King’s short story “Gramma” (included in the 1985 collection Skeleton Crew) has several different layers of horror. Eleven-year-old George is left home alone with his terminally-ill and homebound grandmother while his mother goes to see his older brother Buddy, who is in the hospital with a broken arm. While Gramma will probably sleep the whole time George’s mother is gone, she could wake up, and she’s … difficult. If this weren’t scary enough for George, it turns out that she’s no ordinary gramma. She’s a mean-spirited and powerful witch, and still plenty dangerous even in her aged and infirm state. There are some other, more amorphous fears as well that George is peripherally aware of—his single mother’s limited options, the family’s financial situation, dark family secrets that he’s heard just the tiniest bits of—and George has his hands plenty full just trying to survive the night until his mother gets back from the hospital. 

Castle Rock Kitchen includes two recipes inspired by “Gramma”: one for “Gramma’s Crab Cake Brunch” and one for “Killer Mac and Cheese.” 

“Gramma’s Crab Cake Brunch” is the more narratively tangential of these two recipes. As Geoge thinks back on his family’s early days in Maine, after they had moved there to take care of Gramma, he recalls how “he had cried with terror whenever Gramma held out her heavy arms toward him from her white vinyl chair that always smelled of the poached eggs she ate and the sweet bland powder George’s mom rubbed into her flabby, wrinkled skin” (464). The poached eggs are the jumping off point for this recipe, which features crab cakes with a saltine cracker breading, served over dressed greens and topped with a poached egg. The experience and emotional resonance of Gramma’s eggs and this recipe are quite different, with George’s sense-memory and terror of Gramma a sharp contrast to the delicious combination of the fresh greens, the crunchy sweetness of the crab cakes, and the smooth richness of the egg yolk. It feels almost as though this recipe is a corrective to the terror of Gramma, a kind of reassurance that poached eggs aren’t all that bad and can actually be quite wonderful, particularly when you’re not afraid of being smothered to death by your terrifying grandmother. 

The “Killer Mac and Cheese” is a bit more firmly associated with the story and invites the reader to put themselves in George’s position, just as King does with his narrative perspective and detailed descriptions throughout “Gramma.” After all, on an increasingly dark and stormy night, when one is frightened and alone, comfort food is pretty darn essential. After his mother leaves, George fidgets around in the kitchen, getting Gramma’s teacup and tea bag out and ready in case she wakes up and wants some. He refreshes his memory about Gramma’s dietary restrictions and her special salt-free meals, preparing for if she wakes up hungry and wants her dinner. Once he has Gramma’s needs mentally taken care of, he considers his own dinner and decides that “he could heat up what was left of last night’s macaroni and cheese” (474-475). This mac and cheese is not just a hearty, filling dinner, but a reminder of his mother, a small remnant of her loving and protective presence there with him in the kitchen even when she herself is far away, with Buddy in the hospital in Lewiston. Castle Rock Kitchen’s “Killer Mac and Cheese” is suitably rich and savory, mildly seasoned, with macaroni that cooks in and absorbs all the saucy, cheesy goodness, finished off with a parmesan and panko breadcrumb topping. 

While both of these dishes are delicious, there’s not much comfort for George as the night wears on, a storm kicks up, and he discovers that the only thing more terrifying than his difficult living Gramma might just be his dead one … 

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[Page numbers are from 1986 Signet paperback edition of Skeleton Crew]