COVID-19 Era: Author Gladys Taber’s Farmhouse, Books, Food

Use your imagination.

Red barn, country road. Gladys Taber, author, inspired a walk and thinking about food.

Red barn, country road. Thinking of the late Gladys Taber while out exploring and later, reading from her many books.

“As for the children – once when I was making doughnuts, I was greatly flattered because Don and Cicely stood beside me and engaged me in charming conversation. After a time, I noticed that no matter how many plump doughnuts were laid on the brown paper to drain, the number never increased. The children were eating them as fast as they were fried and keeping up remarkably well.” – Stillmeadow Kitchen by Gladys Taber.

Stillmeadow 2016. © Moo Dog Press

See this house? In the 1690 farmhouse is a kitchen where a beloved author Gladys Taber not only stirred up satisfying meals for body and soul, she also dreamed, lived, faced power outages, food shortages in World War II, change and crisis. And she wrote, distilling life into words that still speak.

Her books fill shelves and run the gamut from fiction (not as well known), to those about her home, beloved dogs and cats, Cape Cod, recipes, friends, gardens. When she wrote about finding an old farmhouse in the country (in a snowstorm) with her friend, “Jill” – and the ensuing trials, tribulations and happiness – first in a column “Diary of Domesticity” (Ladies' Home Journal), then “Butternut Wisdom” (Family Circle), then books – readers responded. Decades later, devoted fans share their passion for her work on social media. On Pinterest alone there are pages and pages of images that feature aspects of her life and work. Taber's family and friends and neighbors are remembered; their stories woven into her writing.

Three books about dogs also authored by Gladys Taber.

Three books about dogs also authored by Gladys Taber.


Stillmeadow kitchen as seen on Pinterest.

The kitchen at Stillmeadow as seen on Pinterest.

Stillmeadow Kitchen (1947) is a book still in demand nearly 70 years since its publication. It is but one of Taber's volumes that include mouthwatering descriptions and recipes. Worthy footsteps to follow in, so to speak.

“I cooked. Sometimes I felt the kitchen was the only room in the house, and I was always in it. (There was a side effect of this, for I began to collect recipes and write cookbooks.) And I learned that in the country you never know how many will drop in and stay for supper. It may be five; it may be ten.” – Gladys Taber Pages of savory recipes are written in a conversational tone after a delicious introduction by the author.

Gladys Taber at Stillmeadow - note the sign and the picket fence.

Out of the kitchen, author Gladys Taber at Stillmeadow. Note the spaniel sign in front of the white fence. Source: Pinterest.

Home-cooked soups, chowders, bisques. Cold soups, hot casseroles. Seafood. The chapter on poultry may lead to salivating over the pages. Here is an excerpt: “…cold fried chicken in the basket for a hot August day” and a description of the ensuing picnic with accompaniments of “a tiny pot of honey and crisp potato chips and light rolls” as a group which includes the author sits by a “slow-flowing dusky river under trailing green willows”. Maybe it will inspire others into hauling out that old-fashioned picnic hamper to duplicate the outing.

Chapters include: Vegetables. Salads. Gravies and Sauces. Egg, Cheese, Tomato Dishes. Spaghetti and Macaroni. Cereals. Breads. Desserts. Canning. The latter includes how to make brandied peaches, tomato honey, pepper relish, pickled string beans, tomato catsup, jelly.

Taber quips: “In these days of powdered and liquid pectins anyone can make jelly out of anything except mashed potatoes.”

From the Meats chapter, roasts, gravy, a roasting chart, a rolled rib roast with Yorkshire pudding “crusty and brown and rich with the drippings.” Pot roast, meat loaf, pan-broiled steak, stuffed pork chops, spare ribs, ham; dumplings for meat stews. Lamb, veal, bacon, salt pork. Tripe, tongue, heart, kidneys, sweetbreads. Stuffing recipes fill four pages. No-nonsense, practical advice for preparing poultry, too: “Cut off the head and feet. Remove the pin feathers with a knife held against your thumb or with eyebrow tweezers. Cut out the oil sac above the tail. Singe over an open flame to get rid of hairs and fuzz. Rub inside and out with a slice or lemon, or wash in cold water, wipe dry, and rub salt in the cavity.”

Variations of recipes she shares depend on the age or the bird and run the gamut from roast chicken to Southern-fried chicken roasts, chicken and dumplings; birds cooked with red wine, pot pie and fricassee – even arroz con pollo. Also roast duck and goose.

Favorite Beverages at Stillmeadow: Lemonade, an August cooler, iced tea and party punch. Iced chocolate coffee. Cold weather recipes – hot buttered rum, eggnog and skating night punch. An “ice cubes for drinks” tip that is so practical – “for iced coffee, freeze coffee in one of the ice cube trays. For iced tea, freeze tea.” She goes on to tell about adding an “unusual and interesting touch” for readers to “place a maraschino cherry or a small wisp of mint or tiny pineapple wedge to freeze in each cube that is to go in iced tea, ginger ale, or one of the cola drinks. Use your imagination.”

