The Best Dish that Mom Cooked for You

[KarenS]

Sauerbraten with red cabbage and potato pancakes

Carbonade flamande (beer stew)

Smoked cornish game hens (whole, boned) stuffed with wild rice)- this was a birthday request since it was a lot of work

Tamale pie

Won ton soup

[annanstee]

Roast Pork with Crackling

Roast Beef with Yorkshire Pudding

Salmon "Rissoles"

Mince Pie- in fact any kind of pie. My mom makes the best pastry ever-

apple, banana cream, chicken, steak.....mmmmm. Pie.

Also, I used to love her crepes rolled up with lemon and sugar, piping hot.

[sadistick]

Without a doubt - Sticky Chicken

Its this chicken theigh w/bone in dish she makes over rice, with brown sugar, soy and some other things, and the skin gets so caramalized and sticky, and oh the sauce over the rice....oh the sauce!

Mmmmmm

[sanrensho]

My mom, a Japanese immigrant, made the best desserts of anyone I knew. Due to the strong French/European influence on Japanese baking, I was regularly treated to cream puffs (filled with pastry cream rather than chantilly cream), baumkuchen, madelaines, and twisted egg bread.

I also distinctly remember being driven all the way downtown from our home in the 'burbs, for the sole purpose of buying good croissants and European buttercream cakes.

She is still a great cook, but very exacting and can be hard to cook for if not done right.

[browniebaker]

Mom makes the best potstickers in the world, such as I have never been able to duplicate. The dough is made from scratch, rolled fine and thin, and gathered up around the savory pork-and-shrimp in the shape of a beech-leaf. I have tried and tried but cannot master this leaf-shape and never will. When i was growing up, we would each have for dinner about thirty or forty of these scrumptious potstickers and nothing else -- that's all we needed!

[purplewiz]

Mom's ham and potato casserole. It's nothing more than boiled sliced potatoes, cubes of leftover ham, some onions, white sauce, salt and pepper, and bread crumbs on top, but talk about comfort food. I've tried to make it multiple times, and it never comes out quite right.

Sadly, a lot of my mother's stuff is "good plain cooking" - edible, but nothing I'd want to go home for again.

Marcia.

[TarteTatin]

My Bubby used to make Momeleegah (sp?), which I still remember.

It was for Sunday breakfast.

A HUGE pan to feed the family of 8.

Corn meal mush, topped with at least a stick of butter and a huge container of cottage cheese.

[TarteTatin]

Oh, and she used to make homemade Kishka.

[pamjsa]

Mom's ham and potato casserole. It's nothing more than boiled sliced potatoes, cubes of leftover ham, some onions, white sauce, salt and pepper, and bread crumbs on top, but talk about comfort food. I've tried to make it multiple times, and it never comes out quite right.

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My mom made this same dish, but we called it scalloped potatoes. Because of the ham, we ate it as a main dish. I was twelve years old before someone pointed out that this was odd--that scalloped potatoes were, like mashed potatoes, supposed to be a side dish. She hasn't made this casserole in years, for some reason, but it was always one of my favorites.

Her salmon croquettes are darn tasty, too. These she makes for me anytime I'm home for a visit, along with what we've always called "raw fries"--

pan fried sliced potatoes and onions. Mmmmmm.

Can you tell that I grew up in Idaho, home of the famous potatoes?

[KatieLoeb]

No contest. Mom made the best black beans and rice on the planet. And really good tostones. And she did a fine impression of a good Jewish mom and her Chicken Matzoh Ball soup was rockin'. (Our poodle seemed to be "allergic" to some sort of preservative in canned dog foods so he got cooked chicken. There was always fresh chicken stock in the house.)

And I still sautee fresh spinach in nothing but good olive oil and minced garlic. It tastes like my childhood.

This is what comes of being a nice Jewban girl.

[Nathan P.]

Growing up on pancakes from scratch was great; Thanks Mom!

Homemade pizza and pesto before it became popular (thanks to an old sicilian neighbor) are also up there.

[msfurious1]

Fresh ham with cracklings, sauerkraut, mashed potatoes

Sauerbraten, red cabbage, potato dumplings

Porterhouse Steak made in a cast iron skillet, homemade creamed spinach, homemade french fries

Beef barley soup

Baked custards

Rice pudding

Bread pudding

Tapioca pudding

Lemon meringue pie

Chocolate Cream pie

[reuvens]

Where are your mothers from or where are their roots from if they cook all these "non-american" dishes ???

The thread is great though !

[TPO]

My mom's homemade spaghetti sauce is the best. She also puts leftover spaghetti in a pan and cooks it with garlic, red pepper flakes, and olive oil. Yummy!

Growing up, Mom never baked but Dad did. I have some wonderful memories of making homemade chocolate chip cookies with him. When we got to the end of the dough, we'd make one giant cookie and eat it as soon as it came out of the oven.

