When I think back to when I was little, a few dishes stand out for me. My mom and her family were Germans from the Midwest, and my dad’s family was from the mountains of western North Carolina, and as Appalachian and country as you can get.
My mom couldn’t cook worth a damn, but one thing I do remember her cooking, for some reason associated with rainy afternoons, is creamed peas on toast. She used canned peas, which I don’t care for, but fresh or frozen peas in a white cream sauce on toast is so freaking good to me. Yum. You must use white pepper, even she knew that. I started cooking the family meals at 12 because yearned for good food, but that was one thing she made right.
Another thing was that my southern grandfather had apple trees in his yard, and in the fall he would can a bunch of applesauce. (He would say that if you were on your period, you couldn’t help can because it would go bad.) Then on cold winter mornings, he would make biscuits and put butter and the canned heated applesauce on them, split open. Oh my god. Canned homemade applesauce is nothing like storebought, so if you’ve never had it, you don’t know, but that was a heavenly culinary experience, right there.
My northern grandmother’s M&M cookies and her beef Stroganoff. My southern grandmother’s pinto beans and caramel cake.
Braised sausages with tomato and onion.
Ham bone soup ( Ham bone with pea’s porridge, really)
Savory Mince ( Mince, water, lots of vegies, tomato sauce, gravy, all cooked for a while and served on toast)
Lemonade scones ( Flour, cream & lemonade are the only ingredients IIRC. It’s becoming more popular these days, but when my nan made them, she was the only one who knew about them)
Prawn Curry ( Prawns, Sometimes peas and parsley, curry powder, milk and corn flour served with rice)
Roasts! I used to think it was normal to have a roast once-twice a week. I can’t believe there are people out there that have never had a proper roast meal!
Other then the last three, I don’t really enjoy them anymore, unless I am craving them. If I am craving them, I love them!
Sounds like you are English. We did have Shephard’s Pie in the midwestern repertoire, but alas, no spotted dick. I’ve always wanted some spotted dick. Lemonade scones- I will have to look that up and make them.
Speaking of apple trees, my grandmother made a stack cake made with dried apples, after simmering them for awhile to plump them up. The cake had seven or eight layers almost (but not quite) as thin as crepes. (I’m still trying to get the recipe from a family member.) The last one she made she put chocolate icing on it. That’s how we knew she was getting senile.
And speaking of periods, we were always told that if you’d got your period you couldn’t wash your hair. Not so good if you went longer than three days.
(From the other side of the mountain as your dad—East TN.)
With due consideration to the time of year, my Grandma always made a wonderful wild bramble jam. Pips in and everything. She even put the little greased paper circles on the top.
I fondly remember her fresh bread with thick butter and bramble jam, oh yeah!
On a similar vein I have very fond memories of blackberry picking with my Nannie (Grandmother) on holidays as a child and of the jam and crumbles made with the results. I also love her soda bread, scones and apple tart.
This isn’t a real dish. We had a fig tree/bush in the back yard of the house I lived in til I was 14. And I fondly remember eating fresh figs during most of the summer. I wish that I knew what sort of fig tree it was.
Every now and then I look at the figs for sale at the gourmet grocery store, and nearly faint. I’ve bought them a few times, but they don’t taste as good as the ones I remember, probably for the same reason that homegrown tomatoes taste so much better than store bought.
Nearly every year, my husband plants a fig tree for me. And each tree has died. We’ve taken to calling this ritual our annual fig tree sacrifice.
I was lucky because my mom was a fantastic cook but it was her quick meal casseroles that I miss the most (and can’t duplicate successfully). Things like Chinese casserole - basically hamburger, soy sauce, chinese veggies and bean sprouts or turkey meatloaf with cream of celery soup. I don’t miss hamburger noodle bake though :P.
One set of grandparents used to spend the summers on the coast of Washington and would bring home tons of canned smoked salmon. I still remember cracking a can open in the garage and sitting with a bag of saltines and going crazy on that stuff. Same grandma had a peach tree and she’d have me help her can peaches. Butter, whole wheat bread and homemade peach jam…yum. My grandpa would burn steaks to a crisp - I was in my late teens before I figured out that medium rare makes the whole steak delicious, not just the fat :). My grandma served mince gravy, with lots of “floaties” that us kids could have done without.
My other grandma could make a killer ham and homemade au gratin potatoes. I think that was the reason we always had Easter at that house and not the mincemeat gravy grandparents ;).
That’s why BBQ’s are so good. Turn it up really high, get a fatty piece of meat Get it all really well done and amazing on the outside, and still have it pink in the middle. works well with lamb chops
That reminds me. Lamb is amazing.
My grandmother makes a lovely lamb and rosemary pie. and a lamb curry. and sometimes we’ll just have a lamb chop, with potato, tomato and capsicum, all cooked on a girdle pan, served with some packet fried rice (made by continental) (I don’t know how that started, but it’s good!)
