It Doesn't Taste Like Mom's
hey guys!! with mother's day coming up, i've been thinking about certain foods that it seems only my mom knows how to make, and it just isnt the same if she does not make it.
for me, its potato salad. im not a fan of anything with mayo, but i love my mom's homemade red potato and dill salad. perfect summer food!! for a long time, it was guacamole too. i will now eat other kinds, but still, nothing compares to mom's. same with homemade mac and cheese.
what are those foods, the ones you just cant eat if mom doesnt make them? it doesnt have to be mom either! mom, grandma, aunt, dad, etc!
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29 Comments:
my mom's stuffed cabbage (holubki) .... no body makes it like mom!
pooch at 3:21PM on 04/29/09
For me it would have to be my grandmother's "tomato surprise." Now, my family is definitely not Italian and it was certainly not a traditional recipe. Her joke was always, "What's the surprise? There's bacon in it!" lol I have since learned that normal tomato surprise doesn't have bacon or noodles or cinnamon...But that's how she made it and I love it. No matter what I do to re-create it it never comes out right.
P.S. I know it sounds way gross, but it's not. :-)
philadooklyn at 3:21PM on 04/29/09
I think it's the LOVE they put into it that makes it taste so good.
caramel at 3:31PM on 04/29/09
Almost nothing I make or eat tastes anything like my mother's cooking – and thank goodness!
KarynMC at 3:45PM on 04/29/09
This may sound silly but my mom makes a killer peanut butter toast. No matter how I toast it, I can never make it like she does. Man, I wanna go home now and have her make it for me
meem21 at 4:06PM on 04/29/09
@meem21, I feel the same way every time I make cinnamon toast! And I'm convinced no one will ever make Beer Can chicken like my Dad.
Embackus at 4:18PM on 04/29/09
Hardly anything I make taste likes my mom because she used Butter (liberally) in everything.
I live in the same town as my parents and a few of my siblings. I missed out on some family occasion becuase of work and my sister brought me a plate of delicious leftovers -- all made by my mother. These were all dishes that I have in my culinary arsenal but they were fantastic! The difference --- lots of butter.
lakeloverhh at 4:31PM on 04/29/09
My mom makes the best matzo balls for chicken matzo ball soup. Even my grandma and aunt (who are the most amazing cooks in the world) can't figure out why hers are light and fluffy every time.
Hillary
Chew on That
Chew on That at 4:55PM on 04/29/09
Enchiladas! They taste like magic, seriously. No restaurant even comes close to the real thing. They are so simple, just New Mexico red chile powder, homemade corn tortillas, ground beef and cheese but whatever she does to make them so good, I've never been able to duplicate. She also makes some amazing pumpkin empanadas.
elderberry44 at 4:57PM on 04/29/09
My mother has a way with vinagrette salad dressing. All she uses is olive oil, balsamic vinegar, grated parmesan and a few seasonings and for some reason it comes out tasting like magic on a simple cucumber-lettuce-tomato mix. I know exactly what she uses and how she mixes it and to this day I STILL cannot get it to taste like hers! It's almost frustrating!
The Costuminatrix at 5:12PM on 04/29/09
Her bacon and eggs, I have said it before in some of the threads I don't know why her's always tasted different (better). I am not a big fan of potato salad either but hers.
pjracz10 at 5:17PM on 04/29/09
Pancakes. I'm pretty sure it's her pan....or it could be the amount of butter she cooks them in (I choose not to look). Anyway, I am fully prepared to fight my sister for that pan one day.
kimberlymac at 5:27PM on 04/29/09
It would most likely be spinach and cheese pie. No one else can do it right.
foodbuff at 5:35PM on 04/29/09
You guys should get the secrets while the people are alive. Sometimes you just got to keep asking till they cave. My grandmother died with many of her secrets in her head and I spent wads of time and ingredients trying to replicate the recipes.
My grandmother made the best struffoli. Hers were crisp yet impervious to the honey syrup and did not get soggy. Secret was some liquor I found out, limoncello or vodka. Took me near 20 years to figure that out.
