Mum's Food is Best

starbelgrade

Or so the saying goes.

In my case, that's a load of bollox. My Mam had a habit of feeding us mid-week crap like fishfingers, Findus crispy pancakes & scabby frozen pizzas - as if they were food groups.

Any decent food, like fresh vegetables were boiled within an inch of their lives, meats were always overcooked, erring on the burnt side, just in case they were "off" & even stews ended up tasting like sh*t.

The only thing she managed not to ruin was chicken & roast potatoes, which were acceptable, but bland.

So, when people talk of their Mam's cooking & "comfort food", I shudder.... if I'm going to visit, I either eat before I get there, or make sure that we're heading out for food.

On the plus side, I have to say though, that it at least taught me a lesson... if I wanted to eat something tasty, I'd have to learn how to cook it myself, which I did & I came out the other side a malnourished, but not too shabby a cook!

So, what's your Mammy's cooking like?

Millicent

I had this exact conversation with a friend before. I told her that for years I thought I hated chicken and couldn't understand why anyone would like such a dry and stringy meat. Turns out my mother just cremated everything.

StereoLove

My Mammy's cooking is delicious!:D

KeithM89_old

My mam cant cook for shit. Dad does all the cooking in my house or me if they're away.

But my grannys cooking is amazing. I used to walk 3 miles to her house after school just to get dinner.

Millicent

KeithM89 wrote: »

But my grannys cooking is amazing. I used to walk 3 miles to her house after school just to get dinner.

Are you sure it didn't just taste good cos you were f.ucking starving by the time you got there? :pac:

af_thefragile

Its good at times, at times its survival food...

starbelgrade

Millicent wrote: »

I had this exact conversation with a friend before. I told her that for years I thought I hated chicken and couldn't understand why anyone would like such a dry and stringy meat. Turns out my mother just cremated everything.

I used to hate cabbage for the same reason.

brianthebard

my ma is a great baker but a pretty poor cook. But at least she didn't just incinerate everything on purpose, so she's mildly better than other people's ma's.

Super-Rush

My mammy is better than your ma.

GLaDOS

My mams pretty handy in the kitchen, but my dad is definitely the chef of the house. Sunday dinner and Christmas etc are all done by him, to perfection.

Millicent

starbelgrade wrote: »

I used to hate cabbage for the same reason.

Me too! And broccoli. And beans.

I think the following Denis Leary quote applies to a lot of Irish Mammies:

There's a big boom in Irish culture right now. I was in Barnes & Noble the other day, and I saw a book entitled "Irish Cuisine" and I laughed my balls off, okay? Irish Cuisine? What are we famous for cuisine-wise? We put everything in a pot and we boil it for seventeen-and-a-half hours straight. Until you can eat it with a straw. SLUUUUURP..."Thanks, ma! Where's dessert? Okay, there it is." SLUUUUURP...

:pac:

Einhard

My mother's cooking was pure Irish. I think she probably coined that "The only sauce you need is hunger" expression. So what she cooked was pretty plain, but hit the spot nicely, and her gravy was absolutely luvverly. I'd drink it with a straw!!

starbelgrade

When I was a kid, I used to think lemons were made of plastic.

We only ever saw them on Pancake Tuesday.

The first time I saw a real one, I couldn't figure out how you opened it without a screw cap.

admiralofthefleet

im going to visit my mother tomorrow and i cant wait, she will be giving me a nice big fry thats incredible

Einhard

Millicent wrote: »

Me too! And broccoli. And beans.

I think the following Denis Leary quote applies to a lot of Irish Mammies:



:pac:

Someone should tell Denis Leary that he's not actually Irish!!

StereoLove

starbelgrade wrote: »

When I was a kid, I used to think lemons were made of plastic.

We only ever saw them on Pancake Tuesday.

The first time I saw a real one, I couldn't figure out how you opened it without a screw cap.

Hahaha!

shinikins

My father always maintained that a bit of charcoal is good in your diet. Unfortunatly my mother took that quite literally. I didn't realise that food was not meant to be black and hard as the hob of hell until i started cooking for myself.




Have good strong teeth though

Millicent

Einhard wrote: »

Someone should tell Denis Leary that he's not actually Irish!!

And that he's not Bill Hicks, but that's an argument for another day!

alwaysadub

My mam and dad were both really good cooks-dad'd do the Sunday dinners cos he loved it, then they'd both do the every day stuff. Didn't appriceate it as a kid though mind you.. I was an awful fussy eater!

starbelgrade

alwaysadub wrote: »

My mam and dad were both really good cooks-dad'd do the Sunday dinners cos he loved it, then they'd both do the every day stuff. Didn't appriceate it as a kid though mind you.. I was an awful fussy eater!

