Those little things that your mum or dad used to do?

[Jade Emperor]

@Xocolatl - it’s wonderful that you have been able to incorporate the foods of your heritage into your own food journey
My background is entirely English, and my parents were born before the Second World War, so they grew up in quite poor conditions.
Food was rationed, but it was made to go very far in most families.
This is where many traditional English dishes originated- puddings, stews, porridge etc.
I have many of these recipes in my repertoire, but I don’t often bring them out.
Because I worked so many years as a chef and had access to quality ingredients, my style is much more complex.
Thanks for sharing your experiences.

 

[GotGarlic]

My background is entirely English, and my parents were born before the Second World War, so they grew up in quite poor conditions.
Food was rationed, but it was made to go very far in most families.
This is where many traditional English dishes originated- puddings, stews, porridge etc.

Porridge and stews are much older than the 20th century. The Romans were making them before they even conquered Britannia

 

[dragnlaw]

GG, I think she just meant that the English puddings, stews, porridge came to the fore and evolved into what she knew from during the war due to rationing.

 

[GotGarlic]

GG, I think she just meant that the English puddings, stews, porridge came to the fore and evolved into what she knew from during the war due to rationing.

Maybe I misunderstood, but this

"This is where many traditional English dishes originated..."

doesn't sound to me like foods developed after WWII. I'm curious about which foods specifically this refers to.

 

[Badjak]

Cooking was very important in my family growing up, and the heritage I have received is immense. I can only mention a few things here because the list is too long to talk about.

First thing coming to mind for me too is homestyle fried potatoes the way my mother makes them. In the Netherlands fried potatoes are leftover potatoes you fry in a skillet with butter, more commonly known as sauteed potatoes. We'd eat them with garlic and fresh parsley as a final touch, and I've never wanted it any other way. Most Dutch don't season their fried potatoes with anything but salt, and that's so boring to me!

Also worth mentioning is of course my Indonesian heritage coming from my Mom's family line. When there was a party we would be in the kitchen for three days, preparing traditional Indonesian foods and most importantly, putting satay on skewers that would go on the barbecue at the party.
I learned to make my satay sauce from her, Nasi goreng, sajur lodeh, gado gado, sambal goreng tempeh, pisang goreng, karee telor etc etc. A lot. And it's still very important food to me to this day.

My mother also was a very good baker, she's make us mostly homemade cakes and cookies year round. I have shared our family apple oatmeal tart recipe on here before, and there's many more. One of my favorites was a holiday cranberry tart she made, very nice to have around Christmas.

I definitely inherited my fondness for cooking from my mom, and a lot of knowledge. My mom made almost everything herself and I continued that tradtion at my own home these days.

Your description of your mam, would fit my dad to a T
Except for the baking...

Mixed up heritage here. Fully Dutch but my dad was born and raised in (what is now) Indonesia

 

[KatyCooks]

My beloved mum had no interest in cooking. She did her best though! She had 6 to cook for every day, which must have been quite a chore! We were exceptionally poor growing up and there was never a "gravy boat". Gravy was served in a pyrex measuring jug. And always will be!

 

[taxlady]

My beloved mum had no interest in cooking. She did her best though! She had 6 to cook for every day, which must have been quite a chore! We were exceptionally poor growing up and there was never a "gravy boat". Gravy was served in a pyrex measuring jug. And always will be!

I have never owned a gravy boat. I use other containers, including a Pyrex measuring cup. I think my mum may have had a gravy boat as part of the "good China" set. But, for regular meals, she just spooned it onto our food when she put the rest of the food on the plates in the kitchen.

I just realized that there weren't really any leftovers. My mum put the amount of food she thought you should have on your plate and that was it. If you weren't hungry enough to eat everything, you had to leave some of everything, not just the veg or something else you liked less than the meat. If you weren't finishing your plate and didn't leave some of everything, you didn't get dessert.

Of course there were some things, like soup, that she made in a quantity to have some left after supper, but that was planned for.

 

[Jusa]

I have never owned a gravy boat. I use other containers, including a Pyrex measuring cup. I think my mum may have had a gravy boat as part of the "good China" set. But, for regular meals, she just spooned it onto our food when she put the rest of the food on the plates in the kitchen.

I just realized that there weren't really any leftovers. My mum put the amount of food she thought you should have on your plate and that was it. If you weren't hungry enough to eat everything, you had to leave some of everything, not just the veg or something else you liked less than the meat. If you weren't finishing your plate and didn't leave some of everything, you didn't get dessert.

Of course there were some things, like soup, that she made in a quantity to have some left after supper, but that was planned for.

I have a gravy boat that has never been used, LOL.

 

[dragnlaw]

Depending on where we lived, sometimes we did not have a formal dining room per se but when we did.... Gravy boat was only ever used at the "dining table". Otherwise if/when we had gravy, mom dished it out, or we helped ourselves in the kitchen on our way to the 'breakfast/kitchen' table. I do remember dad had a small pitcher at his plate - he liked to pour it on himself.
So in my home it was the same, always had to find and wash it for big dinners! LOL
We also 'usually' had warmed plates. For me, formal dinners always, if not formal, well... it depended on how rushed or tired I was.

 

[Jusa]

I do remember dad had a small pitcher at his plate - he liked to pour it on himself.
So in my home it was the same, always had to find and wash it for big dinners! LOL
We also 'usually' had warmed plates. For me, formal dinners always, if not formal, well... it depended on how rushed or tired I was.

That made me laugh a little. I had to read it twice.

 

[dragnlaw]

That's really funny! I too, had to read it twice to see what you meant!