Looking through Mother’s old recipe box, or even my own which was begun when Bill and I married 55 years ago, next month, I can see the fantastic foods which we prepared and served. I can see Mother, in her apron, cooking or baking and making it all look so easy. Actually, she was teaching us that it really is easy to cook and bake.
Mother’s recipes have only ingredients listed on them, no pan size or oven temperature listed, nor are there any instructions or directions written. That is often confusing to a new cook and so, in “Think With Your Tastebuds….Desserts”, I put all directions into the recipe. Having been raised with this type recipe, I’ve had no problem but I can understand why it would cause a problem for someone else. We, my sisters and I, have yet to make shortcake as good as Mother’s and she had no recipe. We know what she did, but not much about the ingredients.
To me, an old and tattered card holding a recipe, is a priceless piece of history. The type of recipe tells us about the kind of person it belonged to. During the Great Depression or World War II, many ingredients were scarce or rationed and the wives and mothers during that time had to “make do” with what was available. Still, we seemed to have all that we needed because Mother, and those like her, changed recipes to suit the times and made dishes that were both nutritious and delicious.
A favorite of mine was Coffee Soup. We had some of Mother’s home made bread, broken into chunks and placed in a bowl and then hot coffee and milk and sugar were added. I made that coffee soup later but it was never the same until I learned the secret ingredient was the home made bread. Once I knew that, and added my own home made bread, I had that wonderful treat again. This is only one old recipe that was never even written down, but is still in my memory.
From time to time, I’ll put an old recipe on here and maybe even a new one. I’ll show how to change it, or it can be left as it is.
Until then, happy cooking! Make it an adventure all your own.
cookinnana 