Grandma's Downhome Recipes REVIEWS and INTROS
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The Original SOLD about 5,000 Copies in the late 1970s. Mom did mostly Flea Markets and Mail Order over the Years.
I always wanted to do More, but she never got it back up to Speed.
As her only Son, with an Autistic Sister I care for.

The Original SOLD about 5,000 Copies in the late 1970s. Mom did mostly Flea Markets and Mail Order over the Years.
I always wanted to do More, but she never got it back up to Speed.
As her only Son, with an Autistic Sister I care for:
I inherited it... and for its 4th Edition... I've Digitized it! I HOPE You really Enjoy it!
Speakers are AI, unless I read the book.

Here. you can Read the Reviews, and hear Audio Readovers of both my Original Forward and the Intro and Book Teribute.

Click PLAY if You see the Audio Player Icon, For REVIEWS.
If NOT... You cannot see Audio Player Inserts. Goto the Bottom of this Page and Click an Audio Link instead.

Headline: “Finally Someone Has Captured Grandma’s Style” By Food Editor - Marie Ryckman

“She not only wrote it, she edited it, typeset it. printed it by photo offset, collated it and cut and bound it herself.”

“The “Grandma,” whose marvelous Kentucky cooking she seeks to keep alive, is really her mother, Malinda Gregory, now 91 and still a queen in the kitchen, cooking with iron skillets and giving that special touch to food that makes a house a home.”

“Not only the recipes, but glimpses of the determination, the reasoning, and the vigorous humor of “Grandma” pervade the book. It could well become a collector’s item. For holiday gift-giving, it is superb.”

Quotes: “ Malinda Gregory lived to be 92 years old, long enough to autograph dozens of copies of cookbooks, written about her, edited, typeset, even bound by her daughter, Betty Chatterton.”

“Mrs. Chatterton decided that she ought to follow her around the kitchen and record exactly what food she fixed and how she made it taste so good. “

“ Grandma’s Down-Home Recipes took almost a year to write and print. As talented as Grandma was in the kitchen Mrs. Chatterton was as ingenious at devising her own methods of printing.”

Quote “The food described is homey, the kind generations of Americans were brought up on. And the text records exchanges between daughter and mother that are universal: the exasperation on the mother’s part because cooking seems so obvious and easy to her, the “stupid questions the daughter might ask, such as “Is that all you do to it?”

Quote: “Mrs. Chatterton originally didn’t intend to publish her notes, including ideas and quotes from her mother who was 91 when the book was published in 1978, or the recipes. They were for her own information. But she realized they might be valuable to others.”

Quote: “After watching her 90- year old mother, still cooking up storms in the kitchen, Mrs. Chatterton concluded these rules of being a good cook.” 1. cook slowly, 2. stay with your cooking, 3. cook in iron skillets when possible, and 4. have wholesome fresh ingredients to begin with.”

.............................................................................................................
Cookbook is Full of Illustrations.

Forward by Tom Chatterton

Grandma in 1978, at age 91, with her at the head of the table,

her grandson, Tom, in the foreground, and Tom’s Aunt Jean

and Uncle Bob on his Dad’s side, visiting from San Francisco;

enjoying a down-home meal, consisting of ground beef

casserole, corn bread dressing, mashed potatoes, green beans,

hot biscuits, pickled beets, sliced cantaloupe, deviled eggs,

peach gelatin, and home-made butter cookies.

FORWARD

About a year ago, my mother decided that Grandma's recipes

and ways of preparing food belonged in a book. This book is a

product of her labor.

I have tasted most of her recipes, which she has collected while

observing my Grandma prepare food. I'm from the pizza and hot

dog generation and boy, I never knew plain old-fashioned food

could taste so good. Today's generation is used to instant pre-

packaged food. Little do most of them realize that simple food is

just as good and not much harder to fix. The stimulation that the

senses receive when steaming hot, home-baked bread is taken out of

the oven, has yet to be experienced by most of today's young

people.

It is quite remarkable how my mother has self-published this

book herself, since she has never written anything before, and on

top of that she printed it herself. She has the printing equipment in

the basement and intends to publish more information books in the

future.

