I'm ready to admit that I'm jealous of my husband's grandmother. No matter how hard I try, I can never cook roast beef as good as his grandmother use to make it. And I've tried so hard for nine years! My husband's favorite meal is roast beef with potatoes and carrots. Sadly, his grandmother never wrote her recipes down. As she got older she lost her memory and forgot how to cook it. Now she is no longer with us and the recipe is lost forever.

I've tried recipe after recipe, trying to figure out how she made her roast beef.. Every time my husband tells me mine isn't as good and the regales me with memories of how wonderful his grandmother's tasted. All he knows is she cooked it on top of the stove in a thick bottomed metal pan. Every Sunday, she'd put one on the stove on low, go to church, and by the time they got home the roast was ready.

My Most Recent Attempt

Food Can Hold Family History and Traditions

Food is an important part of family life. Parents teach their children how to cook. They share their recipes and knowledge and that information can be passed from generation to generation. Food and sharing a meal bonds members of a family together.

Often during family gatherings I hear my aunts and uncles talk about my great grandmother's cooking. In her day she was a wonderful cook and some of her recipes still live on through her kids, grandkids, and great grandkids. A few of her recipes are so loved that I hope to someday pass them onto my daughter. Interestingly, a recipe can make a person live on long after they pass away. My daughter will never meet her great, great grandmother but she'll know that the chocolate pie she eats every Christmas exists because of her and that I had it every Christmas growing up because she taught my mom.

This is why I always say people should write down their most treasured recipes. Some people become "immortal" by becoming famous and are remembered long after they are gone. Some become beloved for writing works of literature considered important enough to future generations to read. Others are remembered for their food. If you're a great cook and your family adores your food, pass on those recipes to your kids so they can pass down a part of you and your skills on to future generations.

The Downton Abby Cookbook Got Me Closer To Grandma's Roast!

For years I've been trying to make roast beef so juicy it falls apart. When my husband said his grandma slow cooked hers on the stove I assumed the meat would fall apart from tenderness....I was wrong. If I'd known all along hers was the kind of roast you carve that stays a solid mass of meat I would have know to look towards England for my recipes. Instead I've crock potted it and oven roasted it all day until the meat got soft.

I decided to randomly try a recipe for roast beef and Yorkshire pudding from the Downton Abby Cookbook. (CLICK HERE FOR THE RECIPE)

Look at that nice fat on top.

This recipe called for cooking the meat briefly on a stove top then finishing it off in the oven. I worked very hard on this roast. After my husband started eating he was very happy. It was then he told me the important fact that his grandmother's meat had to be sliced and that he didn't enjoy the kind that falls apart....so many failures were based on me thinking that's what he wanted. He said I did good on the gravy but it had more flavor than hers. The recipe called for lots of garlic flavor. His grandma probably only used salt/pepper.

The Yorkshire puddings were for me. I actually hate roast beef. My mom also made a roast every Sunday when I was a kid and I got to the point I was sick of roast and never recovered. The Downton Abby recipe was actually pretty good though. It made an amazing gravy. I loved the Yorkshire puddings. Lots of gravy and bread...Yum.

My first Yorkshire pudding attempt

It's sad my husband's most treasured recipe was lost because his grandmother failed to share it before she died. She'll always be remembered for her amazing roast beef but that recipe will never be passed onto her great grandkids. My daughter won't be able to share tales of enjoying her great grandmother's roast beef cooked by her daddy. A simple recipe can live on for ages and ages. You don't have to write a book or star in movies to be remembered or famous. Sometimes writing down your recipes and sharing them with others can make your memory live on.