Recipe

Question:

   If you change a recipe so much the original owner of it doesn't recognize it, is the recipe still theirs or is it just inspiration?
    A few years ago a chef told me I am an old world cook.  Recipes are just suggestions.  I tend to open the cupboard doors and refrigerator and think, "hmmm....this might be good in there" and stir it in.   I've written down on napkins ingredients for an appetizer I had in a restaurant and then come home and replicate it.  A friend once asked, "how do you know how much to put in?" and I said, "you add it till you can taste it."  That's when the chef I was talking to said I was an old world cook.
    The other day I made a gingerbread cake.  The recipe didn't call for the golden raisins, orange peel, candied ginger, dates( all soaked in rum,) pecans and apricots I put into it, but I did.   

 Cranberries are showing up by the truckload in grocery stores and I love, love, love the tart little things.  While wandering around Pinterest one evening I found a recipe someone said was from her 95 year old Grandmother from Germany.  I love recipes from 95 year old little old ladies so I printed it out and today I made a double batch.  Some for Thanksgiving and some for us.

    I changed it mightily.  She said to cut the cranberries in half.  Really?  I asked PH if he thought this was something he could see me do, "can you see me cutting all of these little buggers in half?"  He said no.  I dumped them in the pan with the orange peel, the cut up oranges, the water and almost a cup of raisins.   I've found that if you use golden raisins you might be able to hide them better in things you make for people who would rather die than eat a raisin.  I've hidden golden raisins in oatmeal cookies and they never knew.  Golden raisins give a chewy texture without the raisin taste.
     So.  Her recipe calls for 2 1/2 cups of sugar for a bag of cranberries.  Well.  That's not going to happen, either.  I want the tart, not the sweet. I want to taste the berry not the sugar.  So for one batch I used 1/2 cup sugar and it's just right.  There's enough sweet to be there but the tart is perfect.

Here's the original recipe:

4 cups fresh or frozen cranberries, halved. 
1 tablespoon grated orange zest
2 oranges peeled, sliced, chopped
1 cup raisins
1 1/4 cup water
1 cup chopped pecans
2 1/2 cups sugar
     Cook the berries, zest, oranges, raisins, water till the cranberries are soft.  Add the sugar and pecans and simmer for 10-15 minutes.   Cool. Store.

OK,  here's what I did:
 
4 cups fresh berries,
the zest of a large orange
2 oranges peeled and ground up in my mini-food processor
1 cup raisins
1 1/4 cup water
no pecans
1/2 cup sugar  (yes, just one half cup)
     Cooked per instructions.

For the second batch I didn't add raisins but did add the 1/2 cup sugar so the total for the double batch was 1 cup sugar.  I combined the two cooked batches in a bowl so there are some  raisins not a lot of them.
No pecans because nobody would eat it on Thanksgiving if there are nuts in it. Nobody but me.

So, I think 95 year old grandmother's recipe was inspiration.   My moms is just as delicious but very different.  I love it!

My mom's cranberry relish:

Grind together in a hand cranked meat grinder (I use a food processor)
1 whole orange including the peel - just dump it in
1 whole apple
1 bag fresh cranberries
Done!  No cooking.