My mother has tasted almost every recipe in the book. The ones

she hasn't taste-tested were eaten before she got a chance.

Grandma has always cooked good food, but it has taken this long

for my mom to catch up.

In this book you will find out how Grandma goes on strong

today, all the way from those Down-Home Recipes in Somerset,

Kentucky.

This book will help bring back to today's generation the old

ways of cooking foods that have made Grandma so healthy and

wise for over 91 years.

I hope you will read the introduction as well, as it is very

informative and you will find every recipe wholesome and just good

old-fashioned delicious.

Tom Chatterton

Portrait of Grandma

A Tribute To Grandma

Melinda Gregory

(My mother)

By Betty Chatterton

I have added this special tribute to my mother in this revised second

edition of Grandma's Down-Home Recipes. The first edition of the

book was printed in 1978, 27 years ago. Along with the addition of

this tribute to my mother, I have added a chapter called Favorite

Holiday Recipes. My mother, referred to as Grandma in this book,

was able to enjoy reading the first edition of the book before she passed away in July, 1978, a month before her 93rd birthday.

I have lately thought of some more interesting facts about my

mother and I am adding them to this second printing of the book.

After all of these years I now realize that I not only was able to

capture her style of cooking but she has given me much more.

She didn't refer to her background very much and I now wish I had

encouraged her to tell me more about her upbringing. I knew that

she was raised in Kentucky, and got married in 1905 when she was

19 years old. As I mentioned in the introduction, she was born in

Crab Orchard, Kentucky in 1886, lived in Halls Gap, Kentucky as a

child and moved to Somerset, Kentucky. She told me a very

interesting story about how she got married. She said it was a drive

through wedding. She and my father drove up to the ministers

house in a horse and buggy. The minister came out and performed

the ceremony as they sat in the buggy and then they drove

away. I couldn't believe it. I said, "That is really amazing. You

had a drive through wedding way back then?"

While living in Somerset, Kentucky, my mother had six children.
The family then moved to Cincinnati, Ohio where I was the

seventh child born. My father died when I was 2 years old and left

my mother with seven children to raise by herself.

She also conveyed to me some of her superstitions. One is

mentioned in the cookbook for the sauerkraut recipe. She said to be

successful she could only make the sauerkraut by the light of the

full moon. She also mentioned to me when I was moving that I

should not move my broom, that it was bad luck. When she came

to live with me she bought an old horseshoe with her and insisted

that I hang it over the inside of my front door for good luck. It is

still hanging over my door.

While I am writing this, another fact just came into my mind as to

what Grandma contributed to my life. Honestly, I have never

thought of this until just now. It even has something to do with

cooking. I just realized that it was my mother's cooking that helped

my husband become more attracted to me when I first met him. It

was during World War II.

I lived near the University where a lot of soldiers were stationed in

training. A girlfriend came by my house and begged me to go with

her to the tennis court at the university to meet a soldier stationed

there. I didn't want to go, but she insisted. She said he had some

classes in Spanish and was asking her for help. She was taking

German, but she knew that Spanish was one of my favorite subjects

and she thought I was the perfect person for him to meet. I

went with her and met this soldier.

We didn't have much time to talk to each other because he had a curfew to be in by 7PM, so I invited him to my house for dinner the next evening. He came for dinner. My mother cooked up a meal

that was so good he raved about it, and said that was the best food
he has ever eaten. I believe the saying is true, "A way to a man's

heart is through his stomach," because he just loved to come and

visit and as often as he could get out. I helped him with his Spanish

when he wasn't eating my mother's food. We came to be good

friends and in a few months he was being shipped out. He had

fallen in love with me, and of course, with my mother's cooking.

He asked me to marry him.

We were married several months later. The war got more

serious and his special training at the university ended. More

infantry troops were needed immediately and he was sent for

training in an infantry division in Tennessee. I went to live in

Tennessee for about 6 months so we could see each other as much

as possible. He was then shipped overseas to Germany. I guess the

Spanish I helped him with didn't do much good. He should have

learned German instead. He came back from overseas a little

disabled but O.K. He was from California and we went to live in

California while he attended college. We later moved back to

Cincinnati. He was disappointed when he realized I couldn't cook

as good as my mother. You know the saying, "Like mother, like

daughter."

