# Mom's Best Meals



## Snip 13 (Apr 4, 2013)

So many of us have mentioned the meals that remind us of home so I thought it might be nice to have a thread dedicated to meals our mom's made/make 

What meal reminds you most of home? Your favourite meal your mom makes?

My mom is a very good cook but I think my favourite meal she makes has to be....
Her oxtail stew with loads of browned onion, baby carrots and whole portabella mushrooms  She cooks it slowly overnight till it's fall of the bone tender.
For pudding I would choose her Sous Kluitjies (Sweet tender dumplings cooked in cinnamon sugar syrup)


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## Aunt Bea (Apr 4, 2013)

My Mother was a fantastic cook and the things I remember most, of course, are the sweets.  Pineapple upside down cake, mile high coconut cake, applesauce cake, mile high lemon meringue pie, soft molasses cookies, pearl tapioca pudding and on and on and on.

The simple things that I miss are the pan fried bread dough coated with cinnamon and sugar, she called them bullets for some reason.  The second was a goulash made using home canned tomatoes elbow macaroni and ground beef.  I have tried for many years to duplicate that simple dish and it never tastes right.  The only thing I haven't tried is to run around the yard for several hours on a snowy winter day and then have a steaming bowl of it!


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## Snip 13 (Apr 4, 2013)

Aunt Bea said:


> My Mother was a fantastic cook and the things I remember most, of course, are the sweets. Pineapple upside down cake, mile high coconut cake, applesauce cake, mile high lemon meringue pie, soft molasses cookies, pearl tapioca pudding and on and on and on.
> 
> The simple things that I miss are the pan fried bread dough coated with cinnamon and sugar, she called them bullets for some reason. The second was a goulash made using home canned tomatoes elbow macaroni and ground beef. I have tried for many years to duplicate that simple dish and it never tastes right. The only thing I haven't tried is to run around the yard for several hours on a snowy winter day and then have a steaming bowl of it!


 
I've got all the recipes for the meals my mom makes that I loved as a child but it never tastes the same 
It's always good but not mom's!!

Have you got a recipe for the soft molasses cookies? They sound devine!
and the pearled tapioca pudding


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## Aunt Bea (Apr 4, 2013)

Snip, 

The large pearl tapioca is just a large non-instant type of tapioca that you soak overnight.  In some areas I have seen it called turtle tapioca.  The directions on the packet will do the job.  It is nice in the spring topped with a dollop of rhubarb sauce.

This is the link for the molasses cookies.  Before putting them in the oven it is nice to sprinkle them with a little granulated sugar or make an indentation in the center and drop in a teaspoon of jelly. 

Make em big and make em often! 

http://www.discusscooking.com/forums/f43/old-fashioned-molasses-cookies-78132.html


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## Snip 13 (Apr 4, 2013)

Aunt Bea said:


> Snip,
> 
> The large pearl tapioca is just a large non-instant type of tapioca that you soak overnight. In some areas I have seen it called turtle tapioca. The directions on the packet will do the job. It is nice in the spring topped with a dollop of rhubarb sauce.
> 
> ...


 
Yum! Those cookies sound great, my kids will love them  Thank you!


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## pacanis (Apr 4, 2013)

City chicken. Back then you didn't have a hard time finding them with pork AND veal. The gravy she made was out of this world, only using the water she boiled the potatoes in. Something I can only get close to using broth or stock.


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## Snip 13 (Apr 4, 2013)

pacanis said:


> City chicken. Back then you didn't have a hard time finding them with pork AND veal. The gravy she made was out of this world, only using the water she boiled the potatoes in. Something I can only get close to using broth or stock.


 
This sounds to yummy! Had to Google it  My kind of chicken dish "no chicken"!

My mom makes a sauce for her pumpkin fritters with cornstarch that I can never get right  Drives me nuts, I've given up!


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## CWS4322 (Apr 4, 2013)

My mom never enjoyed cooking...but she used to make a crab marinara sauce and serve it over pasta (the shells). That was really good. Her wild blueberry pies were always good, too. Which reminds me, while I'm visiting, maybe I'll make that.


