Bragg presents a food memoir, cookbook, and tribute to his mother. Margaret Bragg does not own a single cookbook, measures ingredients by "dabs" and judges "done" by look and smell. Her son shares classic family recipes-- many of them pre-dating the Civil War-- as well as preparation secrets for traditional Southern fare.

Prologue: It takes a lot of rust to wipe away a General Electric -- "Them shadows get to dancin'" -- "Salt is good" -- A man who knew beans -- Sweeter, after the frost -- "A chicken ... ain't likely to ketch on" -- The fourth bear -- The falling cow -- "Hard times, come around no more" -- "A ham hock don't call for help" -- Cakes of gold -- Sis -- The second ghost -- Bitter weeds -- Still hard times for an honest man -- The pie that never was -- Ribs in the dead of night -- Clementine -- Tomatoes without taste, tomatoes without end -- Didelphis Virginiana -- Stairway to nowhere -- People who cook -- Blackberry winter -- Till it thunders -- Offerings -- Government cheese -- Sometimes the pies just call your name -- Red's -- "When Momma was all right" -- Monkey on a string -- Edna's ark -- Staggering to glory -- The runaway -- "Untimely figs" -- Spring -- Epilogue: The recipe that never was.