 For example: potato salad. We make potato salad every time we have a
barbecue. It doesn't matter if the meat being barbecued is chicken,
steak, or hot dogs and hamburgers. If it's cooked on the grill, we
have potato salad.My only daughter likes to cook, thank goodness.
So the recipe that was passed down to me from my mother and her
mother before her will, hopefully, continue to be fussed over by the
newest generation.
My daughter is only 11 years old, but she does her best to learn
the skill of making potato salad because she knows that she can
never have a barbecue if she doesn't know how to make potato salad.
However, because of her age and inexperience, we need to
improvise on a few things. First, I have a special knife I use to
peel the potatoes. But my daughter needs to use a short-handled
knife. If she didn't, there would be too much handle on the end of
the knife, which would cause a lever action, and eventually the
knife would lever just enough to fall out of her little hands. Since
she has not gotten the hang of peeling over the table, the knife
would fall and embed itself into the floor… or worse, her foot. I'll
pass my special knife on to her when her fingers are longer and she
has mastered the art of coordination.
Spices are another story. While I just add spices
indiscriminately -- a little salt, a little pepper, etc. -- she will
hold the shaker and make stabbing motions at the salad -- once,
twice, three times -- and then look in the bowl to see if anything
has changed. I'm not sure what she's looking for, but she probably
saw a chef on TV do that once and thinks that's simply what you have
to do.
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 I ought to determine the exact measurements for the spices, but
that's not the tradition. The tradition is shake, stir, taste…
shake, stir, taste. You have to make a lot more salad than you
actually need because of all the tasting going on. My husband likes
to get in on that step. It's traditional.
Stirring is another challenge for my daughter. As with the knife
issue, physics plays an important role here as well. You must wield
a long-handled spoon as if you were stirring a witch's brew,
bringing the bottom of the salad to the top and the top of the salad
to the bottom. My daughter, however, insists on using the spoon like
a catapult. She'll push the spoon deep into the salad, and because
she isn't tall enough to stir to the top, she'll use the side of the
bowl for leverage. As a result, she showers my kitchen with potato
salad at least once a month. I have, inadvertently, been caught in
the strike zone once or twice. However, I've heard that mayonnaise
is good for your complexion.
We both enjoy the experience, so I don't think we'll need to
worry about the potato salad tradition dying out as long as my
daughter has a daughter some day.
Some traditions are founded by unintended events. So who knows?
Catapulting potato salad on Barbecue Day might become a new
tradition.
[By LAURA SNYDER]
Laura Snyder is a nationally syndicated columnist,
author and speaker. You can reach her at
lsnyder@lauraonlife.com
or visit www.lauraonlife.com
for more info. |
