What is your favorite cooking tip or recipe from Grandma?
Mine is the importance of seasoning and caring for iron skillets! How about yours?
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42 Comments:
Her recipe for 'Swedish Lasagna'
NanaJoie at 3:24PM on 02/05/09
Patience. Let the sauce simmer. Let the onions brown. Let the meat get that crust. Be patient!
BangieB at 3:33PM on 02/05/09
From Nan: "Use a combination of pork, veal and beef to make the perfect meatballs."
From Grammie: "Butter the tops of your apple pie crusts before baking, and dust with sugar for a wonderful crispy, sugary crust."
I miss them both.
juliebugsmama at 3:46PM on 02/05/09
To make perfect chicken soup with a clear broth, don't let the liquid come to a full boil. Bring it up to a boil then lower the heat and simmer with a lid on the pot till chicken parts (preferably lots of necks, wings, backs & thighs) are very tender. Strain & de-fat the broth & return to the pot to cook chopped celery, carrots, onions a bunch of flat leaf parsley tied up with kitchen twine.until just done.....makes a nice clear soup with veggies that aren't mushy. Cook noodles separately, drain and add to the broth at the end to keep it extra clear.
kathyvegas at 4:04PM on 02/05/09
My grandmother used to say "kitchen doesn't like your arse", meaning that you should pay attention to what you're doing and not just put a pot with eggs on the stove and walk away for a couple of hours. Until the eggs explode.
Another really valuable one is to always season your food "as you go" and not be afraid of using various spices and fresh herbs, because food should be colourful and flavourful.
brooke29 at 4:10PM on 02/05/09
Mom's Mom: Watch and listen to your mother! (Grandma and her 6 daughters were so busy cooking for our clan and her boarders that I would just watch in amazement - the whole family descended at one time every summer. Her boarders were from all over the world and worked or studied in Ottawa. All were adults except the 3 children of a world leader who was hiding his children.) I learned by osmosis.
Father's Mom: I don't cook. Your mother will do it.
PerkyMac at 4:22PM on 02/05/09
Don't measure.
I still have yet to master that one.
Traveller at 4:26PM on 02/05/09
My grandmother was notoriously terrible in the kitchen, except for her wonderful kugel.
annabanannas at 4:33PM on 02/05/09
it's funny, but I hated when I would go to my grandma and she used to offer you food from the instant you stepped in to the moment you left... it was overwhelming at times... she would offer you all the "specials of teh day", like a waiter at a restaurant, and if you didn't like that she would go on to recite all the things she could then make for you...
Now I actually do the same when people come over to my house, although not as insistently as her I might add. If people are not into what I made, I start reciting all things I could then make for them.
Funny how we learn and repeat history, no??
MadelynRodriguez at 4:39PM on 02/05/09
NanaJoie, I'm curious about that Swedish Lasagne recipe. <Bambi eyes>
Let's see, Grandma never gave me her Swedish Meatball recipe, but it did teach me to appreciate just about all combinations of meat and creamy sauce (except tuna casserole, which she never made). She never gave me her fruit soup recipe either, but I found a near-as-dammit recipe many years ago; the stewed-dried-fruit version, not the creamy fruit purée version. You gotta eat it with rye bread and good sharp cheddar.
gentlyferal at 5:10PM on 02/05/09
My maternal grandmother isn't much of a cook, though my mom is a WONDERFUL one (she got that from my Spanish-born great-grandmother). My paternal grandmother was a hell of a cook. She grew up on a farm in Cuba and cooked for her 8 brothers and sisters, father and uncles after her mother passed away at a very young age. Everything she made was from scratch, simple and slow. Everything she made was delicious. She taught me the value of patience and simplicity. And also...
Never follow a recipe
Don't measure things - taste them
Always mash your garlic in a wooden mortar & pestle with a pinch of coarse salt (never, ever chop garlic in a food processor!)
Everything is better made from scratch with the best ingredients you can find
Keep it simple (steak marinated in citrus with sauteed onions, roast chicken with prunes, flan, rice & beans)
bitchincamero at 5:16PM on 02/05/09
Neither of my grandmothers were cooks. I did learn one important lesson from my paternal grandmother at a young age- always smell the milk at her house before you pour it on your cereal! Needless to say, I've since become quite anal about date-checking and sniff-testing dairy products.
Embackus at 5:53PM on 02/05/09
from my maternal grandmother (who hates to cook) - how to entertain and the importance of making food, whatever it is, look pretty
from my paternal grandmother (who hates to cook) - the importance of bringing a family together over a meal, no matter who cooked it
and from both -- even if you hate to do something (say, cook) -- it is wonderful, and may even make you happy, to do it for someone(s) you love
jlbrach at 6:01PM on 02/05/09
ps - i love this thread. very nice, everyone.
jlbrach at 6:02PM on 02/05/09
Maternal Grandmother ~ Always have a glass of wine while cooking.
