[Gemme]

Superstitions in general remind me of a tale I once heard about a recipe for roast that had been passed down for several generations. It was a fantastic recipe and everyone always loved the results, so each generation was careful to follow each step to the letter. Part of the recipe called for cutting a chunk off the butt end of the roast and discarding or saving to use at some other time. For years and years, no one in the family could figure out why until someone found a diary belonging to the matriarch first believed to have devised the recipe. Here is a sample of her diary entry:

...had to cut the roast off on one side....my pan is not large enough to accomodate such a large piece of meat....