Mary Dalton was 21, in 1945, when her mother, sister Patricia and she boarded a Halifax-bound ship, full of war brides. Before the war, Mary Dalton’s father, James, had left County Derry, Northern Ireland, and sailed to Canada. The Daltons re-united in Toronto’s east end where Mary lived until she died, in 2006, aged 82. Mary, who never married, cooked excellent plain meals and was a talented baker, according to her niece Deanna Dunn. In the fall Aunt Mary also put up jars of tomato chow-chow (pickle relish) and made traditional fruit-laden cakes for Christmas.
Deanna remembers meatless Fridays and the smell of cod fish soaking in the kitchen. Mary’s salt cod was a favourite dish of Deanna’s brother Michael. “He loved Mary’s special salt cod dinner,” Deanna says. “He would place four big floury boiled potatoes, on a dinner plate, and ladle out the white sauce, flecked with parsley, all over the spuds and cod. Then lower his head and inhale deeply before digging in.”
I met Deanna in the Toronto Star newsroom where we were both laboured in the “vineyards” for Mother Torstar. Time for full disclosure. The Daltons and Dunns were staunch Roman Catholics and Mary had carried the Irish Catholic-Protestant “Troubles” with her to Canada. Over the years, Deanna and I indulged in much banter about Deanna’s friend, moi, being a Presbyterian – a secret forever kept from Aunt Mary.
Deanna loves to picture her Aunt Mary, in Catholic Heaven, having a “hearty laugh” over finding herself, in 2012, on a Presbyterian website.
MARY’S SALT COD SUPPER
FISH: Soak 1 lb. salt cod* in cold water, for about eight hours, changing the water three times.
Boil fish until it flakes.
SAUCE: 2 Tbsp butter. 2 Tbsp flour or cornstarch. 1 ½ cups milk.
Cook, in a sauce pan, until thickened, adding more milk if necessary.
Add about ½ cup finely chopped parsley and pour over fish. Serves four.
*Cod readily available in Portuguese fish stores.