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## GotGarlic (Apr 4, 2013)

My favorite dish growing up was my mom's fried chicken with rice and gravy made from the chicken drippings. She tossed the chicken pieces in flour seasoned with salt, pepper, paprika and poultry seasoning,  fried them, and used extra seasoned flour in the gravy, too.

I haven't made this in years because I rarely fry foods and it makes a huge mess. But it's delicious


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## Snip 13 (Apr 4, 2013)

GotGarlic said:


> My favorite dish growing up was my mom's fried chicken with rice and gravy made from the chicken drippings. She tossed the chicken pieces in flour seasoned with salt, pepper, paprika and poultry seasoning, fried them, and used extra seasoned flour in the gravy, too.
> 
> I haven't made this in years because I rarely fry foods and it makes a huge mess. But it's delicious


 
I don't fry foods at home because of the mess 
Oil splattered in my kitchen drives me crazy 

I used to love my mom's "homemade gravy" She told me a little while ago that it was instant brown onion Bisto! Total buzz kill


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## Andy M. (Apr 4, 2013)

I had never heard of city chicken until I saw it on DC a couple of years ago.  I guess it wasn't an East coast thing.

When I think of my mom's cooking, I think of her Armenian foods.  My parents emigrated from Armenia in the 1920s.  I grew up in a home where the food was mostly dishes my folks ate in the "old country".  We spoke Armenian as much as English.  

I don't think there is a single favorite.  It would be different based on my mood at the moment.  She did a great job of making lamejun (http://www.discusscooking.com/forums/members/1591-albums817-picture4208.jpg), a dish my daughter and I have made as well.  She also made a great meal of dolma and sarma.  Stuffed veggies, cabbage and grape leaves cooked in broth and topped with yogurt.  I'll have to get my sister to make some for me.


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## Snip 13 (Apr 4, 2013)

Yum! My stepmom makes a similar Greek Dish. Stuffed vine leaves, zucchini, potatoes and spinach leaves cooked in a tomato broth. Love it!

She also makes a boiled dumpling filled with 2 kinds of cheese, chopped mint and egg yolks cooked in chicken broth. I love those the most.
She said it's called Rafgiolis? Not sure how to spell it and I can't find a recipe for it anywhere!


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## buckytom (Apr 5, 2013)

there's just so many: pot roast, lob scaus, chicken parm, roast chicken and turkey, roast beef, london broil, beef and veggie soup, fried breaded fish, smelts,  pork chops - breaded or grilled, danish ham, meatloaf, crepes, omeletes, all kinds of sandwiches... i can't even think of them all right now.

suffice it to say as the last of 6 kids, my mom never cooked a bad meal imo. my eldest brother might disagree, but by the time i came around, she was a pro.

my bro ended up marrying a woman who always thought it was a chore to have to cook, and he never learned to cook either to be fair. their poor kids were raised on crappy takeout.

i took it upon myself to keep my mom's (later) standards up, and married a woman who felt the same about her mom. we are very blessed.


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## Snip 13 (Apr 5, 2013)

buckytom said:


> there's just so many: pot roast, lob scaus, chicken parm, roast chicken and turkey, roast beef, london broil, beef and veggie soup, fried breaded fish, smelts, pork chops - breaded or grilled, danish ham, meatloaf, crepes, omeletes, all kinds of sandwiches... i can't even think of them all right now.
> 
> suffice it to say as the last of 6 kids, my mom never cooked a bad meal imo. my eldest brother might disagree, but by the time i came around, she was a pro.
> 
> ...


 
What is Lob Scaus?


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## buckytom (Apr 5, 2013)

a norwegian/north sea version of hash made with leftover shredded meats and fishes, with onions and potatoes and pickles mixed in. it's served with an fried egg on top, and often smoked fish and bread on the side.


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## Snip 13 (Apr 5, 2013)

buckytom said:


> a norwegian/north sea version of hash made with leftover shredded meats and fishes, with onions and potatoes and pickles mixed in. it's served with an fried egg on top, and often smoked fish and bread on the side.


