What Did Your Mother Do

[homemade]

Did your mother ever have to resort to bribery to get you to eat? Growing up, my brothers and I were always well fed although money was never plentiful and a roast chicken was indeed a treat, so when Wednesday nights arrived I can remember shuddering. It was brown stew night but it was also banana custard night. Of course I had a passion for banana custard but I loathed stews. I tried every trick in the book to get out of eating it, eating stew was surely a fate worse than death I always got my custard but not until my plate was clean *YUCK* I'm 47 now and I still loathe stew!

[Baking_Bud]

Hi Homemade!,

Isn't that funny, you hate stew and I LOVE it! Probably for the reverse reason from why you hate it. When I was growing up, my mom basically made for dinner most nights steak and salad, or pot roast and salad. Spaghetti was not very often (like once a month if we were lucky), and I can't ever remember my mom making a casserole type dish! She just wasn't much of a cook, so it was the same OLD standard stuff every night.

Now my dad on the other hand could throw stuff together like stews, and they were GREAT!!! I even liked eating liver and onions, whereas most kids hate that stuff. His didn't have that weird livery taste that most do. He'd make chicken and dumplings and other fun stuff, so Sunday's were my favorite days to eat as he did the afternoon/dinner cooking. The only part of my dad's cooking that I never liked was that he put those nasty tasting lima beans IN EVERYTHING! I would sit and pick every single one of those out before I would eat his stews, and that drove him NUTS! For a LONG time he tried to make me eat them, but I learned how to separate them from the bite of food, and then would wipe my mouth with a napkin and deposit each one in there. I had a special technique, where I kept turning the napkin and then would SQUISH the bean to make it hold into its assigned place! YUCK! STILL hate those beans!

Now, a few times when I was invited to friend's houses, I was SHOCKED at the meats they ate, as the cuts were not as good as the expensive ones my dad brought home. I can remember a friends mom serving some kind of meat, that had bluish veins all over it. I was absolutely horrified, and creatively cut bites and hid them under the salad. Another friend's parents served cow tongue and again I spent the meal trying to 'hide' that hideous meat. I learned how to find out if it was casserole night at their house before saying YES!

Came to the conclusion that my mom couldn't cook very well, but her meats were at least good and had no weird veins or tastebuds staring at me! And truly, that is why I got interested in cooking, so that I could have the foods that other people were!

It is funny how our 'attitudes' towards different foods get shaped by our early experiences. WOW. Now my mom made a GREAT baked custard, but I think I would like banana custard better! Any recipe to share?!!

Always With My Best, Baking Bud

[homemade]

OMG Baking_Bud I was almost falling off my chair at the thought of liver and onions, cow tongue and veiny meat. For me to discover a vein or anything that resembles one in a meat dish will have me putting aside my dinner and going without. My hubby loves liver (lambs fry to us) and tongue .. I cook both, cannot and will not taste either, the very thought of those tongues slopping around was enough for me. After spending a week on a friend's dairy farm watching the cows at milking time ugh pretty awful I tell you. I was able to disguise lambs fry as kidney for a few years when my daughter was younger and she ate it but one day she latched on to my *deceit* I had no qualms taking it off the menu list for her though. Seems we can relate with mums who had little interest or flair in the kitchen, lucky you having a dad who who more adventurous my dad only cooked when mum was away which was rare but he did give me cheese, salt and pepper sandwiches for 2 weeks for school lunches ;D hooray for mum coming home!!!!
Have posted a recipe for banana custard in the egg recipe section. And BTW I just love lima beans ;D and chuckled at the very thought of you spitting wads of beans into a napkin.

