a 'stolen' family recipe?
When I think of my Grandma Susan’s kitchen, the first food that pops into mind is her garlic bread. This is her iconic dish: she makes it for basically every dinner involving some sort of Italian food. Considering the fact that her family is from Poland and Russia, not Italy, I never really thought about why she had this recipe, or why it has amassed such a cult following in our family.
So on Sunday night, as my mom was preparing a loaf of garlic bread to have with our baked ziti, I decided to seize the opportunity to delve into the history of the famous garlic bread. Little did I know that such a simple recipe could contain so many stories.
First, I called my grandma, who knew exactly where she got the recipe from. It turns out that it is the recipe from a restaurant called Sabatino’s in Baltimore, Maryland, where my grandparents lived and my mother grew up. Sabatino’s was an Italian restaurant located in Little Italy, where they would go to on a regular basis, primary to get the garlic bread. The appeal of the bread was that it was two-sided — meaning that each slice of bread was buttered on the top and bottom and drenched in garlic and cheese on both sides. According to my grandmother, one day while eating at the restaurant, she casually asked the waitress if she could have the recipe. The waitress gave her their “secret recipe” without any hesitation.
After hearing this, I was more than a bit confused. Restaurants hardly ever give recipes from their menus to random customers, so why on earth would my grandma have succeeded in getting it? Furthermore, Grandma Susan has been known to make up or embellish her stories, giving me even more hesitation to deem this the truth.
So, I went to my mom, who confirmed everything that my grandma had told me. And it turns out that the bread and Sabatino’s has an even greater significance. Since they loved the restaurant so much, my parents held their rehearsal dinner before their wedding at Sabatino’s, with two-sided garlic bread provided to all of the guests. The recipe that I always thought that my grandma had made, or was passed down through the generations, actually turns out to be “stolen” from an established restaurant. I honestly didn’t know how to react–here I was, an innocent child, planning on spreading the story of my favorite side dish, and BAM! All of a sudden it wasn’t even our recipe to begin with!
The garlic bread has been prepared. Now it’s time to bake it in the oven!
However, this dish will always remind me of Grandma Susan, of the endless dinners watching her prepare the bread, and of when l started helping her make the bread. This was the first recipe that I ever knew how to cook on my own, and I would always show off to our family when Grandma was preparing it. She would let me stand on a chair, add the garlic and the cheese to the melted butter (probably way too much, but my family ate it with smiles on their faces), and paint the mixture onto the bread. I felt so grown-up by helping with the cooking, and some of my fondest memories with my grandma come from helping her with the bread.
My mom has also adopted the recipe to suit our family’s needs. Whenever we need to feed large groups of people, we make garlic knots, using the same steps and ingredients but instead of using a baguette, we use pizza dough rolled into balls. These knots became an instant favorite at our cross country team’s team spaghetti dinners, with requests made to cook them every year. We have also extended the recipe to foods such as homemade croutons, because let’s face it, what isn’t better with a lot of butter, garlic, and cheese?
Although the recipe didn’t have the history that I was expecting, I still find it fascinating all the same. The favorite restaurant of my grandparents many years ago has shaped the lives of them, my parents, and me… binding us together in a way that only a good recipe can. Whether it’s the allure of the two-sided butter or the prospect of cooking with grandma, I am still drawn to the garlic bread. It will always be one of my very favorite foods, and I will make sure that the “secret” of making the bread continues through the generations.
So on Sunday night, as my mom was preparing a loaf of garlic bread to have with our baked ziti, I decided to seize the opportunity to delve into the history of the famous garlic bread. Little did I know that such a simple recipe could contain so many stories.
First, I called my grandma, who knew exactly where she got the recipe from. It turns out that it is the recipe from a restaurant called Sabatino’s in Baltimore, Maryland, where my grandparents lived and my mother grew up. Sabatino’s was an Italian restaurant located in Little Italy, where they would go to on a regular basis, primary to get the garlic bread. The appeal of the bread was that it was two-sided — meaning that each slice of bread was buttered on the top and bottom and drenched in garlic and cheese on both sides. According to my grandmother, one day while eating at the restaurant, she casually asked the waitress if she could have the recipe. The waitress gave her their “secret recipe” without any hesitation.
After hearing this, I was more than a bit confused. Restaurants hardly ever give recipes from their menus to random customers, so why on earth would my grandma have succeeded in getting it? Furthermore, Grandma Susan has been known to make up or embellish her stories, giving me even more hesitation to deem this the truth.
So, I went to my mom, who confirmed everything that my grandma had told me. And it turns out that the bread and Sabatino’s has an even greater significance. Since they loved the restaurant so much, my parents held their rehearsal dinner before their wedding at Sabatino’s, with two-sided garlic bread provided to all of the guests. The recipe that I always thought that my grandma had made, or was passed down through the generations, actually turns out to be “stolen” from an established restaurant. I honestly didn’t know how to react–here I was, an innocent child, planning on spreading the story of my favorite side dish, and BAM! All of a sudden it wasn’t even our recipe to begin with!
The garlic bread has been prepared. Now it’s time to bake it in the oven!
However, this dish will always remind me of Grandma Susan, of the endless dinners watching her prepare the bread, and of when l started helping her make the bread. This was the first recipe that I ever knew how to cook on my own, and I would always show off to our family when Grandma was preparing it. She would let me stand on a chair, add the garlic and the cheese to the melted butter (probably way too much, but my family ate it with smiles on their faces), and paint the mixture onto the bread. I felt so grown-up by helping with the cooking, and some of my fondest memories with my grandma come from helping her with the bread.
My mom has also adopted the recipe to suit our family’s needs. Whenever we need to feed large groups of people, we make garlic knots, using the same steps and ingredients but instead of using a baguette, we use pizza dough rolled into balls. These knots became an instant favorite at our cross country team’s team spaghetti dinners, with requests made to cook them every year. We have also extended the recipe to foods such as homemade croutons, because let’s face it, what isn’t better with a lot of butter, garlic, and cheese?
Although the recipe didn’t have the history that I was expecting, I still find it fascinating all the same. The favorite restaurant of my grandparents many years ago has shaped the lives of them, my parents, and me… binding us together in a way that only a good recipe can. Whether it’s the allure of the two-sided butter or the prospect of cooking with grandma, I am still drawn to the garlic bread. It will always be one of my very favorite foods, and I will make sure that the “secret” of making the bread continues through the generations.