Down-Home and Delicious

Southern Living, Jan 2005 by Sunée, Kim

The comfort food you love is easy to fix. This inspiring Carolina cook will make a believer out of you.

Mildred Council settles down into a rocking chair next to mine and takes a deep breath. Mama Dip, as she is known, is more than 6 feet tall, and her long legs stretch out into the late morning sun. The owner of Mama Dip's Kitchen in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, is without pretension. You would never guess that she's a best-selling cookbook author and a community role model.

As a child, Mama Dip was so tall, she had to dip over to get water from the water barrel-hence, her nickname. Today, she expends considerable energy nurturing those around her and supporting the community. As she talks about her causes, Mama rocks slower or faster depending on her mood.

"Mama's a real activist," explains Spring, her youngest daughter. "She even started her own version of Meals-On-Wheels in the 1970s-delivering hot packaged dinners around the neighborhood to the housebound, to those who couldn't afford electricity, and to kids who had no adult supervision."

Mama Dip's Philosophy

The idea of the restaurant or table as the new community center is definitely evident here. This is a place where you talk about things-life, love, forgiveness, and family-and this is what Mama wants to talk about. "People come to my restaurant," she says, "to fight loneliness."

Mama makes it a point to talk with her 40 employees and her customers, even about the most mundane things. "The restaurant pays my bills," she says, "but more importantly, gives the comfort of human relationships."

Feel-Good Food

Mama's customers are loyal and many. They come for her trademark comfort cooking. One regular, Miss Edith, often orders the same thing four or five times a week. The menu, which includes fried chicken livers, corn pudding, stewed tomatoes, and chicken and dumplings, hasn't changed much in years. It doesn't really differ from what Mama Dip liked as a child. "Nobody taught me to cook," she says. "I just wanted to do it. And that's all it takes."

Mama emphasizes the importance of listening to our children. "Not everyone can cook or be a doctor. There are wonderful jobs in between these two extremes. We need to ask children what they want and let them find the unique aspect of his or her talent. A child can feel inside what he wants to be. When I was 3, I knew I wanted to cook."

About Happiness

"We were dirt poor but didn't know it. Poor meant skinny in size, not economic. It was about survival-growing up, we had no notion of poverty. That's modern. We had pretty dresses when we went to church," she says.

"I feel rich today, and when I hear people come to me and complain about their life or so and so who makes their life miserable, I say to them, 'You got shoes on your feet? You got food to eat? Then what are you complaining about?'"

Mama sits back and rocks, full sunlight warming her skin and brightening her eyes. It's almost lunchtime, and the dining room has filled with regular customers waiting for a kind word from Mama, a nod of complicity, and reassurance that home will always be here, at her table.

Associate Foods Editor Mary Allen Perry has always loved Mama Dip's ability to render great flavors from simple and good ingredients. For this story, Mary Allen tested and adapted some of Mama's favorites from her book, Mama Dip's Kitchen (UNC Press). Visit her Web site at www.mamadips.com.

CHICKEN PUDDING

MAKES 10 TO 12 SERVINGS

PREP: 30 MIN., COOK: 1 HR., BAKE: 55

MIN., STAND: 10 MIN.

1 (5-pound) whole chicken

4 carrots

4 celery ribs

1 large onion, quartered

1 ½ teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon pepper

6 tablespoons butter

1 tablespoon chicken bouillon granules

1 teaspoon poultry seasoning

¼ cup shortening

2 cups self-rising flour

¾ cup milk

3 large eggs, lightly beaten

1 cup coarsely crushed saltine crackers (about 24 crackers)

1 tablespoon butter or margarine, melted

COMBINE first 6 ingredients and water to cover in a large Dutch oven. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat; reduce heat, and simmer 1 hour or until tender. Remove chicken and cool.

POUR 6 cups broth through a wiremesh strainer into a large bowl, discarding solids. Reserve remaining broth for later use. Whisk 6 tablespoons butter, bouillon granules, and poultry seasoning into strained broth until smooth. Set aside to cool.

CUT shortening into flour with a pastry blender or fork until crumbly. Add milk, stirring just until dry ingredients are moistened. Spread dough to a ½-inch thickness on a lightly greased baking sheet, forming 1 large hoecake.

BAKE at 400° for 25 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on wire rack; break into pieces.

SKIN, bone, and coarsely chop chicken. Layer chicken and hoecake pieces in a lightly greased 13-x 9-inch baking dish. Whisk together chicken broth mixture and eggs; pour evenly over chicken and hoecake pieces.

STIR together cracker crumbs and 1 tablespoon melted butter; sprinkle evenly over top of chicken mixture.

BAKE at 375° for 30 minutes or until golden brown and set. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.