I wish I had a dollar for every time Hubs has said, "I wish I had my Mom's chili sauce recipe." Seriously, he says that every time I fire up the canner!
Now, I remember his Mom's chili sauce. When Hubs and I were first married she served it a few times when she cooked up a big ole plate of ribs or a roast at Sunday dinner. I remember it was really good. I don't remember it the way Hubs remembers it, though. He talks about it longingly and lovingly. He talks as if he can still taste it on his tongue and smell it's spicy and seductive fragrance. He talks about it reverently and passionately at the same time! I just remember it was pretty good.
I personally don't remember ever seeing his Mom make it. Honestly, if I had, I doubt I would have been all that interested. Canning was weird. I guess at some point early in our marriage or before she stopped making it. When I think of her I don't think of her as hanging out in the kitchen slicing and dicing. It maybe even surprised me a tad that she actually made stuff like that. In my memory she was much more at home swinging a golf club or flinging a bowling ball!
Last time Hubs was mourning the whole chili sauce thing I told him he should have written down her recipe or watched her make it. Yeah...like that was realistic. I can't really picture a young twenty something guy following his Mom around the kitchen and jotting down her chili sauce recipe. But, still!
A few weeks ago we were invited to my big Bros house for a little summer holiday get together. I had just finished bottling some pretty spectacular raspberry jam and decided that would be a nice little gift for the host and hostess!
Again...it started up the reminiscing. My big Bro is several years older than me and he started telling me stories of "his" childhood and our Mother canning in the kitchen. Really? I have no memory of that. He told me our Mom was kind of a "legendary" canner in the old neighborhood and that she was pretty famous for her "million dollar pickles". He told me she created and canned the most delectable applesauce ever! When he and my 3 other big brothers were little guys it was their favorite thing. He said she would serve the applesauce on graham crackers and top it with fresh whipped cream. He talked about that applesauce in the way Hubs talks about his Mom's chili sauce!
It inspired me a bit and I thought maybe I should try and take on some "million dollar pickles" sometime. I have no idea what makes them "million dollar" worthy but it does intrigue me. My Sis-in-law jumped up and went in search of my Mother's old recipe box. She and my brother took possession of it 30 years ago when our Mother passed on. Her recipe box is kind of sacred in our family and even has a history of sorts with falling into the "wrong" hands. ;) That's a whole other story!
I was glad when it safely landed in their care and they have taken measures to archive and catalog many of the recipes. You know, this is one of those old school recipe boxes that probably contains about 300 hand-written recipes. It really is a piece of history and a walk down memory lane. I love that each recipe gives credit to the neighbor, friend or relative that was willing to share their prized techniques and ingredients.
While my Sis-in-law was flipping through the categories in search of the "million dollar pickles" I was joking about the chili sauce recipe and using my tired line about "wishing I had a dollar"! Hubs was humoring me. :) In my defense, I did tell Hubs I would Google up a search and snoop through the "Ball Blue Book of Canning"for a chili sauce recipe. Maybe we could find something close.
Sis-in-law stopped her frantic pickle search momentarily and pulled out a worn recipe card. Wow, here was a chili sauce recipe. No credit was given to the author but it was worth taking a look at. She handed it over for Hubs and I to take a look.
Goosebumps! It was in Hub's Mom's distinctive handwriting. It was HER recipe. No way! I have no idea how that little card ended up in my Mother's prized little box. Our Mother's only knew each other briefly. There were no shared dinners where chili sauce was served. Both were long past their interest in canning and my Mother passed away shortly after Hubs and I were married. But, the chili sauce instructions were there!
At this point we don't care how it got there. We are just excited that it did. We are going to give it a shot. I'm a bit concerned because there are few measurements regarding the spices. Hubs thinks he won't have any trouble getting it right from memory. I believe him. Thanks Carol and Bev for facilitating this discovery one way or another. Love you two!
(The million dollar pickles were forgotten for the moment, but I will be revisiting that soon as well!)
Looks like your mom is still watching out for you! I miss my grandma's mustard pickles and chili sauce. My mom made them too, but I will always associate them with Grandma Richards.
ReplyDelete