[Chris in NM]

hehehehehe I am just laughing still about your tales! My Mother used to fix liver and onions and tell us kids it was steak. Believe me it was lots of years before I even thought about having a steak. Even now, I am just starting to have steak med. well! I am 57!! LOL Also, my Mother used to sneak in mashed turnips with 1 or 2 potatoes for mashed potatoes. Yup! I DO [glow=red,2,300]NOOOOTT[/glow] eat turnips to this day! As you can probably tell, I [glow=red,2,300]NEVER[/glow] have liver and onions either! If my hubby - who loves them - wants it, he has to fix them when I am gone!!!!!! No lie! YUCK!!!!!!! hehehehehe
Chris

[homemade]

Hi there Chris the things our mothers did to us blah! There should be a worldwide ban on all animal innards and I know you are going to hate for me this but I love turnips but gee whizzer all these years you have been deprived of a good steak
I will say brains and oxtail are beyond description and I thought liver was bad ... ugh and yes I've tried both never again!!!!!!!!

[MarieAlice]

I remember thinking my mother was not a very good cook, nor an inventive one. The only spices she used were salt and pepper, but I found out in later days that was because my father would not eat anything with more than salt and pepper in it. I remember when she discovered oregano...it tainted everything, lol. Every night of the week was a different night, on Sundays we had roast beef or pork, Mondays was leftovers and so on, Friday nights were popular coz it was Hot dog night!!! Even our friends would want to come over for Hot dog night. Now that I am grown up I remember fondly alot of the things she made, and for some reason no matter how many times I try them myself, even using her directions, they never quite taste the same...

[homemade]

oregano lol takes over everything and whacko in the garden it's a great creeper yes have to agree MarieAlice even though Mum wasn't very inventive I can't make her chocolate roll like she did (she doesn't bake now) but I do remember it was years !!!! before I saw colour on the plate when she made a roast everything was cooked in dripping everything was dark roasted (not burnt) but it kind of took the *ooomph* away from the meal. I almost fell over the day I actually saw the colour of her baked pumpkin really could be orange ;D ;D I have got to love her no matter what!

[Baking_Bud]

Hi Homemade, Chris and MarieAlice!,

Funny how we evolve from the cooking experiences of our youth. After I had my children, my mom moved out close to us and would show up at dinner time with a 'plate'. That almost became our joke. And when I'd make spaghetti, she'd always have to say, "No one makes better tasting spaghetti anywhere!" After hearing that same speech for years, we'd all join in and say it with her. Then as if to make the point she say after everyone had said her speech with her, "Well, it is the truth!" I miss hearing her say that now.

I think the difference in how well someone bakes or cooks, is the degree to which they will experiement. There have been many a dish or baked good, that never made it past my own tastebuds! If I don't like something, OUT it goes! And I NEVER try a new recipe if it is for a special dinner or function. Tried and true all the way is my motto!

Well Homemade, I can't imagine anyone liking those stinky little lima beans . They look bad, smell bad, and POP in your mouth if not cooked into a mushy state > and then that prolongs the misery of the stinky taste. My dad would have liked you! He thought the sun set by those nasty little beans. Oh, and one of his other favorites which every New Year's day he would torture us with > blackeyed peas. In my viewpoint, those are equally stinky and nasty tasting in the mouth. He'd make my mom give us 6 beans to eat for good luck. Again, I mastered the art of squishing them on the back of my fork, until I had all 6 attached. Then I'd swoop the spoon down towards my lap, fast wipe, and make my claim that I was glad that was over for another year!

On my list of other veggies I don't like I would add brussel sprouts, hominy corn, and I'd probably throw on turnips too, even though I ate them as a child. Can't even remember them too well, but I know I must have disliked them too. And there is one fungus as I think they are considered a vegetable, mushrooms, that NEVER EVER are invited in this mouth! As a kid my mother used LOTS of mushroom soup on meats, and I would sit and pick off every single little itty bitty piece of those things. Seriously, it was amazing that she cooked with those as we had some family members die from eating some botulism laced bottled ones. That was ALL that I needed to hear to turn me off from those squeegy, icky tasting things. So that sort of rounds off my list of nasty veggies!

