It died with her......

[The Walk of the Penguin Mich]

Part public service announcement, part rant.

Last week, when someone mentioned what to do with ham, I mentioned scalloped potatoes and ham. My mom used to make this and it was awesome. I remember the dish she made it in, I remember her peeling and cutting up the potatoes and onions and layering in the ham, I remember she did not use cheese in it but I do NOT remember her making a sauce for it. I also know that she did not used canned soup, she never did. So I called my sister to ask her and she was clueless. Then I called my dad and he said that this was his biggest bugaboo.....he had no idea how she made her sauce and it was driving him nuts too.

So if a parent makes a dish, find out before they die. Unfortunately, my mom's awesome scalloped potatoes and ham died with her.
So today, I go online and try to figure out what she did.

[NomoreDramaQ1015]

We have my grandmother's pie crust recipe but there is something she did that isn't written down that my mom hasn't been able to replicate. It's still a good pie, but it isn't grandma's.

[Deleted]

I just sprinkle my layers with s/r flour, salt, pepper, garlic, pats of butter, diced onion & ham then add cream or milk at the end. Cover with foil and bake, uncover and bake a little more.

[The Walk of the Penguin Mich]

I've seen that recipe, but the question I have is does the milk look like it curdles? It doesn't taste bag, just doesn't look appetizing and I know that that didn't happen to my mom's. Logically, I *think* that that would have been the way she would have done it. Mom wasn't big into making a bechemel sauce (which is what the flour, butter and milk would ultimately make).

[KaraBoo]

My family is very grateful that my Grandmother taught me the family recipe for Ritz Cracker Pie before her death. She had a special way of making it, and we've never found another published recipe like hers.

When I first lived with her, she asked me to make it. I pulled out her recipe box and started to follow the directions as she's yelling to me from the other room, "Don't forget to add this", "Oh yeah, the recipe isn't right, up the number of crackers", and "I keep meaning to fix the card to include THAT, but never got around to it."

By the time I was done with HER recipe, it was vastly different that what was written down on the card. I've since written it down correctly and the yummy pie now lives on at Christmas with her presence felt all around us.

[Deleted]

I took all of my Mom's cookbooks and recipes when they downsized last year. I was going through them and found a Liver Schnitzel recipe written by my grandma and then another copy of it written by my Mom. I'm thinking of writing it out myself (even though I will never make it -- liver ) and then framing all 3 to hang in my kitchen.

[Deleted]

And could your mom have used evaporated milk?

[DebMD (banned)]

How long ago did she die?

[The Walk of the Penguin Mich]

And could your mom have used evaporated milk?

Not out of the realm of possibility. We always had it in the cupboard.

How long ago did she die?

12 years ago.

The recipe I use does not curdle, but I use a Bechemel sauce.

This is the way I'm leaning.......

[DebMD (banned)]

Mar 1, 2011 14:17:48 GMT -5 The Walk of the Penguin Mich said:

And could your mom have used evaporated milk?

Not out of the realm of possibility. We always had it in the cupboard.

How long ago did she die?

12 years ago.

The recipe I use does not curdle, but I use a Bechemel sauce.

This is the way I'm leaning.......

MICH

So sorry for your loss, but you can create a NEW *Mich* recipe.

[ՏՇԾԵԵʅՏɧ_LԹՏՏʅҼ]

And could your mom have used evaporated milk?

That could be it.....my Mom used to mix together 50% whole milk with 50% evaporated milk for her scalloped potatoes.

[The Walk of the Penguin Mich]

My grandmother's pie crusts used to be made with lard as well. I remember when she used to fry her chicken in lard too.

[whiskmav]

I wish I knew how to make my grandmother's split pea soup.

[Deleted]

My Dad FINALLY revealed the secret to his Manhattan chowder recipe to me.
The members of the younger generation had been bemoaning the fact that his recipe would die with him for years. I made some last summer and it was close, so he shared his secret with me after I swore I'd never tell. It's made the top 10 as one of the special moment between us.

[Artemis Windsong]

I don't want to be thumped but I made scalloped potatoes with cream of chicken soup. So much better than mushroom soup. The recipe also called for layering onions and green peppers.

Mom's banana bread recipe called for lard.

