52 Ancestors Week 14: Favorite Recipe

Question

From Amy Johnson Crow: Week 14

The theme for Week 14 is "Favorite Recipe." Food has a way of bringing up memories, whether it's the cooking of a favorite recipe, meals shared with loved ones, or memories of kitchen mishaps! This week, explore a favorite recipe and the person or people who make that recipe special.

And let the drooling commence. Don't forget to wipe your screens down afterward!

Comments

Little late but here's some pasta fagioli: https://allroadhaverhill.blogspot.com/2024/04/52-ancestors-week-14-favorite-recipe.html

Answer 1

My mother's rhubarb pie comes to mind. She grew her own rhubarb in our backyard. She made me fall in love with rhubarb pie! Oh, how I miss it! I've had rhubarb pie locally but they always add strawberries. Mom did not.

Answer 2

My mother's (Custard Pie).

My grandmother Hunter's (Apple Pie) You could smell the apples as she peeled them and it would give the aroma of apples throughout the house. I carried over the theme in my first house. A lot of apple (dish towels, plates, cups, bowls, decorations, tablecloths).

Recipe for moms custard pie:

• 6 eggs: 1 cup white sugar: 1 teaspoon vanilla extract: 1/2 teaspoon lemon extract: 1 pinch salt: ½ teaspoon nutmeg: 2 cups milk: She always made her own flaky pie crust. (9 inch).

Comments

Dang.  Set another place at your table for me!

Hey, everyone reading Alice's post--this is one serious recipe.

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Alice, I'm thrilled that there is someone else in North America who likes custard in pies.  When I was in London I loved their custard tarts. Got back to our side of the pond and people thought it was a weird thing for me to like.  Your Mom's recipe sounds heavenly.

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Alice, thank you for this recipe. My husband made a custard pudding from a popular cook. It had 2 fewer eggs, half the milk and no lemon extract. I ate it, thinking, I wish I had a better recipe. Thank you for this, and I promise you that I plan on making your mother’s custard pie. 

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Thank you for posting a custard pie for me to try out! Always looking for a custard pie recipe

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Teresa the table is set to include you.

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Yes pat it is nice to know a few of us still like a good custard pie.

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Alexis let me know how it turns out for you.

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Maggie let me know what you think after you make it.

Answer 3

Since today is Easter I am fondly remembering the Easter Brunch I had many times with my parents.  It is not a recipe in the traditional sense with measurements but a recipe for a meal.

After church Mom and I prepared the coloured hard-boiled eggs, usually tinted turquoise, rose and lilac.  The dining table was set up with our best china and fancy napkins.  Next came grilling the back bacon (called Canadian bacon in the United States) and preparing the toast points (cut diagonally) using bakery breads, white loaf, multigrain, and pumpernickel.  I was in charge of squeezing the orange halves in the juicer, twisting them back and forth until every last drop was extracted. The aroma of sizzling bacon and brewing coffee still lingers in my mind.  Easter Brunch was a big deal to us in the late 1950s but of course I had chocolate milk instead of coffee.

It's so strange to look back on this simple meal of eggs, bacon, toast and orange juice as being so magical.  But that's what I remember.  It was wonderful.

Comments

It was magical, all right.  Garden tomatoes, home-baked bread (or fresh from a bakery), and fresh orange juice from Florida juice oranges (no longer available at any price!).  What I wouldn't give for a time machine . . .

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Teresa, it's funny you should mention this.  My neighbour was just saying the same thing this year--where are the Florida oranges? Hard to find.

Answer 4

I didn’t grow up with many traditions, but those we had often involved food. One tradition we had for every birthday as far back as I remember was homemade pizza. Just to point out, my parents were both half French Canadian and half mainly English and Irish (with a few others thrown in). I don’t know when my parents started making pizza. I do know that there was a small Italian grocery store close to where I grew up in Toronto (Canada).