Paternal Grandmother ~ Always have two glasses of wine while cooking.
izatryt at 6:10PM on 02/05/09
Both of my grandmothers were very old by the time I born but my mother taught me one very important thing by example: clean up as you go along and be organized or face a ginormous mess at the end. I learned this because she wasn't very good at it and while her meals were delicious her messes were legendary!
smallblondemom at 6:10PM on 02/05/09
I love my grandmother's cornbread stuffing at Thanksgiving (cornbread made in her cast-iron skillet), and the story she tells each and every time it's mentioned. I'm not kidding, it's every single time. And I smile every time I hear the story.
My dad will not eat onions. Never. Ever. He embarrassed us as kids many times by sending a dish back with even the slightest hint of onion in it. My grandmother made her cornbread stuffing for Thanksgiving, which of course, is full of onions. Dad asks Gramma if there are any onions in her stuffing. She tells him," Did I say there were onions in it?" And her triumphant end to the story, every time she tells it: "And he ate the WHOLE THING!"
I don't ever get tired of that story.
PestoGal at 6:25PM on 02/05/09
If you dance a good waltz, make a great apple strudel then you will have men pounding at the door with marriage proposals. Put a egg shell in the pot when simmering stock's or clear soups to prevent clouding.
pjracz10 at 6:27PM on 02/05/09
@iz - even though I know I didn't grow up with either of your grandmothers, I seem to be rather devoted to their school of (cooking) thought.
brooke29 at 6:31PM on 02/05/09
@brooke ~ Everything tastes better with a bit of vino! Smart women they were. ;-)
izatryt at 6:42PM on 02/05/09
Oh, and I forgot- never drink gin when you are eating shellfish. It gives you nightmares, apparently.
Embackus at 6:48PM on 02/05/09
I never knew my grandmothers - one died before I was born, and the other was in a nursing home with advanced Azheimer's and could not communicate at all. I did inherit my maternal grandmother's Tarte Au Sucre recipe - French Canadian sugar pie - a home run every time and requested at every pot luck and family event. I think of her and wish that I had a chance to know her every time I make it.
PeanutButter at 7:39PM on 02/05/09
Nothing. They were god awful cooks.
Cassaendra at 7:53PM on 02/05/09
Sadly, neither of mine were great cooks.
The maternal one at least did know basics (she just preferred convenience foods and packages/cans) and her chocolate chip cookies were awesome, but most of her food was fairly bland.
I guess her Swiss Steak was a fave of mine as a kid, and it was one dish she did not use a seasoning packet for.
sadiepix at 8:03PM on 02/05/09
my grandma insisted it was the cooks duty to lick the spoon.
always to have a sense of humor while in the kitchen.
and to never trust a skinny cook. their food sucks because they don't taste it and that's why their skinny. grandma was not skinny, she tasted everything.
dearrie at 8:06PM on 02/05/09
from my British Gran - the importance of a well brewed pot of tea - heat the pot with boiling water before adding the tea - always use your own blend, steep for at least 4-5 minutes - "know" the colour you like and put milk in the cup first, then pour tea - use a tea cosy - it must be hot.
I think she would roll over in her grave if she saw the way people throw a bag into a cup nowadays. I wish I had thought to listen to what her "blend" was - it was a mixture of Indian and Chinese, (3 kinds) but I forget what they were and it is too late now. Pity, it was delicious.
bareneed at 8:26PM on 02/05/09
"Eat it before your father gets to it."
cycorider at 8:36PM on 02/05/09
My gram was a dirt poor Appalachian woman who raised 14 children in a two bedroom house with a pot-bellied stove and an outhouse.
She taught me two very important things -
The importance of indoor plumbing (When I was 12 they had a house built with it. She'd flush the toilet and giggle. "Ain't nothing built better on this earth than a toilet in the house you can flush") and the importance of fresh produce/meat. She was one hell of a cook. She wanted a chicken, she went to the coop, grabbed one and (creach) killed one for dinner. She put up all the vegetables she could in the summer. She made her own sausage. She wouldn't dream of making a pie crust that didn't have lard, lard from the pigs they raised out back. Eggs came from the coop. Honestly, the only thing I ever saw her use that didn't come directly from the farm was flour, potatoes, bananas and coffee. The milk, the cheese, the, well, everything else came from out back.
chisai at 9:06PM on 02/05/09
One of my grandmothers made an ethereal creme Anglaise which she of course called egg custard. There was always a pitcher of it in her refrigerator when she knew I was coming. I felt so loved. She wouldnt however give the recipe away so my Mother and the Aunts would ask her randomly over a few days, "Mama, how much sugar do you use in your custard", etc, until they thought they had it all. She lied about one or two things to make sure that no one got it right so hers was always the best. The other Grandmother fried amazing chicken and made a world class banana nut cake.
ocarol at 10:41PM on 02/05/09
when making gravy for your spaghetti, add a 1/2 teaspoon of yellow mustard. It really makes a difference and gives it a nice tang!
southeasterneater at 7:40AM on 02/06/09
maternal grandmother taught me how to make a reservation, she hated to cook.
