Nothing beats Mum’s cooking

[Shadow Wolf]

My moms a horrible cook, so much so that last night I got crappy with her for turning the stove off, believing my food was done just because the water was boiling (she actually does that a lot).
In all reality I am very surprised none of us have gotten food poisoning from her undercooked meals.
She also packs flour when she measures it (so those things don't taste well). If it's not salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion poweder or Worcestershire sauce (and this one she over uses) then she doesn't use it for flavoring or spices. She freezes everything (yes, everything). And she doesn't even make that many different meals (and most of them are fried and served with gravy). She'll purposely cook large batches to have days worth of left overs. And she won't learn anything new about cooking, going as far to insist some proper methods (like flour sifting) or things to enhance flavor and texture (like searing meats) are all fancy and extra and just not needed (yes, once she even told me "I don't know what it is with you and fancy people" as I was sifting flour one day). Amd she doesn't preheat anything so it's often not cooked right and has an off flavor and texture anyways.
But I learned better. Spaghetti sauce I do well, I can make chicken several different ways, my steaks are flavorful and tender, my biscuits and sausage gravy is excellent, breakfast dishes are a specialty, marinades and dipping sauces I also make, and I enjoy making candies and deserts.
My favorite dish ti make though is a deep dish breakfast pizza with crispy bacon, a variety of cheeses, a spicy cheese sauce, eggs and salsa.

 

[Shadow Wolf]

And butter beans are called lima beans in much of the US. And this is a butterbean:

Didn't know that about the beans. As for the boxer, I've been calling him Butterball all these years, lmao.

 

[Subduction Zone]

Its not bad of you. Everyone likes what they like!

The kids seem to have inherited our spice love. We sometimes buy a spicy ramen that my middle son loves; it really is quite hot. My husband challenged a co-worker to eat it. He took a big bite, cried and threw up. My husband showed him a video of our son(at 8) eating it as casually as if it was mac & cheese...

I assume everyone's tongue processes it differently.

It takes time to build up a tolerance. A friend of my housemate gave me some habanero sauce. I took a taste straight from the bottle and thanked him for the tasty sauce. I was serious of course. It was good. He was rather amazed at that, but to me it was not too hot.

 

[JustGeorge]

It takes time to build up a tolerance. A friend of my housemate gave me some habanero sauce. I took a taste straight from the bottle and thanked him for the tasty sauce. I was serious of course. It was good. He was rather amazed at that, but to me it was not too hot.

My son does his special ed lessons on Zoom, which we do in the kitchen. A bottle of hot sauce is always nearby, and on a day where he needs rewards to keep going, he'll get a drop of hot sauce on his tongue to keep him going(for example, read a page, get a drop, read another, get a drop).

 

[Vinayaka]

So despite my unhealthy reliance on fast food, I can’t deny that a home cooked meal is preferable
And I’m sure no matter how old we may get, nothing will ever come close to our Mother’s cooking (or perhaps our friends mother’s cooking lol.)
So what are some of your favourite home cooked meals?
Your favourite secret recipes?
Your own failures to replicate your family’s special meals? Lol

Mine are mostly curry based, big shock lol.
But as a kid mum would sometimes, for a treat, make me what’s called Puri.
Which are essentially deep fried pancakes. And yes it’s as decadent as it sounds. It’s also really easy to make. Some wheat flour, salt and water, depending on the recipe. That’s it really.
It has many variants you can try.
Would often eat them hot and fresh with syrup or honey. And the leftovers can be eaten cold as a sort of bread with curry. Which is what would happen at lunch and/or dinner time.

Goat Curry. I love my all my aunties recreations, but nothing beats my ma’s lol
it’s a “richer” taste than say lamb, I guess and I like lamb curry too. I just prefer goat. Though if you choose the wrong one, it can be rather chewy lol

Potato curry is also one of the staples I had growing up, given that many of our festivals require us to go vegetarian for a while. And honestly that was an easy way for my mum to make me avoid meat as a kid, since I am rather carnivorous by nature lol

Crab curry, especially using what’s called “Giant Mudcrabs.” Or “muddies” as they’re called here
Omg if you ever get a chance to eat this, do so
I’m eagerly awaiting crab season (for Qld it’s December to July) so I can enjoy this dish. We curry the whole crab, shell and all. It locks in all the flavour and it’s one of my all time favourite seafood dishes.

What are some of yours?

I became vegetarian at age 19 or so, but I do remember my favorite meal from Mom. It was slow cooked roast, and always on Sundays. She had a huge roasting pot, and would throw in carrots, potatoes, turnips, and onions between the roast and the sides of the pot, and the whole thing started cooking at about 10 in the morning, and we'd eat at 6 PM. I remember the veggies more than the beef, but they did have a meaty flavor to them. She often made Yorkshire pudding to go along with it.

 

[Subduction Zone]

Didn't know that about the beans. As for the boxer, I've been calling him Butterball all these years, lmao.

Lima, or butter beans are quite tasty if cooked properly. One thing that I do not do very much of is baking. But even I know why one sifts flower. If you want to be more accurate get a scale. Baking is mostly chemistry. Exact amounts are often crucial. Cooking is an art form and one can often correct mistakes. There are usually no fixes in baking.