On pizza days, people would be recruited in the afternoon to cut everything up and grate the cheese. It was always the same: green peppers, green olives and white mushrooms, with 5 types of cheese (parmesan, Romano, mild cheddar, mozzarella & provolone). We never used meat on our pizzas mostly because it was too expensive. The tomato sauce was freshly made in the blender and the thin pizza crust was always made by scratch. Pizzas were prepared and cooked right on the back of the cookie sheets. Anywhere from 5-7 or 8 pizzas were made to feed everyone and still have some leftovers. As my siblings started having significant others, one pizza was made without olives and another one would be made without mushrooms. Everyone in the family loved homemade pizza and we often gave some to neighbour friends of my siblings.

Comments

Lisa, you grew up in a charmed household.  The aromas coming from your house must have driven the neighbors crazy!

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Thanks Teresa, but it was far from a charmed household. I had 4 older siblings and I was born in the 1960’s. My parents were able to feed and cloth us by careful planning and saving as we were not even middle class, but one thing my mother did do was making almost all of our food from scratch as it was less expensive. I still prefer homemade cakes to those from mixes, and the same is true for many things. Many a Sunday afternoon was happily spent making bread and rolls.

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Liza, I imagine the comradery of preparing the pizza together was also part of the great tradition.  Evocative memory.

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Lisa, imagining eating at your home is about as good as it gets for me.  And here's wishing you, and your siblings, have your best desires fulfilled.

Answer 5

Navajo Fry Bread

When I was 13 years old I got a job pumping gas at Sam Day, Jr.’s Trading Post in Window Rock, Arizona.  We had all the technology of the day, including the super-special Enco dial-an-octane gas browsers (which were so confusing that they may have prompted me to become an engineer).  Of course, I only pumped gas when a pick-up was at the pump; the rest of the time my job was stocking the shelves in the shop.  Well, that and shifting product in the stockroom, including 25 and 50-pound cloth sacks of Blue Bird flour which usually somehow had to be stacked on the highest shelves (away from mice?).  I also got to haul the flour sacks out to the trays of the customer’s pick-ups.

So I usually had the money to indulge in one of my favorite treats, fry bread at the Navajo Inn lunch counter.  There are many ways to eat fry bread: some go the honey and sugar route and others the Navajo taco route, but in those days nothing beat the old traditional salt and ketchup routine for us kids (I think it’s why I like pizza these days).

Here's the recipe:

• One cup Blue Bird flour (not all-purpose (AP) flour which gives a harder, chewier texture).
• 1 tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp salt (always use less salt than baking powder)
• Warm water to make a stiff dough
• Hot grease (shortening or lard)

1. Mix Blue Bird flour, baking powder, and salt.
2. Add warm water a little at a time so the dough will come out all nice and round. Too much water makes it sticky.
3. Let dough sit for 30 to 60 minutes.
4. Make little round balls about the size of a baseball (hardball not softball). Flatten out a dough ball to about ¼”
5. Fry in hot grease.  You’ll know when the grease is hot enough by how it browns the dough (remember, this was traditionally done in a skillet outdoors over a fire).  Turn to brown both sides.
6. Drain on a copy of the Navajo Times or Gallup Daily-Independent. Other newspapers are okay as are paper towels.

Put this together with Navajo Rez Hot Chili Stew for a genuine American feast.

Comments

Ray, I have been waiting years for a genuine fry bread recipe.  My mouth waters every time I read Tony Hillerman!

And I read your recipe for chili stew.  Laughed myself silly, and remember eating green chili stew in Old Town Albuquerque.  Not authentic like yours, but sure tasty! 

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Hi Teresa, thanks for the kind comments.  Hillerman's books are tops.  If you have a go at making fry bread, get your hands on Blue Bird Flour (available online) because it has about 30% less protein than AP flour because it's made from whole-grain red wheat rather than wheat grains and thus has less gluten, which makes for softer and lighter fry bread.  There was a good article on Blue Bird flour in the Navajo Times (https://navajotimes.com/business/2010/0910/093010bluebird.php).

