‘Godmother of Soul Food’ showcases her cooking talents at Lynn English

LYNN – From the cotton fields of South Carolina to the cafeteria at Lynn English High School, Lillie Jones has spread joy through cooking for over 60 years. Her fried chicken and sweet potato pie recipes are famous in the city, so much so that fans of her creations have dubbed her the “Godmother of Soul Food.”She has cooked for family and friends, parishioners and aristocrats, and Wednesday morning, she presented a buffet of southern cooking at its best to a group of students at Lynn English High School as part of the school’s month-long celebration of Black History Month.Jones and Library Media Specialist Linda Barefield spent Wednesday morning preparing the feast in the school cafeteria, whipping up Jones’ famous potato salad, collard greens, baked macaroni and cheese, corn bread, and three different kinds of banana bread.Then Jones took center stage in the library to demonstrate first-hand her special fried chicken recipe, a staple of any soul food presentation.The secret to her southern fried chicken, Jones explained, is letting the wings marinate overnight in Lawson’s seasoning. When ready to cook, combine the seasoned chicken with flour and black pepper in a ziplock bag, a few pieces at a time, and shake to coat well.”Some people like to put salt in there too, but the Lawson’s is pretty salty so I don’t add too much,” she said.Heat oil in a deep skillet at 370 degrees and add the chicken skin side down, fully submerging the chicken in oil. When the underside of the chicken begins to brown, turn the heart down and partially cover with a lid.Turn the chicken after about 15 minutes or after completely browned on the underside.Although her cooking has brought her notoriety, Jones does not keep her recipes a secret. She has always said, “teach the children” as a motto, and she has lived it by giving up her recipes to anyone who asks, from girl scouts to families who try her food after church.Jones was born on a cotton farm in South Carolina, and was raised by her grandmother before getting married at 18. She lived with her husband in Washington, D.C and moved to Lynn in 1963, where she has lived ever since.While the bulk of her time – 24 years – was spent as a special education teacher at Classical High School, Jones had to work odd jobs when she first came to the city, including a gig as a cook for a family living on the Marblehead coast.It is there that Jones obtained a reputation as an improvisational cook, taking the scraps that people would throw away, or meats that had been prepared the wrong way, and turning them into delicious dishes.”I was the meter that kept things going,” she said. “They used to say if you got something left over, give it to Lillie, she knows what to do with it.”The basis of soul food is ingredients once thought useless, such as chit’lins, or pig intestines, which are often boiled with onions and a common food in the south. When she first moved to the area, Jones says she had a hard time finding ingredients to make the foods she was used to, but now some dishes have become so popular that they are actually considered a delicacy.No matter what she is cooking, one thing has remained constant for Jones over the years – a sizeable group of hungry people is never far away.”All the kids used to say they wish they had a mother like me, I have become a lot of kids’ adopted Godmother,” she says. “I have four kids, 10 grandkids and one great-grandchild, and numerous others that I picked up along the way.”