Your Mom's Best/Worst Recipes

[Damaged Goods]

Best:
A two-day German treat which phonetically sounds like “Sauer Bratten And Kaduffle Balls” or sour beef and potato-based dumplings.

The best part was the brown gravy, vinegary yet sweet, and spices that were out-of-this-world. I don’t know what spices were in that spice bag but wow! After eating the dumplings and beef, I’d sop up the gravy with bread.

Next day was more of the same except the leftover dumplings were fried.

Worst:
Mom was generally an excellent cook and baker but she mauled spaghetti. She always used the same string-type pasta noodles with some of the ends sticking together, ground beef fragments instead of meat balls, and loads of onions.

Seems that all the moms in the neighborhood made it like that except for BFF’s mom, of Sicilian ancestry, who made scrumptious meatballs, great sauce, various pastas, and no onions.

 

[CinnamonSugar]

Best: Comfort foods like Lentil soup, Split Pea soup and creamed chicken over baked potatoes

Worst: The Infamous Zucchini Souffle... Not sure what all was in it besides grated zucchini, Parmesan (I think) and eggs, but my mom thought it was the bomb, served it frequently, and I just hated the flavor and texture! >.<

 

[Aunt Bea]

This thread reminds me of a column in the old Taste of Home magazine called Mom's Best Meals.

I remember the simple things like pan-fried leftover potatoes, creamed salt codfish, rich dark brown gravy, potato salad, eggs basted with bacon fat, Spanish rice or goulash, big fluffy baking powder biscuits, pan rolls, molasses cookies, cottage pudding with nutmeg sauce, etc...

The failures were usually recipes from women's magazines or the back of a can and included canned meat, tuna, salmon, or Jello.

 

[jujube]

Worst: Mom's spaghetti sauce. Tomato paste, onions, hamburger and a hefty shake of oregano from a can that apparently been handed down from her grandmother.

I was an adult before I found out that I could like Italian food.....

 

[Pinky]

All Mom's food was tasty .. especially her Japanese dishes. I wish I'd paid more attention to her while she cooked. I can't make tasty Japanese food, except for one dish that I assisted her with, not too long before she passed away.

 

[oldman]

For my Mom, it was her "Baked Steak."

If anyone has the recipe for this, I would appreciate having a copy. I really miss not having any since she died.

 

[twinkles]

my mom could make a good meat loaf but the rest of the food yuk

 

[StarSong]

My mother was the kind of cook who could look in someone's cabinets and fridge, find ingredients most wouldn't put together, and whip up something delicious.

The recipe that was begged for by all the grands is her cranberry sauce from fresh cranberries.

She never did get the knack for using mayonnaise though. No tuna salad, chicken salad, egg salad, potato salad or macaroni salads. When I swapped lunches with friends in MS my eyes were opened to the glory of mayo. I still remember the heaven that was my very first BLT.

 

[Damaged Goods]

When I swapped lunches with friends in MS my eyes were opened to the glory of mayo. I still remember the heaven that was my very first BLT.

Love mayo. I used to make fried egg sandwiches and overload them with mayo. Mom would say, "I see you like eggs and bread with your mayo."

 

[Don M.]

My Mom made the best Lasagna I've ever had. My wife remembers it, and comes real close....better than any I've had at a restaurant.

My wife is from Germany, and she has a collection of recipes from her Mother, and makes some every couple of weeks. My favorite is her Rouladen.

 

[MarkinPhx]

Best : Chicken Fried Steak
Worst : Salmon croquettes, although that might not been entirely her fault.

 

[bowmore]

Worst-Anything my mom cooked. Dad liked his meat well done, and it was years before I had a medium rare anything. He also liked canned Green Giant French string beans YUK!

 

[RadishRose]

Her Swiss steak, turkey stuffing, potato pancakes and scalloped potatoes were the best!

Worst was a lamb stew she tried once. It was horrific.

 

[Gary O']

my mom could make a good meat loaf but the rest of the food yuk

That was my mom
Meat loaf to kill for
Everthing else, jus' kill me

Hated her baked beans
From a can, warmed, served

Once I got down south, I found out how baked beans could taste

Gramma, on the other hand, could make anything from nothing
Everbod would ask for her recipes
'Oh, jus' this and that'

She was a logging camp cook

I could eat ten of her pancakes
Thin
A bit charred on the edges
Real butter
Some sorta homemade molasses syrup
Whoa



Tomorrow is pancake day
Gramma style (I taught my wife)