Spotlight on Clarissa Lynch
By: Clarissa Lynch
A native of Statesboro, Georgia I developed an interest in historical cooking methods as a child from my paternal Grandmother. Grandma Lilly had a gas stove but she always preferred her wood burning stove and kept it. Often in the dog days of summer she would complain about how the food just didn’t taste the same as it did on her wood burning stove and she couldn’t wait for winter. Of course, as a child I would look at the wood burning stove and try to figure out how to turn it on. As I got older I understood that food didn’t care where the heat came from as long as there was enough heat to cook it. Grandma was right also that the food did taste better in the winter when she used her wood burning stove.
I always maintained a love for cooking and after graduating with a business degree from Georgia Southern University I moved to Atlanta, Georgia. While living in Atlanta I visited the Atlanta History Center on several occasions and fell in love with the Tullie Smith Farmhouse since it reminded me of my Grandmother’s house. I finally got up the nerve on one tour to ask if they were looking for volunteers to give tours. They said yes and then I found out they had a cooking guild. I signed up for a class being given by a living history demonstrator from Williamsburg that the guild sponsored and fell in love with open hearth cooking. It was the perfect escape from my IT based job.
I moved to Chesapeake, Virginia and though I did not do living history demonstrations I continued to collect recipes and started recording my own family recipes. I learned to cook from my Mother and Grandmothers but as most home cooks you learn by watching and doing not reading a recipe. I guess I became the family food historian. In 2009 I transferred to Charlotte and wanted to get back into living history. My accountant, also a history buff, suggested Latta Plantation. I visited Latta in July of 2009 and was delighted to see the kitchen. I asked if it was a working kitchen and Ian, my tour guide, said yes and they needed volunteers with cooking skills. I filled out the application and have been in heaven being able to demonstrate open hearth cooking skills.
Latta has allowed me to practice different recipes but the staff and volunteers are also willing taste testers. In fact, it was from their reaction to an old family recipe passed down since slavery that I entered The Southern Cooking Contest at the BBQ and Blues Festival. I was nervous since it was just a simple recipe and the other contestants had complex recipes to give flavor and presentation. Imagine my surprise when I took first prize. One of the judges, Rick Browne of beer can chicken fame, even asked if he could include my recipe in his next cookbook. That finally convinced me to pursue writing a cookbook geared towards simple open hearth cooking so that others will seriously consider volunteering for Living History demonstrations.
So many of the visitors at Latta have expressed an interest but have a fear of trying their hand at open hearth cooking. So, hopefully by March I will publish the first of a series of cookbooks titled, One Hearth, One Pot. Were it not for Latta Plantation and the staff and volunteers I would never have pursued the ideas that have been rolling around in my head for the last ten years.
Clarissa keeps a blog about her cooking experiences at Latta, including the recipes she uses. You can visit Clarissa’s blog at: http://blog.thecrookedspoon.org/
A native of Statesboro, Georgia I developed an interest in historical cooking methods as a child from my paternal Grandmother. Grandma Lilly had a gas stove but she always preferred her wood burning stove and kept it. Often in the dog days of summer she would complain about how the food just didn’t taste the same as it did on her wood burning stove and she couldn’t wait for winter. Of course, as a child I would look at the wood burning stove and try to figure out how to turn it on. As I got older I understood that food didn’t care where the heat came from as long as there was enough heat to cook it. Grandma was right also that the food did taste better in the winter when she used her wood burning stove.
I always maintained a love for cooking and after graduating with a business degree from Georgia Southern University I moved to Atlanta, Georgia. While living in Atlanta I visited the Atlanta History Center on several occasions and fell in love with the Tullie Smith Farmhouse since it reminded me of my Grandmother’s house. I finally got up the nerve on one tour to ask if they were looking for volunteers to give tours. They said yes and then I found out they had a cooking guild. I signed up for a class being given by a living history demonstrator from Williamsburg that the guild sponsored and fell in love with open hearth cooking. It was the perfect escape from my IT based job.
I moved to Chesapeake, Virginia and though I did not do living history demonstrations I continued to collect recipes and started recording my own family recipes. I learned to cook from my Mother and Grandmothers but as most home cooks you learn by watching and doing not reading a recipe. I guess I became the family food historian. In 2009 I transferred to Charlotte and wanted to get back into living history. My accountant, also a history buff, suggested Latta Plantation. I visited Latta in July of 2009 and was delighted to see the kitchen. I asked if it was a working kitchen and Ian, my tour guide, said yes and they needed volunteers with cooking skills. I filled out the application and have been in heaven being able to demonstrate open hearth cooking skills.
Latta has allowed me to practice different recipes but the staff and volunteers are also willing taste testers. In fact, it was from their reaction to an old family recipe passed down since slavery that I entered The Southern Cooking Contest at the BBQ and Blues Festival. I was nervous since it was just a simple recipe and the other contestants had complex recipes to give flavor and presentation. Imagine my surprise when I took first prize. One of the judges, Rick Browne of beer can chicken fame, even asked if he could include my recipe in his next cookbook. That finally convinced me to pursue writing a cookbook geared towards simple open hearth cooking so that others will seriously consider volunteering for Living History demonstrations.
So many of the visitors at Latta have expressed an interest but have a fear of trying their hand at open hearth cooking. So, hopefully by March I will publish the first of a series of cookbooks titled, One Hearth, One Pot. Were it not for Latta Plantation and the staff and volunteers I would never have pursued the ideas that have been rolling around in my head for the last ten years.
Clarissa keeps a blog about her cooking experiences at Latta, including the recipes she uses. You can visit Clarissa’s blog at: http://blog.thecrookedspoon.org/