What odd food traditions do you have in your family?

[ChoralScholar]

Ours goes back four generations:

Pinto Beans with Mayonnaise

[orion007]

1. There's mayo and then there's mayo, what brand ? LOL n/t

[TommyO]

27. East of the Rockies: Hellmans!

[ChoralScholar]

57. I like Kraft Real, my wife usually buys Hellmans, though.

[blueamy66]

2. sweet and sour cabbage

yummy

[KamaAina]

3. Ewwwwwwwwww.

What did innocent pinto beans ever do to you? :puke:

[ChoralScholar]

58. It also works in Northern Beans.... EOM

[orion007]

92. What works? Are the pinto beans canned or dried? If canned

are they drained? I've been giving some serious thought to this pinto beans and mayo combo.
I just don't get it,so please describe what takes when they're combined (uck) and reach ones palate(puke)
Just these 2 items, nothing else is added to camouflage the pinto beans and mayo?

At least there's no Miracle Whip involved....

[ChoralScholar]

102. It works with any finished beans.

It doesn't matter if you buy the dried ones, then soak and cook them, or if you buy the canned ones and heat them up... just add a heaping tablespoon of mayo to a regular sized bowl and mix it together.

As far as camoulflage, it works best when the beans aren't too soupy, so it does work well when you add corn bread, or torn up white bread.

My latest bowl went like this:

Open up two cans of Great Northern Beans, empty into pot, and add 1 can of water. Get four slices of bacon and cut it up into 1-inch pieces, and put into the beans. Boil the hell out of it, both to cook the bacon, and boil off the water.

I then take two slices of plain white bread, tear it up into a bowl, and ladle the beans and broth over it. Add the tbsp of mayo, mix, enjoy.

[orion007]

104. Knew there was more to this then just the beans and mayo ! thanks n/t

[KamaAina]

4. For years Mom brought sauerkraut to other people's Thanksgiving dinners

it's a Bawlmer thing.

Finally, after decades of confused and sometimes downright hostile stares, she gave up.

[nytemare]

26. I was at a Turkey Day celebration where someone brought that.

I thought it was great! It was something different.

[struggle4progress]

34. It's an ancient tradition: the Indians brought sauerkraut to the first Thanksgiving, y'know.

The next day, everybody had turkey-sauerkraut sandwiches on rye, another ancient tradition :9

[JohnnyLib2]

49. Delighted to read that!

I'm the last one in the family to hold to that tradition; now it has to be heated up on the deck.

[LiberalEsto]

141. It's an Estonian thing too

Used to be lost of Estonians in Baltimore back in the day.

[MiddleFingerMom]

5. The only family tradition I can think of has nothing to do with food.

.
We would wrap birthday presents in that day's newspaper. Cheap, THERE for those
of us who would forget to buy wrapping paper, and a memento that's REALLY cool
decades down the line.
.
.
Came from necessity during The Great Depression era.
.

[Demoiselle]

9. I like that!

I've done that, too, especially with big packages. Add a bright ribbon..and you've got instant and ecologically friendly chic! And of course (I hadn't thought of this) if you save the wrapper, or a bit of it...you've got a historical marker.
I think Martha Stewart needs to be alerted about this. I'm not being sarcastic.

And by the way, our family food tradition is to eat pork on the first day of the new year for good luck.

[Mendocino]

47. We used the sunday funnies for the little ones,

sport pages for Dad, department store ads for mom and the obituaries for the Grandfolks.(just kidding)

[lunatica]

6. Chilaquile casserole to celebrate important dates like birthdays and Christmas

We don't do the Turkey dinner thing but I make my own version of chilaquiles that's to die for.

[driver8]

145. I love me some Chilaquile!!

There is a little hole in the wall place near our house that makes killer Chilaquile..., love it!

[Amerigo Vespucci]

7. My mother used to make this "pork chop thing" EVERY WEEK

There were some dishes she made that were GREAT that she DID NOT MAKE EVERY WEEK.

There were some dishes she made that were FAR FROM GREAT that she DID NOT MAKE EVERY WEEK.

The pork chop thing?

Once a week, every week.

A "one skillet" meal, basically. Pork chops (which came out dry as shoe leather) potato wedges (which never cooked all the way through and tasted terrible) canned string beans (you could really taste that metallic can taste) and canned tomatoes (which, when combined with all of the other things in the skillet, came out bitter and acidic).

:rofl:

[Brickbat]

10. My brother!

My mom, too, made the pork chops once a week. Only there weren't any string beans or potatoes in it. Just the fried pork chops with canned tomatoes on top of them. I hated pork chops for years until Mr. Brickbat's mom made them for us once -- thick and juicy, with applesauce on the side and lovely fried potatoes. It was amazing.

My mom made a lot of dishes well. The pork, not so much.

