I finally gave my grandma's pecan pie recipe a second look after my aunt called me out

My aunt came over last Sunday for lunch and I served her a slice of the pecan pie I made from grandma's old recipe card. She took one bite and said "this is good but it's not what mom made." I got defensive at first because I followed the card exactly. Then she pointed out that grandma always used dark corn syrup not light, and she always toasted the pecans before putting them in. I never noticed those details because grandma never wrote them down. So I tried it her way last night with a full cup of dark syrup and 10 minutes of toasting at 350 degrees. The flavor was way deeper and the crust didn't get soggy. Has anyone else had a family member correct a recipe you thought you knew perfectly?

3 comments

3 Comments

susan_wright3428d ago

Started testing my mom's meatloaf recipe against what my sister remembered, and turns out I was using the wrong type of breadcrumbs the whole time. Mom always used plain panko but her card just said "breadcrumbs" so I grabbed Italian seasoned ones for years. My sister finally taste tested it and said "this tastes like pizza loaf, not mom's meatloaf." I felt so dumb but also a little relieved that I wasn't messing up something else. Now I always call my sister before trying any of mom's old recipes just to compare notes.

brian_smith628d ago

Honestly @susan_wright34 even your "wrong" version sounds pretty good, pizza loaf still beats dry meatloaf any day. But here's the thing, panko isn't really the same as regular breadcrumbs. Panko is flakier and lighter while standard breadcrumbs are finer and denser. My grandma used crushed saltine crackers instead of breadcrumbs in her meatloaf and I almost cried when I found out because I had been using plain breadcrumbs for ten years. So I get the whole recipe detective work thing, it's like you have to become a food historian just to make a decent meatloaf. At least now you know and your sister can vouch for the real deal.

the_spencer28d ago

Well dang, I used to think all breadcrumbs were basically the same but you just proved me wrong.