How's about cooking something up with me?
Hey, hey, sweet baby
Don't you think maybe
We could find us a brand new recipe?
Welcome. Welcome to Country Kitchen.
You know, we've been doing this show, this is our sixth year,
and we've had a couple of living legends,
and today we have a great one.
Little Jimmy Dickens. Hey, thank you very much.
I mean that. Thank you, ma'am.
That's nice. I mean, you have spanned
at least five decades in this business, haven't you?
I've loved every minute of it.
How did you get started? Oh, I don't know.
In West Virginia when I was a kid in high school,
and I thought that I just wanted to be a professional entertainer
and worked on that and took little jobs
and radio stations in different areas of the country,
and Mr. Acuff brought me here in 48, so...
Isn't that something? And I've been here since.
You just can't hold a job, can you, Jimmy?
Were you born with a voice that big?
I mean, he has a huge voice. Oh, well, I don't know about that.
I never claimed to be a singer much, but I...
You're kidding me. No, I never did.
But I've worked hard all my life and still work at it
at being an entertainer, and I try hard.
Well, I think you have to. If you care about what you're doing,
your performance is important to you, right?
I love it, yeah. I love every bit of it.
I just couldn't help but notice all this beautiful jewelry you have, too.
Well, thank you, ma'am. Three or four more payments,
and I'll own all that.
Well, I'm so thrilled because Jimmy today, you know,
they call him Tater, for short, right?
Right, yeah. For short. No pun intended.
But he's going to make for us Tater Top Meat Loaf.
So you come back with little Jimmy Dickens today.
Welcome back.
Before we get started today with little Jimmy Dickens'
Tater Top Meat Loaf, I dressed in your honor, sir.
I noticed this gorgeous gold anchor on his neck,
and I wore my little military jacket.
Yes, ma'am.
I wore it really because I was reading all about your distinguished career
and all your travels for our servicemen.
Yes, I've done a lot of that.
I've been overseas many, many times.
We went to Europe about 13 times, all over Europe for the American military,
and then made three trips to Vietnam during that crisis
and made one complete trip around the world.
That's amazing. God bless you.
Well, I'm sure you've eaten everything under the sun.
Yeah.
But today we're going to have Tater Top Meat Loaf.
Tater Top Meat Loaf. That's a little different, isn't it?
Yeah.
Everybody makes a meatloaf different,
so we're going to try to make one a little different today.
Let's do it.
Okay. First of all, we must have the hamburger, of course.
About two pounds, I think, is here.
Okay.
And then we've got the onion, and we put the onion in here.
Right in there.
I'll take your dishes.
And then we take the green peppers, of course.
You've got lots of green peppers.
How colorful.
Yes. And now, let's see.
We mix some eggs in here.
You've got a couple of raw eggs there.
A couple of raw eggs, and we'll just mix them right down in there.
Okay.
And a cup of bread crumbs here.
Bread crumbs?
Or cracker crumbs, whichever you want to use.
That kind of is the glue that holds it all together.
Yeah, that'll mix it.
And this is French dressing.
Oh.
I don't know if you've used French dressing in a meatloaf or not.
No, I have not. That's a new one on me.
It's really, really good in there,
and I think that folks will enjoy that.
Okay.
Very much.
And then, of course, you take this and you blend it all.
Okay.
And you mix it, and it's very important that you mix it well.
Okay.
And get all the ingredients equally distributed in there.
You know what I'm going to do here, Jimmy?
Watch this. I'm going to help him.
Oh, now you're pulling my mama's trick now.
Okay. How about that tomato paste? Is that coming in?
Tomato paste, absolutely.
Okay.
It goes in there. You bet it does.
This is kind of exciting.
All right.
Kind of reminds me of the day Dr. Ruth was on the show.
Turn me on.
Oh, yeah.
Okay.
I think that's about it.
So we've got our tomato paste in there.
Okay.
And you make that into a loaf.
Okay.
After you've got it all mixed up and everything.
All right.
And then you place it.
In that little pan there?
Place it in this baking pan.
Okay.
Or a baking dish, whichever, and make a loaf out of that.
Okay.
And after you've got it all in there, then you put it.
Okay, we'll pretend we've got it all in there.