 
Damn! That sounds good


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## buckytom (Apr 5, 2013)

it is! 
and my mom's is the best. 

she used to take whatever leftover meats or fishes we had, shred them, mix in a little can of corned beef, add par boiled potatoes, chopped pickles, and butter sweated potatoes, and combine it all together into a big, tasty, rib-stickin' glop.


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## Snip 13 (Apr 5, 2013)

buckytom said:


> it is!
> and my mom's is the best.
> 
> she used to take whatever leftover meats or fishes we had, shred them, mix in a little can of corned beef, add par boiled potatoes, chopped pickles, and butter sweated potatoes, and combine it all together into a big, tasty, rib-stickin' glop.


 
 Now I want to try it! I tried looking for a recipe on Google but the ones I found don't sound the same. Does she use spices?


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## buckytom (Apr 5, 2013)

i don't think so. norwegians don't use a lot of spices, save maybe s&p. they like very white food. it matches the environment, lol.

but seriously, that's probably why she added a little can of corned beef hash. it added the salt and extra flavour to the otherwise bland shredded protein and fillers. smoked fish was also longstanding, and the bread was probably more like hard biscuits. we had day or three old pumpernickel or rye that was toasted solid.

this was peasant food meant to be served on board a ship out on a multi-day fishing trip in order to use up leftovers, 




or onshore before planning a raid of weak villages...


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## Snip 13 (Apr 5, 2013)

buckytom said:


> i don't think so. norwegians don't use a lot of spices, save maybe s&p. they like very white food. it matches the environment, lol.
> 
> but seriously, that's probably why she added a little can of corned beef hash. it added the salt and extra flavour to the otherwise bland shredded protein and fillers. smoked fish was also longstanding, and the bread was probably more like hard biscuits. we had day or three old pumpernickel or rye that was toasted solid.
> 
> ...


I'm sure the pickles and smoked fish and meat add plenty flavor 
I'm going to experiment a bit! Have to try this


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## TATTRAT (Apr 5, 2013)

Breakfast. Plain and simple. Some of my most "nostalgic" meals are a proper Swedish Pancake, or a buttery homemade waffle. Butter and powdered sugar with fresh sliced fruit, or some macerated berries. Simple and OH SO GOOD!

Now, don't get me wrong, mom made dinner every night I can remember, but breakfast, that was always something special as it wasn't often her schedule permitted being home on a weekend to cook it. As for her dinners, she never, to this day, has made a "bad meal", just some I enjoy more than others.


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## Snip 13 (Apr 5, 2013)

My kids love a good cooked breakfast too  I don't often have time to make it since they leave for school at 6 am. 
My mom was only home about 2 weeks of every month so my gran made most of our meals. She made the best breakfast. Even her porridge tasted better. She cooked it slowly for ages  I miss that!


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## buckytom (Apr 5, 2013)

i think having a good breakfast cooked for children is just slightly more important than having a family dinner together.

it sets a tone for the day which is so important once life's real troubles begin in life.

if you wake up happy, you have a chance. if you wake up crappy, you deserve what you get.


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## CWS4322 (Apr 5, 2013)

buckytom said:


> i don't think so. norwegians don't use a lot of spices, save maybe s&p. they like very white food. it matches the environment, lol.


Snip--we also call that "snow blindness." A Lutheran Church supper in Northern MN typically included many foods covered with white sauce or whipped cream (lutefisk, scalloped potatoes, orange jello with bananas on the bottom and a layer of whipped cream on top)...oh, the whiteness of a Lutheran Church supper spread...


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## MrsLMB (Apr 5, 2013)

My Mom wasn't a great cook but she had a way of convincing us kids that something was very good and very special.

Dad worked nights so it was my 2 sisters, Mom and me for dinners most evenings.

She made a tuna casserole that most would be grossed out by but to this day I love it and make it when I need a "comfort food."  She did make excellent liver and onions and convinced the 3 of us that it was very tasty .. still love liver and onions.  Then there were the toasted tomato sandwiches ... another good job convincing us it was tasty.  All cheap meals and still on my favorites list today.


