A couple of weeks ago, I was in the Micanopy area and dropped by the home of Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings. I’ve been a fan of MKR since 7th grade when I first read The Yearling. But did you know she also authored a cookbook? Right there in her kitchen is a first edition, opened at a pecan pie recipe called “Utterly Deadly Southern Pecan Pie.”

I priced a first edition later at a bookstore in Micanopy. It was $100, so I bought a new paperback for $14. I don’t want to enshrine the book; I want to read and use it, get grease spatter on its pages and chocolate fingerprints on the spine. But I digress. As soon as I returned to my camper, I kicked back and read the book cover to cover. What a delight! It has a lot of recipes (some oddball, like Coot Liver and Gizzard Pilau), along with stories similar to those found in her book Cross Creek.
Reading through the collection of MJK’s favorite dishes (©1942), I remembered why I admired this woman. She loved Florida, loved the people, embraced the cultures and regional foods, and shared that affection with the world through her writing. Her recipes used homegrown ingredients, including local game, and all dairy products originated from her cow, Dora.

MKR loved entertaining and used any excuse for a party, including the installation of Cross Creek’s first indoor plumbing at her house. She served most meals on her screened veranda, weather permitting, or in her homey dining room by the fireplace. She believed in the spirit of sharing a meal together, regardless of the menu, and writes: “I have sat down to many a meal of grits and bacon and cornpone in backwoods cabins, that tasted utterly delicious because of the hearty pleasure of host and hostess in having company share their fare.”

Every recipe in her cookbook has been served at her home in Cross Creek. I look forward to trying her recipes for shrimp pilau and carrot souffle, but I’ll pass on alligator-tail steak and jellied tongue. The message of her cookbook, though, is best summed up when she writes that regardless of the food on the table, “the delight of friends and family being together is the thing.”

Reading Cross Creek Cookery has inspired me to reread Cross Creek, too. What an interesting and passionate woman she was!

Diva Cheryl