c/forgotten-recipe-box

I hit 47 different old recipes in my grandmother's box before I realized something

I was counting through all the handwritten cards my grandma left me last weekend and got to 47 before I stopped. Every single one of them had some ingredient I haven't seen in stores for decades, like a spice called mace or that canned evaporated milk she swore by. It blew my mind that people actually cooked this stuff every day, not just for holidays. My mom told me her mom would make a 'jellied meat loaf' every Sunday for 20 years straight. Has anyone else found a crazy high number of recipes in a single box that nobody makes anymore?

Grandma's pea salad recipe turned into a kitchen disaster last Sunday

I was trying to make her old pea and cheese salad for a family gathering but forgot to drain the peas and it turned into a soupy mess that nobody touched. Has anyone else had a family recipe go completely sideways on you because you skipped one step?

Grandma’s Depression Era bread soup got me through a rough stretch last month

I used to throw away stale bread without thinking twice, but my grandma always made this thing she called bread soup. She’d take old crusty bread, boil it with some broth and a pinch of salt, then crack an egg in at the end. I tried it last month after I had nothing else in the fridge and man it was surprisingly filling. She learned it from her mom during the 1930s when wasting food was out of the question. Now I keep a bag of heels and ends in the freezer just for this. Has anyone else got a recipe that uses up stuff you’d normally toss?

My grandma's liverwurst sandwich spread suddenly disappeared from Sunday dinners

Growing up in Milwaukee, my grandma always made this liverwurst spread with cream cheese and a little horseradish for Sunday dinners after church. She passed about 10 years ago and nobody in the family has made it since. I tried to recreate it twice last month but it just doesn't taste right - either too much horseradish or it's too runny. Does anyone have a similar old recipe for liverwurst spreads from like the 1960s? I remember she used to mix it in a specific wooden bowl that nobody else wanted.

The way people keep using shortening in pie crusts is driving me crazy

I was helping my aunt sort through her recipe box last weekend and found her old lard pie crust recipe from the 60s. She kept talking about how nobody gets the texture right anymore because they swap in vegetable shortening without adjusting the water ratio. I tried her way with half butter half lard and it came out flaky but not greasy. Has anyone else noticed newer recipes just don't handle the fat the same way?

Found my grandma's recipe for 'Depression Cake' in a box of her stuff

I was cleaning out my mom's attic in Toledo and found a whole folder of my grandma's handwritten notes. One was a recipe for a cake that uses no eggs, milk, or butter, just vinegar and oil. My mom said they called it 'Depression Cake' because her mom made it during hard times in the 1930s. I tried making it last weekend and it was surprisingly good, a dense spice cake. It got me thinking, we never make stuff like this anymore because ingredients are easy to get. Has anyone else found a recipe from a time when people had to make do with less?

My aunt said my great-grandma's gingerbread was too dry, so I tried something new

I made the old family recipe for my aunt last month. She took one bite and said, 'Honey, this is the texture of sawdust, just like hers always was.' I looked back at the card and saw it called for a full cup of milk. I swapped that for a half cup of milk and a half cup of applesauce. The next batch was so much softer and kept for days. Has anyone else fixed a dry old recipe like that?

My grandma's 'sour cream' cake always sounded weird to me

I mean, I thought it was just a weird old thing she did, putting a whole cup of sour cream in a chocolate cake. I tried it last month for my mom's birthday, following her handwritten card from 1978 exactly. The cake was so moist it was crazy, and it stayed that way for like 4 days on the counter. I guess all those old recipes had their reasons, you know? Has anyone else tried a family recipe that sounded gross but turned out amazing?

Tried my great aunt's vinegar pie recipe and it wasn't terrible

Found the card in a box from her house in Toledo, dated 1962. It called for a cup of white vinegar, which sounded awful. Baked it last weekend expecting a sour mess, but it came out tasting like a sweet, mild lemon custard. The acid just brightens it up. Anyone have other old recipes that sound wrong but work?

My dad mentioned my great-grandma's 'Sunday Gravy' and said it's been 20 years since anyone made it.

He said the secret was a single, whole carrot simmered in the pot for hours to cut the acid, which she learned from her mother in Sicily, and now I feel like I need to find her old notes and try it myself, but where do you even start with something that faded?

Found my great-aunt's 'Depression Cake' recipe. No eggs, no butter, no milk. Tried it. Tastes like sweetened cardboard and regret.

Was cleaning out a box from my dad's garage. Found a handwritten card for 'Wartime Chocolate Cake'. Called my dad. He said his aunt made it during the 1930s. Recipe calls for vinegar, baking soda, oil, and water. That's it. Sounded wild. Had to try it. Baked it Tuesday. The texture was... dense. Flavor was just sugar and weak cocoa. My dog wouldn't even eat a piece. Threw the whole thing out. Has anyone else actually made one of these 'desperation' recipes from that era? Were they ever actually good, or was it just about not starving?

