* ,
The Heritage Cooking Series
Portland Observer Thursday, August 14. 1979 Page 7
Breaking bread in the Low Country
by P. Elizabeth Wilson*
As the fog began to lift higher and
higher and the sun peered through
the thick clouds, we could see a boat,
tiny in the distance. We knew within
minutes we would sail across 35
miles, northeast o f Savannah, and
break on Daufuskie Island after all.
Daufuskie Island, known for its
deviled crab, is said to be all o f 100
years behind civilization. Even today
you can see ox-driven carts. The
homes o f a large majority o f the 30
or so Black families are built o f logs
and located several miles apart. A
few years ago the people formed the
Daufuskie Island Cooperative, In
corporated and built a fine general
store and adjoining pavilion. It is
here in the pavilion that deviled crab
is prepared and purchased, usually
by the half-dozen, tucked in the
safest o f places and carried away to
be savored at another time. While on
the island, tourists dine on deviled
crab, red rice and cole slaw.
On Daufuskie we had the pleasure
o f talking at length with Ms. Francis
jbnes who is a life-long resident o f
the Low Country. A retired school
teacher, Ms. Jones is an active com
munity leader, a board member of
the C ooperative, and lo vin g ly
revered as the "o ld soldier.”
Ms. Jones related how country
establishments were largely self-
sustaining on the island, that local
specialties served on these tidewater
tables were taken from the family’s
vegetable gardens and rice patch
— o kra, tomatoes, butter beans,
squash and eggplant, and, o f course,
rice. They hunted for deer, coon,
squirrels, rabbits and fished for sea
food that they prepared ‘ ‘ every
which-a-way.” Her favorite cuisine
was stewed cabbage that she still
steams down with a little salt pork.
Thyme, m int, catnip, parsley and
garlic are herbs very common to the
Low Country. Ms. Jones remembers
her grandmother making bread pud-
din’ and cornstarch pie fillin '. She
says they seemed to always have
stone-ground grits and corn and
home-grown rice. Varieties o f
peaches, pears and figs were plentiful
and wines were made from grapes,
plums, blackberries, mulberries and
pears. On holidays, oyster stuffing
was the thing, although rice or corn
meal was sometimes used.
S till prom inent on Daufuskie
Island are some o f the creative crafts
handed down from generation to
generation in the form o f quilting
and basket weaving, in both o f which
Ms. Jones is quite the expert crafts-
person. During the tourist season ar
tifacts exquisitely reflecting Low
Country life styles of yesterday and
today are on display in the island’ s
pavilion.
Across Calibogue Sound, a heavy
fragrance m otionless as though
having lost its way in the air was
fixed above the oven as we entered
the home of Mrs Rosalie Barnwell in
M rs Rosalie B arnw ell of H ilton
Head Island serves a p o ta to pone
th a t co u ld m ake C h ristm a s an
everyday event.
H ilto n Head Island. She had
prepared an e xtravagantly rich
potato pone that she enjoyed during
her childhood much the same as we
enjoy fruitcake today. It was the
Christmas specialty and it was grand.
Potato pone represents one o f the
many imaginative uses found for the
sweet potato decades ago. To this
day, many places in the South, if you
ask for potatoes w ill be served sweet
potatoes. If you want white potatoes
you must say Irish potatoes. Sweet
potato dishes from the Low Country
are simple but distinctive, subtly sea
soned and a welcome change served
with the meal or at dessert.
It’s not just the potato pone, but
H ilto n Head Island its e lf th a t's
grand.
Steeped in h isto rica l
significance, it is alive. With varied
w ild life , lush vegetation and is
favored with some o f the most beau
tifu l beaches in the world. Twenty-
four plantations were in operation
on the island in I860, most ol which
cultivated cotton, but also indigo,
sugar cane and rice. However, for
the past century, the islanders' prin
cipal industry has been shrimping,
oystering and crabbing.
But no matter how you look at it.
Blacks have always been closely as
sociated with the land and the food.
P lanting, p ickin g , creating and
eating. This is especially true o f
Southerners. Though thousands ol
dishes are part of our heritage, w rit
ten recipes for them are surprisingly
rare. Consequently, no cookbook
will suffice. To discover, then, the
wonder o f our food heritage, we
have to meet the people
During the time when Hilton Head
was sim ply that narrow belt ot
land neighboring the Atlantic, the
tides would be used to flood and
dram the fields that Mrs. Nellie
White worked many rains ago When
you see and hear and understand the
DO YOU NEED HELP?
