Mysteries

1/11/2001

I have been reading a mystery book--not a "who-dun-it"--but a mystery book. It is my mother's recipe book, written in her own hand. The mystery is how to find a recipe in it, for it is not sorted into the normal categories of meats, salads or desserts.

It is not arranged alphabetically either. It is a mystery--one page has recipes for Hungarian goulash, German chocolate cake, cucumber sauce and rum balls in that order--as to how one finds whatever one is looking for.

And there are mysteries in the recipes as well. The amounts of the ingredients, how to combine them and even the methods of cooking are left somewhat to your imagination as in:

Potato Dumplings
Grated raw potatoes, 2 eggs, 1 cup flour, cracker crumbs or bread. Period! You decide how many potatoes, whether you roll the dumplings in the crumbs or mix them into the potatoes and whether you drop these into simmering water or, maybe, even deep fat fry them.

Good luck.

Mother's original cookbook had interspersed remarks about the weather or how many eggs were gathered that day or that Flurry Sullivan had dropped by for coffee. It was a wonderful diary and her three daughters bemoan that she left all these little peeks into her daily life out of the next volume. But at least she prevented WWIII from starting for we would have all fought to be the proud owner of it.

I did realize I am my motherÕs daughter, however, when I recently read a recipe I had written on a scrap of paper and inserted in my card file.

1 C B, 8 oz. Imp ch, sft, shrp. Salt (Hey! That one we all know). 1/8 Cayenne, 1/4 Wrc. Mx 1-1/2 C flr., 4 C Rice Crispies. On gr ck sht. 350-15.

I hope you enjoy it. It really is good, whatever it is.

My mother loved food all of her 102 years, and she was always interested in new recipes. She still made applesauce when she was 100, and a trip to the grocery store was a joyful adventure for her. My niece, Elli, who had a special relationship with Mom, sent me this charming little story, which has a tried and true recipe in it.

Elli's Story
Several years ago Grandma and I decided to make banana bread. She had a recipe we called Old Banana, Banana Bread (emphasis on the old). Grandma had a wonderfully happy heart. It didn't take an hour-long comedy show to make her laugh; little things such as "old, Old, OLD Banana, Banana Bread" were reason enough for a good giggle.

One of Grandma's favorite places was the grocery store. We went there often. In the fruit and vegetable department that day, on a special stand, were the largest, "brownest" bananas we had ever seen! In fact, I remember commenting on their size several times. The other thing we couldn't understand was, since they were so brown, how could they still be so firm? Well, whatever. Together we decided this was going to be extra good banana bread and we made our purchases.

Grandma's recipe is an easy one so we assembled everything quickly...except for our "special" bananas. They were ornery right from the get-go. Just peeling them took an effort. The old, old bananas would usually mush up quickly with the other ingredients, but not these special ones. We cut, we diced, we mashed and even put them in their own bowl and turned the mixer on to the high speed. All this activity had no effect on them, and even though the pieces did become smaller, they just would not "mush." Out of pure exhaustion, we said "to heck with it," dumped those disappointing brown lumps into the bread mixture and waited for the results to come out of the oven.

To tell you just how good the recipe is, though we were prepared for total failure, the bread was as delicious as ever. On the next trip to the grocery store, we saw a sign that told us what we had actually bought when we thought we had bought big, brown bananas. I still don't know what a person would do with a Plantain. However, I am sure they are not to be used in Banana Bread!

Grandma's Old Banana, Banana Bread
In 1st bowl sift:
2-1/2 C. flour
1 tsp.salt
2 tsp. soda

In 2nd bowl cream:
1 C. shortening
2 C. sugar

In 3rd bowl mix:
4 well-beaten eggs
6 old bananas

At least 1/2 C. chopped nuts

Add dry ingredients to wet. (I beat this mixture almost to a puree in a mixer.)

Pour into 2 bread pans that have been greased and sugared. That's right, use sugar, not flour. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour. May need another 15 minutes. And use old, Old, OLD bananas.

The end.

I have one more tip from Mom that she gave to me when I bemoaned that the fresh tomatoes that I bought in the winter were not as good in soups and stews as the juicy ones that are so available and cheap in the fall.

Wash them, core them and freeze on a cookie sheet. When frozen, put them into plastic bags and all winter long you will have the convenience of taking out just the number you need. Run them under hot water while still frozen and the skins pop right off.

We miss the wonderful little comments that she left out of her second book, but the names are there: Rosa Hjartison's cake, Gladys Dobson's salami, Ann Miller's cookies, Mrs. Potter's sauerbraten, Dolly Corrigeaux's beer cake, Madeline's cookies, Mrs. Best's carrot cake, Mrs. Tabaracci's dessert, Mrs. Schneuke's batter bread. A little history all its own.