Preservation of Ancestor's Recipes...
Rod Murrow, Freedom, OK -- I was a volunteer
typist for a cookbook compiled by members of the First United Methodist
Church in Buffalo, Oklahoma, this past summer.
As I gathered recipes from our collections for the book, I began
to realize that I was in possession of a considerable number of
recipes that had been passed down from previous generations. So,
I decided to gather as many of the family recipes as I could possibly
locate and publish a family recipe book for each of my children
for a unique Christmas gift.
The book is called "Cooking With Grandma: Feasting Under
the Family Tree" and it is a collection of mouth-watering
memories of my childhood.
Now that we have our first grandchild, he will someday be able
to enjoy recipes that were prepared just as his grandparents, great-grandparents,
and great-great grandparents prepared them. It was such a pleasure
to go back through those cards, written in my mother's and my grandmother's
beautiful handwriting, remembering the special smells and tastes,
recalling the many family gatherings when we shared our lives at
the dining room table, spread with a
virtual smorgasbord (especially at Thanksgiving and Christmas).
The book contains 122 recipes -- and I already know of a few that
were accidentally left out, in my haste to have the volume finished
in time for Christmas giving. Many are the times that we delight
in remembering special tastes from Mom's and Grandma's cooking.
From my Grandma's recipe box, and among our many favorites from
her stove top, comes Basic White Bread, Heavenly Hash, Angel Food
Cake, Chocolate Cookies, Date Nuggets and Date Pin
Wheels, Legend Cake, Swedish Tea Ring, Green Tomato Relish, Green
Bean Augratin, Tuna Noodle Bake (with Grandma's notation "This
recipe calls for medium wide noodles - store bought"),
and one of our favorite memories from her table, Noodles (rolled
super-thin and sliced super-thin).
One of my granmother's recipe caught my attention and piqued my
curiosity -- Grandma's German Thrieviel Sup. I have no idea
what "sup." is the abbreviation for, nor do I know what
thrieviels are.
The recipe calls for... 2/3 cup flour, 1/4 tsp salt, and 1 egg.
The directions say simply "Work into thrieviels. If you don't
know how, ask me to show you. THIS IS NO JOKE. You just have to
see it done. Cook into 1 quart of broth, chicken or beef."
Do you suppose any of your readers might know that "thrieviels"
are?
My mother's contributions include, among others, Cheese Ball, Orange
Pumpkin Bread, Zucchini Bread, Aunt Avis's Pecan Brittle, Chocolate
Fudge (which recipe was my very first cooking experience when
I was a kid growing up in Dacoma, OK), Martha Washington Candy,
Pecan Pie, Applesauce Cookies, Cranford Cake, Hasty Date pudding,
Kansas Sugar Cookies, several recipes for ice cream (all of which
are delicious), Pumpkin Pie, Meat Loaf, Cranberry Salad, Pineapple
Salad, August Pickles, Fiesta Corn Casserole, and one of her favorites,
Pickles Beets (two recipes).
My father's specialty, which includes four different recipes, is
Peanut Brittle. My own contributions are my recipes for Chili By
The Can, and Vegetable Stew. From my wife's collection comes Oatmeal
Rolls, Orange Raisin Loaf, Refrigerator Bran Muffins, Christmas
Caramels, Date Nut Cake, Fruit Compote (a special memory from
Christmas morning breakfasts), Pumpkin Pie Squares, Baked Lasagne,
Jumbo Pizza Sandwiches, Scrambled Egg Casserole, and Apple Mallow
Yams.
I was unable to locate any recipes from any of my great-grandmothers'
collections, but haven't given up hope that some may yet be discovered.
I urge readers of your newsletter to "hold on" to the
recipe collections of their ancestors -- what a unique link to previous
generations and to precious memories of some of the most wonderful
times we spend with our family -- at the dinner table!
I created the cookbook and printed it with my laser printer using
acid-free 24-pound paper, front and back of each page, then took
the
books to Kinko's for binding. Covered with heavy clear vinyl on
the front cover and a deep green back cover, the books will last
for years and years and will be a connection with our family's culinary
history that we can enjoy for years to come.
Even though Grandma is no longer around to work her magic in the
kitchen, perhaps some of us can come close to matching the tastes
and smells we enjoyed so many years ago.
As I write in the introduction to the book, "The memory of
watching her knead loaf after loaf of homemade breads, slice her
super-thin egg noodles, whip up a batch of mashed potatoes with
real butter
and real cream, fry iron skillets full of crispy fried chicken,
make bowl after bowl of perfectly browned cream gravy, making angel
food or chocolate cakes, or whipping up her special recipe for Heavenly
Hash or taffy -- those and other delights of 'Grandma's Kitchen'
will be forever etched in my memory and on my taste buds."
I'd be curious to know if any of your readers have created anything
along this line -- and am especially curious about the "thrieviels."
[Editor's Note: You can email Rod at rod@murrow.com.
I have put his Grandmother's German recipe for Thrieviel Sup in
the "Mailbag" section.]
Oakie's NW Corner...
Another week! Another newsletter... I have been working under a
slight handicap this week. It is called a scratchy throat, stuffy
nose and some might just call it a head cold. So... I haven't gotten
much done this week, except... drinking my hot honey, lemon tea
mixtures and chicken noodle soups.
You know what? The week before we had freezing, dry wind chills
crossing the state. This week we had a Winter, Spring-like temps
in the 60s and 70s. It turned out nice for the few Okies that got
to experience the Olympic 2002 torch train cross the state. I hear
it left OKC by train heading towards the west through Helena, Avard,
Waynoka and other NW Oklahoma communities as it made it's way into
the Texas panhandle. They were talking about it reaching Waynoka
(or was it the Texas area) by 10:00pm Friday night.
I didn't get lucky enough to get out and about to see it with this
nasty head cold or flu. If anyone out there did and got some photo
shots, send them along and share them with our readers. Thanks!
As to Rod's Family Recipes... That reminds me of my Paris
family homemade noodles. I was telling him of how my mother told
me that you knew when the noodles were thin enough if you could
read the funny paper through them. That's no Joke either. My Paris'
could make the thinnest, delicious homemade noodles. Actually, I
think Rod and I are somehow related. You see one of his Murrow's
married one of my Paris'.
Anyway... Here is his reply, "The idea of reading the
funny papers through the noodles is neat -- that's about how my
grandmother did it too. It was neat to stop by her house after school
and discover the noodles rolled out and draped over the backs of
chairs and on every available table top as they were drying. I remember
helping her slice them a few times as well. When she cooked them,
she always cooked them in the chicken broth and included the undeveloped
eggs out of the hens she'd dressed for Sunday dinner -- basically
egg yolks of all sizes -- which were the 'prizes' for us kids! I
haven't tasted cooking like hers since she quit cooking those big
dinners in her elder years. She died in 1996... but that taste will
remain with me forever!"
~~ Linda "OaKie" ~~
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Warren Spahn
Award Winner
Randy Johnson, Diamondbacks
Banquet Jan. 30, 2002,
Masonic Temple Center
Guthrie, Oklahoms
Menu:
Linda K McGill Wagner
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