Rediscoving old food favorites. Have you? I sure have!
The week before last, I was jonesing for Mollie Katzen's Brazillian black bean soup. All my MK cookbooks had been lent and never returned. The very cool @littlestcapy and @chgoeditor found it for me. Which got me to reorder my missing books. All these dishes that I was sure I would remember forever and then promptly forgot how to make came swooping down. I was in a cooking frenzy this weekend, making so many of my old favorites. It was awesome! OMG, her Tunisian Eggplant Appetizer, her Gingery Chickpeas. Which got me to thinking about food that I'd eaten and loved for years and then just sort of forgot about. And then found again and fell in love with anew.
Do you have any foods that you'd put in that category? Stuff that was a mainstay and then just sorta disappeared only to come back front and center on your dinner table?
Add a comment:
Previewing your comment:
HTML Hints
Some HTML is OK: <a href="URL">link</a>, <strong>strong</strong>, <em>em</em>
Comment Guidelines
Post whatever you want, just keep it seriously about eats, seriously. We reserve the right to delete off-topic or inflammatory comments. Learn more at our Comment Policy page.
If you see something not so nice, please, report an inappropriate comment.
Start Talking!
Need a question answered? Have advice to share? Start a Talk topic now!
Sign up to get your questions answered and share advice.
15 Comments:
When I was a kid, I used to make the meatloaf recipe off the back of the Quaker oats box all the time when I was in charge of dinner (from about age 12 or so). I had it down to the point when I could make it in my sleep. Fast forward 23 years and I had a hankering for it, but they no longer printed the recipe on the back of the box. I tracked it down: Prize Winning Meatloaf . Now I'm back to making it about every other month.
Amandarama at 10:55AM on 01/28/09
Oh ginger chickpeas would be my cup of tea! I'd eat it for sure smeared on a good sandwich!
I've recently been reconnecting with my father's recipe's as I was growing up--because now I have to cook them.
* Hungerian Goulash (with beef, pork, deer and wild local mushrooms)
* Veal Rouladen (with a European pickle! Mmmm...)
* Asperagus and capers with shredded chicken over rice
* Pickled Beets
* My grandmothers Borscht
*sigh* oh the memories associated with home-cooked meals...
hungrychristel at 11:03AM on 01/28/09
I used to cook for a family, then only me and I quit making a lot of my family favorites, many handed down from my grandmother to my mother and who knows how old they actually were. I need to start making some of them again - and I also need to make sure I have the recipe written down. I only lend cookbooks to a couple of trusted friends or family, now. I never got some back. There are certain ones that will never be lent out, even to my daughters. They'll have to wait to inherit them, as I did. ;-)
PerkyMac at 11:04AM on 01/28/09
Chicken Cacciatore, coq au vin, beef stew: gosh all long cooking flavorful dishes that stretch the meat :) Must be a sign of the times or a search for our histories through the memories of good food.
ocarol at 11:27AM on 01/28/09
You guys are fancy. I stopped eating hot dogs for years, and I think in this year I've double my hot dog intake. They are fabulous with cheddar cheese.
Also I've been eating hard boiled eggs like a fiend.
PrettyNicola at 12:22PM on 01/28/09
Deviled eggs. When I was a kid, my mom decided to make some side money by putting together "party trays" for people she knew. It became my job to make the deviled eggs. Oddly, this was usually the most labor intensive part of the package, since the rest involved cutting carrots into sticks and opening jars of olives and pickles.
It got to a point where I hated making the darned things. So I didn't. Until recently. I don't mind making them, and they are pretty tasty.
dbcurrie at 1:41PM on 01/28/09
Letszo.
My mother's scrambled eggs with onions and hotdogs sliced into them.
Lamb stew, not by my choice but the BF is nagging me for St Pat's Day.
Mother's German red cabbage (this time with wine not black raspeberry Kool-Aid).
My mother's stuffed cabbage
Chicken and dumplings
pjracz10 at 4:59PM on 01/28/09
@dbcurrie I LOVE deviled eggs. Growing up they were one of the things that my mom would make for appetizers at holiday functions.But I never have them that often anymore, maybe I should start making them again.