Is the DEVIL working against your home, nature, job, church, money, child
ren, sex, neighbor, health, sick, family, loved ones? Are there demons on
your body or in your home? Have you been in a fix where you cannot keep
or find the RIGHT man or woman? If you need help with any or all of these
problems you should call me NOW!! Tomorrow may be too late!!! Does your
luck pass you by? If so, I have lucky hands to help you be a winner in all
GAMES OF CHANCE Bingo, Reno, Tahoe, Las Vegas, Special, Miami,
Fla., etc.
If you are a spiritual seeker who needs help not promises
"God Gifted" man. I can help you in a hurry.
call me.
strength o f mind w ith which (his
gracious 83-year-old woman says, ” 1
was a farm er," you sense a period o f
well-rounded salubrious living and,
w itho ut hesitation, you f i l l your
bowl with her favorite okra soup.
Our visit was beautiful. We learned
that the slippery quality cooked okra
sometimes takes, liked by some but
disliked by most, can be overcome
and the full and unusual flavor o f
okra enjoyed i f you cook it in a
skillet with some drippings and a lit
tle vinegar, stirring constantly.
We also learned from Mrs. White
and her daughter M rs. Barnwell
about the big iron pots used to make
bennte (sesame) candy; the aroma o f
hot peas cooking (the portent o f
som ething special); grits w ith
oysters, shrimp or fish; hard melon
preserves; the days o f talking pic
tures and o f taking a sail or steam
boat to Savannah to shop. Yes, it
was grand.
If only one memory could be form
ed from our trip, it would be that life
in the Low Country has never been
short on appetite or regional delica
cies to appease it, nor has it been
short o f a family table around which
to enjoy it. Our experience is already
reduced to impressions, encircled
within our personalities and cannot
be pierced even by those voices we
may conjecture to be coming to us or
from us.
W'e hardly have tim e to make
theories about them . What we
have now to do is be forever curiously
testing new opinions and recipes and
courting new impressions— never
yielding to generally accepted views.
GROUND BEEF
H teaspoon cinnamon
H teaspoon ginger
Combine ingredients; mix well.
Pour into 10x6-inch baking dish.
Bake at 360°, 1 hour and 25 minutes.
Serve warm or cold. Six to eight ser
vings.
DEVILED CRAB
3 cups soft bread crumbs
2 6-oz. pkgs. frozen crabm eat,
thawed, drained, flaked
34 cup chopped celery
3$ cup mayonnaise
2 tablespoons finely chopped onion
2 teaspoons prepared mustard
34 teaspoon cayenne
% teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons margarine, melted
From all Chuck
80% Lean
Le» than 20% Fat
DISH ALL
Combine 2 cups bread crumbs,
crabm eat, celery, mayonnaise,
onion, mustard and seasonings, mix
well. Place mixture in six individual
seafood shells or 6-oz. custard cups.
Top with remaining bread crumbs
tossed with margarine Bake at 350°,
30 minutes. Six servings.
Variation: substitute tw o 7-oz.
cans water packed tuna for crab
meat.
Fri«* m dvtfti cenn off label
E-
L__ SMOP
____
lENOW'S
FOR
■ B
BB
R S A N D S
y au lin aw
VARIETIES Vau lih a
SIZES you w a n t
• »411
The Fr^ndlre.l
|
In 1 ,.n
SWEET POTATO PONE
$•«•«« ISOS
4 cups grated sweet potatoes
34 cup packed brown sugar
34 cup milk
34 cup margarine, melted
34 cup dark corn syrup
2 eggs, beaten
1 teaspoon grated orange rind
•
•
•
•
M
1.1 M l l w e w l n .
IS r» • l a » t u r a . M .
I U n 4 » N I •)> •» «
N L s m S a n * a l O r a a la y
S a l a i* » H i l l , P l a i e
I l N a l l d , . i » m
i A t.t. BUrn—R
• 1er» « I I. 0 1.1,1 m
. J J ,» < M l . M e s ,« »
.
. W .,i s .™ ,14.
a l a a . O ,w a a a N I » «
a « l a , CH»
• Oaa e r a . .
aasasMs os v m i i i CAocias
Low C ou ntry cra fts m e n have
been fashioning baskets fo r cen
turies (Photo: H ilton Head Island
Public Library.)
LO V IN G M E M O R Y
Dominic Chris .¿->hnr Joseph
March 14, 1960-August 15, 1978
7 here are always t wo sides, the good and the bad,
The dark and the light, the sad and the glad,
Hut looking back over the good and the had,
H e are a ware o f the number o f good things we 've had.
•I nd in counting our blessings, we fin d when we 're through,
H e've no reason at all to complain or be blue.
So thank Hod fo r the good things he's always done,
.4 nd be grateful to him fo r the battles y o u ’ve won.
And know that the same Hod who helped vou before.
