2 cups milk
2 tablespoons butter
cup granulated sugar
¼ cup cornstarch
2 egg yolks
¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
For the meringue
2 egg whites
Dash of cream of tartar
½ cup granulated sugar
………
RIVERHEAD BOOKS, 1996
(available in paperback from Riverhead Books, 1997)
JOURNALIST JAMES MCBRIDE’S memoir of childhood is both a tribute to a resourceful and mysterious mother and a meditation on race and identity.
McBride was one of twelve black children raised in a Brooklyn housing project. His mother looked different from the other mothers in the neighborhood, and different from her own children. She put all twelve through college, and many through graduate school, yet her children never knew her maiden name, where she came from, or why she seemed to have no parents or siblings of her own. It took McBride fourteen years to solve the mystery, finally convincing his reluctant mother to tell her story, “more as a favor to me than out of any desire to revisit her past,” writes McBride.
The Color of Water is the remarkable story of both McBride’s mother and the author’s struggle to understand himself, his family, his origins, and his place in society. The mystery of McBride’s mother is so improbable and so surprising that readers may find it hard to believe this is a memoir and not a work of inventive fiction.
McBride interweaves the story of his mother’s life with his own, and both have memories related to peanuts and peanut butter. Food was scarce in the McBride household, where the twelve siblings were constantly hungry, scavenging for food in the kitchen, swiping food from one another, and creating secret stashes. McBride recalls how the normally friendly siblings became enemies over food. When his mother brought peanut butter home from a local benevolent agency, the huge jars became the focus of intense competition. “We’d gather around the cans, open them, and spoon up the peanut butter like soup, giggling as our mouths stuck closed with the gooey stuff,” writes McBride.
His mother, Ruth McBride Jordan, recalls her childhood in Suffolk, Virginia, headquarters of Planters Peanuts: “I still remember the smell of the South. It smelled like azaleas. And leaves. And peanuts. Peanuts everywhere.”
For The Book Club Cookbook, Susan Danner, who hosts many book club meetings at Danner’s Books and Coffeeshop in Muncie, Indiana, shared her recipe for Peanut Butter Pie. In 1964 Danner was visiting her grandparents in Fort Pierce, Florida, and enjoyed a wonderful peanut butter pie at Simenson’s restaurant. Danner asked the owners for the recipe, and they graciously obliged. Danner brought the recipe back to Muncie, where her parents were part owners of the Westbrook Country Club. Her mother, Dottie, began baking and serving the peanut butter pie in the clubhouse restaurant—and it was a huge success: “My parents sold the country club about twenty years ago, but people still ask about the pie,” says Danner.
In 1995, Danner relocated her Muncie bookstore to a new building with space for a coffee shop. Along with coffee and sandwiches, Danner put her mother’s famous peanut butter pie on the menu. “People who had not been in our store came just to get a slice of pie and reminisce about their days at the country club,” says Danner. “Eventually, the demand for pie became too great, and we had to set aside a special day, Wednesday, for peanut butter pie and take reservations for pieces. No one dared to come in and get just one piece. Some customers even put in standing orders.”
In case you can’t get to Danner’s to enjoy a good book with a slice of Dottie’s famous peanut butter pie—described on their menu as “smooth, rich, vanilla cream pudding in a flaky piecrust with a special peanut butter mixture in between, topped with a fluffy meringue”—the recipe follows. Danner says the pie is just heavenly … and rich. It’s the pie for a real sweet tooth. As the Danner’s Coffeeshop menu says, “Life is short, why not have dessert first?”
For the piecrust ½ recipe Basic Piecrust, p. 113 For the bottom filling 1 cup confectioners’ sugar ½ cup creamy peanut butter |
|
2 cups milk 2 tablespoons butter
¼ cup cornstarch 2 egg yolks ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract |
For the meringue 2 egg whites Dash of cream of tartar ½ cup granulated sugar |
To prebake the piecrust: Prick crust with fork all over and bake at 425°F for 8–10 minutes, until lightly browned. Remove from oven and allow to cool.
Lower oven temperature to 350°F.
To make the bottom filling: Mix the confectioners’ sugar and peanut butter until crumbly. Spread three-fourths of the mixture evenly across the bottom of the baked pie shell (the remainder will be used as a topping).
To make the pudding filling: Heat the milk and butter in a heavy-bottomed saucepan over low heat, stirring occasionally. When the milk is just steaming and small bubbles appear around the edges, remove from heat.
In a large saucepan, mix the granulated sugar and cornstarch. Add the egg yolks and mix well. Gradually add the scalded milk and butter, stirring until smooth after each addition. Simmer, stirring until pudding is thick. Stir in vanilla and remove from heat.
To make the meringue: Using an electric mixer, beat the egg whites until frothy. Add the cream of tartar and continue beating until stiff peaks form. Gradually add the sugar, beating on low speed until completely dissolved.
To assemble: Pour hot pudding filling into pie shell. Spread meringue over the top and seal edges. Sprinkle remaining peanut butter mixture over meringue. Bake in oven until top is golden, 10–15 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature.
Yield: One 9-inch pie, 6 to 8 servings
The fourteen women of the Contemporary Book Discussion Club meet monthly in their homes in suburban Phoenix. Susan Anderson says The Color of Water had enormous appeal because it’s well written, easy to read, and contemporary. “We were intrigued by the story of a Jewish woman marrying a black man and moving to a small southern town,” says Anderson, “especially at a time when discrimination was so prevalent.” She adds that McBride’s memoir exposed them to a mixed marriage, not only of race but also of religion, but it didn’t preach.
The group was fascinated by how McBride’s mother worked the New York City public school system to help advance her children’s education. “Her determination for her children to have a good education and the positive attitude she maintained were inspiring,” says Anderson. “All mothers want the best for their children, but don’t go about it and succeed in this way. She had the drive to succeed and she did.”
The group discussed the difficulties of raising a big family. “Given their financial limitations, this was just remarkable,” says Anderson.