Just form a loaf, and then we've preheated the oven.
Yeah, we usually preheat to 350 degrees, right Ginger?
350 degrees.
That's as far as our oven goes, Jimmy.
Well, that's hot enough for this.
And for anything else, I suppose.
But you just take this and put it in the oven,
and you bake it now for one hour.
One hour?
One hour, and then you take it out.
And you take it out and you put it on that.
I see we've got a nice cookie sheet over there,
one that's already been cooked.
Take it out.
And what's going to happen over here with our potatoes?
Okay, we take these mashed potatoes.
I think there's about two cups of mashed potatoes in there.
And we put this French dressing in it.
Ooh, more French dressing.
More French dressing.
We have a little egg here.
And we blend an egg in there, too.
Okay.
And then we salt and pepper this over here.
I forgot to do that.
Well.
Everybody will know to salt and pepper their own meatloaf.
Yeah, and sometimes people like to salt it to taste.
I mean, the world's made a meatloaf,
but they haven't made one like this.
No, that's the first.
Blend this.
Blend this together.
I'll hold your...
Okay.
Now watch out.
Bruce and Terry flew with this one.
He's got it.
They have it too strong there.
Take an old cold tater and wait, I think.
Take an old cold tater and wait is right.
There we go.
Perfect.
Taters have been good to me, Florence.
They sure have.
They really have.
That was a big hit for you, wasn't it?
That was my first recording.
You're kidding.
My first recording was take an old cold tater and wait,
and folks bought that record and made it successful.
And may the bird of paradise fly up your nose.
My, my.
That was a big crossover hit for you, right?
Yeah, and then we take this.
Okay, now we've got our potatoes there.
Potatoes and the onion and the egg and everything,
and we take this.
Oh, you're going to put it all around there?
I bet.
And you just make like a frosting out of this or an icing.
How wonderful.
Why don't we put it on this one, Jimmy?
The folks, I think, can see it better
since that one's already cooked.
That's fine.
Yeah.
That's great.
Just put a little on there,
and you're just going to make like a crust around there?
Yes, ma'am.
Out of the potatoes?
Put it on there evenly.
Mmm.
And when that's baked.
Wow, gosh, this looks wonderful.
Now, you put that in there,
and you put your stove on brawl on this.
Oh, I see.
You're going to brown this.
And you brown it until it's just lightly browned.
Looks like a cake.
It's better than a cake, ma'am.
But while Jimmy's spreading those wonderful potatoes
all around and just making it look so beautiful,
I'm going to recap this recipe for you.
You're going to really want this one.
Okay, here we go.
You preheat your oven to 350 degrees,
chop your onion and your peppers,
mix your beef, a half cup of French dressing,
tomato paste, bread crumbs, onion, bell pepper,
two eggs, salt and pepper,
and then you shape into a loaf, place in a pan,
and bake that for about an hour.
Place your meatloaf on a baking sheet,
and then put the remaining egg.
You beat that up in the French dressing into potatoes,
and you mix it real well.
Spread the potatoes over the loaf,
and you broil till lightly browned.
Now, Jimmy, we've been trying to broil these guys
and get them nice and browned.
Nothing's happening to them.
But Williams and Rie are going to be here in a minute,
and they're going to make sweet potato cake.
So come on back.
Sweet potato cake.
Yeah.
Thank you.
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You know, little Jimmy Dickens has received one of the,
I guess the highest honor that you can receive in country music.
You were voted into the Country Music Hall of Fame.
Yes, thank you.
Isn't that something?
Thank you.
Thank you, folks.
I appreciate that.
That's a great honor.
I was nominated four years in a row,
and you go with, you know, the anticipation of going in,
and you got your speech all prepared,
and then when they do call your name...
You don't have it ready.
All the way to that stage, it all goes away,
and you get up there and mumble, you know, so...
But it was a great honor.
You voted into the Country Music Hall of Fame
for contributing something to an industry that we all love,
and voted in by your peers, and it's a great honor.
Well, I think that's the great honor, is that your peers do vote you in.
Yes, ma'am.
And so that really counts for a lot.
I don't think that these two guys will ever be voted anywhere.
You know, it's tough if they will win anything in life.
We voted in the Hall of Shame.
