Don't Mess With Perfection

[Smithy]

As I was preparing for Easter this year, I came bang up against a double standard in my cookery. As a rule, I like to mess with recipes unless I'm testing them for the first time. Sometimes I veer from a recipe by necessity, born of an emergency substitution for a missing ingredient. At other times, I just can't be bothered to follow 10 zillion steps: it's getting late, the family is yammering too much for me to think, and I'd best just throw things together and go. Finally, there's the category of dishes that I make because they're mine and I'm cooking by feel instead of a set series of steps. Theme and variation is the way to go.

Not with lemon meringue pie.

Don't mess with my lemon meringue pie.

The family recipe for lemon meringue pie comes to me from my mother, who got it from the Better Homes and Gardens cookbook, vintage 1940's or '50's. Our family ate countless lemon meringue pies over the years, made from that recipe with lemons from our ranch; when I finally started making it - learning, to my surprise, that it wasn't as big a production as I'd been led to believe - why, it was a success!

And so it remains. Every so often I see another recipe - blueberry lemon tart, for instance - that's worth trying, and I'll try it. Or a Meyer lemon tart. But they aren't intended to be lemon meringue pie. When I want to make that particular pie, I go to that particular recipe. Don't mess with success. I may never try another version, despite having plenty of variations to choose from among my not-recently-counted cookbooks.

If I think about it long enough I may find other sacred cows in my repertoire. Right now, I'd like to know whether I'm the only one here, unwilling to try changing something deeply loved, convinced that there can be no other version worth trying? What say you all? Anyone else got sacred cows lurking in their recipe boxes?

Edited April 9, 2007 by Smithy (log)

[JanMcBaker]

I guess mine would be Nestle's Toll House chocolate chip cookies. I follow the recipe faithfully, except for portioning out the dough. I get so many compliments on them, and I like them so much myself, that I just don't see any reason to try any other chocolate chip cookie recipe!

Edited April 10, 2007 by JanMcBaker (log)

[Fibilou]

Mine would be my mother's cheesecake recipe - an uncooked version made with cottage cheese, whipping cream, lemon rind and meringue. I hate all other cheesecakes, only Mum's will do ! Light as air and absolutely delectable

[ludja]

I guess mine would be Nestle's Toll House chocolate chip cookies.  I follow the recipe faithfully, except I guess for portioning out the dough.  I get so many compliments on them, and I like them so much myself, that I just don't see any reason to try any other chocolate chip cookie recipe!

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I'm the same way with chocolate chip cookies; I love the original recipe and I don't make chocolate chip cookies that often. When I do, I always make this recipe!

Great thread topic, smithey!!! I need to think a little bit about my other choices but there are a few recipes also for me that are so delicious and/or have special memories attached to them so that they've become defintiive with me.

[Shalmanese]

My first reaction was that there was no such thing for me, I mess with everything. But then I remembered what I had for lunch yesterday: Salami, Mustard, Cheese & Apple sandwich. It's something which I refuse to mess with, it fulfils a platonic ideal of a sandwich for me and any addition or removal of ingredients would hideously unbalance it.

[shellfishfiend]

My sacred cow is a pie (no, not a cow pie).

For years, I have made pecan pie exactly following the recipe off the back of the Karo Syrup. It comes out exactly right every time.

Now that I live in a house with two pecan trees, and currently have several gallon bags of pecan halves in my freezer, I will be making many of these Karo pies and feel no need to vary from the recipe. Success is a sure thing, and how often do you get that?

[The Hersch]

Um, mayonnaise. Egg yolks, mustard (prepared Dijon), salt, lemon juice, oil. The only variations: sometimes a bit of white pepper, sometimes not, sometimes white wine vinegar instead of the lemon juice, but not usually.

[deltadoc]

1. Rhubarb Pie - great great grandmother's recipe uses rhubarb, lemon juice, and lemon rind. Surprises a lot of people but the tang of the lemon offsets the tang of the rhubarb

2. Anything Escoffier

3. French Onion Soup - Got it from an old newspaper column that people used to send in their "rich" recipes and ask to have them lightened up. I always went for the rich ones, and this one was really a winner.

