Mama Kat Thursday: That One Recipe...

-
The Mama Kat prompt I've chosen today is, 
"Write about a recipe no one makes quite like your mother."

I grew up in rural Indiana with parents from Minnesota, so our Thanksgiving had a more Northern flavor:
We'd have just Turkey. (No ham)
Home-made mashed potatoes with home-made giblet gravy.
Sage Dressing made with a combination of white and wheat bread. 
A vegetable, like broccoli with Velveeta cheese sauce or Cauliflower with Velveeta cheese sauce.
 Home-made Parkerhouse yeast rolls and fairly often, jellied cranberry sauce.
 Finally, pumpkin pie in home-made lard pie crusts. Served plain. No whip cream.

Mother made the best Sage Dressing! 
She'd freeze all the bread heels during the year and any used bread or buns, then cube those up to make the Thanksgiving dressing. Then she'd leave them in a bowl over-night to dry.
If she didn't have any bread saved in the freezer, she'd cube up fresh slices of both white and wheat bread and dry them in the oven. (In a gas stove with a constant pilot light, they'd dry out nicely over-night.)
Then she'd season them up with dried sage and poultry seasoning, celery and onion, broth and egg then bake it in 10 x 13 pan.
I do recall one year when she used the roasting pan,  filled the bottom with dressing, then lay Turkey legs and thighs on top, letting the juices flavor the dressing instead of baking a whole bird.

I remember how good that Sage dressing was the next day as a leftover--even for breakfast. Delicious!

But, this is the one recipe Mother made I've never been able to master.
 I've tried. I even have her recipe--but it has just never come out for me. I can never seem to get the moisture right. I've tried other recipes for Sage Dressing from Pinterest as well and while close, still all of them lacked that something hers had.
But with just 2 of us, I really don't need a 10 x 13 pan of dressing and I've moved on to have my own specialties for Thanksgiving.

Comments

John Holton said…
Chances are good that, even if you followed her recipe to the letter, it still wouldn't taste the same. It'd be good, for certain, but not exactly like hers. Mary and I are the same way: there are just two of us, and we might get a turkey breast, but more than likely we'll have ribs or something...
Oct 15, 2020, 10:57:00 PM
Trudy said…
I love dressing! Especially when combined with turkey and gravy. It's great that you have your mother's recipe, even if it doesn't turn out quite like hers. Some of my mom's recipes were "I just added a touch of this and a pinch of that..." And even the few written recipes she used were tweaked to her liking, so kind of difficult to duplicate.
Oct 16, 2020, 9:35:00 AM
Patty said…
That dressing sounds so delicious! I'm a big user of Sage in my dressing and the smell that drifts through the house on Thanksgiving is wonderful!

What caught my attention was the Giblet Gravy you listed. I just made that for an event at the gun club my hubby and I belong to and it received rave reviews! Most of the men at the luncheon table commented about how "it was something their mother used to make" so it made me feel good to have put in the effort.

Thanks for sharing!
Oct 16, 2020, 1:49:00 PM
KatBouska said…
I love the old school recipes and how things were made from scratch. I do wish I paid closer attention to my mom in the kitchen because my copycat recipes never hit the mark either!
Oct 21, 2020, 11:39:00 PM

Post a Comment

Thanks for leaving a comment!

Popular posts from this blog

Mama Kat Thursday: Backwoods Indiana Memories: Laundry Day

-
Image
Wringer Washing Machine I remember while growing up in rural Indiana in the 60's and 70's, doing laundry was an all day event. My clearest memories of  "laundry day," come from summer time, when we were out of school.  Mother had a certain day of the week she did laundry usually. I liked to sleep in and I recall waking up around 9:30 to the chugging rhythm the wringer washer already at work.  I'd see all the dirty laundry sorted into piles around the utility room floor: whites, light colors,  medium colors, dark colors and heavy darks, like jeans. (The photo is one I found online of a Kenmore wringer washer quite similar to the last model I remember Mother having in the 70's.) You have to understand, wringer washers only do the washing part. S he'd start with whites, then once the washer finished it's wash cycle, it would stop. Then she'd, by hand, pull each item of clothing out of the washer and feed it through the wringer rollers ...
Read more

Mama Kat Thursday: Just 12 Lines

-
Image
Today's Mama Kat blog prompt challenge: "Write a post just 12 lines long": This Week In Our Local Police Blotter: Dude owns a gray 4-door GMC truck. Drives it home. Parks it in his driveway. Leaves the doors unlocked. Leaves key in the ignition. Goes to bed. Gets up in morning. Finds truck gone. Calls the police. Doesn't understand why his truck got stolen. Duh. ******* True Story. Want to read other posts in the Mama Kat blog prompt link-up? Go here .   Kat's post is first, followed by the linky list. Thanks for visiting!
Read more

Mama Kat Thursday: That First Coffee

-
Image
The Mama Kat topic for today is:  "The best part of my day is..." I guess I kind of fulfill that famous Folgers Coffee Jingle: "the best part of wakin' up is... "some kind of coffee.. .in my cup." The first best part of my day is Hubby finding my head somewhere under the covers to plant a kiss on my forehead, then the second best part of my day is that first cup of coffee. Usually a mix of Decaf Community Coffee and regular Chocolate Mint 8 O'Clock Coffee. The next best part of my day is our cat, Sunni, asking me to take a time out, away from the computer, let her sit on my lap for a little attention. We rest together that way, she and I. The final best part of my day is when Hubby comes home and we trade stories about how we spent our days.    Then the cat sits on him. So what's the best parts of your day? Thanks for visiting!
Read more

Mama Kat Thursday: The Halloween's of Yesteryear

-
Image
The Mama Kat blog writing prompt for today is: "Share a memorable Halloween costume." An example of a 1960's boxed costume For me to reminisce on a memorable Halloween costume means I have to time travel back to the 1960's when costumes weren't sold on a rack, but in a box.  Each costume consisted of a character mask and a satiny polyester knee-length one-piece outfit with short sleeves, legs and an open back that you stepped into, then tied at the back of the neck. Usually it said the character name on front--just in case the mask wasn't identification enough. I remember seeing row upon row of these boxed costumes at the five-and-dime store in town all through October. I remember looking at them longingly. They were exotic, sparkly things. But they cost $5. Far too expensive. (In the 60's, that was roughly equivalent to $25 nowadays.) Besides our Mother frequently sewed us costumes for free or we put together something from whatever we cou...
Read more

Good Eating Monday: Peach Cobbler Dump Cake!

-
Image
Yes, I tried another new Pinterest recipe and this one is a winner! The primary dictionary definition of a "Dump Cake," is an easily made cobbler in which cake mix is dumped over canned fruit or pie filling.  This recipe was pinned from Del Monte, which means it's been a recipe that's been created & tested in a corporate test kitchen. That's one benefit of all those label, can & box recipes provided by manufacturers on their product packaging. You can even buy cookbooks featuring nothing, but package & label recipes of which many are vintage. The only changes I'd suggest is add one more 15 oz can of fruit. It can be more peaches, cherry fruit cocktail, regular fruit cocktail or whatever you want. (So, I've noted 4 cans of peaches in the recipe.)   It just needs a little more volume on the fruit quantity.  And stir a teaspoon or two of cinnamon into the fruit! Otherwise, this is an excellent, quick dessert you can serve hot with v...
Read more