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Esteemed Contributor
Posts: 6,050
Registered: ‎03-09-2010

Re: My Grandmother’s Recipes

I think  my kitchen today is so very simple because hers was. Gram taught me that skill beats stuff any day.

 

If you look at kitchens like Ina's she has no insta pots, rice cookers, vita mixers, air fryers, knife skills or wi fi connected anythings. She has a stand mixer and a food processor. 

 

I swear as women we are taught to needlessly stress over everything.

Honored Contributor
Posts: 11,082
Registered: ‎10-01-2013

Re: My Grandmother’s Recipes

[ Edited ]

@Snowpuppy, you are right about Ina's kitchen. I had never thought about it. I never see gadgets.

Honored Contributor
Posts: 21,870
Registered: ‎10-25-2010

Re: My Grandmother’s Recipes

Most of my recipes are written like that too.  I don't need instructions.  I have been cooking and baking long enough to know the drill.

 

For the recipe posted, I would add for someone who is not experienced.

 

  • Preheat the oven to 425 degrees
  • Put flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl, and stir
  • Cut the lard in with a pastry cutter or two butter knives until the texture is course and crumbly
  • Stir the milk in with a fork until the dough is moist
  • Turn dough out on a floured surface and knead until smooth..don't overwork
  • With a rolling pin, roll out the dough to about 3/4 inch thick.
  • Use a biscuit cutter dipped in flour to cut out dough into as many circles as you can
  • Gather dough scraps and re-roll for additional biscuits
  • Place biscuits on a baking sheet about 1 inch apart.  If you want softer biscuits, place them closer together
  • Bake for 15 minutes.

I find some people get upset when they ask for a recipe and I copy my recipe cards for them or just give them a list of ingredients without instructions.

 

Of course,there are some recipes that are complicated and need instructions, but basic recipes all work the same way.

 

There is always a pattern and it is consistant.

 

Cream butter and sugar together, add eggs one at a time, beating after each addition, add extract and other wet ingredients and beat together 


Sift dry ingredients in another bowl and add them slowly while mixing throughly.  Add coconut,nuts,chocolate chips, etc and stir in.

 

if cake pour into pan

if cookies, drop on cookie sheet or roll out and cut.

 

I think as a society we use too many premade items and are losing some skills that used to be part of everyday life.

 

 

 

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Super Contributor
Posts: 420
Registered: ‎08-30-2014

Re: My Grandmother’s Recipes

I hardly cook and never can vegetables, but I love having my grandmother's and mother's recipes all written by hand.  It makes me feel near to them.

Honored Contributor
Posts: 11,082
Registered: ‎10-01-2013

Re: My Grandmother’s Recipes

They bring back so many memories of happy times we shared together.

Regular Contributor
Posts: 216
Registered: ‎05-12-2017

Re: My Grandmother’s Recipes

I love looking through my Mom's recipes.  She wasn't an advanced or creative cook, but what she made was delicious.  She would occasionally do some canning with my aunt/her sister, and those recipes are my favorite to find.  It was just ingredients jotted down on a scrap paper - most likely while having a phone conversation with a friend who had made the recipe. 

 

On the scrap paper, I find "cucumbers, cauliflower, green mangos (bell peppers), onions, vinegar, salt, sugar."  No name of recipe, no amounts of ingredients, nor any cooking instructions.  I can pretty much tell what the recipe was for by looking at the ingredients, but those notes jotted down quickly always make me smile.

Esteemed Contributor
Posts: 7,131
Registered: ‎05-27-2015

Re: My Grandmother’s Recipes

[ Edited ]

@On It  That looks like the recipe cards my mom had tucked in her cookbook. They were from my aunts and a few from my grandmothers. Mom wasn't much for writing down recipes. I worked beside her, growing up, so I learned what to do.

 

Many years ago, my DH found this recipe from my great-grandmother (born 1840). It was in my grandmother's papers. The recipe is for molasses cake. I made it, and it took us a few years to eat all of it (kept it in the freezer). I think it could survive a nuclear holocaust. Smiley LOL Notice the directions finish with "Procede with your cake." That's it!

 

Molasses cake.png

Esteemed Contributor
Posts: 7,708
Registered: ‎12-01-2023

Re: My Grandmother’s Recipes

@PA Mom-mom    I love your post!  The handwriting is so beautiful too.  What a treasure to have.💝💕

Honored Contributor
Posts: 10,222
Registered: ‎06-13-2010

Re: My Grandmother’s Recipes

@On It This precious post wrapped a bow around my heart, and sentimental tears started flowing!💝💝 My dear mother went to heaven two years past and while painstakingly going through her things in storage I came across recipe cards of hers that looked IDENTICAL to this; including the condition of the cards and penmanship!💝 I felt as if I had discovered family GOLD!! She had one for biscuits, and hoe cakes that looked like they could have been included in with your grandmother's.❤

 

I had never seen them, and crieddd😢 as I ran my hands over them and thought of the many delicious meals she prepared with them throughout my lifetime!!!💝 That was a such soul hugging memory just now, and I THANK you for it!!🤗 It truly made my day!❤

 

 

~~~All we need is LOVE💖

Honored Contributor
Posts: 10,222
Registered: ‎06-13-2010

Re: My Grandmother’s Recipes

 


@Carmie wrote:

Most of my recipes are written like that too.  I don't need instructions.  I have been cooking and baking long enough to know the drill.

 

For the recipe posted, I would add for someone who is not experienced.

 

  • Preheat the oven to 425 degrees
  • Put flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl, and stir
  • Cut the lard in with a pastry cutter or two butter knives until the texture is course and crumbly
  • Stir the milk in with a fork until the dough is moist
  • Turn dough out on a floured surface and knead until smooth..don't overwork
  • With a rolling pin, roll out the dough to about 3/4 inch thick.
  • Use a biscuit cutter dipped in flour to cut out dough into as many circles as you can
  • Gather dough scraps and re-roll for additional biscuits
  • Place biscuits on a baking sheet about 1 inch apart.  If you want softer biscuits, place them closer together
  • Bake for 15 minutes.

I find some people get upset when they ask for a recipe and I copy my recipe cards for them or just give them a list of ingredients without instructions.

 

Of course,there are some recipes that are complicated and need instructions, but basic recipes all work the same way.

 

There is always a pattern and it is consistant.

 

Cream butter and sugar together, add eggs one at a time, beating after each addition, add extract and other wet ingredients and beat together 


Sift dry ingredients in another bowl and add them slowly while mixing throughly.  Add coconut,nuts,chocolate chips, etc and stir in.

 

if cake pour into pan

if cookies, drop on cookie sheet or roll out and cut.

 

I think as a society we use too many premade items and are losing some skills that used to be part of everyday life.

 

 

 


@Carmie THANK❤ you for providing these detailed instructions!!!👍 I plan to make them in homage to my dear mother, and HOPE they turn out ok.🤞🥰 I would be thrilled if they come close!😁

 

 

~~~All we need is LOVE💖