Food Dude: Parting is such sweet sorrow — I have to share a recipe

The 14 years spent writing the Food Dude column every Wednesday have been the highlight of my 32 years at The Oklahoman, but today it comes to an end.

Knee-deep in the holidays is as good a time to say so long as any, I suppose.

A month ago, I accepted a buyout to pursue opportunities to expand my role in the 405 diningscape. More on that later. Friday marks my final day on staff, and I've got one more piece coming before I go, but today I say so long to the Wednesday Food section, which has survived so long because of its loyal readership.

That's right, while other sections went away years ago, readers continue to demand their Wednesday Food section.

Curating that section has been the honor of my career.

Among the many privileges has been sharing holiday traditions like Aunt Bill's Brown Candy. We share that recipe in today's section just as we have every year since 1928. That recipe came from Edna Vance Adams Mueller on behalf of her Aunt Bill, whose identity was never fleshed out in Mueller's 13 years as columnist.

After sharing the Aunt Bill's recipe for the first time, I decided to share a family holiday recipe of my own. Nonny's Harvest Loaf is a variation on pumpkin bread highlighted by chocolate chips, walnuts, sugar glaze and a hint of ginger.

The recipe came to me from the late, great Anne Ferlo — great grandmother to my children. Anne and her husband Guido were a treasure, their home always teeming with treats around the holidays. Anne was a whiz in the kitchen, whether making cannoli from scratch or attacking the olfactory senses with an Italian pot roast on the stove, but nothing brought her grandchildren and great grandchildren more joy than "helping Nonny make Harvest Loaf" at Christmas.

A massive thanks to The Oklahoman for letting me share this family recipe one last time and for 14 years in stewarding this section. Rarely has a week gone by without someone reminding me I've got "the best job in the world," and they've never been wrong.

The countless emails I've received have given me some idea what Santa Claus must feel like this time of year. Recipes, family stories, and countless tales of dining out — good and bad — have come across my desk. But the ingredient I'll take to my grave from this experience is grace.

It's fitting that my last Food Dude column will include the recipe for Nonny's Harvest loaf because the aforementioned grace first emerged when I printed the recipe without giving the proper amount of pumpkin. (It's one cup!)

I got more than 100 emails the first day, and they didn't stop trickling in until the following Christmas. None were angry, just anxious to try Nonny's Harvest Loaf.

So, it shouldn't have been any surprise that when tragedy struck my family, readers lifted us on their shoulders with emails, letters, and mementos. Neither was it a surprise that the food-service industry I've covered for 14 years went above and beyond the call of duty after we lost my son Luke at the age of 19.

Last Thursday, I helped serve Thanksgiving dinner at Kaiser's Grateful Bean at the Luke Cathey Memorial Thanksgiving Feast. Two hours flew by and so, too, did the turkey and dressing fly out the door with folks who really needed it. I walked away wrapped in gratitude for honoring his memory doing something that meant so much to Luke.

The last time we worked in the kitchen together was at The Homeless Alliance's WestTown day shelter, which is where I spent last Wednesday. Covering The Homeless Alliance has been an unforeseen privilege I'll never forget.

I've had the privilege of covering so many chefs, restaurants, bakeries, events, and occasions I could spend all day waxing nostalgic. Nobody has time for that, so a thank you to the thousands of good people who make food-service a growing, healthy local industry.

I've compiled a list a list of my favorite stories over the past 14 years. Check it out by signing up for the Eat and Drink newsletter, which releases on Thursday.

When I came to the Features department in back 2008, the department operated on its own floor and had a team of editors led by Yvette Walker. She was the one who took a shot on the loud-mouthed State Editor as steward to the section when the legendary Sharon Dowell retired.

Matthew Price shepherded me through most of the next 14 years as my editor, giving me far more berth than I deserved with nary a complaint.

When I first started, we had a wonderful team of freelance writers, including the iconic Sherrel Jones, whose Thanksgiving recipes still run in The Oklahoman, and Becky Varner, who did her best to help keep good health in mind.

Perhaps my luckiest break was inheriting the inimitable Melba Lovelace and her Melba's Swap Shop column. Melba was kind, wise, dependable and a joy to talk whether she wanted to talk recipes or to figure out how to get her email to work.

For the first half of my time as Food Editor, the section boasted award-winning design starting with the genius of Matt Clayton. He was followed by Suzanne Green and Ebony Iman Dallas. My current editor, Moran Elwell, has been editing this copy since the beginning along with fellow long-suffering Texas Rangers fan Felicia Murray. Huge thanks to them.

For many years, Food Dude columns came with video. Under previous ownership, a dynamic video staff was hired and folks including Dave Morris, Paige Dillard, Greg Singleton, Tanner Herriot, Kyle Roberts and Addison Kliewer have produced videos like "Summer Wing Ding of 2021," "Chefs Recipe Challenge," and "Open Flame."

Those last two productions would never have happened without Claude Rappaport at Culinary Kitchen and Jim Grigsby at American Propane. Massive thank you to those businessmen and their families.

If not for this job, I never would've been asked to write "The Culinary History of Pittsburg County" or "Classic Restaurants of Oklahoma City." Traveling to Krebs and McAlester to research the first book helped me develop lifelong friendships. Writing about the history of Oklahoma City dining was a massive undertaking, but it still reaps rewards.

My old boss on the State desk and colleague in Sports Mac Bentley used to say "everything has an expiration date." Mac was rarely wrong, including about a job as great as Food Editor.

My passion for food and dining and the people behind it hasn't waned, but my ability to write about it has reached critical mass after 14 years and a pandemic. I need a break.

But I'm not going anywhere.

I plan to take a little time off before embarking on several new adventures. Among them, a new television show focused on local food and dining. That should be ready by spring, and when it is, I hope you'll read all about it in the Wednesday Food section. By this time next year, my byline might even have appeared in The Oklahoman again as a contributor.

Who knows?

There's a verse in the song "The Other Side" by What Made Milwaukee Famous out of Austin that sums up where life finds me these days:

Life is what you chooseLove is what you makeSuccess is based on chances that you take

This isn't goodbye, it's hello from a fresh point of view.

For the last time as Food Editor, here's the recipe to Nonny's Harvest Loaf from my family to yours.

Nonny's Harvest Loaf

• 1 3/4 cups flour

• 1 cup canned pumpkin

• 1 cup sugar

• 2 eggs

• 1 cup chocolate chips

• 1 cup chopped walnuts

• 1/2 cup butter

• 1 teaspoon baking soda

• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

GLAZE

• 1/2 cup sifted powdered sugar

• 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg

• 1/8 teaspoon cinnamon

• 1 to 2 tablespoons heavy cream

Preheat oven to 350 F. Sift together flour with soda, salt and spices.

In a large mixing bowl, use a handheld mixer at high speed and gradually add sugar to butter, creaming the batter until it's light and fluffy. Blend in eggs until thoroughly beaten and combined.

At low speed, add dry ingredients alternately with pumpkin. Begin and end with dry ingredients, blending well after each addition.

Stir in chocolate chips and 3/4 cup walnuts.

Grease a 9-by-5-inch loaf pan with butter, then pour in batter. Sprinkle top with remaining walnuts.

Bake 65 to 75 minutes, until loaf springs back when touched lightly in the center.

While loaf is baking, make glaze by combining all ingredients until well-incorporated. When loaf comes from the oven, remove from pan and drizzle with glaze.

Let stand up to 6 hours.

Source: Anne Ferlo

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Dave Cathey departs after 14 years as The Oklahoman's Food Editor