Mildred in her early twenties. When she first showed me this photo, I rememberher telling me that her coat and hat were red, which was always her favorite color to wear.
Today was my Mam-ma's birthday--one week and a day before mine. She has been gone for almost five years, but I still like to recognize her birthday by baking something. I often make her hummingbird cake, which I always say was her 'best cake,' but it didn't sound right for some reason. I thought about making a Jewish pound cake she loved. I remember calling her for the recipe and writing it on the inside back cover of one of my cookbooks. But, I couldn't find the book and I imagine it's still in storage in a box, so perhaps I'll make that next year. Or sooner! So, after a little more thought I finally decided: pie! While Mam-ma could make a fantastic cake, it seems her baking ran more to sweet and delicious pies. Miles and miles of pies!
I remember holidays when the console record player would be covered in pies. Or, if it were an especially large family gathering, there might even be a special table set-up in the cold garage to store the pies and other desserts. Pecan pie (dad's favorite), pumpkin pie, apple pie and more pies. I always loved the pumpkin and she always remembered to make real whipped cream for me to put on top, which I preferred to the more ubiquitous Cool Whip. I was not a picky eater, just a particular one. Ask my mother about rice, if you doubt me.
And chess pie. What the heck is chess pie? It is a simple, country creation, a custard of the most basic proportions. My father gently mocks his younger cousins who remember the wonderful, chess pie their Grandmother Stevenson would make. He says, 'it's just poor people pie.' The pie you make when there is nothing else left in the larder: no fruit, no nuts and no nothing. You may not have anything to make a real good pie, but you certainly have eggs from the chickens that you are storing in a box under your bed. And of course you traded some of those for a little sugar and flour last week when you 'went to town.' The cow will probably give up enough milk for some butter. And if you don't have a tablespoon of corn meal, I'm sure you can probably send one of the kids up the road to borrow some from the neighbor.
That is what separates a chess pie from a regular custard pie. The nubbiness that the cornmeal gives to the custard elevates the filling from merely delicious to sublimely comforting. Of course, you can adorn a chess pie with fruit or whipped cream, but it is best in its simplicity. Why is it called chess pie? No one really know, but there are a million guesses. It has nothing to do with the game, that is for sure. The cutest explanation is when asked what was for dessert, a wife responded, 'jess (just) pie.' Interesting.
While mam-ma enjoyed chess pie, I don't think she liked it anymore than she liked any other pie. Until Bill Clinton became president. What does Bill Clinton have to do with chess pie? Well to start, Lora Mildred Marie Stevenson Whisenhunt Thomas (Mildred to everyone, but Mam-ma to her grandchildren and many other people) was a devout Democrat. Now, when I saw devout Democrat I mean the story is that on her father's deathbed she promised him she would never vote for a Republican. Seriously. Because of the Depression. Likewise, she was a devout Southern Baptist who was at church for a service, program or social more times a week than anyone could ever count. Church supper? She planned it. New Sunday school class? She organized it. Visitors on Sunday? She went by to visit them on Tuesday and invite them back for next week.
But the Lord Jesus help that Southern Baptist minister who ever started talking politics in the pulpit! You can believe she would be waiting for him at the back of the church to make sure he knew where she stood on the subject of mixing politics with the Bible. I imagine that when she arrived at the Pearly Gates, if St. Peter had said, 'Sorry, you'll have to leave your Democratic Party card at the door,' she would have definitely have stopped and thought about that for a moment. Believe it.
But when William Jefferson 'Bill' Clinton became the 42nd President of the United States of America, I tell you that woman did die and go to heaven for the Inauguration Ball given by Mary Magdalene. She thought Bill Clinton was the greatest thing since canned biscuits! She and her best friend Evelyn Rutledge would talk on the phone for hours about what was happening in Washington and the White House. She loved it every moment of it.
And when she learned that Bill Clinton's favorite pie was a lemon chess pie that his mother made, you better believe that she loved him all the more. I think it gave her a sense of pride that her president was so down-to-earth and from such good country people that he even loved chess pie. And she began to make his recipe.
