Christmastime brings back memories and our familiar foods evoke memories any time of the year. As I teach my little Ruthie to cook I am often reminded of my Grandma teaching me. (And I confess the times I tell her to get out from under foot, I’m convicted of what a menace I must have been to Grandma!)

My Grandma taught me two recipes that I’ve used more times than I can count because they are adaptable to so many foods we eat all the time. Of course biscuits was one recipe she taught me. We’ve talked about biscuits before and we’ll revisit them many times I’m sure. The other essential recipe was pudding / pie. It’s almost the same recipe we use for chocolate gravy, and omitting the cocoa it becomes simple vanilla pudding that can be used for banana pudding or coconut cream pie.

As we made a chocolate pie for Christmas dinner I tried to explain how to ensure a silky-smooth texture and I could almost hear Grandma saying, “It wants to be lumpy, so you want to heat some of the milk up then add the rest real slow.” I told Ruthie to have the stove eye on 2 or 3 until the butter melted then it occurred to me that Grandma would’ve learned this on a wood cookstove.

With a blazing fire cooking a ham, the pie filling would have to start out on one side of the stove and slowly migrate toward the side with the firebox, and therefore the hottest temperature. The temperature of the fire would vary based on the kind of wood burning, moisture in the wood and air and generally how well the fire is burning that day. Whew, this is a lot to take into consideration for a simple pie! And can you imagine creating a delicate cake with these variations?

It all makes me think that my Great Grandma really was a more skilled cook than I am! Yet that chocolate pie Ruthie and I made for Christmas dinner is almost completely gone.

I’d love to hear your memories of learning to cook from your mother or grandmother. You can always click the “Comments” below and share!