Candy. Easy fudge, chocolate drops, maple fondant, pralines. Molasses taffy, butterscotch, popcorn, spiced nuts.

And the final section “Let's Have A Party” includes this: “Our favorite part is broilers done in the grill ad basted with barbecue sauce (Cicely's), fresh country sweet corn in season and scalloped potatoes (they keep hot while the chicken cooks). Fresh berry pie for dessert and coffee. If corn is not in, we may have scalloped broiled tomatoes or fresh green peas.”

Dog walk and old apple trees © Moo Dog Press

Walk, pose. Amid old pasture and apple orchard.

On the wall a dog. Moo Dog Press

Vignettes from the author are sprinkled throughout the pages adding flavor and commentary, memories shared – “Of course, anything would have been delicious with the blue roll of the mountains above us and the silvery green valley below, and the smoke of our fire drifting dreamily in the still summer air.”

Walk and sky, Gladys Taber story Moo Dog Press

One dog in this image, another was behind the camera wielder.


In “Salads” is this: “I sometimes think that there must be a good deal of rabbit in me because of the way I feel about crisp greens.”

It should be noted that the actual cookbook is so cherished and collected, it may be hard to find except via online sales and booksellers who sometimes have a waiting list for Taber collectors and devoted readers. So here are a few recipes from the book until you track down one of your very own.

Fried Tomatoes • Wash and cut in half medium-sized tomatoes, ripe, partly ripe, or green. Do not remove the skins. Season half a cup of flour or cornmeal with 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/8 teaspoon pepper and dredge the pieces. Fry them, turning carefully once, in 3 tablespoons of bacon fat or cooking oil. Place the tomatoes on thin, buttered whole wheat toast on a hot platter and make the gravy. Gravy: Stir 2 tablespoons of flour into the drippings in the pan and when it is blended slowly add 1 cup of top milk or evaporated milk. Stir constantly until the gravy has boiled up and is smooth. Pour over the tomatoes, and serve at once. If the tomatoes are green they may need to be steamed a few minutes before they are done through, so just cover the pan when they are brown and cook until tender.


Note: Merriam-Webster provides this helpful definition of “top milk” as “the upper layer of milk in a container enriched by whatever cream has risen.”

Fritters • For fritters you need a deep kettle with fat over halfway to the top. Heat the fat hot enough so that a cube of bread browns without burning in 2 or 3 minutes. Beat 2 egg yolks. Add 1/3 cup water and 1/3 cup of rich milk. Beat in 1 tablespoon of lemon juice and 1 tablespoon melted butter. Sift 1 cup of flour, measure and resift with 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1 tablespoons sugar. Combine dry ad liquid ingredients. Whip 2 egg whites with 1/8 teaspoons salt added to them, and fold into the batter. Drop the fritters in the hot fat and fry slowly until delicate brown. Drain on brown paper and serve hot.

Apple Fritters • Pare, core and cut in eighths 2 medium-sized tart apples. Cut the pieces in thin slices and drop in batter. The drop by spoonfuls in the deep fat, drain on brown paper and sprinkle with powdered sugar. You may use almost any fresh fruit or drained canned fruit in the same way. Bananas are improved by being soaked first in 1/2 tablespoon of lemon juice and 3 tablespoons sherry (for four bananas). Serve with syrup, jelly or powdered sugar. Corn Fritters Follow recipe for fritters. Stir in 1 cup niblets, whole or chopped, or drain 1 cup of cream style corn instead. Serve with maple syrup and broiled bacon.

One more.

Addison County, Vermont.

Butterscotch Icing: Combine in the top of a double boiler over boiling water 4 tablespoons butter, 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1/8 teaspoon salt, and 1/3 cup top milk. Cook and stir until smooth, Beat in confectioner's sugar, a little at a time, until the mixture has reached a good consistency to spread. Usually this requires about 2 cups of sugar. Add 1/2 teaspoon vanilla and 1/2 cup chopped nuts before spreading.


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Editor's note: Part of this story was first published in 2016 after a pilgrimage to Stillmeadow and the former farmland nearby. As humans, we may venture into space, start companies, invent and innovate, but food made with love and care remains a powerful common denominator across all time and every culture. Remember lessons of the past, integrate all into the present, look to the future. Grow.

Jane's mule.

While living through a global pandemic, helps to read Gladys Taber and other authors who weathered world wars and epidemics. Still wearing a mask and social distancing, vaccinations in arms.


While life slowly unfurls in spring and while still dealing with the virus, listings will be featured on our A Resources page (formerly our events page). Farm markets, showcases of local farms, micro-enterprises, entrepreneurs, ideas, will also be featured there.