Is ready and willing to help you once more.
hv Dominic 1976 fage 16)
Corn m u ffin tins used by local Black cooks w ere am ong the antiques
displayed in a special e xhibit. R eflections o f Low C ountry Life S tyle s,"
at the H ilton Head Island Public Library (Photo H ilton Head Island
Public Library.)
Your Devoted Family
Peggy, Vernon, Roberta —Washington, D.C.
Randell, Harry, Amelia,
Vernon, Sr. —Portland
J
• provided by Kraft, Inc.
ALLEN TEMPLE CME CHURCH
HUGHES M EM ORIAL UNITED M ETHODIST CHURCH
Corner of 8th and S kidm ore
Sunday School 9:30 a.m.
Sunday Worship 11:00 a.m.
Christian Youth Fellowship 6:00 p.m.
(Second and Fourth Sundays)
REV A U S T IN V HAY, M INISTER
111 N.E. FAILING
Dial A Prayer 284 0684
Worship I I 00 a m
Church School 9 45 a m.
Office 281 2332
Specializing tn
Individual • Slurnaite and kam ilv » G ro u p Therapy
am a
Reverend Thomas L. Stravhand, Minister
The C hurch W h e re N o S tra n g e r Feela S tra n g e
TESTIMONIALS
II Miss Joyce J.W , Portland, OR . was in a fix where she could not
find or keep a good man. I, Rev Hoskins, removed the fix and the jinx from
her NOW she can draw the man of her desire to her like a magnet
2) M r. ft M rs C.P. of C om pton, CA., could not win the BIG one. They
called Rev. Hoskins and Rev. sent them a forsure win blessing money hand.
They went to Las Vegas and their luck kept on coming, winning more than
$16,000
3) Ms. Barbara T., In gle w o od . CA , had a man who left home for
another woman. She called Rev Hoskins with tears in her voice. She want
ed him back!! Now he is back and eating out of her hand.
4) M r Paul. Los Angeles. CA , was in a fix and rooted by this woman.
As a result he lost his nature for other women, but through Rev. Hoskins'
work, Paul regained his nature and became luckier than ever with women,
money and his business.
61 Mrs. O .I.. Long Beach, CA., had demons in her body, and in her
home, causing all kinds of bad luck, and unnatural sickness. She called Rev
Hoskins and in 72 hours her home and body were free of unclean spirits.
(The names in the above testimonies have been changed for the protec
tion of the individual.) I guarantee to do what I say I can do I have a big re
putation to protect.
I know the power of the SPIRIT. Don't put it off Don't let distance keep
you from calling. Call now!!! You will be glad you did. Tell a friend where to
get HELP today
RESULTS GUARANTEED
REVEREND C LA U D E H O S K IN S
553 G LE N V IE W A V E N U E
O A K L A N D , C A L IF O R N IA 94610
TELEPHONE: ( 415) 444 4883
Paid Advertisement
ST. ANDREWS CATHOLIC CHURCH
806 N.E. Alberta Street
Reverend Bertram G riffin, Pastor
281 4429
M asses
5 0 0 p m V ig il
S a tu rd a y
10 00 a m C hoir
Sunday
12 00 p m Folk
Sunday
ST. ANDREW C O M M U N ITY SCHOOL
4919 N E 9th A ve
M o n ta Kelly P rincip al
Phone 784 1620
G rades 1 th ro u g h 8
You are Welcome to Worship at
NEW HOPE MISSIONARY BAPTIST CHURCH
REVEREND A. BERNARD DEVERS PASTOR
THE CHURCH DESIGNED TO MEET YOUR NEED
Sunday School
Morning Worship
Evening Service 2nd. 4th and
5th Sundays
Communion 1st Sunday
W ed
Family Prayer Meeting
and Bible Study
Fndey
Brotherhood
Fellowship Service with
Morning S t,r 3rd Sunday
THE ARK OF SAFETY CHURCH
OF GOD IN CHRIST
9:30a.m.
to 30a.m
"A warm spirit o f fellowship always"
The Honorable Bishop U.V. Peterson, D D.
‘ ‘ The Holiness Preacher," Pastor
7 00 p m.
5 00 p m
7:30p.m.
7 :0 0 p m ,
Prayer and Pastor Phone 281 6476
Church Phone: 281 0163
3725 N. Gantenbein Avenue,! *ortlend. Oregon 97227
Sunday
Sunday School
Morning Worship
9:15 am
,1 :1 5 a m
Showers o f Blessings B roadcast'
KGAR ,560
,1:30 am 12:30 pm
Fvengehshc Worship
Tueaday Friday
BOOpm
Noon b e y Prayer
YMC
SSOfBW
Tuesday
Bible B an d/Jr. Church
Wednesday
Choir Rehearsal
- l!*O«<*Seeal,.
7:30 (
7 00«
7M p
_________
",
*8' OWB
I