Heirloom Eats

Family recipes are treasures passed down from one generation to the next. They bring comfort and familiarity to our tables today, just as they did to our parents’ tables, and their parents before them. Here, locals share enduring family recipes and tell us what makes them so special after all these years.

By ANNA HILL

Hilda Sullivan with Emma Haile, Sheron Bibee, Corinne Giagnorio, and Martha Foster | Cleveland

“This is the recipe that my husband’s grandmother, known affectionately as Bebe, fixed the first time she hosted me for a meal at her table. Turns out that earlier that day, she had cut her hand on the blender and driven herself to the doctor for stitches. She even stopped for gas along the way, but never called anyone for help or considered canceling the meal. When I cook this dish, I remember the resilience and the giving spirit of a great Southern hostess on full display, and I feel like I’m back at Bebe’s, where all gatherings with family took place.” - Hilda Sullivan

Bebe’s Hot Chicken Salad

Yields: 8-10 servings

Ingredients

• 2 cups cooked cubed chicken • 2 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice • 1/2 tsp. pepper • 1/2 tsp. salt • 1/2 cup slivered almonds • 1 cup celery, diced • 1 cup Hellman’s mayonnaise • 1 cup sharp cheddar cheese, grated • 1 cup potato chips, crushed

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350˚. Spray a 13x9-inch baking dish with vegetable cooking spray. 2. In a large mixing bowl, combine the chicken, lemon juice, pepper, salt, almonds, celery, mayonnaise, and cheddar cheese. 3. Place chicken mixture into a prepared dish and spread crushed potato chips evenly over the top. 4. Bake for 20 minutes or until bubbly.

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Sumi Patel with her daughter, Neha Shah, and granddaughter, Uma Shah | NorthShore

“Samosas are a celebratory dish, so we chose to honor my grandmother by sharing her recipe. Most of my memories of spending time with my grandmother (I called her Ba), were spent around food. I remember she would lay out big sheets of newspaper on the floor and sit and peel eggplant and bitter melon and grind spices from scratch in her mortar and pestle. She couldn’t read or write in either English or our native language of Gujarati, so she used her senses to work through her ‘recipes’ by tasting and smelling along the way. Her love for food and cooking has been inherited by her children and grandchildren, and we each think of her any time we eat samosas or find ourselves ‘feeling’ our way through a recipe.” – Neha Shah

Samosas

Yields: 15-18 samosas

ingredients

• 5 Idaho potatoes, peeled and cubed small • 5 Tbsp. canola oil, plus more for frying • 1/2 tsp. black pepper • 1 1/2 tsp. ginger, peeled and grated • 1 tsp. salt • Grated serrano pepper, to taste (we use 2) • 1 Tbsp. sugar • 1 tsp. garam masala • 1 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice • 1/2 cup frozen green peas • 1 cup self-rising flour • 1/4 cup warm water

Directions

1. To make the masala filling, heat 2 Tbsp. of canola 2. 3. 4. 5. oil in a pan. Add black pepper, then potatoes, and sauté for 5-7 minutes or until cooked; cover with a

lid and stir often. Add ginger, salt, serrano pepper, sugar, garam masala, and lemon juice; mix thoroughly and allow spices to warm. Once warmed, put the potato mixture in a bowl and set aside. Heat 1 Tbsp. of canola oil in a pan and add peas; cook for 5 minutes, then add to potato mixture. Set aside. To make the dough, add 2 Tbsp. of canola oil to allpurpose flour. Add warm water and mix thoroughly – the dough should be the consistency of cookie dough. Separate dough into small tablespoonsized balls and roll out into smooth tortilla-like shapes. To assemble the samosas, cut each circle of dough in half. Fold each half into a cone shape and fill with masala filling. Seal by twisting the top closed into small pleats. Deep-fry in canola oil until samosa is golden-brown; serve with chutney.

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Alan & Bonny Shuptrine with their son, Ben, and daughter-in-law, Meg | Lookout Mountain

“Over the years, many of our family recipes have been improved, especially meatloaf! Ours is called Shuptrine’s Twisted Meatloaf, and it started back in the 1940s in Fort Wayne, Indiana. My mom taught me how to utilize sweet pickles, onions, and green peppers as ingredients; now, we use our homemade Appalachian chow-chow. Baking it in a cast iron skillet gives it a good all-over baking method. Passed on and enhanced over the decades, the recipe has evolved and has been part of our fall dinners with sides of cheese cauliflower, mashed potatoes, and green beans. It’s a hearty, feel-good kind of meal!” – Bonny Shuptrine

Shuptrine’s Twisted Meatloaf

Yields: 6 servings

Ingredients

• 1 tsp. oil • 1 small onion, chopped • 1 Tbsp. garlic, minced • 1 1/2 cups Shuptrine’s Twisted