Paternal gradmother died when I was pretty young, but she did teach me the importance of using loose leaf tea and not bags, how to make caldo verde, how to make good salt cod cakes and most important she taught me to always sing or have music going in the kitchen and to have fun, she always said we spend more time thinking, preparing and eating than we do anything other than sleep, so enjoy that time, and be grateful we have the wealth to do that. She was 90 yrs old when she died and I remember her well into her 86th yr dancing around the kitchen making tea. Thanks for bringing back that memory!
huneybumper at 8:10AM on 02/06/09
I have so many great food memories from both of my grandmas.
Grandma F. grew up very poor and was a cook for a good part of her life. She taught me to "Waste not want not" She did not waste. coffee grounds and eggshells were for the plants. Stale bread went to the birds. stock was made out of all sorts of odds and ends. Bacon grease was strained and saved in a jar in the fridge. She also taught me that food = love meaning that cooking good food was not a chore when you were cooking for those you loved.
She was amazing if you wanted noodles, she would whip up a little spatezel dough, plop it on a small cutting board and using a paring knife who make perfect "drop dough noodles" moving with amazing speed and agility.
lakeloverhh at 9:54AM on 02/06/09
"It's done when it's done." This actually came from my mom - didn't know one of my grandmothers, and the one I knew wasn't much of a cook, I think. Anyway, my mother NEVER sets a timer for anything. She just glances at the clock, knows the approximate time something should be done, and doesn't hesitate to let the look, feel, or smell of whatever it is determine it's doneness. It doesn't matter if it's over or under the time...it'll be ready when it's done. Period.
kimberlymac at 10:10AM on 02/06/09
Maternal Grandmother: When you're making baked goods.... always bake with love!
Paternal Grandmother: When you're buying baked goods always get the Entenmann's!
Pavlov at 10:16AM on 02/06/09
Mom's mom thought (talkative) kids belonged anywhere but in the kitchen. So I learned rather quickly not to draw attention to myself by talking, but I would quietly observe and learn lots. Not always about food, sometimes about the latest gossip around her little town, but....(shrug) So I suppose that lesson is the value of observing with my mouth closed.
Dad's mom would always make the effort to cook one thing she knew each person coming to her house would love to eat. Main course, side, dessert, 30 people coming for dinner, didn't matter. There would be one thing she knew you loved on the menu. I remember once mentioning to her that I had never had warm apple pie and ice cream. I was about 10 years old @ the time. This was only about an hour before dinner. After dinner, the mythical dessert appeared before me. So I learned from her that cooking and love are intertwined. And I have no higher aspirations in my kitchen than to show the ones I love that I LOVE them. Now you all know why my family is fluffy!!! LOL
coffeefrappe at 11:56AM on 02/06/09
@huneybumper, I am guessing that your paternal grandmother was either Portuguese or a Canadian Maritimer - am I correct?
@chisai - I loved hearing the story about your grandmother. I am sure she was a remarkable woman and people like her are the unsung heroes of America
bareneed at 1:14PM on 02/06/09
@bareeneed she was actually born and raised in the Azores so yup Portugese.
huneybumper at 2:47PM on 02/06/09
My Grams were wonderful, smart, loving, tough, sensible German immigrants. How I loved those women!
Grandma Clara: "Always offer your guests something. Even if all you have are humble crackers, offer them with love on your best plate." Most valued possession, Gram Clara's apron she hand-embroidered with cherries.
Grandma Viola: "Your meat needs to have a bone and fat. Fat is where the flavor is. The bone will make soup the next day." My most cherished posession is Gram Viola's is her solid maple rolling pin. If I only had a nickel for every pie crust rolled with that pin!
GolfGirl at 12:41AM on 02/07/09
Wow. I never met either. Maternal grandmother died at least 30 years before I was born, and paternal was probably about 15 years before. I haven't a clue if either were good cooks, but I would bet that both of them would have been astounded at the cooking devices available today, as well as the array of "foreign" foods and spices.
The one bit of advice passed down by my mother that she never put into practice (that I can recall) was that you make the best chicken stock with chicken feet. O remember her saying that, and I don't know if she was remembering it as a fact, or if it was something she heard.
dbcurrie at 12:53AM on 02/07/09
Add fat! She would pour half&half on our cereal in the morning. Mashed potatoes were 40% butter and cream. Needless to say, she died too young.
caseydecuervito at 7:57AM on 02/07/09
Bake from the heart. Everything comes out better when you put some soul into it.
BakingAndBooks at 9:46AM on 02/07/09
From my Nana, my grandfather, my mother and father, and all of my many, many aunts and uncles alike (and trust me, the list of my aunts and uncles is not insignificant in length!!): cooking food for loved ones is a magnificent expression @ your love for them.
Robbo at 1:46AM on 02/08/09