Helping Grandma in the Kitchen

 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks : Week 5 - In The Kitchen

This year, 2021, I'm participating in the 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks genealogy challenge from Amy Johnson Crow. 

This week's theme takes me back to my grandparent's kitchen in Roselle, NJ. From Monday through Friday, and sometimes on the weekends, my mother and I had dinner at Grandma and Grandpa Dixon's house. My mother worked, so Gramps took care of me after school. Grandma worked as well, at Singer's in Elizabeth, but her shift ended mid-afternoon, so she made dinner for all of us.

 When people today say they must have huge islands and miles of countertop in their kitchen, I laugh. What you see in these photos is the sum total of ALL the countertop in the Dixon kitchen. To make more room, dishes and the drain board were always dried and put away after every meal. That gave her an extra foot, more or less, of work space while she was cooking.

 And yet, every single day, my grandmother turned out a full evening meal. Meat, starch, veg, sometimes a salad. How did she manage with such a small work space? It was an eat-in kitchen, and she did most of her prep work sitting at the kitchen table. Often while enjoying her pre-dinner cocktail - a shot and a beer. To be clear, one shot of Segrams 7, and one can of beer is the most I ever saw her consume at one time. I never saw her tipsy, but I think after a long shift in a factory, she felt she deserved a treat!

In these photos, I'm around six years old. My "jobs" in the kitchen were setting the table, helping to clear the table after we ate, and drying the dishes. 

There are a few things from this kitchen that I still have and use every day. The stainless steel mixing bowls hanging below the upper cabinets are still going strong. On the counter below them are the aluminum cannisters for flour, sugar, coffee, and tea. Those are in my kitchen as well. It's a bit hard to see in the photos, but there is a glass tumbler that has a very simple and pretty leaf design cut into it that I also still enjoy using. This was Grandma's beer glass. I have her favorite shot glass too, though that gets much less use at our house.

Me and my Gram, Sophie (Karvoius) Dixon, in her kitchen. 1966.

A typical after-dinner scene in my grandparents' home in Roselle.

The lower cabinet next to the fridge had some dry goods. Most of the food storage was in the basement, where my grandfather had built a little pantry under the basement stairs. I was often sent down to get a box of this or a jar of that. The upper cabinets held dishes and serving things. 

I'm standing on a step-stool in front of a cabinet with four drawers. The top drawer was a "junk" drawer, that had a number of useful items, including the only cookbook my grandmother owned. "Meals Tested, Tasted and Approved," from the Good Housekeeping Institute. (Yes, I have that too.) If you want to host a formal breakfast or afternoon tea (Gram did neither) this is the book for you! Interestingly, I don't actually recognize any of the recipes printed in the book as things my grandmother made. She seemed to have used it as a filing cabinet for recipes she clipped from magazines and newspapers. I don't recognize most of those either. She knew how to cook food, and she just did it.

The one item tucked in the book that I do recognize is her recipe for pineapple upside-down cake, which seems to be printed on a calendar page. Here's the recipe:

Pineapple Upside-Down Cake

• 1/3 cup margarine
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 (1 lb.) can sliced pineapple, drained
• Maraschino cherries
• Pecan halves
• 1/4 cups sifted flour
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/3 cup soft shortening
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 egg

Melt margarine in 9-inch square pan. Sprinkle brown sugar evenly over melted margarine. Arrange pineapple, cherries and pecan halves over brown sugar mixture. Mix together flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in bowl. Mix in shortening. Add milk, egg and vanilla extract and blend well. Spoon batter over pineapple. Bake at 350F for 40 minutes or until cake is golden brown and springs back when touched lightly in center. Turn upside-down onto a serving plate, leaving pan on for a few minutes before removing. Serve with whipped cream.

Today we would shun the margarine, and the soft shortening (which was probably Crisco). Also, the Maraschino cherries (red dye!). If she did serve it with whipped cream, it was probably Miracle Whip, or something that squireted out of a can. But those were different times, and working women embraced convenience foods. All I know is that her Pineapple Upside-Down Cake was a family favorite!

Another recipe tucked into the book is from my Grandma Traina, written in her handwriting. It is "A Cake for Abe's Birthday. Pound Cake." Grandma Traina's pound cake was the pound cake by which all other pound cakes were judged. It was really good. I think it's interesting that my Grandma Dixon has this recipe. I don't recall her making this cake. Also, I have no idea who Abe is! So many mysteries!

My Grandma Dixon was a good cook. [So was Grandma Traina!] We never had gourmet meals, but everything was always tasty. Just good food, simply prepared. She made great chicken pot pie, and potato pancakes served with applesauce and sour cream were a special treat. She also, according to the rest of the family, made excellent Clams Casino. I never warmed up to clams, but she always made a few shells for me with just the "Casino" part and I loved that.

My Grandfather also knew a bit about working in the kitchen. When crabs were fresh at the market he would do the cooking. He also made clam chowder. And I suppose when we had a cook out, he manned the grill. He also taught me to make "egg nog," which I've written about previously.