I never knew J. C. (Coleman) DeVane of Adel but I eat his chicken recipe at least twice a year … more if I could. It is my family’s favorite and when we have a special occasion like Mother’s Day I get the request for “Cook County Chicken.”

One of the joys of grilling his special chicken is I get to pull out the “Cook County Cookery” cookbook. Over the years, it has been one of my favorites. The most unique part of this cookbook that was published in 1959 by the Adel Garden Club is that all of the recipes are hand written and signed by the contributor. “Coleman DeVane’s Bar-Be-Cue Sauce” is signed J. C. DeVane, age 83.

His recipe includes all the usual sauce ingredients — butter, lemons, vinegar, and sugar — but the difference comes from the key ingredient – Durkee’s Famous Sauce. Most good grocery stores will have a few jars on their shelves. Harvey’s in Adel did carry the large jugs but I am not sure if they still do that.

Once the sauce is made and the charcoal – not gas – is hot, you begin the grilling of whole chickens cut into halves – not pieces – only halves. After a little char you begin dunking – not mopping — the chicken halves into the sauce. Oh, I did not mention you need to hold out a little of the sauce for meal time because chicken and rice is always cooked with his chicken. The sauce is to add to the rice.

I know of people in Cook County who try variations of this recipe but I am a purist and I only do what Coleman DeVane wrote.

The cook book as I said is a fun read and a lot of good ‘real’ food. In the “Cookery” you can learn how to boil peanuts, make Catfish Stew, fry birds, cook Rosin Baked potatoes or Irish Potato Candy. Now, if you really want to have something different at your next party, you can add “Chitterling Dip” to all the frou-frou items you have for your guests. This is a J.C. Thomas recipe and he adds a caution: “Never serve in carpeted rooms.”

There is also a “Ham Goulash” that Pat Carmichael adds is “very good.” The Rosin Potatoes was submitted by Flicker Wilkes but he got it from Mrs. E.D. Rivers, wife of Georgia governor Rivers from Lakeland.

Then there is “Saw Mill Chicken” from Robert Bennett. The King Frog Restaurant in Adel always had Saw Mill Chicken on their buffet one day a week for the late Jim Paulk, owner of Del-Cook Lumber Company. The Frog was a favorite of locals but the interstate brought many visitors from up North. I often wondered what they thought of this delicacy from the South. For those of you who do not know, there is absolutely no chicken in Saw Mill Chicken. Again, according to the “Cookery” and Mr. Bennett you need to ‘buy the best grade of white salt meat (sow belly) and have it sliced about 1/8 of an inch thick.” When you sit down to eat, your plate will have rice, tomatoes, sow belly but no chicken.

The ladies did get to submit recipes to the book; after all, it was published by the garden club. They have many good eats from breads to vegetables but the “Men’s Only” section is still my favorite and Coleman DeVane’s grilled chicken and sauce stays at the top of my family’s special get-together meals.