meticulous she was when she picked them. I think beans were sold in the olden days in bulk and had miscellaneous debris mixed into the lot. She probably chomped down on a rock or two in her time, an experience sure to spur careful "picking". You don't find much debris in packaged beans now, but habits are hard to break.

You know the proverbial story of the woman who always cut off the end of the ham before cooking it because her mother had always done it? She eventually asked her mother why she had cut the ham off and she replied that it didn't fit in the pan she had to cook it in. I suspect that is why Momma always used two pans to wash her beans, not a colander, although she had one. Her momma probably didn't own one and would use her hands to scoop the beans from one pan of water to the next, changing the water each time until the water stayed clean. I guess it never occurred to her to use a colander after she acquired one.

She would put them on early in the morning without soaking them and let them simmer most of the day. We could usually expect fried potatoes and cornbread to complete the meal. In the summer, okra might be fried with the potatoes.

She cooked her cornbread either in a cast iron skillet on top of the stove or in a pan in the oven, but either way had to have bacon drippings added for flavor and crunchy surface. While she made her own from self-rising corn meal with just a little flour most of her life, later on she found that Jiffy Cornbread Mix was just fine! (As a matter of fact, in her later years, she though Bush's Pinto Beans were just fine, too!) Oh, contar!

I am including her bean recipe as she remembered (with a little of my help from watching her lo those many years, which are included within brackets []), followed by her thoughts on it.

Momma's Pinto Beans

1-2 lb. dried pinto beans
Pick the beans and wash them.
Cover with water .
Let beans cook for a while [on medium-low heat] before you put the seasonings in:
1-2 t. sugar
Salt [Remember that old recipes often don't have amounts. Probably at least 1 T.]
Bacon drippings.

Simmer most of day.

Momma's Story Behind the Beans and a Memory Attached to It:

"When I grew up that's all we had. Day in, day out. Three times a day if we ate three times a day. We raised potatoes and beans so we always had it.

One time the table was set next to an open window (no screen). A cow came up and got hold of the tablecloth (oil cloth) and chewed it until it pulled the dishes in the dishpan off. Probably tin plates, but it scared her to death.

Raised on them [beans]. Still love them.

Momma was hard of hearing so I wouldn't leave her alone. Saturdays my brothers left for town. Momma got her guitar down and [would] sit in the doorway by the road and play and sing. The Rainwaters [neighbors] would sit at their house on the other side of the road and listen to her.

We were raised the hard way, but it was a good lesson."
[Her mother was widowed at an early age with four children to raise when it was difficult for women to get jobs. They would live in tents and go from one farm to the next working the crops. This would have included the Great Depression.]

Mandy Williams
October, 2009

Momma's dream meal:
Beans
Fried potatoes
Cornbread

Amen! One of mine, too.

I tried cooking them her way and they actually did taste better than my usual offering and very much like hers. The juice was thicker by adding the water gradually. I normally don't have time to watch them the entire day, so I usually soak them. But, Mom, I'll have to give it to you. Your way makes better beans!

I prefer my cornbread a bit more bread-like, so I make it with half cornmeal and half flour. But I suppose my kids will blog about my cornbread. Ya think? Nah!

Never Fail Rolls - Really?

The problem with following recipes of old-timers is that they are often sketchy. Momma's rolls. She made them on occasion, I assume when she had the urge for bread. I don't recall her making them for holidays, but when she did make them, it was a very special occasion for us! We would all eat until they were gone, bemoaning the fact that they were gone. Usually accompanying these yeasty delicacies were her signature pinto beans. We often joked about her supplementing her income with a "beanery".
As I said, the problem is sketchy recipes. Her recipe just had the ingredients and one word instructions with what to do with them.
Not enough for me!
Therefore, I turned to a similar recipe that her best friend, Jewell, wrote out for someone named Judy. (I suspect it was my childhood next door neighbor.) These instructions were very detailed, so the fact that my Never Fail Rolls did indeed somewhat fail must be my own fault. Timing perhaps, because the actual making and kneading the dough went quite well. They were to be kept in the frig until needed, where it was supposed to double in size.
It didn't, so I took it out and left it in the cold bowl to double in the warm kitchen. I had to eventually place that bowl on the hot crockpot, which did the trick. Now they are rising in the pan, but the 1 hr. Jewell recommended isn't doing the trick. I'm not sure they were be ready for our family dinner tonight since it's already time for the family to meet. Hmmm. What to do?
We ate late and the rolls were certainly not like Momma's, but they weren't totally hopeless either.
It's a good thing I'm going to a bread-making class next Saturday.

Peach Cobbler

Cobblers. Momma could do them soooo well! I remember particularly loving her crusts. She always put one on the bottom and one on the top. Did you know that most recipes use the easy way out by putting a biscuit or cake-like crust on top? I haven't completely look through her recipes yet, but I couldn't find one she had written. (Perhaps I'll run across it one day.) Apparently in her later years she also looked for the easy way out. She had written in the back of one of her recipe books the pages that showed cobbler recipes. None of those, however, showed me how she did the crusts still "warm" in my memory.
I'm a fairly good cook and have had enough experiences in the kitchen to have a good idea of how to replicate her original delicacy, but I wasn't sure about whether the crust was just a pie crust or if it had sugar and exactly what she did with the fruit in that cooking pan. I scoured my own cookbooks as well as those I brought from Momma's house. Still finding no semblances of a "real" cobbler, I naturally turned to the Internet. (This part probably wouldn't have pleased Momma. She felt the computer was the ruin of civilization. Some days I agree.)
Voile'! I found just what I was looking for and made it for a church homegroup bash. It was fabulous and as close as you'll come to her cobbler.
Check it out on this website: http://allrecipes.com. It is called "Old Fashioned Peach Cobbler".

MOMMA'S COOKING

This blog is dedicated to my mother, Mandy Williams, who inspired many people and family members with her sweet Christian spirit. Momma died November, 2008, but her legacy lives on. While going through her things with my brother, I quickly scooped up some of her many recipe books and boxes. Although I'm sure she didn't try most of the recipes she collected, they are all reminders of the types of foods she loved to cook.
Some of my most vivid memories involve our family meals, meager though they usually were. Momma always made sure we had a hot breakfast before going to school and I've tried to keep that tradition going at my home with my family. (My kids didn't always appreciate or want the warm breakfast or any breakfast for that matter!) But I always tried. Until failing health claimed her independence, she made sure there was always something to eat the moment we entered her house.
Although I haven't seen the new movie, Julie and Julia yet, I have been inspired to try some of Momma's recipes and report how well my cooking craft resembles my memory of hers.
Momma, here's to you and your happier times!