My aunt called my great-grandma's tomato jam 'too sweet' and it made me realize we're losing the point

She said it was a 'cloying waste of good tomatoes' and that I should cut the sugar by half. I made it her way once and it was just a thin, sad sauce, nothing like the thick, spiced spread from the 1930s recipe card. The whole point was it used up a glut of late-summer Romas with a full three cups of sugar to preserve it properly. Has anyone else had a family recipe get 'fixed' into something totally wrong?

Honestly, I compared my grandma's handwritten recipe for pickled beets to the one my aunt typed up and 'modernized' a few years back. The original, with its specific 'two cups of white vinegar from the jug in the cellar' and 'let sit for a full six weeks' made a world of difference in flavor and crunch.

My grandma's recipe for pickled walnuts is about to be lost for good

I was helping clean out her house in Springfield last month and found her old jar of green walnuts. She used to make them every June, but nobody in the family has made them in over 15 years. The handwritten note with the recipe is so faded I can only read half the steps. Has anyone here actually tried to pickle green walnuts before and know the full process?

My great-uncle's 'whiskey cake' recipe turned into a brick last night

I was making it for a family thing today, following his handwritten card from 1962. The recipe calls for a cup of buttermilk, but I only had regular milk and figured it was close enough. The cake came out dense and didn't rise at all, just a solid brown block. I guess that old-time buttermilk was doing a real job. Has anyone else had a family recipe fail because you swapped one simple thing?

My mom's old recipe card for 'Sunday Gravy' had a coffee stain over a key step.

I made it for years thinking you just simmered the tomatoes for an hour, but my uncle visited last month and said, 'Patricia, you're rushing it, it needs three hours minimum.' That changed the whole flavor. Has anyone else had a family recipe where a missing time or temperature made a big difference?

Serious question, why does everyone think my great-grandma's 'boiled dressing' for coleslaw is just mayo?

I made it from her 1951 card for a cookout, and my cousin said 'tastes like fancy mayo,' but it's actually a cooked mix of vinegar, sugar, mustard, and a single egg, which is why it's so much lighter and tangier than the jarred stuff people buy now.

Found my great-aunt's recipe for 'Depression Cake' in a box of old papers. No eggs, no butter, no milk. Made it yesterday. Hit 87 years since she wrote it down.

Found my grandma's trick for her rhubarb pie crust in a 1974 church cookbook

The bottom was always soggy when I tried to make it, but her note said to sprinkle a tablespoon of crushed saltines over the fruit before adding the top crust... it worked perfectly, absorbing the extra juice. Does anyone else have those old binder recipes with weird little fixes like that?

My great aunt's vinegar pie recipe turned into a sticky disaster last Sunday

I followed her old card exactly, using the cup of sugar and three eggs it called for. The filling just would not set after 45 minutes in the oven, staying a runny mess. I'm wondering if the recipe is missing a step, like pre-cooking the filling, or if modern eggs are just different. Has anyone else had a family recipe fail because of a hidden step we've all forgotten?

Hot take: my great-aunt's 1970s jello salad recipe is a lost classic, not a gross relic.

I tried making her 'Sunset Glow' salad with lime jello, cottage cheese, and crushed pineapple last week, but the whole thing turned into a weird, separated soup because I used low-fat cottage cheese, which started a big fight with my mom about whether updating old recipes ruins them or saves them.

My great-grandma's 'secret' fruitcake recipe called for a jar of maraschino cherries and I spent $18 on fancy ones.

Turns out she just used the cheap bright red ones from the grocery store, not the imported Italian kind I hunted down. I felt pretty silly standing there with my expensive jar while my mom laughed. Anyone have a family recipe that sent you on a wild goose chase for an ingredient?

My cousin in Boise called my grandma's pickle recipe 'outdated' and it got me heated

We were going through old recipe cards and she said the 7-day fermented dill pickles were too much work compared to store vinegar quick pickles. She said nobody has time for that anymore. It hit different because that recipe got us through every summer when I was a kid, using cucumbers from our garden. What's a family food tradition you'd fight to keep alive?

My grandma's recipe for 'Depression Cake' from 1932. Everyone says it's too plain, but I made it last week and it's better than any box mix.

Found my great-aunt's recipe for 'depression cake' from 1932, no eggs or butter

I used to think it was just a weird old note until I made it last month and it was actually really moist. The change came when I realized the vinegar reacts with the baking soda to make it rise, which was a total game-changer for understanding how they cooked back then. Has anyone else tried baking with these kinds of pantry-only recipes from that era?