A few weeks ago, I decided to build a family recipe book. This idea took hold when I read an article in the Wall Street Journal that evaluated several online services. As I read the article, I realized how many recipes I have that have stories behind them. Many of them are recipes I learned to make and passed down to my daughter and son, but they aren’t documented. After I worked on the editorial team for the Story Circle Cookbook, I realized how many stories and special events are tied to food. I just hadn’t thought in terms of my family having enough recipes to do a project.
The next day, I pulled out my recipe files and started looking through them. Here’s one from my son’s other grandmother. The whole family loves her coleslaw dressing and calls me every year for the recipe. There are several more my father gave me, and my mother saved recipes from years ago when they ran a hunting lodge in Michigan too. Do the kids even know they did that? Here’s a recipe my dad had published. Yes, I have a collection and stories, albeit some of them are very short.
Next, I looked at each of the online services, and I settled on TasteBook. Their choices are wonderful and look absolutely professional in every respect. Best of all, there is room to add information and a bit of a story about the recipe, where it came from, and when. I discovered that it doesn’t cost me anything to get it up and running either. That night, I gathered up the recipes, selected my cover art, and sent a note to the kids telling them to send me anything they want to contribute.
The process of selecting and inputting the recipes is an experience in itself. I found a recipe my ex-husband hated with a passion, and I’ll be sure to include it. He hated it because he ate it so often when we had two little kids and no money. It sounds like a great recipe for my kids, who have families to feed in today’s economy. Next, I found a recipe that always made my kids laugh (hot dog and bean chowder), but it never stopped them from eating every drop of it. I also found my daughter’s recipe for a pork roast seasoning. She came up with it because my husband doesn’t like turkey, and she had to cook Thanksgiving dinner for the entire family for several years, while I took care of transporting my elderly parents. None of those stories is long, but together they say a lot about our family history.
I hope to have it done by Christmas this year, and that target seems very possible. The online program is super easy to use. The thing I like best about TasteBook is that I can add to it. We could even do a second book later, as the grandchildren add their own stories. It’s a great personal gift at a reasonable price too. I’d never do it if I had to try to do the design and cover art; it would be too expensive to be practical too.
If you are shy about trying to write family stories, this might be the perfect solution and a great heirloom too. My book is set to private right now, but I may open it to the public when I’m done. Someone else may want my mother’s recipe for rabbit stew. Frankly, that recipe is in there solely for the history notes. I’m happy with a baked sweet potato.
My main piece of advice to anyone doing recipes is to be consistent about how you format the ingredients and look for missing instructions. Old recipes that are handed down are often missing key parts of the instructions that “everyone” knows.
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