Weird foods your mom made

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Midwestern "goulash."

What was it? I have this memory of my mom making something called goulash that was appalling to me as a kid. But now I do not remember what it was. I just remember fearing it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Midwestern "goulash."

What was it? I have this memory of my mom making something called goulash that was appalling to me as a kid. But now I do not remember what it was. I just remember fearing it.

I grew up in WI and we were force fed goulash. I remember watching my dad make it in a deep sided electric skillet and cringing. It was a wretched mix of ground beef, tomatoes, pasta and some other sh!t. Tasted like trash. I’m gagging just thinking about it.

[Anonymous]

peanut butter and pickle sandwiches - was just talking to my dd about these and feel kind of weirdly excited to make one after not having for 35+ years

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have not even read this whole thread but omg where can I buy liverwurst again? I was my mom’s strange kid who loved slices of liverwurst on white bread sandwiches. I never knew it was supposed to be weird ? It was just so yummy. I never even see liverwurst in stores anymore! Sob! Where do you all get it????!!!??? I live in Reston. ( PS The funny thing is we are Irish American, but, my mom’s maternal grandmother was German, so I guess this is where these culinary habits and preference came from?!?)

I love liverwurst on rye with slices of red onions. You can liverwurst at The German Gourmet in Falls Church, but also at most grocery stores that have Boars Head meats. You have to ask for it -- it's not always in the display case, but they do usually have it. I know Teeter carries it. There are also some prepared Brauschweiger, usually near breakfast sausage and hot dogs.

[Anonymous]

This one is from my grandma. I wish my mom continued the tradition, but she never made it herself. Ham barbeque. It's chipped ham sautéed in barbeque sauce and diced onions, served as a sandwich on a hamburger bun with optional relish or bread and butter pickles. SO good, still love to have it whenever we go visit her.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:peanut butter and pickle sandwiches - was just talking to my dd about these and feel kind of weirdly excited to make one after not having for 35+ years

This reminded me of a sandwich my dad used to pack us for lunches on non-meat days (Ash Wednesday, Fridays in lent...). Whatever kind of bread, didn't matter, but it was pickle slices and American cheese. Probably with mayo, but I don't remember specifically. I happily ate it up through high school, only in hindsight did I consider how odd it was.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My mom would mix peanut butter and log cabin or other fake syrup together and eat it with white bread. It was desert for us!

We also would eat chayote squash with parmesan cheese

I do that now at a certain time of the month. Pb, syrup or honey, salt; on toast, apples, or seed crackers - or by the spoonful. If I could eat wonder bread, would totally go there.

We were a chayote family too!

PP here. I am going to try peanut butter and syrup with apples! That sounds really good!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This one is from my grandma. I wish my mom continued the tradition, but she never made it herself. Ham barbeque. It's chipped ham sautéed in barbeque sauce and diced onions, served as a sandwich on a hamburger bun with optional relish or bread and butter pickles. SO good, still love to have it whenever we go visit her.

Grandma lives in Pittsburgh with her chipped ham sandwiches, I assume? I hated them growing up, but not as much as I hated ham salad sandwiches.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I will never stop shaking my head at my mother's idea of spanish rice.

Make white minute rice.
Pour jarred spaghetti sauce in.
Mix.

haha. it least it wasn't ketchup. My grandmother (who was otherwise a good cook) for many years used ketchup as a tomato sauce for pasta. I think this was a thing in the 50's but I'm not sure. This was in long island, NY so there were italians and italian food around. I'm not sure if it was a money saving thing or something else. I recall she had canned tomato sauce or crushed tomatoes around so I really don't think it was about money.

That's how I had spaghetti back in the 70s! Ketchup as the sauce . It was how the bronx irish imitated Italian food back then. I think jarred sauce was just starting to become a thing around then.

I thought ketchup in pasta was an immigrant thing. I knew many Indian American immigrant parents who did it.

