My Mom, Will and the Egg

Sometimes as you grow older you learn things about your parents that never quite fit into your perception of who they are.  One of my stories involves my Mom, Will and an egg.

Will, 6, and Jenny, 4, had spent some time on the farm with Grandma one summer. A few days after they returned, I was stirring up some cookies in the kitchen. They were intently watching (and waiting to slick the dish) until I got to the point of cracking the eggs. They asked excitedly if they could crack the eggs, assuring me that Grandma had let them when they were staying with her.

Now I have to insert here that I didn’t grow up getting to crack eggs for my mother when she was cooking. I’m not sure whether it was because it was easier to do it herself or whether it had to do with not making messes, but either way, I didn’t “help” when my mom baked.  So, when they assured me that Grandma had let them do that, I relented and gave Will the first egg to crack and a bowl to crack it in. I expected that he would crack the egg against the bowl. But no, he took the egg and immediately cracked it against his forehead!!

I was shocked! What, I asked him, was he doing???

That’s how Grandma showed him to do it, he said hesitantly, clearly not having gotten the positive response he expected from me. Jenny backed up his story. They seemed to be telling the truth. Was my mother going crazy? What on earth had happened?

I went straight to the phone, I didn’t even finish stirring up the cookies, and called my mother. When I told her what had just happened, she laughed and assured me that she had indeed taught him to crack eggs on his forehead.

Was she going crazy? I asked, pointing out that she never let me crack eggs, let alone on my forehead.  Of course not, she answered. Her grandmother had taught her to crack eggs on her forehead, so she was passing it along to her grandchildren.

This event will forever remain one of the great mysteries of life for me.  I’m not sure I will ever reconcile it with my perception of my mother. The one thing I did learn from it was that as a grandparent I could teach my grandchildren a lot of things that I would never have taught my children. Pursuant to that, I taught my grandchildren to crack eggs. Not on their foreheads, just on the dish.  And that brings me to the sequel to the story about my Mom, Will and the Egg.

My grandson Tony liked to watch me doing things in the kitchen and, remembering the lesson of my Mom and Will and the Egg, I taught him to crack eggs into a dish when he was 3 or 4. He did a great job and I gave him lots of praise about how good an egg cracker he was. He went home and the next time Sara was cooking with eggs, Tony asked to crack them for her. She declined his offer and he started crying, saying “But Grandma says I’m a good cwacker!”  She called me and I said, yes, I let him crack eggs.  

The cycle continues.

- Mary Bryan  

daughter of Hollis and Joy Miller 

Grandma Spratt's Everyday Cookies

Joy Miller's handwriting. Grandma Spratt's recipe.

Ingredients:
2 cups butter
3 cups sugar
4 eggs
1 tbsp sour milk
2 tsp soda

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Neoma Ridlen's Peanut Cookies

Joy Miller's handwriting, Neoma Ridlen's recipe

Ingredients: 
2 cups brown sugar
1 cup shortening
1 cup crushed salted peanuts
2 eggs
2 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 cup oatmeal
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp baking soda

Mix all ingredients together.

Drop cookies (about walnut-sized balls) onto a cookie sheet

Bake at 350 degrees until golden brown around bottom edges.

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 Mama's Cookies

Joy Miller's handwriting and sugar cookie recipe, Margret Ridlen's cookie recipe

Ingredients:
2 cups brown sugar (1/2 could be white)
1/2 cup lard
3 eggs beaten
1 cup thick sour cream
1 tbsp soda or 1/2 tsp soda and 1/2 tsp baking powder or 1/2 tsp cream of tarter
3 cups flour
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp cinnamon (optional)
raisins and or nuts (optional)

Cream sugar, lard.

Add beaten eggs.

Add soda to sour cream then add to sugar mixture.

Sift flour, cinnamon, and baking powder/cream of tarter.

Add raisins, nuts, and vanilla.

Drop walnut-sized cookie balls onto a greased cookie sheet.

Bake at 350  degrees.

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Joy's Sugar Cookies

Ingredients: 
1 cup sugar

1/2 cup butter 

1 egg beaten

2/3 cup sweet milk

Cream sugar and butter together.

Add beaten egg.

Sift soda, baking powder, flour, and salt.

Add flavoring and enough flour to make a soft dough.

Wrap dough in plastic wrap and chill.

Roll out dough and cut shapes or make balls and flatten.

Bake at 350 degrees until edges just start to brown.   

Neoma Ridlen's Salad Dressing

Remember Time before bottled salad dressing?  Ahh, maybe not ...anyway, here’s a recipe from my mother.

 

- Mason Ridlen

son of Ben and Neoma Ridlen 

 

 

MOM RIDLEN’S SALAD DRESSING

 

Ingredients:

1  cup vinegar

1  cup water

1  cup sugar

4  level tablespoons cornstarch

4  eggs

1  cup Half & Half

1/2 teaspoon salt

 

Combine the vinegar and water in saucepan and bring to boil.

 

Add the sugar, cornstarch, eggs, half and half, and salt to the pan all at once (so it won’t curdle).

 

Mix with beater, cook until thick.

 

Note: Sometimes when stored in the refrigerator, this will separate.  If this occurs, simply beat well before using.

 

 

Oyster Stew

While I was growing up it was the custom in my family to cook oyster stew to celebrate after we finished picking corn. In those days corn was picked in the ear and stored in corn cribs. We typically finished picking corn late in November, so fresh oysters were in season. Oyster stew was a special treat because fresh oysters were rather expensive then, just as they are today. My mother sometimes told about inviting my father to dinner while they were courting and serving oyster stew as a special treat. Only later did he admit that he didn’t like oysters. However, his taste changed, and he developed a liking for oyster stew. After Shirley and I were married we continued the tradition of celebrating the end of my parent’s corn harvest with oyster stew.

I don’t know what recipe Mother used for oyster stew, but this is the recipe that we use. It is a modified version of the recipe in Betty Crocker’s Good and Easy Cook Book, first edition, seventh printing.

     OYSTER STEW 

2 quarts whole milk

1 pint half and half or 1 cup cream

1 quart fresh oysters (with oyster liquid)

½ cup butter (not margarine)

2-3 teaspoons salt

2-3 dashes each of pepper and cayenne

2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce

Heat the milk and half and half to boiling (do not scorch). Heat oysters, butter, and seasonings until edges of oysters curl. Pour into hot milk. It can be served immediately, but the flavor improves if it is simmered for a while. It is even better when warmed up the next day.

It is best to use Eastern oysters. Use small Western oysters only if Eastern oysters are not available. Smaller oysters are better than large ones. Serve with round oyster crackers. Avoid so-called oyster crackers with straight sides.  If your budget is robust, you can use 1 ½ quarts of oysters or just use a pint if cost is an issue.

-Max J. Miller

Son of Hollis and Joy Miller.

Joy's Oyster Stew

Mary Bryan's handwriting. Dictated by Joy Miller

Ingredients:
oysters

milk

salt

pepper

butter 

Put oysters in a pan and boil in own juices until the edges of the oysters curl or add oysters directly to milk and heat.

Season with salt, pepper, and butter.