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## Snip 13 (Apr 5, 2013)

MrsLMB said:


> My Mom wasn't a great cook but she had a way of convincing us kids that something was very good and very special.
> 
> Dad worked nights so it was my 2 sisters, Mom and me for dinners most evenings.
> 
> She made a tuna casserole that most would be grossed out by but to this day I love it and make it when I need a "comfort food." She did make excellent liver and onions and convinced the 3 of us that it was very tasty .. still love liver and onions. Then there were the toasted tomato sandwiches ... another good job convincing us it was tasty. All cheap meals and still on my favorites list today.


 
I love liver and onions! My mom only used lambs liver and made the most amazing gravy with the cooking juices 

Think I should make some liver and onions with mash over the weekend. You've got me drooling!


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## Aunt Bea (Apr 5, 2013)

Snip 13 said:


> I love liver and onions! My mom only used lambs liver and made the most amazing gravy with the cooking juices
> 
> Think I should make some liver and onions with mash over the weekend. You've got me drooling!



We had calves liver once a week with a few crispy rashers of bacon, fried onions and mashed.

We used to have a local saloon that had it on the menu but, they finally discontinued it.  

I think I will see if I can find some this weekend!

We can have a world wide liver fest!


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## Snip 13 (Apr 5, 2013)

Aunt Bea said:


> We had calves liver once a week with a few crispy rashers of bacon, fried onions and mashed.
> 
> We used to have a local saloon that had it on the menu but, they finally discontinued it.
> 
> ...


 
Count me in! I love liver  Chicken, beef or lamb!
You should try making skilpadtjies. I think you'll like them. I've got my recipe under my threads on my profile here.
It's minced liver and stuff wrapped in caul fat


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## pacanis (Apr 5, 2013)

I love calve's liver. My mother didn't do the whole liver & onions thing though. She simply floured it and cooked it in bacon grease. I couldn't even tell you what the sides were it was so long ago. Probably mashed potatoes and butter for me.


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## Cerise (Apr 5, 2013)

My Hungarian grandmother was a fantastic cook.  All her recipes were in her head, she never wrote anything down, & made everything from scratch.  She probably emigrated to the U.S. during the 20s, as well. She would tell me stories of how she dressed as a boy & travelled underground to escape from Hungary.  My mother worked full time & supported my brother & I, so dishes were usually quick, i.e. meatloaf, mashed potatoes and canned vegetables.  My grandmother always had all four burners going, & made feasts for the whole family on Sunday.  She even travelled on the Subway in New York with shopping bags filled with homemade food.  Some I remember, were her liver & potato knishes, stuffed cabbage, homemade chicken soup w/ matzo balls, chopped liver, & on and on.  My mother was very creative with what little she had.


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## Snip 13 (Apr 5, 2013)

I just love all those peasant style dishes and the meals made with what was available  Simple is always best!


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## Addie (Apr 5, 2013)

A lot of those dishes, that weren't from the old country, came out of the depression. 

For me, it was anything from the sea. She could make a complete meal with leftovers with what we kids found on the beach in the summer. We brought home clams, crabs, mussels, razor clams, and even lobsters after a Nor'easter. Fish was real cheap then. And the fish pier was located within walking distance of our home. So my mother would send me down there to get the biggest Cod or Haddock I could find. She could make the best fish stew. She made the fish stock from the fish frame after she had filleted it. Joe Pushcart was just a couple of doors away. So that was another errand I had to run for the potatoes and other veggies for the stew. She had polio as a child, so I did all the errands. Stairs were difficult for her. It was from her that I learned to cook all my meals from scratch. I have always found packaged foods just too salty. Yet I still make on a rare occasion for myself, creamed salted Cod with peas over mashed potatoes. My second husband used to salt a filleted Cod up in the rigging for me every so often.


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## Cerise (Apr 5, 2013)

I don't know about peasant or simple. My grandma walked 5 blocks to the supermarket, then to a Kosher butcher, & 5 blocks back home. Cooking went on all day. I was born and raised, lived in & worked in New York City. I vaguely remember my grandma taking me to Essex Street Market on the lower east side, & the fulton fish market (I think it was in NYC back then).

