Melissa Edmondson

“All of my daddy’s family say that I cook more like my Mamaw Altha Morgan than anyone else in the family,” and that’s why Melissa Edmondson says she always get the task of making the dressing for family gatherings.
“I made my first chicken and dressing when I was 12 years old.  And when I make dressing, I make it in a very large dishpan to feed an army,” saying that’s the way she learned from her mamaw.
“She always stirred her cornbread and her dressing by hand. She said hands were made before spoons and we always said that was why her food tasted so good,” she said, “I use a spoon,” she added.

Her mamaw cooked her vegetables adding three Tablespoons of sugar, three Tablespoons of oil and a teaspoon of salt, and that’s how Melissa cook her vegetables, too.
Hamburger Hash is something her mamaw always cooked.  Melissa’s cousin, Mark Hendrix, calls her sometimes and asks if she will make him “Hamburger Hash like Mamaw’s.”
“I have been cooking for as long as I can remember. I looked on and was always around in both of my grandmother’s kitchens. When my mother and father both worked long days and into the night at the cotton gin, I did all the cooking,” she said. One of the things she made for them was the Swiss Steak.

“I guess if there is one thing that I am asked to bring to family gatherings or special events, it’s my Lemon Ice Box Pie,” she said.  She learned this from her grandmother, Rena Mae Barton, and her mother, Ann Morgan.
She says it’s really no different than your usual lemon pie except for the vanilla wafer crust.
“That is what makes my lemon pie! My brother-in-law remarked at Thanksgiving, ‘What, no lemon pie and it’s Thanksgiving?’”
She promised he would have one at Christmas.

Another dish Melissa cooks that some folks have never heard of or eaten, is Fresh Irish Potato (new red) and Dumplings.  She says it is made just like chicken and dumplings.
“You just use new red potatoes hand-scraped and boiled instead of using chicken. Make your dumplings with this liquid instead of chick broth.”
This was something else she learned from her grandmother Barton.

In preparing for the annual Sweet Potato Cooking contest, “I guess I look at all recipes and wonder if that particular recipe could be made with sweet potatoes.  If so, I try it out.  This is an on-going thing,” said Melissa.
“I used to always have a garden in which I canned and put up vegetables in the freezer.  I loved my garden and I love to cook and try out new recipes, but since we started our own potato packing warehouse, my time at home is limited.”
But even so, she will sometimes cook a full course meal at the warehouse using a small conventional oven, microwave, two-eye hot plate and a crockpot.

Mamaw’s Hamburger Hash
1 ½-2 lbs. ground beef
1 large onion, chopped
Salt to taste
Black pepper to taste
Sage to taste
Red pepper to taste
Flour to thicken and absorb excess grease
Place ground beef and chopped onion in a large boiler and cover with water. I add enough salt to the water until it is salty enough to my taste. Bring to boil, reduce heat to medium and boil until water is cooked completely away. Add black pepper, sage and red pepper. I like a lot of sage and black pepper with just enough red pepper to give it a good flavor but not too hot. Serve with vegetables or by itself with crackers.

Lemon Ice Box Pie
Crust:
1 box Nilla brand Vanilla Wafers, crushed
1 stick butter, melted
I pour vanilla wafers (save enough whole wafers to line edges of pie dish) into a gallon ziplock bag and crush with rolling pin. Pour crushed wafers into a bowl and pour melted butter over them (saving just enough melted butter to dip whole wafers in).  Stir until mixed well.  Pour into pie dish and pat around on the bottom.  Line whole wafers around edges of pie plate. Place in oven and bake at 350° until lightly brown.  Remove from oven and set aside until filling is prepared.
Filling:
1 can Eagle Brand Milk
½ cup lemon juice
3 egg yolks, beaten
Pour Eagle Brand milk into bowl. Add lemon juice and stir well.  Beat egg yolks in small bowl. Add 2-3 tablespoons  Eagle Brand milk and lemon juice mixture to beaten egg yolks and mix well.  Pour this over into the Eagle Brand milk mixture and stir until well blended.  Pour pie filling over pie crust.  Top with meringue and bake until meringue is lightly brown.
Meringue:
3 egg whites
¼ teaspoon cream of tartar
6 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
Beat egg whites and cream of tartar in glass bowl until stiff peaks form. Add sugar, 2 Tbsp. at a time. Add vanilla until mixed well. Pour meringue over lemon filling.

Biscuit Pudding
10 biscuits, cooked
4 cups milk
6 large eggs, well-beaten
2 ½ cups sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 sticks melted butter
Crumble biscuits into large baking dish.  Mix remaining ingredients and pour over biscuits.  Stir to mix.  Bake at 400° for 20-30 minutes or until done. (I like to take out of oven when center is still a little jiggly. It is too dry if you cook too long.)

Utterly Deadly Southern Pecan Pie
½ (14.1 oz.) package refrigerated pie crust
1 Tbsp. powdered sugar
4 large eggs
1½ cups firmly packed light brown sugar
½ cup butter, melted and cooled to room temperature
½ cup granulated sugar
½ chopped pecans
2 tablespoons all purpose flour
2 tablespoons milk
1½ teaspoons vanilla
1½ cups pecan halves
Preheat oven to 325°.  Fit pie crust into 10” cast-iron skillet. Sprinkle with powdered sugar. Whisk eggs in  large bowl until foamy. Whisk brown sugar and next six ingredients. Pour mixture into crust, and top with pecan halves. Bake at 325° for 30 minutes. Reduce oven temp to 300° and bake 30 more minutes.  Turn oven off and let pie stand in oven with door closed for 3 hours.

Swiss Steak
2 round steaks
1 large onion, sliced
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1- 2 tablespoons worcestershire sauce
Black pepper
In a large crockpot, place one steak. Sprinkle black pepper.  Place layer of sliced onions, spread half of can of cream of mushroom soup, add worcestershire sauce. Repeat layer with second round steak, onions, soup and worcestershire sauce. Cook on low heat overnight.

Chicken & Wild Rice Soup
2 small onions, chopped
2 cups carrots, shredded
10 cups water
2 packages Uncle Ben’s fast-cooking long grain and wild rice
2 packages broccoli spears, frozen, 10 oz. chopped
4 cups chicken, cooked and chopped
1 pound Velveeta, cubed
2 cans cream of chicken soup, 10 ¾ oz. cans
Saute onions and carrots in lightly greased Dutch oven five minutes. Add 10 cups water and seasoning packets from rice, broccoli and chicken. Bring to boil and stir in rice. Reduce heat, cover and cook five minutes.  Add cheese and soup, stirring constantly until cheese melts.  Sticks easily. Freezes well.  (This is a double batch)