Found my great-aunt's handwritten pierogi recipe in an old book at a yard sale last Saturday

I was flipping through a 1950s cookbook I picked up for 50 cents and a folded piece of paper fell out. It had her name and a date from 1967, with measurements like "a lump of butter" and "enough flour to make it feel right." I tried making them last night and they came out way better than the modern recipe I'd been using. The dough was softer and the filling had a pinch of nutmeg I never would have thought to add. Has anyone else found an old family recipe hidden in a random place like that?

3 comments

3 Comments

anna_hill1mo ago

Sounds like a lot of fuss over some dough and potatoes.

miller.jason1mo ago

Oh man, that's the best kind of find. My grandma's meatloaf recipe was scribbled on the back of a gas station receipt in her sewing box. "Two glugs of ketchup" was the key instruction. Modern recipes are too precise sometimes.

the_michael8d ago

Idk man, I gotta push back a little on the "too precise" thing. I mean, sometimes a recipe needs to be exact or you end up with a hockey puck instead of a meatloaf. Baking especially is like chemistry, you can't just eyeball flour and hope for the best. But I get what you mean about those old family recipes having character, it's just that not every dish can survive a "glug" of something without turning into a mess. Maybe it's just me, but I've ruined enough dinners by guessing wrong to appreciate a little precision when it counts.