Glen WrightFollow

Date Collected

Fall 11-1-2018

Place item was collected

Logan, Utah

Informant

Deanna Wright

Point of Discovery/Informant Bio

Deanna Wright is the mother of five children, four girls and one boy. She has worked in the food industry all her life, up until six years ago, when she started working in the family healthcare business. The career change has allowed her to spend more time at home and actually enjoy cooking. She loves spending time in the kitchen, especially when it comes to trying out a new English pastry recipe she saw on the latest episode of The Great British Baking Show. When she’s not working or in the kitchen, she’s outside landscaping.

Context

Two days prior, I texted and asked Deanna to think of a particular comfort food that has been passed down our family. Following that time, I conducted an interview with her over the phone. I called later in the afternoon, because she spends the earlier afternoon working at home making phone calls for the healthcare business. As with all phone conversations with Deanna, she first regales me with how her work calls went. After a few minutes, I lead the interview through a series of different questions: history of the recipe, how you got it, how often you made it, why you would consider it comfort food, who has made changes to it, and funny or horrific stories regarding the chocolate pie.

Text

The chocolate pie recipe has always been in the family, as far back as Mona Pitts I believe. It was my dad’s favorite dessert, so my grandmother would make it for him whenever he was sad. Mom could never get it right, so I started making it when I was five. She always managed to have balls of flower or scrambled eggs floating around, so yea, whenever it was dad’s birthday or a holiday, I made it. I usually made the food around the house, mom was a terrible cook. Besides exchanging the meringue with a whipped cream topping, the recipe has always been the same. I love it the way it is, so there hasn’t been need of much change.

Grandma’s Chocolate Pie

4 cups Crisco

¾ cup flour

3 cups milk

4 oz unsweetened chocolate

1 ½ cups sugar

½ tsp salt

4 egg yolks

2 tsp Vanilla

2 pre-baked pie shells

Texture

She told me that it was her go-to comfort-food recipe because it reminded her of her grandmother Lillian {Mona’s daughter}. She usually has a harder tone of voice on the phone, but her voice was soft and thoughtful as she shared the memories of her grandmother baking in the kitchen. She also got a little frazzled describing the state of the pie when it was cook by her mother. She said it’s a simple recipe, it just must be done in order. She said her mom could never cook in order. This is the pie that I always remember at every event ever. While many people like pumpkin during Thanksgiving, or apple during Christmas, all those holidays are filled with my mother’s chocolate pie. During family get-togethers, there are always one or two pecan pies and seven chocolate pies. I always believe our family has its priorities straight.

Course

ENGL 2210

Instructor

Lynne S. McNeill

Semester and year

Fall 2018

Theme

G1: Groups/Social Customs

EAD Number

3.1.11.1.3.50

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