A TEACHER'S COOKBOOK: Country Recipes, Letters, and Stories from the Rural West

By Anna Marie Hernandez

Travel on one family's culinary journey through seven decades of popular country cooking in the American West through over 100 flavorful recipes.

Learn the vintage recipes of the 1930s Potato Cake and of 1940s Chicken Tamales. Recall the popular Tuna Carrot Loaf and Sour Cream Pie of the 1950s. Discover

• Language: English
• Publisher: Joshua Street Press
• Release date: Jan 15, 2022
• ISBN: 9798985079418

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A Teacher’s Cookbook

Country Recipes, Letters,and Stories from the Rural West

1933–2014

Anna Marie Hernandez

Copyright ©2021 by Anna Marie Hernandez

All rights reserved. No parts of this book may be reproduced or transmittted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system without written permission from the author, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review.

Cover and Interior Art Direction: Morgane Leoni

Editorial Assistance: Aly Owen

Images used under license of Adobe Stock

Publisher’s Cataloging-In-Publication Data (Prepared by The Donohue Group, Inc.)

Names: Hernandez, Anna Marie, author.

Title: A teacher’s cookbook : country recipes, letters, and stories from the rural West, 1933-2014 / Anna Marie Hernandez.

Description: [First Edition]. | Victorville, CA : Joshua St. Press, 2021. | Includes index.

Identifiers: ISBN 9798985079401 (paperback) | ISBN 9798985079425 (hardback) | ISBN 9798985079418 (ebook)

Subjects: LCSH: Cooking, American. | Hernandez, Herlinda, 1928- 2015. | Teachers--West (U.S.)--Biography. | LCGFT: Cookbooks. | Biographies.

Classification: LCC TX715 .H47 2021 (print) | LCC TX715 (ebook) | DDC 641.5973--dc23

First paperback edition 2021

Joshua Street Press: PO Box 2950, Victorville, CA 92393

Printed in the United States of America.

To Herlinda, Lola, Tague, and Tonia who grew beautiful gardens.

Contents

Introduction

There Was A Time…

The 1930s: Churning Butter, Gathering Eggs and Naming Cows

The 1940s: Javelina Hunts and Tamales

The 1950s: Fiesta Tacos and Piñata Parties

The 1960s: Cactus, Ground Chili, and Road Trips

The 1970s: Casseroles and Crockpots

The 1980s: Pickles, Dilly Beans, and Late-Night Coffee

The 1990s–2010: Prosciutto Reunions and Garden Salads

Recipe Index

Introduction

A Teacher’s Cookbook is the culmination of seventy years of Country Western cuisine, from garden produce to nutritious meals. Herlinda was a teacher at heart with a passion for cooking and teaching others. Her cookbook is a compilation of country recipes and proverbial wisdom from old Spanish sayings and biblical proverbs. That common-sense wisdom was passed down between several generations of mothers to daughters.

Herlinda’s cooking mission in life unfolded at an early age in the kitchen. By age six Herlinda was helping her own mother churn butter and gather vegetables from their farm garden. Herlinda was raised in a farm in Southern Arizona where she spent most of her childhood among cows, horses, turkeys, and hens. Her earliest chores included tending the vegetable garden and gathering homegrown vegetables and farm eggs. During the Depression years, Herlinda’s family survived with food raised on their small farm, which included vegetables, milk, eggs, and the occasional slaughtered cow for meat. Not only was the family largely self-sustaining, but also the cows and hens were bartered or sold, which helped the family buy needed items in town such as shoes, flour, and coffee.

For Herlinda, meal time was both a physical and soul-enriching experience. Health began in the kitchen with nourishing food from the garden. As the ever-present teacher, Herlinda imparted her wisdom through proverbs and childhood poems recited often from memory at the dinner table.

Herlinda’s didactic side dominated when she worked in the kitchen. As she prepared a meal, she liked to dispense her proverbial wisdom concerning life’s challenges and the virtue of finding faith and strength. Her kitchen, with its many cupboards and cutting boards, was Herlinda’s home laboratory for testing recipes and dispensing practical advice and proverbs. Everything had its fundamental beginning and development in the kitchen. It was there that life’s lessons were taught and life’s challenges resolved. Most of her well-known Spanish proverbs had a biblical foundation. For Herlinda, the sayings were just good old common sense.

Eating was considered a communal experience. Nourishing both the body and soul was a blessing meant to be shared with others. As revealed in the letters and stories presented in this cookbook, dining was a collective experience for sharing information, memories, and wisdom from years of teaching.

Herlinda set the tone around the dining room table. Every meal began with a prayer and ended with gratitude for the abundance of food. Whether called to cook for her family or one hundred guests for an anniversary celebration, Herlinda was at her finest when she was sharing food and wisdom as her letters and poetic wisdom can attest. From the Depression to the end of the century, A Teacher’s Cookbook, is Herlinda’s legacy of letters, stories, personal recollections, and proverbial wisdom through country cooking of the Rural West. A Teacher’s Cookbook attests to a life well-lived that spanned seventy years of cooking, poetry, traditions, and wisdom to be remembered and treasured.

There Was A Time…

There was a time when a penny was broken into mills—ten mills or two five mills equaled one cent.

There was a time when a loaf of bread cost ten cents and Kool-Aid five cents. A dress could be bought for one dollar and fifty cents, and a pair of shoes cost all of one dollar.

There was a time when a friend could borrow money from another friend and a shake of hands would seal the deal. The debt would be repaid in payments precisely on time.

There was a time when a neighbor in town might not remember if the iron had been turned off and would call a neighbor to check. The door in the back was always open.

There was a time when doors were not locked at night. During hot summer months, people moved their beds outdoors to sleep under the stars.

There was a time when the ice truck delivery man delivered ice to the ice boxes.

There was a time when the family gathered around the radio to hear the stories of the Lone Ranger, and records were played on the Victrola for dancing in the living room.

There was a time when the theater was the main source of advanced technology.

There was a time when neighborhood kids played marbles and kick the can.

There was a time for telling stories on the front porch late into the night.

And as I reminisce over the many years, I give thanks for that time of living such a life.

Herlinda

May 2008

The 1930s: Churning Butter, Gathering Eggs and Naming Cows

The Great Depression dominated Herlinda’s early childhood during the 1930s. Characterized by loss of jobs and a reduction of the number of items in the market, these critical economic times saw families bonding closely to work and remain together to get them through such a challenging period. Herlinda’s family was no exception to this closeness. Her parents had a family farm that was managed by her paternal grandfather.

Herlinda’s father, Julian, worked two jobs to feed his own family and to help support his younger, unmarried siblings. During the week, Julian worked in the town’s copper mine, and on weekends, he worked alongside his own father raising cows, horses, and turkeys at their family farm. Since their country farm had cows and hens, there was always an abundance of fresh milk and eggs.