We were married for 29 years when he passed away at age 51.

I am certain that our marriage was a success because he still got

to eat my mother's cooking. She invited us to he house at least

once a week for that good-down-home cooking and she visited us

often and took over my kitchen insisting on cooking the meals.

That is why I decided to capture my mother's style of cooking by

writing the first edition of this cookbook, so I could be as good of a

cook as my mother was. I am now 80 years old, and there is still

hope for me yet.

Grandma not only enjoyed cooking but she also had a passion for
gardening. She loved taking care of plants and flowers. Since I

was a small child I can remember she always had plants in the

house and window boxes full of flowers, both inside the window

and in flower boxes outside the window.

She came to live with me when she was 86 and when she wasn't

cooking she was taking care of her flowers which she had in flower

pots on a table in front of the dinning room window. She took care

of them like they were her children. My son was still living at

home and when he tried to sit up late at night, in the living room

chair, which was connected to the dinning room, she would

complain that he shouldn't stay up so late with the light on because

it wasn't good for her flowers to have too much light at night,

especially half of the night. He went to another room to read. I also

observed her watering the plants. She would not use cold water.

She warmed the water because she said cold water was bad for the

plants.

She was especially fond of African violets. She had several

pots of them and took special care of them. Everyone who came

into the house would remark how beautiful the African violets

were. They said they didn't have much luck keeping them in

good shape. I was not as interested in plants as she was. I just

had artificial plants around, even outside. When she thought she

might not live for much longer (she was 92) she started giving her

plants to different relatives who came to visit. She said she knew I

wouldn't keep them watered so she was finding good homes for

them.

I just recently came to the realization of how important the African

violets were. I thought to myself, she was responsible for the last

poem that my late husband wrote before he passed away. He also

loved flowers and he wrote poetry which I am also publishing. He

was inspired to write the poem after gazing at the African violets

sitting in the dinning room window. He wrote the poem just 16

days before he passed away. The poem touched me so much that

when he died I mentioned African violets on his tombstone. Not

only that but when my sister Ruth (an artist) read the poem it

inspired her to paint a beautiful picture of the African violets

sitting in the window.

So, I am not only grateful for my mother's cooking but she also

inspired my husband to write a lovely poem, and my sister to

paint a beautiful painting. Following is a copy of the poem and

my sister's painting on the next page.

Thank you Grandma (Mom).

*Grandma was 91 when this introduction was written by Betty.

INTRODUCTION

This book is a collection of the recipes of Malinda Gregory.

She's my mother, but she's Grandma around the house to my

children, so I mention her as Grandma in the book. Grandma is 91

years old now.* Her early life was spent in Kentucky. She was born in Crab Orchard, Kentucky, lived near Halls Gap, Kentucky as a child and moved to Somerset, Kentucky until age 40 when she moved with her family to Cincinnati, Ohio. These recipes and ways

of preparing food are the same as they used in that region of

Kentucky where she grew up. Most of her cooking is very simple,

without too many uncommon spices, which we usually don't have

on hand. It is not overly spiced, so as not cover up the true flavor of

most food.

Everyone who stepped into her house would just get inside the

kitchen door and their mouths would begin to water. Just going

there gave them an appetite.

She was living alone, after all of her children left home, until age

86. When my husband passed away, she came to live with me, my

son Tom and Daughter Tammy. Since she arrived, our eating

habits have changed. All of our regular skillets have been put away

and we cook with the skillets she brought with her. She claims

nothing cooks good except in iron. Some of her cobbler pies are

baked in iron skillets, although occasionally she does use glass

pans, and the roasts are cooked in an iron chicken fryer with a lid.

We were in the habit of eating TV dinners about once a week.

She said, "You go ahead and eat the TV dinners, I'm going to cook

me some real food." By the time the TV dinners were on the table

Grandma had cooked something really appetizing with wholesome

natural ingredients. She said, "You can have some of my food if

you want." After eating her food I began to wonder why we were

eating TV. dinners, when with a little more time and effort we could

have a really appetizing meal.

She has been doing most of the cooking since she came here

because this is what she enjoys doing and also because she likes

her own way of preparing food.

