Childhood Food Memories-The Good, The Bad and the Ugly

[barkley]

when I cook certain things I always find myself comparing them to the way I remember it tasting when I was a kid-with some I can never replicate it, with others I PRAY I've improved on it, with others...well....if my family has the inclination to eat it then it won't be prepared by me.

on that note-the good, the bad and the ugly childhood food memories for me:

GOOD-

mom's cabbage rolls w/ tomato 'gravy' (so good I've never tried to replicate)

minestrone soup-recipe was never the same b/c it was driven by whatever dibs and dabs of veggies and meats on hand


BAD-

'tacos', actually 'irish tacos'-a corn tortilla fried in oil, dripping with oil and stuffed with chopped canned corn beef-topped with taco sauce


UGLY-

salsa-homemade and canned by mom and a friend in a 2 day frenzy of chopping and simmering. the stuff was hot as sin-and the smell so pungent that it caused everything that was cooked for the following week to smell and taste like salsa

garlic dill a.k.a.'death pickles'-so named b/c mom was so freehanded with the garlic (entire cloves in every jar) you risked life and limb so much as opening one of the jars. so far as I know only my father could tolerate eating them, and when he passed we were left with a few dozen quart jars that went untouched until a college friend of mine claimed to have an iron stomach and a high tolerance for hot foods. I gifted him with a jar but even he couldn't eat one in it's entirety-but it became a game of challenge at parties for people to do shots of tequila with a death pickle juice chaser (mom had no idea-she was just glad someone was enjoying the pickles and they were getting used up).



share your memories......................

 

[Soldier's*Sweeties]

I grew up with a single father for quite a few years. He had some interesting dishes, but many of them were good IMO and I still make some of them as comfort foods.

Including:
Kraft Mac and Cheese with 1/2 packets of cheese and worcestershire sauce(my dad put it on EVERYTHING)
White bread pizzas
Cubed steak... I've never figured out how he got the thick, crispy coating to stay on!

BUT, he used to make those Lipton pasta sides a lot or boxed potatoes and I HATED those. I also used to have to drink a big ol glass of milk with dinner. I hate milk.

My step dad never used to listen to me when I told him I don't like my food touching. He'd just pile all of my food together and I left the table hungry and grounded more than once. I still shudder at the thought of "corn juice" on my mac and cheese.

***Additional childhood food memory: I used to eat at a friend's house and her mom would make ham and buttered noodles. It's literally cubed up ham and buttered egg noodles. It's actually a favorite in our house.

 

[Bianca and Bernard]

when I cook certain things I always find myself comparing them to the way I remember it tasting when I was a kid-with some I can never replicate it, with others I PRAY I've improved on it, with others...well....if my family has the inclination to eat it then it won't be prepared by me.

on that note-the good, the bad and the ugly childhood food memories for me:

GOOD-

mom's cabbage rolls w/ tomato 'gravy' (so good I've never tried to replicate)

minestrone soup-recipe was never the same b/c it was driven by whatever dibs and dabs of veggies and meats on hand


BAD-

'tacos', actually 'irish tacos'-a corn tortilla fried in oil, dripping with oil and stuffed with chopped canned corn beef-topped with taco sauce


UGLY-

salsa-homemade and canned by mom and a friend in a 2 day frenzy of chopping and simmering. the stuff was hot as sin-and the smell so pungent that it caused everything that was cooked for the following week to smell and taste like salsa

garlic dill a.k.a.'death pickles'-so named b/c mom was so freehanded with the garlic (entire cloves in every jar) you risked life and limb so much as opening one of the jars. so far as I know only my father could tolerate eating them, and when he passed we were left with a few dozen quart jars that went untouched until a college friend of mine claimed to have an iron stomach and a high tolerance for hot foods. I gifted him with a jar but even he couldn't eat one in it's entirety-but it became a game of challenge at parties for people to do shots of tequila with a death pickle juice chaser (mom had no idea-she was just glad someone was enjoying the pickles and they were getting used up).



share your memories......................

The Good: My mom's spaghetti sauce. cooked in the oven for hours. Her porcupine meatballs (ground beef, rice and I don't know what else) sauced with sweet chile sauce. Her fudge. Pumpkin pies. Also, my dad's green chile and red chile sauces for smothered burritos.

The Bad: The above mentioned burritos? The hamburger meat. My dad would boil it and then rinse it with vinegar. Always left a weird aftertaste. Also, liver and onions. Beef Heart with gravy and rice or egg noodles. Tuna or hamburger or chicken Helper....with no meat.

Ugly: Hmm, IDK. Maybe my mom's favorite sandwich. Peanut butter, mayo, lettuce and tomato. Or my dad's peanut butter and dill pickle sandwiches. Love them both, but man are they ugly.

