Does your family make a certain dish and call it by the totally wrong name?

[Boopuff]

I saw some people on another thread mention that their family makes a traditional dish and calls it the wrong name. In my husbands family they make "hot tamales" the first family gathering Aunty brought them. I thought "wow! that's a lot of work to make up tamales" but when she arrived with a crock pot.... turns out it was Sloppy Joes. I can't figure where they got the idea that Sloppy Joes were tamales... It was hilarious when my FIL traveled to Arizona and ordered the real thing... LOL

 

[Micca]

I know what you mean, we make a dish referred to as Mexican Lasagna. It is a casserole we make that originated with an actual Mexican Lasagna recipe, but over the years evolved into something resembling a turkey tetrazzini with a can of diced chile peppers and a heap of cheese mixed in. It is delicious, but bears little resemblance to the OG recipe.

 

[gmi3804]

How about "Chop Suey" in America, which resembles some kind of Hamburger Helper concoction with elbow macaroni, with nothing Chinese about it? Even "Chinese" chop suey is a totally American conceit.

 

[soccerdad72]

My mom’s homemade cavatelli is, in reality, gnocchi, as they’re made with potatoes, not flour. Still love them, however

 

[Praying Colonel]

Growing up my parents made a dish with lean steaks like eye of round steaks braised in a very spicy tomato and vinegar sauce. They called it "pepper steak." Very, very, very different from the pepper steak you order in a Chinese restaurant.

 

[gmi3804]

My mom’s homemade cavatelli is, in reality, gnocchi, as they’re made with potatoes, not flour. Still love them, however

Aren’t cavatelli and gnocchi different because of shape, and not ingredients? OTOH, gnocchi can be made with potato, but cavatelli is usually a semolina pasta. I may be wrong.

 

[soccerdad72]

Aren’t cavatelli and gnocchi different because of shape, and not ingredients? OTOH, gnocchi can be made with potato, but cavatelli is usually a semolina pasta. I may be wrong.

Gnocchi is normally made with potato (occasionally ricotta) whereas cavatelli is made with semolina. And yes, the shapes are usually different like you said. My mom uses the ingredients of a gnocchi but makes them with a cavatelli shape.

 

[tvguy]

How about "Chop Suey" in America, which resembles some kind of Hamburger Helper concoction with elbow macaroni, with nothing Chinese about it? Even "Chinese" chop suey is a totally American conceit.

Never had or heard of "American" Chop Suey. Bad Chop Suey for dinner in a Chinese restaurant last week. No macaroni in it. Beef, carrots, bean sprouts, cabbage, onions and bell peppers. My dad made it that way. He was born in Shanghai and that is how it was made there when he was a kid, over 100 years ago. He was born in 1910.

 

[JoanneAZ]

Growing up we had a dish my father’s side of the family called “china”. It wasn’t until I left home that I realized the rest of the world called it shepherds pie or cottage pie.
My father’s family is from Quebec and apparently this is common in that area. There are theories on why but no one really knows.

 

[gmi3804]

Never had or heard of "American" Chop Suey. Bad Chop Suey for dinner in a Chinese restaurant last week. No macaroni in it. Beef, carrots, bean sprouts, cabbage, onions and bell peppers. My dad made it that way. He was born in Shanghai and that is how it was made there when he was a kid, over 100 years ago. He was born in 1910.

I hadn’t either, but apparently it’s a thing. Here’s an example.

 

[prairie_girl]

I make a chicken casserole that for reasons that no one can remember, it’s referred to as chicken broke.

 

[tvguy]

My wife makes a dish called scavee scavoorska. Named after the Swedish Chef on the Muppets. It is ground beef mixed with rice and cream of mushroom soup.

 

[firefly_ris]

I hadn’t either, but apparently it’s a thing. Here’s an example.

View attachment 1028255

Interesting, that looks very close to something my MIL makes that she calls goulash.

 

[RangerPooh]

We call homemade hamburger helper, hamburger noodle. Didn’t realize until a few years ago people call it goulash.

 

[brockash]

I saw some people on another thread mention that their family makes a traditional dish and calls it the wrong name. In my husbands family they make "hot tamales" the first family gathering Aunty brought them. I thought "wow! that's a lot of work to make up tamales" but when she arrived with a crock pot.... turns out it was Sloppy Joes. I can't figure where they got the idea that Sloppy Joes were tamales... It was hilarious when my FIL traveled to Arizona and ordered the real thing... LOL

Lol...we make what we call Salisbury steak, but it's def. more beef stroganoff than Salisbury steak. Not sure why we call it that...it's what we called it when we were kids and now my own kids call it that lol.