Fear the Family

Families in Wilmington, Ohio (especially the ones that belonged to the Wilmington United Methodist Church in 1971) had some pretty weird favorites, as the Family Favorites Cook Book amply demonstrates. A lot of the recipes start out sounding like standard favorites, but then they make a sudden u-turn into "Huh?" country....

Apparently "Huh" country is very near this church.

A grilled cheese sandwich sounds like a good family favorite on a snowy day like today, but a grilled cheese sandwich recipe doesn't really show much imagination. This, on the other hand:

I'm not even sure what to picture in my head. With that little flour to so much milk and egg, is this more like an especially cheesy custard? With a weird, perhaps custard-y layer topped with cheese, this sounds like neither a cheese sandwich nor a real pie. I love the note that this is especially good with diced pepperoni. We could just as easily call this a pizza.... which it would clearly not be either.

I'm not a fan of pickles, but I know plenty of people love them. A treasured family pickle recipe might be a welcome addition for a lot of people-- maybe pickled beets (blech! But I know some people love them), pickled eggs, pickled peppers, or just plain old pickled cukes. This is not a pickle recipe I anticipated, though:

Raisin pickles! I was really confused at first because I thought the recipe was simply to pickle raisins, which are already preserved. Then I saw in the recipe that the raisins apparently go in with regular cucumber pickles. I'm still not quite sure what the point is-- I can at least understand the allure of dill pickles, even if I personally wouldn't want them. Pickles that taste like raisins, though? I'm not even sure what anyone would do with them. Put 'em on bran flakes? Put them in sandwiches with cold cuts? Put them in dressing (bread stuffing OR salad topper)? Nothing sounds even remotely plausible.

How about pudding instead? Pudding is a family favorite!

I was thinking something more like chocolate pudding. A can of tomato puree loaded up with brown sugar and baked under breadcrumbs should not be anyone's idea of pudding, but apparently it's a fine idea in Wilmington.

It might be safer to go for a cookie instead:

Ham cookies! Full of butter, flour, cottage cheese, ham (or Spam!), and grated sharp cheese. Actually, they sound a little like savory rolls. Sadly, ham cookies may be the least weird of the lot....

This is part of Cookbook Wednesday, now hosted by Modern Day Ozzie and Harriet.