Is there anyone else who never throws out a recipe?

[chowmama]

Assuming, of course, that you once found it edible.

My recipe file consists of five 3-ring binders, divided by category: Breads and sweets, Starters, sides, soups and sauces, Main dishes, Pantry/preserving, and Alcohol. There are things in there that I haven't made in over fifty years.

Some are recipes I made for my family - the pork chops in mushroom soup sauce, distinguished by my completely unattended seven-year-old's venture into flaming with a little brandy. I watched Julia, Graham and every other cook on tv and it's a miracle I never burned the house down. It was one of my father's favorites and I can't imagine making it now.

My mom's stuffed pork chops - regular chops stood on end in loaf pans with the stuffing between; no butterflying for her - makes me smile because of the carefully minced and measured single tablespoon of green pepper. It was only in there for the color. She hated green pepper, but it was in the recipe and she never changed a recipe in any way. She wouldn't add more even if she liked it and she wouldn't leave it out even though she hated it. She worked with the sort of precision any bomb squad would envy.

The Marguerites we ate at the Notorious Commune. (A row house I spent a year in while at college. We were mostly theater majors and had no idea that the neighborhood crank thought we were a scandalous bunch until he wrote a letter to the editor. Scandal? Not hardly. It was probably the most innocent place on campus.) Marguerites are saltine crackers topped with full-size marshmallows with a dab of butter on top, broiled until they got good and melty brown. I think you had to be high.

Anyway, there are a lot of things I haven't made in decades. Some I've tested recently and have needed to adapt - both the stolen recipe for Henri's French (Catalina, now) and the stolen recipe for some major taco chain's taco sauces are horrifyingly sweet, but good if the sugar is cut back considerably. Some things - I just don't eat like that anymore.

But it's history, in a way. Some Fifties, a lot of Sixties and so on. If I throw them out, they're gone forever.

[bucolic_frolic]

1. I have handwritten recipes from my grandmother

from the early 1900s. American-French Canadian-English/Scottish kind of stuff. They cooked a little differently than we do now. Prep time didn't matter. It took all day, it took all day.

[samnsara]

2. i have all my grand mothers hand written recipes...

..but even high i couldnt eat your cracker marshmallow butter cookie

[mike_c]

3. I'm an unrepentant book hoarder and still have (and use!) the first cookbook...

...I bought back in the 1970s, along with every other cookbook I've bought during the last 50 years. When I moved from the east coast to the west I donated a lot of books to cut costs, but kept all my cookbooks. When we moved from northern California to Arizona my wife said "we're downsizing, surely you don't need all those cookbooks." I still have every last one, lol!

[global1]

5. I'm Suffering From The Same Cookbook Hoarder Disease....

I have a collection of about 600 cookbooks.

If I was younger - I'd open a restaurant - and have all these books on display in bookcases around the restaurant. I think that would be cool!!!

[Lunabell]

4. No.

I'm an internet cook. I google recipes and usually add my own spin on them. Back in the day, though, I had lots of cookbooks.

[hippywife]

6. Me.

I have all of my grandmother's handwritten recipes and a whole mess of cookbooks I've collected over the years. I rarely use any of them anymore, but can't bring myself to pitch them. Especially, grandma's.

[northoftheborder]

7. Glad I'm not the only recipe hoarder

Not only Can I not give away any of my cookbooks - I am an inveterate clipper from magazines and newspapers. And now I even print out recipes from online. I have organized all the loose recipes in folders - and if I try a new one if I can’t rank it Very Good or Delicious I get rid of it. I begged my daughter in law to choose some of my cookbooks but she only gets hers online. My favorite lamb roast recipe is from the magazine Epicurious but I’ve never been able to find it in their online site.

[Kali]

8. yes

pretty unorganized too. clippings, old books, printouts, notes, Mom's recipe cards (she was organized) and now a file on the computer. and some of the recipes in the computer file are just photos of paper copies.

[PlanetBev]

9. Me, for one

I know I’ll never make these recipes, but some of them were handwritten from dear friends, now deceased.

[yellowdogintexas]

10. I have recipes in a variety of folders, etc that I have not looked at

in years.

Also my great aunt's favorite recipes, which I can never make because she had the worst handwriting in the known world. She sure could cook; she taught me a lot of things, but I never could duplicate her biscuits.

I also have my very first cookbook; one of those with stuff contributed from folks all over. It's Favorite Recipes of Methodist Women Desserts; my mom was president of our Methodist Women for a couple of years and she received sample copies of desserts, salads and main dishes. They are big books - recipes from all over the country.

I need to get rid of a bunch of them; I have a bunch that I have never used so they are in very good shape. The ones I have used the most I will keep, and all those loose recipes are leaving the house. If I want something, I go to Pinterest, and have found duplicates of several things. My favorites are the Organization books.