Code for "spoiled brat".

alwaysadub

starbelgrade wrote: »

Code for "spoiled brat".

Ha i wish! I'm the youngest of 8-i was either let go hungry, or left sitting at the table till it was a congeled blob and then force fed it!

Einhard

alwaysadub wrote: »

I was an awful fussy eater!

I was one of those people who'd order a burger in McDonalds or somewhere, and then ask for it plain. I'd imagine I tasted quite a bit of staff spit over the years!! Also, wouldn't taste a pizza until I was 21. Couldn't imagine how there could be so many things on it and me not finding at least one that I disliked!

aidan24326

I'm not surprised that alot of people are saying their mothers were crap cooks (even though my own is pretty decent) because it's really only in the last probably 10-15 years or so that Ireland has begun to learn anything at all about proper cooking, with the younger generation being a bit more travelled and having access to more info and better food and just more awareness in general that food doesn't have to be this crap.

I mean when I was growing up in the eighties, if you went to a restaurant you'd probably have chewy overcooked roast beef served with drastically overcooked veg followed by trifle. And that was about fcuking it! And if it was crap you didn't complain, as the Irish didn't do complaining.

AnonoBoy

Your Ma is sh*t Starbelgrade.

My Mam's cooking is fantastic!

Killer Pigeon

starbelgrade wrote: »

Or so the saying goes.

In my case, that's a load of bollox. My Mam had a habit of feeding us mid-week crap like fishfingers, Findus crispy pancakes & scabby frozen pizzas - as if they were food groups.

Any decent food, like fresh vegetables were boiled within an inch of their lives, meats were always overcooked, erring on the burnt side, just in case they were "off" & even stews ended up tasting like sh*t.

The only thing she managed not to ruin was chicken & roast potatoes, which were acceptable, but bland.

So, when people talk of their Mam's cooking & "comfort food", I shudder.... if I'm going to visit, I either eat before I get there, or make sure that we're heading out for food.

On the plus side, I have to say though, that it at least taught me a lesson... if I wanted to eat something tasty, I'd have to learn how to cook it myself, which I did & I came out the other side a malnourished, but not too shabby a cook!

So, what's your Mammy's cooking like?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l8orUaCJ0GY

Tar.Aldarion

mum cooks soooo good. it's because you grow up with it and are used to liking it the way she cooks it

Dangerous Man

My mother was a terrible cook; she hadn't a clue. She could barely boil water.

Mahatma coat

My Mammy is a spectacular cook, As a kid my friends would generally try to stay around for Dinner at my house, when I was in School she used to bake these little currant Buns, I used to sell them to the other boys, there were occasional bidding wars.

Even in college when I was commuting from home she would make me Sandwiches, one of my friends was so taken with them that when he gave me a lift home once he asked Mammy to make him some

Shenshen

My mom doesn't know how to cook anything - anything at all - without dead animal in it.

So I avoid her cooking.

Blazer

Mother's a fantastic cook...
From her homemade pizza (mmm), bacon and cabbage, steak. bread etc there's very few restaurant's I find that can match her skills..
Even her fry ups taste better than anyone's.
Looking forward now to getting home for xmas and getting nice food for a few days
Grandkids love coming to stay with her and the first thing they ask is "what's for dinner?", even as a kid the next door neighbour's kids used to come in and try and stay for dinner

ixoy

I like my Mum's cooking - enough that I've used most of her recipes since moving away from home, in order to re-create my favourite meals.

Growing up I was fortunate enough to get some Indian meals and Tex-Mex dishes, and I still really like those foods today. Never did get a fondness for Irish staple foods and rarely make them myself.

Turns out now, since he's retired, that my Dad's a very good cook as well. He did a smashing Indian meal for us several weeks ago.

Canis Lupus

My mother is terrible. Any meat she gets is cooked long enough to ensure it's thoroughly dead. Being presented with a Tbone steak that has been cooked for 30 minutes makes me want to cry for the animal that died to produce it.

yeppydeppy

I think Mahatma coat and myself may have the same parental unit.

NoDice

I was just having this conversation a while ago with my friends as we were talking about Christmas dinner!

