In early December of 1977, food editor Laurin Stamm began a weekly recipe column titled “From the Kitchen of The Cypress House.” The column ran continuously through November of 2000, featuring one or two recipes each week, and totaling more than 1,150 recipes over the 23 years.

Checkout, a current weekly column that features various food stories, events and recipes, looks back at some of the most popular recipes from The Kitchen of the Cypress House, and perhaps a newly discovered one every now and then.

There seems to be a tendency this time of year to reminisce of Christmases past, and never a December comes around that I don’t think back to the McLaurin family dinners served in the big dining room of what is now The Cypress House.

The standard dessert was Charlotte Russe, a scrumptious concoction prepared by my Grandmother McLaurin and my mother, Lucy McLaurin Fields. Their recipe came from the late Mrs. Ethel C. Long, and I still have the original copy in Mrs. Long’s own handwriting. It is truly, as my grandmother used to say, “Larapin.”

Charlotte Russe

2 tablespoons cornstarch

1 cup sugar

4 eggs, separated

2 envelopes plain gelatin

1 quart milk, divided

1 pint whipping cream

2 teaspoons vanilla

Pinch of salt

Add the cornstarch to the sugar, mix with the egg yolks and cream the mixture well. Soften the gelatin with 1/2 cup of the milk and set aside.

Heat the remaining milk and add it slowly to the egg and sugar mixture. Cook until thick.

Add the gelatin mixture to the hot custard mix.

Whip the egg whites until stiff and fold in the custard. Add the whipping cream, vanilla and salt.

Refrigerate until congealed slightly.

Serve in sherbet or custard dishes.