From: The Editors Desk
Rita Redd
The word Legacies to me has many definitions. So After some research. These are some I found.
1.) Memories passed down by word of mouth.
2.) To be remembered.
3.) What one leaves behind.
Everyone leaves a legacy. Many are just never recorded. When someone enjoys a food you cooked, talks or learns from you. This is part of your Legacy. When we talk or write about our family. We are leaving their legacy.
People often don’t think they will be remembered. You don’t have to be famous. Many don’t think of the legacies, or impact they leave. We go about our everyday life, just as people from years ago did. In some aspects most of us follow patterns we learned, especially in cooking. Think for a minute: Remember who you observed cooking. Do you use many of the ways they used? The memories of their kitchens, the feel, the smell, the great food. In remembering you have much to be sent and recorded. What I remember most the love, comfort, the security I felt as a child in the kitchen of my Mother, Grandmothers and other women I knew.
The Volunteers at US Legacies are attempting to record as much information as possible.
We all dream to leave a Legacy,
Our name printed forever in time,
Proof of our days on earth,
Recipes, fond memories, a Grandma’s love,
Wartime, family, friends and events,
Reminisces of places, people and times,
Author and Contributor: Rita Redd
The Wood Cook Stove
Legacy of: Ollie Hamby Fortner
August 5, 1896 to August 1971
Grannie (we called her) was my Grandmother. The spelling Grannie is always what she had me sign for her in later years.
In the late 1950s and early 1960s she continued to cook on a wood cook stove. The stove from my eyes as a child seemed to be a monster. It covered a wall.
Everyone we knew had gas or electric stoves. But to me the old wood cook stove seemed natural. It had always been there. Grannie shoved the pieces of wood in it. Making huge biscuits with her hands. I learned to make biscuits this way. I continue to roll the dough in my floured hands. Following tradition, my grandchildren run for the kitchen to help make biscuits with their hands.
Grannie cooked rabbit, squirrel, and turtle. She cooked other things but she liked what she was use to. I never remember a written recipe in her kitchen. Every thing she cooked was from memory. She always said her Mama did it that way. Times had been hard for her and my Grandfather, George C. Fortner (Paw). They had raised 7 out of 9 children mostly by farming. The children helped on the farm. Money was probably better for them in the 1950s and 1960s. But they continued to live as they always had.
George Fortner (Paw) set traps. He cleaned the rabbits, squirrel and sometimes a turtle. They had chickens for eggs and chickens to fry. Paw milked the cow twice a day. Grannie then strained the milk and put it in the refrigerator. Once or twice a week she let milk sour overnight in the churn. The next day it seemed she churned for hours. The butter was skimmed off the top, and pressed in a small wooden butter press.
In the 1960s when Grannie finally quit arguing and let an electric stove be installed. She had a very difficult time with cooking. She could never get the heat right. I am not sure if it was due to age, or the loss of her wood stove. Her food never tasted the same. It seemed she cooked much less.
Editor’s Note:
My grandmother, Ollie Hamby Fortner, born in Smyrna, Georgia August 5 1896. Died August 1971 in Smyrna, Ga. That I know of, the longest distance she traveled from Smyrna was less than 75 miles.
Contributed by: Rita Redd
Editor Grandma’s Kitchen
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White Grape Cake
We have a request for White Grape Cake. We are printing White Grape Juice Cake this month. If you have others for White Grape Cake please send them in.
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Old Family and A Other Recipes
Rabbit or Squirrel Dressing
Legacy of: Ollie Hamby Fortner
1896 to 1971
1 Rabbit or Squirrel cut up
1 large pan of cornbread
Salt and Pepper to taste
1 Egg
Place rabbit or squirrel in large boiler, cover with water, boil until tender. Save water cooked in.
Crumble cornbread in large bowl.
Stir egg into cornbread
Add enough water rabbit or squirrel was boiled in to cornbread mixture, to make a thick mixture. Stirring well. If you like dry dressing add less of the water, for moist dressing and more.
Add pieces of rabbit or squirrel to mixture.
Salt and pepper to taste.
Bake at 350 degrees until slightly brown on to
Note:
Grannie always just added the pieces on the bone. You took a piece of meat out of the dressing. Then had the dressing to go with it. I prefer to remove the meat from the bone before placing in the dressing mixture.
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Jelly Roll
(If you know when to add Jelly. Please let us know)
Legacy of: Ruth Beebe nee unknown
From: Huntingburg, IN.
3 eggs
1 cup sugar
5 T. water
1 cup sifted flour
2 T. melted butter
1 tsp. Baking powder
3 tsp. Salt
1 tsp. vanilla
2 cup jelly or jam
Directions:
Beat eggs until light. Add sugar, beating all the while. Add water and beat well. Sift flour, baking powder and salt together and add egg mixture. Beat quickly until well mixed. Add vanilla.
Pour into greased pan and bake for 15 mins. At 375 degrees
Note:
This recipe was sent in by Granddaughter. We do not have granddaughters name. The recipe was given to her grandmother by her Home Ec. Teacher, Miss Irene Shaaf on April 8, 1936
From: Rita
I would apply jelly on top after baking. Any suggestions?
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White Grape Juice Cake
Recipe contributed: by Karen Clapp
1 Box butter cake mix
1 small box vanilla pudding mix (cook an serve)
4 eggs
2 c. white grape juice
2 c. oil
2 c water
1-2 c. pecans, chopped
4 cups sugar
Glaze:
3 cup white grape juice
2 cup butter or margarine
1 cup sugar
Directions:
For Cake: Grease and dust tube or bunt pan. Line bottom of pan with nuts. Mix all ingredients together and pour on top of nuts.
Bake at 350 for 40-45 min. Remove and let cool 10-15 min.
Glaze: Mix all ingredients, in a pot and bring to boil. Pour hot mixture over cake while still in tube or bunt pan. Let cool 20 min. then take out of pan.
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Tomato Soup
Legacy of: Lizzie Fink Hostetter nee Long
From: South Annville, PA
Born 1881
1 can tomato
1 pt water
12 pepper berries or green peppers
6 cloves
1 bay leave
1 large sliced onion
Table sugar
2 table spoon butter
3 table spoon flour
Directions: Boil 7 min
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Cooking Tips
Try adding 1 extra egg to old cake recipes.
Explanation: Many of the old recipes used yard eggs. If you buy yard eggs, then compare the size to our extra large eggs bought at the local grocery. You will usually find there is a difference in size. Adding the extra egg makes the cake closer to the original recipe. The chickens people have at home (now or long ago) are larger chickens.
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Read recipes thoroughly before starting.
Explanation: You’ll find some of the process can be done ahead.
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Instant potatoes make a great thickening for soups and stews.
Published in U S Legacies Magazine March 2003
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