Cook of the Week: Lonnie Hutto

As I type this, I’m sitting in my mama’s kitchen in Aiken, South Carolina. Tired of not seeing her and my father, I drove down late last week. My mama in in the late stages of Alzheimer’s, a wretch and horrid type of dementia. Before this disease robbed her of her essence, she showed her love through cooking. Like all Southern mama’s, she had a collection of cookbooks from various churches, civic organizations, and other fundraisers.

Throughout this time-worn tomes, taped on back pages or folded between them, are recipes from magazines and newspapers. Some have handwritten recipes from friends. These books kept our tables and bellies full. The best recipes were the ones she learned from her mother and her mother-in-law. I don’t have those copies handy, but for you cooks out there, please don’t hoard your heirloom recipes. Share them with all who ask. Share the legacy freely. At the very least, write them down and leave them to the budding cook in your family.

These recipes are a history of family and memories and they should be passed down and cherished. I found my mama’s most used recipes by looking for the pages with most stains on the page from dripped batter.

Carolina Cream Biscuits

4 cups All-Purpose flour

2 Tblsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

2 Tblsp sugar

2 1/2 cups whipping cream

1/4 cup of butter or margarine

Combine the first four ingredients and add whipping cream. Stir until dry ingredients are moistened. Turn dough on a well floured surface and knead 10-12 times.

Roll dough to 1/2-inch thickness. Cut with 2-inch biscuit cutter. Place on greased baking sheet, brush with melted butter. Bake at 425 degrees for 12 to 14 minutes.

This recipe was handwritten in one of her cookbooks with no attribution.

Apple Butter Bread

2 cups self-rising flour

1/4 cup sugar

1 1/2 tsp. Ground cinnamon

2 eggs

3/4 cup apple butter

1/4 cup butter melted

2 Tbsp apple juice or milk

1/2 cup chopped nuts

1/2 cups seedless raisins

Sift together flour, sugar, and cinnamon. Beat together eggs, applebutter and apple juice. Stir in nuts and raisins. Add liquid all at once to flour mixture, stirring only until flour is moistened. Pour batter into greased 8 1/2 x 4 1/2 inch pan. Bake in preheated 350 degree oven for 55 minutes. Cool 10 minutes before removing from pan. Cool completely before slicing.

From Lois Oxendine, Spartan Council from Secret Recipes of Telephone Pioneers

If I had to guess, this cookbook was a gift from my mama’s sister, who retired from AT&T when it was named Southern Belle.

Onion Casserole

6 to 8 sweet onions

8 oz. Shredded mozzarella cheese

1 can cream of chicken soup

3/4 stick margarine

3/4 loaf French bread

3/4 cup milk

Saute onions and put in a 9X9 pan. Sprinkle cheese over onions. Cube bread and arrange overr cheese. Mix soup and milk and pour over bread. Regridgerate 24 hours then bake at 375 degrees for 30 minutes.

Bridget Brown, The Pilot Club of Aiken 1997 Cookbook.

Love this recipe. It’s perfect for Vidalia onions.