Recipes of Love
Posted on October 4, 2015 by bob in EdNote
I’ve never met a cookbook I didn’t like. From the Times Picayune’s Cajun recipes, to Ina Garten’s homestyle and party volumes, to random works extolling glorious church picnics and delectable foreign cuisines, a good cookbook stirs my imagination. Not unlike an interesting story, it’s fun to see the various ingredients interact to create an exciting result.
Among the dozens of beautifully photographed and artfully-written cookbooks I own, one stands out. Long past its prime, it’s an ugly book with no pictures and a broken plastic binding that now holds only half the book intact. The remaining loose pages —stained from repeated use —are perched alongside the book and carefully tied together by a single blue satin ribbon now frayed with age. A crippled relic, this cookbook is also my prize. It was my mother’s favorite, and contains the only set of recipes I ever saw her use.
Printed in Charleston in the mid-1950s, Popular Greek Recipes is the first cookbook I remember. Its dog-eared pages contain recipes my young mother frequently prepared for our family: Avgolemono Soup, Stuffed Tomatoes, Lamb with Orzo, Constantinople-style Artichokes— dishes that were as central to my childhood as Chicken and Dumplings were to my husband’s young years. I thought everyone ate this high off the hog (or olive tree, in my case).
The cookbook contains even greater treasures tucked between its printed pages — recipes Mom clipped over several decades, from the Atlanta Constitution, Birmingham Post Herald, and the Alabama Journal, as well as a slew of magazines she frequently read. I don’t remember that she cooked a one of these high-falutin’ concoctions, but imagine, instead, they were the dishes she fancied cooking someday for an elegant home dinner party.
By far, the most precious (to me) aspect of the cookbook’s contents are my mother’s own handwritten messages and cooking details….when and where she’d eaten a dish she liked, and who made it. Her scrawled recipes run the gamut, from Lefty’s Chocolate Eclair Pie, to Vivian’s Jello Salad, to Tynes’ Clam Dip — and then the Greek ones (also written in Greek) — such as Kettie’s Pita, Nina’s Melomacarona, and Irene’s Paximadia. I’m happy browsing through these entries, as I remember not only the food, but also the people who caringly and lovingly shared their specialties with my mother — over afternoon coffee, during a late night phone conversation, at a church festival. The direct personal contact gave these aunts, cousins, and friends an opportunity to not only offer a recipe, but a life story as well.
Several months ago I was asked by Troy Public Radio (TPR) to become a food contributor to their midday local program, providing special “old country” recipes handed down through generations of my family. I’m excited about the project, and look forward to each taping.
Today’s technology makes it infinitely easier to share these special dishes with many people at the same time. That said, I’m hoping to share the source stories with TPR listeners as well: my memories of Mom, Dad and Yiayia not only cooking up their imaginative old world feasts, but also the funny, heartfelt stories that make the recipes come alive. Let me know how I do.
Sandra Polizos, Editor
