I was sitting her bored to death at work and started thinking about what would be good to make for dinner this weekend. The weather is going to be nice and I figured some BBQ would be a good choice and boneless chicken breast is one of my favorites on the grill.
Out of no where it suddenly popped into my head about some chicken my uncle John had made fifteen years ago when he and my aunt were visiting from Louisiana. My husband, now ex, was always bragging about what a good cook he was. I mean he made some decent stuff but a master chef he was not. Anyway, when my aunt and uncle were here we decided to have a cook off between them.
They barbequed up some chicken and the stuff my uncle made was wonderful. It was so tasty and it was not heavy like some bottled BBQ sauces. It was really good. I remember him telling us “that is the way real BBQ chicken is done in the south” or some such statement. Needless to say he won the cook off.
Now my uncle passed on several years ago and I was kind of hesitant to ask my aunt about it. I know how secret family recipes can be protected and hidden from the world.
Well I bit the bullet and emailed my aunt asking for it and she gave me the secret family BBQ sauce recipe. I was surprised I got no resistance but it came with specific instructions to “keep it to yourself”. I of course promised that it would be locked away from prying eyes.
I can’t wait to make it this weekend. I hope it turns out as good as I remembered it was.
I never did get my hands on my ex-husbands mothers recipe for baked beans though. His sister held on to that secret and I will never have it. Damn it anyway.
What is the point of secret family recipes? Why not share the goodness? I can see why restaurants or others making money off something want to keep it a secret, but family recipes? I don’t get it.
My FIL came up with a batter recipe that was used in all of the galleys during his tour on the USS Saratoga (carrier). My uncle, who served on that ship 2 years after my FIL, knew of the chicken and was amazed to find out that I married the cook’s daughter. I don’t particularly care for said Uncle, so I’ve not invited him up for some.
For years, I’d get a bucket of premade batter mix… until I was invited to a secret meeting to help actually prepare it! :eek: I was allowed to look in the “secret recipe book,” and learned how to make it.
I of course, was expecting secret spices from distant lands, but it turns out it’s pretty simple. I copied the recipe, and added it to my book. I was sworn to secrecy, and as the FIL has a fairly good arsenal, and can shoot, I’m willing to go along with the secret. I’d tell you, but then I’d have to be killed.
I’m the first one outside of his wife that has ever seen either the recipe or the preparation of the batter. (Well, Mrs. Butler was there too). It was my proof that the FIL/MIL expect Mrs. Butler to keep me around for a while.
It is because of the goodness of the final product.
If every one had the super secret family recipe then every one would make the super secret family recipe and then it would no longer be that “special” something that only you or other trusted family members can produce.
Or it could be just the fact that we want to go “neener neener neener” I have a super secret family and you don’t!
I got my secret fambly recipe for bread after I’d moved out and worked as a baker for a year. That Thanksgiving, I told my mom I was interested in making it and she passed it on to me. It has now become a staple at all Thanksgiving and Xmas get-togethers.
Oddly enough, it’s another family’s secret recipe that she wangled out of the current guardian when she (the guardian) had had one too many drinks…
My sister has a friend who refuses to share recipes. Her friend’s reason for withholding is, “What if you enter it into the Southern Living cooking contest and win a million dollars?” To which my sister and I both respond (mentally, at least), “If you think your recipe is that great, why don’t YOU enter it in the contest?” :rolleyes:
I created a ‘secret recipe’ yesterday. I liked it. If you’re brave, you may like it too:
Holiday Salsa!
(or how I personally killed X-mas & beat everyone who complained about it with a baseball bat while enjoying it immensely)
3 cans diced tomatoes
3 cloves garlic
3 habanero peppers
2 fist-sized onions
2 cans of corn
4 apples
1/4 cup ground cinnamon
Get a food processor & a large tupperware container ready. Drain the tomatoes of can-water before adding them to the tupperware bowl.
Peel & grind up the onions & cloves and then add them to the tupperware bowl.
Grind up the peppers and add everything onto the tupperware bowl (yes, seeds too).
Peel, core and slice the fresh apples into slices and then grind them up too. Then (you guessed it) ad them to the tupperware bowl.
Add both the cans of corn also (because Og didn’t make all habaneros equal; Blair’s Insanity did)
Pour the ground cinnamon on top of everything and then mix like crazy with a stirring spoon. Once everything is of the same consistancy (you should have had to switch stirring arms more than once because your arm got tired), seal the tupperware bowl & refrigerate.
Serve 2 ladles full in a soup bowl with a bag of tortilla chips on the side, a good ball-game on TV, and a full cold drink already on the table.
Ho-ho-holy cow, thats good salsa…
“He’s taking a pretty big chip out there, almost daring the salsa to try to break it off…”