Essex Street Market: About the Market.

We used to make New York City Egg Creams at home, after my mother bought a gadget that made carbonated water. It consisted of, Bosco chocolate syrup, seltzer & milk.

Grandma also made kreplach & rugalach. The dough was all made from scratch. I would help her roll the cookies.

Again, too many dishes to remember.


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## CWS4322 (Apr 5, 2013)

My maternal grandmother was a fantastic cook and baker. Nothing fancy, but everything was always good (she didn't use balsamic vinegar or any of those other things we just can't imagine not having in the pantry), but everything she made was wonderful--even those little canned potatoes that she would cover with velveeta cheese and bake in the oven--as a child, that was my FAVORITE dish and she always made it when I came to visit. My mom, on the other hand, would open the fridge when she got home from work and cry "what are we eating!" even though she had a 7-day meal rotation (if it's Monday, it must be spaghetti--I had a dog I took to obedience classes on Mondays--the dog would go and grab her leash when we sat down to eat--even the dog knew if it was spaghetti, it must be Monday). I used to spend a week with my grandma every summer from the time I was about 8/9. The first thing she taught me how to make was pie crust...the next was bread...the next was lefse. She taught me how to "feel" the dough to know it was right. I think the "cooking gene" skips a generation...

In my mother's moments of lucidity (which she does have with her dementia), she will often say "I'm so glad I don't have to cook anymore. I HATE cooking."


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## Kylie1969 (Apr 5, 2013)

I love my mums veal parmigiana and french onions potatoes, they are to die for!


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## GotGarlic (Apr 5, 2013)

CWS4322 said:


> Snip--we also call that "snow blindness." A Lutheran Church supper in Northern MN typically included many foods covered with white sauce or whipped cream (lutefisk, scalloped potatoes, orange jello with bananas on the bottom and a layer of whipped cream on top)...oh, the whiteness of a Lutheran Church supper spread...



Too funny. A typical Southern potluck is a rainbow of food - sliced tomatoes, corn pudding, smoked ham with biscuits, pimento cheese sandwiches, sautéed greens, deviled eggs, and brownies. Yum.


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## pacanis (Apr 5, 2013)

GotGarlic said:


> Too funny. A typical Southern potluck is a rainbow of food - sliced tomatoes, corn pudding, smoked ham with biscuits, pimento cheese sandwiches, sautéed greens, deviled eggs, and brownies. Yum.


 
That's interesting. I never really considered VA a "southern" state.  Sure, I know their history, but I guess PA being so close to VA I never considered them part of "the south". 
I don't consider being in the south until I get to the bottom of North Carolina or through TN... but that's me.

Not that y'all can't cook Southern potlucks


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## Kayelle (Apr 5, 2013)

What an interesting thread! Thanks Snip and everyone for the insights.

Actually, my Dad was the better cook in the household and this post and recipe might be something many of you want to try......
http://www.discusscooking.com/forums/f49/down-memory-lane-german-stew-recipe-80801.html


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## Kylie1969 (Apr 5, 2013)

We also love mums Apricot Cheesecake...gee it is good!


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## buckytom (Apr 6, 2013)

Cerise said:


> We used to make New York City Egg Creams at home, after my mother bought a gadget that made carbonated water. It consisted of, Bosco chocolate syrup, seltzer & milk.
> .



did you mean foxes u-bet syrup, m? or bosco.

bosco and hershey's (back then) were just as good, imo. but a lot of purists say it has to be foxes.


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## buckytom (Apr 6, 2013)

pacanis said:


> That's interesting. I  never really considered VA a "southern" state.



wow, my bil would have a massive problem with that.

even though he was born and raised in jersey, then served in the navy all over the world, he ended up settling in western virginia and is such a proud southerner that he gets in your face about it at every opportunity. confederate  flag displayed at all times, lol.

when my mil passed away and he swallowed his deep, southern pride to come north and slum it with a bunch of yankees, he went a little nuts after he couldn't find a certain nascar race on tv or radio. i teasingly offered to drive him around the block a few hundred times making left turns, and even pull into a gas station to have the tank filled and tires checked by someone else (lol, you can't pump your own gas in jersey) and he went off on me.

anywho, he hasn't been back since. good riddance, but i'm kind of sorry to wish him on decent southern people.

i watched a good show called something like "do you know dixie", and i loved when trace adkins said that florida wasn't really a southern state. it used to he connected up korth, but broke off and floated down and reconnected to georgia. lol.


