Savoring the South: Memories of Edna Lewis, the Grande Dame of Southern Cooking

By Angela Mulloy

Edna Lewis, known throughout the country as the Grande Dame of Southern cooking, often served as guest chef at Mulloy's restaurant where she and Mulloy soon became friends. For more than 10 years, Miss Lewis shared her recipes, techniques, experiences and recollections with Mulloy who compiled them and presents them here. Organized by season, compl

• Language: English
• Publisher: Marcom Publishing
• Release date: Oct 23, 2014
• ISBN: 9781634432801

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Savoring the South

Memories of Edna Lewis,

the Grande Dame of Southern Cooking

with Recipes

Angela Mulloy

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All rights reserved. No part of this book shall be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, magnetic, photographic including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without prior written permission of the publisher. No patent liability is assumed with respect to the use of the information contained herein. Although every precaution has been taken in the preparation of this book, the publisher and author assume no responsibility for errors or omissions. Neither is any liability assumed for damages resulting from the use of the information contained herein.

Copyright © 2014 by Angela Mulloy

ISBN 978-0-7414-9979-0

ISBN 978-0-7414-9980-6 eBook

Printed in the United States of America

Published March 2014

Photography by Shawn Green

Food Design by Douglas Gibson

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INFINITY PUBLISHING

1094 New DeHaven Street, Suite 100

West Conshohocken, PA 19428-2713

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ONE OF THE GREATEST PLEASURES OF MY LIFE HAS BEEN THAT I HAVE NEVER STOPPED LEARNING ABOUT GOOD COOKING AND GOOD FOOD.

Edna Lewis

Acknowledgments

I want to again thank everyone who helped me produce the first book, especially Shawn Green for his beautiful photographs and Doug Gibson, my friend and colleague, for his wonderful recipes and his undying patience in designing the food presentations.

I can’t begin to say enough thanks to Edna’s niece, Nina Williams-Mbengue, for the photos and family history she provided, as well as for writing the foreword and her nostalgic memories of growing up with her Aunt Edna.

I owe a score of thanks also to my sister Lexy for painstakingly reading and rereading every draft of this book and for carefully and diligently scanning and refining Shawn’s photographs to bring them back to their original glory.

Finally, I owe a world of gratitude to Edna and her family for being such good friends and adding so much to my life.

Contents

Acknowledgments

Foreword

Preface

The Grande Dame

Introduction

Memories of Aunt Edna

Index

Foreword

Edna Lewis was an extraordinary woman. She was beautiful, graceful, intelligent and kind. She became a legendary chef and the doyenne of Southern cooking who encouraged people to eat freshly prepared, organic foods long before it became popular to eat local.

More important to me, she was my mother’s older sister. When their mother died in the late 1940s, Edna brought my mother to New York City and enrolled her in high school and the Art Students League in Manhattan. Edna took care of my mother and me my entire childhood. My mother was always proud to say that Edna had raised her.

Edna grew up in Freetown, a small farming community founded by her grandfather, an emancipated slave. Edna deeply loved and respected her family and the people of Freetown and she dedicated her life to preserving the memory of that incredible community. When I was a child, only a few rooftops were all that remained of that once vibrant community of freed slaves where Edna and most of her siblings were reared.

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Nina Williams-Mbengue and Edna Lewis

All of the Lewis siblings were extremely close. They lost their parents when they were young and depended on and took care of each other all of their lives. My mother was the baby sister. She absolutely adored her older siblings and all the girls adored older brothers George and Lue.

My fondest memories of Edna centered around food and family. I spent many a hot summer’s day in Freetown trailing behind Edna and her older sister Jenny (Aunt Jen) as the two picked blackberries and wild flowers in the hot sun, giggling like young girls as they discussed the latest news or some fond memory of the old folks. I was terrified of the wasps, getting caught in the long brambles of the blackberries, accidentally stepping on a snake or getting chased by my uncle’s cows that were the current residents of Freetown. But the thought of warm blackberry cobbler and homemade blackberry jelly that the two sisters would prepare made it all worthwhile. And I loved hearing their stories of Freetown. I still marvel that their grandparents, who were former slaves, had the courage and wisdom to build a town, fill it with orchards and crops, start a school in my great grandfather’s house and build a church that we still attend.

