Childhood "Treats"

[lannie]

Last night, while trimming off the extra fat and skin from a chicken, I suddenly had a recollection of a 'special' childhood "treat" that my grandmother used to feed us.

Whenever she would cook chicken, she would trim off the extra fat and skin, immerse them in hot oil, fry them until they were golden brown and extra-crispy, top them with a good sprinkling of salt, and feed it to us kids. We thought that we were SO lucky to get such a delicious and crunchy treat!

What sorts of 'taboo' treats were you fed as a child?

[Carolyn Tillie]

When I was in the fourth grade, my best friend was a child prodigy (artist) named Tony. He and I were the outcasts but because he was so talented (winning National art awards at the age of 3), every Friday his mother would bring him "Friday Lunch."

Sometimes it was two lunch boxes filled with nothing but Hostess Treats. Sometimes she would stop by with Taco Bell tacos. It was always different and never good, healthwise. But I got to share and that part was always wonderful.

I always wondered what happened to him, but googling does no good as his name was Tony Young -- way too mundane for me to find him. But I stll remember those fabulous Friday Lunches.

[lannie]

Sometimes it was two lunch boxes filled with nothing but Hostess Treats.

Oh, my grandparents fed us those, too! Twinkies, Ding Dongs, Suzy Q's, Fruit Pies, etc. We were just lucky that we grew up at a time when kids spent a lot of time outside running around and getting plenty of exercise.

[s'kat]

I was reminiscing just last night about the myriad of Hostess goodies I would buy with my youthful allowance. Suzy-Q's and Sno-Balls were right at the top.

My other passion was Pop-Tarts, specifically the Dutch Apple kind. They stopped making them years ago.

But- oh, my- fried chicken skin, you say?

(Actually, it just occured to me that my Grandmother used to let me make my very own cinnamon toast when I visited her house. This involved as much butter as the bread was able to take, and piled about 1/4-inch thick with cinnamon sugar. Heavy on the sugar. It was baked in the broiler drawer under the oven... just my size. Heavenly.)

[Busboy]

Last night, while trimming off the extra fat and skin from a chicken, I suddenly had a recollection of a 'special' childhood "treat" that my grandmother used to feed us. 

Whenever she would cook chicken, she would trim off the extra fat and skin, immerse them in hot oil, fry them until they were golden brown and extra-crispy, top them with a good sprinkling of salt, and feed it to us kids.  We thought that we were SO lucky to get such a delicious and crunchy treat!   

What sorts of 'taboo' treats were you fed as a child?

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Fried chicken skin is taboo?

[Dr. Funk]

Oh Lordy! - cracklings. Whenever my mother cooked up a chicken for chicken and dumplings or pot pie, she'd save the skin, cut it in strips and fry it in chicken fat. A little salt and we were in heaven.

[Gastro888]

OMG, fried chicken skin. *drools*

I could never understand people who DON'T like chicken skin. I love chicken skin...it's-just-so-delicious!

When I was a kid, I would eat two Wonderbread slices slattered with butter or margarine and sprinkled with white sugar. Funny thing is that I learned how to eat this at my dad's Chinese carryout!

I must admit, I still do this when presented with bread. When I go out to eat and there's a breadbasket with white or sourdough bread, you can see me breaking out this old childhood habit. (I swear, I only do this with friends around!!! I've never done it at a business lunch...perhaps I should do it when I want to cheese off our uptight department head.)

[docsconz]

When my mother was making meatballs, I stood by her to get two great treats. The freshly fried meatballs were fantastic, but I also loved the raw, seasoned chopped meat. Those were the days before salmonella and its cousins existed!

I was never overly enamored of Hostess cakes, but I still love Drake's Cakes.

[Busboy]

OMG, fried chicken skin.  *drools*

I could never understand people who DON'T like chicken skin.  I love chicken skin...it's-just-so-delicious!

When I was a kid, I would eat two Wonderbread slices slattered with butter or margarine and sprinkled with white sugar.  Funny thing is that I learned how to eat this at my dad's Chinese carryout! 

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When I worked at an Italian restaurant with a lot of a lot of Cambodian kitchen help, they all did the same thing --only with the dinner rolls - and warmed them up in the pizza oven. Maybe it's an Asian thing.

[NulloModo]

When I was younger my father would occasionally stop by a convenience store to pick up a random assortment of pickled sausages, similar to the 'Atomic Firecracker' or 'Tiajuana Mamma' variety. Inevitably he would give me one, and I always absolutely loved those. As soon as I started driving I made it a point to pick one up often while filling up the tank, and they are still a staple of mine on road-trips.

[Susan G]

Grandma's cookies. If it was a very special day, my brother and I could have 'two for each hand". (Clearly, I've been trolling for goodies since before I could count to three!)

