can you cook your grandma's food?

vash · vash's Garage

no secret..i am an "ABCD". (American Born Chinese Dude)

i eat a lot of chinese food, but cant cook it. i'm gonna buy a few cookbooks and go for it. right now, i call my Mom.."okay, now what mom?"

My Stepdad was a Chinese chef and i let that golden opportunity slip away.

i have a few dishes in my wheelhouse, but i want to really up my game. last night, i made LION-HEAD meatballs. i just kinda went for it after asking a few questions from Chinese friends and some internet stuff.. i've made them before, but it isnt burned into my memory yet. so the consistency isnt there.

it turned out super easy.

basically, ground pork, water chestnuts, green onions, ginger, garlic. sesame oil, white pepper, bread crumbs, chinese cooking wine, etc..

brown, cover with cabbage (i'm an idiot and used my Savoy cabbage with my cornbeef, so i had to use regular cabbage with this ) should be Napa Cabbage. then braise in a tiny bit of water..the cabbage bleeds out the rest of the braising liquid.

i tasted one, but i essentially cooked it for tonight's dinner. so no final product pics.

so what about you all..You rocking your Abuelita's albondigas? you Meme's secret meatball bourguignon recipe?, your Nona's meatballs and sauce?

Crowbob · 03-19-2018, 12:12 PM

Any food of my grandma's that I ate was already cooked.

So, no.

Danimal16 · 03-19-2018, 12:29 PM

The only thing of Grandma's that I can create, is the horseradish relish that she was famous for.

drkshdw · 03-19-2018, 12:36 PM

I didn't learn until after my grandmother died that her recipes were in her head. The recipes she wrote down were for other people to copy, not hers to follow.

I also didn't know that when she said '1 cup' of something, that meant a literal cup (aluminum tumbler) which was actually 6 3/4 ounces (we measured the one she always used).

So no, I can't cook like her because what she did and what she wrote down were two completely different things. Had I known then what I know now...

GWN7 · 03-19-2018, 01:43 PM

Scot on one side so that means you can cook anything that comes into your sights and German on the other so that means huge potato based meals for family. Learned how to do that cooking for 30+ in the fire halls.

Always like to try to make other types of ethnic foods.

svandamme · svandamme's Garage

I can do grandma's Rabbit Stew on monk ale

red-beard · red-beard's Garage

Heaven is where the Police are English, Cooks are French, Engineers are German, Lovers Italian, and everything is organized by the Swiss.

Hell is where the Police are German, Cooks are English, Engineers are French, Lovers Swiss, and everything is organized by the Italians.

My mother is English. Her mother was Australian Scottish. So, I'm lucky I didn't grow up on Drunken Haggis.

Fixed - Hell...

Tobra · Tobra's Garage

Yes, I can

javadog · 03-19-2018, 03:26 PM

No, nothing she cooked would've been on my wish list. Somebody in my family compiled an extended family cookbook... you wouldn't want anything in that either.

I have studied the cuisines of the world for the last 35 years and my advice is to start buying good cookbooks. For Chinese dishes that you will actually enjoy, get anything from Fuchsia Dunlop.

Bill Douglas · 03-19-2018, 04:10 PM

When I was a little boy I remember my gran cooking on a coal range. She liked it and said the temp's were infinitely adjustable LOL It must have got pretty hot in the kitchen during the summer.

And, yep, I can cook anything she cooked... probably....

Bob Kontak · Bob Kontak's Garage

Grandma on Mom's side. Meh. Good. but nothing I took away. Plenty of grub but nuttin' if that makes sense.

On Dad's side, German potato salad and some kind of little meatballs at Christmas. Divine.

No clue how to recreate potato salad. Seems vinegar was a staple input.

craigster59 · craigster59's Garage

Norwegians who came over in 1869 and settled in North Dakota. Moved to the balmy southern climes of South Dakota, then sunny Seattle and then Alameda in the Bay Area.

Pretty much mid western casseroles, decent fried chicken, meatloaf, pot pies, stuffed cabbage, you know the drill.

I still like it, but I think I'm a better cook.

tabs · 03-19-2018, 08:08 PM

My Granny had a secret ingredient in her recipes that can not be replaced at any cost....she put love into it.

She used to do a round steak braised in a frying pan with onions and a quart of wild gathered mushrooms that were home canned. Served with mashed potatoes.

jcommin · jcommin's Garage

Quote:

Originally Posted by drkshdw

I didn't learn until after my grandmother died that her recipes were in her head. The recipes she wrote down were for other people to copy, not hers to follow.

I also didn't know that when she said '1 cup' of something, that meant a literal cup (aluminum tumbler) which was actually 6 3/4 ounces (we measured the one she always used).

So no, I can't cook like her because what she did and what she wrote down were two completely different things. Had I known then what I know now...

My grandmother could cook and she never used recipe. Everything was in her head. I don't remember my mom using many recipes either. My mom made egg lemon soup, a Greek dish, that I cannot duplicate. I won't order it in Greek restaurants either - it doesn't taste the same. The food from the both of them become legendary in my mind -

LWJ · 03-20-2018, 05:51 AM

Answer: I don't want to! I come from Northern European stock. My grandparent's and parent's food was mostly terrible.

flatbutt · 03-20-2018, 05:56 AM

My Neapolitan Grandmother made a rice/ricotta pie every Easter that no one can replicate.

Rickysa · 03-20-2018, 06:20 AM

Quote:

my advice is to start buying good cookbooks. For Chinese dishes that you will actually enjoy, get anything from Fuchsia Dunlop.

Just ordered two of her books...thanks for the info. Any other recommendations much appreciated (not to hijack, email or pm fine)

masraum · 03-20-2018, 06:22 AM

I have a couple of recipes from both sides of the family that I can make and like, but none of it was anything but good family good. I do have a chili recipe from the family in Ohio, but it's really not that different in most ways from the chili made here in Texas (not like the "Cincinnati Chili" that is famous) , but it's still my favorite and the one that I make the most often. We didn't have any special dishes that came over from the family in the old world that I know of. I think both families were too far removed from that. My grandfather could probably have had some German stuff, but he and my grandmother somewhat severed ties with their family in the Ohio/Kentucky area, so I don't really know much about the rest of the family up there.

javadog · 03-20-2018, 11:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rickysa

Just ordered two of her books...thanks for the info. Any other recommendations much appreciated (not to hijack, email or pm fine)

I'm happy to give recommendations, but do you have to be more specific. Recommendations for what type of food, exactly?

Rickysa · 12:33 PM

Quote:

Recommendations for what type of food, exactly?

Sorry about that...lol...I must have thought you could read my mind.

I had the pleasure of spending a week at the Culinary Institute at the same time that Rick Bayless was there teaching the advanced students and got to eat all the the food prepared by them (group lunch after the morning in the kitchen..bad for them 'cause they had to eat the crap we fixed). Opened me up to all kinds of Mexican cuisine from his travels/research in Mexico.

You mentioned "good" cookbooks....I guess anything that stands out as such, with regard to different cuisines.

Thanks!

oh..and yep, my paternal grandmother taught me to cook southern country food...cobblers, "sticky" chicken, gravies, biscuits, greens, etc.