I remember days when I went to her house and the house smelled like sugar cookies. And then I would see the big old aluminum dutch oven she kept her sugar cookies in. I would head right for it, but I had to ask if I could lift the lid to get a cookie. That was her rule. After the first day she would put the aluminum pan in the freezer and drag it out when she got visitors knocking on her door.
I treasure the days I spent with grammy during the last years of her life. Her and I sat for hours discussing her life and household hints (with me writing them down) and going through her recipes.
I don't want to let grammy's wonderful recipes slip through time. I definitely want to preserve the heritage of my family and document grammy and mama's hints, knowledge and recipes. Sure, some might not work in today's fast paced world, but who knows if you haven't tried them.
Here are a few things that explain the terms used in recipes.
1. What is a moderate oven? About 360 degrees F. Slow oven is about 300 degrees F. Hot oven is about
400-425 degrees F.
2. What is "butter the size of an egg equal to? About 1/4 cup. Butter the size of a walnut is 1 tablespoon.
3. What is "a teacupful" equal to? About 3/4 cup.
4. What is "a tumbler" equal to? About 1 cup.
5. What is "a peck" equal to? Two dry gallons/8 dry quarts. Four pecks equal a bushel.
6. What is "a saucerful" equal to? One cup.
7. What is a dash or a pinch? The amount that can be picked up between the thumb and the first finger....less than 1/8 teaspoon.
8. What is "a gill" equal to? 1/2 cup
Grammy also told me about cutting fat into flour when making biscuits. She told me if you didn't do it right, the result would be biscuits as heavy as a rock. Here's how to do it according to grammy: "Cut the fat (shortening) into the flour quickly and lightly. Do not press down and mass the fat. Cut in the fat until the shortening is in little particles and the flour resembles course corn meal. Use two knives or a pasty blender (the best to use and they are cheap)."
Grammy also told me to always spoon flour into a cup and don't dip it. It changes the volume. Also always sift flour before it's measured as sifting changes the volume.
When grammy was raising a family, she not only was a mother but also a farm wife which meant she had to help with the milking, do the egg gathering, churning of the butter and help gramps clean the cream separator when he was done with the cream separation. She had to take shortcuts in her household duties just so she could get everything done. She didn't have pre-prepared meals like there are today. Her hands were always busy and knarled from arthritis but she kept working each day from early morning until late at night.
Grammy liked to have her house smell good with the scents of the holidays. She told me that she would make her own potpourri (but she didn't call it this....she called it house smellers). The recipe she told me she used was:
~~ Slice pumpkin about 1/4 inch thick from the side of a peeled pumpkin and then chopped these slices up. Dry them in a slow oven. When these are almost dry, sprinkle these pumpkin pieces with lots of cinnamon, allspice and nutmeg and stir. After dried, mix these dried pumpkin pieces with cinnamon sticks, dried orange peel, whole cloves, and bay leaves. Put the "house smeller" in a fancy bowl.
One day I was looking through grammy's ton's of recipes and household hints and found a piece of paper with the following written on it:
"Be grateful for your doors of opportunity
and for the friends who oil the hinges."
My grammy was grateful for just about everything. She didn't have a lot of education but she knew more than most because of her common sense and her experience. Come on back again and experience the goodness of the generations. From grammy and mama and me, have a good old fashioned day.
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