Preface

Dedicated to the loving memory of my mother whose perseverance and talents gave me something to write about.

During her lifetime, my mother had filed away hundreds of recipes. She had our family heirloom recipes, orally passed down for generations, transcribed many times by daughters and maids. When I was growing up, I was tasked with reading aloud my mother’s recipes just before she cooked those dishes, so I knew the favourite versions that she referred to most often.