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## taxlady (Apr 6, 2013)

My mother was an excellent cook. I loved just about everything she cooked. If I went camping or on some other trip, I could hardly wait to get home to her food.

The only thing she couldn't cook properly was liver and onions. Now, a lot of people enjoyed the way she cooked it, but I discovered, as a young adult that liver was an edible food - just don't cook it for an hour.  She did make good leverpostej (Danish liver pâté).

One of my favourites was holidays when she would stuff a bird with meatloaf. Oh my, that was good stuff. She thought Yankees were being cheap when they used bread in their stuffing.  She also laid an amazing smørbrødsbord / smörgåsbord. It had Danish and Swedish specialties because she was Danish and my dad was Swedish.


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## buckytom (Apr 6, 2013)

i'm curious, taxy, what was in your smorgasbords? or is it smorgasborden?

as a side note, my son recently told me that english was derived from french. i almost hit the ceiling!

i told him that the closest language to english was germanic and latin, with french words sprinkled in.

i can't wait until the next parent/teacher conference day.


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## Snip 13 (Apr 6, 2013)

Kayelle said:


> What an interesting thread! Thanks Snip and everyone for the insights.
> 
> Actually, my Dad was the better cook in the household and this post and recipe might be something many of you want to try......
> http://www.discusscooking.com/forums/f49/down-memory-lane-german-stew-recipe-80801.html


 
I love learning more about everyone on DC 
Must say only my mom and gran ever cooked. I took over most of the cooking duties when I was 6.
My dad made use dinner one night and burned down the kitchen "literally" 
He put hot oil on the stove for chips and fell asleep in front of the TV. I still remember him waking us all up and running us through the flames in the kitchen 
Almost lost the house. He never cooks food without burning something!

Thank you everyone for posting and sharing your lovely memories


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## CWS4322 (Apr 6, 2013)

buckytom said:


> i'm curious, taxy, what was in your smorgasbords? or is it smorgasborden?
> 
> as a side note, my son recently told me that english was derived from french. i almost hit the ceiling!
> 
> ...


Yes, English is a Endo-germanic language, however, 60% of the words in English are derived from Latin and French. I can't remember the exact % of French off the top of my head. PBS had a great series on the History of the English Language. Not sure if it is on the web site or not. I have a textbook about the History of the English Language (one of the many courses I took in Grad school). I'm not sure in which box it resides...the cookbooks have taken over my bookshelves and the language books have been packed away (except for the ones I use for work...about 50).

English grammar structure is not based on French. I want to say it is closer to Greek and Latin, but I might be confusing that with German grammar. It is early and I haven't had my cup of Snip's Put Hair on Your Chest tea, yet.


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## taxlady (Apr 6, 2013)

buckytom said:


> i'm curious, taxy, what was in your smorgasbords? or is it smorgasborden?
> 
> ...


There was a table of mostly stuff to put on sandwiches: fried fish, pickled fish, smoked fish, shrimp, hard boiled eggs (and a slicer), sliced tomatoes & cucumbers, cucumber salad, cold cuts (my mum probably made the Scandinavian ones like "rullepølse" and "sylte" [it's Swedish and sort of like head cheese] and Danish liver pâté [leverpostej]), and cheeses. There might also be something warm, like meatballs. I forgot, of course bread: heavy rye, crisp ryes, Norwegian flat bread, and probably some whole wheat Wonder Bread.

Smörgåsbord is both the singular and the plural. Smörgåsborden is both the singular and plural, but in the definite, i.e., the Smörgåsbord.


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## PrincessFiona60 (Apr 6, 2013)

There is a reason I get elected to cook when I go visiting my family...out of 6 people in the family, I am the only one who has any experience with real cooking.  My Brother is teachable if all he has to do is run the grill...


