The Grandma Zone
5 recipesWhen my grandmother passed, I inherited several worn-looking coffee cans and small boxes full of scraps of stained paper inscribed with my grandmother's lovely handwriting. These dinged up containers number amongst my most cherished possessions, for this is the collection of recipes that my grandmother turned to again and again over the years, and they form the basis for some of my happiest childhood memories. She transcribed these from her mother in law and sister in law, clipped these from magazines, wrote down notes dictated by friends over the phone. They are often difficult to decipher… the ink or pencil has faded, the ingredients splashed the notes, the paper has grown brittle with time. And so I am slowly digitizing the recipes I love best, photographing the original scraps of paper and including them on the page, transcribing what I can make out, and then, when necessary, interpreting the recipe to conform more closely to modern conventions (e.g. I know what my grandmother meant by "a third of a yahrzeit glass" but not everyone else will know what brand she meant or that those candles are not made in those glasses any more).
My grandma was not much for the whole mid-20th century jello mold thing. And this recipe was not stained and the paper was not crumpled like it had seen much use. But I’m including it because it sure is interesting if you’re into this sort of thing… the borscht as an ingredient makes this fascinatingly Ashkenazi. The directions are somewhat confusing, so I am transcribing them verbatim and will offer an opinion (untested!) as to what they mean below.
Once upon a time fish was inexpensive and this was a great way to stretch a meal on a budget. Even though fish is now expensive, this is still a great recipe to use for when you have fish leftovers... handy for not wasting that expensive piece of fish! Unlike a lot of fish, the recipe scales pretty easily.
It seems that if you are going to make frozen drinks, you'd need to pour them into their glasses before freezing. But I don't know, having not made this particular recipe. I added that suggestion into the directions, just in case.
In the 41 years I knew her, I never knew my grandmother to make cupcakes. It just wasn’t the sort of thing she made. I know this pale blue scrap of paper is very old, but with nary a spatter or folded corner… I think it’s safe to say she didn’t use this recipe much. Still, she kept it all those years. So here it is.
My aunt and uncle lived next door to me in childhood, and I grew up in my aunt’s kitchen as if it were my own. Her Sephardic cooking was very different than the Ashkenazic cooking of the rest of the family, but I thought nothing of this because I ate it so often. Somehow all these different flavor profiles worked just fine together, with little to no distinction being made. I wish more of the world worked together just as easily.