Nominated by Patricia W. McMillan:

"My mother-in-law, who everyone affectionately calls MeMaw, is 79 and fighting breast cancer. She still cooks from scratch almost every day. Friends and family are always welcome at her table, and her fried chicken and homemade biscuits are legendary.

"She is from North Carolina, and once or twice a year she will make North Carolina barbecue. She cooks several cuts of pork for hours on a grill outside. Then she chops the meat and serves it with a clear sauce that is unforgettable. Served with her special coleslaw and baked beans, it is heavenly.

"She has taught me a lot about cooking, but the most important thing she has taught me is how a joyous and generous attitude and a zest for living affect everything you do and touches everyone you meet."

Vernessa McMillan is the reigning MeMaw of her clan, and showers affection on her family in countless ways, not the least of which is her legendary cooking.

Background: "I was born and reared in the country in North Carolina. I am the oldest of seven children. We grew up on a farm and worked hard. My daddy raised hogs. Back then we didn't have freezers, so we did some real serious canning. That was our food. We canned blackberries, peaches, corn in half-gallon jars. When the Depression came in the 1930s, I didn't realize it was a depression because we always had plenty to eat. I never even knew what the Depression was."

Family: "I have a son, Bill, and his wife Pat, who is like a daughter to me. I have a daughter, Judy Rowell, and a grandson, Jesse Rowell. My granddaughter, Julie Purser, just moved with her husband, David, to Safety Harbor, Fla. My grandchildren are the most respectful children. I am so proud of them. They are so good to me. My whole family spoils me something awful."

Career: "I was a personnel management specialist for the IRS. I retired in 1976. I had a wonderful job and worked with wonderful people. I worked in the old federal building downtown and helped open the IRS Center in Chamblee. I enjoyed my career so much."

Hobbies, interests: "I've had to slow my garden a bit but I still have collards and mixed greens. I'm crazy about greens. They are one of my favorite things to cook and eat. When it gets spring, I can hardly wait to get my fingers in the dirt. That's the farm girl in me."

Who taught you to cook? "The first time I remember cooking was when I was 9 years old. My mother was sick in bed and I remember going back and forth to her bed asking her how to make blackberry pie. I ended up making three and they were really good. I remember saying. 'I believe I can cook.'

''You pick up hints here and there from people. I learned much from a friend and wonderful cook, Virginia Cochran, who is now deceased. I have two sisters in North Carolina who are also excellent cooks. I don't consider myself an excellent cook but everybody thinks I am."

Culinary roots: "Country farm cooking. That's the way I learned to cook and that's what I specialize in. Of course, I try to eat properly and have stopped using all that fat, but I still put a little fatback in my green beans."

Who do you cook for? "Mainly my family and anybody who is hungry. I cook for my daughter every day for lunch. I've been fighting cancer, and cooking gives me an incentive to get up and get going. You have to get up and fix your face, fix your hair and put on decent clothes. I try to make my life as routine as possible. My children are depending on me to do this. When you are going through chemotherapy, you have to fight fatigue and you have to make yourself eat. You have to take charge of your life. You can't expect everybody to do it for you. My oncologist says I must be doing something right. He wants to know what my diet is so he can eat like that and have that attitude."

Is there a tip you would like to share? "This is the secret to my fried chicken: When you are preparing your chicken for frying, soak it in salt water. Just sprinkle it with salt and cover it with salt water and put a lid on it and put it in the refrigerator. Drain the water and resalt and rinse the chicken once or twice. You can soak it overnight or even longer. I have shared that with so many people and they always tell me it really makes a difference. You will get the prettiest white chicken."

What is your favorite thing to cook? "I like to make a pot roast. I like bottom round roast. I put the roast in a plastic bag with some wine -- usually a burgundy -- and garlic and Worcestershire and let it marinate. Then I put it in my crockpot after I flour it and brown it in a frying pot. The best tasting to me is chuck roast, but of course that has a lot of fat."

What is your favorite thing to eat? "Corn bread and cabbage. That's my gourmet meal. I like Vidalia onion with it."

What's the magic ingredient that makes some cooks turn out great food? "Lack of interest is the worst thing for a cook. If you are really interested in something, you will put your best effort forward. Isn't that true of everything?"

If you could prepare a fantasy meal for anybody, who would it be and what would you cook? "I'd probably cook three or four vegetables with fried chicken, rice and gravy and a big bowl of slaw. Biscuits and iced tea. I'd cook it for whoever was hungry. I just like people."

-- Betty Parham

DESSERT

MeMaw's Poundcake

Makes 12 servings

Preparation time: 20 minutes

Cooking time: 1 1/4-1 1/2 hours

"I got this recipe from a girl I worked with in 1961," Vernessa McMillan says. "The key to this cake is to use whipped margarine. It's supposed to be light and tall." McMillan serves the cake on a plate sprinkled with sugar. This makes a lot of batter, so use a large mixing bowl.

1 cup butter-flavored Crisco (sticks or tub)

1 cup whipped or tub margarine

2 3/4 cups granulated sugar

5 eggs

3 cups sifted all-purpose flour

Pinch of salt

1 cup milk

1 tablespoon vanilla

1 tablespoon lemon juice

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease and flour a 10-inch tube pan.

With an electric mixer, cream Crisco, margarine and sugar until light and fluffy. Scrape sides and bottom of bowl. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Scrape sides and bottom of bowl. Sift together flour and salt. Add flour mixture alternately with milk, starting and ending with flour, combining thoroughly after each addition. Add vanilla and lemon juice. Scrape sides and bottom of bowl.

Pour into prepared pan, place on lowest oven rack and bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes to 1 hour and 30 minutes, or until cake is golden brown and begins to pull away from sides of the pan. Cool on a cake rack before inverting.

Per serving: 623 calories (percent of calories from fat, 50), 6 grams protein, 71 grams carbohydrates, 1 gram fiber, 35 grams fat, 77 milligrams cholesterol, 249 milligrams sodium.

Who are the best cooks? We're looking for Georgia home cooks who deserve recognition for their talents and who have interesting recipes to share. Fax at 404-526-5509, e-mail kitchen@ajc.com or write to Betty Parham, Food Department, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 72 Marietta St. N.W., Atlanta, GA 30303. Give us your name and phone number, as well as the name and number of the cook you'd like us to consider. And tell us a little about what makes this cook special.