Now, you can Google 'Bill Clinton's lemon chess pie' and find the recipe on about 326 million sites, so I'm not going to reproduce it here. But, you should definitely make this pie. It is simple, delicious and the perfect end to just about any meal. The lemon, eggs, butter and milk undergo some sort of alchemic transformation, with the cornmeal as the catalyst. Perfection! Now my pie isn't going to win any awards at the State Fair for looks, but I promise you it will get a blue ribbon for flavor!
I remember holidays when the console record player would be covered in pies. Or, if it were an especially large family gathering, there might even be a special table set-up in the cold garage to store the pies and other desserts. Pecan pie (dad's favorite), pumpkin pie, apple pie and more pies. I always loved the pumpkin and she always remembered to make real whipped cream for me to put on top, which I preferred to the more ubiquitous Cool Whip. I was not a picky eater, just a particular one. Ask my mother about rice, if you doubt me.
And chess pie. What the heck is chess pie? It is a simple, country creation, a custard of the most basic proportions. My father gently mocks his younger cousins who remember the wonderful, chess pie their Grandmother Stevenson would make. He says, 'it's just poor people pie.' The pie you make when there is nothing else left in the larder: no fruit, no nuts and no nothing. You may not have anything to make a real good pie, but you certainly have eggs from the chickens that you are storing in a box under your bed. And of course you traded some of those for a little sugar and flour last week when you 'went to town.' The cow will probably give up enough milk for some butter. And if you don't have a tablespoon of corn meal, I'm sure you can probably send one of the kids up the road to borrow some from the neighbor.
That is what separates a chess pie from a regular custard pie. The nubbiness that the cornmeal gives to the custard elevates the filling from merely delicious to sublimely comforting. Of course, you can adorn a chess pie with fruit or whipped cream, but it is best in its simplicity. Why is it called chess pie? No one really know, but there are a million guesses. It has nothing to do with the game, that is for sure. The cutest explanation is when asked what was for dessert, a wife responded, 'jess (just) pie.' Interesting.
While mam-ma enjoyed chess pie, I don't think she liked it anymore than she liked any other pie. Until Bill Clinton became president. What does Bill Clinton have to do with chess pie? Well to start, Lora Mildred Marie Stevenson Whisenhunt Thomas (Mildred to everyone, but Mam-ma to her grandchildren and many other people) was a devout Democrat. Now, when I saw devout Democrat I mean the story is that on her father's deathbed she promised him she would never vote for a Republican. Seriously. Because of the Depression. Likewise, she was a devout Southern Baptist who was at church for a service, program or social more times a week than anyone could ever count. Church supper? She planned it. New Sunday school class? She organized it. Visitors on Sunday? She went by to visit them on Tuesday and invite them back for next week.
But the Lord Jesus help that Southern Baptist minister who ever started talking politics in the pulpit! You can believe she would be waiting for him at the back of the church to make sure he knew where she stood on the subject of mixing politics with the Bible. I imagine that when she arrived at the Pearly Gates, if St. Peter had said, 'Sorry, you'll have to leave your Democratic Party card at the door,' she would have definitely have stopped and thought about that for a moment. Believe it.
But when William Jefferson 'Bill' Clinton became the 42nd President of the United States of America, I tell you that woman did die and go to heaven for the Inauguration Ball given by Mary Magdalene. She thought Bill Clinton was the greatest thing since canned biscuits! She and her best friend Evelyn Rutledge would talk on the phone for hours about what was happening in Washington and the White House. She loved it every moment of it.
And when she learned that Bill Clinton's favorite pie was a lemon chess pie that his mother made, you better believe that she loved him all the more. I think it gave her a sense of pride that her president was so down-to-earth and from such good country people that he even loved chess pie. And she began to make his recipe.
Now, you can Google 'Bill Clinton's lemon chess pie' and find the recipe on about 326 million sites, so I'm not going to reproduce it here. But, you should definitely make this pie. It is simple, delicious and the perfect end to just about any meal. The lemon, eggs, butter and milk undergo some sort of alchemic transformation, with the cornmeal as the catalyst. Perfection! Now my pie isn't going to win any awards at the State Fair for looks, but I promise you it will get a blue ribbon for flavor!Enjoy!