Oh, mom made this apple and mint jelly. Soooo much mint. In red and green colors. She'd give away jars for holidays.

 

[holden]

The bad:

Salisbury steak
SOS
Chicken croquettes

The good:
My nana’s Roast beef
Thanksgiving dinner
Mom’s chicken divine

 

[Shanna-like-Banana]

My father grew up on canned and boxed food, so that was his taste in food, and back then mom made what dad wanted for dinner.

Tons of boxed crap like Hamburger Helper, tuna noodle casserole, Cans of Denty Moore Beef Stew. lots and lots of cheap store brand pot pies, the 25 cent kind

Anyone ever heard of Minastrony soup sandwiches ? no, probably not.....brown some beef, take a can of minastrony soup, drain the broth, mix the soup contents with the browned beef, spread it on hot dog buns, and cover it with a slice of store brand sliced american cheese, broil in oven...........never again

After my parents divorced, we did not have two dimes to rub together, by the age of 12/13 I was having to do most of the cooking when we were visiting his house. For years and years and years, we would have spaghetti for dinner on his night of the week, not like oh yum, Italian night. just dry plain boiled noodles

 

[disykat]

We loved some of the packaged stuff - the dry packets of spaghetti sauce mix were what my mom used so we LOVED Spaghetti night. We also loved 3 layer jello.

My mom's homemade cooking was another thing. She loved liver and beef heart. Meat and potato meals were a mainstay. She also loved 1970's style vegetarian cooking - carrot loaf, ugh! She did make a good beef/macaroni "goulash."

I took over cooking once I hit junior high because mom worked after school. I made homemade spaghetti sauce, soups, stir frys, etc. Basically anything with chopped onions and peppers was my friend and still is.

 

[lynxstch]

The good-- My great grandmothers stuffed cabbage rolls. They would disappear as fast as she could make them. My mothers potato salad, the only recipe I've ever used, and everyone wants it. Her porcupine meatballs, still one of my go to comfort foods.

The bad--My grandmother cooking blood sausage. I refused to even look at it, never mind eat it. And I think my mother made something called Pasta Fagioli. I don't like beans of any kind, and I remember being told I had to sit there till my plate was empty. it was after midnite when she finally gave in and let me get up from the table and go to bed, lol. Just the sound of it today brings back bad memories, lol!
And one of my husband's worst cooked meals, he thought he was making me an amazing breakfast. I have no idea what it was supposed to be, but it was made with eggs, clam chowder and spinach, and it was gross!

 

[MamaBelle4]

The Good:

Everything. My mom is a great cook. Her spaghetti, meatloaf, ham & bean soup, ham & green beans and her baked Mac and cheese are some of my favorites.

The Bad:

Chicken and waffles. Now I don't mean the fried chicken and waffles with maple syrup you see everywhere. I mean left over chicken in a broth/gravy mess over waffles. I STILL won't even eat waffles. Nasty.

The Ugly:

Chicken pot pie. Slippery chicken pot pie with dough squares. Absolutely delicious. But everything was kind of the same nondescript beige color. Not pretty.

 

[NYCgrrl]

My mother's coconut bread complete with knuckle juice.
My mother's cooking in general. It's OK my saying this; she'd agree.
Cou cou- my mother's version. On some level this was acceptable. Not only could she not cook she wasn't Bajan, LOL.

 

[shoney]

Born in 1972 to a mom who was Martha Stewart before it was cool. She watched cooking shows and had a library of cookbooks.
Her food was much better than anything I cooked for years!

 

[MickeyMinnieMom]

THE GOOD: So, so much!! My mom cooked excellent Italian food and my dad made excellent French food. Add in various French Canadian treats, and we were VERY lucky kids on this front. Minestrone soup, lasagne, tiramisu, coquilles st-jacques, tourtière, sucre à la crème, the list goes on and on...

THE BAD: pattes de cochon. I will say no more.

THE UGLY: The time my poor mom misread the amount of vinegar called for in a chicken and vinegar recipe... ...

 

[klacey1]

Good: My favorite dish in the world is my father's stuffed roasted pork tenderloin. He'd sew the two tenderloins together on one long end, line it with bacon, stuff it with homemade stuffing that was pretty much just day old Irish bread and fresh thyme, and then sew up the other long end. I've made it a few times since he passed, and while good, it can't hold a candle to his.

Bad: Mushy peas. My dad and brother love this Irish staple. No thank you!!

Ugly: My mom is an absolutely terrible cook. She doesn't believe in following recipes or directions. As such, whenever she made Hamburger Helper, it was truly vile. The powdered sauce never dissolved and it would be super dry. Just nasty. To this day I don't know how she did that as the instructions are quite clear and idiot-proof. She literally must not have followed the directions at all.

