Comments on: The Secret To Grandma’s Magic West Virginia Recipe

By: Mona McGraw

Mona McGraw — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 21:34:38 +0000

Helen, I am sorry that I have not visited this bulletin board since last January. I’ll dig up my family’s corn bread recipe and post it, although I suspect it’s pretty similar to the one that Lisa provided. I always have to call my mother to get it, and I can never make it quite like hers.

I’ll also email you.

By: lisastrader

lisastrader — Tue, 25 Jan 2011 16:45:30 +0000

Thanks for the post Helen. I hope that you are enjoiing WV. I did email you a great cornbread recipe.

thanks!

By: Helen McConnell

Helen McConnell — Thu, 20 Jan 2011 23:48:29 +0000

Mona McGraw, I have only lived in WV for two years now but would love the recipe for that cornbread! My husband and I are native Floridians and were raised on the dry cornbead (yuk):)
Please email the recipe to..peachinwaiting69@yahoo.com….Thanks:):)

By: Edgar Renteria

Edgar Renteria — Sat, 30 Oct 2010 07:02:26 +0000

Thank you, Kay, for that great trip down memory lane. Our grandmother’s cooking was definately something worth standing in line for. I can still see her working in that tiny kitchen, an apron always around her waist. Grandma (and her house) are gone now. But, the memories, and recipes, will live on through generations to come. I suddenly have the urge to make a dessert for dinner tonight. And so it goes……………….

By: Sarah

Sarah — Fri, 10 Sep 2010 19:40:34 +0000

Mona – your memories made me hungry! My grandma’s brown beans and cornbread is always the most requested meal in the family, and no one else can make them quite like her. Or her fried potatoes. Believe me, we’ve tried!

By: lisastrader

lisastrader — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 19:31:32 +0000

Thank you so much for the comment. We know exactly what you mean about Southern WV cornbread! After reading your comment I think I may have to go home and make some.

By: Mona McGraw

Mona McGraw — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 18:11:31 +0000

I was born and raised in Hinton, but left there as a teen and never really looked back. It has only been recently that I have begun to recall and appreciate what it was like growing up there. Both of my grandmothers were fantastic cooks. One was the wife of a coal miner from Beckley. The other was the wife of a railroader/farmer who owned a farm in the outskirts of Hinton.

Both of them could make the BEST fried potatoes and onions, brown beans and cornbread. The southern WV style of cornbread is to die for. It’s gooey, moist and sour with a thick crust (always made in an iron skillet), and is best eaten drenched with butter and stirred into a big glass of buttermilk, or stirred into pinto bean soup (flavored with bacon grease) and eaten with a slice of sweet raw onion.

My mother comes from a family of 12, all of whom have long since moved from WV. When we all get together once every few years the most oft requested meal is brown beans and cornbread!

FYI, our southern WV cornbread is not that overly sweet, dry “Yankee cornbread” they serve in the northern counties of WV . I made that once and my mother discarded it and made me learn how to make it the right way.

By: lisastrader

lisastrader — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 13:45:23 +0000

Thanks for the comment Rick. I am a WV girl and grew up thinking no one could cook quite like my Mother. Great traditions (and country cookin’) here in WV.

By: Rick Surbaugh

Rick Surbaugh — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 23:08:33 +0000

My Mom and Dad were from Shady Spring and Hinton, respectively. When I was a kid, we would take the entire month of August and vacation on my Mom’s old homeplace. We learned about the “holler” and “snipe” hunting!!(lol)..Most of all, I remember the cooking!…My Aunt and Mom would be whipping up stuff all the time!!..and, oh, the smells!!…My Mom would cook some of the dishes back at home in Chicago, but my Aunt Ethel could REALLY cook!!…(only person my Mom EVER admitted could out-COOK her!!!…lol)…what GREAT memories!!…..they are at rest there in the mountains and I long to get back to West-By-God-Virginia!!…..It holds a very SPECIAL place in my heart!!….Rick Surbaugh…Mokena, Illinois

By: Kay

Kay — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 18:05:12 +0000

I think the memories from the recipes are like the memories you make from a vacation to Southern West Virginia. You will re-live them over and over for years to come and want to make a return visit with your children and grandhildren to make new memories. This is such a beautiful region with so many great opportunitites for outdoor activities, one of the many reasons I chose to remain here, raise my family and work in tourism.