The Recipe Folder — An Introduction to Kitchen Archaeology
Having deposited our youngest at an institution of higher learning, my wife and I have been Freebirding™ for almost six weeks now. The loss of our day-to-day parental responsibilities has us revisiting lifestyle choices foist upon us by our progeny. For instance, I have lost the habit of putting on pants every day. Why shouldn’t the missus and the cats enjoy my boxer collection?
The biggest change, however, has been in the kitchen. Before Children (BC), I was a decent cook and hunted for new recipes to add to my repertoire. While having to feed the wee ones caused menu expansions, those additions were more utilitarian (desperate), driven by the question, “What can I feed these little f**ckers?” Freed from their narrow and/or conflicting palates, we can now return to a more exploratory menu. I will discover how much my cooking muscles have atrophied after years of churning out grilled chicken and pasta.
Where can I find new recipes? Cookbooks? The NY Times cooking app? The clickbait wastelands of the internet? No. The answer is “The Recipe Folder”, the faded black portfolio repurposed from a Software Entrepreneurs’ Forum event in the 1990s. The overstuffed behemoth contains recipes clipped from newspapers, magazines, or the backs of boxes; plucked from products; scrawled on notepads; or neatly written on index cards.
Over the years, my wife and I have both contributed to the folder. Much like the hodgepodge of “My List” on Netflix, it is filled with recipes that caught us at a hopeful moment and were added. While I have cooked some of the recipes it contains, over 98% were forgotten as soon as they were added.
Inspired by Julie in Julie & Julia, my Freebirding™ plan is to find something novel to cook on a regular basis. Unlike Julie, there is no way I am going to cook everything we shoved in here (I’m looking at you salmon recipes). I will also be summoning my hidden inner Marie Kondo and belatedly feeding most of the folder’s contents to the recycling bin.
I will pull ten recipes from the folder every week (or so), starting from the left side and working from the front of the pocket to the back.
The First Ten
Oh my, M&M Pistachio Squares? This one is my fault, which is clear from the haphazard edge cut around the recipe (the missus’s contributions are unfailing neat). This is the one dated recipe from the batch — 1991 — and precedes even the folder. Which is also before my wife and I were even dating. Pass.
Easy Chicken Pot Pie? No idea who thought this was something worth cutting from the back of a Bisquick box. No pot pie recipe is easier than pulling one from a Marie Callender box and shoving it in the oven. Pass.
Lasagna Roll-ups from the back of a Turkey Store ground turkey package? More work than lasagna for fancy stuffed shells. There is no way the missus would cook this one — she wanted me to make it. I’ll just make lasagna. Pass.
Caribbean Chicken from a Reynolds Aluminum Foil box? Coconut, ‘nuf said. Pass. Satay-Style Beef, probably from the same box? Peas? Peas? Never, ever have I seen peas on anything Satay. Maybe that’s what makes it Satay-“Style”. Pass.
Cheese-Garlic Biscuits, also from a Bisquick Box? I like cheese, I like biscuits. But this would require me to buy Bisquick, which ceased being a staple once the wee ones hit high school and started sleeping in on weekend mornings. Pass.
Sausage & Chicken Kebabs trimmed from the San Francisco Chronicle by my darling wife — notice the neat edges. Looks like a lot of work for the result. Pass.
Garlicky Chicken Breasts from a Good Seasons magazine ad (likely a Sunday Magazine insert)? Mmmmm. Garlic and chicken, simple prep and pop into the oven. Tempting, but not terribly exciting — which is not surprising since it was created to sell salad dressing mix. Pass.
Sauted Cherry Tomatoes, hastily cut from the San Francisco Chronicle (note the slashed end of the title)? I must have been feeling healthy. Looks yummy, but also looks like a lot of work for a side dish. I am going to cheat and Defer (this kind of indecision is how you end up with thirty plus years of recipes stuffed into folder).
Grandma Esther’s Brisket, lovingly trimmed from the paper by you-know-who? It’s a lot of food for two people, it has a lot of ingredients, it requires a spice grinder and a fair bit of prep. But thanks to our household’s infatuation with The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel and a desire to see what brisket is all about, there is only one answer. Cook. Might have to wait until the wee ones return for the holidays — but it is on.
Tune in next time to see what other forgotten delights (and dross) can be found in The Recipe Folder.