Aunt Edna was a perfectionist. She would purchase organic green coffee beans and roast and grind them herself. If they did not roast to her liking, just so, they went into the garbage! Only perfectly roasted and ground coffee beans would do for the rich, dark coffee that she loved.

I remember her baking pans of the most delightful Christmas cookies. If they were not just right, they too would be tossed. Among my favorites were ginger cookies, thin and delicate Cats’ Tongues, nut balls covered with powdered sugar, stolen (a wonderful German Christmas cake), and a lovely cookie bar that I cannot remember the name of. Edna would carefully bake them and place them into paper boxes that she had collected all year. She would line each box with white tissue paper, cover the box in pink tissue paper, tie it up with a pink ribbon, and give them to friends as Christmas gifts. They were exquisite and better than any expensive gift of jewelry or clothing.

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Edna Lewis at a summer revival

Edna made all of my birthday cakes–usually coconut layer cake—when I was younger. She would buy fresh coconut in the shell, which she would crack open with a hammer. She let me drink the coconut juice while she grated the coconut by hand. I don’t remember any of the gifts I received for my birthday, but I can still see and smell those fluffy, fragrant cakes.

I remember the time that Aunt Jen mailed Edna a small box of potato ash so that Edna could test some recipe either for The Taste of Country Cooking or In Pursuit of Flavor. After she mailed it, the sisters worried for weeks that the FBI would track one of them down for mailing what they realized must have looked like some kind of illegal drug. The incident laughingly became one of a long line of Freetown stories.

I was 12 years old when I began typing the manuscript for The Taste of Country Cooking. Aunt Edna and I often joked about her chicken scratch handwriting. She would write out her recipes on long, yellow legal pads, and I would do my best to get her to explain something further or add more detail. Working with her on the manuscript, typing and re-typing those recipes, was one of the most wonderful experiences of my young life.

Even better than typing the manuscript was testing the recipes on the tiny stove of our railroad apartment in the South Bronx! I still can’t forget the apple pie, coconut layer cake, corn bread, pheasant, quail, roast chicken, she crab soup, ham biscuits, corn pudding, fried chicken, apple brown betty (one of my favorites!) and all kinds of jellies and pickles. I always claimed that it was Aunt Edna’s fault that I never learned how to cook really well; I had no time to practice because she was always testing some wonderful recipe on us!

Our family is grateful to have remained close to our Virginia roots. Aunt Edna’s memories of her childhood have made an indelible mark on all of us. We are all grateful that Angela is honoring Edna for those memories and their friendship, as well as Freetown and our family.

Angela was always close with Edna and her sisters and brothers, who often visited Willow Grove. Edna encouraged Angela to host an annual Chestnut Festival that featured many recipes from my family and from Freetown. She and her brother George also arranged that my wedding be held at her beautiful Willow Grove nearly 20 years ago. I took my daughters there on a visit several years ago. My youngest daughter (age 13) has always insisted that she was a baby angel sitting up in a tree at Willow Grove during my wedding reception so I’m thankful that she was able to visit this beautiful place while Angela was still owner.

There are so many things that I desperately miss about my Aunt Edna: the sound of her voice, her laughter, letters she would send me with newspaper and magazine clippings of birds, horses, interesting African history tidbits. I miss sitting with her for hours, drinking tea, eating cake and discussing politics. I miss speaking with her on the phone about everything, especially about my daughters. I miss the sound of her voice blending in with those of her sisters Jenny, Naomi and Ruth and Uncle Lue’s loud laughter joining in their conversation. I miss watching the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness and the Belmont Stakes horse races with her—she was a great fan of Secretariat’s! I miss hearing the pride and love in her voice as she spoke of her brothers George and Lue. The last time I was with her was the summer after my mother died. I brought my daughters, ages 4 and 7, to visit her in Atlanta. I recorded hours of their entertaining Aunt Edna with singing, games of patty cake and restaurant. Aunt Edna was not able to speak to them, but she laughed delightedly at their antics. She passed away the following February. I will always treasure those memories.

