ancestors' recipes

[skippercollector]

My grandmother, who was born about 1900 and died in the late 70s, had an unusual cookie recipe called Chocolate Bran. After she died, my sister found her hand-written recipe and over the years she has tried to make the cookies, but they never taste right. There is the possibility that, since the ingredients have been changed over time (such as the way Crisco was made in the first half of the 20th century compared to the second half), that may have been a factor in the different taste. But my sister is convinced that there is an ingredient missing from the hand-written recipe, and she thinks my grandmother omitted mentioning it deliberately.
Do you have any family recipes that "don't taste right" when you try to make them? Do you think there were secret ingredients that died with the person who created the recipes?

[RiponredTJ]

You are a genious for posting this because it is so true!

In my case it's my mom's recipes I can't quite replicate. Every time I ask any culinary questions she gets all coy and changes the topic

[HiHood]

My mother in the kitchen never had any "amount". She would put in about "this much" here and a "pinch" of this and a "tab" of that. This may be the reason of the change in flavor. She may have written it down to get the basics but over the yrs., changed it with a little more of this and a tab more of that while omitting all together the pinch of this.

[Austin]

I cook. I have basic recipes written down, but I modify everything slightly and never make note. Just a habit, it's not intentional.

[RiponredTJ]

The only way to cook is to improvise imo.
Recipes are just guidelines for great meals.
I ad lib like crazy when I get going in the kitchen.
Especially when I'm trying to replicate one of my mom's ancient recipes.