Family Lore, Family Recipe

For supper tonight I made ‘dipdip’ noodles for a side dish, basically just macaroni made with tomato sauce; ‘dipdips’ is our family name. I’ve been avoiding pasta rather regularly for my diet, but as there was a cup of it left over and everyone had had their fill, I decided I might indulge. Besides, it’s not at its best when eaten after saved by refrigeration. I remarked to my sister that I was a little trepidatious about it; it would be a shame if thanks to my medication my taste had changed, and I no longer enjoyed the dish named after me. She showed some surprise. She thought that I had only named the dish, not that it was named after me. That surprised me, but then she only came on the scene when it had long been established in family lore.

And thereby hangs a tale, of sorts. It has nothing to do with dip of the chip dunking variety. When I was very small, my nicknames abounded. One I remember that Mom was very fond of was ‘Bee Wee Bottow’, mimicking how I (BB), as a toddler, would ask for a bottle. But all the ‘B’s in my name also got me ‘Bippity Boppity Boo’ (Bibbidi Bobbidi Boo) from an old Disney record, or ‘Bippity’ or even somehow ‘Bip-Bip-a-Dip’. Because tomato sauce noodles was one of my favorite dishes, they were called ‘Bip Bip’ noodles, which morphed to ‘Dip Dip’ noodles or even just ‘dips’ in time.

The classic form of ‘dips’ is made with macaroni noodles, though egg noodles or shells are an acceptable variation. A dash of parmesan cheese is a good addition, and there is even a named variant, ‘dips with woost’ (Worchestershire sauce) which is how many of the family like to eat them to this day.

The recipe makes one of the simplest and most savory of comfort foods (of our family). For every one cup of elbow macaroni (dry) you add one 8 ounce can of tomato sauce. For a ‘lighter’ version you can use one 8 ounce can to two cups of macaroni. After you’ve cooked the macaroni, you drain, put it back in the pot, and add a couple of tablespoons of butter. Stir, and when the butter’s melted you add the sauce, then salt and pepper to taste. Thus is the alchemy performed.

There was a rather unpleasant variant that happened in our childhood from time to time. This was macaroni made with a can of stewed tomatoes seasoned with pepper and salt. I remember picking out the seedy, stringy tomatoes with a shudder and moving them to the side of my plate. It has not been made again since I started cooking for the family. Canned tomatoes are acceptable but only in a spaghetti sauce or chili if added to actual tomato sauce, but not otherwise.