Cookbook tells one Central Texas family's food history Posted On: Wednesday, Apr. 16 2008 02:51 AM By Natalie T. Hull
Killeen Daily Herald

Three years ago, my mother, Jo Anne Bell Hull, embarked on a genealogy project with a special twist. Instead of looking through Bibles for births and deaths, she looked through recipe boxes for breads and desserts. She recently self-published a cookbook all about the food history of our family.

While the cookbook, 106 pages bound in a black three-ring binder, contains many of my family's culinary secrets, it also contains the secret to my family's culture as Mom sees it:

"We eat Jell-O as salad and fry our steak. Pecans grow in our front yards. Some of us hunt and kill for food. We have special plates for deviled eggs. ... We never meet a stranger. We are Texans."

Mom says we came here in the early part of the 20th century from Arkansas and Tennessee, following good soil to grow cotton. My maternal grandmother, Martha Clayton Bell, has traced us to Scotland and Northern England. Our names – Bell, Clayton, Huff, Hull, McClung, Norris, Spruell, Wilkes and Wright – have been heard in the area for generations.

We call Hubbard, a small town 30 miles east of Waco, home and meet there many times throughout the year to share food and stories. My mom believes that our family's culture is in the food we eat. Mom isn't a professional writer; she is the oldest of six children who grew up cooking (she was once named Betty Crocker Homemaker of the Year). She loves food and she loves feeding her friends and family.

Through her research, Mom narrowed things down pretty far. She decided the family's culture is defined as "cornbread cuisine." She must be on to something because the cookbook, titled "Cornbread Cuisine: Our Family's Food History" contains at least nine cornbread recipes, including everything from broccoli cornbread to Southern cornbread dressing.

As the next generation, I cherish this cookbook. Once during the cold days of February, I craved my mother's goulash so bad it almost brought tears to my eyes. Luckily, I had the cookbook and was quick to make the comfort food that helped me pass a blustery winter evening. Of course the recipe wasn't made for one, so it basically helped me pass a blustery winter week.

Until that evening, the cookbook had been a nice family heirloom of sorts. Now, I look through it for ideas on easy stuff to cook when I have a free evening or need to take a dish somewhere.

The words of culinary wisdom found inside cannot be surpassed: "Gravy is NOT a beverage!"

The book tells a fun story about family members I see often and some I've never met.

One of my favorite recipes in the cookbook, Aggie Orange Juice, is actually a story about my uncle Frank. Apparently, while he was studying at Texas A&M University, he spent some time with my parents during the holidays. He wanted to make frozen orange juice one morning and the directions said to fill three cans with water.

"I only have one can," he said.

Stories like that, about my relatives before I knew them, are mixed in with the recipes and make for a great read while I'm waiting for water to boil or onions to saute.

There are many recipes I remember while growing up and many I've never seen before. "Egg in the middle of toast" is a meal in the book that I still make. Some call it Toad in the Hole, but we are a pragmatic family who says it like it is. Plus, it just sounds more appetizing.

What I love most about the cookbook is how Mom approached gathering the recipes. Marriages and divorces didn't matter: If you brought food to our table, you could be included.

She took her laptop to my paternal grandmother's house, even though my parents divorced more than 20 years ago. Bernice Bennight Hull and my mother have an amazing relationship centered around my brother, me and food, despite the divorce so long ago.

She used boxes of recipes from great-grandmothers and their in-laws. Even my newly married cousin's wife has a recipe or two in the book. I might also add that my name pops up a couple of times, just showing that our culture is growing with each generation.

Mom notes in the cookbook that many foods were either so simple or cooked so often that they were made from memory or instinct. Those, she said, were the hardest to re-create. She tested many of the recipes in the book and tried to determine the correct ingredients and amounts needed.

"We don't have distinctive native foods," Mom says in the cookbook. "Food in the twentieth century, for our kind, was fairly plain – paprika was about as exotic as the seasonings got. Bacon grease, cream of mushroom soup and Velveeta cheese were the standbys."

For those interested in making their own cookbook, Mom says it is pretty simple once you get all of your recipes typed out. She found software online that helped style the book into cookbook format. A quick Google search for "cookbook software" leads you to www.livingcookbook.com and www.cookspalate.com. Both sites say they are affordable. Mom says her software cost $30. Also, www.cookbookpeople.com has a blog area with different tips for writing a family cookbook.

Mom used a small Dallas publisher to print the pages, but any print shop will work. A few binders and a color photo for your cover and you're done. You might want to have someone look over the text for typos and such before you print out numerous copies. It helps if you have a daughter who is a journalist, but not everyone can be that lucky.

Have fun with it and your family will too.

Contact Natalie T. Hull at nhull@kdhnews.com or call (254) 501-7442