Having never met my grandfather, his recipe box, a gift from my father, has become one of my most cherished possessions. The recipes are older than I am, at least 40 years at the youngest, mostly handwritten and covered in grease, flour and wonderful mysterious patinas.

As I was taking inventory of my gift, my lovely wife had a brilliant idea, let’s turn this into a book. We’ll do every recipe in the box.

This was a simple plan, but like all great things, became quite complex in the execution.

For starters, none of Ed’s recipes have any instructions. At all. Anywhere. The closest he comes to a clue is vague references to how many portions each recipe makes. But that’s not a problem, that’s what learning is about right? Constantly repeating a recipe until it’s edible?

But we found ourselves asking more questions, such as what the hell is primex, and why is it only available in 20lb blocks? When making oatmeal cookies with 6lbs of cake flour, 7lbs of sugar, and 3lbs of shortening, exactly how big was the “box of oatmeal” he was adding?

Nonetheless, with a couple of countertop scales, some rather in-depth excel sheets and a great deal of patience, we’re working out way through the box. Stay tuned.