4. Whole wheat bread made from wheat berries in my 42 year-old metal Vita-Mix. Their recipe, and I don't deviate one iota. Its a wonderful throwback to the days of yesteryear.

That's about it. Everything else is up for grabs, although I do can catsup made ala Joy of Cooking (~1960's version).

doc

[Lilija]

My grandmother's recipe for stuffed mushrooms, handed to my father, and now to me. He added Tobasco, I added a bit of shredded cheese, early on, but I've made them hundreds of times, with never any variation, from that original one.

Key lime pie, too. My aunt's recipe, and absolute perfection, I wouldn't mess with success, there.

The recipe on the Sun Maid raisin box, for their "Raisin Oatmeal Cookies". The first from scratch cookies I ever made, and still one of my all time favorites.

[Emily_R]

The only one I can think of at the moment is my spinach lasagna recipe... And I don't even know where it came from -- possibly from an aunt... But it is so divine that there is just no reason to mess with it... How something so incredibly fattening can taste so light and thereby allow me to eat so much of it, I'll never know...

Emily

[Kouign Aman]

My folk's trifle. They messed with Vincent Price. I dont mess with their version.

My dad's cheesecake, which HE messes with recently, but I dont. No change has been an improvement. Apparently it came via a co-worker, who got it off the Philly creamcheese box some 35 or so years ago.

The RumBall Recipe. I got it at a potluck. As said by others - no need to mess with perfection.

[David Ross]

I'd have to say my pastry/pie crust. It must be mixed by hand to get the right balance of texture-light yet buttery, a bit crispy and flaky but still holds its shape. It has to be a balance of butter and Crisco. Not generic shortening, not lard, Crisco:

Pastry Crust-(For one top and bottom pie crust)

2 1/3 cups all-purpose flour

½ cup cake flour

1 tbsp. superfine granulated sugar

1 tsp. salt

1 stick unsalted butter, chilled

½ cup Crisco shortening, chilled

1/2 cup ice water

In a large bowl, combine the flour, cake flour, sugar and salt. Using a pastry cutter, blend in the butter and Crisco by hand. Cut the mixture until the pieces are the size of peas. Using a fork, blend in enough of the ice water so that the dough begins to form a ball. Using your hands, gently form the dough into one ball. Place the dough in a bowl, cover and refrigerate for at least one hour before using or rolling out for pie crust.

[purplewiz]

Meatloaf. My version is a take on my mother's that replicates her flavors, and as far as I'm concerned, that's it. It's exactly as it should be and I don't add anything or subtract anything.

This isn't to say I don't make other meatloaves from other recipes from time to time. But they're not variants on the above theme, they're brand new dishes in my head. When I do what I think of as Meatloaf, it's the same all the time.

And that's just how I want it.

Marcia.

(it's pretty much the same with chili, too.)

[srhcb]

I don't have any recipes I hold inviolate, but there are dishes I consider sacred to the degree that I don't even attempt to make them.

Even though I doubt if I could ever make pastys as good as my Mother's, (who learned how to make them from her mother-in-law, my Grandma Baker), or potica and strudel like my Gramdma Baich, it just wouldn't be right, so I won't even try.

SB (holds some truths to be self evident ....

[dockhl]

I don't have any recipes I hold inviolate, but there are dishes I consider sacred to the degree that I don't even attempt to make them.

Even though I doubt if I could ever make pastys as good as my Mother's, (who learned how to make them from her mother-in-law, my Grandma Baker), or potica and strudel like my Gramdma Baich, it just wouldn't be right, so I won't even try.

SB (holds some truths to be self evident ....

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But, Steve, those are the ones you need to learn...........who else will make them?

[annecros]

I too belong to the church of Nestle Toll House Cookies.

Add to that Cornbread Dressing and Giblet Gravy. Then there's Creamed Corn.

