# Comfort Foods **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 1, 2025, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comfort-foods/1019087 "2025-06-01T22:29:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2025, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comfort-foods/1019087/101 "2025-06-03T22:37:03Z")
When i was a kid i wouldn’t eat mashed potatoes. Now i do. And if they have enough stuff in them to be tasty, i guess i sometimes even enjoy them. But they really aren’t anything like a comfort food. ---
**Author:** ![Patx2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/73ab20/32.png) [@Patx2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patx2)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2025, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comfort-foods/1019087/102 "2025-06-03T23:38:58Z")
I love mashed potatoes, or I should say I love mine. Anything else and I’m very wary of them. I’ve never heard of doing pepper in a meatloaf, I’m not sure how I feel about that. The last time I made meatloaf, I did mini ones. I think I like it because I make it so rarely that when we have it, it’s something different. I really feel as though we get into ruts around my house with what we eat a lot of the time. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2025, 6:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comfort-foods/1019087/103 "2025-06-04T06:33:24Z")
Garlic in a good mashed potato is nice. Not “creamed potatoes”! Hate those. I want some body to the tater. (No skins, tho’. It’s a _Me_ thang) My sister puts a small curd cottage cheese in hers. Those are good. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2025, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comfort-foods/1019087/104 "2025-06-04T17:03:32Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > I usually make mashed potatoes with some grated carrot and parsnip mixed in, plus lots of butter and parsley. That’s how my brother-in-law made his “mashed medley.” I loved it. Very tasty and a perfect comfort food. > [@Beckdawrek](#): > > Garlic in a good mashed potato is nice. There was a place in Santa Monica called Chez Jay (don’t know if it’s still there). It was more of a bar, but they had good food, too. Their “speciality” was mashed potatoes with banana. Oddly, it wasn’t disgusting. The banana flavor did not predominate. On edit: They’re still around (established in 1959), but I didn’t see the mashed potatoes on their current menu. Sad. ---
**Author:** ![SCAdian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scadian/32/3292_2.png) [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2025, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comfort-foods/1019087/105 "2025-06-04T17:23:38Z")
> [@CairoCarol](#): > > Sometimes I make colcannon instead (basically mashed potatoes but loaded up with cooked kale, which is quite toothsome). Colcannon is okay, but I prefer clapshot. ---
**Author:** ![CairoCarol](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cairocarol/32/3825_2.png) [@CairoCarol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CairoCarol)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2025, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comfort-foods/1019087/106 "2025-06-04T18:36:39Z")
I had never heard of [clapshot](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clapshot), but it sounds delicious. And served with haggis would be even better. ---
**Author:** ![Hakushon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hakushon/32/5503_2.png) [@Hakushon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hakushon)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2025, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comfort-foods/1019087/107 "2025-06-06T00:01:24Z")
Soup is supposed to be a comfort food, but to me it seems like a hot beverage, not a food. If the tiny bits of meat become big enough that it’s no longer soup and is now a stew–then I am interested. (That being said, I prefer my stew to be in a sauce rather than a broth.) ---
**Author:** ![vbob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/vbob/32/4439_2.png) [@vbob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vbob)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2025, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comfort-foods/1019087/108 "2025-06-06T00:11:15Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > Baked mac and cheese. I know y’all make it delicious. I don’t get it. Too mushy, not enough flavor. Stick with stovetop for me. Mom’s baked Mac n’ Cheese was equal parts pasta and sharp cheese, random amounts of butter and milk, probably an egg or two, with crumbled Ritz crackers on top - baked in a loaf pan until firm enough to slice. Leftovers were slices heated in a skillet until just a bit crunchy on one side. I need to lose the damn microwave and get back to my roots… ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2025, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comfort-foods/1019087/109 "2025-06-06T01:14:55Z")
I read through the whole thread and I think the only ones for me that are meh are pancakes (though I suspect I would like @Chefguy ‘s cornmealed version) and baked mac and cheese (stovetop is good, and Kraft was nostalgia-in-a-box for us expats when I I lived abroad.) As for meatloaf, I like it fine and it typically wasn’t made with peppers when I had it growing up (and when I make it.) I’ve certainly had that version, but I don’t consider it part of the archetypal meatloaf. I love capsicums of any sort so they don’t bother me. (This spring and summer I’ve been making loads of ajvar, a roasted red pepper and eggplant spread from the Balkans and can’t get enough of the stuff. That’s a comfort food for me, when served with cevapi—skinless meat sausages with garlic—and lepinja/somun, a regional flatbread.) ---
**Author:** ![Patx2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/73ab20/32.png) [@Patx2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patx2)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2025, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comfort-foods/1019087/110 "2025-06-06T01:32:03Z")
Garlic is very good in mashed potatoes. As far as the texture, it often depends what I’m having them with. I do enjoy them very creamy, but sometimes they need to have a bit more lumps if you will. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2025, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comfort-foods/1019087/111 "2025-06-06T01:47:21Z")
When I say I like “creamy” mashed potatoes, I don’t mean “runny” or “near liquified.” They should be thick and starchy without lumps, like little white mounds of buttery goodness. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2025, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comfort-foods/1019087/112 "2025-06-06T05:11:56Z")
> [@vbob](#): > > Mom’s baked Mac n’ Cheese was equal parts pasta and sharp cheese, random amounts of butter and milk, probably an egg or two, with crumbled Ritz crackers on top - baked in a loaf pan until firm enough to slice. Leftovers were slices heated in a skillet until just a bit crunchy on one side. If I liked mac & cheese, I would definitely try making this if for no other reason than to crunch up those leftover slices. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comfort-foods/1019087.md?page=5)