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Food
& Dining . The
Great Mother
Ed.
Note: What follows is from an interview with Mamma Louise. ... I love to cook. The joy of cooking and preparing for my family, and knowing they would enjoy it gave me pleasure. ... I loved to learn what they liked, then prepare it for them the way they liked it. ... My husband liked his ham with cloves and rubbed all over with brown sugar. But what he really loved was tripe. I would clean it, then make it with a hot tomato sauce, then sprinkle it with parmesan cheese, and serve it with a nice crusty Italian bread. ... Turkey I always made stuffed with my sister Anna in mind. It had to be a sausage stuffing for her. ... My niece Vera liked her leg of lamb, but what she really loved were my stuffed artichokes, with breadcrumbs and garlic and parsley, and lots of olive oil between the leaves. ... But my son, he liked just about everything I made. I loved to cook for him because he enjoyed everything. ... When people enjoy your cooking, it makes cooking a pleasure. For me, when people enjoyed it and ate it, I was sated. ... My mother always loved having everyone over. She hated going to someone else's for a holiday. She wanted everyone at her house, starting at 1 in the afternoon and sitting there until 11 o'clock at night. And always an abundance of foods, because she liked to make packages for people to take home. She also always cooked more, because she wanted to have enough in case anyone knocked on the door unexpectedly, so she could invite them to join us. And I guess I followed suit, because I especially enjoyed preparing for the holidays. I used to love to make all the traditional things. ... My favorite to prepare for was Easter. I'm not sure why, but weather-wise, the atmosphere, the joy of Christ risen. I especially liked to make my home-made egg braid breads, and my pizza rustica and pizza dolce. ... For Easter, I would always make seating cards and put the menu on the wall, that way they would know what was coming and leave enough room for all the other things. ... Easter dinner would start with antipasto, of course, then some escarole soup, then a leg of lamb or a ham with all the trimmings. And for dessert, I would bring out my pizza dolce, and, of course, ice box cake. All the kids loved the ice box cake, which my sister Anna always made. Then we'd have espresso with a twist of lemon rind and a shot of anisette. ... Christmas Eve was also enjoyable. You name it, we would have all the kinds of fishes. Shrimp ... filet of sole ... baccala salad with pepperoncini and the whites of the escarole and oil-cured olives, sometimes the stuffed calamari, and then the aglio d'olio. ... When I had my luncheonette, I loved it. ... I loved people, loved to talk with people and enjoyed feeding them. ... They would come in and we would talk and they would tell me their woes. ... On the days when their kids were out of school, they would bring them in and I'd make them French Toast, and then they'd tell me that the kids would say, "Why can't you make French Toast like Louise?" ... I guess I was a mother hen to all of them. ... When my mom got older, she would call me at the luncheonette and ask me, "What's the special today?" And I would bring her lunch across the street. I would bring her breakfast sometimes, too. She loved poached eggs on toast. ... But what she really loved was when I scooped out half of a melon with ice cream. ... I had two specials every day, things like kielbasa and sauerkraut ... beef stew ... sausage, peppers & onions ... meatballs. One of my big sellers was my cheesesteak sandwich with fried onions. I sure had a good cup of coffee, too. My slogan was "For that good cup of coffee." It was one of my drawing cards. ... I never used left-over foods. Everything was fresh, every day. When the peddler came around with his wagon, I would get my lettuce, tomatoes, potatoes, onions and other vegetables from him. If I had leftovers, I would make goody bags for the neighbors and give it away. ... My accountant, he would always tell me, "You're not going to make any money here. You're feeding too many people for free." ... When I was ready to close the doors, how they begged me to find another place. "You can't leave us," they said. "You can't leave us." ... They actually had me crying. ... ... Whether it was at home or in the lunceonette or at one of our holidays, to hear people ooohh and ahhh, then say: "No more for me. I'm stuffed." ... To entertain for friends and family, and cook for them and have them enjoy it. It was one of my greatest pleasures. ... Mange
forte ...
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