Document text
ORIGINAL MSS. OR FIELD NOTES (Cheek one)
PUB. Living Lore in
New Rneland
TITLE Irish Cook Brookfield
WRITER Louise G. Bassett
DATE 0/39 WE$. P.P. 0
CHECKER DATE
SOURCES GIVEN Interview
COMMENTS
z
Mary Anne Meehan
Irish Cook
4'147
7'719
STATE
NAME OF JORKER
ADDRESS
DATE OF INTERVIE4
SUBJECT
N:AME OF INFORMANT
ADDRESS
Massachusetts
Louise G. Bassett
Lincoln Sherman Streetsg Brookfield, Mass.
February 6, 1939
Living Lore
Mary Anne Meehan
Brookfield) Mass.
Name Louise G. hassett Aasignment Brookfield
Title Living Lore Topic Mary Anne Meehan
Three neighbors had dropped in to wish Mary Anne Meehan the
time of day and founa her making pies. Such pies as Mary Anne can
make none better few as good.
Each visitor received the same greeting, "Come in to th' kitchen
while I finish makin' me pies, would you mind?" No one diu mind and
after the greetings were over, three interested women watched Mary
Anne make mince, apple and custard pies.
"Mary Anne, you're the best cook I ever knew," I said) "you did
the cooking at the Brookfield Inn when I lived there one summer
twenty-seven years ago anu I never tasted better food in all my life."
"Oh) go on with youh with youhr oil, I'm not so hot) though there
be some that is much worse, if I do say it as oughtn't. Everybody
should enjoy their food, God meant 'em to) else why did he make so
many good things grow?
"There's nothin' nicer than a good meal, served nice clean
table cloth an' all. Course if you eat too much youh get fat and
have indigestion. If youh feel like jest settint round with youhr
hands folded over your tummy, a good plan is to stop eatint jest
stop don't eat a mouthful for two or three days.. If youh want to
know how good food can taste, go,without a few meals. Some folks say
th' reason a tightwad lives longer than a man who spends his money
like water) is because he eats lightly mall meals cost little and
they preserve him.
"Lots of folks make th' mistake of thinkint th' more we eat th'
stronger we get but 'tain't so at all. Too much eatin' makes too
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Name Louise G. Bassett Assignment Brookfield
Title Living Lore Topic Mary Anne Meehan
much fat an' carryin' round a lot of fat wears us all out an' then of
course we don't feel like workin' ant if you don't feel like workin',
it's a good idea to stop eatin' for aday or two.
"If you'll cut clown on youhr meat 'n eggs 'n th' like an' eat
more vegetaules cabbage, 'n greens, In celery, 'n carrots, 'n
parsnips, ant eat heaps of fruits, apples, 'n oranges, 'n grapefruit,
all of them an, drink six glasses of water every day, youhill be so
peppy you're liable to get in trouble.
"You know there's heaps of people that's dug their graves with
their teeth. dyspeptic stomach gives you a dyspeptic mind ant
that's what gives folks a sour -puss.
"Did you kLow th' Indians used to think if youh starved yourself
youh got awful wise? My grandfather used to tell about how some
terrible big Indian tried it once. 1-,11 th' other Indians come around
him to kern but he got so weak he could only crawl round an, he could
hardly speak. Then he got onto hiss elf an' quit it au' then he went
back to eatin' an, when he got to eatin' again ant th' Indians seen
him they wouldn't have nothin' to do with him.
"I got awful fat myself ant aoc said I better reduce, (gosh,
how I hate that word) Well, I tried the vegetables, practiced a week
on them, I Fletcherized, that's a jaw breaker, ain't it? I did till
no breakfast plan, then th' heavy breakfast 'n no lunch plan, th'
daily dozen, ueep breathin', I tackled whole wheat 'eau graham
bread an' bran. Then I dragged,my sylph -like form down t o Boston ant
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Name Louise G. Bassett Assignment Brookfield
Title Living Lore Topic Mary Anne Meehan
took some of them Turkish Baths. I chewed my food slow an' I breathed
through my nose while my mouth was full of food, but I kept right on
bein' fat.
