Mother Dear
Lou's maternal grandmother is 91 years old. She is a tiny woman and walks slowly with a cane, but don't be fooled. I wouldn't mess with Mother Dear. Mother still lives on her own in the house she raised all her children in. She is as sharp as ever and doesn't hesitate to tell you how she shot a man who broke into her house and tried to steal her purse. At 91 with 3 grown children, 5 grandchildren and 6 great grandchildren, Lou and I figured we should take Mother Dear out for a nice dinner, but she had other plans.
We showed up to her house in Elberton, GA for a visit, and there was Mother in the kitchen cooking up a storm. I had heard about her fried creamed corn for years from Lou. When I saw she was making it, and she said I could help, I jumped at the chance.
Mother started by cutting the corn off the cobs. She told me the closer you cut, the creamier the corn is. She said, most people don't cut the corn close enough, so they add cream to their creamed corn, but if you do it right, that isn't necessary.
Next was the pan. Mother had an iron skillet which she said, was the pan you have got to use to make fried creamed corn. In it, she had some back fat cooking. She had cooked it until it was extremely crispy, then she removed it from the pan and left some of the fat to combine with the corn.
She put the corn in the pan with the lard from the back fat and let it come to a boil.
Once the corn was boiling it looked like this, and she let it continue to simmer for about 15 minutes stirring it once in a while. The finished product was so good, I think she must have snuck in some other ingredients when I wasn't looking. Corn and back fat fried in a pan tastes like this?
Before we arrived, mother had also made corn bread for us and....
Sweet potato pie!
We also had friend chicken yum!
If you are lucky enough to have a grandparent still alive who has a special recipe, or is just an amazing cook. Don't waste anytime. If you haven't already, cook with them.
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