Secret ingredient ... shark?!

There’s a certain ceremony about learning to cook. You start by not burning water, move on to making a white sauce, and finally pass on an old family recipe yourself. My culinary skills started, and stopped, with making yeast rolls and peanut butter cookies in 4-H. Luckily, my husband is a phenomenal cook and my daughters are learning from him.

In reading the book “Grunt,” I learned that Julia Child’s first recipe was for shark repellant, made for the OSS in the office of the head of emergency response for military personnel in the Pacific. The author didn’t mention if it was a gourmet French supper gone horribly wrong or if it was an intentional odiferous concoction that just happened. Can you imagine the change in direction her career would have taken if she’d become known as the lady who cooked so bad all sailors had to do was smear their bodies with Child’s homemade gravy-gone-awry seconds before jumping ship and peacefully floating away the hours until their rescue?

A few weeks ago my daughters visited a neighbor lady, affectionately known as The Bread Lady, to learn how to make the exceptional yeasty magic that has not only given her a nickname but is also her contribution to society. The bread sits out on a small table in front of her home with a donation jar — made with love and lots of talent! Be it cinnamon raisin or her famous sourdough, nobody makes bread like hers. The girls came home with smiles and secrets and they’ve been making bread every weekend since. It’s fun to watch them and even better to know that at least for this generation, the secret hasn’t been lost.

My oldest daughter has only recently begun enjoying the art of cooking, although her father has made masterpieces all her life. Perhaps it’s because she’s grown up eating crab etouffee, French silk pie and pizza omelets that suddenly as she’s graduating and going out on her own the prospect of Ramen noodles and Cheerios isn’t so appealing. She’s been practicing in her own way for several years, with her siblings as her guinea pigs, mixing Kool-Aid flavors and making mac and cheese surprise. I foresee some not-so-tasty meals in her future but, hey, you gotta learn somehow!

Old-time cooking skills, knowing you can substitute yogurt for sour cream or vinegar and eggs for mayonnaise and not going to the bakery for your pies is something you need to pass down. This summer take an afternoon and go through that old recipe book. Think about those special dishes and the ones who taught them to you and then pass them on. Recipes are stories for the stomach. As for me, I think I’ll stick with mushroom soup in the slow cooker and I’ll take my shark on the Discovery channel!

Please email me your comments at wborenrn@gmail.com. I’d love to hear from you!