2-Marion Reynolds King 1893-1958 – King Kitchen (2024)

(Editor’s note: This book was handed down to us by Uncle Sonny King and originally came from Marion Reynolds King, Bee / Momma / Grandma’s mother-in-law. Called“The Chester Cook Book,” it has no date but was published by the Ladies Aid of of the Baptist church in Chester, S.C., a town about an hour north of Columbia.)

(Editor’s note: This small pamphlet was tucked inside a cookbook handed down to us from Marion Reynolds King, the mother of Bob / Daddy / Granddaddy. While today’s story from Bee / Mamma / Grandmatells us about sausage made at home in Round O, this pamphlet was an advertisem*nt for the Institute of American Meat Packers, based out of Chicago.

The pamphlet divides sausage into two main types — “domestic”or fresh sausage, and then “dry” sausage, which indicates a dried and/or smoked sausage “for the emergency shelf and the impromptu late supper, the children’s lunch-box or the automobile hamper.”

Of significant interest is the poem on page 2 titled “Sausage,” written in 1917 by Edgar A. Guest. Enlarge the photo and treat yourself to a dramatic reading; in case you can’t read the words, the first stanza says:

“You may brag about your breakfast foods you eat at break of day,
Your crisp, delightful shavings and your stack of last year’s hay,
Your toasted flakes of rye and corn that fairly swim in cream,
Or rave about a sawdust mash, an epicurean dream.
But one of these appeals to me, though all of them I’ve tried —
The breakfast that liked the best was sausage mother fried.”)

No. 1.

3 quarts popped corn
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup white corn sirup
1 cup water
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon lemon or vanilla

Discard all imperfect kernels and put the popped corn into a large pan. Cook sugar, sirup and water to the medium-crack state (280 degrees F.) Add flavoring and salt. Pour over the corn, stirring with a spoon so that all kernels will be evenly coated. Shape the corn into balls, lay on waxed paper, and wrap in waxed paper.

No. 2.

3 quarts popped corn
1 cup honey
1 cup sugar
2/3 cup water
2 tablespoons butter
1/4 teaspoon salt

Proceed as for No. 1.

(Editor’s note: The cookbooks Bee / Mamma / Grandma kept don’t have any recipes for plain popped corn, but they do have recipes for popcorn balls! The two recipes above are from Bee / Mamma / Grandma’s most well-worn cookbook —and of those two recipes,the second is most probably the older one, since corn syrup did not come into broad use until the early 1900s.

Note that each of the other recipes below from other cookbooks that Bee / Mamma / Grandma and her mother-in-law Marion Reynolds King owned use a variety of different sugars to make the popcorn sweet; the“South Carolina Cookbook” adds vinegar and cream of tartar to keep the sugars from crystallizing.

Do any of you remember making or eating these?)

(Editor’s note: Zoom in to read thisadvertisem*nt from the sponsorship section of“P.T.A. Interpretations of Food,” a cookbook owned by Marion Reynolds King that was published in 1928 and passed along to us — held together with plenty of duct tape — by Sonny King.

It reads: “For Electricity comes to the humble home as well as to the palace … just as clean, just as powerful, just as willing to work. ELECTRICAL appliances have as their sole duty the alleviation of laborious tasks, making of happier homes and better homes. They are ready to do your bidding; sweep the rug, cool the kitchen, cook your dinner, brew your coffee, press your clothes. NO housewife should do work that a little electric motor will do for a few cents an hour; no home is complete without its share of electric servants.”)

1 fryer (1 1/2 to 2 1/2 lbs.)
1 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
Fat for frying

Dress and disjoint fryer. Chill in ice box overnight, if possible. Sift flour and mix with salt and pepper. Pour flour mixture in paper bag and add several pieces chicken to this at a time, to coat chicken with flour. Have 2 inches of grease in large hot frying pan. When all chicken is in, cover for 5-7 minutes. Uncover and turn chicken when underside is golden brown. Cover again for 5-7 minutes, then remove top and cook until bottom side is brown. Reduce heat and cook 20 minutes longer. Turn chicken only once.