[Amerigo Vespucci]

12. For the first 18 years of my life, I did not KNOW they were supposed to be juicy

:rofl:

:toast:

[Brickbat]

16. Exactly, same here.

At Mr. Brickbat's parents' house, I was like, "These are PORK CHOPS?" Not, you know, a shoe insole?

:toast:

[Canuckistanian]

64. I never knew broccoli could crunchy til I was 16

My mom always cooked the living daylights out of vegetables until they were uniformly mush.

And the same deal with pork chops. Tough as leather and dry as the Sahara.

What is it with the 60's and overcooking everything?

[myrna minx]

I never knew green beans were crisp and green.

In my home they were mushy and gray.

[LisaM]

103. I didn't know I liked green peppers till I went to college

It was a tradition in our house that we didn't like them, so I never tried them!

[Arugula Latte]

137. And peas, too.

I remember having a revelation eating at the home of a family from Italy. The peas were perfectly, lightly cooked and tasted fresh and green. Everything else was a work of food art, as well. "Ahhh. So this is what real food tastes like!"

[struggle4progress]

33. Mothers sometimes do this with the hope that someone else in the family will take a hint and

learn to cook something sometime

[Amerigo Vespucci]

41. Not in my house

You were allowed to walk through the kitchen if you were on your way to another room

You could get something from the refrigerator, like milk or orange juice

You could get a glass of water from the sink

That was the full extent of kitchen privileges granted by my mother

You could not touch her stove, her pots, her pans, and above all else...

You COULD NOT COOK

:rofl:

[struggle4progress]

46. Hmm. I'm pretty sure that whenever I complained about the food, I got a KP assignment with

an invitation to do better. Of course, if I complimented a dish, I was likely thereafter to get some hands-on lessons in how to prepare it. "Do you like this dinner?" was a dangerous trick question where I grew up!

[dixiegrrrrl]

109. My god....I thought my mother was the only one.

Worse yet, I find I am just like her, and had no clue why.

[Brickbat]

76. No, we had nights where my sister and I would cook.

It's possible my dad really liked this dish.

I never complained about the food we got.

[Spike89]

8. Messing with the name for fried bread

My Mom insists that they be called stretchers, my Dad called them dough-gods, my sister was fond of elephant ears, brothers sometimes called 'em Frijos. I always called 'em whatever it took to get another!

[Brickbat]

11. I make green French toast on St. Patrick's Day.

WTF, I know.

[MiddleFingerMom]

18. I've made green French toast before...

.
... but only after my day-old bread has become month-old bread.
.
In celebration of the time when St. Patrick drove the gonococci out of Ireland -- I call it "Paninicillin".
.

[Brickbat]

74. When my sister was living abroad in college,

her boyfriend came to my parents' house to meet her when she came back. He came the night before she was supposed to be back. The morning of her return, I got up and made him and myself some French toast. I made his first and he sat down to eat as I started making mine. My mom came downstairs, saw the bread bag on the counter and said, "Oh, you didn't use that bread, did you?" I was like, "Um, yeah, I did." My mom said, "Oh, that bread was moldy, didn't you notice?" And I said, "Well, why was it in the drawer, then?" And my mom said, "Well, I hadn't gotten around to tossing it yet." And my sister's boyfriend was sitting there, eyes darting back and forth between us as we spoke, with a mouthful of moldy French toast. Welcome to the family!

:rofl:

[MiddleFingerMom]

13. I did think of a "food tradition", of sorts.

.
Mom would cook asparagus on toast. I HATED asparagus. Part of it was the taste, part was
the fact that Mom was an exceptional comfort-food 50's cook. The "exceptional" label did
not extend to vegetables -- as conventional wisdom of the day had you cook the life out
of them. With asparagus, this just turned it uber-mushy and stringy at the same time.
.
Mom didn't allow me many exemptions when it came time for dinner. Asparagus was one of
the rare exceptions. In exchange for not having to eat the asparagus, I was expected to
eat more than my fair share of that WONDERFUL toast SWIMMING in asparagus-flavored butter.
.
M-m-m-m-m-m-m. For family traditions, that beat Hank Williams, Jr.'s any day of the week.
.
Asparagus, properly steamed with butter and lemon, is now my absolute FAVORITE veggie.
.

[muffin1]

31. Have you tried asparagus roasted

with a drizzle of EVOO, kosher salt and pepper? Roast in hot oven (400 degrees or so) for 10-15 minutes. Remove and sprinkle with a bit of freshly grated parmesan cheese, and put back in the oven for another 5 minutes or so. YUM! The Barefoot Contessa turned me on to it, and I haven't eaten it any other way since. In fact, roasting enhances the flavor of most veggies - even brussel sprouts!

