Lost recipes

[lihpster]

Something on another thread got me thinking: How many recipes got lost because they were in someone's head and they passed? I know I'll never find a pork fried rice to equal my mother's or my father's chicken and dumplings. Alternatively I would love some of his gumbo or one of her apple crisps. What foods from your past do you have fond memories of, but are now lost to time?

 

[JET4]

My mother used to make the best Lemon meringue pie. I miss it.

 

[Bekeart]

My Mother's made from scratch noodles.

Bekeart

 

[JRB416]

My mom's blackberry, peach, and chocolate pies in that order. I used to pick gallons and gallons of wild blackberrys even as a kid of 9 or 10 years old because I loved her blackberry pies so much.

Oh, and her fried apple pies from apples she and my grandmother would dry every fall. Coming home from school and walking into the house to the smell of those fried apple pies with cinnamon........ well that's a very special memory!

Interesting thing, mom never ate sweets.

 

[THE PILGRIM]

My Mom made everything from scratch and had no recipes.
When I asked her for some, She had trouble writing them down.
Her Cornbread Sage Dressing - best I ever had. When I tried to make it, I over Saged it. Mo Sage is not Mo Better!
Her Chicken Salsd - Best I ever had. When I went home on leave, she would ask, what can I make you?
CHICKEN SALAD! I would eat it for breakfast.
Chocolate, lemon, coconut, Banana Cream pies- all good.
But her Karo Pecan - best I ever had.
One Pie not made by my Family was Chess Pie.
It's a baked Custard, Old English recipe.
My Buddy Cecil's Mom made it.
She would say, I guess you want some Chess Pie?
Yes Please I do want some.

 

[Krogen]

Something on another thread got me thinking: How many recipes got lost because they were in someone's head and they passed? I know I'll never find a pork fried rice to equal my mother's or my father's chicken and dumplings. Alternatively I would love some of his gumbo or one of her apple crisps. What foods from your past do you have fond memories of, but are now lost to time?

Great post, lihpster! Mom made chicken & dumplings that were phenomenal. Coming home after a day in the cold and wet, you could smell them from outside. Open the door and you were immediately surrounded by the aroma. Of course, Mom had a special ingredient that you'd never find on a recipe or in a store. Her recipe was never written. Cooking was an art for her, not a prescription.

That memory of chicken & dumplings is fixed in my head, which is why I've never eaten them since the last time she made them. The "recipe" has been lost to history, but on purpose. On one hand, to eat anothers' chicken & dumplings would feel disrespectful. On the other, I fear it would contaminate my warm memory. Call me a softie. You might even be right!

 

[CAJUNLAWYER]

For a while we thought we had lost my great grandmother's recipe for ice but thankfully my father had the foresight to write it down.
In all seriousness though, my wife has a treasure trove of recipes from her mother that she uses a lot.

 

[mckenney99]

My paternal grandmothers Rhubarb pie. I've never found another like it.
My maternal grandmothers Christmas Bourbon balls were amazing but should only have been consumed when you weren't expecting to drive any time soon.
My ex-mother-in-laws shredded and fried cabbage, it would melt in you mouth. My ex tried to duplicate it, but it just never came out the same. My ex-mother-in-laws homemade iron skillet biscuits. She made a skillet of biscuits almost every morning and then people would eat off them the rest of the day. I am not a big bread eater, but I always looked forward to visiting so I could get her biscuits. Again my ex tried to duplicate the recipe but the biscuits were horrible. Her biscuits would have stripped the rifling from a cannon.

 

[mtgianni]

My wifes' Great Grandfather was a Greek immigrant who ran restaurants. He and his wife passed away and their son passed within 10 days of their passing. The will said his daughter got his books. The sister in law burned them rather than giving them to her.

Nobody can fight like family.

 

[lihpster]

Nobody can fight like family.

Don't I know it. The last 20 years of his life, I refused to be unarmed in my brother's presence. But we agreed on that fried rice though.

 

[Nevada Ed]

My sister wrote down how to cook or make a lot of the food that we ate as kids, lucky me. One was Danish Ebleskivers and also, Salmon in lemon sauce.

There is a cooking show on now, that will work on a "Lost" food by people that call them and bring them to the program, to see if they got it right.
The last show was making Puff ups w/gravy, for a lady.

 

[CalifEd]

My mother had numerous recipes in her head and decided on her 75th BD to write them down and give them to my Sister.
Somehow, they went missing and I have gone through her stuff (I'm her executor) but can't find them.

One of my Mothers many talents, besides making the best scratch egg noodles, was her ability as a candy maker.
I watched her make and test the candy. She did not own a thermometer but it was just her and a cast iron skillet.
Back in the day the home candy makers learned to judge the various candy conditions by knowing what a soft ball, hard ball, and watching how a string formed meant
.
Seems like black magic today and I wish I was paying attention.

 

[wuluf]

My great aunt made coconut cookies that were delicious. She gave me the recipe before she passed, but I'm convinced she left something out because they were never as good. She wanted them to die with her and they did. She did get rather bitter and cranky towards the end..

Sent from my SM-S921U using Tapatalk

 

[URIT]

My mother was raised on a farm and cooked like her mother.

