Dishin’ Up Love

 

Interview with Lazell Vinson

by Jessica Phillips

MY GRANDMOTHER, LAZELL VINSON, was born and raised in Scaly Mountain, North Carolina, and has been cooking ever since she can recall. She learned this skill from her mother, who was also an outstanding cook, and has watched the Dillard House, once a tiny family boardinghouse, change and evolve into a family-owned business that is famous for its Southern cuisine. Granny started cooking professionally at the Best Western in Dillard, Georgia, where she worked for several years until it was sold and the owner transferred her to the Dillard House restaurant. She has cooked many outstanding foods that have set customers drooling with excitement.

Her most famous dish would be her seasonal fruitcakes. She spent many hours and late nights preparing these cakes for thousands of people. Granny has received awards for her recipes and her mama’s recipes that were passed down to her. Her cabbage casserole, which was originally her mama’s recipe, won a blue ribbon at the fair, and it was featured in The Dillard House Cookbook.

Granny has passed down her love of feeding a family to her daughters and granddaughters. It is not just about food. It’s about creating a feeling of unity and a time when the family joins in conversation and shares moments of joy and sorrow. The saying “I made it with love” still applies. God willing, one day I will get to pass these unique skills down to my children to continue the legacy.

My grandmother started cooking when she was just a little girl. “I was about twelve years old. I did not start cooking because I had to. I started cooking because I wanted to,” she recalls. “Me, Evelyn, Haze, and Mama all get in there in the kitchen, and we’d have supper ready. Evelyn and Hazel were my sisters. We cooked beans, potatoes, cabbages, and slaw. We cooked whatever we had for that evening. She’d give one of us a job, and we’d do it. The other girls would do something else to help. We’d have supper ready in just a few minutes.”

PLATE 48 Jessica Phillips, Lazell Vinson, and Joy Phillips—three generations

Lazell Vinson on her early cooking experiences:

“When I was a little girl, we cooked on a woodstove. We would have to put wood in it to heat it up. I liked cooking on the woodstove, because you could cook several things at one time. There wasn’t anything better than bread baked in a woodstove. There was no way to gauge how hot the stove got. You could tell when it got hot enough to cook, and you kept wood in it to keep it going….

“My mama was one of the best cooks around. She worked at the Edwards Hotel in Highlands. She ran the hotel for a while, I think. She also worked at Trasmill Inn up there….She worked at the hotel we lived at when I got married. I guess you could say I come by it honestly. Mama could cook anything. Daddy could cook, too. He didn’t cook for anyone else except us. If Mama wasn’t there, he’d fix us a meal. He was a good cook. He learned how to cook from his mother.

“My mother’s mom was also a good cook. She never worked for the public like Mama did. Mama worked in all the restaurants up in Highlands.”

On becoming a cook at Best Western:

“I did get married at a young age, but that didn’t stop me from cooking! I cooked all the time. I shocked [my husband’s] mama, because I could make pies and stuff. I was only fifteen when I got married. She didn’t think that I could cook, but I did. Boy, she’d let me cook, though.

“I didn’t start cooking for the public until Jesse [her husband] died. Then, I went down there, and John Dillard was standing out there on the street. I stopped and asked him if he needed any help. He hired me on the spot….John told me to come back, and he’d start me out at so much an hour. He hired me because he heard I was a good cook.

“I went to work at Best Western about five in the morning. I started breakfast as soon as I got there. I could cook it all, but I didn’t. They had short-order cooks in the room there by us. I made the biscuits and the gravy. They cooked the sausage, eggs, and stuff like that. I helped cook dinner and supper, too. At dinner, I’d help fix the vegetables and make the homemade yeast rolls. I made the cakes. I made the pies, too. I also cooked the Brunswick stew.

“I liked John a lot. I told him just what I thought, and he told me just what he thought. John took me out to the dining room quite often. Different people would ask about the cook, and John would just take me out there to talk to some of them. He wanted me out in the dining room, so everyone would know who was cooking, and that it was home-cooked and clean.”

On cooking at the Dillard House:

“I stayed at Best Western for about ten years or more. I stayed there until John sold it. Then, he brought me up to the Dillard House. I did the same things at the Dillard House I did at Best Western. I helped cook the vegetables and made sure they were seasoned right. I started out making the bread, and I made all of the pies and cakes. I had little books that I took to work with me every day.

“I met several people. I met Senator Sam Nunn. He wanted to know who did the cookin’, so John brought me out there. He would always take back a bunch of fruitcakes. I met Waylon Jennings, the music man. He came as one of their guests, and I got to meet him. There were lots of people who would come in to meet the cook.

“I didn’t do too much cookin’ during fruitcake season. When it came fruitcake season, I took over the cake bakin’ for a while. We cooked for parties, and I catered to parties. I’ve got no idea how many people we fed a day, but I know that there were hundreds….

“I stayed at the Dillard House until I moved to South Carolina. I worked at the Dillard House for about thirteen years. Altogether, I worked at both Best Western and the Dillard House for about twenty-one years. I really liked working at the Dillard House. I just enjoyed cooking. I knew a lot of people, and we all got along good. John treated me fairly, and he paid me good. It was long hours, especially during the fruitcake season. I worked weekends and on holidays, but I would do it all over again. Out of all the jobs I’ve had my whole life, I would say workin’ at the Dillard House was the best. I liked seeing people enjoy the food I had cooked. A lot of times people would come and ask for the recipe. That flattered me the most.

“If my granddaughters went to work as a cook, I’d tell them to go cook for the Dillard House, and work for Little John [Dillard]. But, my grandchildren have got to do their own thing. I taught my daughters how to cook, just like Mama taught me how to cook. They are all very good cooks.”

Lazell Vinson’s Award-Winning Cabbage Casserole

Ingredients

  • 1 large head of cabbage

  • 1 teaspoon salt

  • ½ stick margarine or butter

  • 3 cups Basic White Sauce (below)

  • 2 cups grated cheddar cheese

  • 1-½ cups buttered bread crumbs

Directions: Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Shred cabbage and cook it on the stove top 5–8 minutes in boiling water with 1 teaspoon of salt (cabbage should remain crisp). Drain well. Layer half of the cabbage into a buttered 2-quart casserole dish. Pour half of the White Sauce over the cabbage to cover it. Then, add a second layer with the remaining cabbage, covered with the remaining sauce. Next, spread the cheese evenly over the second layer. Top with the bread crumbs. Bake in the oven for 15–20 minutes. This will feed about 8 people.

Basic White Sauce

Ingredients

  • 1 cup margarine

  • 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

  • Salt and pepper to taste

  • 1 quart milk

Directions: Melt margarine in a sauce pot. Add the flour, salt, and pepper to make a paste. Add milk and cook until thick, stirring constantly.