The (possibly questionable) story of the late-1970s “Grannie’s Goodies from Somerset County” cookbook is that the residents of the Tawes Nursing Home in Crisfield complained about the food so much that the director asked for recipes, which were later compiled into the book. In the books’ preface, the nursing home’s activity director and compiler of the book, Becky Blizzard, simply stated that it was a fundraising project to buy a minibus. Whatever the circumstances, this book was a happy find for me at the Pratt Library. A second edition, “Tawes Home Cookbook #2,” was produced a few years later and sold well enough to go into a second printing.
“Grannie’s Goodies” contains the selection of recipes you would expect from nursing home residents in the 1970s. Salad recipes include a gelatin-bearing 7-Up salad with marshmallows. A recipe in the book for cold oven pound cake was later reprinted in syndicated newspaper columns. Tomato aspic makes an appearance. But of course, no Eastern Shore cookbook would be complete without nods to tradition. There’s “Smith Island Oyster Stew” from a Julia Tyler (Tyler is a common family name on Smith Island, dating back to the 17th century.) There are multiple recipes for Diamond Back Terrapin, and one for muskrat. One recipe, for “Dredge Boat Hash” states that it came from Jack and Joe Sterling, “two black ship cooks whose home was in Lawsonia.” That information alone is more than most cookbooks offer up on African-American recipe sources.
Elizabeth Watson Hall contributed several recipes to the cookbook. One is a 1880s recipe for her grandfather Captain Leonard S. Tawes’ clam chowder. Another is for her mother Naomi Tawes Hall’s gingerbread.
Elizabeth Hall’s grandparents, Capt Leonard Smith Tawes and Mary Ellen Lawson Tawes with Elizabeth’s mother, Naomi Tawes Hall at center. Findagrave.com
Hall was born in Crisfield in 1918. After earning her masters of social work at the University of Pennsylvania, she returned to the Eastern Shore and eventually served as the Somerset County Director of Social Services for 30 years. In retirement, she pursued her interests in antiques and history. When she died in 1999, memorial donations were directed to the Somerset County Historical Trust and the Children’s Home Foundation – two organizations she had been involved with.
Of Elizabeth Hall’s recipes, I may have made one of the less interesting, “Pocomoke Lace Cookies.” These are pecan lace cookies with the affordable and tasty use of oats instead of pecans. I loved them.
I don’t know why Hall renamed the cookies “Pocomoke Lace,” but it does have a nice ring to it. Perhaps she just wanted to honor the river at the bottom of Maryland’s Eastern Shore. I’ve canoed on the peaceful, dark and deep Pocomoke river and highly recommend the experience, just as I recommend these cookies.
Recipe:
- 1 stick butter
- 1 Cup sugar
- 1 Cup raw quick oatmeal
- 2 Tablespoons flour
- .5 Teaspoons baking powder
- 1 egg
- 1 pinch salt
Place a sheet of aluminum foil on the cookie sheet. Drop batter by teaspoon on foil. Bake in a 350° oven until golden brown. When cookies are done, remove foil from pan and leave cookies to cook on it. Place another sheet of foil under the next batch.
Recipe from “Grannie’s Goodies from Somerset County,” by the residents of the Alice B. Tawes Nursing Home in Crisfield
