Treasured family recipes

[Memmey]

I thought a place would be good for us to post THE family recipes. You know THE recipes that your family has passed through the generations. I would love to know the ones that are the best of all time. The ones that have stood the test of time and have not been altered.
Here is mine.:)
My grandmother Mary Lou Andersen Emmons Tea Cake recipe. This is for real North Louisiana tea cakes. The real deal. Not too sweet and perfect with coffee. A plain jane tea cake, sturdy tried and true and not fussy at all. She would line a old tin bread box with wax paper and fill it with these. When we were little we would stand on a short stool to reach inside for one. The smell of the cookies when we would open the box was heaven. Her kitchen was spotless and her curtains starched.
Here is the recipe in her handwriting .....I'll type it out below.


http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o243/memmey/PINKHOUSEandREDHOUSE061.jpg




Tea Cakes

cream together 2/3 cup of shortening
1 cup sugar
2 eggs unbeaten
1 teaspoon vanilla

sift together 3 cups of all purpose flour
2 teaspoon of baking powder
1/2 teaspoon of salt

sift together dry
ingredients alternatley
with 1/3 cup milk


Roll 1/8 inch thick and cut. Place on cookie sheet. Bake 12 minutes in oven preheated to 400F

~MaMaw used a glass to cut her cookies~

[ChapterTwo]

Oh, Memmey,

Thanks for posting that wonderful recipe; it is lovely that you have captured the original version in your grandmother's handwriting, and kept it under glass for safe keeping.

This Northern gal has never had a tea cake, so I look forward to making these...probably not 'til January, after all the hubbub, but it will give me something to brighten January! Thanks for sharing, and this was a great idea as a place to post our cherished recipes. Hopefully, I'll get back on here on Friday and share one from my family.

[gigiG]

Memmey~ (Sigh.....) gosh seeing that recipe in a frame is sooooo touching. I am going to copy this down, it sounds so nice.

[Lisa S]

Framing your grandma's recipe... what a great idea. I have my grandma's Sarma recipe in her handwriting. Can I steal your idea? I'll post her recipe too... just let me find it...

[Memmey]

Memmey~ (Sigh.....) gosh seeing that recipe in a frame is sooooo touching. I am going to copy this down, it sounds so nice.
GiGi I just noticed that MaMaw wrote to sift the ingredients twice, maybe she meant mix on the second time she wrote sift. I would put the dough in the fridge to let it get really cold before I roll it. Flour your board" just a little" or the tea cakes will be too dusty and let them get a little brown they taste better to me.:)

[Memmey]

Framing your grandma's recipe... what a great idea. I have my grandma's Sarma recipe in her handwriting. Can I steal your idea? I'll post her recipe too... just let me find it...


Lisa I framed it to keep it clean and it is easy to just prop up the frame and look at the directions.
What is Sarma?:)

[gigiG]

Okay, thanks. I can see where putting it in the frig would help the rolling process... ;) I am going to try with my granddaughters. Anything with flour and rolling all over the counter is their style of great fun!

Acouple weekends ago I made dog biscuits with the granddaughters. Just as we were re-flouring, I picked up a little finger full of flour ( I couldn't resist), and tossed it at my oldest grandaughter. You should have seen her face (surprise!), then she tossed some back at me...well, it was really alot of fun~ and oh heck what's a little flour around the kitchen if it AIN'T no fun!!!
GiGi I just noticed that MaMaw wrote to sift the ingredients twice, maybe she meant mix on the second time she wrote sift. I would put the dough in the fridge to let it get really cold before I roll it. Flour your board" just a little" or the tea cakes will be too dusty and let them get a little brown they taste better to me.:)

[Lisa S]

Sarma is one of those typical middle European cabbage roll dishes. Of course, I think ours is best. The proof of a good sarma maker is one that can make small, tight sarms. My greatgrandma was rumored to be the master at this, but I remember my grandma as being the pro.

[Lisa S]

I remember having kitchen duty as a kid one year when all of the cousins were visiting. We were having a grand food fight in the kitchen. My dad (the Marine!) pushed the swinging door to find the cause of the ruckus just as a ladle of mashed potatoes hit the wall by his head. We thought we we're dead meat, but my dad just grabbed some green beans and tossed them at my brother.

Fun times!

[Memmey]

Lisa PLEASE post that recipe. I would love to try that. I love cabbage rolls, is it simular?
Oh yeah I was thinking the other day about your husband playing trumpet in college with C.Botti and I just thought....he can play beautiful Christmas music for you. You lucky thing. Is there music in your home all the time? My nephews wife plays in the symphony in a town close to GiGi and they have music all the time in their home. She got a Steinway when she graduated from college cum laude in music, They met in the LSU band at college. He played the tuba and she the french horn . At Christmas we had a little concert I love it !!!! I am musically gifted too:p I can punch play. whu who :D

[Lisa S]

I can push play too and that's just about it.

We have music around here all the time and I live for it. Dan plays the piano and the trumpet. The kids are all in various stages of musical genuis and play piano, guitar and violin. My favorite days are when we (rarely) get snowed in, drink Irish coffees and sing around the piano.

Here you go:
Sarma
1.5 lbs ground beef
.5 lb ground pork
.5 lb chopped raw bacon
lg onion finelychopped
2/3 c raw rice
1 egg
salt and pepper to taste
1 tsp paprika
1 very large head of cabbage
2 -4 cans of sauerkraut (do not drain)

Zafrig
2 tsp flour
2 tsp bacon fat
1 tsp paprika

The night before: Core cabbage and place in deep pan and pour boiling water into the cavity (to cover cabbage completely). Add salt, cover with tight fitting lid and let stand overnight.

In the morning: Mix the first 8 ingrediets together.

Drain the cabbage and take the leaves off. They should be pliable and easy to work with.

Place half the sauerkraut (and liquid) at the bottom of a large pan. Place a small amount of meat (about 2 fingers thick) at the bottom of a cabbage leaf and roll like an eggroll. Be sure to tuck the sides in as you roll. Place on top of the sauerkraut. Do this until you either run out of meat mixture or cabbage. Cover the sarmas with the remaining sauerkraut and cabbage leaves.

Cover and simmer slowly for 2 hours. Make the Zafrig: Mix together the flour, bacon fat, paprika and a little water. Pour over the sarmas. Be sure there is enough liquid in the pan (add water if needed). Cover. Total simmer time is about 8 hours or until the cabbage is translucent.

My grandma's recipe reads: "Be sure to smack your lips and moan: mmmmmm!"

[dedavis]

In my family, that recipe is called "Galousties". My Gramma always had a table at the Grange bazaar after Thanksgiving. The Grange ladies would be in the kitchen serving these cabbage rolls. They did a variation cooked with tomato sauce for the people who couldn't handle all that sauerkraut.

Here is a recipe from the 1923 Boistfort Helping Hand Club cookbook, from my great-gramma Mrs. A. O. Rayton:

BAKED POTATOES
Bake in ordinary way. When done, remove from oven, cut in two, scoop out potatoes, being careful not to break the skins; mash the potatoes, season with salt, pepper and some onion cut real fine; put in some cream and beat until nice and creamy; then fill upp the skins and put into baking pan; place a small piece of butter on each potato; return to oven and let brown. Serve hot.


A variation is to skip the butter on top and sprinkle paprika before browning in the oven. My family still has these on special occasions. You cut the potato lengthwise.

Deb