Thursday, March 7, 2013

Celebrating Women's History : "Meat With the Mustard'


The Accidental Genealogist Blog Prompt for Day 7 is:

 Share a favorite recipe from your mother or grandmother’s kitchen. Why is this dish your favorite? If you don’t have one that’s been passed down, describe a favorite holiday or other meal you shared with your family.


    My Grandmother, Azile Daughrity Roberts Sullivan, was a wonderful cook! When we went to see her there was always tons of food! She was a southern cook. Some of the things she "fixed" were  fried chicken, greens, rice, biscuits, grits and many yummy desserts.  A family favorite was Pork Roast and Greasy Rice or, as my brother called it,     " the meat with the mustard". We were a military family and so visits to Grandmom's were not as often as we liked,.but when we did she fed us well!
 When Grandmom had to be placed in a Nursing Home due to the affects of Alzheimer's,  I helped clean and pack up her home. One of the things found was a 1939 Edition of the Better Homes and Gardens Cook Book.  
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 Azile married her first husband-my grandfather-in 1940. I would like to think that this was the cookbook she used inr the few short years they were together before he was killed in WWII.

   In the Cook Book there were many recipes cut from newspapers and magazines plus many handwritten recipes. 
  

    Most of what Grandmom cooked was not written down. If you asked her for a recipe she would just tell you how she made something. Measurements were never exact. Luckily, she passed this ability down to my Mom who is also a great cook.  I can make some of Grandmom's meals, but they never taste as good as hers!


My Grandmother's Kitchen
© Cheri Hudson Passey
                                                               
Family and friends enjoying one of Grankmom's meals
March 1971
© Cheri Hudson Passey

 The Dining Room furniture, including the china, are now in my dining room. When I open the hutch, the smell of my grandparents house still lingers, reminding me of so many wonderful  memories.





                                                    Pork Roast and Greasy Rice
                                                        (Meat With the Mustard)
                                                              1 Pork Roast
                              Place in pot and cover with water, season with salt and pepper.
                                                                Boil til done
                    Take Roast out of pot and place on roasting pan. Save liquid for rice.
         Slather Roast with Mustard, place in 350 oven and cook til mustard browns.

                                                               Greasy Rice
                                     Use reserved liquid from boiled roast to cook rice.
  



6 comments:

  1. Oh my goodness, a 1939 edition of Better Homes and Gardens! That book is a classic. I have a more recent edition and still use it. When I bake a pecan pie from the Better Homes directions, people say, "Oh, this is wonderful, it must be an old Southern recipe!"

    I like the description of your grandmother just "knowing how" to cook, without the measurements. A natural cook! And you still preserve the smell of your grandparents' house, in the hutch! I'll bet I could recognize the smell of my cousin's and aunt's house, where my mother and I stayed when my father was in WWII. I'm sorry your grandfather was killed in that noble war.

    Mmm, pork roast slathered with mustard, and the rice cooked in the broth. Mmm, family dinners!

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    Replies
    1. Thanks Mariann! Isn't it funny how smells take you back?
      I am so glad to have found the cookbook. She had gone through a stage where she was throwing things away.
      I am sure your Pecan Pie is delicious!!!

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  2. Cheri, what wonderful memories! I'm jealous that you have her cookbooks and those loose recipes. I admire the women who can look at a recipe once and then improvise after that. Of course after cooking for years, they just make things up as they go along and cook by feel.
    The pork roast sounds delicious. Do you think it would work with beef pork? (I don't eat pork).

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  3. I am sure you could do it with beef too. If the mustard doesn't work for you, a BBQ type would!
    Thanks so much for your comments!

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