Country Kitchen:
Create a Family Christmas Cookbook
By Mary Emma Allen
Collecting family recipes provides for interesting experiences,
particularly if the recipes have stories associated with them. In
addition to establishing a general family collection, you can develop
those within various categories.
These can be grouped according to the type of food (desserts, mail meal
dishes, breads, appetizers, etc.). Or you can organize them according to
the occasion when served, such as various holidays, vacations, trips to
other regions.
As you enjoy the holiday season, why not collect recipes for a Family
Christmas Cookbook. In addition to gathering recipes from your immediate
family and relatives (aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents), see if you
can acquire the stories that accompany them.
Types of Recipes
*What did your family serve on Christmas Eve? My dad always wanted oyster
stew.
*Did you serve special dishes for Christmas dinner? My mother-in-law
liked to make a gelatin cranberry salad and green bean/mushroom soup
casserole along with whatever meat she cooked.
*Did you have New Year's Eve celebrations? Mother made a punch of ginger
ale and grape juice. We toasted the New Year at midnight with it.
*Are there special cookies that you baked during the holiday season? Did
you give them as gifts? Hang them on the tree? We always liked to make
cut-out cookies and decorate them with colored sugar.
*Did you have dinner at relatives' homes or go to parties with friends?
Do any foods come to mind that were served then?
Aunt Pat, one of my mom's good friends, came from the South. She made
sweet potato casserole and pecan pie, dishes that were new to our family.
Special Dishware Associated With Holidays
Along with the foods that bring memories, we often see dishware that
reminds us of family meal times and parties. Perhaps we have them as part
of our collection, handed down through the years.
*My mother-in-law had a stemmed glass fruit bowl that belonged to her
grandmother. On festive occasions she set this on the dining table filled
with fruit. Then she'd tell us about going to her grandmother's and
seeing the bowl of fruit there.
*My mother had a glass bread plate with sheaves of wheat as its design.
Around the border were these words, "Give us this day...Our daily bread."
We used this only for "company" occasions when guests joined us for a
meal.
*My aunt had green Depression glass serving bowls, pickle and jelly
dishes. I thought they were lovely on her dinner table. I often try to
find some that bring back memories.
*The gilded sugar and creamer set given my grandparents on their 50th
wedding anniversary was used only on holidays and when we had guests.
They looked lovely on a Christmas dinner table. There also was a gilded
salt and pepper set to match.
PENUCHE FUDGE - My dad especially liked this candy. We often made it for
him as a treat for Christmas and for his birthday on January 25. We also
cooked this in the large black iron skillet on the wood cookstove.
Simmer 1 pound brown sugar and 1/2 cup milk, stirring constantly. (Father
liked the dark brown sugar best.) Remove from heat when the candy "spins
a thread" dripped from the spoon.
Stir in butter the "size of a walnut", 1 teaspoon vanilla and 1/2 to 1
cup chopped walnuts. Beat until the fudge begins to sugar on the side of
the pan. Pour into a buttered dish. We often used a glass pie plate. Mark
off in squares while warm.
Article (C) 2004 Mary Emma Allen
About the Author
Mary Emma Allen has been writing cooking columns for 40 years. She and
her family compiled a cookbook to preserve their food heritage. She
teaches workshops to show others how to do this, along with scrapbooking
their family recipes.
Visit her web site for more cooking
articles. Contact her at me.allen@juno.com
