Caleb - The cookbook - Week #14
“Mama, can you teach me how to make pound cake?” I asked this question after eating freshly baked pound cake with a glass of milk one Saturday morning. Although I was only eleven at the time, I understood that once I grew up I would have to cook for myself and what better to eat for every meal than my favorite baked treat, pound cake. And who better to learn from than the person who cooks almost every meal for me, aside from occasional takeout and restaurant dinners of course. While my mom did not teach me how to bake pound cake then, mainly in part because I wasn’t old enough to use an oven, she began to write down some of my favorite recipes of her’s in a cookbook so I could one day try my best to replicate these meals I have loved since I was a child. Now that I am sixteen and somewhat experienced around the kitchen I try my best to replicate some of her recipes. For example today when I made some pasta, which didn’t turn out the best as I went a little to heavy on the salt when salting the pasta, but the ability to have a set of guidelines, while not clear in some places but always helpful, is rewarding and allows me to make meals I consider “perfect.” Without the ability to write these things down and try to make the foods I grew up eating, my memory of these wonderful meals would fade. Therefore the ability to write these things down serves a great purpose and greatly impacts me.
Hi Caleb,
ReplyDeletePound cake is also one of my favorite things to eat, and although it is not pound cake made by my mother, the taste is something that I will always enjoy. The fact that your mother, out of her love for you, chose to write down all her recipes just for you to have them for the future is an extremely kind and caring thing to do, and the fact that you remember the first moment that caused this even today, when you are at the age where you can replicate these recipes, is a full-circle moment. I also know that lots of mothers out there do not believe in recipes, and measure by their heart, so I believe that the fact that your mother chose to write down and articulate her recipes for you speaks volumes. When we all go to college, we are bound to miss the cooking of our parents, and when we get to the point where we have our own apartment and kitchen, we will try to replicate those same recipes that we grew up with. However, I agree with you in saying that the one thing that we will always remember is the superiority of the food made by our parents, and we will almost never come close to a true replication of the experiences of meals we have eaten during our childhood.
Hi Caleb! This made me hungry for pound cake. I haven't had it in a while, so maybe I'll bake some this weekend. Recipes often carry memories of loved ones with them. Sometimes, homemade cookbooks are treated as prized possessions to be passed down, such as Marilyn's mother's cookbook in Everything I Never Told You. Other times, it's just a extra-special recipe that's a family secret. When I was younger, I would go through my Grandparent's things for fun, and I remember once finding a notebook filled with Indian recipes in my Grandmother's handwriting. I know one day I'll reference to cook food from my culture. Food is culture, and writing down the recipes of the food we love keeps our culture fresh and carries memory with it.
ReplyDeleteHi Caleb! Firstly, I love pound cake and just about any baked dessert that exists in the world, and I sympathize with you about how we will one day have to take care of ourselves and cook food to support ourselves. It is especially worth learning how to cook from the people in our lives who have always cooked for us, and somehow there is that charm in homemade foods that sets it apart from foods that you may find anywhere else. That charm is definitely worth trying to replicate by ourselves even when it is not necessarily perfect nor up to really high standards set by the culinary world because those dishes have sentimental value, which stems from our memories with loved ones who have continued to share with us an integral part of our culture; it is definitely worth keeping note of these recipes so that we can hand them down to future generations and help them understand the value of homemade dishes because of that sentimental charm. Eventually, we will drift apart from home, but the comfort of the food the people of the house provides continues to give the warmth we all desire. Thank you for another blog post (and for making me hungry for some cake and madeleines), Caleb!
ReplyDelete