FRIED CHICKEN GRAVY
Pour off most of the fat, leaving the brown crumbs. Add a little flour and brown. Add hot water and stir until smooth and thickened. Season with salt and pepper.
MRS. HARRY SALMONS (Rosamond Waring)

(Editor’s note: There is no written recipe for fried chicken among any of Bee / Momma / Grandma’s things. Do any of you know her recipe?

We do have these four fried chicken recipes from cookbooks owned by both Bee / Momma / Grandma and her mother-in-law, Marion Reynolds King. The recipe typed out above is from “Charleston Receipts,” a cookbook put out by the Junior League of Charleston in 1950. The other cookbooks that are scanned in below add the following tips:

The “South Carolina Cookbook,” published by the South Carolina Council of Farm Women in 1953, says that you can season the chicken as described above, or instead beat an egg with a tablespoon of water and dip the raw chicken pieces in that, then roll the pieces in fine dry bread crumbs or corn meal. This book also suggests two methods of frying, one in “shallow fat” (a half inch or more) and the other in “deep fat” (“enough to cover the chicken without overflowing the kettle”). When frying in deep fat, you can use either the egg-and-crumb coating described above or instead make a batter of 1 egg, 3/4 cup milk, 1 cup sifted flour and 1/2 teaspoon salt. The Farm Women also suggest finishing the fried pieces in a “moderate oven” heated to 300 degrees.

Bee / Momma / Grandma’s most well-worn cookbook (the cookbook with no cover so we don’t know its name) adds the clause: “If chicken is not young, parboiling before baking will shorten the cooking time.”

“P.T.A. Interpretations of Food,” a cookbook owned by Marion Reynolds Kings that was published in 1928 and passed along to us (held together withplenty of duct tape) by Sonny King, adds tips on how to cut up a whole chickenandseveral other variations on frying. It says definitively: “Fried chicken is ‘the dish’ of the South. It may be served at breakfast, luncheon, dinner, or supper, for a family meal or for a distinguished guest. It is particularly suited for a picnic, in fact no picnic is complete without it.”)

Heat fresh milk 145 degrees and maintain it at that temperature for 30 minutes. Cool rapidly and handle with care as directed for fresh milk.

Mrs. J. L. Dickinson
President, Donaldsonville P.T.A.

(Editor’s note: This recipe comes to us from a cookbook owned by Bob / Daddy / Granddaddy‘s mother, Marion Reynolds King.“P.T.A. Interpretations of Food” waspublished in 1928 and passed along to us (held together withplenty of duct tape) bySonny King,Bob / Daddy / Granddaddy’s brother.Much of the book concerns the diets of young children, including not only pasteurized milk (misspelled below) and buttermilk, but also “peptonized milk.” If any of you know anything about peptonizing, please leave a comment.)

Opossum

Opossum should be cleaned as soon as possible after shooting. It should be hung for 48 hours and is then ready to be skinned and cooked. The meat is light colored and tender. Excess fat may be removed, but there is no strong flavor or odor contained in the fat.
MRS. W. W. HUMPHREYS (Martha Lynch)

Roast ‘possum

1 opossum
1 onion chopped
1 tablespoon fat
1/4 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 cup bread crumbs
1 hardboiled egg
1 teaspoon salt
Water

Rub opossum with salt and pepper. Brown onion in fat. Add opossum liver and cook until tender. Add bread crumbs, Worcestershire sauce, egg, salt and water. Mix thoroughly and stuff opossum. Truss like a fowl. Put in roasting pan with bacon across back and pour 1 quart of water into pan. Roast uncovered in moderate oven (350 degrees) until tender. (About 2 1/2 hours). Serve with sweet potatoes.
R. O. DIXON

(Editor’s note: Bee / Momma / Grandma says her family never ate opossum, but we can find this recipe in “Charleston Receipts,” a cookbook put out in 1950 by the Junior League of Charleston. The book was a gift to Bee / Momma / Grandma from Marion Reynolds King, the mother of Bob / Daddy / Granddaddy, and a woman who was known to be pretty high-falutin’. Evidently eating opossum with sweet potatoes was a thing!)

