Put ramekins on a baking sheet. Bake for 25-35 minutes, until puffed and golden. Remove from oven, and let stand for 5 minutes. With a flexible spatula, remove strata to
Pam Foy has stepped into very large shoes at Rockford General Store: She’s taking up the making and baking of sonker, the sorta-pie, sorta-cobbler dessert found only in Surry County
Pam Foy has stepped into very large shoes at Rockford General Store: She’s taking up the making and baking of sonker, the sorta-pie, sorta-cobbler dessert found only in Surry County
Pam Foy has stepped into very large shoes at Rockford General Store: She’s taking up the making and baking of sonker, the sorta-pie, sorta-cobbler dessert found only in Surry County — unless, Foy says, “some grandma moved to Wilkes County and took the recipe with her.” Foy helped her sister-in-law Carolyn Carter make sonker until Carolyn’s death in 2018.
Carolyn learned her own sonker secrets from Mrs. Catherine Hutchins — look for her picture on the wall. Carolyn’s husband, Paul, explains that sonker was “always around because it was easy to make, fed a lot, and was inexpensive.”
In the store, big glass jars are filled with old-fashioned candy, but customers come for servings of peach, sweet potato, cherry, and berry sonker to eat right at the oilcloth-covered table or take home for later. The 200-year-old Scotch-Irish tradition — no one knows the origin of the name “sonker” — calls for a plain pie crust on the sides and top of a bowl, fruit mixed with sugar, a bit of butter (“more for sweet potatoes,” Foy says), and 40 minutes in the oven. Warm fruit juice soaks the crust, and cold ice cream makes it perfect.
Rockford General Store 5174 Rockford Road Dobson, NC 27017 (336) 374-5317 rockfordgeneralstore.com
Get our most popular weekly newsletter: This is NC
Flaky buttermilk drop biscuits, creamy potato and sausage casserole, and soul-warming chicken and cabbage soup were among your favorite recipes in January. Find out what else made the list.
When demand for tobacco and cotton diminished, this one-square-mile Halifax County town followed suit. Now, one couple is revitalizing Littleton into a lively location once more.
Each year, Our State celebrates the very best in North Carolina craftsmanship with the Made in NC Awards. Meet the talented artisans who won top honors in 2022 — and watch them at work.