Is there a recipe from your childhood that you constantly strive to replicate?

[leah elisheva]

Thank you so much worktogthr!  Your nostalgia post/thread is a fun theme! And yes, I do love fish, seafood and mollusks so much!!!

And Noboundaries,  will you come join/post some of your great wine stories in our "Winos" group? The more the merrier! So fun!!!

Happy midweek to all! Make it delicious!!!!!!!!!

Cheers!!!!!!!!! - Leah

 

[noboundaries]

 
Thank you so much worktogthr!  Your nostalgia post/thread is a fun theme! And yes, I do love fish, seafood and mollusks so much!!!

And Noboundaries,  will you come join/post some of your great wine stories in our "Winos" group? The more the merrier! So fun!!!

Happy midweek to all! Make it delicious!!!!!!!!!

Cheers!!!!!!!!! - Leah

I second Leah's compliment worktogthr!

And Leah, thank you.  Happy to join the Wino's group.

 

[tc fish bum]

i have to agree with jimmy about  quality of what your cooking with. make cocovan with major brand fryer chickens then make it with 2 yerar old played out egg hens and its a whole different dish! worktoghtrs probably got great old school cuts from smaller markets that were prepared by a home cook master{ props to grammas everywhere} and that is really really reallllly hard to replicate. my chicken stock secret is i have made myself friends with all the egg farms around here that i can find. when they are getting rid of old hens they call me and i come running. takes forever to simmer it out but what a difference!

 

[sqwib]

Yep!

There was a pizza place that used to make what they called a "canoe" It literally looked like a canoe.

It was an open faced sort of stromboli, loaded with Italian meats.

The dough was thin and not bready like strombolois and would get crusty on top, and all the juices (grease) from the meats would absorb in the bottom of the canoe giving it a great texture.

I used to get them all the time and to this day have never had anything close to it or better than it!

 

[worktogthr]

 
Yep!

There was a pizza place that used to make what they called a "canoe" It literally looked like a canoe.

It was an open faced sort of stromboli, loaded with Italian meats.

The dough was thin and not bready like strombolois and would get crusty on top, and all the juices (grease) from the meats would absorb in the bottom of the canoe giving it a great texture.

I used to get them all the time and to this day have never had anything close to it or better than it!

Ahh SQWIB, you're making me think of the strombolis at Larry's Cheesesteaks.  I went to school at St. Joe's and Larry's was right across the street.  When I wasn't eating their cheesesteaks (which to me were the best in Philly), their strombolis were my choice.  And I have to admit, being from NY, I had a hard time finding pizza, strombolis, etc. that I liked but they were great.  They were similar to what you are describing in shape and ingredients.  If you haven't already, you should check them out.

 

[sqwib]

 
Ahh SQWIB, you're making me think of the strombolis at Larry's Cheesesteaks.  I went to school at St. Joe's and Larry's was right across the street.  When I wasn't eating their cheesesteaks (which to me were the best in Philly), their strombolis were my choice.  And I have to admit, being from NY, I had a hard time finding pizza, strombolis, etc. that I liked but they were great.  They were similar to what you are describing in shape and ingredients.  If you haven't already, you should check them out.

will do

 

[Dutch]

Neat thread! Thanks for starting it worktogthr!

A family favorite was and still is my Dad's Oven "Fried" Chicken". I was fortunate to get Dad's recipe and my chicken tastes like his. I've shared the recipe with family members and they complain because their chicken somehow never tastes the same as ours. They have asked if I'm using a secret ingredient that I didn't include in the recipe and I tell them "Yeah-the secret ingredient is LOVE!"

 

[eman]

My Granny made a stove top bread bread pudding w/ a meringue on top that was to die for. It was the consistency of  a thick custard and didn't have pieces of bread in it. I have tried many years to duplicate it w/ no luck.

 

[worktogthr]

My Granny made a stove top bread bread pudding w/ a meringue on top that was to die for. It was the consistency of  a thick custard and didn't have pieces of bread in it. I have tried many years to duplicate it w/ no luck.

Sounds great! I did not even know what bread pudding was until about 6 or 7 years ago.. Now I find myself ordering it at restaurants whenever I can. Still haven't tried to make it myself.

