When is a recipe a family recipe?

When is a recipe a family recipe? Does someone in your family have to develop the recipe from scratch or can it be a recipe that is used a few times and then becomes a family favourite?

I’ve been involved in several conversations on this topic and my maths brain tells me that there has to be a finite (albeit large) number of recipe combinations so there are bound to be duplicates making it harder to credit the original originator of a recipe!

I believe that recipes evolve through sharing and experimentation. I have scraps of paper from family and friends glued into my recipe notebook including a very precious one dictated by my late Grandmother for her famous brown bread – once I figure out how much is in a ‘handful’ I’m sure it will work…..

I have a ‘to try’ box filled with recipes cut from magazines and papers that I want to try …..someday

I have a vast collection of cookbooks that I love to cook from – but more often than not I’ll change something as I’m going along.

Don’t you hate it if you ask somebody for a recipe and they refuse to share it as it’s a ‘family secret’?

I make a lot of Chocolate Roulades – in fact it’s one of my main desserts. I love making a mini version to go on a mixed dessert plate. I was given the recipe by the lady who owned the catering company I used to work for. I changed the quantities slightly to make it work in a bigger tin., and added the brandy! Years later I came across practically the same recipe in one of the Avoca books – so does the recipe belong to the person who first gave me the recipe, to the author or to me ???

I hate to think of myself as possessive so I’m more than willing to share this wonderful recipe, whoever it actually ‘owns’ it. I hope you like it.

What you need:

6 large eggs, separated
6 oz/175g dark chocolate
6 oz/175g caster sugar
3 fl oz/ 75 ml brandy
½ pt /300ml cream, whipped

What you do:

Melt the chocolate with the brandy, either slowly in the microwave or in a bowl over a saucepan of simmering water.
Whisk the egg yolks and sugar together until you get to the ‘ribbon stage’ – you really need an electric whisk for this unless you have really strong arms!
Fold in the melted chocolate into the egg mix. Then in a clean bowl whisk the egg whites until stiff (the egg whites not your arms!)
Using a metal spoon fold the egg white in stages into the chocolate mix. Then pour into a lined large Swiss roll tin
Bake at 180 C/Gas 4 for 12-15 minutes, until firm to touch.

This is the important bit – cover with a damp towel and leave to cool completely
Dust the top of roulade with icing sugar and invert onto parchment paper.