All grandmothers are expert cooks, right? Also, it is a universally held belief that one’s grandma can cook better than everyone else’s grandma. But what was your grandmom’s specialty?
For my grandmother, Nannie (may she rest in peace) it was her spaghetti sauce. Though not Italian, Nan made the best spaghetti sauce to ever grace the planet. Everyone acknowledged that her tomato sauce was better than anything you could find in the finest Italian restaurant. She used only fresh tomatoes, a healthy portion of garlic and Lord knows what other secret ingredients and the sauce took an entire day before it was ready. While it was cooking, the entire house was enveloped in the sweetest tomato-y aroma which always served to stoke everyone’s appetite and anticipation.
The result which was always served on spaghetti, was a dish fit for the gods. Though the sauce was cooked in a big old pot it was gone by the time everyone finished off their seconds. I’ve searched far and wide, and yes I’ve been to Italy, but I have yet to find a pasta sauce that could even come close to holding a candle to my grandma’s.
Thanksgiving wouldn’t be Thanksgiving without Gramma’s pumpkin pie, and she always made it in this certain pie plate. It was ceramic, and it was a burnt umber color, and it meant pumpkin pie.
My grandmother was widowed when I was about 2 years old, and she lived by herself in the same town as us, just a short drive. On Thanksgiving, maybe an hour or so before we were ready to eat, my father would drive over to get her, and she would arrive carrying the pumpkin pie dish, covered with a dishtowel.
What a lovely memory. What a beautiful woman my grandmother was.
What a nice thread idea.
Of course, my Auntie’s specialty was oatmeal cookies and fresh Manhattan clam chowder…
My Grandmother’s (mom’s mom) specialty is fried potatoes. Nobody can cook them like she does and at family gatherings there is always a rush to get a spoonful before they’re gone. Only slightly less popular are the creamed corn and green beans she cooks.
My dad’s mother was legendary for her cornbread. NOBODY has ever made cornbread like her, before or since. Generations of women in our family have hovered over her shoulder watching her prepare it, and only my mom ever came close. It wasn’t that she made a secret of the recipe either; it was just simply that nobody else could get it right.
She died in 1994, and occasionally I still get a craving for her cooking. And talking about her here is making me miss her to the point of tears. I love you, Mawmaw.
My maternal grandmother made the best soups ever! Never from a recipe, never exactly the same twice, but always amazing. The absolute best was her crab soup.
One day, my mother decided to watch and take notes, quantifying that wonderful crab soup. I’ve got the recipe now. It’s good - very good in fact, and very close to what Busi made. When I cook up a pot, the smell takes me back to her kitchen when I was a kid.
My paternal grandmother was a terrible cook, and my maternal grandmother died before my mother knew her.
But Mama’s cooking! Oh, my! Daddy used to boast that he never had any problem getting a threshing crew because everybody loved Mama’s cooking.
I think her sugar cookies were among her most outstanding cookery: huge, soft and just the right amount of sweetness. But then there’s the gingerbread…the halupki…the potato pancakes…
My grandma made the best biscuits I have ever put in my mouth. They were my brother’s absolute favorite food and whenever we visited her or she came over to our house, she would make a big batch just for him. Her fried chicken was amazing, too. Makes my mouth water just to think of it.
Grandma really was a great cook, but you couldn’t get a recipe out of her. Well, you could, but it was of the “You add a handful of this to a mess of that and bake it til it’s done” variety. She was an old-school Southern cook, lard and fatback all the way. I’m mostly vegetarian and can’t bring myself to use lard, but, man, her food was good. My dad always used to say I should spend a summer with her and learn how to cook right.
Mmm. My maternal grandma makes the world’s best Macaroni and Cheese. None of the fake Kraft junk for her. No, she uses real cheese, real macaroni, and puts it in the oven.
My maternal grandmother died when I was a year old…Alas, I couldn’t taste her good cooking. From what I’ve been told, she could make everything delicious. Pasteles, ayacas, arroz con habichuelas, tembleque, pavo asado, pollo asado, tostones, amarillos, etc., were part of her repertoire.
My blood paternal grandmother died loooong before I was born, and my parent and aunt and uncle don’t remember that much of her cooking.