[Raquel]

When I was young, occasionally we'd have a can of condensed milk in the fridge. There would be 2 holes in the top: 1 for pouring and 1 for air intake.

I'd sit in front of the open fridge and just suck the can... yikes...

[petite tête de chou]

My mom would let me eat a box of jello powder with my finger as a dipping stick.

Took days for the dye to wear off.

[Brite14]

Once in a while, my mom would pack me a peanut butter, marshmallow fluff, and chocolate chip sandwich for lunch. I still make one once in a while when I have those things around...or just eat them off a spoon...

It was even more special because this was a woman who was in the habit of busting open the Little Debbie twin-packs and giving me just one swiss cake roll or nutty bar or zebra cake in a zip-lock baggie. Somehow they're just not as fun that way. I'm still not over it.

[Margaret Pilgrim]

Wow. You guys had it soooooooo lucky. My mother was an early follower of Gaylord Hauser. No, none of you have ever heard of him. He was the 1940's proponent of healthful eating. His mantra: You are what you eat. I used to go off to grade school with, get this, grated carrot/raisin/walnut/mayonnaise on Roman Meal bread sandwiches. Try trading one of those for a peanut butter and jelly! Social outcast at the lunch table! No wonder I am wierd!

My aunt used to make what I thought were fabulous sherbets, combining canned milk with Kool-Aid! Grape or orange! Superb, and not a single natural flavor in the carload!

(Actually, grated carrot/raisin/walnut/mayonnaise on Roman Meal is quite a good eat! )

[Pan]

Whenever she would cook chicken, she would trim off the extra fat and skin, immerse them in hot oil, fry them until they were golden brown and extra-crispy, top them with a good sprinkling of salt, and feed it to us kids.

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Except for the deep frying, that sounds like the grivelach my father used to make for me and my brother when we were kids. It always included the tail (which we politically-incorrectly called the "Pope's nose") and other bits of fat. We loved it!

[hillvalley]

OMG, fried chicken skin.  *drools*

I could never understand people who DON'T like chicken skin.  I love chicken skin...it's-just-so-delicious!

When I was a kid, I would eat two Wonderbread slices slattered with butter or margarine and sprinkled with white sugar.  Funny thing is that I learned how to eat this at my dad's Chinese carryout!  

←

When I worked at an Italian restaurant with a lot of a lot of Cambodian kitchen help, they all did the same thing --only with the dinner rolls - and warmed them up in the pizza oven. Maybe it's an Asian thing.

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Nah, I did the same thing but on Jewish Rye. In fact I spent a summer at sleep away camp where I had one at least once a day, but that is another thread.

Chicken skin, turkey skin, duck skin. If I was really lucky I got the tush of the chicken on Friday nights (I can't remember the Yiddish word for it).

Hoho's. Loved the hoho's. I remember when I realized I was finally old enough to buy them myself. Woo hoo.

My other one was a dip I would make out of sour cream, dill and dijon. It's great for veggies, etc. but I would eat it straight out of the bowl with my finger. yummmm

[Ling]

I used to eat condensed milk straight from the tin, with a spoon. (Actually, I've done this as recently as 2 months ago... )

I remember the sugar and cinnamon on warm, buttery bread. That was one of my favourite after-school treats!

[bleudauvergne]

Wow.  You guys had it soooooooo lucky.  My mother was an early follower of Gaylord Hauser.  No, none of you have ever heard of him.  He was the 1940's proponent of healthful eating.  His mantra: You are what you eat.  I used to go off to grade school with, get this, grated carrot/raisin/walnut/mayonnaise on Roman Meal bread sandwiches.  Try trading one of those for a peanut butter and jelly!  Social outcast at the lunch table!  No wonder I am wierd!

My aunt used to make what I thought were fabulous sherbets, combining canned milk with Kool-Aid!  Grape or orange!  Superb, and not a single natural flavor in the carload! 

(Actually, grated carrot/raisin/walnut/mayonnaise on Roman Meal is quite a good eat! )

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Dear Margaret.

I too was a Roman Meal outcast. All of the kids lined their boots with bread bags to keep their feet dry on those horribly cold and wet winter days. While all of my friends sported the stylish Wonder polka dots, I had to schlep along with ugly orange hued sacks with the picture of the gladiator blaring out of the tops of my boots.

We never got good snacks, unless it was at friend's houses. We never even had sweet cereal. Oh well. I do remember the divinity making days with my grandmother and also how my grandfather on my father's side used to mix honey and butter and spread it on toast for me.

[GG Mora]

My mom would let me eat a box of jello powder with my finger as a dipping stick.

Took days for the dye to wear off.