May be it’s an Indian thing? I remember an Indian corridor mate in student housing asked for ketchup for spaghetti. I didn’t have ketchup and offered him a few tomatoes I had. He refused and said tomatoes wouldn’t work, he needed ketchup. I thought he was just being considerate since tomatoes would be more pricy than ketchup but now I wonder if he really preferred to make the sauce with ketchup.

If it's an Indian-American thing, it's regional. None of my Indian-American friends in the part of the country I grew up (or that I met in college, grad school, life) do this. It's not like we made homemade marinara or anything...but we bought Ragu from the grocery store.

Ketchup in India is spicier than here, and small dabs might be used with a noodle dish (like Indian version of ramen noodles with Indian spices)...but not like spaghetti sauce. Is that what you all mean?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I will never stop shaking my head at my mother's idea of spanish rice.

Make white minute rice.
Pour jarred spaghetti sauce in.
Mix.

haha. it least it wasn't ketchup. My grandmother (who was otherwise a good cook) for many years used ketchup as a tomato sauce for pasta. I think this was a thing in the 50's but I'm not sure. This was in long island, NY so there were italians and italian food around. I'm not sure if it was a money saving thing or something else. I recall she had canned tomato sauce or crushed tomatoes around so I really don't think it was about money.

That's how I had spaghetti back in the 70s! Ketchup as the sauce . It was how the bronx irish imitated Italian food back then. I think jarred sauce was just starting to become a thing around then.

I thought ketchup in pasta was an immigrant thing. I knew many Indian American immigrant parents who did it.

May be it’s an Indian thing? I remember an Indian corridor mate in student housing asked for ketchup for spaghetti. I didn’t have ketchup and offered him a few tomatoes I had. He refused and said tomatoes wouldn’t work, he needed ketchup. I thought he was just being considerate since tomatoes would be more pricy than ketchup but now I wonder if he really preferred to make the sauce with ketchup.

If it's an Indian-American thing, it's regional. None of my Indian-American friends in the part of the country I grew up (or that I met in college, grad school, life) do this. It's not like we made homemade marinara or anything...but we bought Ragu from the grocery store.

Ketchup in India is spicier than here, and small dabs might be used with a noodle dish (like Indian version of ramen noodles with Indian spices)...but not like spaghetti sauce. Is that what you all mean?

PP here. No, some older Indian Americans I knew put regular American Heinz ketchup into pasta. I remember it most vividly in elbow macaroni.

[Anonymous]

“Turkey taco quiche”. We loved it!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Midwestern "goulash."

What was it? I have this memory of my mom making something called goulash that was appalling to me as a kid. But now I do not remember what it was. I just remember fearing it.

I grew up in WI and we were force fed goulash. I remember watching my dad make it in a deep sided electric skillet and cringing. It was a wretched mix of ground beef, tomatoes, pasta and some other sh!t. Tasted like trash. I’m gagging just thinking about it.

Well that is not goulash. I thought goulash was a variation of beef stew.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This one is from my grandma. I wish my mom continued the tradition, but she never made it herself. Ham barbeque. It's chipped ham sautéed in barbeque sauce and diced onions, served as a sandwich on a hamburger bun with optional relish or bread and butter pickles. SO good, still love to have it whenever we go visit her.

Mmm, that sounds great!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:peanut butter and pickle sandwiches - was just talking to my dd about these and feel kind of weirdly excited to make one after not having for 35+ years

This reminded me of a sandwich my dad used to pack us for lunches on non-meat days (Ash Wednesday, Fridays in lent...). Whatever kind of bread, didn't matter, but it was pickle slices and American cheese. Probably with mayo, but I don't remember specifically. I happily ate it up through high school, only in hindsight did I consider how odd it was.

What is weird about a pickle and cheese sandwich? I am asking in all seriousness. How is that weird?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This one is from my grandma. I wish my mom continued the tradition, but she never made it herself. Ham barbeque. It's chipped ham sautéed in barbeque sauce and diced onions, served as a sandwich on a hamburger bun with optional relish or bread and butter pickles. SO good, still love to have it whenever we go visit her.

Mmm, that sounds great!

Why is chipped ham??