New member with a strange question

[mamabear84]

I found an old members family cookbook and con not figure any of the measurement symbols. It has minuses and pluses. For example:
1-flour
+2 sugar
Things like that. I know she used to attend John Hopkins Cooking school. Could it have anything to do with that? Please help.

Thank You so much

 

[salt and pepper]

Sounds like, 1 part flour (say 1 cup) to 2 parts sugar(2 cups). Whats the recipe?

 

[mamabear84]

It is all over a cookbook my great great aunt put together.

 

[chopper]

Welcome mamabear. I don't know the answer to your question. Perhaps a member of your family has seen it and would know. (?)

 

[roadfix]

They're secretly coded recipes. The recipes are not meant to be shared.

 

[CWS4322]

I found an old members family cookbook and con not figure any of the measurement symbols. It has minuses and pluses. For example:
1-flour
+2 sugar
Things like that. I know she used to attend John Hopkins Cooking school. Could it have anything to do with that? Please help.

Thank You so much

Welcome, mamabear. I've been decoding my grandmother's cookbook. I was fortunate to learn to bake bread and a few other things from her before she died, so I am able to decipher most of the recipes, although she was a bit scant on the instructions. Knowing how she cooked, and having a bit more experience now than I did at 10, I can take a stab at the instructions.

Perhaps google books would have a copy of one of the school's cookbooks?

 

[Kylie1969]

Hello and welcome to DC

 

[mamabear84]

Thank You to everyone for the warm welcome. My grandmotherdidn't know what they meant and she had the book for years. I have tried searching google several times. It's not so much the recipes i charish but the fact that it is a beloved family members and it has lasted this long that I love. I just wish I could figure out.

 

[Claire]

I found an old members family cookbook and con not figure any of the measurement symbols. It has minuses and pluses. For example:
1-flour
+2 sugar
Things like that. I know she used to attend John Hopkins Cooking school. Could it have anything to do with that? Please help.

Thank You so much

I'd say that the flour is "a little less than a cup" and the sugar is a "little more than two tablespoons".

 

[luvs]

i'd agree with claire. my Pap often cooked in that manner-

or 'a dash of this, a mug of that. simmer for awhile. bake until cooked'.

 

[Zereh]

bake until cooked

Interesting trivia ~ in some cooking schools they don't rely on timers in order to teach students what "done" smells, feels, behaves and looks like (i.e. pulls away from the side of the pan, springs back when gently pushed, jiggles in the middle, tops are golden brown, etc.)


Mamabear, maybe if you could post one entire recipe with the funky symbols it would help with trying to decipher what they mean.

 

[luvs]

Interesting trivia ~ in some cooking schools they don't rely on timers in order to teach students what "done" smells, feels, behaves and looks like (i.e. pulls away from the side of the pan, springs back when gently pushed, jiggles in the middle, tops are golden brown, etc.)

that is how my cooking school was. timers were secondary & we abided by the aesthetics & that. temped poultry. roast.

 

[Lardeffect]

Can you post a whole recipe? Best one would be for something not obscure It will be much easier to decode.

I think cooking with timers is a little bit unreliable. You buy different meat and it behaves differently on the pan or in the oven each time. Cakes are more constant, but there is nothing better than a good cook's eye

 

[mamabear84]

ok here is a recipe
Old fashioned sour rye
6- water
-6 salt
-6 yeast
7 1/2 - sour
16 - 8 clear flour

here is one for rye bread
2-8 bread flour
2-8 rye flour
-2 salt
-2 sugar
-2 shortening
3- water
-4 yeast
Rye flavor

Good luck and than you

 

[Lardeffect]

I would bet it is cup - spoon
so
6- water is 6 cups water
16-8 clear flour is 16 cups 8 spoons
-2 sugar is 2 spoons sugar

at least with that the proportions stay correct

 

[Zereh]

dingdingding I bet we have a winner with the cups & spoons. =)

 

[Dawgluver]

dingdingding I bet we have a winner with the cups & spoons. =)

+1

 

[mamabear84]

maybe the -1 if 1 tsp while +1 is one tbsp? Thank you all for your help I will attempt a recipe next week with this new found theroy and let you know how it turns out. Thank You again.

 

[Lardeffect]

Can you post a recipe that includes both the + and - signs? Then we could be more sure

 

[Snip 13]

I would bet it is cup - spoon
so
6- water is 6 cups water
16-8 clear flour is 16 cups 8 spoons
-2 sugar is 2 spoons sugar

at least with that the proportions stay correct

This subject was bugging me big time. Went and searched google and this sounds just like what I found.

-2
-4 If written with the minus infront it was spoons and if written like this 16-8 it was 16 cups minus 8 spoons etc. Very confusing