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## GotGarlic (Apr 6, 2013)

pacanis said:


> That's interesting. I never really considered VA a "southern" state.  Sure, I know their history, but I guess PA being so close to VA I never considered them part of "the south".
> I don't consider being in the south until I get to the bottom of North Carolina or through TN... but that's me.
> 
> Not that y'all can't cook Southern potlucks



Trust me, mah deah, there are plenty of Virginians who are still unhappy about the Late Unpleasantness  I am in the southeast corner near the historic triangle of Jamestown, Yorktown and Williamsburg, and people here are obsessed with the state's history. It's very different from Northern Virginia. Closer to Pa., many people are transplants from other areas who came for government or NGO jobs up there.

To get back on topic, another favorite dish from childhood is my dad's German sausage cooked in sauerkraut with beer - his family is German. Yummy stuff. One of our German exchange students told me his mother makes it with caraway seeds, so I started adding that, too. And Russian teacakes at Christmas were my favorite. I made them for the first time a few years ago and was amazed that they tasted just like my mom's.


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## CWS4322 (Apr 6, 2013)

taxlady said:


> There was a table of mostly stuff to put on sandwiches: fried fish, pickled fish, smoked fish, shrimp, hard boiled eggs (and a slicer), sliced tomatoes & cucumbers, cucumber salad, cold cuts (my mum probably made the Scandinavian ones like "rullepølse" and "sylte" [it's Swedish and sort of like head cheese] and Danish liver pâté [leverpostej]), and cheeses. There might also be something warm, like meatballs. I forgot, of course bread: heavy rye, crisp ryes, Norwegian flat bread, and probably some whole wheat Wonder Bread.
> 
> Smörgåsbord is both the singular and the plural. Smörgåsborden is both the singular and plural, but in the definite, i.e., the Smörgåsbord.


Ours has cold dishes--pickled herring, gravlox, (sp), shrimp salad, all kinds of open-faced sandwiches, beet-pickled herring salad and other salads. There have to be 7 different things. The "warm" table usually has meatballs, ham, Jansen's Temptation, roast beef, cabbage rolls, venison roast, and I can't remember what all. There are usually 7 cold "main" dishes and 7 "hot" main dishes and ALWAYS 7 cookies/desserts on the dessert table. It takes a good three hours to eat your way through it.


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## taxlady (Apr 6, 2013)

CWS4322 said:


> Ours has cold dishes--pickled herring, gravlox, (sp), shrimp salad, all kinds of open-faced sandwiches, beet-pickled herring salad and other salads. There have to be 7 different things. The "warm" table usually has meatballs, ham, Jansen's Temptation, roast beef, cabbage rolls, venison roast, and I can't remember what all. There are usually 7 cold "main" dishes and 7 "hot" main dishes and ALWAYS 7 cookies/desserts on the dessert table. It takes a good three hours to eat your way through it.


Well, the open-faced sandwiches were made by each person for their own consumption. My mum used to do more hot food, but we never had room to finish it. Of course there was stuff like pickled beets as garnish.


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## Kylie1969 (Apr 7, 2013)

My mum also cooks a really good Hoiken Chicken, Steve especially loves it


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## CWS4322 (Apr 7, 2013)

taxlady said:


> Well, the open-faced sandwiches were made by each person for their own consumption. My mum used to do more hot food, but we never had room to finish it. Of course there was stuff like pickled beets as garnish.


When I do the "spread," my brother always wants to know when the Swedish army is arriving...


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## Cooking Goddess (Apr 10, 2013)

Mom made too many yummy things to list them all, but there are two dishes I haven't been able to get close to duplicating.  The first was her roasted, cut up chicken.  Have never gotten the cooking/seasoning/roasting just right.  Must be the falling-on-the-floor part that makes it special.  (True story:  then-boyfriend's family was over for dinner.  When Mom got all the chicken on the platter it shifted, causing quite a few pieces to hit the floor.  She looked at his Mom, his Mom said "I take it you washed the floor?" and when Mom answered yes his Mom said "well work quick before someone sees!" and they picked them up.  Didn't marry him, but I sure loved his Mom.)