[MiddleFingerMom]

35. I LIKE Brussels sprouts w/cheese or just butter and lemon.

.
But my favorite way to cook asparagus (and about the ONLY way I prepare it anymore)
is on a charcoal (not gas) grill misted with a hint of olive oil and sprinkled with
a TINY amount of kosher salt.
.
MAYBE a li'l lemon juice... but not really necessary.
.
I eat a lot of another favorite-to-hate for a lot of people -- lima beans.
.
I LOVES me some lima beans. Plain with butter, or with salsa and cheese, or with
a little Thousand Island dressing, or Ranch w/Bacon, or even a good creamy cole slaw
dressing.
.
I eat them 2-3x/week.
.
Or more.
.
Funny -- the frozen baby limas, by the SAME company with the SAME packaging, have
about 220 gms of sodium per serving, while their Fordhook (normal-sized) limas only
have about 25.
.
Just can't figure out this damned sodium poisoning we're subjected to by food processors.
.

[csziggy]

113. Asparagus roasted with EVOO, salt pepper, then drizzled with melted butter and balsmaic vinegar

Is really good, too.

[Lyric]

14. Two things: creamed kidney beans and pea salad.

My mother grew up on this stuff, and insists on making it, even though nobody eats it but her. I have no idea what goes into creamed kidney beans, but the end result is like creamed corn--but with kidney beans. The pea salad is a nightmare: raw, thick chunks of white onion, globs of mayonnaise, and cold canned peas all mixed together in a bowl. For me, that's a Fear Factor level of gross. If given a choice between that and the hissing cockroaches, I'd pick the pea salad, but I'd have to think long and hard about it first. Ugh.

[MiddleFingerMom]

20. I've had GREAT pea salad from a chain deli...

.
... frozen peas with small-dice onions/bacon/cheddar/tomatoes in a light mayo dressing.
.
YUM!!!
.

[KamaAina]

21. So even you have your limits, O Goddess of Cheese?

:P

[backwoodsbob]

15. beany weinees using honey baked beans

yummy

[mcctatas]

17. My mom makes sweet potatoes every year for Thanksgiving...

No one in our family (including my mother) EVER eats them, odd in my book

[Mike 03]

19. When I was married, my wife insisted we have black eyed peeds at

New Years. She said in her tradition it was good luck.

[Jamastiene]

116. I didn't know there was such a thing as a New Year's without blackeyed peas.

We ALWAYS have them.

[muffin1]

22. S.O.S. - Shit on a shingle

My stepmother made this crap out of ground beef and some kind of cream sauce, made from mostly flour and water.
Sometimes she would get fancy and make it with chipped beef (Stouffer's still makes something similar).
Serve on toast.


If that's not weird enough, how's this: My grandfather would cut a cantaloupe in half, scoop out the seeds and pulp, and fill it with...CHOCOLATE ICE CREAM.

[Lyric]

24. My dad put salt, pepper, and tabasco on cantaloupes.

:puke:

[muffin1]

25. Oh, yikes!!

When I saw "salt, pepper, tabasco" in the reply line, I thought it was going to refer to the SOS.

Poor, delicious cantaloupes taking all that abuse. They are so wonderful on their own - no need to add anything, IMHO.

[TommyO]

29. I can understand a bit of kosher salt, it's a flavor enhancer

and many sweet things benefit from a very light application (try Lindt Excellence A Touch of Sea Salt).

Pepper and Tobasco, no way.

[muffin1]

30. That's true.

I bake quite a bit, and most people are shocked when my recipes for sweet treats have a bit of kosher salt listed. It really does heighten the taste of the other ingredients without making them salty.

[Arkansas Granny]

80. Around these parts, it's quite commone to have cantaloup salted & peppered

and served with the meal much like a salad or veggie. The tabasco is something I've never encountered, however.

[mitchum]

82. My dad would put gravy on cantaloupe (I guess he still does)

[geardaddy]

97. My dad put pepper on cantaloupe.

lol

[MiddleFingerMom]

37. S.O.S. can be OK. But the Army introduced me...

.
... to the hamburger gravy you're speaking of (for breakfast). Although it's not
very healthy, I really really like it.
.
The absolute BESTEST EVER milkshake that I've ever made (and I've made a bunch)
was a honeydew melon milkshake.
.
Cantaloupe milkshake... not so hot.
.

[flying rabbit]

66. I liked the SOS

as well. One of my better memories of the army. The chow halls could throw down some pretty good omelets too.

[MiddleFingerMom]

78. Army oM-M-M-M-M-M-M-elets!!!

.
Basic and medic training - breakfasts were REALLY substandard fuel food -- powdered scrambled
eggs, greasy dripping mostly-cooked bacon, grits, dry stale toast.
.