Aunt Edna has a son that she adopted as an adult from Eritrea. She lived with him, his wife and young son for several years in Freetown. We stay in touch and often speak of Edna and the enduring legacy that she left us.

Edna’s younger sister Ruth is the only remaining Lewis sibling; at 89 she still lives on her own—right down the road from Freetown. And she still farms, gardens and raises chickens and guinea fowl from the egg. Aunt Ruth continues to pass on to all of the younger generation the wisdom and love of the people of Freetown whom I believe are somewhere watching us on high, happy to know that all of their hard work and sacrifice continues to touch us so deeply.

Nina Williams- Mbengue

Aurora, Colorado

October 28, 2013

Preface

I met Edna Lewis more than twenty years ago when she agreed to be guest chef at a Thomas Jefferson 250th anniversary celebration being held at my inn and restaurant. Edna began to frequent the inn, serving as guest chef at several events each year, and I soon became good friends with her and her family. For one of our events, she and I published the book, Celebrating the Chestnut. Later, we co-authored Plantation Feasts and Festivities, which was published twelve years ago. At the time, she was under contract for another book and couldn’t get clearance from her publisher to lend her name as co-author. As a compromise, she wrote the foreword, along with commentary that reminisced about her life in Virginia and shared many of her cooking hints.

Unfortunately, Edna is now gone. As are the plantations and any mention of them. And so is my restaurant, which I recently sold, and the book, which is now out of print. However, the friendships, traditions, and recipes have lived on, and I thought it fitting to present them once again.

Many of the recipes are those that Edna shared as she cooked with us in the restaurant. Others are old family favorites my chefs updated with Edna to meet current times and tastes. And some are Edna’s simplified renditions of dishes served at the restaurant. All of them, however, reflect Edna’s love of the South and its cuisine.

I will always be grateful to her for the time she spent helping me, for the recipes and support she gave me, and for the wealth of knowledge she shared with me. Her philosophy of cooking has influenced me every day and in every way. I am indeed privileged to have known her and I proudly present this book as a tribute to her— my dear friend and culinary mentor, Edna Lewis, always the Grande Dame of Southern Cooking.

Angela Mulloy

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Edna with me on the verandah of my inn.

I have fond memories of Orange County, Virginia, where I was born and grew up more than 80 years ago. I lived with my parents and grandparents on a working farm not far from town. Although I now live in Georgia, I try to return home several times a year. When I do, I enjoy working with Angela and the chefs at her restaurant. We have been developing dishes together since she asked me to be the guest chef at a celebration of Thomas Jefferson’s 250th birth anniversary nearly ten years ago.

With nut trees, berries, and wild greens all around the restaurant, it was easy to create special menus and dishes that blend into the history of the South.

Modern machinery and new methods Have made life on the farm much easier, but it is still possible to take pride in a job well done and celebrate the season’s bounty.

Such it is, too, with food. Though many techniques have been replaced by new ones, it is still possible to connect with the land and prepare fresh food that explores and preserves these old traditions. This book recalls fond memories of the good food and good times of my childhood and brings back the legacy of the Old Virginia I remember.

Edna Lewis

Atlanta, Georgia

August, 2000

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The Grande Dame

Edna Lewis was an American classic, one of the most celebrated chefs in the country, a legend in her own time. Known as the "Grande Dame of Southern Cooking, she was widely recognized in the world of food as someone who cared deeply about preserving her heritage and that of all Southern cooking. She changed the notion