I can hear in the kitchen now. She's saying, "Where is the

cupcake pan? Tammy puts things away in a different place every

time she washes the dishes. I'm used to putting things in the same

place.

I wondered how come Grandma could cook so good and I never

learned how until just recently. I did live at home for 20 years and

she did the cooking. I think I know why. Grandma monopolized

the kitchen. When I was very young I can remember trying to bake

a cake and messed up everything in the kitchen, besides I wasted a

lot of supplies. We were very poor and couldn't afford to waste

food with my learning. Anyway, she liked to cook and didn't want

anyone m the kitchen. I cooked for years not being able to eat my

own cooking. Oh, some people said there was nothing wrong with

my food. They thought it was quite good, but they hadn't tasted

Grandma s. Why, she could come to my house, warm over my

leftovers and they would taste better than when I served them I

think I know me trick now. She probably cooked all the soup out of

the vegetables and if they were canned, cooked them a little longer

added bacon drippings or other seasoning, maybe onions and more

salt and pepper.

Grandma is young and vigorous at 91,1 know they say longevity

is usually inherited, but diet could be a contributing factor since it

is said, "We are what we eat."

One day I thought, maybe I could find out how Grandma cooks

such good food. With her 91 years of eating good wholesome food

and cooking for maybe around 80 years or longer, I thought she

must have a wealth of information about cooking that should be

passed on to future generations. The answer was to make this cook

book If nothing eke it would serve the purpose of providing help

for the person who has to cook for her, probably me, when she is

unable to cook. When she was ill a few years ago, no one

could prepare food that she could eat.

On occasion she does prepare food from a recipe book or the

recipe off the box. She also uses some canned and packaged

food when she's in a hurry she bakes a packaged cake mix. What

really grabs me, is when she does use a written recipe, she can

prepare the same recipe and come out with something exceptional

than when I prepare it. I know how she does it now. In the process

of preparing the recipe, she changes a few things. She says, "That's

a little too much butter, or "That should be a little more flour."

Even cake mixes. They don't usually call for flavoring added, but

she always adds flavoring, mostly vanilla. She says, "I can't stand

that artificial flavoring they use. Why can't they use real flavoring

instead of that artificial stuff? She also adds ingredients. Just the

other night she made a cake mix. We had some candied pineapple

left over from Christmas fruit cake. She said, "This is going to

waste, I'll put it in the cake mix." She did. The cake was heavy

and it kept the cake from rising. I thought, "Oh, Grandma has made

a flop." She put icing on it. I tasted it. I thought, "I must be

mistaken. Any cake that looks so bad couldn't taste this good." I

ate another piece. Sure enough, it was delicious. So even her

recipes that don't turn out the way they are supposed to are usually

better than average.

This book hasn't been an easy task. I started out with just asking

her what is the recipe for this or that. "Well," she said. "I don't

need a recipe for what I cook. It's just plain old food. I did have an

old recipe book for making some special cakes and pastry, but I

don't know what happened to it. It got lost in the process of

moving here. The ingredients just come natural to me." The only

way I could find out the way she was cooking something was to

follow her around in the kitchen and estimate as close as I could the

measurements for the ingredients. On some recipes like the fried

apples, she did give me a full explanation with the attitude of,

"Doesn't everyone know how to peel apples and put them in a

skillet and fry and them?" There's nothing to it." There may be

nothing to it but the first time I tried it they didn't turn out.

After observing Grandma, I came up with the following answer to

her success.:

What makes a good cook:

1. Cook Slowly

2. Stay with your cooking.

3. Cook in iron skillets when possible.

4. Have wholesome fresh ingredients to begin with.

Most of the recipes included in this book are from memory and

are written the way she made them that particular day and for the

number of people she was cooking for. Another day the recipe may

have been a little bit different, but basically the same. These are not

all of the foods she eats, because she does use canned, frozen or

packaged food. There are enough in each category to give

something wholesome and some down-home taste added to improve

and mix with other canned foods and intermingled with other

recipes that can be found in the regular cookbook.

Betty J. Chatterton

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r:
I inherited it... and for its 4th Edition... I've Digitized it! I HOPE You really Enjoy it!
Speakers are AI, unless I read the book.