Pork Chops, a Church, and an Unknown Doctor
A recipe remake from a 1960 vintage church cookbook, history behind the church, and a small mystery to solve.
Last week, I shared with you my love of vintage and antique cookbooks. I love reading them, even if I never cook from them, because they are a peek into the lives of homemakers throughout history. You can get to know food of the time in a place and how it was prepared by the people - mostly women - who lived then… and there. It is a fascinating education and makes history more approachable for those who loathed their high school history class.
If you missed the article, click below to read it.
I love remaking recipes out of these old cookbooks, too. To that end, 2023 is the year of “cooking the vintage books”.
On our first episode of The Davises Eat, we selected a 1960 cookbook from Cape Girardeau, Missouri - a town worth the visit. It is located along the Mississippi River about 45 minutes from where we live.
“Our Favorite Recipes” was published by the Third Street Methodist Church’s Women’s Society of Christian Services (WSCS).
From this, I remade a recipe called “Pork Chop Bake” for the modern kitchen. The original recipe is below.
We used an air fryer, cutting the recipe time down significantly. We also cooked the pork to current USDA guidelines, which produced a flavorful and juicy pork chop.
Church Cookbooks
Church cookbooks are typically compiled by volunteers, often the women in the church’s congregation. Like community cookbooks, those published by churches offer a glimpse into the community and church’s history and culture of the time. They also tell us what foods were popular and what ingredients were on the shelves of the home kitchen. Many of the dishes included were probably served at church potlucks.
When you thumb through a church cookbook, you aren’t just looking at the recipe, you’re also looking at people. The name under each recipe represents someone's mom or grandma, a woman who cooked the recipe so often or loved it so much that she willingly shared it with the cause. On rare occasions, you may even get a glimpse of how the men cooked!
Third Street Methodist Church History
Church cookbooks almost always provide history of the church. This is, perhaps, one of the more important reasons to preserve these books.
The Third Street Methodist Church began in the home of a Dr. Blount (first name not provided). There being no appropriate building close by to gather and worship, the Blount family offered part of their home for Sunday school and service and, on March 29, 1914, the Methodist Church was born.
I find it interesting that the Blount family is not listed with charter members when the church was incorporated in 1917 even though the good doctor conducted the first service 3 years prior. Mystery.
The Blount family home was owned by two other men before it was permanently designated for religious use in 1920. It was used as the church property until 1924 when a new building was built. The new church was dedicated in 1930 and by 1979 was the Third Street United Methodists Church.
While the church building still stands at the corner of 3rd St. and Big Bend Rd. in Cape Girardeau, it is simply that. A building. In 2005, the Third Street United Methodist Church merged with the Hobbs Chapel United Methodist Church.
I still cannot say for sure who Dr. Blount was. Daniel M. Blount is listed on the 1910 and 1920 censuses as a physician living in the vicinity of the church and is a likely candidate. He died in 1924, which was well after the church was incorporated. Another Mystery.
The Recipes
We began our show with two variations of a Cosmopolitan, favoring the slightly sweeter version. The recipe remake turned into stuffed pork chops that were delicious, paired with green beans in a white wine butter sauce. It was a quick meal
Stuffed Pork Chops
Yield: 4 servings | Time: 20 minutes
Ingredients
1 tablespoon bacon fat
1 small onion, peeled and halved
2 large stalks celery, roughly chopped
2 tablespoons fresh parsley leaves
1 tablespoons butter
2 slices stale sourdough bread
1 tablespoon dry white wine
4 butterflied pork chops
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
Directions
Melt the bacon fat in a large skillet over low heat. Place the onion, celery and parsley in a food process and chop to a fine dice. Cook the vegetables in the bacon fat until translucent. Chop the sourdough bread in the food processor to a small dice. Melt the butter in the same skillet as the vegetables then add the bread and stir to soak up some of the melted butter. Add the wine and stir everything together. The stuffing should begin to stick together. Add additional fat (oil) or wine as needed.
Lay the pork chops open on a baking sheet and season the inside with salt and pepper. Divide the stuffing between the pork chops, spreading across the inside. Close and securing with a toothpick is desired. Season the outside with additional salt and pepper or seasoning blend of your choice.
Bake in a 390 degree F. air fryer for 10 minutes or until the internal temperature reaches 145 degrees F.
Note: Recipe was prepared in a Ninja AG301 Foodi 5-in-1 Indoor Grill. Time may vary in other air fryers.
Bonus!
Normally, only paid subscribers have access to all of the recipes we showcase on The Davises Eat. But… since this is the first episode of our vintage cookbook season, I though I’d share with everyone. I hope you enjoy!
You can download the printable version of all recipes below.