The Lost Recipe

When I was a child, my extended family gathered at my grandmother's home for holiday meals.  Granny spent days preparing for such occasions and her table groaned from the weight of heaping bowls of green beans, creamed corn, buttered carrots and peas, platters of fried chicken, ham and deviled eggs.  Gravy simmered on the stove, an array of cakes and pies lined the side counter and her fluffy biscuits, pulled from the oven as guests arrived, wafted aroma throughout the house.  Family members enjoyed Granny's potatoes, either mashed or stirred in a salad mix, but the hands-down favorite potato dish was something she called "soupy potatoes."

Preparing Field for Potato Planting

If comfort food could be defined by a single dish, it would have to be Granny's soupy potatoes.  Slices of creamy potato, thick, rich broth, seasoned with salt and buttery goodness.  When Granny gave me her recipe collection, shortly before her death, in 1986, I did not think to see if it included favorite dishes.  By the time I wished to try a hand at recreating taste memories, it was too late to ask for the soupy potato or sausage cream gravy recipes.  Granny often made these and probably never consulted a written recipe, relying on memory, texture and taste for consistent results.  Several times, I attempted to make both, with disappointing results and resolved myself to the fact that the recipes were lost.  And then, a recent visit with a relative yielded a surprising gift . . .

Soupy Potatoes Make Rich Broth

My cousin, Ruth, an heirloom seed saver and unofficial family historian, welcomed me to her home and asked if I would like to see her personal recipe collection.  As someone who should be enrolled in a twelve-step program to combat a cookbook addiction,  I jumped at the opportunity and whipped out my phone to snap photos of delicious looking recipes, recorded in Ruth's handwriting.  Turning pages of cake, casserole and pie recipes, my hands began to shake when I read the words, "Soupy Potatoes."  Quickly, I scanned the four ingredients: Potatoes, Water, Salt, Butter.  No cream?  Could it really be that simple?  Thanking Ruth for sharing a special gift, I looked forward to sharing Soupy Potatoes with my family.

Kate prepares potato "eyes" for planting

Last week, the soil at Heart & Sole Gardens was dry enough to turn and Richard and I, with help from our daughter, Kate, and her friend, Joe Kinchen, planted about 70 pounds of seed potatoes.  Although several years ago, our friend and his Belgium workhorse plowed potato rows for us, we now rely on a 1970s Ford tractor, a workhorse in its own right. 

Joe & Richard Clear Brush From Potato Field

After sunset, with darkness falling, we proudly surveyed four neat, 200 foot rows that, with optimal growing conditions, should produce around seven hundred pounds of tubers.  

Kate and Bob Plow, 2011

Kate with 2016 "workhorse"

Last night, I pulled a few potatoes we harvested in late fall from storage.  Brushing away sprouts, I scrubbed them clean, marveling at their firm texture and smooth skin.  After peeling and slicing, I followed Ruth's recipe for Soupy Potatoes.  

Cut Potatoes in Row

When Richard tasted the first bite, he breathed, "Comfort."  As we ate, he recalled elementary school cafeteria meals in Boone, back when workers actually cooked food for children.  I listened to my family's raucous laughter and chatter, a sound memory conjured by familiar taste, as I savored Soupy Potatoes.

Potatoes.  Water.  Salt.  Butter.  It really was that simple. 

*Note: For best results, avoid supermarket russets.  Those GMO spuds are waxy and lack the flavor of "real" potatoes.  If you do not grow your own, shop at local farmer's markets or make a friend who grows potatoes.   

Soupy Potatoes