Cook of the Week: Joy Turner

Cathy Higgins

For Joy Turner of Sasser, the kitchen is a launchpad for culinary creations.

It’s there she composes such baked goods as peanut butter fudge or Pig Lickin’ Cake, which features mandarin oranges, pineapples and Cool Whip.

It’s also there the 30-year- old wife of almost two years recreates a secret recipe shared by her mother’s sister.

“Aunt Dot’s Layer Cake,” Turner said of the recipe that requires a skillet to make 11 thin layers for the yellow cake that includes a chocolate icing.

While baking may be a craft that eludes many, Turner has had years of experience.

“My aunt taught me to make this as a teenager,” she said of her Aunt Dot’s Layer Cake.

Turner also learned a thing or two in the kitchen from other family members.

“My mom taught me some of the basics,” she said, “and my grandmother gave me free reign of her kitchen when I would spend weekends with her.”

Those lessons equipped Turner to make a number of dishes. That’s why today, the Gospel Light Academy graduate is just as comfortable at the stove, as the oven.

And her father, who pastors Gospel Light Baptist Church in Albany, has always appreciated Turner’s efforts.

“He doesn’t have an ounce of fat on him,” Turner said. “But you wouldn’t tell it by what he eats.”

PIG LICKIN’ CAKE INGREDIENTS: 4 eggs 1 can of mandarin oranges 1 box of yellow cake mix 1 box of French vanilla instant pudding DIRECTIONS: Mix eggs and cake mix. Cut up oranges, and add pudding mix. Bake in 3 layers at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes (do not over bake). Cool cake layers, then top with frosting and refrigerate. PIG LICKIN’ C AKE FROSTING INGREDIENTS: 16 ounces of Cool Whip 1 box of French vanilla instant pudding 1 cup of crushed pineapple DIRECTIONS: Mix ingredients together and spread over cooled cake.

But in the years that the younger of two daughters has cooked and baked, Turner has never mastered making biscuits from scratch.

“So I take Jiffy biscuit mix and fill a tin up,” she said. “Then I just take the Jiffy mix out of the tin and make biscuits from that.”

But her father has never complained. Instead, he lauds his daughter’s biscuit-making skill.

“And I say, ‘Jiffy knows how to make biscuits,’ ” Turner said.

But he doesn’t seem to mind. Since Turner’s parents live in a house only a few yards away, the pastor regularly replenishes himself on Turner’s dishes.

“I’ve always cooked for my father,” Turner said.

But her husband, Bobby, and other family members also benefit from Turner’s time in the kitchen.

So do her neighbors and fellow church members.

“I make this Aunt Dot’s Layer Cake for church socials,” Turner said.

And when there’s a need, she doesn’t hesitate to make a dish for someone in need.

“There are a few older men at church who have lost their wives that I’ll make a dish for,” Turner said.

But no matter what the occasion, Turner hopes everything she prepares meets with the same results.

“I like for someone to enjoy what I’ve made,” Turner said.

• AGE: 30
• HOMETOWN: Albany, but has lived in Sasser since 1993
• OCCUPATION: Homemaker
• BEEN COOKING: Since early teen years

Q: How would you describe your cuisine or cooking style?

A: Down-home Southern.

Q: What’s the first thing you learned to cook?

A: The first thing I learned to make was breakfast — eggs, grits and toast.

Q: What’s the biggest mistake you’ve ever made in the kitchen?

A: I guess it would be making hard biscuits.

When I tried to make them and they came out hard, I threw them out in the woods. But no matter how far out I’d throw them, the cats found them and played with them and brought them back up to the house.

Q: What’s your most valued utensil in the kitchen and why?

A: My Pampered Chef stones (bakeware). You don’t burn anything, and nothing sticks to them. I would burn things much more if I didn’t use them. I don’t even have an aluminum pan in the house.

Q: What’s your favorite dish to cook?

A: To cook, corn and green bean casserole. To bake, I enjoy doing cookies.

Q: Besides your own, whose cooking do you enjoy eating and why?

A: My grandmother’s. Everything always comes out so perfectly, and she does it so effortlessly.

Q: Given the opportunity to cook a meal for one famous person, who would that be and why?

A: I would want to cook for Rick and Bubba. Knowing them, no matter what I made, they would enjoy it.

The Cook of the Week is generally nominated by members of the community. If you know of a cook who you think should be profiled, e-mail your nominee, their contact information and reasons the person would make a good Cook of the Week to SouthView at southview@albanyherald.com. Those selected will be asked to submit a favorite recipe.