Foods from where you grew up

[SeaCat]

Many of us have moved on from where we grew up. Some of us have moved quite a ways from where we grew up. We no longer have easy access to some of the foods we grew up with. What foods do you miss?

For me it would be, in no particular order:

Chorizo
Lobster Rolls
Crab Rolls
Steak and Cheese Subs
Fish Stew

Cat

 

[voluptuary_manque]

I'm less than 200 feet from where I grew up. No problems, here.

 

[Boxlicker101]

Probably bratwurst.

One time I was in a market in Oakland when I saw some cans of sauerkraut that had come from a cannery in my home town. It was a small operation, with just the one plant, which means that those cans of kraut had traveled thousands of miles. I bought one, because I like sauerkraut anyhow.

 

[SeaCat]

I'm about 1200 miles from where I grew up.

Steak and Cheese? All they know down here is a weak immitaion of Phillies. (Not the same thing.)

A Steak and Cheese is made with Shaved Steak, Garlic, Onion, Black Pepper, A touch of Salt, Swiss and Provolone Cheese. You load it onto a toasted roll with a load of Banana Peppers. It's greasy, it's goey and it's messy and it tastes fantastic.

Chorizo,

A real Chorizo Sandwich consists of several lengths of the sausage. (About the length of a Hot Dog,) They are cut in half lengthwise then fried. As they fry Swiss Cheese is added until it is melted. All of this is put on a toasted roll.

Chorizo is somewhat spicy and very flavorfull.

A bit milder than Anduile. (though not much.)

Cat

 

[slyc_willie]

I miss real German food.

I grew up in the small town of Zweibrucken, Germany (back when it was called West Germany). There was this place off base we'd go to, a cozy little mom-and-pop Hoffbrau that made the best Wienerschnitzel in the world. But really made the place were the strudels. Raspberry, strawberry, curant . . . flaky crust and sweet icing on top. Damn.

I miss rumpsteak mit krauterbutter and frickedelle sandwiches from the little 'meals on wheels' stands on the Fussganger. There's a place in a neighboring suburb that comes pretty damn close; the food is suitably authentic, but it just isn't the same without the right surroundings.

On the other side of the coin . . . .

I was about twelve or thirteen. Sorry; the memory's a bit hazy around those years. Me and my best friend John Taylor used to walk up the long and winding road to Kreuzberg Kaserne (where my father was a major and the officer in command; John's dad was a captain ) just to go through the base cafeteria for a hamburger with mayo, mustard, extra pickles and extra lettuce and a Coke. We'd finish them both on the trip back down the hill. It was a two-hour excursion, and every Saturday we endured it like pilgrims.

 

[oggbashan]

I have a choice:

Welsh (bara brith, welsh cakes); Cockney (jellied eels, whelks, pies) and other London dishes which means almost anything from anywhere but in my childhood there was a preponderence of Jewish food shops nearby; Gibraltarian - a mix of Spanish, generic Mediterranean, Catalan and British; Australian "Throw another steak on the barbie, Bruce"; Devon and Cornwall - pasties, clotted cream; and of course the Indian, Chinese and Italian restaurants that were available everywhere except in the Wales I started from.

My breakfasts varied from salted porridge through paella and omelettes stuffed with anything that would fit then to steak and chips and possibly Cornish pastie.

Og

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

I'm 7th generation Floridian and its almost impossible to get the food I grew up on, where I grew up. Hell! All the citrus is gone, too.

But we have McDonalds and Outback and Red Lobster and Carrabbas and every chain there is.

 

[oggbashan]

I'm 7th generation Floridian and its almost impossible to get the food I grew up on, where I grew up. Hell! All the citrus is gone, too.

But we have McDonalds and Outback and Red Lobster and Carrabbas and every chain there is.

Ssh! My town doesn't have McDonalds, nor Kentucky Fried, nor any coffee chain. Everything is locally owned and although products similar to the chains are sold they all have local differences. I think they taste better than the cloned productions, and I'm pleased that in most places I can see the food being prepared while I wait, and the cleanliness of the kitchen.

One of our local Indian takeaways has a large picture window to its kitchen. Anyone can stand in the street and watch the food being prepared. The kitchen is frantic, particularly on Friday and Saturday nights but even then it is easy to see that food hygiene is carefully observed. Apart from the flavour of their foods, that takeaway is popular because you can see exactly what is used as ingredients.

Og

 

[TheeGoatPig]

I'm less than 200 feet from where I grew up. No problems, here.

I still live in the same house I grew up in. All that has changed is the room I sleep in.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

Ssh! My town doesn't have McDonalds, nor Kentucky Fried, nor any coffee chain. Everything is locally owned and although products similar to the chains are sold they all have local differences. I think they taste better than the cloned productions, and I'm pleased that in most places I can see the food being prepared while I wait, and the cleanliness of the kitchen.

One of our local Indian takeaways has a large picture window to its kitchen. Anyone can stand in the street and watch the food being prepared. The kitchen is frantic, particularly on Friday and Saturday nights but even then it is easy to see that food hygiene is carefully observed. Apart from the flavour of their foods, that takeaway is popular because you can see exactly what is used as ingredients.

Og

OGG

When I was a child we had the best Fish & Chips eatery on the planet. John & Nora came from Britain, and my mother worked for them. Now we have the ARTHUR TREACHER chain, sigh.

 

[OhMissScarlett]

I'm just about 20 miles from where I grew up too, but I still miss it. Mostly I miss stuff from my grandpa's garden. He's not really able to do a big garden like he used to and I can't seem to grow stuff that tastes half as good. I guess he has the magic touch. We used to pick watermelon and cool them in the natural spring on his farm, which he also used to water all his plants. Then he'd lop them open with a machete and we'd eat them just like that. Most of what we ate during the summer was straight out of the garden: green beans and new potatoes, beefsteak tomatoes, zucchini casserole, carrot salad, wilted lettuce, eggplant and onions...OMG, I'm going to the farmer's market tonight, I can't wait!

