Her fried chicken. Easy. Pan-fried in a cast iron pan. Just perfect.
With her meatloaf on the side. Shut up, it’s my meal. 
Her pineapple upside-down cake.
If I could have my mom back for one day, I’d ask her to make soup. She was a master soup maker, especially split-pea soup with ham, which she made in a pressure cooker.
I wouldn’t let her go without telling me how to make gravy like she did. It continues to elude me, so I never eat any.
I like almost everything my mom makes (except for this weird thing she does with potatoes, hamburger meat, and tortillas–the only potato thing I can remember refusing to eat) but the best things she cooks are lasagne and chicken and dumplings. I can’t choose between them.
Lasagna. One tray of my mom’s lasagna will feed a large family for days. I don’t know how such a small woman can pick up a tray that heavy! Tons of meat, cheese, and her homemade sauce, I don’t even try to make my own because it just doesn’t compare.
Pimento and cheese spread. Momma couldn’t cook worth spit but she made a damned fine sandwich!
I don’t know how she made it taste so good, but I can’t duplicate it. It could in part be the pickles. My grandmother canned them herself and they are long gone. 
My mom is a good cook, so it’s hard to pick just one, but the thing that stands out the most is her homemade sourdough bread rolls. She whips them up without looking at the recipe, yet they always comes out the same. The smell while they are cooking makes you think you died and went to heaven. Baked goods heaven. The best way to eat them is to split them right out of the oven, and fill the inside with butter or cheese and let it get melty.
You know how kids can bring cupcakes to school on their birthday to share with the class? One year I asked her to make rolls instead, and it was such a hit it became an annual tradition. She would make them that day and drive them into school still warm from the oven. I sometimes run into people I went to grammar school with, and they ask if my mom still makes those rolls, as if I might happen to have one in my purse or something.
I have the recipe, I have her starter, and I can never get it quite as good. I’ve made it in her kitchen, so using her tap water and cooking it in her oven – I know that slight differences in tap water and oven temperature can cause differences in taste in breads, but still, can’t get it quite right.
Potato Salad, from my grandmother’s recipe. Many of the recipes my mother fixes I have obtained and thus can cook myself if I want to badly enough. But her potato salad is based on a recipe that says “Potatoes, salad dressing, eggs, onion” and the salad dressing is not mayonnaise but rather a vinegar based concoction which has slightly better directions but still not good enough. Also, while I don’t mind substituting amounts of ingredients (what does adding a few more mushrooms hurt?) I prefer to have some idea what the original amounts were.
Pot Roast with Potatos & Carrots… mmmmmmm…
And Chili!
My late grandmother made eggplant this way too. It was amazing.
As for my mum’s cooking, you mean I can only pick one dish? Blimey. Er…
She makes an absolutely lovely Indian sweet called mohanthar, which is essentially chick pea flour, shed loads of sugar, saffron, and butter. When she makes it, it tastes absolutely divine. Particularly as the brother and I used to got to scrape the bits of mix off the sides afterwards, which was by far the best bit of all.
She won’t make it anymore – partly because she’s done her back in, and the arthiritis makes it difficult for her to stir the mix for the required length of time.
If my mom were able, I would have her make her fabulous peanut butter eggs. They were always the highlight of any holiday at home. She used a recipe that she found in a mennonite cookbook, added a few things, and as any good cook does, improvised and improved. She has Parkinson’s and I have taken over her care here, so the recipe in her mind just isn’t there anymore.
Another recipe that she used to make was one for Amish Moon Pies. A couple of weeks ago, after a visit to my sister, she brought home several pounds of dried apples. I found the recipe, and made 3 dozen of these delectible treats. They were gone in two days…I am definitely making some to bring to Gettydope this year.
Hmmm.
Her ribs - I loved these. They were big ole spareribs, and were they tender…
Her potroast - she made the BEST gravy. I can’t make gravy anywhere NEAR as good as my mom.
Her Tuna Noodle Casserole.
Sigh.
OH - and her tiny toffee squares - these were cookies.
I need to go to Arizona and visit her.
ROAD TRIP!!! 
Fried Apple Pies - with home-made apple butter filling and crust. Basically half-moon pies the size of your hand filled with rich spicy apple butter and then deep fried. Your arteries start clogging just from the smell.
And breaded, baked pork chops. Mmmmmmmm.
One dish?
My mom was a good cook. Just one dish?
Okay… rissoles and mashed potatoes.
(For years I thought rissole was spelled ‘wristle’, to rhyme with ‘gristle’. That’s what happens when you live with siomeone who cooks out of their head and doesn’t need to check the book too often.)
My mom died in 1996. I miss my mom.
That recipe sounds alot like mine, but without the frying. The smell alone is intoxicating
I love fried apple pies. Seems like only Moms can make them well - I tried once and failed.
I would have mine make banana pudding - it rules.
Pot roast. She made it in a dutch oven, then made gravy from the drippings, served over mashed potatoes. The absolute best. Mine is ok, but doesn’t compare.
I miss my mommy, too. She died in 1989.
Nothing that my mom made really stands out for me, so I will go back to my grandmother.
She made two things that I absolutely loved:
-
Her homemade peanut butter cookies. I was smart enough when I as 21 to spend an evening making these absolutely scrumptious cookes with her… jotting down the recipe as we went along. She has passed away, but every time I have Mrs D. make these cookies I think of gradma.
-
Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. My grandma, for some reason, made the absolute best peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. She would add a very thin layer of real butter on the bread first then add the peanut butter and jelly afterwards. To her they were nothing special, but everyone in the family loved those and would ask her to make them all the time.
I miss my grandma!
Oh, can’t you help her? And send me some!
I think I’m going to go have to learn how to make baingan ka bhartha sometime.
If I lived with her, I would. I may have to persuade her to make some next time I visit.
However, my aunt lives in Albany, and makes mohnthar that’s very very close to what my mum makes (they both learnt of my grandma)… 