One of my other things that was a staple when I was growing up that I have started making again and always have in my freezer is Lumpia. For those of you that don't know they are Filipino egg rolls, that have various meats and veggies. Endless possibilities. YUMMY!
Deseree at 7:06PM on 01/28/09
Vanilla ice cream! I've been going for classy desserts for too long now, I need a good solid classic!
michichan at 7:33PM on 01/28/09
I got to roast peppers on the stovetop for the first time in 11 years and I thought of my mom while I was doing it. She roasted peppers all the time and made so many amazing dishes with them.
Macaroni with squash is another dish I miss.
Lentil Soup with Hebrew National Hot Dogs cut up into it.
Globe Artichokes stuffed with bread crumbs, garlic and olive oil.
@pjracz - Can you possibly send me a recipe for Letszo?? A friend of mine was married to a Hungarian man and his mother made it all the time. She also made something that reminded me of pea bisque. If you know a recipe for that, I'd love it. We used to go to a Hungarian butcher and get these greasy treats in a foil lined bag (like you get Chinese Spareribs) that reminded me of pork rinds. OMG, my cholesterol just went up thinking about them. chiffonade@yahoo.com. TIA.
therealchiffonade at 7:51PM on 01/28/09
Recently I made an old family standard, "Meat and Potatoes". (Sliced potaotes, fried with onion, when almost done and hamburger and tons of chili powder....kind of a hash) It was one of a very few items in Dads repertoire. I mentioned it to my cousin at work, he laughed and said he had just made "Hamburger Mess" for the first ime since he was a kid...same thing, but no chili powder, add worchestershire and bell peppers. Our dads are twins, but obviously not completely alike.
Same thing happened with a hot dog/tomato sauce/egg noodle childhood dish; my sister and I both made it within the same week after years!
Cary at 10:00AM on 01/29/09
@therealchiffonade- This is how my dad and mother used to make it and it was made as a veggie side dish but you can add like meat if you like (as a kid it was fantastic with ham sandwiches). I actually like it the next day cold or hot. At least I know that Bulgaria, Poland, and Romanina do it but of course they call it different. I only know it by watching them make it so I wing it, so most is equal portions
Tomatos chopped with juices about 10
All colors of bell peppers what ever you like, chopped about 10
Onions chopped we use yellow or white about 3
garlic diced (I usually use 3 cloves)
S @ P to your liking
About 2 tbls of paprika (I use Hungarian)
Csipetke or I use orzo about a cup
So you put oil into a stew/soup at med heat add the garlic and onions let sweat for about 5 mins, then add everything else. Turn down the heat and simmer for about an hour with a lid on. Do Not ADD Water, it makes it's own juice. After about an hour you can add the csipetke or orzo and if you want a sausage if you want to make it with meat, anything goes, I always leave this without meat because I would have it on the side. Lid on cook for about another 20 minutes and serve. Like I said, I love it with pork I liked a ham with it. We would make letszo as a side on Easter because it just tastes so good along with ham.
pjracz10 at 1:29PM on 01/29/09
@pjracz - I've never heard of Letszo before, but now I have to make it. That sounds so good. I think I would maybe do it with Kielbasa in it because, hey, anything with Kielbasa is good, but flavor-wise, which do you think would be better for the actual product? I could totally do it on the side if you think that would be better.
chisai at 9:49PM on 01/29/09
Shrimp wiggle
Beef Stroganoff
Veal parmesan
Clams Oreganata
All dishes my mom made and made extremely well.
Don't even know if I could find a recipe for shrimp wiggle but it was so good.
Maybe the memories are better than the actual dish though.
Making me very nostalgic.
Wonder if they fit into a super bowl fiesta?
Nonny at 10:19PM on 01/29/09
@chisai- Oh yeah, kielbasa would be fantastic, actually any type of sausage or meat make it great. I just do it the way mom used to make it and she made it just with the veg's, and then have meat on the side and I love it with a ham sandwich for some reason. But this is really a good dish for vegatarians and vegans, for vegans they can add a non dairy type pasta. I am not sure how csipetke is made, but even tofu would work.
pjracz10 at 10:20PM on 02/02/09