And if she was, do you have any family recipes to share? I grew up thinking my mom was a great cook. After all, that is what she said, and moms don't lie. It wasn't until I married and started seriously cooking and baking that I found out Duncan Hines doesn't make the best cake, and Kraft barbecue sauce poured over a baked chicken isn't barbecue! I have mom's recipe for seven day sweet pickles, which I religiously made for several years until my husband broke down and told me he didn't like them. Whew, that freed up a week in my summer! So, please share stories about the kitchen when you were growing up, and share any recipes you care to give out. I promise not to tell you about Aunt Tula's cooking skills.
My mom is an ok cook. Grandmom however is an amazing cook. She has recipebooks that date back to the late 1800s. I'll be going over there this weekend. When I do I'll ask if I can share some of them with you.
Well, Mom didn't kill anyone with her cooking. Smothered Liver, Swiss Steak (but she cooked it in less than 20 minutes so the tough round steak was nowhere near tender enough to chew), Pot Roast that was a great jaw strengthener cause each bite took 10 mintues of chewing to get to the 'swallow stage' and pizza made from a mix with tomato sauce and dried parmesan cheese. Any of those recipes you are interested in I will try to re-create from memory. But she did make delicious barbeque chicken.....not much effort on her part....chicken pieces in a Mar-crest stoneware casserole dish covered with bottled bbq sauce, baked for about 3 hours, that was to die for (not literally, like I said she never killed anyone with her cooking)
My mother said she was a cook/housekeeper before she married but her cooking was just plain ordinary fare. We found out later that she was in fact a maid who's duties included food shopping - bit of an exaggeration then on her part!! Her cooking was fine if a tad repetitive at times. I do have a recipe of hers for 'cloutie dumpling' and one for shortbread but I think she copied them from a cookbook.
I loved my moms creamed potatoes......when she was about 76, I asked her to make me them for our thanksgiving dinner at my house.....I watched her....so I could make it....she couldn't remember how to do it.....I waited too long..... Memories are great....I will keep trying to make them like she did when I was a child....
My mom was an indifferent cook....she used to bemoan the fact that she couldn't just give us a pill for dinner. Yeah. It was not good. No creativity. In her defense though, she had 3 kids 3 1/2 and under. And she worked, eventually full time. My dad came to the rescue of the family: he took over the shopping & cooking. He was a chemist & he used to say cooking was all about chemistry. He did make great sauces.
I dont remember any particular foods mom made, but I do know she was a rather bland cook, at best. I ate a lot of cereal lol
Cayuga Morning, As I read your post I was saddened by it and by the time I read the end I was smiling and happy for you....What an emotional statement you have make....
Oh Barb....I exaggerate! When we were little we had no idea how uninspired our mom was in cooking. I remember tuna noodles in white sauce & hard boiled eggs. We loved it, but oh my goodness, to think of it now! She was a grand lady, she & my dad took us camping, fishing, mushroom hunting. She in high heeled sneakers no less. She was always game. She was a professor, very smart and "fed" us intellectually very well, if not so well with tasty meals!
My Mom was/is a good cook, and also made awesome soups, but her specialty was always her desserts. Cakes, tortes, sweets in general... oh my gosh!! Now that she is in her mid 80's she doesn't enjoy cooking so much anymore, probably because their appetites are tiny. She says one chicken breast lasts them both for 2 meals!
My Mom was a really good cook. Nothing extremely fancy, she always said if she couldn't pronounce it then it must not be worth cooking. She started teaching me how to cook before I could read the fractions on a measuring cup (when we had one) so by 16 I could cook almost as good as she did. Other than fried chicken. She made the best fried chicken I've ever had.
My mom was an excellent cook, if I am a Michelin Star judge I would give her 3 stars . Her formal education was very short because of the Japanese occupation here during World War 2. Her measurement was very ingenious like four fingers full, a hand full, her special rooster bowl full, a quick drip from the bottle and the dish was always yummie!!! She was very passionate about the food she cook. Whenever she ate something that is yum, she would try to replicate it until she get it right, guess who were her guinea pigs My cooking technique is very much like hers except for the measuring part! Becky documented most of her recipes and converted her measurement into what we are familiar with like grams, teaspoon, etc. Thanks to Becky we are able to enjoy her specialties.
I enjoy cooking during the cooler months when I have the time. I do not enjoy cooking in the summer when it is hot and I am busy with work and the gardens. I like to bake sweets too, but they are never the same as Mums. When I ask for her recipes, she doesn't have measurements - the directions are more like "add a bit of" or "add a handful". It takes a long time before the recipes are perfected. I also like to can, and Mum didn't. But HER Mum did.
Cooking is a big part of Cajun culture and both Mom and Dad were excellent cooks. Mom was a cook for a while and an amazing baker. Daddy grew up off the grid in Cajun country and was a great out door cook. Peggy's mom was a chef and dietitian. Need less to say we live in a foodie house hold.