.
When I got to my first duty station overseas and was moving forward in the breakfast line (and
not paying very much attention), one of the cooks asked me, "How would you like your omelet?"
.
I thought he was being a smartass and started to suggest that he just stick a certain part of
his anatomy in them as he was going to fuck them up anyways.
.
But then I noticed the elaborate omelet station he was manning... and I got serious.
.
Food in the Army (when I was in) was much, much better than historically reported -- breakfasts
being a particularly STRONG point.
.
We would time our runs to the hospital for lab reports, etc. for the breakfast or lunch hour,
as military hospital food was exponentially better. Dieticians and true foodies, I think, naturally
ended up in those locations.
.

.

[kimi]

94. Military hospital food is the best!

I was an Air Force nurse, and it's absolutely true. Military hospital cooks are culinary gurus.

[Jamastiene]

117. When's dinner?

SoS RAWKS! So does cantaloupe and ice cream.

[muffin1]

130. If I ever have a "nostalgia night" dinner,

I will PM you. I will be eating something else, though!:)

[The empressof all]

23. If you eat potato chips you must have them with Ice Cream

Mind you Ice Cream on it's own is ok but if you do want potato chips they need to be served with a bowl of Ice Cream for dipping. Sour Cream/Onion or Plain Ridged Chips ideally get Haagen Daz Chocolate Chocolate Chip. Barbecue Chips get Cherry Vanilla or Cherry Garcia Ice Cream. The Vinegar/Salt Chips pretty much go with anything but are lovely with a good rich Vanilla.

I know :shrug: Go Figure.

[SoxFan]

28. We're Irish. We consider salt and pepper daring.

[struggle4progress]

32. We don't eat dung beetles. Yeah, I've heard they can be crispy and crunchy, but we don't eat them.

I forget why

[AlienGirl]

36. Picnic food: Fourth of July lasagna. (One year our picnic was snowed out, though.)

And oh, my, is it ever good.

Tucker

[AsahinaKimi]

38. um..

Rice? :shrug:
everyday was a Rice day!

[GoCubsGo]

39. We would eat our ice cream from coffee mugs.

Not sure why that was started. We DID have a sufficient number of bowls, as I recall.

[MiddleFingerMom]

101. In the Sixties, one of the "Better Homes"-type mags suggested...

.
... lining small flowerpots with foil and filling them with
ice cream (pack it around a drinking straw). Top the ice
cream with finely crushed Oreos (without the cream) for dirt
and (years later) put a Gummy Worm or two on them. Put a real
or plastic flower into the hold where the straw is.
.
It's the coolest dessert I can remember from my childhood.
.

.

[TrogL]

40. If somebody says "pass the salt" , they get the entire contents of the table handed to them

There's also the food fights.

[Ohio Joe]

42. Simmer chicken...

In equal amounts of coke and ketchup, remove the bones and serve over rice. It tastes so much better then it sounds.

[mitchum]

83. My mom frequently made that

[old mark]

43. My MIL used to make spaghetti in August, when it was 102 outside -

steamed up the house, nobody wanted to eat it and she got upset because nobody wanted to eat heavy pasta in boiling heat.

Every summer, without fail.

mark

[Nikia]

44. We used to have special baked beans

Made with onion, brown sugar, ketchup, and mustard.
Now they buy Bush baked beans because they taste close enough and are quick and easy.

[Jamastiene]

121. That's how we do it in my house.

We use the Van Camp's pork and beans a lot for other meals. If a certain meal would be better with baked beans, we make baked beans. The only difference is we normally do not use onions. Now, I want to try with onions. :)

[surrealAmerican]

45. We all liked chocolate pudding when I was a kid ...

... but we liked the "skin" that forms on the top better than the pudding underneath. It was always disappointing to have chocolate pudding anywhere but at home; everybody else (restaurants especially) served it with no skin.

[Sisaruus]

48. Are you my sister?

One restaurant in town which my parents frequented, frequently, would make a bowl of chocolate pudding with the 'skin' on it just for my sister.

[surrealAmerican]

72. I guess not.

We had no such restaurant near us.

[Initech]

50. Mine has this sausage and egg caserole we make every Xmas.

Probably the unhealthiest thing you could eat but it is good.

[TommyO]

68. Wow! We do the same thing

Sausage, shredded potato and egg frittata.

[Rhythm]

51. My mother always makes 1 of these odd salads when she makes spaghetti

Either a pear salad, involving a bed of lettuce and canned pear halves.
Each pear gets a dollop of Miracle Whip blooped into the center, and then sprinkled with shredded cheddar cheese.
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_roszvG-b_28/SYbxhtOKQ8I/AAAAAAAAB1w/TeymLJL2gzM/s400/Pear+Salad.jpg



Alternately, she would shred up iceberg lettuce, coarse chop six hard-boiled eggs, and mix in a couple of big spoonfulls of Miracle Whip.



I think she spent WAY too much time reading Good Housekeeping or something...

