Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

Her holiday foods, all derived from an ancient cookbook from the "old country." Specifically, there's stuffed cabbage, her walnut torte, and her hand-made, hand-kneaded walnut roll.

Real Italian food. I can never order lasagna or ravioli from a restaurant. My Nonna makes the best. One time my uncle said he went to an Italian restaurant and the food was so good he insisted on meeting the cook. It turned out it was a woman that lived in the same town as my Nonna when she lived in San Marino in the "olden" days. Her cooking was remarkably similiar to my Nonna's and very distinctive. By the way, notice how I left out any stories about "mom's" cooking. Somehow, my mother never became a good cook...and she knows it!

Pie crust. I have never had any - even from places famous for their crusts - as good as hers. After many attampts by her to teach us kids, we have figured out that part of her secret is her really cold hands.

I can make a pretty good pie crust, but the best one I made was done using very cold ingredients, cold utensils and with nitrile gloved hands that took frequent breaks to rest in the freezer. It was a pain and I still did not make a crust quite as good as Mom's

No restaurant has been able to match the simple healthy whole foods mom makes. Growing up vegitarian, "What to have for dinner?" was never "chicken, beef, or pork?" Rather it was, "potato, rice, or pasta?" (All grains were "rice" as a kid) You could guarantee that every dinner would be 50% salad & other greens. Mom often has a hard time eating out because the foods are often very rich. Even now that I'm not a vegitarian, I seem to still crave those simple healthly whole foods.

My nonna made a bundt cake that was moist and had a good crumb. I called my mother when I saw this topic and it turns out this bundt cake was from a recipe in ladies home journal and it called for a cup of oil. That cake stayed moist forever. I could probably re-create it if I set my mind to it.

Yorkshire Pudding.