 

[luvsJack]

The good: Mom’s biscuits, fried chicken, round steak and gravy, roast, and stew were my favorites. Stew and rosy I can replicate. Chicken and biscuits I have tried and while mine are good they just aren’t Mom’s. My former MIL actually had to teach her way of making biscuits because I never could make them like Mom.

The bad: Liver and onions. Yuck! Daddy loved liver so Mom would fix it about once a week. Stunk up the whole house.

And English peas with every meal. Another of Dad’s favorites.


Ugly: Not Mom but Grandma. Every time I ever stayed the night she would fix fried eggs, bacon and grits. Every time. Apparently that was their night time meal every night. Their house permanently smelled like eggs to me.

 

[NYCgrrl]

THE GOOD: So, so much!! My mom cooked excellent Italian food and my dad made excellent French food. Add in various French Canadian treats, and we were VERY lucky kids on this front. Minestrone soup, lasagne, tiramisu, coquilles st-jacques, tourtière, sucre à la crème, the list goes on and on...

THE BAD: pattes de cochon. I will say no more.

THE UGLY: The time my poor mom misread the amount of vinegar called for in a chicken and vinegar recipe... ...

Not sure if you mean patties or pate but there are various really cool recipes out there for pork based pate and confit too. I've a fav cookbook for making them but of course it's in storage...this excuse it getting pretty old for me...sigh.

 

[NYCgrrl]

The good: Mom’s biscuits, fried chicken, round steak and gravy, roast, and stew were my favorites. Stew and rosy I can replicate. Chicken and biscuits I have tried and while mine are good they just aren’t Mom’s. My former MIL actually had to teach her way of making biscuits because I never could make them like Mom.

The bad: Liver and onions. Yuck! Daddy loved liver so Mom would fix it about once a week. Stunk up the whole house.

And English peas with every meal. Another of Dad’s favorites.


Ugly: Not Mom but Grandma. Every time I ever stayed the night she would fix fried eggs, bacon and grits. Every time. Apparently that was their night time meal every night. Their house permanently smelled like eggs to me.

Beef liver was always WRONGGGGGGGGGG but calves liver was like butter in yer mouth. My mother made beef liver and almost ruined the dish for me, LOL.

 

[tasha99]

My mom was from the Ukraine, but grew up in Sweden, and I was a kid in the 70's.

THE GOOD-- Ukrainian dumplings called vareniki. My mom's were usually meat filled (unusual) and a lot like pierogi. She also made wonderful sauerkraut soup called kapusniak.
THE BAD--Casseroles. So many casseroles . . .
The UGLY-- Lutefisk

 

[xlsm]

Some of these made me laugh!

My mom can cook a few things very well, but overall she is not a great cook.

The good - no-bake cookies. These were one of the things she did well, LOL

The bad - spaghetti. Gag. She literally opened a can of spaghetti, added sugar, and served it with boiled noodles. No meat, no nothin'.

The ugly - boxed mac and cheese made with sugar. WHY did she add sugar to everything?? I honestly thought I hated mac and cheese for most of my childhood.

We ate out a LOT. When she was pregnant with my brother, she craved Chinese food all the time. We had it like two or three times a week. I was ten and I wasn't the biggest fan of it and always got chicken fried rice. I haven't touched chicken fried rice since, and it's been 25 years.

I cook a lot and make excellent spaghetti and mac and cheese. I had to, I owed it to my kids

 

[indimom]

GOOD: Mom: Steak and mashed potatoes, fried potato cakes, rice pudding. Dad: Chuckwagon Chili, homemade Oatmeal Cookie (cakes really, they were huge)

BAD: Honestly, I can't think of anything. My parents were both good cooks. My only complaint would be that in our house and you were expected to eat what you were given. No substitutions, no exceptions. So, if you didn't like something in particular, it didn't matter, you still had to eat it. For me, that was peas. For my older sister, kidney beans.

UGLY: The 'eat what your given' philosophy extended to drinks as well. I drank milk at every homecooked meal until I graduated high school. I haven't had a single glass since. HATE the stuff. Gag.

 

[luvsJack]

Beef liver was always WRONGGGGGGGGGG but calves liver was like butter in yer mouth. My mother made beef liver and almost ruined the dish for me, LOL.

Lol no idea which it was that Mom cooked. I don’t think I ever actually tried it. Couldn’t get past the smell.

 

[CdnCarrie]

The only thing my Mom made that I didn't like was liver. She's a great cook. Much better than me but that's probably cause she enjoys it and I don't