Family Recipe

By Elaine Viets

I still miss my Grandma Vierling, especially this time of year. Grandma lived in St. Louis County. We called it the country then. Woods and blackberry patches surrounded her one-acre yard. Most of her backyard was a garden and she loved grubbing in it.

About now, the tomatoes would be ripe, and she’d have a row of them ripening on the kitchen window. The cucumber vines would be running wild. Strawberry season was nearly over, but the peaches, Concord grapes and blackberries would be ready soon.

And Grandma would be in the kitchen, canning, pickling and preserving all her home-grown food. She was a southern cook, with a gift for making cheap cuts of meat tender. Sunday dinner had two meats, mashed potatoes and gravy, and vegetables boiled to mush. They grew in dirt, and Grandma didn’t trust them unless they were safely boiled.

But her table sparkled  with cut-glass dishes holding cha-cha relish made from her tomatoes, homemade bread-and-butter pickles, and at least three kinds of jelly or jam: grape, blackberry and strawberry. Dessert was often peach pie made with the peaches Grandma put up herself. They tasted like a warm summer afternoon even in dead December.

Frances Vierling was a classic grandma, five feet tall with crinkly gray hair, a round figure, welcoming arms and a generous lap. I wanted to cook like her.

She wanted me to finish college. Grandma went to work in a factory after the fourth grade and had an almost religious respect for a degree.

I worshipped her food.

Grandma never used a recipe or a measuring cup. She cooked from memory. I’d watch her take a hand fulls of flour, add a pinch of this and a shake of that and produce another mouth-watering meal.

I tried to duplicate it, but I guess I had bigger hands. I could never duplicate her results. Maybe there was a reason her big old porcelain stove was called Magic Chef.

Her biscuits were legendary – warm buttered clouds.

"At least show me how to make biscuits," I begged her. "Give me your  recipe."

"You want a recipe?" she asked. She pulled a big yellow box of Bisquick out of her pantry and plopped it on the kitchen table.

"There’s your family recipe. Don’t waste your time cooking. Go to college."

NOTE: WXEL host Ann Bocock interviewed me for her show, "Between the Covers." Check out the PBS TV station interview here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YixLfnDNcBQ&feature=youtu.be. You can also enjoy the interview with our own Hank Phillippi Ryan on the same site.

Comments

[Sally Schmidt]

Oh, Concord grapes - memories of my Grandma making grape jelly. She cooked without recipes also, a handful of this or that, give it a taste . . . always wonderful. I have my standby recipes I can do that with, but I never figured out the chocolate sauce and never learned to make the jelly.

[Elaine Viets]

Me, either, Sally. The highest compliment I can give any cook is "this tastes like my Grandma's."

[Carrie Pelchat]

A big box of Bisquick is still a requirement in kitchens! I have mine, mom had hers and Memere (my grandmother) had hers. I think it was one of the first "staple" I bought myself when I got married and moved out.

[Charlaine Harris]

My grandmother's legendary pecan pie turned out to be the recipe on the Karo syrup bottle!

[Alan P.]

The Bisquick box, Karo syrup, and the back of Nestle Chocolate Chips are "Grandma's secret weapons". But the bottom line is they make the foods we grew up with and are nearly bullet proof.

My Grandmother baked the most wonderful cookies. My mother learned from her. Grammie is now teaching the Princesses, my daughters her mother's cookie recipes. The fact that the girls favorites (Buckeyes and pink meringue cookies) are easy enough for a 5 year old to help is good too.

[Hank Phillippi Ryan]

Oh, the secret family recipes! An ex-boyfriend's ex-girlfriend used to proudly serve Stouffer's spinach soufflé as her own--she'd scoop it out of the freezer pans, put it in a fancy pan, and take the applause.

[Marcia Talley]

Grandmas! What would the world do without them? Now that I'm one myself, I'm hosting five of the six "grands" -- my oldest is in college and has a summer job (ack! how can I be so OLD?) -- for "Camp Grandma." Two of the boys, ages 10 and 7, are at sailing camp right now. The 7-year old has named his right hand, the talking one, Jeff. Should I worry? When Susanna was here (age 6) we made fudge which was my FATHER's "secret" recipe. Years later he told me that it was in The Joy of Cooking, but you use canned evaporated milk. LOL.

[Elaine Viets]

Karo syrup, Charlaine. The secret weapon of many southern cooks. I used to love it on pancakes.

[Elaine Viets]

Bisquick brought a lot of comfort to new cooks. Grandma's Bisquick dumplings were mouth-watering.

[Elaine Viets]

Grandma used the Nestle chocolate chip recipe but doubled the chips -- another "secret," Alan.

[Elaine Viets]

LOL, Hank. I served my boss an Italian dinner made by the local restaurant --- whisked it up the back stairs and threw out the aluminum pans. She praised my spotless kitchen.

[Elaine Viets]

So was the canned milk Carnation or Milnot, Marcia? We need the whole secret, no holding back.

[catriona]

Ah now - I've learned what "detailing" is this week already. "Bread and butter pickles" is another thing that's been puzzling me. It's not pickled bread and butter, right?

My Granny McPherson's scone recipe was the one we could never reproduce: a wee handful of this a big handful of that,mix it til it looks right, then bake it til it feels done.

[Elaine Viets]

Bread and butter pickles are a type of sweet pickle, Catriona. Those pinch of that and hand full of this cooks made food that can never be duplicated. I suspect the missing ingredient is love.