Jeff Houck

The Tampa Tribune’s food writer since 2005, Jeff Houck covers the way people live through their food. He also hosts the Table Conversations food podcast and believes that everything crunchy is good.

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‘I Hope They Never Give It To Her’ [We Play Hard Here In Recipe Land]

Posted Jul 20, 2010 by Jeff Houck

Updated Jul 20, 2010 at 05:14 PM

Each week, I have the pleasure of writing the Recipes Lost & Found column.

The premise is born of a time when newspapers were the conduit in the community between cooks who were looking for recipes they wanted and cooks who had recipes they collected and wanted to share.

Most times the recipes have something to do with an emotional moment. It’s not about cooking the dishes as much as it is recreating a flavor they enjoyed at a happy time. I’ve said it before: recipe exchanges were a social medium before social media became cool. It’s the one place other than the opinion page where readers get to interact regularly with the paper. As such, it’s my favorite thing to write for the newspaper.

Last weekend’s column, for example, had a sampling of requests:

Yvonne Harden remembers the Lions Paws served at the original Proud Lion Pub in Temple Terrace and topped with cheese and sauce.

Laurel Riffey of Tampa wants the minestrone soup from Carrabba’s Italian Grill.

Joe Wathen enjoys the chicken panang from Jasmine Thai in Brandon. He wants to make the recipe at home.

Sue Walker of Temple Terrace wants the recipe for Chicken a la Rosa served at Cafe Don Jose in Temple Terrace.

Alaine Gentner of Lithia wants to make the Lobster Bites appetizer from the now-closed Rock and Pineapple restaurant in south Brandon. She also wants a cream cheese hazelnut cookie made by the Jackson Cookie Co. on Lumsden Road in Brandon.

Danine Perdue of Weeki Wachee wants the barbecue sauce recipe used during the ‘60s at the former Henry’s Round Up restaurant on Hillsborough Avenue.

Bill Heatherington says he misses filled cookies and sunshine cake from the now-closed McIntyre’s Bakery in Pittsburgh.

People occasionally ask me why the column survives when there are so many great recipe sites online. The subtext of that question: Why do they need the newspaper when there are so many more authoritative sites available.

If I had to guess? It has something to do with knowing that you’re helping someone who lives next door. The Internet is great, but there’s something tangible about seeing your name in print helping someone else who lives on the other side of town.

Most of the replies I get these days come by e-mail. The story that doesn’t make it into the column: The sweet notations readers make when they send their recipes through the postal mail never cease to amaze me with their warmth.

I keep them on file until my drawer can’t hold them any longer. It’s like having friends in there.

How could I throw them away when they come on paper with lighthouses on them?

So many of them are kind enough to tell me how much they enjoy the column.

Others are more elaborately adorned:

What journalist gets angels on their letters? Not Steve Otto. And definitely not Joe Henderson.

I frequently receive the original recipe cards. Makes me wonder if they’ll ever make it again.

Many of then have cute return address labels.

These people are passionate about cooking. Why wouldn’t they be passionate about other causes?

Sometimes that passion, to borrow a cooking term, boils over.

The passion often comes in disguise.

For example, when I got this note card above in today’s mail, I expected a nice note full of good spirits. I didn’t even notice it didn’t have a return address. Or that it was unsigned.

Tender words weren’t exactly what it contained.

Remember that request from Sue Walker of Temple Terrace who wanted the recipe for Chicken a la Rosa served at Café Don Jose in Temple Terrace?

Apparently not everyone is pleased with that request.

The note reads:

Really look forward to your food section each week. Wish I knew how many recipes I have tried.

Starts out nice enough. Then it takes a left turn:

Am so tired of seeing Sue Walkers (sic) request for a recipe from Don Jose. Is this real or a fake or a way to stir interest in Don Jose?

Hmmm. A recipe conspiracy? Interesting. I like the idea of that, but I fear the reader has something more nefarious in mind.

The the note gets nasty:

Hope they never give it to her.

Ooooops. Wow. That seems a bit harsh. We’re all adults here, right? It’s just a recipe request, for crying out loud. Do we really want to start rooting against each other? The column is called “Recipes Lost & Found,” not “Recipes ... Go To Hell.”

Wait. The writer isn’t finished:

Thanks for letting me “vent.” Live near her and would never use my name.

Thanks again.

A loyal reader.

To recap: A dedicated recipes reader wishes ill against a neighbor and expresses it in a note card featuring an antique shoe filled with daisies.

Sounds like a recipe for an interesting neighborhood potluck.