AARP Hearing Center
How to Make a Family Cookbook
Capture your family’s culinary memories for future generations
Family cookbooks can connect us across generations through nourishment and love.
Kate Wong
You can’t go back to your grandmother’s Sunday suppers. But the pot roast recipe she improvised? The exact way your great-uncle folded dumplings? Those don’t have to vanish with time — not if you gather those details in one place.
“A family cookbook is a time machine,” says chef and TV host Pati Jinich, author of the workbook How to Write a Cookbook. “It’s a way to cook alongside people who are no longer here, to feed future grandchildren the same food that fed you. It connects us across generations through nourishment and love.”
But those memories won’t last on their own. Here’s how to preserve them before it’s too late.
More Ways to Benefit
- Related Benefit 1
- Related Benefit 2
- Related Benefit 3
- Related Benefit 4
- Related Benefit 5
Start with your favorites
Begin with five family dishes you love. Include the ones you actually make, plus any treasured handwritten cards from parents, grandparents or other relatives.
“Just make a list of recipe names — dishes that bring back memories, that you’d be heartbroken to lose,” Jinich says. If you’d like input from other family members, ask them to send any stories they remember about the dish and set a deadline. That list becomes your roadmap, says Jinich.
The “pinch of this” cure
Your Aunt Hannah cooked by taste, feel and decades of muscle memory. But how do you translate her “glug of oil” or “knob of butter”?
If your family cook is still around, join them in the kitchen. Bring measuring spoons. When they add “a splash,” you measure it. “Take notes on timing, sounds, smells,” Jinich says, “and record them talking — not just about the recipe but about who taught them and when they made it. Those stories are as precious as the recipes.”
If they’ve passed, talk to family members who watched them cook and compare notes.
Mine your own memories
Look for old photographs of holiday tables or birthday dinners — sometimes you can spot dishes you’ve forgotten. Searching online for similar recipes can help, too. “And don’t be afraid to experiment in your kitchen, re-creating what you remember. It might not be exactly what the original chef created, but it will carry their essence,” says Jinich.
If a recipe feels incomplete, Jinich recommends using it as a starting point. Test it in the kitchen and fill in any gaps along the way. “Call a cousin who might remember the missing details. This detective work is part of the process and often leads to wonderful conversations and discoveries,” she says.
From loose papers to legacy
Group recipes into natural categories — by course, by family branch, by occasion (holidays, weeknights, “rainy day baking”). “You don’t have to include everything,” Jinich says. “Choose the recipes that really matter, that tell your family’s story.”
Fold in old family photos, pictures of the dishes, and snapshots of the gravy-stained recipe cards. Phone photos are fine.
Self-publishing sites like Blurb, Shutterfly or Mixbook make printing a book easy, or you can keep it simple with a three-ring binder. Don’t let perfection stop you. “Typed recipes in plastic sleeves, organized with dividers and family photos, is a beautiful family cookbook that you can copy at any print shop,” says Jinich. “The format matters less than doing it. A recipe on an index card tucked into an envelope for your grandchild is a family cookbook.”
A fave Jinich family recipe: sopa de letras (alphabet soup)
“My mom used to make this soup for me and my three older sisters when we were growing up in Mexico City. I’ve made it for my boys since they were little — they adore it. For me, it tastes like home, and I think for them it’s the same.” — Pati Jinich
Serves 6 | About 25 minutes
Ingredients:
- 1½ pounds fresh ripe tomatoes, quartered (or whole canned tomatoes, drained)
- 1 garlic clove, peeled
- ¼ cup coarsely chopped white onion
- 1 cup water
- 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 2 cups alphabet-shaped pasta (or any small pasta)
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt, or to taste
- 8 cups chicken or vegetable broth
To prepare:
1. Blend the tomatoes, garlic, onion, and water until smooth.
2. Heat the oil in a large soup pot over medium-high heat. Add the pasta and stir continuously until it turns golden and smells toasty (not burnt!) — about 2 to 3 minutes.
3. Pour the tomato purée over the pasta, add the salt, stir and partially cover. Let it cook and thicken for about 6 minutes, stirring often, until it becomes a deeper red.
4. Pour in the broth, stir, bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for about 10 minutes. Taste for seasoning and serve.
Go to patijinich.com/recipes for more dishes from Jinich.
AARP Membership
Join AARP for only $15 per year with automatic renewal. Get instant access to members-only products and hundreds of benefits, a free second membership, and a subscription to AARP The Magazine.
You Might Also Like
AARP's Smart Guide to Genealogy
29 tips to help you discover your roots and leave a lasting family legacy
Resurrecting Family History Through Photos
'Throwback Thursday' piqued the interest of a new generation
AARP Smart Guide to Decluttering
39 strategies on how to donate, ditch and downsize the things filling up your home