Happy Mother’s Day! To Celebrate: Weekend Recipe Collective Starts Now

Sunday, May 11, 2008 by Julie Cancio Harper.

For years I’ve been concerned that the many fantastic family recipes I grew up with were getting lost as the older generations aged and passed away. Life and work have taken me far afield from my home and family. I want familiar, nostalgic foods to continue providing a sense of togetherness and comfort when I cook at home. And another bonus is that it gives us an opportunity to all be in better touch in the present.

As I planned my wedding last year, I thought a lot about how families evolve and grow and how food has played such an important part in the celebrations we’ve shared. And I decided that someone should create an heirloom cookbook for all of us to enjoy. I still intend to do just that, but in the middle of planning a wedding I wasn’t able to get sufficiently organized to request recipes and follow up. (The truth is out: I am not Wonder Woman.)

I’ve not given up on the idea. To guarantee I make some good progress building my recipe collection soon, I am starting a new feature here at Learning To Eat. I’m calling it the “Weekend Recipe Collective.” Each weekend I will post one recipe received from a friend or relative. I will include a story about why the recipe is special and if there are photos available, I’ll post those as well.

We’ll start with a favorite from my father’s side of the family because it was the first ancestral recipe I received.

My grandmother, Lois Cancio, was the switchboard that kept our extended family informed of all our mutual news no matter where we all scattered to geographically. In her retirement, as I knew her, she loved to read books, write short stories and poetry, and eat and cook good food. She made homemade ice cream and cooked with wine, and from the perspective I had as a ten-year-old, that was all a person needed to do to be considered a gourmet.

In 1994, my cousin Eli and I graduated from high school and my grandmother had us over for dinner to celebrate that milestone. It was in the summer, before Eli left for the Navy and I left for college. She asked if I had any special dinner request, and since it had been my dad’s favorite, I asked for her deviled steak.

Lois Cancio’s Deviled Round Steak

Submitted by: Edward “Steve” Cancio, my dad

“This is one of my favorite recipes that my mother made. Before she moved to Virginia in the mid-1990’s, I asked her if she would write it down for me. She did, on the spot and from memory.”

1 1/2 lb. round steak
all-purpose flour
1 onion, minced
1 garlic clove, minced
3 Tbsp. oil
2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
dash of cayenne pepper
1 tsp. prepared mustard
1 tsp. vinegar
1/2 c. tomato sauce
1 1/2 c. hot water

Cut steak into strips across the grain. Roll in flour. Brown meat, onion and garlic in hot fat. Stir in 2 tablespoons flour and the seasonings. Add remaining ingredients. Cover and simmer for 1 hour, or until meat is tender. Serve with rice, noodles or mashed potatoes.

Serves 4.

I’m fortunate that my father asked for the recipe before my grandmother died in 1996. And I’m double-lucky to have a scan of the recipe in her own handwriting. Just click the small pics below to see the full-size recipe card, front and back.

Posted in recipes, weekend recipe collective, youngstown, cooking, celebration, enthusiasms | 5 Comments »