3/4 cups shortening
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 1/2 cups sifted cake flour
3 teaspoons all phosphate baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla almond flavoring
1 teaspoon vanilla flavoring
6 egg whites

Cream shortening thoroughly; add sugar graduallly and cream until light and fluffy. Sift to-gether flour, baking powder and salt; add alternately with milk to creamed mixture, mixing well after each addition. Add flavorings. Beat egg whites stiff but not dry and fold into the batter. For a three tier cake three round pans of different sizes are necessary. Double the recipe for the largest and smallest pan. Cover the smallest pan with waxed paper and place in the refrigerator and bake at the same time as the medium cake. Bake the large cake in a slow oven 1 hour and 20 minutes or until well done. For the medium cake make once the recipe again. Bake with the small cake in a slow oven (325 degrees) 1 hour or until done. Frost with Confectioner’s frosting.

Confectioner’s Frosting

6 egg whites
2 pounds sifted confectioner’s sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon almond flavoring
1 teaspoon vanilla flavoring
2 tablespoons lemon juice

Place all ingredients in mixing bowl and beat until smooth and throu hly blended. When cakes are cool, spread each with a thin coating of frosting. After the frosting has hardened, place one cake on top of another on large flat platter. Frost with a thicker coating; allow to harden. If remaining frosting is not stiff enough to hold its shape add additional amount of confectioners’ sugar. Use this for decoration, using a pastry tube or cake decorator. Practice your design, first in inverted layer cake pan.

(Editor’s note: This recipe comes to us from between the pages of “P.T.A. Interpretations of Food,” a cookbook once owned by Marion Patterson Reynolds King, Bob / Daddy /
Granddaddy’s mother. It is old, thin and weathered, and the note penciled in at the top says “Merchants Prize recipe.”)

1 cup milk
1 pint heavy cream
1/2 pound peppermint stick candy, crushed

Heat milk in top of double boiler; add candy and stir constantly until dissolved. Pour into tray of refrigerator and chill. Whip cream until thickened, but not stiff, and fold into chilled candy mixture. Pour back into tray and freeze, with control set at coldest point, until firm. Stir once or twice during freezing. Serve with hot fudge sauce. Serves 6 to 8.

MRS. JOHN LAURENS (May Rose)

(Editor’s note: I don’t think our family ever made home-made peppermint ice cream, but we sure are good at hunting for it at the grocery store! As soon as the manufacturers started rolling it out in November, both Grandma/Momma/Bee and my Mama/Penny would start stocking their freezers. How did it get to be Granddaddy/Daddy/Bob’s favorite? The above recipe comes from “Charleston Receipts,” a 1950 cookbook published by the Charleston Junior League and given to Grandma/Momma/Bee by Marion Patterson Reynolds King, Granddaddy/Daddy/Bob’s mother.)

1 lb. marshmallows
1/2 doz. oranges
1 coconut
Whipped cream

Cube marshmallows and oranges, soak over night. Next day add 1 grated coconut and serve with whipped cream.

Mrs. J.R. Findley
Maxey’s P.T.A.

Note.–Nuts may be sprinkled over the whipped cream if desired.

(Editor’s note: Ambrosia may be the food of the gods, but it ain’t in any of Bee / Momma / Grandma’s cookbooks. This recipe comes from “P.T.A. Interpretations of Food,” a 1928 cookbook owned by Marion Patterson Reynolds King, Bob / Daddy / Granddaddy’s mother. Uncle Sonny passed it along to us this summer in Florida … held together with plenty of duct tape.)

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