Yeah, Bruce and Terry in the Hall of Shame.
But, you know, they're wonderful guys.
They are funny, and I adore them.
And today they're going to make for you sweet potato cake.
Williams and Reed.
Thank you. Thank you so very much.
Oh, golly gee.
Yes, indeed, boys and girls.
What a thrill to be here with, of course, little Jimmy Dickens.
The Dr. Ruth of Country Music.
Yeah, so to speak.
And in honor of that, we are going to do a dessert, of course, sweet potato cake.
Sweet potato cake.
Or, as we say on the reservation...
The greasy, creamy thing that makes the deer run towards the headlights.
Yes, and don't you know the deal.
We're going to need some ingredients.
Now, boys and girls, those ingredients will be as follow.
First of all, you will have to have some brown sugar.
Some butter.
And some vanilla.
And five eggs.
And some sweet potatoes.
And you'll need unbleached flour.
And you'll need some cinnamon.
Nutmeg.
And ginger.
Baking soda.
And you will also need some baking powder.
And some chopped pecans.
And raisins.
And, of course, you'll need some crushed pineapples.
And prepared coconut pecan frosting.
And a huge cart to carry all that stuff in.
Absolutely.
And first of all, you preheat your oven to 325 degrees.
As you know, our T&N oven is set at 350 degrees.
But what we do is put a picture of Ralph Emory in there just to chill it down just a little bit.
All right.
And then we...
We in the bowl, just kidding, Ralph.
Just kidding, Ralph.
Ralph, Ralph, Ralph.
Just kidding.
All right.
Now, in the butter, we take our softened butter like this.
Yeah.
And we stir it up with our...
Oh, yeah.
On slow speed.
Well, you start to cream it.
That's what it's called, creaming.
Oh, yeah.
Now, you got to put in your powdered sugar.
That's your powdered sugar.
That is actually a brown sugar.
Brown sugar, excuse me.
Brown sugar?
It wasn't even powdered.
It was cake.
Yeah, yeah.
It's actually sugar and vanilla mixed together, isn't it?
No.
Here's the vanilla here.
Oh.
We'll put the vanilla in.
Well, now it is.
Now it is, by golly.
For once, he's reading the directions.
Isn't that amazing?
I sure got lost.
Yes, you did.
Right away.
And then...
Step two.
Yeah.
Step three, we add the...
We add the eggs.
Oh, yes.
Oh, boy.
We add the eggs.
Five eggs.
That's enough to turn Bob Barker's hair back.
Oh, man.
Look at that.
Yeah.
Oh, good.
Good.
Oh.
A little boy named Billy just went by.
Oh.
He's holding up two fingers.
No problem.
All right.
Okay.
We've got this baby at it.
Now, we add in the sweet potatoes.
Sweet potatoes.
Now, what are sweet potatoes?
Sweet potatoes?
What are sweet potatoes?
What are sweet potatoes, Bruce?
Sweet potato cakes.
Oh, what are sweet potatoes?
Well, what are sweet potato cakes is what our thing says.
All right.
Is it...
Is it A?
Potatoes that are good in the sack, but in a cake, they're not worth a yam.
Is it B?
Is it scallop from the Iroquois?
Or is it C?
Or is it C, vegetables who aren't afraid to admit that they have peelings?
Oh, golly gee.
Well, now we add the flour.
We add the unbleached flour.
Oh, the unbleached flour.
Yes.
Why is it unbleached?
Well, you can't see its roots.
Of course.
I knew there was a good joker.
Oh, yes.
Oh, good in heaven.
Have you got enough insurance to be operating equipment like this?
And then...
And then you add your flour.
You've done that.
I may have to jack this speed up.
It's getting a little heavy.
All right.
Then let's get the cinnamon in there.
Put the cinnamon in.
The nutmeg.
And the nutmeg.
And then, of course, you're going to add your ginger.
Ginger.
That's not the ginger.
That's the nutmeg.
Yes.
And then your baking soda.
And your baking powder.
Baking powder.
And your...
And then, of course, your salt.
Yes.
Yeah.
And then you mix real well.
That's a lot of salt.
It's about five pounds of salt.
It's in there.
And then...
And then, again...
