Foods from where you grew up

[OhMissScarlett]

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!!

Omg, come over. I get the rhubarb and strawberries from the farm and make a pie every summer. No one around here likes rhubarb but me, so I always end up eating the whole thing.

 

[vrosej10]

I grew up about 50km from where I now live, but I can't get what I miss because no one grows it anymore. What I long for is a pumpkin/squash related vegie called a gramma. My nana used to make this delicious dessert with them. I have the recipe, its easy, just gramma, sugar and lemon juice to taste but I just can't get grammas. Not even the seeds to grow them. Jeez I miss then.

 

[Madmax77_1977]

I grew up here, so I still get the foods I grew up with

Raclette being my favourite

Though Spätzli aren't that far behind

 

[matriarch]

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!!

Nothing strange at all. When I was a kid, we had a very large garden, and around 3/4 of it was used for growing fruit and veg to help eke out my dad's low wage. I can't remember how old I was before I ate vegetables that my dad hadn't grown, or I hadn't seen come out of the ground......rhubard was always available aplenty, and I just loved the gorgeous new stems, only as thick as a finger......we would all have one, and after it was freshly washed, we just would dip it in sugar and crunch away. Wonderful flavour, thanks for reminding me.

I miss my mum's home cooking.........if I close my eyes I can taste her wonderful beef and vegetable pie, her casseroles, the wonderful Sunday Roasts, the pies, cakes......everything was home made. We rarely bought cakes or stuff like that. I consider myself an average cook, and can make all the basics - casseroles, pies, cakes, but I'm not a patch on her results. *sigh, drool*.

I live around 180 miles from where I was brought up, and unless you move between Ireland, Wales, Scotland and England, there's very little difference in the food we were brought up on. Each country has it's regional specialities, but nowadays, there is very little that you can't buy anywhere in the UK.

I do know that when I was living in Phoenix with Min, I desperately missed my marmalade, and English Chutney. So much so, I had a friend send me some. Just for good measure she included a bag of maltesers, and a pack of Bisto gravy browning. Tastes of home are so very individual.

 

[matriarch]

Omg, come over. I get the rhubarb and strawberries from the farm and make a pie every summer. No one around here likes rhubarb but me, so I always end up eating the whole thing.

Rhubarb and ginger crumble..................yummmmmmmmmmmm....................one of my favourites.

 

[Chantilyvamp]

Catfish.. i miss catfish. Caught on the lake by my dad. filleted, breaded and cooked by my mom. My grandmothers special corn bread stuffing at thanksgiving. Proper smoked BBQ. Elk straight out of the mountains hanging and processed in the garage and on our table by sundown. Hamburger helper..yeah not that healthy but I still miss it. And pecan pie.

I learned to make my own pumpkin pies over here and am slowly converting all the inlaws to believe that pumpkin pie should not have raisins or chunks of pumpkin in it!

Now just need to work on making my own sausage (like jimmy deans kinda flavour) and white gravy as the gravy is still total shambles. I can cook fried green tomatoes, fried okra, cornbread and beans but that damn gravy is a disaster.

I hit the import website for things like miracle whip, veleveta cheese and Mat and min the wonderful women brought me loads of ms. dash back from the states. Whisp and raph sent me over a bunch of packets of dried powder mix for ranch dressing and i finally figured out that ranch pasta salad that we used to have.

 

[matriarch]

Catfish.. i miss catfish. Caught on the lake by my dad. filleted, breaded and cooked by my mom. My grandmothers special corn bread stuffing at thanksgiving. Proper smoked BBQ. Elk straight out of the mountains hanging and processed in the garage and on our table by sundown. Hamburger helper..yeah not that healthy but I still miss it. And pecan pie.

I learned to make my own pumpkin pies over here and am slowly converting all the inlaws to believe that pumpkin pie should not have raisins or chunks of pumpkin in it!

Now just need to work on making my own sausage (like jimmy deans kinda flavour) and white gravy as the gravy is still total shambles. I can cook fried green tomatoes, fried okra, cornbread and beans but that damn gravy is a disaster.

I hit the import website for things like miracle whip, veleveta cheese and Mat and min the wonderful women brought me loads of ms. dash back from the states. Whisp and raph sent me over a bunch of packets of dried powder mix for ranch dressing and i finally figured out that ranch pasta salad that we used to have.

, I feel for you. Min's the same, her mom has now got into the habit of sending us regular 'care packages', with bottles of Miracle Whip (Tescos used to sell it when she first move here, but they stopped stocking it), packets of hamburger helper, Taco spices, tins of beans (she HATES Uk style of baked beans with a vengenace, and I can't stand the US version), beef jerky (euuuwwwwwwww), Hershey kisses, tootsie rolls, and various candies and chocolate you can't get here.