My other favorite but can't copy dish was her beef stew.  I have tried every imaginable thing to make it taste the same and have given up.  Instead, I make a mean beef Burgundy, and enjoy the fact that my Mom always told me SHE just couldn't make HER pot roast taste like mine.


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## Cooking Goddess (Apr 10, 2013)

pacanis said:


> I love calve's liver. My mother didn't do the whole liver & onions thing though. She simply floured it and cooked it in bacon grease. I couldn't even tell you what the sides were it was so long ago. Probably mashed potatoes and butter for me.



My Mom did liver and onions and cooked them in bacon grease.  The only way she could get me to eat that danged liver was to bribe me with the bacon.  Couldn't have any until I ate my piece of liver.  Child Abuse!


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## Cooking Goddess (Apr 10, 2013)

CWS4322 said:


> Snip--we also call that "snow blindness." A Lutheran Church supper in Northern MN typically included many foods covered with white sauce or whipped cream (lutefisk, scalloped potatoes, orange jello with bananas on the bottom and a layer of whipped cream on top)...oh, the whiteness of a Lutheran Church supper spread...



Must be trying to inspire all of you to make your souls as white at the new-driven snow.  Or as white as the sauces and whipped cream!


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## Cooking Goddess (Apr 10, 2013)

pacanis said:


> City chicken. Back then you didn't have a hard time finding them with pork AND veal. The gravy she made was out of this world, only using the water she boiled the potatoes in. Something I can only get close to using broth or stock.



Oh My, I haven't thought of this for ages!  Not even sure if I've made them since our (now 32 years old) kids were born.  Ohhh, now I have the worst taste for them.  Look for them to be a "Dinner...." thread soon.


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## pacanis (Apr 10, 2013)

I think I'll pick some up soon, too, CG.


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## PrincessFiona60 (Apr 10, 2013)

I keep meaning to ask...what is "City Chicken?"


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## pacanis (Apr 10, 2013)

Pork (and sometimes veal) on a stick.
It's breaded, fried, then baked. I might have a picture around somewhere...
You can make your own, but up here it's often sold already on the skewer.


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## PrincessFiona60 (Apr 10, 2013)

Thanks!

Never had it.


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## Addie (Apr 10, 2013)

buckytom said:


> wow, my bil would have a massive problem with that.
> 
> even though he was born and raised in jersey, then served in the navy all over the world, he ended up settling in western virginia and is such a proud southerner that he gets in your face about it at every opportunity. confederate flag displayed at all times, lol.
> 
> ...


 
I love folks like your BIL. I could eat them for breakfast. We would make a good pair bt. Give us just 24 hours together with him and he would run screaming back to his "Southern Roots."


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## pacanis (Apr 10, 2013)

PrincessFiona60 said:


> Thanks!
> 
> Never had it.


 
Contrary to popular belief it's not pigeon


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## PrincessFiona60 (Apr 10, 2013)

pacanis said:


> Contrary to popular belief it's not pigeon



I had visions of "rat onna stick." 

That meal looks like something I would gorge on.  Yum!


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## pacanis (Apr 10, 2013)

PrincessFiona60 said:


> I had visions of "rat onna stick."
> 
> That meal looks like something I would gorge on. Yum!


 
George Segal, King Rat. I just saw that movie about a month ago. Rat on a stick.


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## PrincessFiona60 (Apr 10, 2013)

pacanis said:


> George Segal, King Rat. I just saw that movie about a month ago. Rat on a stick.



I was trending more towards the "kebab" sellers in Ankh Morpork in Terry Pratchett's Discworld series.  One of them will sell anything "onna stick".


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## Snip 13 (Apr 10, 2013)

PrincessFiona60 said:


> I had visions of "rat onna stick."
> 
> That meal looks like something I would gorge on. Yum!


 
Rat on a stick! Yum


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## taxlady (Apr 10, 2013)

I noticed the Ankh Morpork connection, immediately.

Some places rat is sold as food and referred to as "field rabbit". I don't see why a country rat, that hasn't been eating garbage, wouldn't taste good.


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