Archives Test Kitchen: Lucille's Treasure Chest of Fine Foods

The purpose of The Compass Rose is to raise awareness of Special Collections' resources and to foster the use of these resources. The blog series also reports significant new programs, initiatives, and acquisitions of Special Collections. Archives Test Kitchen is a blog series that tests historic recipes to highlight culinary treasures within our collection, bringing history and archives to life with sometimes delicious, sometimes hilarious results! This week, Photo Collections Coordinator, Sara Pezzoni, attempts two recipes from Lucille Bishop Smith’s recipe box. 

Lucille Bishop Smith

In honor of Women’s History Month, I sought out the recipe box authored by Lucille Bishop Smith (1892-1985) in our collection for this Archives Test Kitchen feature to celebrate the famous culinary creations of the first African American businesswoman to incorporate a business in the Southwest.

Lucille has an extensive list of accomplishments and culinary accolades that she achieved in her lifetime as a recognized chef, educator, and entrepreneur. Lucille grew up on her family's farm near Crockett in East Texas and attributed her love for and knowledge of cooking to her grandmother, who was a formerly enslaved person. She moved to Fort Worth with her husband, Ulysses S. Smith, in 1912 after their marriage. In 1927, Lucille became the coordinator for the Fort Worth public schools' vocational education program training Black students for domestic service jobs. In 1937, she established one of the first college-level commercial food and technology programs at Prairie View A&M College. She published her cookbook in the form of a card file box of recipes, titled Lucille’s Treasure Chest of Fine Foods, in 1941.

Following the publication of her recipe box, she invented Lucille's All Purpose Hot Roll Mix, the first hot roll mix to be marketed in the United States. Her chili biscuits were famously served on American Airlines flights and at the White House. First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, President Lyndon B. Johnson, and heavyweight boxing champion Joe Louis were among her friends, fans, and customers. From the Briscoe Center's collection, these photos taken by Fort Worth photographer Calvin Littlejohn show Lucille conducting a cooking demonstration in Dallas to market her Hot Roll Mix in 1948, and Lucille is pictured with Joe Louis in 1950. 

Lucille served as Sepia magazine's first food editor. In 1965, during the Vietnam War, she baked a fruit cake for each of the 330 military service people from Tarrant County who were serving in Vietnam. Following that incredibly generous effort, "Lucille B. Smith Day" was declared by the Fort Worth mayor on April 28, 1966. Lucille was the first Black woman to join the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce, and in 1968, she was cited as the first Black person to win a lifetime membership award from the Chamber. 

Recipe Selection

It was incredibly difficult to settle on one recipe from Lucille’s recipe box, my colleagues in Special Collections heavily pressured me to consider making the "Guacamole Ring" recipe, which was essentially a mixture of mashed avocado, mayonnaise, and sour cream in a Jell-O mold. It was a hard pass for me, but feel free to try it yourself (also, I love the pronunciation guide for guacamole)! The All-Bran Muffin recipe, while also not on my preferred food list, is noted as "delicious" by Lucille.

Lucille's Famous Chili Biscuits

I was a bit disappointed that I did not find a recipe for her hot rolls included in the box, but that was likely because she was employing a smart business tactic by selling the mix in a box instead! My first thought was to attempt Lucille's "famous" chili biscuits recipe, as daunting as that was, knowing full well that I hardly ever bake and have never attempted a biscuit-from-scratch recipe. Don’t get me wrong, bread is my favorite food group—but making it yourself just gives you a completely new level of appreciation for the art of baking!  

As predicted for a biscuit recipe, there were so many steps involved! The recipe itself seemed fairly straightforward, though I was a bit hung up on figuring out what “oleo” was and where to find it in the grocery store. During assembly, I had to learn how to “cut in” vegetable shortening. I also don’t own any cookie cutters, so I just portioned out the biscuits into rough 1.5” circles like the recipe calls for, which seemed pretty small for a biscuit. 

I also decided to forgo the chili and the grated American cheese (that definitely isn’t a thing anymore), and while the recipe states that this will make 5 dozen biscuits, my dough only yielded about 42 biscuits. As for the results on flavor... these reminded me of Pillsbury crescent rolls but a bit more bland, which is probably why it needs to be topped with chili and cheese. I dipped them in some marinara sauce and it mostly just took on the flavor of the sauce – to me, it seemed that these chili biscuits were designed as a vessel for the chili. It is also extremely likely that I messed up the recipe somewhere in the process, and I suspect I should have used real butter over the “oleo.” 

Redemption Recipe - Banana Nut Bread

As a redemption for this failed recipe attempt, I decided to attempt the Banana Nut Bread recipe. This one was more similar to a cake recipe, which I’m much more comfortable with! One thing that I noticed with Lucille’s recipes is that she uses a little t for teaspoon and a big T for tablespoon! She notes this in her handy abbreviations guide provided in the beginning of the recipe box. It’s interesting to see how the standard abbreviation has changed to tsp and tbsp since 1941! 

The results were DELICIOUS! My only issue was with figuring out when to add in the pecans, as it was not noted in the recipe – so these were just added to the top. I can definitely appreciate a moist cake/loaf, and this delivered! In comparing this recipe to more modern banana nut bread recipes, this recipe lacked the spices (cinnamon, nutmeg) that are typically seen in recipes today. I was very grateful to the sour cream for keeping the loaf moist, and a special shout out to the pecans for balancing out the sweetness from the bananas! My colleagues in Special Collections also noticed the lack of spice and commented that the use of white sugar over brown sugar seemed to make a flavor difference as well.  

Per the Fort Worth Report, "Although Smith died Jan. 12, 1985, her impressive legacy continues through her direct bloodline. Among them is award-winning Chef Chris Williams, who in 2012 opened the wildly successful restaurant Lucille’s in Houston, Texas, along with his brother and entrepreneur in his own right, Ben Williams, both Smith’s great-grandchildren. Additionally, Chef Chris, now a multi-restaurant owner, also founded a nonprofit, Lucille’s 1913, whose collective mission of helping feed the underserved populations in Houston and increasing job training opportunities is obviously a beautiful family trait he has eagerly embodied." 

It looks like a road trip to Houston is in order for me to experience how Lucille's famous chili biscuits are supposed to taste!