Genealogy Blog Prompt #6: Cooking and Food

Every so often I will be joining a host of other genealogy bloggers in writing about the same general topic. This is one of those ideas that is right up my alley.

When my Mom was a teenager, she was a soda-jerk! She worked in the store at the corner of Hamline and Randolph avenues in St. Paul, Minnesota. Lucky girl! The then all-boys Cretin High School was across the street and guess where the guys went after school! Mom still made the best chocolate malts and root beer floats as my sisters and I were growing up. Mom was a great cook. I do think I have duplicated her spaghetti sauce recipe but I cannot make barbecued pork ribs or a pork roast the way she did. My cousins remember that every third year Christmas Eve would be at our house and Mom made her famous au gratin potatoes -- from scratch. Dad was no slouch as a cook either. He made superb rotisserie chickens on the outside grill, juicy hamburgers, and what we called "pan fries" on the grill. His turkey stuffing was my favorite and still is.

Now, at Christmas and other holidays I make foods that my children remember both of their grandmothers making when they were young. I love it when they request recipes that belonged to either grandmother. Many of my recipe cards carry notations such as "Mom's Mushroom Meatballs" or "Mrs. Warren's Cowboy Cookies"(my late mother-in-law). Yes, I copied her recipes long before I became comfortable calling her anything but Mrs. Warren! I wish I could remember special foods that my grandmothers made, but either they didn't or I just don't recall such things. When I visit my Dad later this week I am going to ask him about the foods his Mother and Father made.

I was the lucky one who learned to cook as I grew up. In turn I made sure both my daughter and my sons could cook. I have been blessed with a daughter-in-law and son-in-law who are great cooks. But we have all been on diets and those good ol' recipes are not used as often. I do make some things in a low fat and low sodium fashion so we can still enjoy some of those neat things. Traditions are so important in our family history. I have some dishware that came from my mother, mother-in-law, grandaunt-in-law, and my own grandmothers and great grandmother and I do use these on many occasions.

Do you have old family recipes?

I am looking for a old family recipe or two - one that has notes on it that might relate to family history. Do you have a handwritten recipe from your grandmother that has a notation such as "this was originally Aunt Mary Smith's recipe." Or perhaps "I always served this when the Fishers came for dinner." Maybe your great grandma made similar notes in a cookbook. I have a couple of recipes that came from my mother-in-law and I noted that on the recipe card. My spaghetti sauce recipe says "Mom's recipe."

I am writing an article that will be based on such a recipe. The aim will be to gather clues from the recipe and notations to learn more about the person and family history. For example, who is this Aunt Mary or the Fishers? Maybe the notation says "this dish was served at Cousin Elizabeth's wedding reception." Does the recipe have this notation: "My mother brought this recipe with her from Greene County when she moved westward." Which Greene County!

If you have a recipe or two like these, would you be willing to share a copy for use in the article? I would list you and your state of residence as the contributor of the recipe. The recipe would be reproduced in the article. You could scan it and send as an email attachment to PaulaStuartWarren@gmail.com or mail a photocopy to me at P.O. Box 1054, Elk River, MN 55330-1054.