Mrs. Edward Z. Watson “disclaim[ed] any fame as a cook,” said a profile in the Afro-American in 1958. The article described the vivacious teacher, seamstress, and mother of two as a “party girl,” who “not only adore[d] going to parties but [was] not adverse to giving them either!”
They shared her cake recipe using “many of the newest methods,” including a MixMaster mixer. The title of the feature was “Mrs. Edward Watson makes the highest cake you’ve ever seen.”
Afro-American, 1958
The light and fluffy cake could be served a variety of ways. “For the chocolate frosting I use the recipe right on the Hershey can,” Watson declared. She also confessed to using ready-mix caramel icing. But Bernice Watson’s cake is no lazy feat. With egg whites beaten separately and folded into the batter, plus a seven-minute icing made over a double boiler, the cake requires plenty of attention and generates a fair amount of dirty dishes.
I just had to make it – particularly the coconut variation, which Watson would flavor with “lemon or almond” flavoring. (I used the latter.) I couldn’t find the canned style of coconut that she preferred, and I’m not skilled at cooked icings, but the recipe did indeed turn out a tall, light delightful cake.
“Sometimes I scarcely think it’s worthwhile. A big beautiful cake now. A few hours, no cake at all,” Watson sighed in 1958.
She was born Bernice Calverta Francis in Philadelphia in 1922, the granddaughter of a Sharp Street Methodist reverend, McHenry Jeremiah Naylor. After attending high school in Baltimore, and Coppin State Teacher’s College, she went into teaching at Baltimore City schools.
Along the way, she married fellow teacher Edward Z. Watson, who would serve a full career at BCPS as a teacher and later as an administrator.
Like many local history enthusiasts, I follow the social media of Evan Woodward, a.k.a. SalvageArc, who digs into forgotten privies in Baltimore and beyond, unearthing the pottery shards, bones, bottles, and other non-biodegradable relics that people once threw into their privies. (The you-know-what and any other gross organic matter have all turned into dirt at this point.) I really regret that I didn’t know about his work when I lived in a c.1880s rowhouse!
A while back, one of the items Woodward unearthed was an intact bottle with the name “A. Vogeler” on the side. I immediately recognized a connection with a cookbook in my digital collection, “The Chas. A. Vogeler Co’s Cookery Book And Book of Comfort & Health,” printed in Baltimore in 1896.
I’m sure I have mentioned here before, but older cookbooks often contain medical remedies. In the times before over-the-counter medicine was commonly available, it fell on the lady of the house to manage any poultice or formula needed to cure the ailments of the members of her household. Remedies found in my collection span the gamut from “Recipe for Hair Tonic” to “Cure for Cancer.”
I can’t imagine how stressful this must have been. It’s no wonder that people were all-too-happy to turn from home remedies to sometimes equally questionable tonics, salves, and cure-alls peddled by pharmacists and “snake oil salesmen.”
The books that got me curious about Maryland food were not Maryland cookbooks, strictly speaking. This cookbook set had been a constant in my household growing up, and I never thought of them as regional at all, despite the “Southern” in the name.
On my mother’s kitchen bookshelf they served as a source of inspiration and reference. Everything we could need was in “The Southern Heritage Cookbook Library.” When, as a child, I wanted to try and make cheesecake. We turned to the “Just Desserts” volume which gave us a decadent cake with mounds of cream cheese and sour cream, seven eggs, and which required about five hours in the oven.
That cake became an annual birthday tradition for me and it was what eventually led me to discover the concept of “Maryland food.” Feeling nostalgic in my 20s (and wanting to impress my friends), I borrowed “Just Desserts” for that cheesecake recipe. Thumbing through the book I noticed all of the information – illustrations, ephemera, anecdotes. I fell in love with this cookbook in a new way, and I began to acquire copies of the entire series for myself.
Illustration from “All Pork”
Eventually, I noticed various recipes with names like “Old Maryland Baked Ham,” “Maryland White Potato Pie,” and “Maryland Fried Chicken.” Aside from feeling surprised to see Maryland in a cookbook dedicated to the South, I was surprised that Maryland had any food tradition outside of crab cakes. Some of these dishes were unknown to me. I had to try them for myself. And maybe… blog about them?
So here we are.
The Southern Heritage cookbook series was first published in 1983 by Oxmoor House (Southern Living Magazine.) My mother remembers it as a subscription – one book a month for 19 months (the 19th is a master index to the entire book set). Copies of any of the books can now be found cheaply online, or occasionally in thrift stores or Book Thing in Baltimore.
Several of the cookbooks (e.g. “Company’s Coming,” “Sporting Scene,” “Breakfast & Brunch”) take a menu-based approach, listing a sample menu with the story behind them.
menu in “Company’s Coming” volume
For example, “Maryland Garden Pilgrimage Luncheon” features:
Old Durham Church Crab Cakes
Green Peas with Spring Onions
Cold Slaw
Jubilee Rolls
Maryland Fudge Cake
Glazed Strawberry Tarts
The “Cakes” book or “Plain and Fancy Poultry” might include recipes but also instructions on icing a cake or trussing a chicken, respectively.
Basically, they were the only reference I needed throughout my 20s, right up until I decided I wanted to, say, try to cook Vietnamese food… or to collect every Maryland cookbook just for the heck of it.
While it is true I now have many more ‘authentic’ sources for Maryland recipes, the Southern Heritage Cookbook library has continued to be a useful reference and a visual delight.
The weathered page of my beloved cheesecake recipe
Two Illustrations from “Cakes”
menu in “Family Gatherings” volume
Recipe:
1 cup butter, softened
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
2.5 cups cooked mashed sweet potatoes
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
.5 teaspoon ground nutmeg
.25 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
.5 cups flaked coconut
.5 cups chopped pecans
Cream butter. gradually add sugar, beating well. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add sweet potatoes and beat until blended.
Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt; gradually add to sweet potato mixture, beating well after each addition. Batter will be stiff. Stir in vanilla, coconut, and pecans.
Spoon batter into a well-greased 10-inch tube pan. Bake at 350° for 1 hour and 15 minutes or until take tests done. Cool in pan 15 minutes, remove to rack and cool completely.
May be glazed with lemon or orange glaze if desired.
Recipe adapted from Southern Heritage “Cakes” cookbook
Recipe notes: This is not a Maryland recipe as far as I know but it was very tasty; “a keeper” as they say. I’ll probably make this in the fall with black walnuts.
