Question of the Day, Saturday, February 3

[Winchester]

Happy Weekend!

Has does your style of cooking resemble how your mom cooked? Do you cook like she does/did? How different do you cook?

I have many of my mom's favorite recipes and I use them. Some of them have been handed down from my grandmother and aunts. Her Old Black Joe cake is delicious, for example, and so is her Hot Milk Sponge Cake. She primarily cooked from scratch when we were kids, although she wasn't very adventurous, both because Dad was a big meat and potatoes fan and because she never seemed to have a lot of time. She was a good cook; I loved her fried chicken and waffles. She made the best meatloaf in her electric skillet, no loaf pans. I didn't care for her ground beef bbq or her spaghetti. But, oh man, her potato salad? Best ever.

I didn't learn to cook from Mom. She really didn't want us in the kitchen when she was cooking. I'm more of an experimental cook and love trying new recipes. I found out, too, that I could make something that Mom swore Dad wouldn't touch and he'd come to our table and eat it and come back for seconds. I'll never be able to duplicate her potato salad and have finally figured out that I make a good potato salad and let it go at that.

What about you? Do you cook like your mom did?

 

[Tik cat's mum]

I only cook a couple of thing's mum did. She was always in the kitchen but even though I can cook I'm not a fan. I prefer easy options that don't have alot of preparation. I was young when mum passed so learnt from dad. He could cook too but never baked like mum.

 

[Furballsmom]

My mom moved from Europe to the States, and didn't have any experience cooking or baking. She learned how to from The. Best., which were the ladies in that farming and ranching community. But, although she got pretty good at both, she never loved it. I still have some of her recipes, such as an awesome creamed corn casserole but hardly ever use them.

I still remember how she found that my method of a little lower and slower (temp and time) tended to turn out better hamburgers and pork chops interesting, because she didn't have the patience and would turned up the heat too high, resulting in more char than was necessary lol

However, this is me too;

I'm more of an experimental cook and love trying new recipes.

 

[denice]

My mother was a basic meat and potatoes cook. It wasn't something that she enjoyed it was just something done out of necessity. I am basically the same way but I do try to cook healthier. I don't eat as much red meat or gravies. I also have the meatless days.

 

[Kat0121]

No. Mom does not like to cook. Never did, never will. I had to find my own style. The only thing I make that she made is potato salad and that's my grandmother's recipe.

 

[rubysmama]

My parents were mostly meat and potato eaters, and I'm vegetarian. So my cooking is almost 100% different from how my Mom cooked.

 

[susanm9006]

Not anything like my mom‘s - she was a terrible cook, could turn any meat into shoe leather and vegetables came from jars or cans. She did use her pressure cooker on occasion and made a few delicious things with it.

 

[catloverfromwayback]

Mum hardly had a style of cooking. She only started when she got married. I think it was the same for her mother, who was a terrible cook from what I've heard (poor woman had to cook for twelve people by the time she'd had all those children, and this during the Great Depression). I don't cook at all now, I reheat the meals made by the village cook. I have always disliked the idea of cooking. Didn't help having a Home Eco teacher who was of the "you should already know how to do my subject and be perfectly confident" variety of teacher.

 

[neely]

My mother was a basic meat and potatoes cook. It wasn't something that she enjoyed it was just something done out of necessity.

This pretty much describes my mom to a T. She cooked almost every night but it was seasoned with salt only. I like to use seasonings when I cook and never use salt. She never baked but both my sister and I love to bake from scratch.

 

[denice]

My mom did do some baking. The occasional pie, she could just seem to throw together a crust and it turned out every time. There were shortcakes when we had strawberries in the garden. She also would very occasionally, maybe once or twice a year make homemade bread.

 

[MoochNNoodles]

Yes and no. There are no bad cooks in my family. My mom cooked a lot more traditional dishes throughout my teen years. Before that it was just the 2 of us most of the time and we lived on a tighter budget. I remember most boxed side dishes and Tuna Helper kind of meals.

My husband was raised very different and over the years our meals have become a source of frustration. I can cook. I no longer enjoy it. I have no desire for pretty much any boxed side dish. I cook healthy. Its just gotten bland and uninteresting.

 

[lizzie]

My Mom was an experimenter in her kitchen,and so was her Mom.They were always coming up with different combinations,seasonings to use on something new,cooking foods nobody else was cooking at the time...it's what I was raised with and that's me to a tee.I can't leave anything alone and well,if it works great this way,what about that way,or add this instead of that.I don't seem to have it in me to resist that urge.

 

[Willowy]

Neither of my grandmothers cooked. So my parents don't either. Plus my dad has autism-related ARFID are there are like 5 things he'll eat, so my mom gave up a long time ago. She makes whatever he wants (usually plain rice with sausage or fishsticks) and a pre-packaged salad for herself.

When I was young and my dad wasn't home it was mostly ground beef/turkey mixed with. . .something. Noodles, rice, bread to make meatloaf, etc. Maybe frozen chicken nuggets or fishsticks. A lot of spaghetti.

I went through a phase of cooking a lot but I don't really have the talent for it. I can follow a recipe but have to follow it exactly, because I don't have the chops to know how to tweak it and still have it taste good. Currently I'm trying the "eat like a bear" diet so it's mostly packaged salads for me too.

 

[kashmir64]

I cook so much better than my mom ever did, and any thing she baked came from a box.
The only thing that I bake from a box is brownies and only because I don't have/can't get the proper tools. (liquid chocolate or proper equipment to melt it)

 

[nurseangel]

My mom was a great cook. After I made my first project in Home Economics (instant pistachio pudding), I asked if I could start cooking dinner for the family sometimes and was expecting a no. As it turned out, she was happy. She hated to cook. Who knew?

She made the best fried chicken I've ever tasted and I have been unable to duplicate it, though I still try. I can make rigatoni just like hers. I have never attempted lumphia, Filipino egg rolls, but I am pretty sure mine could turn into a major disaster. Hers were delicious.

 

[MonaLyssa33]

In some ways, I cook like my parents, but I am not afraid of trying new things or actually using seasoning, so that is a big difference.

 

[AbbysMom]

Not anything like my mom‘s - she was a terrible cook, could turn any meat into shoe leather and vegetables came from jars or cans.

We ate a lot from boxes and cans. She never enjoyed cooking. She would love it when I gave her leftovers.

 

[Lari]

In some ways. I don't use a lot of her recipes, and I like branching out more and more interesting comboes. We usually had a meat, a starch, and a vegetable. And veggies were almost always just heated up from a can and I almost never used canned veggies (I do use canned rinsed beans occasionally), always fresh or frozen.

 

[Furballsmom]

She hated to cook. Who knew?

lol, right!?

Tuna Helper

Not to hijack the thread, but I absolutely loved tuna helper and hamburger helper when I was a kid, until Mom found out how bad the box ingredients were and we never had them again LOL

Do you cook like your mom did?

Wow, there are a lot of people's mothers who couldn't, or flat out didn't like to, cook.

 

[cassiopea]

My dad was the cook in the family, not my mom! So, he was the one that prepared all the meals and supper.

I don't like cooking, but when I do, I would say I am fairly close to his style. He always used recipes from these really nice cooking books (Like Cordon Bleu) and was often inspired by some of his favourite top chefs. I pretty much followed suit, since the quality and guidance are quite excellent. French cooking is my personal favourite.

That being said, I much prefer baking! And I am thankful and grateful that my boyfriend is the cook in the relationship