Not only does he not know how to cook these half-blind...
And now...
I can see Pluto on a clear night with these.
All right.
Now, we need to...
I've got a prescription windshield in my car.
It's great for me, but the passengers think they've been drinking Nightwaltz.
Oh, I'm sorry.
Excuse me.
No, we need to put in our raisins.
And our pecans.
And our pineapples.
Why do we put the raisins in?
I think the softness of the raisins balances the masculinity of the pecans.
Of course.
Oh, what a beautiful delivery that was.
And let's put that in there.
Let's put that in there, the pineapples, and then I'll just get the bundt cake ready.
Now, Ginger already greased our bundt pan.
Oh, yes.
How lucky we were to have our bundt already greased.
Oh, really?
Well...
This looks like a garage for that cushion that you always use at games.
Well, yes.
You shouldn't tell everything on television.
Oh, okay.
Sorry.
All right.
Now, we're putting this in, like this, and it's just about ready, I think.
Oh, you schmaltzed it in there.
Just schmaltzed it in there.
And then you stick it in the oven.
Come on, Billy.
Do this.
All right.
Then you stick it in the oven for 60 to 70 minutes or until the cake test is done.
And while that's done, we have time for our commercial.
Yes.
It's the little Jimmy Dickens couch tater.
Yes.
There's nothing half-baked about this perfect kyber hydrate companion who will only have
eyes for you when you take him to the petting zoo, the library, or fly on the back of the
bird of paradise right up your nose.
Yes, indeed.
Send $9.95 if you want it, $10.95 if you don't, to West By God, Virginia.
Yes.
If you don't, we'll include these bonus accessory hats.
This comes with that one?
This will change his attitude quicker than a Mandrell family reunion.
Yes.
Here's the little Jimmy Dickens model.
Couch tater.
Yes.
And here's the-
And here's the little Daniel Dickens model.
And of course, the current favorite, Robo Dickens.
All right.
Yes.
The little Jimmy Dickens couch tater.
Remember, this spuds for you.
Oh, yes.
Now, it's amazing, but after you bake it, it comes out looking like this.
And you drizzle over the top of the cake.
Here's a spoon.
You spoon it over the top of the cake.
Oh, you spoon it.
That's right.
We weren't drizzling over the top of the cake.
You spoon it over the top of the cake.
Yes.
And while the Indians doing that, let's recap.
We can recap.
Here's what we did, boys and girls.
We created a dough in the 325.
We put the picture of Ralph Emory and creamed the butter and sugar and vanilla.
We added the eggs and mixed flour.
And mixed in the sweet potatoes.
And then we added the flour, the cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, baking soda, and powder, and
salt, and mixed well.
And then we fold in the pecans, raisins, and pineapples.
And we spoon batter into greased and floured bundt pans.
Bake for 60 to 70 minutes.
And we cool 10 minutes and turn it into a steaming dish.
And how you heat the frosting.
And then we spooned over cooled cake.
And this is what it looks like.
Now, let's pull it on over to the Contralto Chorale with the lovely Florence Henderson
and our special guest.
I tell you, I bet people are going to be writing in for one of those dolls.
Yeah, you bet.
Yeah, you.
We're going to sing a song that Jimmy's been singing since the 50s.
Right?
Who wrote this song?
My friend Bootle O'Brien wrote this song for me because he figured I was the short.
Every time I pulled my socks up, I blindfolded myself.
Well, you're going to recognize it.
So have a ball.
Clap along.
Let's have fun.
Here we go.
My turn.
I learned to do my singing, walking long behind the crowd.
The singing teachers always pass me by.
And so I have to sing the only way that I know how.
Just hold it up and let it fly.
I'm a little, but I'm loud, I'm poor, but I'm proud.
I'm country proud, and I don't care who throws it.
I'm like a bany rooster in a big red rooster crowd.
I'm puny, short, and little, but I'm loud.
Take it, Jimmy.
I sang a special solo song in church one Sunday morning.
And I was coming back, listening to my skin.
Beautiful.
I hit a high note as well, as sure as I was born.
In 2014, hogs came walking in.
I'm a little, but I'm loud, I'm poor, but I'm proud.
I'm puny, short, and little, but I'm loud.
