S9:E17. 05/07/2022

Today, we set the table with some good food and memories in honor of Mother’s Day. First, we’ll visit Mary Lynn Snyder, who shares memories of growing up in the R.C. Tway coal mining camp outside Harlan, KY. Then, she’ll share her Mother Ruby’s cooking ways and a recipe for “Mama Ruby’s Creamy Lemon Pie.” Also on the program - Fred’s Sauceman shares a lovely audio essay in memory of his late mother-in-law, Elsie Maddux Derting. And I share a story and recipe about my late mother, Edwena Janie Clayton, Mississippi, and kilt salad for supper.

Fred Sauceman: https://www.facebook.com/fred.sauceman

Recipes:

“Mama Ruby’s Creamy Lemon Pie” from Mary Lynn Snyder

Ingredients:

8-9 inch baked pastry shell, can use grab cracker crust
Three egg yolks (reserve the egg whites if making meringue)
14 oz can of Eagle brand sweetened condensed milk (Ruby used Pet brand)
1/2 c. real lemon juice from concentrate
a dab of yellow food coloring
2 cups of whipped topping (Ruby used meringue)

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees
In a medium bowl, beat egg yolks with milk and lemon juice, and add a little food coloring
Pour into the pastry shell
Bake for 30 minutes, cool, and top with whipped topping *If using meringue, top with meringue before placing it in the oven to cook. Refrigerate before serving, and refrigerate leftovers.

Kilt Salad:

Ingredients:

A “mess” of Fresh greens. The term “mess” refers to the amount you would use for your family. A family of 4 with a hearty appetite would need about a 1/2 a paper bag full of fresh greens. These cook down to roughly a 6th of their size, so it takes a good amount. These greens can be any greens you can find. Dandelion, lambs quarters, spinach, kale, young poke, collards, etc. Most watery lettuces are too soggy, so I use a more hearty green. Do not use frozen. Triple wash the fresh greens. If you use collard greens or kale, remove the large spines from the leaves. Chop the greens. Try to get the water off of them as well as you can with a salad spinner or a colander. If you still have some water on them, it is ok; they do not need to be super dry. But, if you have standing water in your pot of greens, pour that off.
1 pack of bacon fried crisp, drained, and crumbled. Reserve the grease in the pan, and keep the grease hot.
Salt and pepper to taste.
Hard boil six eggs, peel, and slice.

Directions:

In a large bowl, place the chopped greens.
Pour the hot bacon grease all over the greens (about 1/2 cup)
Toss the greens and bacon fat very quickly to cover all of the greens and to “kill” the greens.
Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
Top with crumbled bacon.
Serve with hot cornbread, vinegar, and sliced boiled eggs.

This recipe comes from watching my Grandmother (Mildred May of Jackson, Mississippi) prepare this in her kitchen.