Mama Jo’s Pecan Pie

I dearly loved my grandmother and appreciated all of her qualities, but doting and pampering were not exactly in her wheelhouse. For that, we had Mama Jo, my mom’s best friend’s mother. We sometimes ate at her house after church, and sometimes she’d skip church altogether just to prepare dumplings, deviled eggs, pear salad, and fried cornbread for her family (and ours).

My dad considers himself a pecan pie connoisseur, and upon his first bite of her buttery pie, he deemed her the qu