JerzeeTomato at 5:55PM on 04/29/09
@pjracz: my mothers eggs and bacon breakfasts--or a full breakfast spread. so wonderful; such a treat, because i never make big breakfasts. always perfect eggs and all.
also, Ive mentioned this in other threads, but my mothers redbeans and rice i always let her 'own'. so delicious
emilytaylor at 7:47PM on 04/29/09
Her meatloaf was wonderful, as well as her potato salad.
She used to make a dish she called Gordito. It was kind of like a Mexican lasagne. D-darn-liscious!
lindy123 at 9:06PM on 04/29/09
My mom makes wicked stirfrys, dukbukki (korean rice cakes in spicy sauce) and rice cake soup.
Too bad her American dishes are epic fails...At least it gave me free reign of the kitchen on holidays :D
machellebelle at 10:06PM on 04/29/09
i've said this here many times, but it has to be my grandmother's knishes. i tried many times but could never duplicate them. she was a bitter and critical person, and she and i never got along very well. so i was too young and heedless to ask her how to make them before she died.
cybercita at 10:26PM on 04/29/09
American Chop Suey, Corn Chowder, Beef Stew and Baked Haddoock
nhfoodie at 1:54PM on 04/30/09
my mom can really only make root beer floats -- my dad does the cooking. but the one thing i can never come CLOSE to replicating are his turkey burgers. i don't know if it's the actual meat, or his cooking of them, but i've watched him a million times to try and copy his techniques, and mine still NEVER taste as juicy or delicious as his. sigh...
megannesta at 2:38PM on 04/30/09
Her seaweed soup
.i know it sounds gross and all
but its SO GOOD
crumbles at 5:40PM on 04/30/09
Wow for me it was always my moms potato salad ALWAYS the same never different until a couple years ago we were having a family gathering and I asked my mom for her potato salad expecting the yummy goodness I have known all my life......she brought something I never would have expected. It was this very yellowy ick stuff from what I'm guessing was from our local grocery store deli. She said she put too much mustard in the batch and I knew better. ( Because she always used dry mustard) So now I will never ever ever ask her for potato salad for the rest of my life. And that my friends would be the only thing I ask for because I cook everything else myself. :(
WSLunch at 6:10PM on 04/30/09
a large part of this is the memories, you were a child without a damn worry in your brain except for what was on tv. caramel is correct, you felt safe and loved when someone prepared a meal for you, jerzee is also correct, you damn better find out how folks my age cook a dish or it's going into the ground with us.
olddad at 6:20PM on 04/30/09
@olddad i was a vegetarian until i was 18 -- so when i started eating my dad's turkey burgers i wasn't exactly in diapers ;)
megannesta at 7:00PM on 04/30/09
Seems like just about everything I make is not like Mom's - even down to the simple peanut butter top Mom would make an initial or sailboat drawing done with the tip of the knife. Her's just taste better! My sister, brother, and I don't care about money, what we want bequeithed to us are Mom's macaroni and cheese crock, her Cheese Cake pan, and her Iced Tea pan - we tease her that we want them 'filled' before she goes! What I can make that is just like her's is Chicken Noodle Soup. Now if I can only master her City Chicken, Stuffed Cabbage ... By the way, my most cherished posession is my Grandma's rolling pin, solid maple carved by her father. I use it all the time to roll dough (and can use as a weapon). If only I had a nickle for every pie crust that pin rolled over the past 80 years!
Flour at 10:33PM on 04/30/09
Sometimes I think its the pan, but only my dad can make an awesome rice pudding. As for my mom, I usually hung out with her often enough cooking, so I know her secrets.
blizcheetah at 11:01PM on 04/30/09
Mashed potatoes, sauteed spinach, meatloaf, roasted chicken breast, sauerkraut...
ceebee at 7:49AM on 05/01/09
pork chops, and her turkey meat balls. Holy god, they were so good. I don't eat meat now, but I still miss them.
Aynsl156 at 8:55AM on 05/01/09
mum's mashed potato and gravy, and her vegemite sandwiches. using the same bread, butter, vegemite and KNIFE, i can't make vegemite sandwiches that taste the same as hers. it's love for a daughter that i'm missing, definitely.
kappamaki at 8:35AM on 05/03/09