Good to the last drop

I was finishing off the last of the ketchup in the bottle and rinsing it out when a sweet memory was activated...a memory of Mom and her barbecued beef sandwiches.

You see, coaxing the dregs of the ketchup is properly done by adding a little warm water and shaking the bottle vigorously for a few seconds. What remains is then used to make the sauce for barbecued beef sandwiches.

The recipe is one of Granny's best, used often for family reunions and picnics to Lagoon. The beef is shredded and mixed with the sauce. The only thing else you need is a package of hamburger buns.

You're gonna want the recipe. I don't know it. I know there was ketchup, some mustard, and vinegar. It was prepared in a saucepan. The beef was sacrificed from the Sunday pot roast and cooked separately. It all came together at the end in the saucepan. That's all I remember.

As for other bottles, Granny would often have a bottle of Baby Magic turned upside down for weeks, sitting on the shelf in the bathroom. She could coax every drop out of the bottle if given enough time. An orphan who spent her teen years in the Depression, she knew how to conserve. Al Gore's got nothing on her.