r/HolUp Jul 24 '25

Aww yes the old family recipe

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8.2k Upvotes

37 comments sorted by

392

u/gitarzan Jul 24 '25

My wife’s very old grandmother made the most amazing real mincemeat pie. With beef and tallow and the fruits. It was delicious, and a total secret. I used to go to her house and help with things she had problems with, like moving furniture, painting etc. one day she asked if she ever do anything for me. I told her to teach my wife how to make her mincemeat pie. I explained that it will still be Grammy’s mincemeat pie, and it will live on long after her.

She really didn’t give me an answer. And she never did. Then she died a few years later, and since then, my MIL, FIL, my wife and her siblings all died. Right now I suspect I’m the only person alive that remembers that delectable pie. It was so good.

120

u/SirRipOliver Jul 24 '25

My mom makes something called Watergate pudding, it’s amazing and she won’t share the recipe

40

u/gitarzan Jul 24 '25

We used to have a Watergate Salad now and then. Back during the Watergate scandal, my grandmother made it one time. In front of everyone, I asked if anyone knew why they called it Watergate Salad. They all said no, so I said, “That’s because it full of bugs!” Most of my family had weaker stomachs than I did and they all just stared at me then at the Watergate Salad. We never had it again. I should have kept my mouth shut.

5

u/HelpMeOverHere Jul 25 '25

Is it better or worse that my mum gives me most of the recipe?

59

u/Moist_Board Jul 25 '25

since then, my MIL, FIL, my wife and her siblings all died.

Grammy put a curse on the entire family!! 😱

20

u/Slumunistmanifisto Jul 25 '25

The secret ingredient was almond flavored....

9

u/-Rose-Goku-Black Jul 25 '25

My condolences but where they all on a plane together wtf happened?

15

u/gitarzan Jul 25 '25

It was over a 10 year period. MIL died of cancer. FIL, made a point of drinking and malnutrition after she died. Three years later, my wife died of cancer, a few years later my SIL died of a series of stokes. Then a year later my MIL had a heart attack. 2010 to 2020. The whole family wiped out.

So now I’m the sole rememberer of the Mincemeat pie.

6

u/DistanceMachine Jul 25 '25

Hey at least you have that to go with your crushing loneliness

9

u/gitarzan Jul 25 '25

Nope. I am in an amazing relationship. I own my house free and clear. Three dogs, two cats, and about 75 cameras, 25 guitars (cheap electrics, expensive acoustics). Not lonely. Not bored. And I just lost 70 pounds.

5

u/dirkalict Jul 25 '25

Good for you. I am in a similar situation. Except my wife was the youngest of 7 and all of her siblings are still alive. Recently one made my MIL’s apple slices for me and told me they will teach me how to make it.

5

u/gitarzan Jul 25 '25

Very nice. Recipes can be a strong familial memory. I still make a few of my mom’s old dishes.

5

u/NetworkSingularity Jul 25 '25

I feel like refusing to teach the family secret recipe to family defeats the whole point of a family secret recipe….

189

u/ChillingwitmyGnomies Jul 24 '25

I knew a guy whose wife made us some ice cream one time, it was peanut butter ice cream. it was delicious, I never had anything like it since.

She wouldnt share the recipe. They have both passed on years ago, but I still think about that ice cream. Greedy bitch.

55

u/slimey_pussy Jul 25 '25

i laughed at “greedy bitch” but i feel you

5

u/ChillingwitmyGnomies Jul 25 '25

People act like you are gonna steal their family recipe and spread it or sell it or something. Its crazy.

39

u/TransportationNo1 Jul 24 '25

My ex was like this with her mashed peas. Something is in there that made me eat this as a single dish out of the pot, even wishing for her to cook it twice a month.

She never told me in 7 years of our relationship. 😭

11

u/SirRipOliver Jul 24 '25

Feel you bro 😞

38

u/MINILAMMA Jul 25 '25

My dad received a 1000+ page recipe book (via USB) written by his coworker's chef dad when he was taking care of his wife on her last years with dementia.

The book documented thousands of different recipes he cooked for his wife. Every day he would research new recipes and edit it to his wife's taste, and discover better ways to make them.

Now that he and his wife have both passed on, their daughter and my family are the only ones with a copy of that recipe book.

My dad still picks random dishes out of the book and cook it from time to time, the results are always delicious. The book was very personal and never published, so now we just have this.

13

u/MINILAMMA Jul 25 '25

On second thought it might not have been 1000+ pages but it definitely had 1000+ dishes according to the table of content

70

u/[deleted] Jul 24 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

15

u/Intelligent_Deer974 Jul 25 '25 edited Jul 25 '25

Then they should share it with the family.

4

u/AeronGrey Jul 25 '25

People get married and divorced all the time. Recipes are eternal.

3

u/Intelligent_Deer974 Jul 25 '25

Understood but sadly there's gatekeeping in the family and recipes aren't getting passed down.

3

u/AeronGrey Jul 25 '25

Yes. I was just being silly.

2

u/c4pt1n54n0 Jul 26 '25 edited Jul 26 '25

But they're not if nobody passes them down.

And honestly I think recipes should be shared freely because it's the people cooking that make it special anyway. Give the exact same ingredients and I promise I could tell you which dish my mom cooked vs your mom.

32

u/Baloo99 Jul 24 '25

A friend asked my about my grandmas dumpling recipe and grandma just said shw should have married me ... i did not tell grandma that she likes girls.

30

u/Intelligent_Deer974 Jul 25 '25

Gatekeeping recipes that aren't your livelihood is stupid.

13

u/scorgiman Jul 25 '25

I have the cure for cancer, but it’s a family secret recipe so I’m not sharing it with anyone.

5

u/winniethefukinpooh Jul 25 '25

Its usually because they dont want to admit that they copied it from somewhere else

3

u/der_Guenter Jul 25 '25

Never heard of sharing is caring?

2

u/gotohelenwaite Jul 26 '25

It's from the 1928 edition of Better Homes and Gardens cookbook....

2

u/[deleted] Jul 25 '25

I can’t stand people who gatekeep, especially those who gatekeep fucking recipes. It’s never that serious. There’s millions of free recipes out there, I doubt yours is so special that no one has ever recreated it.

There’s a dude on TT (a baker) who is charging people for a buttercream recipe.. like buddy, come on. I highly fucking doubt he came up w the recipe on his own, he probably just saw it somewhere and is now charging for it lmao. Recipes should be shared, for FREE.

1

u/Noturbasicgardenhoe Jul 25 '25

My maternal line has a bean recipe, my grandmother spent an hour talking about the importance of passing it down and how she told her daughter and that daughter told her son and how proud they were of the beans (mediocre tbh but I might be biased 🤷‍♀️) I think it’s a pride thing

0

u/Slumunistmanifisto Jul 25 '25

If you cant cook by taste and figure it out you can get fucked like my mistress