Davey's Half-Way Home Cafe

AuthorHouse

Contents

Salads.........................................45Breads.........................................51Vegetables / Side Dishes.......................65Meats / Main Dishes............................85Desserts / Pies................................103Cakes / Cookies................................127Condiments / Miscellaneous.....................145Recipe Index...................................155Guest List.....................................159

Chapter One

EARLINE BROOMFIELD CHILD NO. 8

I am writing this book from the suggestion of the many people who came into Davey's Restaurant and pretended this was the best food they had ever eaten.

To my surprise, collard greens was always the topic for discussion. People would say things like "What is your secret on cooking collard greens?"

SO HERE IS MY SECRET!

Pick 'um, wash 'um, cut 'um, put meat in 'um (bacon grease or lard), salt in 'um with fresh jalapeno pepper in 'um, cook 'um, serve 'um, and EAT 'UM.

My mama, who I believe was the best cook who ever passed through Mississippi, handed down this recipe. She never had a job except cooking for her family and cooking for what she called her tractor meeting, which is now called revival.

Good Hope Church was built six miles south of Hickory, Mississippi. This day has been a special day. First Sunday in August for many years, at least before I was born, a young bull (you call it a steer) was killed for fresh meat. The first sweet potatoes were scratched (dug) by Papa, so Mama could make her good sweet potato pie.

Ever since I can remember, I was excited about the cooking and was always trying to help. Your Uncle Ardell said Mama left the cooking to me when I was about 9 years old while she took the boys and went to the field to chop cotton or thin the corn. I know this is all Latin to you. So anything you do not understand, ask some one born before 1945 or soon after. Davey, before you and Arthur came on the scene, I had been taught how to take very little food and make a meal "fit for a king".

I cannot remember many times we ate without meat. Your grandfather always kept a hog in the pig pen ready to kill, especially in the winter time. My father would preserve the meat by packing it in a lot of salt (I call myself writing modern now by using the word 'preserve') such as the hams, front shoulder and middling, which you call the bacon. Meanwhile, Mama would cook the fresh backbone and ribs we canned in jars. Therefore we had fresh meat way over in March (all winter) which used to be the spring of the year. We even canned the sausage. I told you all this to let you know we always had meat, peas, bread and Kool Aid for dinner, that was at 12 o'clock noon. I had to cook enough for supper, which was when we came out of the fields - at sundown. Supper had no certain time. It is supper time when you finish milking the cows, feeding the horses, chickens, hogs and bringing in stove wood. We would bathe in the No. 3 tub before the water got cold (which had been set out in the sun to warm. "You did not know that did you, Davey!")

There is so much I would love to tell you about old times, but the most important old things for me are very new for you. These things will stand throughout eternity such as morals, self-respect and respect for other people. Be truthful and treat people like you want to be treated, give to people who need a helping hand, in other words: Read and do Exodus, 20th chapter, verses 12-17 and Matthew 22nd chapter, verse 37; and always remember "If Jesus can put money in a sh's mouth, He can put money in your pocket." To nd these words you must read your bible a little further (it is in there). For me those were the good times, because I know my mother and father loved and protected us and taught us to love one another. About the Jolly Aid Kool Aid - Mama traded eggs for it if she did not have a nickel. We would meet the store truck over on the main road and buy a candy bar for a few pennies, which was so hard to come by. "Davey let me tell you about the ice. We were so glad to see the iceman coming!"

Papa or Mama would save that dime to give the iceman for a small block of ice and Mama would wrap it up in an old raggedy quilt, kept especially to wrap the ice. We had a hole dug in the ground filled with sawdust to keep the ice in so it would not melt so fast.

Now I will tell you about Fourth of July. It was a doozy (it was a ball). About this time we would almost be finished with chopping and hoeing the cotton and thinning the corn. Mama would get her molasses can and make it full of ice cream. Then we would put the can in a foot tub and put ice and salt around the can. We would hold the wire handle and twist it back and forth until Mama would open the can and scrape down the sides. This made it freeze quicker. Meanwhile, Papa had gone to Hickory, MS in the wagon and bought a whole 24-bottle case of RC Cola, peach and grape Ne-Hi drinks, and a big hunk of bologna and cheese. Man, we had a ball under the four oak trees in the yard. Three of them are still there. Lightning struck one the day your grandfather died. Last, but not least, Papa had marked the first watermelon that came on the vine, so he would know which one was ripe for the fourth of July. That is the day the first watermelon was pulled and put in a tub of cold water so it would be cool when we cut it. Those were the best days- "I do not want to go back too, far, just remember."

To Davey my son:

This being my last book, there are so many things I want you to know. I am so proud to be your mother. You are the light of my life. The Lord saw t to take Melvin & Arthur (the sons I miss so much) away from us. I can not tell you the whole story because it is so unusual. I hope that is the right word to use. So I will put it another way. God gave me another son. A man that had already been taught to love God by loving people. I knew his mother & father had prayed that he would have a good life when He saw t to take them to a better place. God gave this loving man to me. I am so proud to be called Mama Earline by him. When you are in other countries working, he makes sure I am o.k. I want you to call him when you need a brother. You can depend on him. I know, because he promised me he would be there for you. His name is Glenn Parker. You will find a cake I made up and named The Glenn Parker Cake in this book. His band plays at the Beau Rivage in Biloxi, MS.

Davey, let me tell you where you came from because I can not tell you where you are going. You must set your own goals in life.

This is your grandmother on my father's side. My love for cooking came from Mattie Edison. I remember she stopped people who passed by her house and said, "Stop and eat. I just cooked some peas and bread and made a cake." Davey, she would take one egg and make a cake that would melt in your mouth. She cooked cakes for everybody, white and black, for $1.50. Davey, she made it up by hand. There was no electricity. She made icing by beating it with a fork. It was always perfect. Her meringue stood high.

Now, today, 76 years later, I need at least 8 eggs and an electric mixer. I get $30.00 dollars for my cake and...