Author Archives: heritagerecipebox

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About heritagerecipebox

I am named after my great-grandmother, who only prepared two dishes, according to anyone who remembers. Somehow I ended up with a cooking gene that I brought with me from Richmond, Virginia to my current home in Boston, Massachusetts. I have worked as a journalist and published three cookbooks plus a memoir and a novel. This blog gives me a chance to share family recipes and other American recipes with a past.

‘Bullet’ Joe and Big Boy

Back in the days of leather football helmets (not mandatory) and canvas-and-leather shoulder pads, my grandfather captained  his football team at Washington & Lee University to a Southern Championship in 1919. Nicknamed “Bullet Joe” because of his running speed, he … Continue reading

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Plain Old Baked Butterscotch Apples

For someone who spent little time in the kitchen, my grandmother, Hanna (she’s in slacks; her sister is on her left), wrote down and saved a lot of recipes. Neither she nor my grandfather liked what they termed “fancy food.” … Continue reading

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‘One of the Housekeeper’s Necessaries’

I am named after my great-grandmother, Clara, whose parents emigrated from a small village in southern Germany to Cleveland, Ohio in the 1870s. She looks genteel in this photo but her family supported itself with the rough-and-tumble Black Cat Whiskey … Continue reading

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New Year, Old Egg Nog Recipe

When my Grandma Bertie was growing up in coastal North Carolina about 100 years ago, she dutifully wrote down recipes from her mother, her aunts, and the ladies of the town. Even though she went away to college – uncommon … Continue reading

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