A digital image of my Grandma’s noodle recipe provides a reminder of a variety of genealogical lessons that are appropriate as we wrap up 2021.
Many stories (or recipes) remain in someone’s mind and may be passed down orally for generations until they are written down. That’s true in the case of this recipe as my Grandmother never wrote anything down. That’s also true of many family stories.
It is important to make copies and to share them and to organize them. This digital image was made from a laminated photocopy of what my mother wrote down. It was also written down more formally on a recipe card that we now cannot find.
Not every image is perfect. That’s ok. There’s a shadow of a coffee cup in this image.
Genealogy research sometimes is like this recipe: a little vague. “enough flour” is not really specific. “Bit of baking soda” really is not either. Sometimes in our research we have to feel our way through just a little bit and there is not as clear of a path as we would like.
You never know what’s going end up getting preserved. This version of the recipe was written on a notepad from an ag lending company. Not everything is on high-quality archival paper. Don’t ignore things written on note pads, backs of envelopes, etc.
Not everyone always makes their letters the same way. Mom ends four words with “t.” They are written in two different ways. Don’t expect 100% consistency.
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- Books on Michael’s Genealogy Shelf
- My 1950 Census webinar
3 Responses
Brought up during and after the war, the thought of 16 eggs in one recipe make me shudder. You can tell she lived on a farm. She needed good muscles, too. No electric beaters to do the hard work.
4 eggshell cream ?????? What does that mean?
4 eggshells of cream was the intent.