An old recipe is a set of instructions from someone who wanted you fed long after they were gone.

Instructions are a strange sort of care. Somebody writing down how they make a dish is arranging for people they may never meet to be fed properly, which is about as practical as affection gets. The paper itself is not sentimental. The intention behind it was.

Make one old family recipe exactly as written this month and notice whose hands you are following. Write out your own version of something while you are there. You are leaving instructions for somebody whether or not you planned to.