Published: April 22, 2008 11:42 pm            

Keeping tradition alive

Tips for mastering those family recipes

FAIRMONT — When many people think of comfort, food comes into play.

Comfort food is usually something we remember from our childhoods, watching our moms or grandmas make, then enjoying them with a fun conversation.

Lots of our Appalachian favorites are things that have been passed down in families, from the many variations on fried bread and doughnuts to favorite cakes. Savory dishes, like pastas, soups and cabbage rolls are in there, too.

The problem is most of our favorite comfort dishes have been made by our moms and grandmas so long, they don’t use a recipe. If there even was something written down at some point, it’s been lost to the winds of time and years of “tweaking” by the expert. So even if grandma’s recipe box can be found, the foods may not turn out just right.

Differences in ingredients adds to the problem. Some items just aren’t made anymore or didn’t exist when the recipe was created. Can you imagine trying to find lard these days to make grandma’s biscuit recipe?

Chef Brian Floyd, professor at Pierpont Community & Technical College, said a combination of observation and experience can give you a better shot at making those favorites turn out like you remember.

“There’s a fair amount of science and chemistry that goes into what we do,” Floyd said. “There’s observation and then having some experience, and understanding food sciences and what we produce.”

Basically, when your grandma is adding the pinch of salt to the soup, watch her carefully.

That experience is valuable in many ways. First, togetherness over food and its preparation are a great way to get in touch as a family.

Watching your mom or grandma prepare the family’s favorite dishes may be the only way to get them to turn out right. Many times, there’s little things Mom and Grandma do that make all the difference. Floyd related a story from an acquaintance who had watched her grandmother make biscuits for years. She followed the recipe to the letter, but just couldn’t make the biscuits turn out just right. Neither she, nor her grandmother, noticed grandma had coated her hands in flour during the preparation. That one little detail — a bit of grace, as grandma said — made all the difference.

Fairmont resident Becky Carvillano said family togetherness in the kitchen is very important. For decades, the Carvillano family has gathered twice a year to make Italian sausage. The gatherings used to take place in her mother-in-law’s basement. Now, it’s held at Carvillano’s home, with her children and grandchildren carrying on the tradition.

“It puts a smile on my face,” she said. “It makes me feel good, and my husband would be really pleased the kids wanted to get into making the sausage.”

That’s not the only family secret. These days, Carvillano is sharing her cooking prowess with her daughter and daughter-in-law. Demonstrating how to make the dishes is important, since Carvillano cooks just like her mother and mother-in-law did.

“You really have to watch them make it,” she said. “All they did was dump ingredients in. I’d grab it and try to measure it and just wind up ‘winging it.’”

While you’re “winging it” in the kitchen trying to figure out some of your favorite recipes, don’t get discouraged, she said. Your version may not taste quite right or even be as good as you remembered, but it’s a magic day when your Mom or Grandma say it’s better than theirs.

“It makes you feel good,” she said.

Everyone is influenced by the food they enjoyed during their youths. Floyd said some of his recipes these days are inspired by his grandmother and his parents.

“Both of my parents enjoyed cooking, and I’d enjoy spending time with them,” he said.

E-mail Katie Wilson at kwilson@timeswv.com.

        

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