THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, October 2, 1994 TAG: 9409300062
SECTION: FLAVOR PAGE: F1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY RUTH FANTASIA, VIRGINIAN-PILOT/LEDGER-STAR STAFF
LENGTH: Long : 147 lines
NOW, NEW JERSEY might not seem the place for learning about fried chicken and spoon bread. But last weekend, nine Northerners attended The Country Cookin' Workshop at the Chalfonte Hotel in Cape May, N.J. (well, it is south Jersey) to work in the hotel's kitchen and receive an education in down-home cookin'.
For nearly 40 years, the Chalfonte's Magnolia Dining Room has been known for its ``ver-ah fine'' Southern fare. From April through October, the venerable Victorian hotel packs people in for ham biscuits and fried fish.
It's enough to clog Yankee arteries.
Ironically, the hotel was built in 1876 by Henry Sawyer, a colonel in the Union Army.
Although Cape May is geographically below the Mason-Dixon line, the town has a decidedly Yankee flavor. Bagels are the breakfast bread of choice, and pork-roll sandwiches are highlighted in beach restaurants.
But the Chalfonte has always held a Southern air.
The hotel's gingerbread railings and massive verandas remind some folks of the old Mississippi River steamboats, says Anne LeDuc, who owns the hotel with partner Judy Bartella. And early guest registers list addresses from such Southern cities as Charleston and Richmond.
But the Chalfonte's reputation for Southern food didn't fully develop until Richmond's Helen Dickerson took over the kitchen in 1956.
Dickerson had come to the Chalfonte when she was 5; her job was to help pick flowers for the dining room. Her mother was the hotel's head chambermaid.
Over the years, Helen worked her way up to head waitress and then head cook.
It wasn't long before tourists were coming to Cape May almost as much for Dickerson's fried chicken and sweet-potato pie as for the salt water taffy. Her cooking skills grew to such legendary proportions that she once appeared on television's ``Donahue.'' Later, the hotel published a cookbook with the title based on one of her favorite sayings: ``I Just Quit Stirrin' When the Tastin's Good.''
Dickerson died in 1990 at age 81, just a month after she retired. Today, her daughters Dot Burton, 67, and Lucille Thompson, 65, run the kitchen, carrying on their mother's tradition of down-home cooking. And this once, they offered a small group of Northerners the opportunity to cook like Helen Dickerson did. EARLY START
If you want to be a Southern cook you've got to get up early. It's barely past 7 when Lucille Thompson lays down the first commandment of cooking Southern: ``Never throw away the bacon grease.''
``We're going to need that later,'' she says.
Within minutes the workshop group is preparing breakfast. Gale Zarr of Brooklyn is cutting biscuits; Cindi Kindya of Waterford, N.J., is breading flounder fillets; and Ed Rupp of Churchville, Pa., is putting strips of bacon on giant baking pans.
``Here, throw this in that pot on the stove,'' says Burton, handing Gale's sister, Giulia Zarr, a pound slab of butter. Giulia, a New Yorker who admits she's afraid of a stove, lobs the butter into a pot of hot water.
``I guess I shouldn't have said `throw,' '' Burton says, laughing.
Others are cracking eggs or staring at Thompson, who's busy pouring bacon grease from one casserole into the next.
``This is for the spoon bread. You've got to grease the bowl,'' Thompson says.
``Oh, my arteries,'' whispers Rupp.
More bacon grease is added to a large cast-iron skillet that looks as old as the hotel.
``It's been around as long as I've been here,'' says Burton. ``The lady before my momma used it.''
The eggs are fried and breakfast is served. NO MODERN EQUIPMENT
With the morning meal out of the way, workshop participants are free to wander historic Cape May. Burton and Thompson begin dinner - all without modern equipment.
The giant bread-dough mixer has celebrated its 100th birthday. And between Labor Day and winter closing at the end of October, they do it without the summer staff. The women take pride in saying the Chalfonte hasn't missed a meal in 118 years.
The two are so organized, they can prepare for 180 guests without talking to each other. Thompson makes the rolls, spoon bread, soups, pork and turkey. Burton makes pie, cakes, beef, lamb and chicken. Vegetables and sides are shared responsibilities.
A separate staff, in a separate kitchen, handles salads, desserts and the ordering of supplies.
At noon, Burton discovers that blueberries for the night's cobbler were used on the previous night's cheesecake and that morning's fruit tray.
When an employee who was sent to the store calls to say there are no blueberries, Burton orders apples instead.
``Them things are going to have to be peeled and sliced and we have to get the cobbler out of the oven early so the prime rib can go in,'' she says. ``I don't know if we're going to be done in time.''
Burton sets chickens in a vat of salt water to soak. ``It gives them more flavor,'' she says.
At 2 p.m. the workshop participants return. Gloria Whitman of Manhattan; Mary Clouser of Sewell, N.J.; and Marie Zarr of Brooklyn, who attended with her daughters Gale and Guilia, chop four bunches of celery, 25 carrots and countless onions for soup, chicken and the roast beef. Rupp's wife, Pat; Dorothy Kolva of New Hope, Pa.; and Cindi Kindya pick through 10 pounds of jumbo lump crabmeat.
Thompson shows Brooklyn's Gale Zarr how to knead and shape parkerhouse rolls and place them in muffin tins, which have been blackened through years of use. SAVORING THE REWARD
At 4, the participants are rewarded with tea on the veranda, and time to dress for dinner. Jeans and T-shirts are not allowed in the Magnolia Dining Room. Neither are young children.
Children are treated to dinner in a special dining room complete with flowers on the tables.
Lodging, two breakfasts, two dinners, afternoon tea and a cocktail party are included in the participants' fee of $235 or more. And Saturday's dinner is a special event for the nine guests.
``I'm not finding any shell in these crabcakes,'' says Pat Rupp.
``I always like vacations where there's some planned activity and this has been wonderful,'' says Whitman. ``And this apple cobbler is delicious.''
As the group disperses for the evening, Burton and Thompson are putting food on plates as fast as they can.
Finally, 14 1/2 hours after their day began, the two cooks get a chance to sit.
``You know, we couldn't have done it without that group in here today,'' says Burton.
``I'm sure glad they was here to help,'' agrees Thompson.
And if the Yankees start eating like this, the South is going to rise like spoon bread.
The following recipes are from ``I Just Quit Stirrin' When the Tastin's Good'' by Cissy Finley Grant (The Chalfonte Hotel, 1986). [For recipes, please see microfilm] ILLUSTRATION: JOSEPH JOHN KOTLOWSKI/Staff color photos
THE COUNTRY COOKIN' WORKSHOP
Back row, from left: Dorothy Kolva, cook Lucille Thompson, Ed Rupp,
Mary Clouser, Pat Rupp. Middle row: Marie Zarr, Giulia Zarr, cook
Dot Burton. Front row: Gale Zarr, Gloria Whitman. Not pictured:
Cindi Kindya.
FROM LEFT: Cooking school participants at work; exterior of the
Chalfonte Hotel; cook Dot Burton with pan she has used for the past
50 years.
by CNB