Francine Pratt fires up a kitchen mixer, blending some dough for her nationally recognized peach cobbler. She dons plastic gloves, sprinkles some flour onto the countertop at the Queen City Soul Kitchen, then starts to press and knead.
She learned how to make cobbler from her father.
"My dad's work took him to every continent," she said. "He would tell me about different foods that he ate and he would challenge me to replicate it."
Pratt reaches for the cinnamon, then the nutmeg. She's not measuring anything, nor is she reading from a cookbook. She's carefully creating a work of culinary art that's deeply personal to her here at the Queen City Soul Kitchen, where she's the artistic director and a partner.
The magic is in the stories behind the recipes. Pratt remembers long ago when she made a cobbler at a restaurant in California where she worked. One person who worked there didn't hold back on his critique.
"And he basically said to me, 'Girl, I don't know who taught you how to make cobbler, but this is not how we make cobbler.' He literally got three grandmothers from the community to come in and show me how to make cobbler because mine was too gourmet," Pratt said.
One secret, she said, was to add a hint of vinegar in the crust to make it more flaky.
Pratt is known in Springfield for many things. She's been a longtime community leader in the private, public and nonprofit sectors. More recently, she became known through her culinary skills here at the Queen City Soul Kitchen.
Many of the recipes she uses are from her ancestors.
She slices the peaches with a knife before they're poured in, syrup and all.
Pratt says she taps into her identity, particularly as a Black American, every time she cooks soul food.
She said for many Black families, soul food is deeply tied to U.S. history.
"Basically, when our families were in slavery, they got the scraps. And so it's [about] the love, the care that they put in those scraps to make them taste better—to take the rotten peaches and salvage what you can. To take whatever part of the pig that was left and add enough seasoning to it. To take what people would have considered weeds that are now collard greens and kale and make something of it," Pratt said.
"And so it's the seasoning—and not just throwing in seasoning, but it's the love and the care that goes into that. Because the best compliment someone can give us, and especially here at the restaurant, is, 'That tastes like home.' [Or] 'That tastes like my grandma made it,'" Pratt said.
The Queen CIty Soul Kitchen is open now on North Broadway St. in Springfield, but will be moving in the coming weeks closer to Commercial St. The restaurant also has other locations, including at the Plaster Student Union on the Missouri State University campus.