Over on her blog, Donis Casey in her entry of January 14, titled "Eats", is discussing old family recipies. Each of her books includes an epilogue where she publishes several recipies for what we would call "comfort food." Most of these recipies are for foods mentioned in the text of the book and enjoyed by her characters.

I recall challenges faced by my mother which are similar to the ones Donis encounters when presenting a recipie for a present day kitchen.

My father's parents lived for a time (a few years if I recall correctly) in a tent camp on the plains of Wyoming where my grandfather worked as a construction engineer. The camp cook had quite a few recipies my grandmother claimed for her own. One was for an old fashioned mincemeat recipie, which took several days to prepare, and which involved measurements described in "bowls." My mother finally pinned my grandmother down to find out the capacity of a "bowl" and converted the recipie to cups and measuring spoons.

Up until about two years before my mother's death, my parents made mincemeat every fall, gave pints of the concoction as holiday gifts, and guarded the recipie with care. {I never liked the stuff, and maneuvered, not always successfully, to avoid ending up with a jar of it.}

I've been thinking about this tradition quite a bit lately. I married for the first time in the mid 1960's and received a few cookbooks as gifts. I also invested in a few more cookbooks in the early years of keeping my first household, and I often coopted for my own cookbooks going unused in various family households. I now have three copies of JOY OF COOKING, copyrights 1936, 1952, and 1964. In the earliest version I finally found a recipie for rice cooked in milk, which I enjoy for breakfast on occasion. I first encountered rice fixed that way in my college cafeteria, and often got up early just to go have some when I noticed it posted on the dining room schedule. I also have a raggedy collection of hand written recipies, on scraps of paper, in various family handwritings, which preserve other family traditions.

There's an empty spot on the shelves in my kitchen right now. Two volumes of my cookbook collection are at a bookbindery, getting patched up for another 40 years of regular use. The repair process will take a few more weeks. I'll be glad to have them back. And I'll probably send one or two others off to be repaired in the same fashion. And if anyone is interested - here are the books being rebound:

AMERICA COOKS, compiled by the American Federation of Women's Clubs, copyright 1964, published (I think) by Doubleday

JOY OF COOKING by Rombauer, copyright 1936, published by Bobbs Merrill

When those two are finished, I'll send THE COMPLETE BOOK OF BREADS by Bernard Clayton, copyright 1973, published by Simon & Schuster