I’m just a nerd girl who knows next to nothing about cooking. But I have to reverse-engineer my late grandma’s plum tarts one day.
My grandma insists seasoning and salt are unhealthy, but at the same time drenches everything she makes in fat. She grows all vegetables herself, it’s her point of pride. But she makes sure they get a large as possible, so all the taste and nutrition are diluted beyond comprehension.
But her pierogi are the best thing in the world.
Carne asada con congris.
R.I.P Abuela
Oh she used to buy the dough and loads of meat and make pastel. She’d also put olives and eggs from time to time. Never found a pastel that tasted so good ❤️
Her “strudel” not really actually strudel but just extra pie crust filled with whatever filling she had available, baked on a sheet pan
Her pie crust was from the red rose cookbook that just about everyone here era seemed to have had.
Cabbage rolls. My mom’s comes close but she doesn’t put the same effort in an there is a difference that is noticeable.
Her tomato macaroni casserole(I literally grew up thinking casserole was a specific dish like lasagna, or key lime pie and not a variety of dishes)
My dad’s mom’s Oyster Dressing. I do not miss merliton (chayote) though. She was from New Orleans but grew up rich, not a very dedicated cook, but that Oystah Dressin, I liked it and don’t know how she did it.
My mom’s mom was oh so southern and made such good biscuits and fried chicken, but what I miss are the pecans. After her abusive husband died (she divorced him at like 65 years old, finally had enough and he just left and died!). She had a pecan tree and would sit on her porch with her boyfriend and shell pecans for hours, and give us a bag when we left, I loved them.
Fucking everything. All of it. But once a year on christmas, she used to do apple-stuffed roast duck in the oven with sauce.
You. Would. Not. Believe.
From my maternal Grandma: her arepas but not far off her pastina
From my fraternal Grandma: her empanadas and fish fry
Tortas fritas. Kinda… More the fact of doing them they weren’t thaaaat good honestly… But being able to do it in the shape of Ryu and Ken was the best.
I honestly just miss grandma.
My Grandma learned to cook in postwar Britain when rationing was still in full effect, and refused to learn a single thing since. I don’t miss any of it.
You need to boil your string beans more, I can still see some green
One of mine learnt in postwar Britain but surpassed such stereotypes. The other did too but then lived in India for a long time and so made great curries.
Shrimp biryani.
Only me and my dad like seafood in my family and so we dont really cook it anymore.
My grandma made the best meatballs. She showed me how she made them and I have the exact recipe, but I just can’t get them taste the same.
Food always tastes better when someone made it for you.
Listen, I love my grandmas, but my sister and I are the only women in the family who should be allowed anywhere near a kitchen. The grandma who can cook tolerably consistently forgets dietary restrictions and doesn’t use salt
My grandma was an absolute redneck. The only foods that were especially noteworthy were the pan fried catfish; along with the canned tomatoes and green beans (but only because she grew them in her backyard.)
Everything else was a “secret recipe” straight from the back of a mayo tub. (Or similarly disconcerting.)
And the thing about the catfish is you do not want to know how much lard it was fried in. (Maybe the recipe came the lard box?)
I love her, though, and I have to be clear: she was not the “bad” kind of redneck.
Now grampa? Both his dad and grandfather were moonshiners, and I still have their heirloom recipe book. Apparently grandma didn’t know he kept a still in his shed. (Which, incidentally is where her mason jars disappeared to.)
Also need to shout out an honorable mention to my neighborhood Abuela. Not that’s she’s gone yet. Her Tamales will be missed by hundreds. And I have an arrangement- I provide tomatoes, peppers and garlic (which i grow,) and we split the resulting salsas and moles 50/50.
Id say her tamales were to die for- but really, all you have to do is ask. (Or catch a cold. A pregnancy is practically a lifetime supply…) (giving and sharing food is how she expresses that she cares, and she basically loves most people.)
Yep my grandma would always do ready meals with that gross fake mash lmao
Strawberry jam. Made from the strawberries grandpa grew in the back yard, and like 9 lbs of sugar.
Big time yes to this. I don’t even like strawberries but i always loved my grandmothers homemade strawberry jam
