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

[princesscinderella]

I think American Chop Suey or Goulash is regional like - Hoagie - Grinder or Submarine sandwich. All are the same but a different name. My husband’s family is from New England so they called it chop suey and it was goulash in my house as a kid. I too never liked it, green/red peppers just overpower everything and should be used sparingly IMO.

I make what I refer to as “bland chicken” in the crockpot where I put spices and an onion with some chicken breasts to make it pull apart and tender. I will then use it for multiple dishes for a few days, such as tacos, in pasta, buffalo chicken dip etc. I called it bland because then it can have other spices or sauces with it later. Well my son’s girlfriend tried my bland chicken and she said it’s not bland at all and tastes great and renamed it versatile chicken. It started a debate amongst the kids and they decided it should always be e called bland chicken because it’s funnier than versatile chicken. My son now makes it in his small crock pot after calling for the recipe at his college apartment. He loves to make chicken nachos with it.

 

[SirDuff]

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.

Not quite "china", it is "pate chinois" in Quebec.
https://www.curiouscuisiniere.com/shepherds-pie-quebec/

 

[leebee]

Casserole ingredients: Loose cooked up hamburger with some diced onion, creamed corn, mashed potatoes, layered in that order.

My aunt introduced us to this and always called it Chinese Pie, so that's what we called it. I guess many people call it Shepherd's Pie, but to my knowledge Shepherd's Pie is a recipe from the UK, made with lamb. The Little Guy here has called this "Supper Pie" since he was 3, instead of Shepherd's Pie, as that's what he thought his grandmother was calling it. We ALL call it Supper Pie now!

 

[china mom]

My in-laws have been calling Watergate Salad "green gook" since the beginning of time. They did not believe me when I told them that it actually had a name.

We grew up on Soupa Avgolemeno (Greek) which translates to lemon egg soup. It was always Lemonade Soup in out house.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

My in-laws have been calling Watergate Salad "green gook" since the beginning of time. They did not believe me when I told them that it actually had a name.

It's pistachio salad in my family that said that is an actual alternative name for watergate salad (I've seen it referred to as delight vs salad with pistachio but never IRL).

 

[ronandannette]

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.

I call that dish Shepard’s Pie too, but since it’s made with beef instead of lamb, it’s actually a Cottage Pie. I also call rutabaga turnip, always and call orange sweet potatoes yams. And I’m not sure if this is strictly wrong or just regional - I’ve never used the word roll for a small chunk of bread in my life. It’s always buns.

 

[china mom]

It's pistachio salad in my family that said that is an actual alternative name for watergate salad (I've seen it referred to as delight vs salad with pistachio but never IRL).

Yes, those are all alternate names for my family's special, unique family recipe "green gook" which they seem to think they invented

 

[Shadeaux]

My in-laws have been calling Watergate Salad "green gook" since the beginning of time. They did not believe me when I told them that it actually had a name.

We just call it the 'green stuff'. I forgot the actual name was Watergate salad!

 

[easyas123]

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

Yeah … that looks like my childhood nemesis that we called goulash.

My mom made something she called Goulash - pasta sauce, ground burger mixed in macaroni noodles.

Boy was I surprised (may I say, very pleasantly) when I was in Hungary and had Goulash. I mean, I knew what my Mom made wasn't really goulash but boy those two things were like night and day to me. I'll take what I got in Hungary any day - sorry Mom!

 

[KPeterso]

My mom always made a dish "Veal Scallopini ala marsala with cheese - made with chicken". I could never remember all that and it became marsala with cheese. Everyone know what is meant with that name.

 

[lovesmurfs]

When DS was born my mother made a hamburgery casserole. The recipe was "The Casserole." The rest of the world calls it "Shepherd's Pie" (or, really, cottage pie, as it's beef and not lamb).

I also used to make the Hungry Jack Beef Casserole when the kids were growing up. Because the biscuits were all around the outside, we just called it "Wagon Wheel."

 

[barkley]

growing up we called-

pasta with pesto 'green spagetti'
minestrone was 'leftover' or 'clean out the fridge' soup (cuz my Italian 'auntie' made it weekly using whatever dibs and dabs of leftover veggies were in her fridge).

now-i can't think of anything we make but ranch dressing will forever be called 'yummy sauce' thanks to my kid's decades ago daycare that introduced them to it.

 

[Diznygrl]

Yeah that tomato/beef/macaroni dish pictured above has always been called goulash in my family, which I always thought was strange, since it's not really goulash either (a Hungarian stew). Didn't even know other people were calling it goulash too.

 

[MamaMermaid]

Mine is a bit... inappropriate. We make peanut butter cookies with hershey kisses on top. When my cousin took the cookies to work, a co-worker who was from India (super sweet guy, there was a bit of a language barrier) called them Nipple Cookies. We all thought it was hilarious and have called them that for the past 20 years.

 

[JoanneAZ]

Mine is a bit... inappropriate. We make peanut butter cookies with hershey kisses on top. When my cousin took the cookies to work, a co-worker who was from India (super sweet guy, there was a bit of a language barrier) called them Nipple Cookies. We all thought it was hilarious and have called them that for the past 20 years.

I’m a retired OB nurse. Our lactation consultants (breastfeeding experts) would do the same with both the chocolate misses and the pink kisses from Valentine’s Day to make boob cookies.