We also brewed our own root beer, which was ready every spring. To this day, I get intense cravings for root beer around April. One of these days I'm going to have to try brewing my own again.

[Ninjai Fanatic]

My mom can cook, but now that you ask me, the only thing i remember her making that my dad didn't make also was banana cake.. it was good, but that's about it. Pop's the chef in the family, and he taught us almost all we know about cooking- and we just added onto that and learned/branched out and learned what we seemed to like doing/cooking more. .. but I can tell you all about my dad's spaghetti, his Korean dishes, curries, all the different fried rice and noodle dishes.. mmm :)

[Syrah]

Pea and ham soup. She made it every Christmas from the hambone in the hot Australian summer, and yes we had to eat it. Now I freeze the bone and wait until it gets cool.

[mhadam]

After reading Pan's blog this morning it occured to me what my favorite Mom dish is: tripe soup, with grated cheese on top and freshly baked bread to dunk in the soup.

When I saw the picture Pam posted of the soup it brought tears to my eyes. Oh how I miss that flavor, that aroma, those days.

[reuvens]

As most of the great chefs were influenced more or less from their culinary childhood memories, i would love to see a kind of TV show where they visit the mother or grandmother or anybody who was responsible for this first step into their culinary heaven......

Any producers around ???

I once saw a show where they asked Ferran Adria´s (El Bulli) mother what Ferran ate when he was a young bloke......."FRIES !". And now he is one of the most influencial chef on the planet.

[ldubois2]

My mother was from the Campbells Soup generation and a memorable meal that my brothers and I particularly remember was:

Ground beef (did not need to be thawed to use, she would put it in the pan with the lid on low and watch it) (did not need to be fresh....my mom always said that when the ground beef smelled like it was going bad or looked a little grey, it was time to make spaghetti)

onions

garlic salt

1 can cream of tomato soup

1 can cream of mushroom or celery soup

1 can tomato paste

She would then boil a package of creamettes and mix it all up in the pan and serve with a salad that usually contained:

Plated:

large piece iceberg lettuce

1/2 canned pear

dolop of Miracle Whip

two pieces (small) of velvetta crisscrossed on the dressing

She also made open faced tomato/bacon/grilled cheese sandwiches in the broiler, pigs in blankets, biscuits with butter and karo syrup.

[Toliver]

As most of the great chefs were influenced more or less from their culinary childhood memories, i would love to see a kind of TV show where they visit the mother or grandmother or anybody who was responsible for this first step into their culinary heaven......

Any producers around ???

I once saw a show where they asked Ferran Adria´s (El Bulli) mother what Ferran ate when he was a young bloke......."FRIES !". And now he is one of the most influencial chef on the planet.

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If you're interested, there's a book that sort of explores that idea..."Mom's Secret Recipe File ".

[TMus1111]

There are so many - bread pudding, applesauce, salmon cakes, turkey hash, ham and beans, sweet potatoe pie, beef stew, cornbread. How lucky am I to live next door to her still so my kids (and me) can enjoy her food all the time.

[foodie52]

Rouladen in a delicious gravy - very infrequent because it was a pain in the neck to make.

Roast chicken

Stuffed cabbage - infrequent because ditto above.

My mom moved to the USA in 1950 from Poland.

[reuvens]

It is amazing when i think that my mother didn´t waste anything and made such delicious meals from almost scratch. It wasn´t the best food i ever had, but somehow i can´t forget that lovely smell and the taste of her food.

My Mother is from Croatia and then moved to Germany where she and my Dad are still living and cooking !

My father is a master in pastry. Even if his "repertoire" just counts five perfect desserts. He makes a yeast dough without any scales and it ends up with the most moisture "dampfnudeln" (steamed dumplings) with roasted poppyseeds and vanillasauce.

MOM...DAD...I am on my knees !

[viva]

My mother was from the Campbells Soup generation.

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Your mother and my grandmother (who raised me) were clearly from the same mold. I appreciated grandma's processed food skills, because it was harder for her to...shall we say...mess them up.

Grandma's best meals were both processed:

- Kraft mac n' cheese, hot dogs, and jello chocolate pudding.

- Tuna casserole: tuna, Campbells cream of mushroom, Kraft shredded cheddar cheese, Creamette elbow macaroni, and packaged bread crumbs on top. I still crave this, actually.

Actually, to give Grandma credit, she made Swedish-style pancakes fairly well (from a mix) with raspberry sauce (from frozen raspberries).

[daniellewiley]

She also makes this rice dish with sour cream, jack cheese and green chilis that totally floats my boat.

K

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OK, this sounds soooo good, and is inducing a rabid pregnancy craving. Do you have anything resembling a recipe??