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TOP JOBS

By KELLY PREW
Food Editor

I have enjoyed writing about my food-related memories and recipes handed down in my family through the years. But more than that, I enjoy hearing the same things from readers.

In response to last week’s Readers’ Swap about cooking in college, Frances Bryant Simpson, of Tyler, shares her favorite college recipe, first by telling about her mother, Imogen Bryant, who was renowned for her down-home cooking, fabulous desserts and extraordinary parties.

She writes, “I still live in the house in which all of this took place and try to simulate her recipes from time to time. It will never, ever taste anything like hers, but I put forth a good effort. She taught home economics at Mississippi State College for Women and was a state supervisor who would go to the girl’s homes and make sure they were practicing what she taught, especially about canning. That was a must.

“My daddy had opened the Barq’s Bottling Company in 1938 and went back to Mississippi to claim his bride so they were married in 1941 and life in Tyler began. My brother and I were always carrying Buttermilk Pound Cake and Forget Me Not Fudge to our teachers and pots of fresh beans with new potatoes, purple hull peas and greens were always on the stove. Creamed corn — oh, I can just see her now scraping that by hand and me holding my breath till it was ready! I helped shell many a sack of anything that was brought home but Butterbeans were the hardest.

“My fondest memory is summer trips to Mississippi and the way the old station wagon smelled. Sacks filled with everything under the sun and the antic

ipation of stopping by the roadside park and having tomato sandwiches for lunch. Those sustained me through Baylor days as well! So, that’s just a little quip about how I came to know about good food and being the Southern gal that I am, I still keep my mother in mind every day that I cook and her old recipe cards in the drawer for quick reference.

“Now, about my favorite recipe at Baylor. By our junior year, we could move into apartments if we had enough (class) hours, so my friend Kay Cox McWhorter from Bryan, were two of those lucky coeds. I called mother a lot to find out information about everything but especially frying chicken like she could! At least we had biscuits in a can and packages of already put together corn mixes etc., so at least we could make it up a lot quicker and still be on time for class.

“My all time favorite is called Barbeque Cups that I still fix to this day.”

1 lb. any kind of ground meat

1/2 cup of brown sugar

1/2-1 cup of barbeque sauce (your choice)

1 onion (can be dried as well) chopped

1 bell pepper (can be dried as well) chopped

1 can of (large) biscuits

Shredded cheese

Brown meat, onions, bell pepper. Season anyway you like (garlic, season salt, hot sauce etc.) Pour off grease excess if any. Stir in brown sugar and barbeque sauce (start with 1/2 cup first). Set aside.

Open biscuits and roll or pat each one flat. Spray muffin tin and press biscuit into each cup, leaving a bit on the outside rim. Scoop meat mixture into each cup and top with shredded cheese. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes or whatever the biscuits call for. Serve with a salad.

Recipe can be easily doubled.

These can be frozen or you can reheat them by covering with waxed paper and microwaved for 30 seconds. It is economical and lasts several days.

Also noted by Mrs. Simpson: “I would suggest to any single or young married couple Betty Crocker’s New Dinner for Two cookbook or the original Tyler Junior League Cooking Through Rose-Colored Glasses.

“I also think it would be great fun for all of us who grew up in Tyler to write about our summer time fun and the drinks and food and the different drive-ins and eateries we used to haunt. We really did have some kind of fun growing up in Tyler. Happy eating and happy memories of summer to all!”