Kitchen

[dfyre]

My mom was a wonderful person but, sadly, a terrible cook. Since she worked full time, there were never any "complicated" dishes - mostly things that cooked quickly. I can remember pork chops you could use to sole your shoes (hey, you had to cook pork really well, right?), frozen vegetables boiled in a whole pot of water until you couldn't tell what they were and mashed potatoes (I was in charge of peeling them - to this day, I won't peel potatoes) that you could hang wallpaper with. We survived. My dad's older sister who raised him when their parents died was a great Italian cook, making everything from scratch, so I did learn a LOT from her - pizza, pasta dishes, etc., although I've never made my own sausage which she did. Mom did make a lemon meringue pie that everyone seemed to like - funny, that was all "hers" and I never made one until she passed.

When I was about 9, I started studying my mom's cookbooks when I came home from school each day (I was a latch-key kid) and would practice. Eventually, I got so good at it that mom would say - you cook, I'll clean (my older sister was a very picky eater and had no interest in cooking then or now).

Actually, neither of my two mothers-in-law could cook either, so I never had much to live up to.

[Topaz Gem]

Everything my mother made was delicious, but her roast pork was fantastic. I've never been able to duplicate it, but I plan to keep trying. It was always moist and juicy, and never dry. Her beef stew was also wonderful, but I've been lucky and mine turns out just the same. I'll keep trying with the roast pork, though, LOL.

[jetts_mom]

My mom didn't care to cook, it just wasn't her thing. We had simple, but nutritious meals. She loved to try all kinds of food, but making it was a whole 'nother story. However, my mom made the best gravies! Always perfect in taste and consistency, no lumps - just excellent. While I love to cook and do a lot of it, my gravies are sad.

[Chrysla]

Ma knocked it out of the park with frozen TV dinners. Much easier for her and for me it was far better than her limited repetoire cooking.

[Nana5]

Made from scratch ham salad and chicken salad sandwiches using her home cooked dressing. Delicious. I made ham salad sandwiches for our family picnic yesterday but they just don't taste quite like Mom's did.

[kittymomNC]

House cat, thanks for starting this thread. I already posted about my Mom's vegetable beef soup, but I just wanted to say that I have thoroughly enjoyed reading about other posters' memories of their Moms and their cooking (or not cooking). These stories have brought back even more wonderful memories of my own mother.

[nomar]

Mama's bean soup and chocolate bread pudding. To the poster who keeps trying to make a good pork roast like her Mom's....I don't know if the flavor will ever be there. I remember how good pork chops used to smell and taste when she would bread them and fry them and now I cannot get any pork to taste as good as when I was a kid. I am thinking it is the way they are fed to be lean and the flavor just is not there. My dad was a butcher and having a crown roast was just a regular meal for us. Boy, not anymore. Couldn't afford one.

[LilSweetTea]

My mother's roast and mashed potatoes. The roast was simple but, when it was paired with her one-of-a-kind mashed potatoes, it was something else.

I really think getting the meals just right is all about using the same utensils. My mother always used the same cast iron roast dish and old electric mixer. When I tried making it with anything else, the consistency would be off or it just wasn't the same. She gave me those and now I can make it just right.

[ChynnaBlue]

Nothing signature. My mom was a very good cook and made all kinds of things when she was feeling well. She got RA at 30, so she also used a lot of pre-packaged dinners on nights she wasn't feeling up to cooking.

One of my favorites was her Feijoada, a Brazilian black bean stew with pork shoulder or sausage. No one in my family is Brazilian, but father proposed when he learned that he was going to be transferred there by the company they both worked for. My parents rushed a wedding, honeymooned in Jamaica, then went to Brazil right after. As soon as they got to Brazil, my father was informed that he was needed back in Los Angeles and the transfer wasn't going through. So neither of them ever lived in Brazil, but they both have friends from Brazil and love the country. My father is fluent in Portuguese and always looks for Brazilian restaurants in any town he visits. I love that I grew up with adventurous parents who enabled me to have an adventurous palate and appreciate foods from around the world.

[NanaS]

My Mom mastered home made cinnamon rolls before there was a CINNABON !!