Don't let the simplicity of the recipe fool you, good fry bread is an art, as attested by the fry bread competitions at the Navajo Tribal Fair each year.  If at first you don't succeed, fry, fry again.

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Ray, know I'll fry and fry again!  Just as you suggest. 

Plus, I've already found two good sources for Blue Bird flour, and I'm thinking of using it for all my cooking.  Sounds healthy, as well as tasty.  Again, can't thank you enough for bringing fry bread into my life!

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Good fry bread is an art form that requires practicem practice and love!

Answer 6

Banana Cake --for every birthday, special occasion, etc. for as long as I can remember, we have a homemade banana cake (with homemade icing).  Both my sister-in-laws had to learn how to make it.  I love when my brothers come to visit because I know we're gonna make one.  Now, even my nieces and nephews look forward to having grandma's banana cake. Don't tell them but for the last 5 years or so, I've been the one making the cake and letting mom take the credit.

Comments

Wonderful, Judith.  I love banana cake.  I never got the hang of it but used to make a very good banana bread.

Answer 7

After I fought my way through the revamped Search page, I looked for unconnected "Baker"s. I found unconnected Maria (Baker) Whitehead. First I looked if I can connect the branch via her daughter-in-law Elizabeth (Grisdale) Whitehead. No, doesn't work. Then I looked for children of Elizabeth. And here I found Harry Whitehead. And Harry is connected.

Answer 8

My great granny, Tempie (Fish) Wright of Cape Cod, passed down (from who knows how many generations prior) a recipe that our family has used for at least 90 years - stuffed dates. It's a "sweet" that we use as an hors d'oeuvres at our Thanksgiving feast. 

One pound of pitted dates, stuffed with a hard sauce made from 1/2 cup of confectioner's sugar, 2 tablespoons butter, a few grains of salt, 1/4 teaspoon of almond extract and about a teaspoon of boiling water. 
 

They're very, very sweet, but if I don't make them everyone complains.

I always wondered where the Cape Cod folks got dates, since palms aren't able to grow there. Probably the ships that carried many local boys & men out to work for a living on the sea. 

Answer 9

Wow what a great Ancestors Week idea for everyone to bring back those childhood recipes that your family had made over the years.  My grandfather FRENCH Chef Ferdinand Francois Rouquier-3.  He went to Paris to learn his trade.  One problem like many chefs they don't give out their recipes as did my grandfather. BUT!!! One recipes that was handed down from my grandma Violet to my MOM to me is RICE Pilaf. It wasn't  really hand down to me. I just my MOM make it. I asked for the recipe and she told me its a pinch of this and a pinch of that. LOL.  But I watched her make it every time.  She would make it in a heavy French caste iron pot with tight lid. This is my version of the Roquier recipes. 

'''Rice Pilaf  Serving 3/4 people'''' 

I cup of converted or long grain rice. (UNCLE BENS)

2 cups of low sodium Chicken broth (homemade or store) 

2 finely chopped onions ( I LOVE ONIONS)

2 finely chopped garlic ( It's the Italian in me )

3/4 tablespoons of butter  ( That's the French side) You might need more later on in the recipe)

dash of garlic salt.  ( YUM more garlic)

Add white pepper to taste. I leave it out. 

Turn on the heat to medium high heat. Place a heavy cast iron or any heavy pot with a fitted lid. MOST IMPORTANT TO HAVE A FITTED LID .

To a heated caste iron pot, add your butter until its melted not burnt , then  onions and garlic. Saute the the onions  are translucent and the and garlic NOT BURNT . DO NOT BURN THE GARLIC!!!  If you do, startthe whole process over.

  Add 1 cup of rice. VERY IMPORTANT STEP. Coat the rice  evenly with the onions/garlic mixture 3/4 minutes. The smell is wonderful with the rice, onions and garlic cooking together. This helps the rice NOT to become clumpy at the end.  The rice will look translucent and smells  toasty. This added flavor.