[Deleted]

I make a white sauce sometimes, sometimes do it the way Rose Garden does. When I make it like RG's, it doesn't look curdled. Hm. I don't usually use a recipe because the only recipes that are helpful to me are the ones that start out "Face the stove..."

I've got a recipe book that I started years ago, but it's on its last legs so I've started a new one. They aren't so much "recipes" as they are "how to's". When DS got married, he asked me to copy it for him. When next DS got married, his DW asked me to make one for her, too. DD? She usually serves one of three things: nuke food, takeout, thawed. When she can't stand it any longer, she asks me to cook, and I'm only too happy to comply

[queenofcorona]

If memory serves, my mom does the milk, flour and butter thing for scalloped potatoes. She doesn't measure or use a recipe, just "eyes" everything and throws it all together, no layering involved (I don't care for onions, so it's a recipe I've never requested).
She also makes pie crust with lard, as did my grandma. When I had a hog processed last spring, I had lard rendered from it - a special gift for mom. lol, sounds yuck I know, but her pie crusts are yummy goodness.

[TD2K]

that are helpful to me are the ones that start out "Face the stove..."


Followed by "take one can opener" ;D

[Deleted]

I thought it was:
"select menu"
"pick up receiver"......

[TD2K]

"hit speed dial"

Doesn't everyone have their favorite pizza place on speed dial?

[bean29]

I love scalloped potato's and ham. I don't make it though because my family won't eat it.

I will get my Mom's recipe for you...I think she got it from my grandmother.

I also need to make sure I get her recipe for German Potato salad- the grocery stores around here all get it from the same supplier and it is so bad I won't buy it anymore. I complained at the deli and they told me they had lots of complaints from customers about it.

[Deleted]

I love the German Potato Salad in the Betty Crocker cookbook.

[Wisconsin Beth]

I loathe scallop potato's and ham but I've seen my Mom's recipe for it and been around when she's made it. It's in the same family as Rose Garden's. Mom didn't bake hers, she uses an electric fryer thing. It only get used for popcorn and scalloped potatoes and ham...

Also, my Mom makes bacon in the broiler pan. The grease drips down and she used to save the grease in the fridge and use it for baking. Her Mom did this too. When we were talking about it, at least a decade and a half ago, she said it was "clean" grease that way. I think as opposed to the darker/burnt stuff you get when you cook in a pan on the stove? I think she stopped doing it in the early 1980s. I don't recall Mom ever using lard but Lord knows I could be wrong.

[The Walk of the Penguin Mich]

I remember my mom's cannister set had a bacon grease keeper. It was a metal container with a strainer on top where you'd pour the bacon grease through it, the burnt pieces would stay on top and the grease would dribble through. Then she'd use the grease for a myriad of things (including green beans).

Another thing that my grandmother used to make was chicken and noodles, served over mashed potatoes (yeah, low carb there!). She made her own noodles, then made an angelfood cake with the leftover egg whites (which must have meant that there were a dozen yolks in the noodles!). Talk about the ultimate in comfort food! My dad does know how to do this, so I'm going to have to get this from him soon.

[Wisconsin Beth]

My boss swears by the cookbooks from before 1980 or so - before they started trying to make the recipes healthy...

[unrepentant_spendthrift]

Now I'm sorry i started that what to do with ham thread....

[Deleted]

Maybe some veggies.......
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tee hee......

[Wisconsin Beth]

I'll repeat Beer, you should be giving up a spoiler warning/space on that!

[Anne_in_VA]

My mom made scalloped potatoes and ham too and I can never get mine to come out the same as hers. She layered the potatoes, ham and onions too, but I remember her making bechemel sauce for mac and cheese, so I'm almost sure she would have made it for that too, but she must have added something extra to it.

I've tried all kinds of things, dry mustard, hot sauce, etc. but nothing tastes quite like it. I wish I knew what she did.

I do have Good Housekeeping (1963 edition) and Better Homes and Gardens cookbooks from the 60's and love them. I especially love the Best of Susan recipes in the Good Housekeeping one and have made lots of the recipes from this book

[The Walk of the Penguin Mich]

I've tried all kinds of things, dry mustard, hot sauce, etc. but nothing tastes quite like it. I wish I knew what she did.

Have you tried a little bullion? I used a combo of chicken stock/a bullion cube in the white sauce and it gave it a slightly better flavor.

I've got the flavor, but it was too soupy.....