[Bertha Venation]

75. Oh, that just screams "THE SIXTIES!"

Yuck.

[Arkansas Granny]

81. Here's the pear salad that screams "THE SIXTIES!"

For some reason it was popular to make fruit and veggies look like little animals sitting on your plate.

[GirlAfire]

52. Cornbread and Buttermilk

I hate cornbread, and I'm pretty sure I'd hate buttermilk. So when I see my mom and all her siblings pour buttermilk over cornbread, I almost lose whatever I've had to eat up to that point.

This is kinda unrelated, but... peaches and cottage cheese looks disgusting. Maybe it's not though?

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

53. Candle Salad.

My mother used to make this when we were little kids -- as you can see, it consists of a pineapple slice, a banana, a maraschino cherry and a blob of mayonnaise. It was supposed to look like a candle.



But it also looks like... something else. This was a cute thing for little kids, but once Mom served these (years after we'd last seen them) when my brother and I were in high school. We looked at each other, and we looked at Dad, and we all burst out laughing. Mom told us we had dirty minds. I don't think we ever had candle salad again.

:rofl:

[Kali]

59. OMG

:wow: :rofl:

[kimi]

93. I have got to try that

I just want to see the looks on my kids' faces :)

[RobinA]

148. Thanks

for posting that, I haven't laughed that hard in what seems like years.

[yewberry]

54. My grampa used to make oatmeal with meatballs.

Thankfully, that dish died with him.

Love you, Grampy, but...ew.

[ChoralScholar]

61. We had oatmeal with crumbled bacon - that was very tasty... EOM

[betharina]

55. hobo special.

pork and beans with ground beef.

[Rhythm]

71. Lyric's mom does something similar, but with additions...

She starts with bakes beans, then adds more brown sugar, catsup, mustard, cooked ground beef, and sliced hot dogs.

The stuff is a food group unto itself, and i am now hopelessly addicted to it.
And mine never turn out as good as hers...ever.

[ChoralScholar]

56. In honor of strange food traditions everywhere:

Weight Watchers Recipe Cards from 1974: Did anyone really eat this stuff?

http://www.candyboots.com/wwcards/czarina.html

[Kali]

60. my Grampa put sugar on canned tomatoes

and (lightly) salted peaches, green apples, melon, and grapefruit.

I like salt and pepper on cantaloupe ONLY and then only if it isn't a nice sweet one.

[grasswire]

84. where was your grandpa from?

My father also put sugar on his canned tomatoes and salted his fruit.

[lumpy]

100. Sugar on lettuce. Granmother put sugar on a lettuce leaf, and

rolled it up. Must have been something from the 1800's.

[Kali]

105. born and raised here in SE AZ

his father was from Texas, via Alabama, and back to Wales

[grasswire]

112. interesting

my father was raised on the prairie of Saskatchewan. The sugaring of tomatoes must have been a carryover of 19th century culture.

[darkstar3]

62. Full spread:

Deep-fried catfish with red onion.
Fried potatoes with Bob Moore's seasoning (Mom added that touch, used to be Grandma's mix).
Green beans, farm grown and cooked with bacon
Cornbread, served with a heaping helping of butter
And whatever the relations bring with them. :)

There IS another family tradition, but it will most definitely die with my father:
Wilted lettuce. Y.U.C.K.

[donheld]

63. Madarian Oranges, Pinnapple & Sour Cream

It's really very good.

[sakabatou]

65. My mom like food that cooked to near charcoal.

[zanana1]

67. A sandwich made of butter and ketchup.

We used to call them "les beurres". I still have one from time to time.

[cyberswede]

91. My dad ate that

He would eat it open-face with a fork.

He also liked bread, butter, and sugar - again open-face eaten with a fork.
We would eat lefsa with butter & sugar, but we'd roll it up like a cigar. yummy!

My grandmother would eat cold mashed potato sandwiches.

My older sister introduced all of us to peanut butter & dill pickle sandwiches - I eat those once in a blue moon. I'm trying to get my 7-year old who LOVES pickles to try it...

My little sister eats pancakes/french toast with peanut butter & maple syrup - she has since she was little. I never tried it.

[zanana1]

134. My parents ate cold mashed potato sandwiches, too.

I forgot about the sugar, too. I'm a third generation French Canadian American. Do you have any canuck ancestors?

[cyberswede]

144. Don't think so...

My grandma's family came from Sweden (she was the youngest of 8 and the only one born in the US).
My grandpa's family came from all over Europe (mostly Wales, but other western European countries). I suppose it's possible some of his family went to Canada instead of Minnesota when they settled...
My other grandparents were born in Sweden and Norway and came here as children.