 

[Shadow Wolf]

Baking is mostly chemistry. Exact amounts are often crucial. Cooking is an art form and one can often correct mistakes. There are usually no fixes in baking.

Yeah, it's one of things I don't like about baking despite liking baking. There is no correcting stuff once it's in the oven, and even the oven must be right or things won't look right.
Not at all like more regular cooking where you have lots of time and until the final moments of cooking to cook corrections into the dish.

 

[Shadow Wolf]

Its not bad of you. Everyone likes what they like!

The kids seem to have inherited our spice love. We sometimes buy a spicy ramen that my middle son loves; it really is quite hot. My husband challenged a co-worker to eat it. He took a big bite, cried and threw up. My husband showed him a video of our son(at 8) eating it as casually as if it was mac & cheese...

I assume everyone's tongue processes it differently.

According to me, in my world if your tongue and mouth doesn't like the burn of spice you have a confused and lost tongue in need of guidance.

 

[SomeRandom]

It takes time to build up a tolerance. A friend of my housemate gave me some habanero sauce. I took a taste straight from the bottle and thanked him for the tasty sauce. I was serious of course. It was good. He was rather amazed at that, but to me it was not too hot.

I took some leftover goodies from Diwlali (our version of new years) to work and completely forgot that one of the dishes was spicy.
My Coworker said to me
“That was bloody hot, but damn it was tasty”
Oops!! Lol

 

[Evangelicalhumanist]

If nothing beats your mother's cooking -- and if you learned to cook from your mother -- then clearly you are unable to take what you've learned and improve on it.

Every recipe I've ever tried, I've added my own taste and twist. I've failed a few times (hey, human here), but mostly, I've made them better.

BUT. A big but -- I will admit that home cooking, home pickling, home canning --- is hugely likely to be better than anything you can buy in a store or get from the common restaurants of this world. (There are a very few places where chef's create what you would have a terrible time reproducing at home. But since you're going to pay an arm and a leg for it, maybe you're better of not bothering.)

 

[Jayhawker Soule]

Goat Curry. I love my all my aunties recreations, but nothing beats my ma’s lol
it’s a “richer” taste than say lamb, I guess and I like lamb curry too. I just prefer goat.

^ Common Ground !
​

As I've mentioned elsewhere, I make a pretty good goat stew, and I'll take goat and lamb (in that order) over just about any other meat. Both pair extremely well with vegetables such as okra and eggplant.

 

[Shadow Wolf]

If nothing beats your mother's cooking -- and if you learned to cook from your mother -- then clearly you are unable to take what you've learned and improve on it.

Every recipe I've ever tried, I've added my own taste and twist. I've failed a few times (hey, human here), but mostly, I've made them better.

BUT. A big but -- I will admit that home cooking, home pickling, home canning --- is hugely likely to be better than anything you can buy in a store or get from the common restaurants of this world. (There are a very few places where chef's create what you would have a terrible time reproducing at home. But since you're going to pay an arm and a leg for it, maybe you're better of not bothering.)

Hey! You're half way doing Coke's story. All that's left is marketing a switch back the "original recipe," even though a great many of us actually know that really just isn't the case.

 

[Shadow Wolf]

^ Common Ground !
​

As I've mentioned elsewhere, I make a pretty good goat stew, and I'll take goat and lamb (in that order) over just about any other meat. Both pair extremely well with vegetables such as okra and eggplant.

Goat was pretty good the time I got to have it.

 

[exchemist]

I don’t think I’ve ever had rabbit. Despite having relatives who live in the outback (bush/middle of nowhere) where that’s common. And indeed Brit relatives
What’s it like?

Rabbit is very lean and rather like chicken, but with a softer texture and a delicate flavour. Ina stew, the meat falls off the bone very easily after an hour and half cooking. The only snag with it in stews is that you get quite a lot of little bones, so it can be a bit more fiddly to eat than chicken. The butcher will normally get out a whole rabbit and then cut it into 6-8 pieces (plus the head if you want that, which I don't). The farmed rabbits my butcher gets weigh around a kilo, which makes comfortably enough for 4, i.e. 2 pieces each.

 

[SomeRandom]

Rabbit is very lean and rather like chicken, but with a softer texture and a delicate flavour. Ina stew, the meat falls off the bone very easily after an hour and half cooking. The only snag with it in stews is that you get quite a lot of little bones, so it can be a bit more fiddly to eat than chicken. The butcher will normally get out a whole rabbit and then cut it into 6-8 pieces (plus the head if you want that, which I don't). The farmed rabbits my butcher gets weigh around a kilo, which makes comfortably enough for 4, i.e. 2 pieces each.

Damn sounds delicious

 

[Revoltingest]

Damn sounds delicious

Hear that, @Dan From Smithville?

 

[SomeRandom]

Hear that, @Dan From Smithville?

 

[Dan From Smithville]

Hear that, @Dan From Smithville?

Not only did I hear it, I agree. It may be cannibalistic, but not only are we rabbits dead sexy, we are darned tasty too.