Yeah.
Whoo-hoo.
Oh.
We'll be back in just a minute today.
Little Jimmy Dickens tater-top meatloaf.
You folks, come on back.
That was fun.
Wesson's meant the best in frying for 75 years, and it just keeps getting better.
Wesson vegetable oil is my old favorite, all-natural, cholesterol-free.
That's not exactly old-fashioned.
Red corn oil is part of our low-fat, low-cholesterol diet, because we're concerned about reducing
cholesterol.
Wesson sunflower oil is 89% saturated, fat-free.
That's right for the way we live.
Wesson vegetable, corn, and sunflower oils, with every bite, you know you're eating right.
You know, Grandpa, there are as many calories in this little chocolate chip cookie as in
three whole cups of our light popcorn.
A cookie that small?
You hardly know you ate it.
Orville Redenbacher's light microwave popcorn.
You could eat a ton of it.
You know, Grandpa, for a single gram of fat, you could have three whole cups of our light
popcorn, or some light potato chips.
Oh, really?
Yeah, really.
Three of them.
Orville Redenbacher's light microwave popcorn.
You could eat a ton of it.
Look, the only problem is my father is not gonna let me get my ears pierced.
No way!
Oh, you're right.
Jimmy!
Sunlight has real lemon juice.
Personally, I think you should wear the raincoat.
You know, with the little blue grape earrings?
Oh, they are...
It cuts tough food easily, and leaves everything sunlight clean.
In fact, it's so easy, you almost don't have to be there.
Sunlight with real lemon juice.
We make light work of dishes.
Oh, the wains from Bangor made love shrimp with pear cream and linguine, while the chews
from Santa Cruz stir fry their veggies with roti.
It fills them with a feeling that's as good as it can get.
That's why America's having a love affair with Cremette.
Cremette, America's pasta, cooks up perfect, doesn't stick, and keeps bringing folks together.
It fills them with a feeling that's as good as it can get.
That's why America's having a love affair with Cremette.
Well, this is what I call the moment of truth, Jimmy.
Jimmy, we get to taste your wonderful meatloaf.
Look at that.
Isn't that beautiful, folks?
Isn't it pretty?
That's the tater-top meatloaf made by little Jimmy Dickens.
Yes, ma'am.
And I hope that folks will try that.
They'll love it.
And they'll enjoy it.
Do you still go on the road a lot?
I'm on the road most of the summer.
Are you really?
Yeah.
I'm about to wind it up, but I've been on the road all summer long since, well, April,
May, and started really working hard in July with the fairs opened.
We've been buzzing around the country.
I think it keeps you young traveling like that.
Well, I love it.
I love being in front of people, and when I'm off a few days, I get jittery.
I've got to get back out there again.
I'm kind of like that, too.
You know, I always say when I'm out on the road, oh, it would be so nice to stay home for a while.
And I stay home for a couple of weeks, and I'm going to get me back on the road.
That's right.
But, you know, I just worked with Bob Hope in Louisville, Kentucky, 87 years old.
Yes.
And he signed books all afternoon, did an hour show.
Isn't that marvelous?
Yeah, and it's a thrill.
Yes, it is.
Well, Jimmy, I know that you're going to want to taste that, and I know that the folks at home are going to want your recipe.
I'm going to steal this one.
All right.
You just write to me, Florence Henderson, Care of Country Kitchen, 2806 Opryland Drive, Nashville, Tennessee, 37214.
And if you would like this cookbook, and I sure hope you do, I wrote it.
There are a lot of wonderful pictures in here.
Jim Hagans took them, and we have stories, and here's how you can get it.
For your copy of Florence Henderson's cookbooks and 1995 plus $3 shipping and handling to Florence's cookbook, 2806 Opryland Drive, Nashville, Tennessee, 37214.
MasterCard or Visa customers call 1-800-634-5620.
That's 1-800-634-5620.
California residents are subject to sales tax.
Jimmy, thank you for coming today.
It was an honor.
What a pleasure.
A privilege.
Thank you, ma'am.
Thank you all for coming.
I appreciate you having me here.
Thank you.
Popular country music songstress Reba McIntyre gets candid with Laurie Ann Crook on the next Celebrities Offstage.