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

My grandmother could stick a pencil in the ground and grow a cedar tree, she had a true green thumb. I inherited the talent.

My Old Man had a lot where he parked all his construction machines. The ground was a toxic waste dump, saturated with gasoline and diesel fuel and oil and paint and God knows what. And I had a garden on a corner of it.

The Old Man was raised on a farm and knew I wasnt gonna grow shit on my plot, but I gave him my moronic Alfred E. Newman WHAT! ME WORRY? smile, and raised a nice garden.

Prob'ly why my WOMAN PLEASER is 6 inches wide and an inch and a half long.

 

[OhMissScarlett]

James, that explains a lot.

 

[DesertPirate]

As we head towards the August/September timeframe I remeber the smell of roasting green chiles. You buy a 50# bag and they roast it in a large revolving cage. Then you go home skin it, bag it, and freeze it!
Growing up at NMSU when Roy Nakayama was devloping 80% of the Chile grown commercially now, was a joy! He would drop grocery sacks of a new type at the house on his way back to the school. "Tell your Dad to try this and tell me if it's any good!" Those were fun times with great food.

 

[SeaCat]

Slyc,

The German foods I get plenty of. I have a Butcher about a mile away from my house that makes his own German Sausages, he imports other types of meats. He also carries things like Currant Juice.

I get the things like SaurKraut delivered to my place every fall, large amounts of it in jars. My mother makes it every year and I get a bunch of it.

Frikedelle? Want a recipe?

My mother is making a copy of a cook book she received a while back. It's all old style recipes from Schwabenland.

These are the foods I grew up with at home and learned to cook when I was small.

Oh and for Schnitzel, my favorite is JaegerSchnitzel. (Sorry but I don't know how to do the Umlaut on a computer.)

The foods I miss from when I lived in Germany are strangely enough the Wurst Housemachertelleer you could pick up in every Gasthouse, The KurryFleisch the Doener and of course the Leberknoedelsuppe.

Cat

 

[EesomeBeastie]

Scotch pies - a crusty pie pastry containing a solid grey lump of minced meat (I really don't want to know why it's grey)

Bridies - a sort of flattened pastie containing the same mystery meat

Stovies - sliced and steamed potato with mince and onion mixed through, usually eaten with pickled beetroot and oatcakes (yes, I could make that myself as the ingredients are easily available and it's not exactly challenging to cook)

 

[SeaCat]

Scotch pies - a crusty pie pastry containing a solid grey lump of minced meat (I really don't want to know why it's grey)

Bridies - a sort of flattened pastie containing the same mystery meat

Stovies - sliced and steamed potato with mince and onion mixed through, usually eaten with pickled beetroot and oatcakes (yes, I could make that myself as the ingredients are easily available and it's not exactly challenging to cook)

Haven't tried them but they do sound interesting. I'll have to look for some recipes.

Cat

 

[DesertPirate]

There is a different flavor between the Mexican version of Chorizo and the Portugese
Both are very good, just not quite the same.

 

[SeaCat]

There is a different flavor between the Mexican version of Chorizo and the Portugese
Both are very good, just not quite the same.

You have that right.

Personally I prefer the Potugese, then again that's what I ate a lot of growing up.

About like Anduilie. You can get it here in Florida and it tastes good but it's noting like what you get in Cajun Country.

We wont even get into what Americans call Bratwurst and LeberWurst.

Cat

 

[SeaCat]

Scotch pies - a crusty pie pastry containing a solid grey lump of minced meat (I really don't want to know why it's grey)

Bridies - a sort of flattened pastie containing the same mystery meat

Stovies - sliced and steamed potato with mince and onion mixed through, usually eaten with pickled beetroot and oatcakes (yes, I could make that myself as the ingredients are easily available and it's not exactly challenging to cook)

Yikes, I just looked at some recipes for the Scotch Pie and Bridies and now have to give them a try. They look good to me.

Cat

 

[sadangel]

I miss Strawberry/rhubarb pie. I miss just eating rhubarb fresh from the garden. Yes, I was a strange child who liked plain rhubarb. Sue me!!

 

[DesertPirate]

You have that right.

Personally I prefer the Potugese, then again that's what I ate a lot of growing up.

About like Anduilie. You can get it here in Florida and it tastes good but it's noting like what you get in Cajun Country.

We wont even get into what Americans call Bratwurst and LeberWurst.

Cat

Where I grew up we had chile with anything. I like green chile on scrambled eggs
I got kind of used to the Mexican style.
Of course when a friend was elected sherriff in 86, he was the first anglo sherriff since Pat Garrett.

 

[Xelebes]

Hmmm... my grandmother's oatmeal raisin cookies. She used to make them by the bag whenever we went down to her house. That's really all I miss because I really haven't left the biome that I grew up in.

 

[Austin8]

I still live around the same place I grew up, although the old farm house is gone.
I miss my Uncle Lefty's bread and butter pickles, when he died the recipe went with him.

 

[TE999]

I miss Strawberry/rhubarb pie. I miss just eating rhubarb fresh from the garden. Yes, I was a strange child who liked plain rhubarb. Sue me!!

My MIL made a strawberry/rhubarb pie to die for...she also cooked an excellent sauerbraten...made awesome spetzle and potato pancakes. She left her recipies, but didn't pass her talents on to her daughters. *sigh*

I grew up around Miami/Ft. Lauderdale where we had some of the best deli's south of Noo Yawk...I have been searching in vain for a comparable Reuben sandwich ever since I left there. And don't get me started on blintzes.