[doctortim]

I can't think of anything I make that's totally sacred, everything is fiddled with here and there, or added to. That said, I do have a few half-recipes and bases for dishes that work so well that I'd never change them. These are usually parts of other people's recipes, such as the first one that comes to mind (since I made it last night) which is an adapted version of Thomas Keller's quiche. No matter what I add to the quiche, it's always 1 egg + 1/3 cup warm milk + 1/3 cup warm cream + nutmeg + pepper + salt, scaled up to however much I need. Perfect every time.

[NWKate]

And are we posting all these divine recipes here???

[srhcb]

I don't have any recipes I hold inviolate, but there are dishes I consider sacred to the degree that I don't even attempt to make them.

Even though I doubt if I could ever make pastys as good as my Mother's, (who learned how to make them from her mother-in-law, my Grandma Baker), or potica and strudel like my Gramdma Baich, it just wouldn't be right, so I won't even try.

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But, Steve, those are the ones you need to learn...........who else will make them?

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No, it just wouldn't be right.

There are many items I believe I make as good as, or better than, my Mother or Grandmothers, but a few things are sacrosanct.

Even if I had the time and patience to develop the skills needed to make these dishes, and thought I might, by chance, produce versions equal to theirs, I wouldn't want to do it.

I'd rather savor the memories than the flavors.

[annecros]

And are we posting all these divine recipes here???

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Ah, very insightful NWKate! Many of these are worthy of RecipeGullet, I am sure, except for copyrighted recipes.

Click for RecipeGullet

It is much nicer to have such recipes there, as they are more easily found there than in the topic. Topics sometimes die a natural death, and then you have to figure out what thread you saw the recipe in, and go digging around.

I will be putting my family recipes on there later today.

[Smithy]

But, Steve, those are the ones you need to learn...........who else will make them? 

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No, it just wouldn't be right.

There are many items I believe I make as good as, or better than, my Mother or Grandmothers, but a few things are sacrosanct.

Even if I had the time and patience to develop the skills needed to make these dishes, and thought I might, by chance, produce versions equal to theirs, I wouldn't want to do it.

I'd rather savor the memories than the flavors.

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Hmm. This is the way traditions die. (Do guilt trips work on you, Steve? )

Add me to the Tollhouse Cookies camp. Can't imagine wanting 'em any other way.

I also stuck religiously to the fudge recipe on the back of the Jet-Puff marshmallow creme jar, since it was Dad's absolute favorite. At some point Mom started playing around with simpler fudge recipes and found one that, in truth, we both preferred since it leaned more heavily toward the dark chocolate realm. But as long as Dad was alive, I kept making Fantasy Fudge for him. I'd do it again today, if he were around to enjoy it. I still have the recipe.

In the "never take it for granted" section: at some point I realized that the Fantasy Fudge recipe was no longer on every jar! I made a point of getting that recipe and the Tollhouse recipe, and putting them in my own collection.

[annimal]

Seeing as passover just passed, in my family you just don't mess with the traditional brisket or meatballs recipes. A couple years my non-jewish aunt tried to make some crazy briskets and every year since all the older generations spend the few weeks before asking if we're going to have the regular brisket yet. Luckily, they always get a yes now.

Brisket - chili sauce, Lipton's onion soup, lots of sliced onions, maybe some carrots.

Meatballs - chili sauce, cranberry sauce (the jelled kind), and a ground potato mixed into the meat to lighten it up. This year i finally got the meat light enough that my Bubbie approved.

They're very 1960s Good Housekeeping, but it's the way it's done in our house.

[Pam R]

annimal - Brisket. You are spot on. That's the one recipe that nobody in the family will mess with. Ours doesn't have chili sauce, and we use a different brand of onion soup mix - but it's a recipe used by all the relatives.

[srhcb]

There are many items I believe I make as good as, or better than, my Mother or Grandmothers, but a few things are sacrosanct.

Even if I had the time and patience to develop the skills needed to make these dishes, and thought I might, by chance, produce versions equal to theirs, I wouldn't want to do it.

I'd rather savor the memories than the flavors.

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Hmm. This is the way traditions die. (Do guilt trips work on you, Steve? )

The traditions are safe in the much more capable hands of my Sister and Cousins. I enjoy eating their attempts at the old family favorites, but I'd feel guilty trying to make them myself.

SB (funny that way)