My house and my life is filled to capacity with cookbooks and collected loose recipes, which, when I’m feeling organized, are placed in categorized folders.
The problem is that when I find and create a dish from one of those recipes and wish later on to make it again, I can’t remember which book or folder it came from.
Enter my winter project. Yes, I know winter is over; alas, my project continues. My winter project consisted of creating my own personal index of recipes in my house, whether they are in cookbooks or folders.
As time and incentive permitted, I would grab a cookbook from one of my cookbook shelves (I have four of these in four different rooms of my house), leaf through it, and mark down which recipe sounded good and what page of what book it was found.
It’s very interesting going through these cookbooks. Some look totally unfamiliar to me. We all make impulsive cookbook purchases. We get the book home, glance through it and put it on a shelf, never to open it again. Who knows what amazing recipes lie within?
Some other books are very old and once were standards, but were later on replaced by new favorites. Going through them brings back fond and not-so-fond memories of wonderful successes and also disastrous results. That eggplant and yogurt soup I made back in 1979 from the “Best of Middle Eastern Cooking” comes to mind.
I did find that long-lost potato croquette recipe from what was once my mom’s Italian cookbook passed on to me. Oh sure, it was a simple recipe with few ingredients, but replicating it without the actual recipe, I worried I wasn’t doing it quite right. It turns out I wasn’t. Breadcrumbs aren’t mixed into the mashed potatoes, just used to coat the croquettes. No wonder they seemed kind of dense.
One classic cookbook, “Amy Vanderbilt’s Complete Cookbook,” a compendium of every possible recipe including loads of valuable information, had a listing of cheeses and their uses. Blatantly missing was one of my favorite cheeses, feta. How interesting that in 1961 feta cheese was unfamiliar to American cooks. The cookbook lacked feta cheese, but did include a recipe for those turtle candies I love. Now, that’s a find! I marked that one down in my recipe list.
So, this past winter, carrying over into spring, and most probably carrying me through and beyond summer, I have been getting reacquainted with my old and new cookbooks. Each one is so different, just like the people you meet in life. Even the ones that don’t seem to have much to offer will inevitably have one or two priceless recipes or qualities making their place on my bookshelf, and in my life, guaranteed.
Amy Vanderbilt’s Chocolate-Caramel Turtles
1-pound package of caramels (54)
2 tablespoons water
3/4 pound cashew nuts
One 6-ounce package semi-sweet chocolate chips
Heat caramels and water in the top of a double boiler over boiling water for about 5 minutes. Stir occasionally until evenly melted.
Grease a baking sheet. Arrange 36 groups of 4 cashews each, about 2-inches apart on sheet. Drop melted caramels by teaspoons on each group of nuts, letting some of the nut remain uncovered by caramel. Let cool 15 minutes. Reheat caramel over boiling water if it starts to solidify mid-way.
Melt chocolate chips over hot, not boiling water. Drop by teaspoons on top of each caramel turtle; spread chocolate if necessary with spatula. Set in cool, dry place until firm. Makes 36 turtles.
I found Amy Vanderbilt’s comment under the recipe amusing: “All children love to make and eat these.”
Yeah, and so do the grown-ups!
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