Relish (chow-chow) • 2 eggs • 1/2 cup cream • 1 tsp. salt • 1 tsp. pepper • 1 packet McCormick meatloaf seasoning mix • 2 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce • 1 lb. sage sausage • 1 1/2 lbs. ground beef • 1 cup dried fine seasoned breadcrumbs • 1/2 cup ketchup • 1 Tbsp. mustard

For the topping: • 1/3 cup ketchup

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350˚. 2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7. Heat oil, onions, garlic, and drained Shuptrine’s Twisted Relish in a 10-inch cast iron skillet; cook until onions are clear (about 10 minutes). Take mixture out of the skillet and let cool. Place the eggs, cream, salt and pepper, McCormick meatloaf spice packet, and Worcestershire sauce in a large bowl and whisk. Mix sausage, ground beef, breadcrumbs, ketchup, and mustard with your hands until completely mixed; set aside. Take cooled onion mixture and fold into meat mixture. Transfer the meatloaf mixture back to your used skillet from making the onion mixture and press into an even layer to all sides of the skillet. Bake for 45 minutes to an hour. If you don’t use lean ground beef for the recipe, you might have to drain off excess fat during the baking process. Remove the skillet from the oven. Turn on the broiler. Spoon and brush the top of the meatloaf with the rest of the ketchup. Broil on the same rack for about 3 minutes. Let cool in the pan for 10 minutes before slicing and serving.

Melinda Bone with her mother, Sarah, and daughter, Melaina | Harrison

“As a little girl, I remember Mom and MomMom always baking this special cake during the Christmas holidays. I remember the stories that they shared with us about baking it in a wooden stove and how the house smelled with all the flavors of goodness. This cake brought all the family together. Everyone had to have a slice! As I grew older, my mom passed the recipe to me and now, I have passed it to my daughter. It is important for us that all our family traditions and legacies be treasured and passed on to the next generation. It all starts with this Christmas Golden Cake!” - Melinda Bone

Christmas Golden Cake

Yields: 10-12 servings

Ingredients

• 9 egg yolks • 1 whole egg • 3 cups sugar • 1 1/2 cups butter • 3/4 tsp. vanilla 6 tsp. baking powder 4 1/2 cups flour 1 1/2 tsp. salt 1 1/2 cups milk

Directions

1. Beat one egg at a time with sugar and

2.

3. butter until creamy. Add vanilla. Add sifted dry ingredients, alternating with milk. Pour into a greased and floured tube pan or layered pans. Bake at 350˚ for 1 hour and 15 minutes.

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Stephanie Blackiston with her husband, Tim, and their children | East Chattanooga

“One of the happiest memories in my life was spending the night with my grandparents. After a full day of playing outside, I would drift off to sleep surrounded by my grandmother’s love. The next morning, the aroma of sausage gravy would wake me up. I could hear gospel music and her pulling biscuits out of the oven. These smells and tastes left an imprint on me.

Years later after I was married, I told my husband how much her gravy meant to me. He watched her make it and discovered that the secret ingredient was coffee! Now, my husband makes sausage gravy for me and our eight children. My grandmother left me with much more than a gravy recipe; she left me the recipe of loving my family well.” - Stephanie Blackiston

Sausage Gravy

Yields: 10 servings

ingredients

• 2 (16 oz.) tubes uncooked pork or turkey sausage • 1 stick butter • 1 cup flour • 6 oz. coffee • 6 cups whole milk • Salt and pepper, to taste

Directions

1. Brown sausage in a large skillet, breaking into 2. 3. 4. 5. small pieces with a spatula. Leave the heat on. (If using turkey sausage, you may need to add a couple Tbsp. of butter from the stick to help it

get crispy.) While the sausage is browning, in a separate skillet slowly melt the remaining butter; mix flour with melted butter and remove from heat.

Add coffee to the sausage pan and let it boil down for 10-15 seconds; add milk. Add the flour mixture to the coffee mixture and whisk until smooth. Bring to a boil, stirring slowly

as the gravy thickens. Add salt and pepper to taste. Serve over biscuits with a sliced home-grown tomato for garnish.

Lemont & Renita Johnson | Ridgedale

“This chicken and dumplings recipe is a family staple. It first started with my grandma Ever Boyd, who raised me. Back in the ’60s, she would prepare them in the winter with a buttered cornbread muffin and a glass of sweet tea – and maybe a little taste of cobbler for dessert. This recipe is tender and full of chicken flavor. I made it for my family all the time when they were growing up. It was also a staple for our restaurant back when we were open a few years ago. You just can’t beat a good old bowl of homemade chicken and dumplings during this time. Here is my recipe, and I hope you find as much love cooking it as we do eating it.” – Lemont Johnson

Chicken & DUmplings

Yields: 6-8 servings

ingredients

• 1 small whole chicken • 2 qts. water • 1 Tbsp. salt • 1 Tbsp. pepper • 2 garlic cloves, whole • 1 celery stalk • 2 1/2 medium onions • 1 bell pepper

For the dumplings: • 4 cups self-rising flour • 1 Tbsp. onion powder • 2 Tbsp. garlic powder • 1 tsp. salt • 3 eggs, beaten • 1/4 cup ice water

2 qts. warm water 2 Tbsp. chicken base

Directions

1. Wash chicken and cut into quarters; cover with 2 quarts of water in a large stock pot. Add salt, pepper, and garlic.

2.