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I swam competitively when I was a kid (mid 60's – early 70's) and jello from the box was considered a perfectly acceptable energy booster before races. Ate it all the time. My favorite was strawberry-banana.

[LaurieB]

Eating the knust off my grandmothers homemade bread, slathered with butter. The knust (german) is the heel of the bread. We fought over it. I was 17 before I learned there was an English word for it, since I always heard it referred to as "the end piece of bread" by my friends.

[Verjuice]

We usually had to sneak our treats.

If we begged for treats, she'd buckle and compromise with homemade doughnuts or pizza, or she'd make us mac and cheese or pancakes from scratch. We liked these things okay, but we secretly pined for Fruit Gums, Sno Cones and Fun Dip.

Then, there were the times she wanted to reward or treat us for something when we hadn't pestered her for anything, and she was very generous this way. Of course, this meant that she got to offer us the stuff that she really encouraged, like all-natural plain potato chips, homemade chocolate cake, dark chocolate Dove bars, Lac-Nor fruit juices from concentrate, and my sister's favorite, "Mommy's Cheese"-- a slab of halloumi cheese placed on aluminium foil and run under the broiler until bubbly. We ate it all because we knew better than to turn away a treat, but to this day I have no particular fondness for any of these foods. What fun was it if it was given up without a fight?

And then, there was the Grey Area:

-Snickers were okay, because they contain peanuts, which contain protein. Milky Way, Mars, Twix... these were out of the question.

-Bonkers and Starburst were okay, because the colors of the sweets were ones that "occurred in nature". Skittles, on the other hand, were as bad as rat poison. It didn't matter that Starburst packaging has "artificially flavored" plastered all over it.

-No sugary cereal whatsoever, and no Kool Aid, but we could have Capri-Sun and Country Time Lemonade. And no pink lemonade- ever!

-No Oreo cookies because they used to contain animal fats (lard; Mom is Muslim), but we could have Hydrox cookies- ditto Hostess treats (lard). Drake's Cakes were acceptable provided we stuck to Devil Dogs.

-Skippy only. Jif was forbidden (she thought it resembled cake frosting and tasted dangerously sweet).

-If mint chocolate chip ice cream was green, forget about it. It was my favorite flavor, too.

-Maraschino cherries were outlawed. We had to specify that we didn't want one whenever we ordered Shirley Temples or ice cream sundaes.

She sent us to school with tupperware containers filled with leftovers, carrot sticks, and juice. I remember how my heart pounded in my chest the day (4th grade) I asked her to stop sending those "wet" lunches to school with me, because they "smelled like garlic and steak" and I was embarrassed. She started packing me turkey or peanut butter sandwiches on pita bread instead. I still feel so bad about that.

[Gastro888]

OMG, fried chicken skin.  *drools*

I could never understand people who DON'T like chicken skin.  I love chicken skin...it's-just-so-delicious!

When I was a kid, I would eat two Wonderbread slices slattered with butter or margarine and sprinkled with white sugar.  Funny thing is that I learned how to eat this at my dad's Chinese carryout!  

←

When I worked at an Italian restaurant with a lot of a lot of Cambodian kitchen help, they all did the same thing --only with the dinner rolls - and warmed them up in the pizza oven. Maybe it's an Asian thing.

←

Nah, I did the same thing but on Jewish Rye. In fact I spent a summer at sleep away camp where I had one at least once a day, but that is another thread.

Chicken skin, turkey skin, duck skin. If I was really lucky I got the tush of the chicken on Friday nights (I can't remember the Yiddish word for it).

←

Actually, all my other Asian friends (and non-Asian friends) think I'm off my rocker when I do my bread-butter-sugar bit. Before this forum, I've only met one other person so far (until now!) that did this and she was from Scotland!

Wow, I didn't know that non-Asians enjoyed the chicken tail! My father and I love that part of the chicken. Growing up, I never liked it until one day I saw the light. I get flack from my relatives for liking it. OK, would it be strange to admit that I would like to have a meal of salt-roasted chicken tail au jus with rice?

Edited December 3, 2004 by Gastro888 (log)

[jgm]

I can't believe I haven't seen this yet:

When my mom made pie, which was a couple of times a month, she'd put the trimmed raw crust on a cookie sheet, sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar, and bake it along with the pie.

And I must confess, I did that last week when I baked pies for Thanksgiving.

And to be really honest, what I really prefer is raw pie dough. Oh, man!

[munchymom]

My mom always let me lick the beaters and bowl after she made cookies. I guess you're not supposed to do that now because the batter has raw eggs in it...I say, bah. Raw chocolate chip cookie dough is vastly superior to the finished product, and my son will get to enjoy it just the way I did - if I don't eat it all first!