The legacy of Dominique McCormick’s grandmother, Lois Winnell McCormick, lives on in Mr. Mc’s Peanut Brittle and Mr. Mc’s Peanut Patties, now available at United Supermarket in Brownwood.
After he was adopted into the McCormick family following the marriage of the man who became his father to his mother, he moved from France to Texas at the age 6. The bond McCormick developed with his grandmother – who passed away at age 89 on Aug. 25, 2011 – still resonates within him to this day.
“My grandmother taught me how to write my name McCormick at her kitchen table. I couldn’t write or speak English,” McCormick said. “I was learning how to speak English when I came to the United States at the age of 6.
“I still wish she was with me. I’m very proud, and very fortunate that I had such a wonderful grandmother like her to help me through the whole process of growing up and becoming a decent person.”
His fondest memories of “Grannie” are of her in her kitchen in her homes in Roby, and later Gorman.
“I fell in love with her, her cooking, her recipes, the whole ball of wax,” McCormick. “Not only did she have homemade peanut brittle and peanut patties, she had homemade ice cream, cooked deer meat the proper way, made macaroni and cheese, you name it. We didn’t get that much during Christmas, but we didn’t need that much from her for Christmas because we had her wonderful love.”
About 30 years ago, McCormick decided “to mass produce the peanut patties into brittle and reach out to as many stores as I could reach out to.”
The reason McCormick decided to pursue the business venture?
“The fact that she cooked so well and she was always behind me regardless of what I wanted to do,” he said. “She just gave you that lift from everything. She always had my back. If I wanted to do this or do that, she was always there 100 percent behind me.”
McCormick stated his peanut brittle and peanut patties are available in approximately 200 stores throughout the state, including a number of H-E-B’s in the Metroplex, Rudy’s Barbecue restaurants in North Texas owned by Robert Wolf, Topline convenience stories, the Maverick Travel Centers in Eastland and Santo, Jan Jan’s Nursery in Rising Star, and more.
As for what makes Mr. Mc’s Peanut Brittle and Mr. Mc’s Peanut Patties so unique, McCormick said, “It’s the way it’s poured over the table. We don’t tamper with it. Once it spreads over the table we leave it alone so it cools itself. It has that bubble sensation to it, it has a very airy taste to it. You can bite into it and it’s not hard, it’s actually very good. It’s just all about keeping it and maintaining the homemade process. From once it rises from the baking soda and it’s spread all over the table, we let it cool down, and once it does that we bag it and it’s good to go.”
