I spent the day with my nieces (my brother’s girls), my sister and my daughter.  Not the eight girls we were prepared for, but close enough.

We ate out for breakfast, then bought some cheap craft items to do during Sun’s nap.  Then we went bowling — my nieces’ choice.  I forgot just how bad I bowl!  I think Sun scored more points than me, and that’s with all of us using bumpers.  But I wasn’t there to score points on my bowling game.

And then there was dinner.

Let me back up here for those not following me on twitter.

I am on the hunt for a cookbook published by D.H. Holmes Department Store in the mid-80s, “Bayou Banquet: Recipes From a Potpourri of Cultures.”  I took a chance that my grandmother may have had it, and I looked at a few of her cookbooks last time I visited my grandfather.  She did not have my Quest Book.  But she did have another nugget of NOLA cooking love: “The Picayune Creole Cook Book.”  Her’s was the Fifth Edition from 1916.  I asked my grandfather if I could have it; he said yes.

This book had to be either my grandmother’s mother’s or her mother-in-law’s, either way, my great-grandmother’s.  Inside the cover, there is a handwritten note that reads, “Pg. 48,” and a check mark next to a recipe on page 48. Here’s that recipe (modified by me not as to ingredients but only as to updating how to prepare):

Beefsteak Smothered in Onions

3 Pounds of Round Steak
6 Onions, Sliced Fine.
1 Tablespoon of Lard (I used vegetable oil).
1 Tablespoon of Flour.
2 Tablespoons of Vinegar.
2 Sprigs Each of Thyme and Bay Leaf.
3 Sprigs of Parsley. 1 Clove of Garlic.
1 Pint of Water.
Salt and Pepper to Taste.
Beat the Round Steak well with the rolling pin or steak hammer; cut off the outer skin and press the meat back into shape.  Place the tablespoon of lard in the deep frying pan and let it melt.  Then lay in the beef-steak, which has been well seasoned with salt and pepper and dredged with the flour.  Cover closely.  Let it simmer over a hot fire for a few minutes and then turn the steak on the other side.  Let the flour brown well.  Remove steak from pan.  Add the onions to the pan and cook until translucent.  Place steak on top of onions.  Add remaining ingredients and enough water to cover the steak.  Bring this to a brisk boil and set the pot back where it can simmer gently for about 2 hours.

My sister did not stay for dinner. My brother and his girls did. His finicky girls went back for seconds; he asked for the recipe. My husband asked that I make it again.

My grandmother was in my kitchen tonight. As was her ancestor too. There was something very powerful about cooking a dish, a simple dish, that was cooked using the same recipe some 90-odd years ago by my great-grandmother. To my recollection, my grandmother never cooked this dish for me. I suspect it was probably more of a Sunday dish she’d prepare for her children and husband. It’s been decades since this recipe has probably had my family’s eyes on it.

I am certain to make this dish again. And I am pretty sure I will not only always think of my ancestors when I do so but also my own siblings and children now too.

That’s one hell of a day if you ask me.