Most family recipes are handed down by heart. They show the young ones how to make a dish, many times over the years and it sticks in their heads.
I bet that you could regenerate the recipe just by making it from fond memories................
I was in bed sick as a dog the year kiddo was a 4th grader. She made the entire feast from scratch by herself. She only asked me how much sage for the dressing and I mumbled, “more than you think” and had daddy pull the 20-something bird out of the oven for her. If a little kid can bake the pies the night before and put out the normal spread all on her own by noon, yeah, well, she learned well.
LOL, she admitted years later her trick for pie crusts is just to mix everything in the pie plate and mash it into shape. Less clean up.