Born and raised in the Naxera area of Gloucester, Mary Elizabeth Setterholm is not cooking as much as she once did; but when it comes to church or social gatherings, when friends or grandchildren come for a visit, Mary Elizabeth is back in her kitchen cooking her time-tested recipes.

Mary Elizabeth says she learned to cook from her mother: “I remember her beating her cake mixtures by hand.” She adds, “My husband Robert, who has passed away, gave me a lot of tips on cooking. He was a great cook. We did a lot of cooking together. My grandson, Robert Henry Hamlin, is a very good cook. He cooks at my house when visiting. We were in hopes he would become a chef.”

Mary Elizabeth is a cook who doesn’t mind changing a recipe until she gets it just right tor her taste, uses her own techniques, cooks everything from scratch, and has created some new ones. She admits, “Most of the time I don’t measure, just going by memory.” But she does have on...