They always say "never trust a skinny cook". I don't exactly know who "they" were, but I will wager "they" never ate at Grandma Marie's (Mom-Mom)table.
Marie Emily Pinkett (nee Handy), the mother of Mom Ollie, stood 4'11" and was around 100 pounds soaking wet. A serious and religious woman, she wasn't the Norman Rockwell type of grandmother, or the granny written about that famous holiday song. You know the one....the "over the river and through the woods" type.
Marie Emily Pinkett (nee Handy), the mother of Mom Ollie, stood 4'11" and was around 100 pounds soaking wet. A serious and religious woman, she wasn't the Norman Rockwell type of grandmother, or the granny written about that famous holiday song. You know the one....the "over the river and through the woods" type.
Born May 8, 1897, and raised in rural Somerset County on Maryland's Eastern Shore, "Mom-Mom", the grandaughter of former slaves, was more of the "get over here and sit your ass down" type of grandmother. Kids were seen...not heard. She had more superstitions than I care to count; and God was in every corner, ready to strike us down for any minor infraction of his divine law. If you thought you were grown enough to stand up to her, you quickly learned how fatal that decision was. Despite her small frame, she was an old school country girl who would not hesitate to "whup" your behind. I still smile when I think about the scores of headslaps she liberally dished out whenever I would squirm or fidget during those agonizing and never-ending church sermons she dragged me to. That was her brand of love, and I miss her dearly.
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| Marie Emily Handy-Pinkett (1897-1991) |
It was a little more than a year after my mother passed that I finally mustered up the courage and energy to open the hand-carved Japanese chest she inherited from a cousin who toured with Josephine Baker. Beneath the stacks of faded and tattered photographs, funeral programs of relatives and friends long gone, and countless other keepsakes, I found her recipes and only a few of my grandmother's. It was as if I had found one of the Dead Sea Scrolls, considering "Mom-Mom" never wrote anything down. Any attempt to watch and record how she prepared her dishes was an exercise in futility. She hardly measured anything. For her, it was a pinch here...a dash there; but no matter how many times she did it that way, her dishes came out deliciously consistent.
I fondly remember her for many things (including the discipline). Foodwise, I best remember her handmade dinner rolls and her Sunday meatloaf. While I've tasted many variations over the years, none came close to hers. I can throw together a palatable facsimile when I have the mind to, but it's nothing compared to her's.
Here's to you "Mom-Mom" Marie...you are not forgotten.
There are three ingredients in this recipe that contained gluten...Bread crumbs, Worcestershire Sauce, and Ketchup. They were switched with Ian's Bread Crumbs, Wizard's Worcestershire Sauce, and Heinz Ketchup. All claiming to be gluten free.
Meatloaf is another European dish that found its way to the America. However, it did not appear in any published cookbooks until the late 1800s. Researchers claim the European version of meatloaf was first mentioned in “Apicius” the famous Roman cookery collection written around the 5th century A.D. While meatloaf is a cousin to the Italian meatball, its American cousin is closely related to scrapple, a mixture of ground pork and cornmeal that was popular with the German-Americans in Pennsylvania during the Colonial period.Ingredients
2 pounds ground beef
2 large eggs
2 ounces applesauce
1 cup Ian’s bread crumbs
2 pounds ground beef
2 large eggs
2 ounces applesauce
1 cup Ian’s bread crumbs
1 medium chopped onion
1/4 cup chopped green pepper
2 teaspoons Wizard’s Worcestershire sauce
2 cups Heinz ketchup (The poor man's tomato sauce)
1/4 cup chopped green pepper
2 teaspoons Wizard’s Worcestershire sauce
2 cups Heinz ketchup (The poor man's tomato sauce)
1/4 cup Old Bay
Milk
Preparation
Preheat oven to 400° F
Combine all ingredients (except the ketchup) in a large mixing bowl and thoroughly blend the mixture with your hands.
Milk
Preparation
Preheat oven to 400° F
Combine all ingredients (except the ketchup) in a large mixing bowl and thoroughly blend the mixture with your hands.
Add a small amount of milk if necessary to make the mixture moist. With a large spatula, turn the meat mixture into a 9x5x3-inch loaf pan. Press down and smooth the top. Place in oven and bake for 30 minutes.
Carefully remove pan and pour off excess fat. Spread ketchup over the top of loaf, return to oven and bake for an additional 30 minutes. Remove from oven and carefully pour off excess fat