The mashed potato thing must just be a nice frugal way to use up leftovers. :)

[Xipe Totec]

69. I eat my peas with honey;

I eat my peas with honey;
I've done it all my life.
It makes the peas taste funny,
But it keeps them on the knife.

-Anonymous

[dr.strangelove]

70. Torn napkins

I know its not a food tradition, but it is an eating tradition. The story goes, that my mom's family was not poor, but not well off either. Before each meal my grandmother would rip a napkin in half and let two people share it. When my dad first came to my mom's house to have dinner with her family, he was amazed by this and shared it with his family. His dad deemed it a good idea and mandated that they do it too. My parents did it with us as children and now I do it with my family as well. I imagine I have cousins somewhere also doing this same silly thing.

[Aristus]

73. When I was growing up we to go out for Chinese food on Christmas Eve.

Don't know why...

[zanana1]

135. Was it for the "Chinese Turkey"? nt

[Capn Sunshine]

77. Smoked oysters at family gatherings

great grandpa, grandpa, and my dad all loved them. Me, can't stand them. My daughters and sisters love them.

[Arkansas Granny]

79. My family always enjoyed steamed or boiled cabbage with cheese sauce.

Many people like cheese sauce on broccoli and cauliflower, but can't imagine eating it on cabbage for some reason.

[Green_Lantern]

85. Fried bologna sandwiches...

It's not that old of a tradition but my dad always fries up bologna and puts it on bread with American cheese and Thousand Island dressing. I still eat them every once in awhile.

[brendan120678]

86. Not exactly an "odd" food tradition per se, but...

we always enjoy grilling up some Spiedies as often as we can. They're as common as could be back in upstate New York, but nobody here in Connecticut (or anywhere else, I suppose) really knows what they are.

[Sugarcoated]

118. Hey! We eat Spiedies!

I was born in a small town just outside of Binghamton, NY, lived there till I was 8, and the Spiedie tradition came with us when we moved to the Philly area. We'd always grab some jarred Speidie sauce and when we visited cause you can't duplicate it for some reason. My friend says you could marinate moose dung in Spiedie sauce and it would taste good. We put the Spiedies on good italian bread and lay some sauce over it, yum.

[brendan120678]

131. Which "small town"?

I'm from Vestal - born and raised there, lived there till my early 20's.
And yes - anything would taste good after being marinated in Spiedie sauce (Lupo's, not Salamida's).

[Sugarcoated]

153. We lived right across the Susquehanna in Endicott

My brother moved back about, jeez, going on twenty years now. My cousins lived in Vestal right off of Old Vestal Rd. My grandmother worked at EJ shoes her whole adult life . . . it used to be such a bustling lively area with it's own charm, IBM left with the jobs so times have changed. Vestal has some life to it with all the new strip malls.

I agree 100% on Lupo's. And since you're from the area add to that Roma's bread. The pizza and Italian bread from that area is amazing!

[huskerlaw]

87. Dorothy Lynch salad dressing on Totino's pizza

+

If you know what Dorothy Lynch dressing is, I'm guessing you grew up in Nebraska (or very nearby)!

I could never get on board with this, but my stepdad and stepsisters swore by it. GROSS.

[arbusto_baboso]

88. Ketchup on cottage cheese.

Sure, I know how it sounds, but have you TRIED it?

[tonekat]

96. that's the Nixon Special! N/T

[arbusto_baboso]

98. And oddly, my family are all Nixon haters. n/t

[Binka]

107. Better Than Ketchup Is SALSA

Cottage Cheese
Salsa
Special K
Sprouts

And if you are really crazy ad some Beets! Sweet Mother of Gawd that shit is GREAT!

[SeattleGirl]

89. The "Arkansas Dinner": navy beans, fried potatoes and cornbread.

It's still one of our favorites.

The name comes from the fact that my dad was from Arkansas, and that meal was a staple in his family.

Added bonus: I would crumble my cornbread into my glass of milk and eat it with a spoon. :9

[needledriver]

90. A Carvel Ice Cream cake

with the inscription "Bon Voyage, Fred" on it.

The occasion didn't matter. Birthdays, anniversaries, picnics - the inscription was the same.

One year we had a Bon Voyage Fred cake done up, but they did the wrong size. We wanted a bigger cake, so the already inscribed small one went back into the display case and we got a bigger one.

Next week we went for a small cake for a party.

"Whaddya want on it?"

"Bon Voyage, Fred."

The counter man was gob-smacked when he went to the case and there was a Bon Voyage Fred cake already inscribed!

[geardaddy]

95. Peanut butter and bacon sandwiches

Cold baked bean sandwiches

[cherokeeprogressive]

99. Black-eyed peas on New Years Day for Good Luck in the coming year. n/t

[Moondog]

106. Dates

stuffed with smooth peanut butter, then rolled in confectioner's sugar. And then refrigerated. These things have a name, but I forget what it is. Brought into the family by a long gone, and unlamented, stepmother.

