GRANDMA’S KITCHEN

Grandma’s

Kitchen

Sylvia Hughes with her grandmother, Bertie Dameron.

William Shakespeare wrote, “What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell just as sweet.”

I think he meant that the name was irrelevant because the content would be the same no matter what we named it. That may be true, but names are very important to us humans.

Our names are personal and give us our identity. We name everything. Even foods we are familiar with often have people’s names added to them for various reasons.

According to Taste of Home: “The name Caesar Salad may remind you of Ancient Rome, but in fact, the Caesar who gets the credit here is Mr. Caesar Cardini, who invented this crunchy romaine salad in Tijuana, Mexico.

Salisbury Steak was named for Dr. James Salisbury, who preferred to call it “muscle pulp of beef.” Doesn’t that sound delicious and tempting? He advocated for an all chopped meat diet with no fruits or vegetables.

Beef Wellington is named after the Duke of Wellington, who famously defeated Napoleon at Waterloo, ending his historic reign in Europe. The Duke celebrated with this delicious victory meal of “beef and mushrooms inside a savory pastry crust.”

Most of us have heard of Martha Washington Candy, made with coconut and pecans or Elvis Presley’s peanut butter, banana and bacon sandwiches.

Often we name our recipes after our mother or grandmother or friends. Written on many of my recipes are the names of the one who gave me the recipe. When I use those recipes, it brings warm memories of good times spent together. Those names are important to me.

When the recipe is one I got from my mother or grandmother, it feels like something important being passed from generation to generation. Both of them were great cooks and I miss their meals.

My mother cooked country, Italian and American-style dishes. My grandmother cooked country, but also many German-style dishes because my grandfather liked German foods. It was the way his German grandmother cooked.

Homemade German sauerkraut was a big deal. My grandmother made it every year and my uncle made a hot version of it. I remember her putting it down in a large crock, putting a plate on top to hold it under the liquid, placing a cloth over the outside and another plate to cover the top of the crock.

She stored it in the hallway where it was dark and cool. My uncle stuffed green peppers with his sauerkraut and placed them in large glass jars with the liquid covering them.

I still love sauerkraut, but have never attempted to make my own. I buy the sauerkraut in glass jars. It tastes closest to homemade. It is good cooked in a small amount of bacon grease for a side dish, as a topping for hots dogs or cooked with dumplings.

B Sauerkraut, H ratS or Pork ot DogS,

anD PotatoeS

My grandmother diced potatoes very small about 1 inch cut up her hot dogs, sausages or pork when using pork, she cut it into 1” pieces, the brats or hot dogs in small rings.She fried the potatoes in bacon grease until golden brown then removed to a dishAdded the hot dogs, sausages or pork to the frying pan and cooked until done She added the potatoes and strained sauerkraut back into the pan and stirred until it was covered in the pan drippings. Cook about three minutes and serve.

reuBen SanDwicH

½ pound deli corned beef sliced thin ¼ pound deli Swiss cheese sliced thin sauerkraut from glass jar strained Swirl rye bread Thousand Island, Russian or French dressing (I like mustard or mayo instead) Put dressing on one side of bread for sandwichesAdd several slices of corned beef Add layer of sauerkraut to your taste

Add Swiss cheese Place top on sandwich, and butter Place butter side down in warm frying pan and butter top layerBrown both sides until golden and cheese meltsRemove from pan, cut in half

Serve with dill pickles

Sylvia Hughes is a retired newspaper editor and columnist residing in Windsor. In addition to three sons, she has a gaggle of grandchildren, many of whom love cooking with her just as she did with her mother and grandmother.