The Legendary Mama’s Recipes

Written By: Donna Rhodes | Issue: 2019/03 - March

Julia Child said, “People who love to eat are always the best people.”

 If that is so, then Helen McKinney Cleaveland “Mama” Thompson might top the list of bests…times three. 

She loved to eat. 

She loved to cook. 

And she loved sharing recipes. In fact, if there is a down-home Highlands cookbook that personifies our town’s good food and hospitality, it’s “Mama’s Recipes,” a collection of menu delights compiled by daughter, June Thompson Medlin.

Helen Cleaveland was widowed not too long before she married Dr. H. P. P. “Percy” Thompson, who’d come to town to recover from a severe illness. When his health was restored, he served as town doctor for a dozen years before his passing. Together, Helen and Dr. Thompson raised three girls and two boys in addition to the three boys Helen had by her first husband.

In the midst of the Depression, Dr. Thompson often took no pay for his services. When he died, Mama Thompson and her eight children were left with little on which to live. 

It was clear her gift in life was cooking, so “Mama” got a job running the school lunchroom. There she tried out her homemade soups, bread, roast turkey, cheese soufflé, black bottom-, buttermilk-, and sweet potato-pies on the toughest crowd ever … school children.  

Clearly Mama Thompson was the antithesis of most elementary school dining experiences. For three decades kids adored her and chowed down, wiping gravied chins, and burping resplendently after attacking a plateful of deliciousness. In fact, her recipes were so scrumptious they were featured in The Highlander Restaurant where her Buttermilk Pie could have gotten her elected President had she the means to circulate it around the country.

Mama Thompson is a culinary legend and worthy of a tribute next time a Plateau food fest hits town. 

Occasionally a used copy of Mama’s Recipes shows up on Amazon, though it is currently out-of-print. It’s a treasure worth seeking. Contact Ran Shaffner at the Highlands Historical Society if you’d like to view the cookbook and explore some fine Southern delights and a taste of how things used to be. Call (828) 787-1050.

Shrimp de Jonghe

Ingredients:

1 cup butter, melted

1 clove garlic, minced

1/2 cup chopped parsley 

1/2  tsp. paprika

Dash cayenne pepper

2/3 cup cooking sherry

5-6 cups cleaned, cooked shrimp (4 lbs. in shell)

2 cups soft bread crumbs

2 tbsp. melted butter

Preparation: 

Mix together the first 6 ingredients. Place shrimp in oblong baking dish. Pour liquid mixture over shrimp and top with bread crumbs which have been mixed with the melted butter. Bake at 325 ° for 20 – 25 minutes.