The recipes in this cookbook were collected and assembled in this format as a gift for Georgia and Carl McCain on the occasion of their sixtieth wedding anniversary. The children, in-laws, and grandchildren all contributed their favorites and comments. The collection was compiled and edited by Donna McCain Wilson. As Donna said in the preface, "This recipe collection is an attempt to share the wonderful family recipes and memories that my parents' home created for me, and my siblings and our families". As brother Danny said in the book, "Meal time was one of the great times of fellowship around the McCain household".
Many years ago, an 8-foot table and 10 tall chairs were sold to the McCain Family. That table became the centerpiece of the McCain family for the next 4 decades and a symbol of things that were important to the family. Some of the best southern cooking, slightly influenced by their Cajun neighbors to the south, passed along that long table.
Meals at the McCain household typically included great Meat and Main Dish entrees, multiple Vegetables and Sides, Desserts and Sweets, Breads, Butters, and Jellies, and even "Poor Man's Food". Many of the food sources were home-grown or even the result of hunting successes.
Recipes for Meat and Main Dish entrees include Traditional Favorites (such as Meat Loaf, Smothered Steak, Baked Chicken and Rice, Spaghetti and Meat Balls, Swedish Meatballs, Vegetable Beef Soup), Southern Favorites (such as Chicken and Mushroom Gravy, Shake and Bake Chicken, Smothered Steak, Fried Chicken, Fried Fish), Cajun Favorites (such as File Gumbo, Jambalaya, Shrimp Gumbo, Shrimp and Crawfish Etouffee), Barbeque Favorites (Chicken, Turkey, Brisket, Pork Chops), and unique McCain Specialties (Barry's Saturday Beans and Rice, Jackie's Chicken and Rice, Lasagna by Donna, Mama and Daddy's Sunday Beef Roast with Gravy, Mama's Chicken and Dumplings, PaPaw's Brisket).
Recipes for Vegetables and Sides include Traditional Southern Favorites (such as Dirty Rice, Candied Sweet Potatoes, Cheesy Scalloped Potatoes, Collard, Mustard, or Turnip Greens, Creamy Broccoli, Field Peas, Fresh Green Beans, Fried Okra, Potato Salad, Stewed Potatoes, Rutabagas) and unique McCain Specialties (such as Papa's Food, "Angel" Eggs, McCain Tartar Sauce, Ryan's French Fries, "The Simple Corn").
Recipes for Desserts and Sweets include Traditional Southern Favorites - such as Puddings (Banana, Pineapple), Cakes (Carrot, Chocolate Sheet, Coffee, Fresh Apple, German Chocolate, Hummingbird, Ice Box Fruit, Jelly, Lemon Pound, Mississippi Mud, Strawberry, Upside Down), Pies (Huckleberry, Blueberry Cream Cheese, Chocolate Delight, Chocolate, Coconut, Pecan, Lemon Ice Box, Millionaire, Mississippi Mud, Sweet Potato, Strawberry), Divinity, Fruit Salad, Fudge, Heavenly Hash, Homemade Ice Cream, Fruit Cobblers (Peach, Blackberry, Huckleberry), Peanut Brittle, Cookies ("Boiled", Peanut Butter, Old Fashioned Oatmeal), and unique McCain Specialties (Angie's Strawberry Cake, Aunt Edith's Pralines, Aunt Elaine's Coconut Cake, Jackie's Peanut Butter Pie, Christmas Coconut Balls, Popcorn Balls).
Unique recipes for Breads, Butters, and Jellies are provided for Mamma's Jelly, Banana Tarts, Cathead Biscuits, Cornbread, Cornbread Dressing, Homemade Butter, Hush Puppies, Mayhaw Jelly, Muscadine Jelly, Pie Crust, Strawberry Jelly, and Sunday Afternoon Yeast Rolls.
Recipes are even provided for "Poor Man's Food", many remnants of the Depression Period. As son Danny said in the book, "When it was getting close to pay check time and the cupboards were getting bare, Mamma would reach way back to things she learned in the depression days and become much more creative in her cooking. "Poor Man's Food" includes "Chitlins", Egg Gravy, Hog Head Cheese, Potted Meat and Eggs, Rabbit Hash, Red Gravy and Rice, Squirrel and Rice, and Weenies and Rice.
