What
you need to know if you don't already (and if you did, I would probably be a little worried about you) is that "Lumpy Dick" was a name used
for an old pioneer, porridge-type recipe. (Here is a recipe, but not necessarily the one we used. I know ours had flour because that's what made the lumps.) Generations back, the women in my Idaho-farmer family all made it - mostly when
they were too poor to buy the actual ingredients for food and the only thing available in the
house was flour and milk from the milk cow. I never heard anyone but us call it that, until once a few years ago, I was talking to a dude
from Boise about weird family traditions and he started to tell this story about how his family made this gruel recipe, "...that they called - and you'll never believe this..." and I said, "Lumpy Dick?" and he said, "OHMIGOSHYOUTOO?" So
it must have been an Idaho thing.
You also need to know that my Grandmother had a candy recipe she called Patience, so named because it took so long to make. (This is also not the recipe my family used, but probably along the same lines.) My mother tried all the time to make it but was never very successful, probably because of the living-on-the-desert-floor thing. It never came out quite fluffy enough, but I ate a lot of it. I was a kid and it was a big pot of caramelized sugar and butter, after all. Who doesn't love that? No one, that's who!
The texting begins thusly:
My Mother: I have to tell this in a DUP group tonight. What was your favorite thing I cooked when you were growing up? If there was a favorite. I know I wasn’t the greatest cook. :)
Me: I want you to tell them about Lumpy Dick.
Her: I will but is that a favorite?
Me: I always like a little Lumpy Dick.
Her: Ha ha. No, seriously, what was your favorite thing that I made. Not a family recipe, but a thing I made for you kids?
Me: Lumpy Dick!
Her: So, no favorites?
Me: Lumpy Dick WAS my favorite. I just would have preferred it wasn’t served to me by my mother.
Her: Very funny.
Me: What’s very funny?
Her: Lumpy Dick was your grandmothers’ recipe. You never ate Lumpy Dick.
Me: I’m pretty sure you made some Lumpy Dick in your time.
Her: I made limpy dick for your kids once, they didn’t think much of it.
Her: I MEAN LUMPY
Me: Are you sure?
Her: As if lumpy wasn’t enough of a Kodak moment?
Me: Put enough butter and sugar on it and anyone’s Lumpy Dick will taste good.
Her: U are weird.
Me: LUMPY DICK
*long silence*
Me: IDK. Grandma’s Patience?
Her: I need to know what my kids remember as a favorite food that their mom cooked. You never ate Lumpy Dick after babyhood! Patience is what grandma made.
Me: You made Lumpy Dick AND Patience. Though you always said Grandma had better Patience. Grandma never had any Patience for me.
Her: Sigh. You’re not getting it. Never mind then.
Me: Not getting what?
Her: OK.. I’ll take that. What will your kids say in twenty years when asked the same question? I thought your brother might say Apple Crisp but he hasn’t answered yet. My mother made homemade macaroni and cheese that was wonderful but I still think my favorite food from her was homemade bread.
My Brother: Apple crisp.
You also need to know that my Grandmother had a candy recipe she called Patience, so named because it took so long to make. (This is also not the recipe my family used, but probably along the same lines.) My mother tried all the time to make it but was never very successful, probably because of the living-on-the-desert-floor thing. It never came out quite fluffy enough, but I ate a lot of it. I was a kid and it was a big pot of caramelized sugar and butter, after all. Who doesn't love that? No one, that's who!
The texting begins thusly:
My Mother: I have to tell this in a DUP group tonight. What was your favorite thing I cooked when you were growing up? If there was a favorite. I know I wasn’t the greatest cook. :)
Me: I want you to tell them about Lumpy Dick.
Her: I will but is that a favorite?
Me: I always like a little Lumpy Dick.
Her: Ha ha. No, seriously, what was your favorite thing that I made. Not a family recipe, but a thing I made for you kids?
Me: Lumpy Dick!
Her: So, no favorites?
Me: Lumpy Dick WAS my favorite. I just would have preferred it wasn’t served to me by my mother.
Her: Very funny.
Me: What’s very funny?
Her: Lumpy Dick was your grandmothers’ recipe. You never ate Lumpy Dick.
Me: I’m pretty sure you made some Lumpy Dick in your time.
Her: I made limpy dick for your kids once, they didn’t think much of it.
Her: I MEAN LUMPY
Me: Are you sure?
Her: As if lumpy wasn’t enough of a Kodak moment?
Me: Put enough butter and sugar on it and anyone’s Lumpy Dick will taste good.
Her: U are weird.
Me: LUMPY DICK
*long silence*
Me: IDK. Grandma’s Patience?
Her: I need to know what my kids remember as a favorite food that their mom cooked. You never ate Lumpy Dick after babyhood! Patience is what grandma made.
Me: You made Lumpy Dick AND Patience. Though you always said Grandma had better Patience. Grandma never had any Patience for me.
Her: Sigh. You’re not getting it. Never mind then.
Me: Not getting what?
Her: OK.. I’ll take that. What will your kids say in twenty years when asked the same question? I thought your brother might say Apple Crisp but he hasn’t answered yet. My mother made homemade macaroni and cheese that was wonderful but I still think my favorite food from her was homemade bread.
My Brother: Apple crisp.
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April 30, 2015 at 4:40 PM
TskTst. Telling all the family secrets, I see. Even though I told you to. All Lumpy Dick was was beating two eggs up and then putting some flour onto a plate or something and pouring the beaten eggs onto the flour and mix it until it gets lumpy and then putting all that mixture into hot milk and stirring until it thickens and then it's done and you put some into a bowl like soup, put about a half a pound of real butter on top (I may have embellished a bit about the butter) and salt and pepper it and .....voila!
April 30, 2015 at 5:29 PM
Annnd......it wasn't an Idaho recipe. It was an English thing that was brought over by the pioneers oh lo those many years ago.