On the other hand, I do the same for my brother who has lived in Texas for 12 years now, and still misses UK stuff.

There are sites where you can get all this stuff, but it works out very expensive. We spent a fortune last year on items for as close a thanksgiving supper as we could organise. Our friends who attended were suitably impressed with the corn bread and pumpkin pie......I never got round to doing the biscuits (for heavens sake, they are just the same as UK scones, what you call scones in the States are actually 'rock cakes' to us).

As for white gravy....*shudder*.....you're welcome to it.

Oh, and we finally agreed that Sainsbury's sells the closes to ranch dressing, it's the Pizza Express one, strangely enough. Wierd.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

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.

My mother made me learn her recipes, she said I'd prob'ly marry a Yankee and not eat Southern cooking unless I cooked it myself. She was correct. Yankee cook is an oxymoron.

My mother had the peculiar talent for eating something and intuitively knowing the recipe it was made from.

 

[vrosej10]

My mother made me learn her recipes, she said I'd prob'ly marry a Yankee and not eat Southern cooking unless I cooked it myself. She was correct. Yankee cook is an oxymoron.

My mother had the peculiar talent for eating something and intuitively knowing the recipe it was made from.

I am doing the Aussie version of that with my son. I figure, when he grows up, he'll be able to homecooking for himself. The chicks around here don't cook. I couldn't imagine that. I like to make versions of my nana's sweet curry all the time.

There is one American dish whoever, that I just don't understand. Candied yams. Yikes!

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

I am doing the Aussie version of that with my son. I figure, when he grows up, he'll be able to homecooking for himself. The chicks around here don't cook. I couldn't imagine that. I like to make versions of my nana's sweet curry all the time.

There is one American dish whoever, that I just don't understand. Candied yams. Yikes!

Candied yams is a Southern tradition. The wife and kids wouldnt eat them, so I fixed them, usually for holiday meals. I was raised on them, my great-grandmother always brought a sack of sweet-potatoes with her during visits. Its actually an African food, like collards and other cabbage family greens are African.

 

[Trudy_Antone]

I'm 5000k's from where I grew up and the world has moved on from the foods I ate as a child.

Wild pig hanging in the trees, seaweed straight from the rocks, a clothesline always covered in curing eels ready to go in the smokehouse, freshly docked lambs tails thrown in the fire to singe the wool off.

I miss the plums and walnuts from my grandmother's orchard, and the seafood - especially paua (abalone). But I don't miss the green tripe, or mountain oysters (sheeps balls!)

 

[OhMissScarlett]

Rhubarb and ginger crumble..................yummmmmmmmmmmm....................one of my favourites.

That sounds delicious. I make something similar, like what we call apple crisp over here, only with rhubarb and apple. I have a lot of blueberries right now, so I'm gonna make a blueberry crisp for my grandpa.

 

[lesbiaphrodite]

I still live where I grew up, New Orleans. My favorite dishes are:

--jambalaya

--red beans & rice

--seafood gumbo

--oysters on the half

--shrimp po boys

--Dixie Beer

 

[Remec]

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?

Hmm...let's see...
shoo-fly pie
ring bologna from the farmer's market
birch beer

I'm sure there's a few others, but most of them I know of at least one place locally to buy them. (And, in some instances, to buy the very same products--I know, I've seen the labels. *g*)

 

[CharleyH]

Probably bratwurst.

What is Bratwurst? I see it in all the stores. Is it like an Oktoberfest Sausage?

 

[Remec]

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!!

I didn't think about stuff from within the house as I was growing up. My mom made a wonderful strawberry/rhubarb pie with slices of banana sort of laid about in the middle of the rest of the filling.

Other things my mom seemed to make that no one else ever comes close to:
chicken livers and gravy, mincemeat cookies, her version of chicken pot pie, the dumplings she would make atop a pot of stew.

Oh, and my dad always made this Irish cake for Christmas called a tea brack. Good stuff.

 

[Remec]

What is Bratwurst? I see it in all the stores. Is it like an Oktoberfest Sausage?

They'd like you to think so, but Cat(?I think) was right--what they call and sell as bratwurst in the US is very different from what you'd find in Germany or other parts of the world. Or, I think so, anyways. *g* *shrug*

 

[sadangel]

Omg, come over. I get the rhubarb and strawberries from the farm and make a pie every summer. No one around here likes rhubarb but me, so I always end up eating the whole thing.

So how far will I have to travel from NE Louisiana to get this!! Oh my, I can almost taste it now.

