First off I have to tell you that Susie Hobbs was one of the best cooks ever but when she put her recipes in the Grainola Cookbook I think she cheated a little and did not tell the precise recipe. Shouna, my wife, use to try one Grainola recipe each week or so every time she tried one of Susie Hobb's it failed. I know better becuase I worked over there a few times working cattle (for those who don't know what that means, it is when we cut off the horns and castrate the calves). Let's take a little detour. When the calves are young and I would say less than 200 pounds we would remove the nubs (baby horns) and remove the testicles from the bull calves. Let me tell you those boy calves did not enjoy the event. Back to Susie Hobbs, she was a great cook and you could not find any better mirange pies, either coconut or lemon and she was as good as it gets making fried chicken. Her fried chicken was as fresh as you could get it because she would walk out in the back yard and grab a few chickens, ring their necks and dip them in boiling water then pluck their feathers and remove the innards and cut them up and straight to the cast iron skillet with boiling grease. Of course she rolled the chicken in flower and seasoning before the frying pan.
Actually, I don't recall a lady in Grainola who was not a great cook, except maybe Aunt Gladys Snyder (it seemed that when I was at her house Billy would cook or we would have bologna). I do know that Jon Tanny Olsen showed up at our house to get cookies quit often so I am assuing Maggie (Marguaret, his mom, did not make cookies, at least enough to satisfy Jon Tanny). I should also say that Eddie Harris showed up to eat often. About the only person I think could out cook about everyone was my sister Debbie Sue and she seemed to cook every day. Her cookies and deserts were over the top, especially her no-bake oatmeal and her chocolate chip cookies.
Now I will give one shout out for my mom's German Chocolate Cake. None Better! Oh, her cinnamon rolls and her chili!
Of course you all know the history of Head Country BBQ sauce and how it was made by our neighbors who were welders and cattlemen, Tom Head and I think Bud might have been a little help.
Now we do have one famous cook who is from a different generation and that is Mandy of Shidler and the daughter of John Payne (pain in the neck is what a lot of his teachers called him). Most of you know him as the One Armed Bandit, not to be confused with the slot machine, but a rodeo entertainer. What you may not know is Mandy is every bit as good as John on a horse but she has about the best steaks you will ever taste. Check out her web site but generally it is every Saturday evening from about 5 to 7 and I believe there is only one thing on the menu, steak. I have been there a few times over the years and I tell folks no matter where I have traveled there is no better steak than at Mandy's. And just in case if you are wondering, I did not get paid for saying all that. The food is worth the trip and the folks are the best, along with the atmosphere, truly western.
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Mandy's Cafe, Shidler, Oklahoma
So what do you learn in the Osage?
Thanks for listening,
gary
golson21@hotmail.com
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