"Funny how we never knew nothinl about vitamins or calories or
dietin, when we was young. Gosh' how do youh suppose we ever got
along we must a -been tough ones to live through it. Now don't get
me wrong. I believe in this vitamin and calory stuff all right. When
they first got to be ,tylish and everyone was about plannint
menus anu such, I says to myself, 'Mary Anne Meehan, get on to your-
self. Your job is to cook and you got -V keep up to date'. So I set
down and I reau all them diet books and all I could f ind about menus
and how to fix 'em 801S they give youh the most strength. Let me tell
youh$ I wasn't goin' to be dumb about me job. I wasn't gain' to let
those high hats I worked for know more about me business than I did.
"You know lots of folks look down on cooks as kind of well,
inferior ones. Tain't like the old days when youh was the hired girl
and was as good as the family. Nowadays some 01 these women youh
work for would treat youh like the dirt if they dared. I'll never
forget one woman I cooked for. She was a classy one$ always trying
to push herself in where she wasn't wanted. One day she had some kind
o, a shindig a tea or somethin'. She hired a girl by the day to do
the servin, and I was int he kitchen a-fixin, up the stuff. Well, in
the midule of the affair, I went in t' the dinin' roam door jest to
take a peek to see how th, food was goin. I hears me lady --the one
Name Louise G. Bassett Assignment Brookfield
Title Living Lore Topic Mary Anne Meehan
I worked for talkin, tl the bunch of then women and she says,
'Oh, my dears, I have the most wonderful cook, absolutely a jewel.
She's French, right from Faree2 and doesn't speak a word of English.
She's absolutely wonderful, knows all the Continental dishes and I've
taught her the American ones.'
"Well, sir, it wasn't so much callin' me a Frenchman that got
me nerves up as it wets tellin' them women she taught me to cook. I
pushed open that door and I says to her and it was in English
'See here, I ain't no IlEnchman I'm Irish and proud o' it. And
I'll have youh know you never taught me one thing, except how dumb
some folks can be. Goa bless us, youh don't even know how to boil
water'."
"Mary Anne, ow did you date?"
"flare? And wh:, wouldn't I, she had it cocain' to her with her
patronizing airs and always lookin, down her nose at me. I always
says if youh know youh business well, no matter what kind of a business
it is long as it's honest youhlre as good as the next one. I
never was one to be put upon. Sure I was a cook been one all my
life 'cept when I worked in the mill and I ain't ashamed o' it, either."
up to tnis point the conversation belonged to Mary Anne. She
hadn't let it lag for a minute but now she stopped to get a fresh start
and we all rushed in with questions.
"Who taught you to cook?" "how do you cook vegetables?"
"Would you be willing to give me some recipes?"
"Who taught me to cook? Now Who do you. think? Me mother2 of
course, an, could she cook. Why, she could t ake a ham bone thiout any
_5
Name Louise G. Bassett Assignment Brookfield
Title Livink, Lore Topic Mary Anne Meehan
meat on it, a few nails) a piece of wire, a bit of leather an' some
water an' salt an, it would be better than any lobster, terrapin or
beef stew you ever ate. If I can cook at all it's because me mother
taught me.
"Course) I'll give you any rule I know) but it's awful hard to
tell now to cook some things, for lots of times I jest take a uab of
tills an, a dab of something else it depends how it tastes.
"Say girls, uia you ever read Dickens books Pickwick Papers?
Well, by gosh, in that book al4hey do is eat ant drink. I read that
Pickwick book long Pgo ant on every page there was something about
breakfast) an' lunch 'n dinner ant I started readini th' book all over
again I tot so curious about it. I wanted to see,j est what they
did eat.
"There was meat pie, leg-of-mutton, tongue, veal) cold ham, broiled
ham, chickens, uucks, turkeys, eggs) bacon) all kinds of fish, oysters,
cheese, potatoes, beans, toast, 'n lots more I don't remember.
"An' th' drinks my my what drinks they had, brandy, wine,
ale, beer punch, cherry branay, we used to call it 'cherry bounce').
