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 "Cooking for My Family:" Secrets from a Hoboken kitchen

by Carly

Tuesday July 01, 2008, 1:20 PM

Mangia, mangia! Loretta's family on New Year's Eve, 1949 in Hoboken.

How can you get your hands on some real "old-time" Hoboken recipes? Gravy, meatballs, steak pizzaiola and the like? A former Hoboken resident decided to honor her mother with a cookbook -- filled with classic Italian home cooking.

Loretta Pasculli Lawrence is the author of Cooking For My Family, From Catherine Pasculli's Hoboken Kitchern.  "Cooking for My Family" was published in 1999, but this new second edition was released in May of this year -- "completely updated with more recipes and even more memories," says Loretta.

"I decided to write the book after my Mom (Catherine Pasculli) died," said Loretta. "She was the glue in our family with a gentle heart and a great sense of humor. She was also a great cook. She is my inspiration and I wanted to write the book so she would be remembered not only by my family but by anyone who will read my book."

"About 85% of the recipes are all from my Mother's kitchen table from Hoboken in the 1940's," she says.

Loretta was born and raised in Hoboken -- in a a 5-room apartment on Willow Avenue -- but she has since moved to Myrtle Beach, SC, where she works as a chef at a private Italian American Club.

"Cooking for My Family: From Catherine Pasculli's Hoboken Kitchen"

But she remembers well the "old" days of Hoboken.

"Everyone we knew lived in town. We had lots of uncles, aunts and cousins between Mom and Dad, and I'm pretty sure we had an Italian representative on every block," recalls Loretta. "I am very proud of my Italian heritage and it is my wish that you enjoy 'Cooking For My Family' as much as my Mom loved cooking for her family."

When Loretta lived in Hoboken, she said she enjoyed "the wonderful bakeries, fish markets, local vegetable markets, and delicious pastries." "I do miss Hoboken," she says. "Its quaint neighborhoods, the Italian Feast, the quality of the delis, bakeries, local market, etc."

Loretta's mother, Catherine Pasculli, at age 16 standing in front of 216 Grand Street, where she lived with her grandparents.

What's one of her favorite Hoboken food memories?

"I remember Sunday mornings the most when Mom would start the 'gravy' as we called it," writes Loretta. "Sunday was a day of rest for everyone but Mom. I could smell that gravy from my bedroom. It was like an alarm clock. I was out of bed in two minutes flat and by the third minute, I'd already had a meatball and was looking for a chunk of bread to dunk in the gravy."

Want to know how to make that 'gravy'? That recipe and many more go to www.amazon.com and search for "Cooking For My Family"

Cecil Chandler of News 13 in Myrtle Beach at my home in January 2010 filming a 3 minute segment on Channel 13.  I made Zuppa de Pesche for the show, and fed 12 for dinner that night.