Last week my husband asked about a Spanish Rice dish I remembered from my childhood. We’ve discussed this before. His mother’s Spanish Rice did not have meat. Mine had hamburger. But, other than that they seemed quite similar.
So, I confidently went to the box that holds recipes from three generations and looked. I was sure it was there, but it wasn’t. My next step was the Betty Crocker cookbook I inherited from Grandma McKnight. It was identical to my mother’s copy which my sister had (until her dog ate it.)
Anyway, there under the rice section was a recipe for Spanish Rice. But, it wasn’t at all like we remembered. However, across the page was one titled Texas Hash and it looked to be the right recipe, so Bruce made it.
Wow! You know that moment when something takes you right back to your childhood? This was one of those moments. It was delicious.
Old recipe books sometimes are outdated. Sometimes they are pushed aside because of newer ones with glossier pictures. But there are still people in this world who love cookbooks. Old ones or new ones, practical or impractical, it matters not. I am unashamedly one of those people.
I can lose myself for hours in a pile of cookbooks. If it is one of those community cookbooks, I can lose myself for hours in ONE cookbook! I have one with about fifty tiny post-its fluttering from the book where I marked a page because the recipe looked good. I may never do anything with all of them, but they are there for future reference.
It seems the internet is taking the place of cookbooks, and I’m not immune to this. We have a huge three-ring binder filled with recipes discovered on the internet or you-tube and printed off for “Bruce and Miriam’s” cookbook. Often we look through this collection when seeking for inspiration.
But, this week was potluck Sunday at our church and we knew right away what we would take. We made up another batch of the Texas Hash/Spanish Rice and off we went to church. It was well received. The classics always are, aren’t they?