[GoCubsGo]

108. OMG, those sound good!

I will have to make some.

[dixiegrrrrl]

110. Mayonaise sanwhiches

Miracle whip sprinkled with sugar on Wonder Bread.
Maybe it was all we had at the time, I was 8-9, but we liked it.

And tomato aspic...guaranteed to make me vomit. Could never get it down.

Orange Jello with grated carrots, that was considered a salad, too.

[csziggy]

111. Spinach with fish; mayo and peanut butter sandwiches

Rutabegas with Thanksgiving dinner. Hopping John and baked hog jowls for New Year's Eve. It's a weird mix of Southern and Northern traditions since Mom is from Alabama and Dad's family was from Michigan.

[Jamastiene]

114. Watergate Salad

1 can crushed pineapple
1 box instant pistachio pudding mix
1 container of Cool Whip
1 cup of miniature marshmallows
1 cup of pecans
green food coloring to add to the look of the stuff

Mix the Cool Whip and pistachio pudding mix together, then add the marshmallows, pineapple, and pecans, fold that all together and put it in the fridge until you are ready to eat it.

When you eat it, try to hold on. It's THAT freaking great.

Great! Now, I want a Watergate Salad. I'm hungry.

My family does a lot of little weird things. We always add ketchup to homemade veggie beef soup. We dip any homemade roasts into Duke's mayo when we eat it. We make fried potato and boiled egg (together) sandwiches.

[Odin2005]

115. Lutefisk.

:puke:

[TZ]

138. So sorry, Dude!

When I went to Minnesota, everyone there told me they would never eat that shit..Your family must be hard core Scandinavian...

[Odin2005]

140. Yup, we are!

:rofl:

[Sugarcoated]

119. Lettuce and mayo sandwiches.

I preferred them with tomato and bacon, but I guess this started from not having those two ingredients around.

My dad used to bread and fry yellow squash. Is that unusual? I don't know anyone else who does that.

[Jamastiene]

122. Did he coat the yellow squash in lightly salted cornmeal first?

Then fry it in oil? We do that in my house.

We also have mayo (Duke's) sandwiches from time to time as well.

[Sugarcoated]

123. I think he did use cornmeal and about an inch of veg oil

It was one of the rare times he would cook back in those days. It kind of appeals to me but the mayo and lettuce I can't do anymore. Another odd thing that comes to mind . . . my mom used to put a layer of butter before the mustard on sandwiches. I had to keep reminding her not to make them that way for me. Salami, cheese, mustard and . . . butter. Ew

[Jamastiene]

128. Yup

We have those either as a snack or as a side dish sometimes with other things. It's scrumptious. :9 :)

[Sugarcoated]

120. dupe

[libodem]

124. Oyster dressing at Thanksgiving

[yellowdogintexas]

149. variation: scalloped oysters. nt

[NanceGreggs]

125. My mother was an exceptionally good cook, BUT ...

... but she had a "thing" about certain foods being REQUIRED to be served in a certain way.

One of her "quick meals" was sort of a home-made Hamburger Helper: browned ground beef and onions mixed with shell macaroni, and a can of Campbell's tomato soup.

The thing was she would only make this meal with medium-sized shells. If she had all the other ingredients, but didn't have shell pasta in the house, she would declare that she couldn't make it - we'd have to eat something else.

I once suggested she use elbow macaroni instead, as we had plenty on-hand. "Oh, no, that doesn't GO," she said.

Breaded pork chops HAD to be served with elbow macaroni and stewed tomatoes. Beef goulash HAD to be served with egg noodles - rice or potatoes didn't "go" with it.

Her homemade chicken soup (to die for!) HAD to be cooked with egg-drop and medium-sized egg noodles - NEVER thin noodles or thick, MEDIUM-SIZE ONLY!

I once had homemade chicken soup at the neighbour's house. When I explained to my mother that it had been made with small bow-tie pasta instead of noodles, AND sans egg drop, she didn't get over it for a week.

Every Thanksgiving, she put out a bowl of cranberry sauce. No one in our family ever ate it. It was put on the table, then tossed in the garbage at the end of the meal.

When I asked why she insisted on serving something that nobody ever ate, her answer was: "Because it GOES."

[dixiegrrrrl]

126. You know her Mom did it that way, betcha.

That's where that stuff comes from....Mom or the primary cook did it when your Mom was coming up..

My Mom apparently was raised to not trust canned foods. She boiled any vegetables from a can for about
5 minutes. We kids used to carefully hide the canned spinach under the rug ( we often ate sitting in front of the radio, pre tv dinner style).
Years later I realized that since she had been raised eating from home canned vegies,
it was the fear of botulism.
but...........uggggh.

