“My MIL is currently giving me the silent treatment because I won’t share a ‘family recipe…'”
I’ll die if I don’t share this…three years ago I was supposed to cook for my wife’s birthday and I completely torched the main dish. In a total panic, I drove to this Italian deli two towns over, bought two massive trays of lasagna, scraped the cheese on top so it looked messy/homemade, and hid the foil containers in the outside trash.
It was a hit. Like, they wouldn’t shut up about it. Best thing they ever ate. Now I am the Lasagna Guy. Every birthday, every holiday. I have to drive 40 minutes, smuggle this stuff into the house in a gym bag, and transfer it to my own Pyrex dishes while my wife is in the shower.
The issue is my MIL asked for the recipe last week for her church potluck. I didn’t know what to do so I told her I promised my late grandmother on her deathbed that I wouldn’t write it down. She called me selfish and is actually pissed off at me. I feel like a total fraud but I can’t tell her the “secret ingredient” is $80 and a guy named Sal.
Here’s what people had to say to OP:
dragonstkdgirl said:
Give her a random lasagna recipe and express disappointment when it never turns out the same
thebrokenteacher said:
You’re in too deep ! You can do 1 of 2 things: 1) Tell your MIL you won’t give her the recipe, but you’ll “make” one for her. 2) Let your MIL in on the secret (assuming you love her). It can be your little secret with each other!
jryan727 said:
This is hilarious. If you’re looking for a way through this mess: Tell her that you can’t reveal the recipe because of the promise you made to your grandmother, but she told one other person, Sal, and he makes it at this deli two towns over. “Maybe he could give you the recipe or you could buy it from him.”
Also maybe mention that grandma likely swore him to secrecy too, so if you ask him about the origin of the recipe, he will completely deny it, but one taste and you’ll know it’s grandma’s!
porcelina-g said:
In my family, I’m known for my lemon cookies that I pack nicely into tins at Christmas time so everybody can go home with some. They are my “World Famous Lemon Cookies,” and I am untouchable on Christmas Eve Night, receiving many congratulations for how good they are this year. Store-bought sugar cookie mix and zest from one lemon- but I’ll never tell. Just go with it.
VocePoetica said:
Give her a recipe where you roll out the pasta by hand. Like every single ingredient is home made. Make it sourdough pasta sheets. The sauce is made from heirloom tomatoes from a specific region of Italy with home grown basil and wine that’s also from a specific Italian village.
The mozzarella is made and hand stretched out of raw milk from a local dairy. You do the pasteurization yourself because it denature the protein if it’s heated too high. Lmao.
Or you could fess up and sheepishly let her know the whole you dug for yourself. Apologizing sincerely might make for a good memory with you two. I don’t know your MIL though….
mizz_quoted said:
My mom made it a mission to always make homemade everything. We were going to my step-sister’s house for Thanksgiving dinner and she called my mom the day before and asked her to bring 2 pies, apple and pumpkin. My mom started crying because it was kinda late for her to get her crust perfect. She was already making a couple of sides they asked for. (Potato salad and Polish noodles)
I told her I’d be there shortly.I stopped and bought some nice frozen pies from the local restaurant distribution place (thanks Gordon’s) and walked in with them. She wanted to know WTF did I bring those for?
I popped them out of the tin pans and into her special pie dishes she used and her mouth dropped open. They raved about her pies and after that, they asked her to bring them every year.
RythmicBleating said:
You can bring the MIL into the scheme, but she has to be guilty first. Tell her you can’t write the recipe down, but you can show her how to make it. Bring the lasagna to her before the potluck, and say you’ll tell her the secret if she tells everyone you two made it together.
After the potluck, give her the receipt from Sal. She can either admit to being a liar in front of everyone, or she can deliver amazing lasagna at her next party, her choice. Either way you need to start getting some kickbacks from Sal.