I was fond of her fried chicken and baked bread, pies, and cakes, but could not duplicate until I used lard instead of oils or butter.

 

[sjmjax]

Mom's chicken and dumplings.

Childhood favorite of mine and most of my extended family.
Stewed a whole chicken for meat and stock. Made "dumplings" actually more of a German spaetzle.

Since her passing almost everyone in the family has tried to duplicate it without success. Can't get the seasoning or dumplings right.

Mom was Hungarian. She had a unique knack with spices and never wrote a recipe down.

 

[jscheck]

Almost anything my mother-in-law cooked was awesome! Every measure was "a dab" or something similar tho and hard to replicate. My wife does pretty good but "mother" has been gone some time now and I miss her cooking!

 

[Rudi]

My mom could really cook. She left me a bunch of cookbooks and recipes. Too many to ever make, I just concentrate on the old standards.

 

[Rustyt1953]

Here's a simple one that mom wrote down for me when I was a bachelor.

Quite tasty.

 

[TX-Dennis]

Here's a simple one that mom wrote down for me when I was a bachelor.

Quite tasty.

I have a friend who makes this every holiday. It's always a favorite.

I have a lot of Dad's old recipes from his deli / bakery. Of course they make HUGE quantities, so I really never make them. The brownie recipe makes two full sheet pans. Most of the pie recipes make 8 pies. BBQ sauce recipe makes 8 gallons, etc. I've never cooked for that big a crowd, well not since those days anyway.

Some of the recipes include "interesting" units of measure like 2 coffee cans of sugar, a gallon of eggs, etc.

 

[arjay]

My moms stuffing and her potato salad along with some fancy desserts. She was a very good cook at one time but her memory is not so good anymore.

 

[Rustyt1953]

Having grown up in war torn England and learning to make meals out of what was available my mother became a master of her kitchen and held dominion over it.

My sister needs GPS to find a stove but thankfully for me Ruthie and my two daughters learned their baking and cooking crafts from my mom.

Mom lives on in my dining room.

 

[LVSteve]

Former coworker said her ex-mother-in-law drove her crazy. There was something she did that made her Spanish rice perfect, but no matter how much my friend watched, she could never get her rice just right. We reckoned the MIL was a conjurer and slipping in some extra ingredient on the sly.

 

[mike4sigs]

My sisters Egg Rolls. I can get close, but Her's are just over the top better than any i can make. No matter how much TLC i give them.
She made them every year on New Years Day
R.I.P Otis

 

[Smeckler]

Anything my grandmother made. Everything from scratch, never saw a cookbook or recipe in her kitchen.

 

[Erich]

The old recipes (from my great-aunts and great-grandparents) are all about "to taste" anyhow . . . they'll die when you do - assuming your taste memory is still good enough to keep them going. (My mom's potato salad is the closest thing to Great Nana's, closer than her sister's (still delicious) or my Nana's, even. But no one can duplicate Zia Virginia's cake. Aunt Ginger came kinda close, but she's gone now, too.)

Let's face it: cooking (for deliciousness - not talking about in a mess hall or the cafeteria ladies . . . who actually did pretty darned well when I was a kid) is far more of an art than a science. Michelangelo may have written down how to carve marble, but nobody here is going to be replicating Davide. I think lihpster is right: when they're gone, a little light goes out of this world . . . and into the next.

And, as it underscores the importance of every individual soul, isn't that kind of wonderful?

 

[67tempest]

My mother in law's roast beef with gravy, best I ever had. I told my wife over and over again to write that recipe down, she always said I will, I will. My mother in law's health took a turn for the worse and she eventually ended up in a nursing home. The recipe was gone forever.

 

[Golddollar]

My mother's extended family decided to head off this situation. A family committee was set up and the committee accepted recipes from anybody in the family. My mother donated a boatload of her recipes and those of her late mother. It all got organized into one big beautiful cookbook that is shown here. The family had 500 copies of this cookbook and they SOLD EVERY ONE! You can't get one now for love or money. I think I have mine set to give my younger nephew under my will. As you can see, mine has got a lot of use.

 

[Ματθιας]

My dad was a great cook. In the years before he died, I tried to write everything down. When my dad was cooking, he'd have a little bowl to sample. I was right there with him. None of his ingredients were precise, it was more of an add to taste kind of thing.

My dad's been gone 10 years and it's been 11 since he made his posole, and this last year was the 1st time we, my mom and I, both agreed that we got it right. Now, the question is, can I duplicate it the next time around?

My mom is 93, and I cook or try do everything with her as much as I can when I can. My mom makes the best fruit salad it's just delicious! I tried to make it with her supervision but it just didn't taste right. My mom comes in and adds an extra scoop whipped cream and it tastes like it's supposed to! When I asked her why she added that scoop, she said it needed a scoop of love! I believe her!

 

[lihpster]

I just want to say, for those of you, like me, that my question brings up fond, happy memories, I'm glad. That was my intention.
If my question brings up less pleasant memories, I apologize for making you uncomfortable. that was NOT my intention. To you I wish peace, sooner than later.
Just wanted to make that clear.

Phil

 

[Bullet Bob]

Nothing tastes as good as a memory.