Add the 2 cups of  broth slowly.  Stand back it will steam or stay for a quick facial.  Bring it back to boil.  Taste the broth to check the seasoning. IMPORTANT. ITS BETTER TO DO IT NOW THAN AFTER ITS COOKED.  Place the heavy lid on top. Lower the heat to just simmering. COVER THE POT. CHECK THERE IS NO STEAM COMING OUT!!!! VERY VERY IMPORTANT. As my mom would always tell us DO NOT OPEN THAT LID!!!! THIS IS VERY VERY IMPORTANT NOT TO LET THE STEAM EXCAPE.  I did once!  You can tell by looking at the rice after its cook. It looks like Swiss cheese with tiny holes on top. Don't worry if you do look it wont hurt the rice, Just let it cook a little more . I learned my lesson.  Plus if you look inside while its cooking you might get soupy rice since the broth didn't  evaporate.  

LET IT COOK UNTOUCHED FOR 12/15 MINUTES. Open the lid. Taste a kernel of rice to insure that its cooked though-it should be tender but a little resistance in the bite. If needed, cook for another 3-5 minutes. Most of the time when my mom or myself cook it we have cooked browned rice on the bottom. DON"T be alarm its NOT BURNT!!! TASTE IT. IT'S CRUNCHY . In my opinion its the BEST part of the recipe. 

 Fluff with a fork and ENJOY.  BON APPETIT 

This is my go to meal. Every time I make it I think of my  FRENCH chef and my MOM.

Answer 10

My grandmother was one of the most resourceful women I ever met. She was widowed at 25 with two small boys and a girl on the way. She worked multiple jobs so the three children were never wanting. Her house had a dock in the backyard, so seafood was always plentiful. I remember her Manhattan Clam Chowder fondly, and every time I eat it I compare it to hers. It never seems as good. Any time you came to visit, she always had a cake. And whipped cream. Usually the cake was tomato soup cake, which sounds weird, but it's not. She had her recipes all in her head and her measurements were based on what she had. A cup was a specific tea cup. A tablespoon was a large spoon in the drawer. Amazingly, it was always delicious.

Here's her recipe for Manhattan Clam Chowder:

3 bacon slices, 1 pkg of soup greens, 2 potatoes, 2 onions, clams, water, strained juice (from the clams), 1 can tomato paste, thyme. That's the whole recipe.

Comments

Your grandmother's clam chowder sounds great.  As a kid, one of my favorite trips was to Ivar's Acres of Clams at Pier 54 in Seattle to have the "best clam chowder in the world" (apologies to your gran).  Later on before my parents on Whidby Island passed, we'd always time our arrival at the Mukilteo Ferry to allow time for a bowl at Ivar's Mukilteo.  Sigh!  Clam chowder has to be my favorite food of all time, probably because I haven't had any for decades. but thanks for the memories.

Answer 11

Well, with the Easter Orthodox church celebrating their Easter late this year, I thought I would share a recipe that has been handed down from Generation to Generation. I am not sure how it started but many Eastern Orthodox Churches women bring their Easter basket full of Easter. These Basket in Russian are known as Paska Basket.  

                                 Pascha Bread Recipe

 

Ingredients:

 

l/2 lb butter

2 l/4 c. milk

4 eggs (room temperature)

l/2 c. sugar

l/4 c. water to dissolve l/2 cake large yeast

3 tsp salt

10 c. flour

Then :  Heat milk, melt butter, dissolve yeast in l/4 c. warm water.  In bowl, put milk, yeast mixture, sugar, salt, eggs and WHIP.  Add cooled butter and mix again.

 

Then:  Add 4 c. flour and mix     Add l/2 c. flour and mix

            Add 3 c. flour and mix     Add l/2 c. flour and mix

            Add 1 c. flour and mix

           Add 1 c. flour and mix

<!--[if !supportLists]-->·      <!--[endif]-->Dough is done when  you touch it and dough does not stick to finger.  Let raise 2 hours, punch down, let raise 1 hour, punch down.  Put in pans, let raise

<!--[if !supportLists]-->·      <!--[endif]-->1 hour.  Bake at 350 degrees for about 40 minutes.