3. Cut celery stalk and onions in half. Seed bell pepper and cut into strips, and add vegetables to the pot. Bring water to a boil and cook for 20-30 minutes. Remove chicken, vegetables, and garlic from the pot, allow to cool, and remove chicken from its bones.

For the dumplings: 1. In a large bowl, whisk together flour and all seasonings. Make a well in the center of the flour and pour beaten eggs into the well. Fold eggs into flour to create a lumpy mixture. 2. Incorporate ice water into mixture to slowly form a dough; shape into a ball. 3. When the dough becomes slightly sticky, flour your work surface and

fold out the dough. Dust the top of dough with flour and roll it out until the dough is 1/4-inch thick. Cut dough into 1-inch wide strips at a diagonal angle. Cut across again at the opposite diagonal angle to create 1-inch squares.

To assemble: 1. Bring the chicken broth back to a boil.

Add 2 additional quarts of warm water as well as the chicken base. 2. Once at a rolling boil, drop dumplings in a few at a time, stirring constantly, until they are all added and begin to float to the top. Reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes or until gravy forms. 3. Add chicken and allow to cook for a few more minutes; remove from heat. 4. Serve with your favorite side salad or green vegetable and a large glass of iced tea.

Rae Bond with her husband, Bill | Ridgeside

“My grandmother made orange rolls for every special occasion, so when I married I began making them to remind me of my family back in Idaho. My sons grew up helping me make them, and those times together are precious memories. I asked my son to share what this meant to him, and he shared from the heart.” - Rae Bond

“Growing up in a ministry-based family, you share basically everything. You share your parents, you share your home, you share your cooking, you share your heart. Making orange rolls with Mom was one of the few things that we didn’t have to share. Other people got to taste the fluffy, flakey fruits of our labor, sure. But their creation, from grating the oranges to making sure the dough was rolled just so to produce perfect layers – that was for us.

Over the years as we’ve gotten older, we’ve introduced new people into the tradition as our family grew. When I was a kid, making orange rolls was almost selfish – a special rare thing I didn’t have to share in a life of sharing for the greater good. Now that I’m an adult, all I see is love in that recipe. I’m thankful I get to share with so many people as an adult, and thankful that readers get to start their own traditions with it now.” – John Michael Bond, son

Grandma Sells’ Orange Rolls Yields: 12 rolls

Ingredients

For the sweet roll dough: • 2 packages active dry yeast (you can use rapid rise yeast if you are short on time) • 1/2 cup warm water, 105˚-115˚ (125˚130˚ if using rapid rise yeast) • 1/2 cup milk, 105˚-115˚ (125˚130˚ if using rapid rise yeast) • 1/2-3/4 cup sugar • 1 tsp. salt • 2 eggs, beaten • 1/2 cup shortening or butter, softened • 4 1/2-5 cups flour

For the filling: • 4 cups powdered sugar • 1 stick butter, softened (or combination of butter and softened cream cheese) • 4 Tbsp. orange peel, grated • 1 Tbsp. + 1 tsp. orange juice concentrate (add more as needed to get a consistency that is easy to spread)

Directions

1. Start with the sweet roll dough. For regular yeast, dissolve yeast in warm water. Stir in milk, sugar, salt, 2.

3.

4. eggs, shortening, and half of the flour. Beat until smooth. Add enough flour to make dough easy to handle. (For rapid rise yeast, mix yeast with half of the flour. Heat water, milk, and shortening. Add to flour. Add sugar, salt, and eggs. Beat until smooth.) Turn dough onto a lightly floured board; knead until smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes. Place in a greased bowl and turn greased side up. At this point, if you used regular yeast, the dough can be refrigerated for 1-2 days. Cover and let rise in warm place until double the size – about 90 minutes. Dough is ready if impression remains when touched. (For rapid rise yeast, let the dough set for 15-30 minutes. Roll and shape into rolls. Then let rise 60 minutes or so until rolls are puffy.) To make the filling, beat powdered sugar, butter, orange peel, and orange juice until creamy. Roll dough into a rectangle, 12x7 inches, on a lightly floured surface; spread with half of the orange mixture. Roll up tightly, beginning at the 12-inch side. Pinch edge firmly to seal. Stretch roll to make even. Cut into 12 1-inch slices. Place slightly apart in greased round baking pan, 8x1 1/2 inches. Let rise until double the size, about 40 minutes. Heat oven to 375˚. Bake until golden brown, 20-25 minutes. Frost with remaining orange mixture while warm.