n the yellowed, brittle pages of a handwritten cookbook, Russell Kirby reads between the lines of faded ink his family's culinary legacy.Born in 1926, Kirby turns 71 in May. He had his first cooking lessons when he was in his 20s, but a lifetime of work left him too worn out to do more than the basics, like putting a roast in the oven or opening up a package of Hamburger Helper.
Kirby returned to cooking only after he retired from the Singer Co. at age 58. And he did so with grandma Ida Blanche Sanders' help. Even if she was not there in life, she was there in spirit, in pages of recipes she had written out in longhand in a loose-leaf black binder, now more than a century old.
One of Kirby's aunts, and his mother Louise, also added to the cookbook over the years.
No one thought to remove the straight pins still stuck in some of the pages, marking recipes in lieu of paper clips.
So old is the book, Kirby can point to pages he'd practiced his penmanship on as a child. Scattered here and there, between pages of Green Tomato Mincemeat and Lime Pie, are rows of tentative, self-conscious cursive, reading "Russell Kirby, Russell Kirby."
Still, he's had his share of frustrations in rediscovering at his age the cookbook and other recipes filed away on cards and in boxes. "I'd like to know some of the techniques my grandmother and mother used, because they didn't put that in there - and I'm the same way when I write down recipes.
Ida Sanders' cookbook, above, is more than 100 years old.
Her grandson, Russell Kirby, holds a Yum Yum Salad,
one of Sanders' recipes.
The above-mentioned Green Tomato recipe calls for a package of green tomatoes, and Kirby throws up his hands. "I don't know how much grandma meant? One pound? Two pounds? It could have been anything."
Ida Blanche Sanders hailed from Lake Charles, La. She married Russell Sanders and in a series of moves, the couple wound up West, in Texas, then California. Eventually, they settled in San Francisco.
Kirby remembers his grandmother as a feisty woman, less than 5 feet tall. Once, when Kirby said "Damn!" at the table, everyone fell silent, and the next thing he knew, Ida had grabbed his head from behind and proceeded to wash his mouth out with a soapy dishrag. He was 21.
When Kirby was much younger, his parents settled in Texas, where his father was a manager at a hotel. Growing up in the hotel, and subsequently, the kitchen, Kirby said that food never held much mystery for him.
"I would help myself to anything I wanted and hang out there for hours."
And having spent much of his working life on the road, he developed a preference for home cooking. To this day, he said, "I'd rather take a beating than eat in a restaurant."
He's gone to extremes such as hand-rolling his own pasta to make ravioli filled with lamb brains, ground pork and veal.
Although some contemporary recipes allow for "Pacific Rim"-style ravioli made with wonton pi, Kirby said the texture of the wrapper is not the same, and he prefers the old-fashioned way.
Even so, he is not averse to such conveniences as dry pasta, bottled sauces and gadgets. Among his possessions are a fondue maker, bread machine, ice cream maker, cappuccino machine and large and small food processors.
He's learned to cook with the microwave - anything from beef stew to pound cake from a mix.
And if his grandmother were alive, he's sure she would take advantage of every time-saving device.
"She was a busy, active woman. To give you an idea of the kind of woman she was," he said, "she was a strong Catholic who nevertheless would invite the priests over to her home and they would play poker into the evening, and still get up in time for 6 a.m. Mass."
Following are recipes from Kirby's family cookbook.
The first two have been adapted for the contemporary cook, starting with a sweet dessert the keiki will enjoy.
The last, for Chili Con Carne, is written in informal family style, which allows you to make your best guess as to how much canned tomatoes to use. Our guess is one 28-ounce can.
2 cups canned, crushed pineapple, drainedIn a nonreactive pan, heat the pineapple. Add the lemon juice and sugar until all sugar is dissolved.
Juice of 1 lemon
1/2 cup water
1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons gelatin
1 cup grated cheddar cheese
1/2 pint whipped cream
In the meantime, soak the gelatin until dissolved, about 10 minutes. Add gelatin to pineapple mixture. Pour into a nonreactive serving dish and place in refrigerator to set.
When salad is cool and almost set, stir in the cheddar cheese and whipped cream. Serve when set. Serves 8.
Approximate nutritional analysis per serving: 290 calories, 16 grams fat, 11 grams saturated fat, 55 milligrams cholesterol, 105 milligrams sodium*
3 tablespoons olive oilIn a large pot saute leeks in olive oil over medium heat until lightly browned, about 6 to 8 minutes; add potatoes and stir to coat. Add water and bring to a boil; lower heat immediately to simmer. Cook for 15 minutes or until potatoes are tender.
3 cups of leeks, chopped
3 cups of potato, diced
1 quart of water
1 cup cream *
1 tablespoon butter (optional)
2 egg yolks
Cool briefly and puree in small batches. Return to pot. Add cream and butter if desired for richness. (To serve as cold soup, omit butter.) Beat egg yolks, combine with a little of the soup, and add to pot. (Do not add yolks when soup is hot or they will curdle.) Serves 8.
* To reduce fat, substitute skim milk.
Approximate nutritional analysis per serving with cream, no butter: 230 calories, 18 grams fat, 8 grams saturated fat, 95 milligram cholesterol, 30 milligrams sodium. Per serving with skim milk, no butter: 140 calories, 7 grams fat, 1 gram saturated fat, 55 milligram cholesterol, 30 milligrams sodium. One tablespoon butter has: 100 calories, 12 grams fat, 7 grams saturated fat, 31 milligram cholesterol, 120 milligrams sodium.*
No nutritional analysis available.