Miss Lizzie's Gift

Just when I thought my Nana’s Hoosier Cabinet had given up all the posthumous love she had left to offer, Miss Lizzie has outdone herself yet again. You may remember my recent post about the Stickies. If not, do yourself the favor and read it now. We’ll wait:-)

As mentioned in that earlier post, the Hoosier was the dearest piece of her that I had left. Since her passing all those years ago, the old cabinet has delivered more unexpected hugs than I ever could have imagined. But until the other day, I had no idea there was yet more to uncover.

Maybe I mentioned that I have an obsessive problem with cookbook collecting. (If I told you how many of those things I own, you would be conspiring with my family to intervene.) In that vein, I vaguely remember cleaning out the Hoosier when it came home with me, lifting a few of Miss Lizzie’s handwritten recipes and her precious hardcover volume of The Crisco Cookbook out of the contents and then taking the rest of the “pile of papers” and placing them in an old peach basket on the top shelf of my kitchen cabinet - because if it resembles a cookbook, I do not throw away.

Still, I was very young. The recipes were very old. They mentioned things like wood stoves and lard. Why bother? Put them on the top shelf and forget it.

The contents of the peach basket were old then, and positively ancient now. And during all that time, I would lift up the basket and dust underneath on the (extremely) rare occasions when my ambitions made it to the top shelf of the kitchen cabinets - but never did I bother to sift through the contents.

All of that changed over the weekend.

Out came the basket, and I spread the fragile contents across my dining room table, curious to see what had been so important that it was worth saving in my grandmother’s day.

The gorgeous old graphics were the first things to catch my eye. The little die-cut booklet from Dixie Crystals Sugar was charming from front to back.

And Wesson Oil’s 1924 “Salad Time” cover is almost frame-worthy.

The best news, however, came when I opened these little beauties. They are absolutely packed with recipes that I’m going to try - and share with all of you. First up is a recipe for an old Southern favorite - Caramel Cake. The people at Snow King Baking Powder gathered prize-winning recipes from women all across the South, had them chef-tested, and then published them in this little volume.

Miss Lizzie’s copy was even autographed on the inside cover by Louise P. Lillard, president of the company (and this in a day when women had only recently gained the right to vote).

Imagine the immense pride felt by Mrs. H. H. Hagan of Lebanon, Tennessee when not only her recipe but her photograph appeared in this booklet, which bears many more recipes and photographs from Southern women and their culinary triumphs.

I’ll be trying Mrs. Hagan’s recipe for Caramel Cake, along with many of the others in all of these beautiful reminders from the kitchens of our grandmothers. Keep an eye peeled for the posts on this page.

Meanwhile, I have a date with Miss Lizzie’s cookbook collection, dancing back across the decades to recreate the same dishes she placed on her table a hundred years ago. Not only will the old Hoosier be there to keep me company, but something tells me she will be there as well.

Photos by Beth Yarbrough.