"dhen I was a girl we'd put cherries a lot of 'em in some
alcohol, put in pounds of sugar) an' let 'em set ever so long 'n when
we'u give a party we'd have same cherry bounce. Sounds innocent enough
don't it, if you forget th' alcohol. But it did stir things up an'
make us more lively, I can jest tell you. Oh, then in Pickwick Papers
they had not pineapple rum an, hot elder wine rum. I tried 'em out
they're good, too. Pickwick Papers aint no Temperance lecture, but I
Name Louise G. Bassett Assignment Brookfield
Title Living Lore Topic Mary Anne Meehan
guess Dickens didn't mean it to be.
"'Lou want some recipes, don't you, dearie?" (this was to the
timid soul who was a new bride and enthralled by Mary Anne's deftness
with -the pies) "I got lots you can have. I always say women would
cook better in this country if men cared more for good food. In a big
city men have their clubs an' their food is grand, but th' last thing
a lad thinks about when he's courtin' a girl is if she can cook. When
they're in love they don't think of food an, thiagirl's are so silly
they don't neither."
"Did you ever can much, Mary Anne?" asked the timid soul.
"Dia we ever can much, says you, glory be to God in th' summer
we canned all th' time. Why almost th' only things me mother bought
was tea ant coffee. She dried all kinds of fruits an' vegetables,
better than th' canned ones they was, too. There was gallons ant
gallons of preserves an' pickles an' in the cellar th' bins was full
of winter vegetables, enough to feed an army. Huh, talk about th, ant.
She's a piker compared to my mother.
"An' I *ish you could have seen our smoke house hams an' sides
of bacon, home -cured over hickory an' corn -cob fires, I don't ever see
such hams an' bacon now. And there was always barrels ant barrels of
salt pork an, c orned beef in till cellar an' a barrel of flour in th'
pantry.
"We made our own sugar, too, maple sugar, ant we had aspring-
house, that's where we put our milk an' butter an, it was cool on till
hottest day. we didn't need no electric ice box.
-7-
1Tame Louise G. Bassett Assignment Brookfield
Title Living Lore Topic Mary Anna Meehan
"Youh know people always laugh about the way we did things in
those days. They make fun 'cause we din't have no conveniences, but
I don't know. ae did pretty well with what we had lots better maybe
than they'd be able to do. You never really know how you could or
couldn't manage things until youh have to.
"Say thatreminds me. I was always wantin' to go to Ireland
to see the places where me ancestors came from. So I went
11=1.4=11.
seven
years ago in April. Boy, did I have a good time. Well, youh know I
was always hearin, from me mother and the other women how good they
cooked in Ireland. It must -a been homesickness made 'am think that.
They're nice people over in Ireland, as friendly as the sun2 lots more
so than we are, but they don't know one, two, tree about cookin' or
food. They just ain't up on it."
nm,
"J2
Miss Meehan youh know so much about cookin'. I wish I knew
a quarter as much," the young bride sighed and looked unhappy.
"oh, now don't be gettin' discouraged. Youhill be cookinl like
an angel befare any time. I can tell by lookint at youh, you're a born
cook. There's some that is and some that ain't. I always was and I
know youh are. And. see here, don't be callin, me 'Miss Meehan'. I'm
Mary Anne."
"Mary Anne, you've been to so many places to eat, where did you
have your nicest meal. Can you remember?" Mary Anne had finished the
pies and was surveying her handiwork as I asked the question.
Name Louise G. Bassett Assignment Brookfield
Title Living Lore Topic Mary Anne Meehan
"Yes) I can) right off th' bat. Gussie ant ray brother Henry took
a ride out beyond Wales one day long ago) ant we stopped at a house
that looked awful nice an' we went in to eat.
"We had a big dish of baked beans with crispy strips of pork on
top ant the best home-made bread) jest out of the oven. An' then we
had a big platter of th' best fried chicken you ever ate, baked
potatoes) tea an' a big pitcher of buttermilk.
"We ate out on th' porch. Th' birds were sifigin', th' flowers
was so beautiful an, so sweet. I can't tell you why I remember it so
well, only it was all awful nice.
"You ain't all Loin'? I'm afraid I talked you to death, wait) I'll
Let those rules---"