 

[eman]

Sounds great! I did not even know what bread pudding was until about 6 or 7 years ago.. Now I find myself ordering it at restaurants whenever I can. Still haven't tried to make it myself.

Bread pudding is probably one of the easiest deserts you can make. no real measuring like baking .

 we use day old doughnuts and raisin bread in one of ours. But any white bread that does not have garlic or spices in it will work

 

[mike johnson]

I would love to have my Grandmothers chocolate cake with marshmallow frosting. All made from scratch. I wish I had her recipe, because everything she did was from memory.

 

[dave17a]

Food is such an important part of my life as I'm sure it is for all of you, or you wouldn't be a member of this site. To me, taste and smell are the two senses that can instantly bring me back to my childhood. In the last few months I have been obsessing over making Sunday gravy like my mom and grandma used to make. Gravy is what my Italian grandma called her rich, tomato based meat sauce that was cooked all day. Starts by browning all kinds of meat (hot and sweet Italian sausage, spare ribs or pork neck bones, chuck, bracciole, and pretty much any meat that would be good for stewing or braising). Then she would cook some garlic in the drippings, deglaze with wine, and add tomatoes and some water , throw all the browned meat back in the pot and stir or all day long until you have this rich, hearty tomato sauce. She would also make and brown meatballs in olive oil and throw those in the sauce about an hour before dinner to finish cooking/warm them. Once it was time for dinner, she would put all the different meats on a big platter and serve everyone macaroni with the meat sauce. We would pass the meat platter around the table and take what we wanted. Big cheesy meatballs, sausage, the beef and pork that would melt in your mouth. Put the meat on your macaroni, ladle even more sauce on top and and sprinkle on plenty of grated Romano. Absolute heaven!

Every time I make it now, it brings me back to holidays and Sunday dinners in Brooklyn or holidays at at home where my mom would be yelling at me for dipping bread in the sauce as it simmered.

Now here is the problem... I really love the Sunday gravy that I make... But it is still missing something that my mom and grandmas had. A certain quality that I just can't pinpoint. Maybe they used more wine, did they use onion? It tortures me. And since there are no written recipes for it and my mom and grandma are gone, I keep tweaking it by memory. I read recipes that are similar, constantly grill my dad about what he remembers, and just obsess over it. Hahah sorry for this lengthy trip down memory lane but back to my original question...

I am curious, what are the recipes from your childhood that you are always trying to replicate or feel you have mastered without the help of a written recipe?

I am going to write everything down for my daughter so she doesn't have to obsess over it like I do.

My maternal Grandmother would ask if you wanted some okry. Okra.  Think of grandma even when I plant it. It is the best ever!

 Here it goes.Fry up  a # of bacon or so set aside, throw in your okra to brown, then cut up maters and sweet corn all in the bacon grease. Crumble up that bacon and throw back in the mess. Thank me later

 

[GaryHibbert]

Since this is a duplicate, I tried to delete it, but no such luck  LOL.

Gary

 

[GaryHibbert]

My Maternal Gramma was a great baker.  She taught my Aunt, who stayed on the farm, everything.  My Aunt ended a far better baker than my Mom (who married and moved to the city).  They used to make extremely rich cinnamon buns drenched in carmalised butter and brown sugar.  Unfortunately, my Aunt is now in her 90's and doesn't bake any more and her memery is slipping badly.  I have been trying for years to duplicate this recipe, and have failed miserably.  Oh well, I figure to live for another 10 years (all things being equal and the crick don't rise) so I'll just keep trying.

Gary

 

[Rafter H BBQ]

My Dad's Dutch Oven Chicken & giblets, I'am getting closer to have mine taste like his but don't know if I'll ever be as good at it as he is ! He's always been good with the Dutch Oven !! Me, I try but don't have the same touch he has always had !

 

[dave17a]

Oh, Salt an d pepper to taste of course, plus garlic.

 

[bill ace 350]

My dad always wanted to recreate his grandmother's panhas recipe. After years and years of trial and error, he did it. He wrote it down and passed it on to me and my brother and sisters.