For many years, I know that both my wife and I have found ourselves on occasion calling home to get one of our Mom’s recipes. If it wasn’t one of our mothers that we called, I know it was someone else; someone who we knew must have had the recipe we needed.
My two grandmothers, whether they knew it or not, were a great inspiration to my compiling this book. Recently I spent a weekend in Chicago going through my paternal grandmother’s old recipe box, deciphering the code between the stains on the browning index cards and hoping they wouldn’t disintegrate before my very eyes without the chance to save them onto a computer disk. After typing them all into the file, my cousins clamoring at me to play with them (not seeing the significance of the history before them in all the tattered brown cards and papers), I realized there was probably more out there that needed to be rescued from a similar fate. Not to mention the entire box-load in my closet that had never been entered into any sense of order since we were married. In compiling this book I have come to realize that it not only contains recipes, but probably more importantly, memories, traditions, and heritage. As I stumbled through the piles of recipes, I was reminded of the many evenings camping with the Boy Scouts or with my family, Christmas and other holiday meals, family get-togethers, and evening meals with a friend, birthday and other celebrations, but most of all tradition!
My two grandmothers, whether they knew it or not, were a great inspiration to my compiling this book. Recently I spent a weekend in Chicago going through my paternal grandmother’s old recipe box, deciphering the code between the stains on the browning index cards and hoping they wouldn’t disintegrate before my very eyes without the chance to save them onto a computer disk. After typing them all into the file, my cousins clamoring at me to play with them (not seeing the significance of the history before them in all the tattered brown cards and papers), I realized there was probably more out there that needed to be rescued from a similar fate. Not to mention the entire box-load in my closet that had never been entered into any sense of order since we were married. In compiling this book I have come to realize that it not only contains recipes, but probably more importantly, memories, traditions, and heritage. As I stumbled through the piles of recipes, I was reminded of the many evenings camping with the Boy Scouts or with my family, Christmas and other holiday meals, family get-togethers, and evening meals with a friend, birthday and other celebrations, but most of all tradition!
Several of the names of those who contributed are not family members, but they have succeeded in contributing to our family’s traditions through cooking. I marvel how some of the most simple recipes have become something that I know I as a child enjoyed, and that now my own children request on many occasions. We recently started teaching our children to cook meals for the family. They all have mastered certain meals that they enjoy the most. It has been wonderful watching as they make a dinner that they now recognize was made by their grandmothers years ago as well.
By gathering recipes from friends and our extended family to include in this book I hoped this collection of ‘traditions’ can also help shed some new ‘light’ into our weekly menus. The change and diversity brought to each other through the recipes of our own history can become someone else’s traditions as well. Our own children now prefer a certain waffle over any other thanks to a special Aunt who cooked them for us one morning and consequently shared the recipe. Little did she probably know that her waffle recipe would some day become part of another family’s traditions. It is my sincere hope that all of you can find new traditions for your families within the pages of this book.
I have tried to include some notes with many of the recipes to add to its historical significance. Additionally I have attempted to notate anything significant about the recipe that may be of interest regarding the recipe or for what occasions we found ourselves making it. I have included a few pages in this book detailing those who have helped contribute to this book with their recipes, whether they knew it or not. It should also clear up any questions about who is who for both sides of our families.
Michael R. Fletcher
August 2003
