Potato Punkin:Take Two!
Sweet memory from the past
Late summer and early Fall on the DeJournett farm west of Dexter brought a harvest of wonderful fresh vegetables from the garden to my mother-in-law's table.
For years, Sundays were "Let's go to Grandma and Grandpa's house."
The food was the stuff of family legends, as everything was raised on the farm.
Reba DeJournett, perfectionist that she was, never fixed just one dish in each category. There were always at least two meats, four or five vegetable dishes, two pies and a cake.
White beans and mashed potatoes were required dishes at practically every meal, but the highlight in the early fall was the potato punkin, which simmered in a large electric skillet on the cabinet, so as to free up the stove for the other items.
I could never resist a peek at this delicacy, impatient for a taste of heaven!
And then there were the pies! Oh, my! I've never known anyone who had pie crust like Reba's! In later years, when she could no longer cook, my father-in-law was able to replicate every dish--except the pies.
She kept a green plastic dish pan in the second drawer of the cabinet. When she was making pies, she took out the pan of flour, made a little crater in the center, added a spoonful of lard or Crisco and some liquid (water, I think), and gently mixed it with her hands.
She never measured; she just knew. Gradually, a soft, perfect ball of pie dough emerged from her fingers. When she rolled it out, there were no flaws, and the flour in the bowl was as clean as if it had just been poured from the bag.
How many times have I tried to replicate that process?
A couple of weeks ago, I was shopping for dog food at Bowman's Milling in Advance, and there--among the decorative pumpkins--was a long-necked striped pumpkin. I hadn't seen one in years.
Nothing would do but I had to buy it, take it home, and see if it tasted as good as it had all those years ago.
It was delicious!
As I savored the sweetness, I thought back through the years to that golden time, when everyone was still alive, children playing in the living room, the family gathered round, telling stories and laughing.
If this story sounds familiar, it should be. I inadvertently deleted the first one, so this new version is for my sister-in-law, Patricia Kay DeJournett Book, who wanted to share it with a friend.
It's the least I can do.
Comments
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