My husband's mother pulled that same passing liver off as steak bit, and he said he'd have to COVER it in ketchup to try and choke it down. I think the real art of cooking it if you do like it is to bread it first, so that the liver itself isn't cooking against the pan. Then it doesn't get that livery, hard outside type of taste. I don't eat it anymore. More the moral conscience of my brain, rather than not liking the taste. It fell out of grace with me when I found out what veal really was! And sadly, I LOVED veal before I knew. Not I won't touch it!

And MarieAlice, your mom's discovery of oregano sounds like my dill experience! My mom didn't use a lot of spices, just salt, pepper, garlic salt, cinnamon and those kind of spices. I have a healthy respect for oregano, and use a light hand! But WOW When I discovered dill I LOVED it! Couldn't wait to try another salad that needed some dill! Prior to using it I'd look at the bottle of it at the store, and think it looked like plant food. It sure can add an interesting taste, even on a simple cucumber dish! LOVE that stuff now!

Always With My Best, Baking Bud

[homemade]

You people crack me up ;D Baking_Bud I shall remember to never ever post a recipe with lima beans or black eyed peas Have you tried chomping on brains yuck! just to say I had tried them, my hubby cooked some up, egg and breadcrumbs and shallow fried, they looked okay disguised like that until I sunk my teeth into one omg *squelch* and all the juices oozed out. I swallowed very hastily and passed the quivering mess back to him .... brains, liver, kidneys, tongues, tails, hearts GROSS

[Baking_Bud]

Hey homemade!,

Oh, I am sure there are LOTS of people on here that would love to see lima bean and blackeyed pea recipes, so feel free to post away! Truly it is funny how we all develop things that we truly hate, but I welcome others to snack away on whatever tantilizes their tastebuds.

My mom said she tried brains once, and said they tasted like scrambled eggs to her. Brave woman, for there is NOTHING in this world that would make me eat that. But after seeing your listed line-up of organ type meats, ie. brains, liver, kidneys, tongues, tails, hearts > I'm thinking about becoming a vegetarian!!! You've had a 'tail' of some sort Now THAT sounds bizarre! Amazing what we all eat in the name of food.

The oddest thing I ever saw eaten on a television program was a lobster that was still alive, but paralyzed. The people were actually using chop sticks and taking bits of its meat out of its back while it moved. Now that really seemed ugly, but totally acceptable in their culture to eat it in that form. Hard sometimes for people to judge one another's chosen menus.

Hey, what is it about your mom's cake roll that gives you a hard time duplicating? Maybe we can turn you into a pro with a few hints. Why not detail out the recipe you've been trying, and what goes wrong. I bet your mom would love for you to master her cake roll!

Have a wonderful day! Nice to be learning about Australia!

Always With My Best, Baking Bud

[homemade]

Hey there Baking_Bud! I'd be pleased to post Mum's Choc Roll recipe, give me a day or two to find it as we've recently moved house and it's filed away in all my family history - it's such an easy peasy recipe but it's as if Mum's copyright recipes and they just never taste the same OR is it that we think they don't
Lobster alive *shrieks* OMG I love eating lobster and some eat the *mustard* inside treating it as a dipping sauce even me! But it's bad enough watching them cook alive let alone eat them alive, but as you say it's their culture ... and haven't we all seen some shuddering eating habits?
Speaking of habits and what we eat, my mum used to make brawn which is a mix of cheap meats boiled up with vegies and god knows what else and then set in a jelly. I never ate it, a transparent blob of meat and vegs on a plate no way lol .... and she was a deft hand at making sure any meat didn't MOO before it was served... *stop sacrificing the food Mum* we'd call out. No-one but Mum could turn a juicy piece of steak into a dry chewy lost for words here because it just wasn't steak anymore lol .... leave her with a chicken or fish, same thing well done and so well done that the entire skeletons came away *intact* and all flesh remained in the pan ;D we still laugh over those days.
Have a great day and keep slurping those coffees