EXERPT from

Mom... How do You...?

One Mom's Collection of Recipes, Stories, and Household Hints

by Irene Gaudet

Mom How do You

Foreword

Quantities would help…

It’s a line you hear a lot in our family when recipes are exchanged. Let me give you the context. Several years ago, Amanda moved to Australia to live. We talk often over Skype and message often. Early on, I got the following message, “Mom, how do you make your potato salad?” Well frankly, I never much thought about it, so I just replied, “I don’t know, potatoes, eggs, mayonnaise with a little mustard.” The answer I got back was, “Quantities would help!” Now, maybe it sounds odd, but for someone who is used to baking and using exact measurements, this fly by the seat of your pants, taste it and see if it’s right just doesn’t seem to work.

But then I thought back. What happened when I first learnt to make bread? At home, Mom always made the bread, often while we were away. Baba always made bread, usually on Saturdays. So, as a young bride, I went over to Baba’s one Saturday to learn how to make bread. To my dismay, there were no measurements. She said to me (in Ukrainian of course, to remind me of my roots) a little water, a little yeast, some sugar, some flour… But how about measurements? Her answer? “It just feels right.” In vain, I tried to write down measurements as she mixed her bread. Quantities would help! Guess the apple didn’t fall far from the tree after all.

Eventually, I got out my trusty Five Roses cookbook and found a recipe. How many of us still have our copies? Or copies handed down from our moms or our grandmothers. Or copies of another standard, the Purity cookbook? These cookbooks produced by the flour companies were the staple of many kitchens in Canada. Have you adapted those recipes to your taste, perhaps with notes in the margins or crossed out measurements with your own notations added? How many of us also have various church and community group cookbooks in our collections? And the spaces on the pages were useful to add your own favourite recipes as well! This is where I found many of my mom’s treasured recipes.

And me? Yes, I learnt how to bake bread and is still one of my favourite types of baking. Yes, quantities help, but for some things, you need to go with your gut and let your taste buds be your guide!

Sour Cream Chocolate Cake (Lillian)

The very first cake I baked. Originally, we used the beautiful thick farm sour cream, but commercial cream does work. Do NOT use low fat sour cream though.

1 ½ cups sugar
3 eggs
1 ½ cups sour cream
¾ tsp salt
2 ¼ cups flour
¾ cup cocoa
1 ½ tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda dissolved in ¾ cup hot water
1 ½ tsp vanilla

Mix well and turn into a greased 9” x11” pan. Bake at 325 about 40 minutes or until toothpick in center of cake comes out clean. Alternatively, you can put into muffin tins with liners. Bake at 325 oF for 30 minutes.

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