My mum, bless her, would spend ages at a recipe book and try to make something extravagant for us when we were younger. She'd take it out of the oven with a satisfied "Ta-daaaaa!!!!" and we wouldn't be able to recognise what it was meant to be! Often got the what's-left-of-the-shopping-in-the-freezer food too and dreaded when my friends would come over after school because they'd see my mum couldn't make toast... :pac:

I remember for years when I was still in primary school, if I wouldn't eat my dinner I would be forced to sit at the table until it was all gone. I could be there for 3 or 4 hours and it would be freezing and congealed and I'd still be expected to eat it. *bleurgh*

My Dad eventually tried to help me out by saying things like "Ok, if you eat this half *divides dinner down the middle of plate with fork* you can leave the table" or "Ok NoDice, eat 3 carrots and two forkfuls of mash and you can go". :rolleyes::pac:

Kimono-Girl

ixoy wrote: »

I like my Mum's cooking - enough that I've used most of her recipes since moving away from home, in order to re-create my favourite meals.
.

lol me too! one of her concoctions is one of our favourate meals!


i love her food (and its not because i grew up with it because my partner said the same when we used get our dinner up there when we both were working)(on second thoughts he was probably too afraid to say he didn't like it:D)

it genuinely is great food,:)

she's also a fantastic baker when she ever gets time to bake, this year she made her own christmas cake and ended up having to make more, to supply the demand for it after we all had a taste!

blackbird98

my ma was an absolutely brilliant cook......no wonder i'm a little fat fcuker

DrumSteve

My mam used to cook cabbage in bacon water. ****in Delish.

Badgermonkey

Roast Beef shouldn't be grey Mum.

It has the consistency of a carpet tile.

How do you do it?

Her cookery is pure 1981.

If I suggest using garlic or herbs in a dish I know she secretly thinks I might be gay.

Pace2008

Canis Lupus wrote: »

My mother is terrible. Any meat she gets is cooked long enough to ensure it's thoroughly dead. Being presented with a Tbone steak that has been cooked for 30 minutes makes me want to cry for the animal that died to produce it.

By and large, the generation from which my parents come just don't undederstand steak. For years they served me steak - fairly pricey cuts of meat too - completely browned all the way through, with copious amounts of black on the outside. I'd hear people raving about steak as if it was cut from the ribs of God himself, and I honestly thought there was some vital part of my soul missing as I just couldn’t see what all the fuss was about.

Eventually, we were out in an Italian restaurant, and being a curious sort I went out on a limb and ordered a steak, done rare-medium, at the fearful reproach of the folks. As soon as the succulent, non-incinerated flesh touched my tongue I finally “got it,” and I haven’t looked back since, gradually progressing towards blue steak as my weapon of choice.

Even now, if my parents are doing up a steak I’ll just ask them to leave the cut aside for me to cook to my liking, Try as I might, I cannot convince them that I genuinely enjoy a bloody steak – the closest we can get to a compromise is a medium leaning towards well done, browned all the ****ing way through.

Thomas828

StereoLove wrote: »

My Mammy's cooking is delicious!:D

So is my Mum's, and my Granny's cooking was darn good too.

phill106

I have no son!


Signed:
starbelgrade's mummy

aidan24326

DrumSteve wrote: »

My mam used to cook cabbage in bacon water. ****in Delish.

Ah yeah, your mom knew what she was at! The cabbage soaks up all that nice salty bacon flavour. With a couple of nice slabs of bacon and some creamy mash. Traditional Irish food might not be the world's finest cuisine, but it's hard to beat that on a cold winter's evening.

Asphyxia

My mammy cooks amazing food She's very old fashioned and usually all of her dinners include spuds so it's rare when she would make a non traditional dinner like pasta or pizza, but when she does it's incredible.

ScumLord

My mammy moved to Spain and now all she cooks when she comes home is Spanish shyte. None of the food from my childhood that I hated back then but now would love to try. Stupid paella.

Pace2008

These last few months I've been eating a clean, controlled diet, and Christmas Day has been my first binge in a fair old while.

Any derogatory comments, any ill sentiments, any negative thoughts I've harboured or expressed towards my mother's cooking are now humbly taken back.

That was the best spread I've had in my 22 years and 10 months on this earth. I'd say I took in - and this is a conservative estimate - about 15,000 calories of mushroom soup, homemade brown bread, turkey, ham, gravy, bread and cranberry sauce, croquettes, pudding, raspberry crumble, ice cream, tiramisu...the only thing that stopped me going for more was some far-off voice of reason in the back of my head that told me this wasn't on the level of food intake humans have evolved to consume, and if I ate any more I'd never wake up from the inevitable evening snooze on the couch.

Sorry Ma; love you

kylith

My mum longs to be a great cook, but my dad is a strictly meat and potatoes type of person. I wouldn't say she's a great cook, but her skirt and kidney stew is second to none.

I wish like hell I'd gotten my grandmother to write down her recipes for brown bread and raisin bread.