CHIP MCGEE (Nashville, Tennessee) was born in Corinth, Mississippi, because that was the location of the hospital closest to Acton, Tennessee, where his parents lived. But that gave him a connection to each of his parents’ home states since his mom was from Mississippi and his dad from Tennessee. Chip remembers his grandmother, ERMA SMITH (Tupelo, Mississippi), as a small and quiet woman who liked to stay “in the know” with the latest and greatest news about town. His earliest memories of his grandmother were of her with very long, white hair, down to the back of her knees. He remembers his Aunt Sarah combing Grandmother’s hair, creating a long braid, and then fixing it into a bun. In her later years, he remembers when she cut the long hair off into a short style that required weekly visits to a local beauty shop. Chip loved spending summers and Christmases at Granddad and Grandmother’s—Grandmother was an incredible cook. Chip’s all-time favorites would have to be her chicken and dumplins, biscuits with chocolate gravy, and this chess pie.
1 cup sugar
½ cup (1 stick) margarine, softened
3 large egg yolks
¼ cup all-purpose flour
¼ cup whole milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 (9 inch) piecrust, unbaked
1 Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2 In a medium bowl mix the sugar, margarine, egg yolks, flour, milk, and vanilla together. Pour into the unbaked piecrust and bake for approximately 45 minutes or until the center is set and a toothpick stuck in the middle of the pie comes out clean.
MAKES 8 SERVINGS.