[NanceGreggs]

127. You're right ...

... it was the uggggh factor that many of us grew up with - cook it, no matter WHAT it is, until you're sure it's dead and/or sanitized.

No doubt my kids (or grandkids, IF I ever HAVE any - but that's a whole 'nother thread) will be posting here years from now, telling tales about the uggggh factors in MY cooking!

"And then she made chicken soup with wild rice - instead of medium-sized noodles - what WAS she thinking?!?"

[Rhiannon12866]

129. OMG! We may have the same mother...

My mother isn't a bad cook, but everything was always the same. I was almost an an adult before I learned that there was any other spaghetti sauce than her homemade meat sauce, always served with thin spaghetti. And her "cabbage salad," really finely chopped cole slaw, and squash on Thanksgiving that no one but her would eat. Certain holidays called for certain meals, no variation, though the cranberry sauce eventually did disappear... She once had a meltdown because I skimmed the fat off her homemade chicken soup. And that's meant to be served with the fine noodles... ;)

I use several of her recipes, but with my own variations, depending on what's available and whom I'm making it for... :-)

[NanceGreggs]

139. My mom made SO many things ...

... that were truly fantastic. But she just couldn't get past this idea that everything had to "go" with certain other things.

I once told my husband that my mother actually could have run a great, home-cookin' type restaurant. He said, "Yeah, and she could have called the place NO SUBSTITUTIONS!!!"

[Rhiannon12866]

150. LOL!

My mother's repertoire was limited, but what she made was very good. :9

But everything had to go together, as you said. Lamb chops with mint, pork chops with applesauce, chicken with rice, pizza on Saturdays. Though from what I've experienced with my friends who had first generation Italian parents, they grew up having a certain thing on each day of the week, every week... :shrug:

I was out on my own before I discovered spaghetti sauce without meat and all the amazing shapes that pasta could come in. My mother made the best apple pies from scratch, infrequently cherry, and pumpkin for Thanksgiving. My personal favorite, blueberry, she bought at the store, and her pies were so much better... :-(

The thing is that her mother, my Polish grandmother, was an amazing cook, She could make everything out of anything and never used a recipe. I wish so much that I'd taken an interest in cooking early enough to have learned from her. *sigh*

[elias49]

132. Another oatmeal variation...with small pieces of fried lamb

and one-inch squares of pumpernickel bread. Us kids thought it was cool that we were allowed to cut up the bread.
It's an Albanian recipe I guess. Passed it on to MY kids and I still love it.
Mmmmm. It'll last all day!

[tigereye]

133. dad telling us every food we didn't want to eat "tastes like popcorn"

and scrapple. And liverwurst. Ugh. Plus my MGM ate beef hearts. Gross.

[azmouse]

136. We add mustard to chicken noodle soup.

I can't think of anything else that would seem odd.

[LiberalEsto]

142. Lard sandwiches

My parents were immigrants from Estonia, with a stopover in a refugee camp for several years. They learned the hard way not to waste food. Also, Estonians eat a lot of fat because they live in a cold northern country with long winters. They have a lot of heart disease over there.

Whenever my mother roasted pork or friend bacon, she would leave the meat juices in the pan. The next day, she scooped up the hardened leftover fat and smeared it on dark bread (no white bread was allowed in our house)like butter. We ate these lard sandwiches with salt and pepper. As a variation, she fried the dark bread slices in the bacon fat and served them to us alongside the bacon and eggs for breakfast.

I haven't touched a lard sandwich for more than 40 years, and don't plan on having one again.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

143. When my mom wanted to lose weight, she'd eat canned peaches topped with

cottage cheese and paprika.

My dad used to snack on two slices of bread with heavy cream poured over them.

[ellaydubya]

146. Learned from my grandfather

Red/ pinto beans and cornbread- nice and simple, yes?? But what we do is break up a piece of cornbread on plate or bowl, spoon some beans and a little bean liquor over the cornbread, some chopped white onion on top of that, several good dashes of Tabasco, S & P- the take your fork and mash it together- it might need a little more bean liquor (that is what my grandfather called the liquid in the beans) to make it a nice consistency, and ENJOY!!!! It is disgusting looking but oh! so good!!! I thought every one ate their beans that way for years- why would you not!?!?!?

[TokenQueer]

147. My wicked stepmother, when she was pregnant, craved Fritos with buttermilk...eaten like cereal.

:puke:

[astonamous]

151. Carrot pudding, fry sauce and mashed potatoes...

Carrot pudding is a Christmas time tradition with choice of rum sauce, lemon sauce or whipped cream.

French fries are better with fry sauce. (Utah thing)

Home-made chicken noodle soup over mashed potatoes.


Yes, we are all fat!

[DFW]

152. Eggplant slices marinated in olive oil and broiled with Brinjal Pickle

My wife started it, but it wil not die with us!