Nothing strange at all. When I was a kid, we had a very large garden, and around 3/4 of it was used for growing fruit and veg to help eke out my dad's low wage. I can't remember how old I was before I ate vegetables that my dad hadn't grown, or I hadn't seen come out of the ground......rhubard was always available aplenty, and I just loved the gorgeous new stems, only as thick as a finger......we would all have one, and after it was freshly washed, we just would dip it in sugar and crunch away. Wonderful flavour, thanks for reminding me.

I miss my mum's home cooking.........if I close my eyes I can taste her wonderful beef and vegetable pie, her casseroles, the wonderful Sunday Roasts, the pies, cakes......everything was home made. We rarely bought cakes or stuff like that. I consider myself an average cook, and can make all the basics - casseroles, pies, cakes, but I'm not a patch on her results. *sigh, drool*.

I live around 180 miles from where I was brought up, and unless you move between Ireland, Wales, Scotland and England, there's very little difference in the food we were brought up on. Each country has it's regional specialities, but nowadays, there is very little that you can't buy anywhere in the UK.

I do know that when I was living in Phoenix with Min, I desperately missed my marmalade, and English Chutney. So much so, I had a friend send me some. Just for good measure she included a bag of maltesers, and a pack of Bisto gravy browning. Tastes of home are so very individual.

I never even put sugar on it. Of course, I'm the one that likes to suck on limes and lemons raw also. I guess I just like the tart flavors...

 

[EesomeBeastie]

Another one to my list:

White pudding - oats, suet and onion stuffed into a sausage skin, like a large sausage. Chip shop ones are then battered and deep fried.

I can't get them in the chip shops down here in England.

 

[OhMissScarlett]

So how far will I have to travel from NE Louisiana to get this!! Oh my, I can almost taste it now.

I'm in S. Illinois, so it would be a bit of a drive.

 

[alyxen]

Orange donuts (really good, trust me!) Freihoffers (sp?) makes them for those living on the east side of the country.

Mostly though it would be Hoffmans hot dogs and white hots. You can't even find a white hot out here in the wild west it seems.

 

[SeaCat]

What is Bratwurst? I see it in all the stores. Is it like an Oktoberfest Sausage?

Charley,

Bratwurst is probably one of the most well known German Sausages in the Untied States.

Of course as I've said before the Bratwurst you usually find in American Stores is a bland sausage with no more taste than used sawdust. In Germany the Bratwurst is a heavily spiced sausage, the spicing varying from region to region. Depending on where you are in Germnay you will have it served either in a small hard roll or on a plate with Kraut. Truly a tasty thing.

Leberwurst is another of those foods brought over from Gemany then warped in America. What most people here call Leberwurst, or Liverwurst is more like a Pate than anything else. Though it has some flavor and is enjoyable ina sandwich with Onions and Cheese it is nothing like the German Versions. In Germany it is not a smooth paste, it is a coarsly ground sausage. (Usually Pork but I have had it made from Beef and Veal.) It has a lot more seasonings and therefore a lot more flavor than it's American version.

Cat

 

[YoursSINSerely]

Omg, come over. I get the rhubarb and strawberries from the farm and make a pie every summer. No one around here likes rhubarb but me, so I always end up eating the whole thing.

Oh, Miss Scarlet,

I like rhubarb! My mom would stew it up and we'd eat it on white bread. My dad could never get it to grow in our yard, so he'd tell me to run over to the neighbors and get some of theirs. I have some in the freezer now. Some day I'll make a crisp out of it. That's great with vanilla ice cream.

 

[Elianna]

I still live where I grew up so Mexican Food is very accessible. However, my gradmother came from Ukraine and she was my caretaker when I was a kid. Subsequently I miss...
Pierogi with potatoes and onions and Colaci (sp?) with poppy seed rolled inside. I can make the pierogi, but the colaci never tastes the way she did it. I don't actually think these are traditional Ukraine recipes anyway. You can get them from the Romanian Orthodox church when they have bake-offs occasionally. Then it tastes right.

Sigh.

 

[vrosej10]

Candied yams is a Southern tradition. The wife and kids wouldnt eat them, so I fixed them, usually for holiday meals. I was raised on them, my great-grandmother always brought a sack of sweet-potatoes with her during visits. Its actually an African food, like collards and other cabbage family greens are African.

My mum loves the orange sweet potatoes (over here they are called kumara to distinguish them from white sweet potatoes). She loves them so much we grew stacks of them when we were kids and we ate them A LOT. I can't stand em now.

The food you described sounded delicious. I love Southern food when I can get it. It is so rare in Australia. I have always wanted to try a Po'boy.