Princess Pamela's Soul Food Cookbook

In the late 1960's and early 1970's, Signet published a handful of cookbooks.  One of their authors was Princess Pamela. She ran a little restaurant in New York called Princess Pamela's Little Kitchen.  The menu featured many soul food specialties like collards, black-eyed peas, and ribs. The meal would cost you about $2.00.

In 1969, signet published Princess Pamela's Soul Food Cookbook, with recipes for many favorites. Pamela tells us:

To someone like myself, cooking is a very personal kind of thing. I still use a domestic stove in the back of my small place, and preparing things about the way you would at home for regular meals. So I never gave much thought to getting my cooking down on paper.

Luckily for us, she did get them down on paper. The recipes are faced on each page with a sassy quote, may relating to food. The recipes are simple, pared down instructions that one might get from a relative.  Remember, she never much thought about writing down her recipes.

One of our favorite recipes that she wrote down was a popular way to cook pork -- in milk. It was a "Sunday" dish.  In the quote on the facing page, Pamela wrote:

On Sundays when I was nine
there was always lots of Bible
    readin"
and milk-baked ham
and singin' to the good Lord
before the biscuits got cold.

Milk-Baked Ham

A 2"-thick slice of ham
1 tablespoon flour
2 heaping teaspoons dry mustard
2 tablespoons brown sugar
Sweet milk

Combine the flour, dry mustard, and brown sugar. Work the mixture into both sides of the ham. Place in a baking dish and cover completely with milk. Bake at 350 for about an hour, or until the ham is tender. When the ham is done, its surface should be browned and the milk almost entirely disappeared.

I always look forward to Sundays!