My paternal granny’s specialty is pastelón or piononos. Yummy! After being four months away in college, when I went back for Christmas, what I asked was for some piononos made by her.
My grandmother’s specialty was rhubarb pie, without sugar. It was horrible! She would always make lots and give them out to the family. You had to eat them to be polite, but my god they were awful.
On the other hand, her mashed potatoes were pretty good. The secret wasn’t hard to figure out though (white pepper).
My Granma wasn’t that great of a cook, but she did have a few specialties. Her potato salad was always the favorite at family gatherings, and her plain ole mashed potatoes were great, too. She’d always use a mixer to whip them a bit before serving.
For me, and just for me, she made Cheese on Toast. She would toast and butter a piece of bread, and then melt a slice of cheese in a pan on the stove and put it on the bread. She would make two of them (toast always comes in twos you know) and serve them to me with the cheese having just reached the melting point. Mmmmmmmmm perfect.
My paternal grandmother’s specialty was apple stack cake. So yummy. My dad has been searching for that recipe since then and has tried a few cakes on his own, but they’re always too dry. My dad says she was a pretty good cook with everything else, but I don’t remember anything but the stack cake. She died when I was 5.
My maternal grandmother is a pretty good cook all around. Almost everyone in the family especially loves the chocolate-covered cherries she makes at Christmas, though.
My grandmother is legendary for her homemade ravioli, served of course with her own sauce. She made them for my seventy guest wedding, and she makes them every Thanksgiving.Her pies are incredible too- black raspberry, apple, strawberry rhubarb (with lots of sugar, Manduck).
My husband’s late and beloved paternal grandmother made wonderful fudge and apple dumplings (so I hear about the apple dumplings).
His maternal grandmother is known for her chicken and polenta with a mysterious thin red sauce. Mr. sugaree likes her apple pie best, but others in the family prefer her coconut cream and chocolate.
I do prefer my grandmother’s crust to hers, but I am trying to arrange for an all out bake-down and cook-out between the two. I figure that’s a no-lose situation.
My paternal grandmother’s pot roast is amazing. With carrots and potatoes and onions, gravy made from the juice … Yum! While she was still cooking big dinners, that was what we always requested (she’s 90 now, and has decided she doesn’t have to cook anymore. Go Grandma!)
My maternal grandmother isn’t a big cook, but my grandfather’s thing is soups, especially seafood stews. He makes all the stocks himself, buys the fresh fish and what-have-you – geez, I’m hungry!
LOL! Mama was the same way. “How much of ______ do you put in?” I’d ask, and she’d look puzzled for a moment, then shrug. “Enough.”
My favorite cookbook was printed around the turn of the century and instructions are much the same: “a piece of butter the size of a walnut,” or “bake in a quick oven until done.” No offense, but I’m a firm believer in lard; I think it’s more digestible than vegetable oil and has a less disagreeable taste. Besides, it makes a great makeup remover and skin cream.
TheOnlySaneOne, that’s the only way to make macaroni and cheese! It’s so easy, too, that I wonder why on earth people eat that yucky orange-stuff-in-a-box.
Mama made good mashed potatoes, but I learned a better way from my brother-in-law: instead of using a lot of milk and a little butter, he just dumps a whole stick of butter into the 'taties and only adds milk if they’re too stiff. Decadent!
My grandmother is the world’s best Italian cook. I have trouble eating out for Italian food because nothing really compares to her cooking. Her specialties are cappelletti, tortellini and pretty much any other kind of pasta. She makes everything from scratch.
She is also very good with Brazilian food. She makes a delicious moqueca capixaba and feijoada .
Damn, now I’m hungry for some of her home cooking.
well, Nana makes bean salad, which is good, and Grandma makes pies (I loooooooove apple). They’re not really known for their cooking abilities - Nana is one of those high-class DAR ladies, and Grandma is a genius who did top secret stuff during WW2. Me, I take after Grandma.
My grandmother makes the world’s best homemade buns. Nothing can compare. We call them “Beth’s Best Buns”. I haven’t had one in years. I could go for one right now. Mmm all these stories are making me hungry!
From what I’ve been told, she could make everything delicious. Pasteles, ayacas, arroz con habichuelas, tembleque, pavo asado, pollo asado, tostones, amarillos, etc., were part of her repertoire.