User Panel
User Panel
User Panel
|
Posted: 4/17/2024 9:22:50 AM EDT
From some of the post here it is clear some of us had a parent who could not cook.
My mom thought canned baked beans with a few pieces of hotdog in them was a meal for kids. Along with a lot of bologna sandwiches. When I was a kid we had a dog that mom named Muffin. The dog was black. Muffins are not normally black. 
|
|
|
|
TX, USA
|
Posted: 4/17/2024 9:25:32 AM EDT
[#1]
My mom was a great cook in most things EXCEPT pork chops. She would flat out murder them under the broiler and cook them to a level that resembled shoe leather coated with charcoal.
I was in my upper 20s before I had a correctly prepared and cooked pork chop, and realized they were amazing |
|
|
OH, USA
|
Posted: 4/17/2024 9:27:53 AM EDT
[#2]
There are no words for my mother’s cooking. She made the best cakes and pies though.
Example; steak was not done unless it was black and crispy. |
|
|
|
Posted: 4/17/2024 9:34:47 AM EDT
[#3]
My daughter took a home ec class. Maybe 7th or 8th grade, I don't remember exactly. She asked if she could make dinner one night. Sure! So she decided to make tuna noodle casserole. She didn't want any help, she had this. After a bit she announced it was dinner time and she pulled the casserole out of the oven. Looked good.
She served it up, we noticed it was a bit crunchy. We asked her if she had boiled the noodles first - You're supposed to boil the noodles? Still tease her about that some 30 years later. |
|
|
|
TX, USA
|
Posted: 4/17/2024 9:38:11 AM EDT
[#4]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By DaveM4K: There are no words for my mother’s cooking. She made the best cakes and pies though. Example; steak was not done unless it was black and crispy. Black and crispy on the outside edges, nice and browned on the middle exterior, and still weakly mooing on the inside, right? RIGHT? |
|
|
UT, USA
|
Posted: 4/17/2024 9:44:00 AM EDT
[Last Edit: crashburnrepeat]
[#5]
My mom thinks spaghetti-o's mixed with ravioli is Italian gourmet cuisine
. She's also a fan of hotdogs in pork and beans. I'm lucky because my wife is an amazing cook |
|
|
|
Posted: 4/17/2024 9:45:17 AM EDT
[#6]
My grandma was a decent cook when she wanted to be. If she took her time. She would make scrambled eggs with ham and cheese in them, kinda like a ham and cheese omelette or pancakes with apples and cinnamon in them. Anytime I would go duck hunting she would always make orange duck.
My mother, I don't recall ever cooking anything, ever. |
|
|
|
SD, USA
|
Posted: 4/17/2024 9:53:03 AM EDT
[#7]
People in this thread shitting on beanie-weenies? Buncha slack jawed you know whats in here.
I've had, and enjoy, good meals, but I'll scarf down a full can of Bush's original baked beans with mid-tier or better hot dogs all damn day long. |
|
|
|
Posted: 4/17/2024 9:59:20 AM EDT
[#8]
My mother never saw a recipe she couldn't ruin.
 Sorry mom. 
|
|
|
|
CO, USA
|
Posted: 4/17/2024 10:03:27 AM EDT
[#9]
Everyone in my family generally understands the basics of cooking. Thankful to come from French and Cajun heritage.
My wife and I are both pretty good cooks. We're completely comfortable critiquing the other's food. And often leave disappointed when going to restaurants. We always say we can make it better at home for a majority of dishes. |
|
|
|
Posted: 4/17/2024 10:04:02 AM EDT
[#10]
I have the opposite problem (?) … everyone in my family are bad ass cooks. The food at family gatherings is epic. Mostly simple southern cooking and bbq, but really well executed.
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: 4/17/2024 10:10:16 AM EDT
[Last Edit: gearjammer351]
[#11]
I had a single mom who was (is) a terrible cook. She got roped into using many the 'convenience' foods from the 70s-80s.
Her recipes were 'a can of this, a can of that, a box of this' etc. I don't think she knew where the produce section of the grocery store was.  Attached File Attached File Attached File |
|
|
|
USA
|
Posted: 4/17/2024 10:28:03 AM EDT
[Last Edit: SteelonSteel]
[#12]
Nope, my mom was great in the kitchen. When I was young she was still learning but she had a drive to make great food and would replicate restaurant food she had out at home. She got quite good at that. Back when dining out at a family restaurant was quality food and not cheap Sysco short cuts.
We did eat boxed mac and cheese, hot dogs and beans too but on the weekend, usually Sunday mom had a classic sit down meal on the table, a roast beef or pork, a roast chicken, etc. It wasn’t until her declining years that her energy to do so waivered, also her taste was altered so she was less apt to enjoy a meal out as she would be disappointed claiming stuff was off, at home she tended to over salt things to make up for her altered sense of taste. 
|
|
|
MI, USA
|
Posted: 4/17/2024 10:30:48 AM EDT
[#13]
My kids were young when they made something they dreamed up, unsupervised, which they called ambulance pie. Ingredients included a big package of strawberries, most of a head of lettuce, some cheese, and smaller amounts of flour, sugar, etc.
We all had a bite. We all agreed it was not good. We put a rule in place that required all cooking be done from a recipe. They continued learn and make a lot of tasty things now. |
|
|
OH, USA
|
Posted: 4/17/2024 10:37:10 AM EDT
[Last Edit: DaveM4K]
[#14]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By NotJackMiller: Black and crispy on the outside edges, nice and browned on the middle exterior, and still weakly mooing on the inside, right? RIGHT? Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By NotJackMiller: Originally Posted By DaveM4K: There are no words for my mother’s cooking. She made the best cakes and pies though. Example; steak was not done unless it was black and crispy. Black and crispy on the outside edges, nice and browned on the middle exterior, and still weakly mooing on the inside, right? RIGHT? Uh No! Black as in shoe leather. The sad thing is we owned and fed cattle, had some of the best looking beef but damn she could not cook. She did the same thing to all meat. I thought it was standard practice to use a bottle of Steak sauce every time we had steak. |
|
|
|
Posted: 4/17/2024 10:57:56 AM EDT
[#15]
My mom made sure there was a hot meal at dinner every single day. Sunday dinners were always great. The rest of the week, absolute dice roll of overcooked meats, boiled cans of veggies, and other joys. But, as mentioned, there was something every day, and for that I'm appreciative.
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: 4/17/2024 11:18:43 AM EDT
[#16]
My Grandmother and Mother were excellent in the kitchen but both of them had one unwritten rule… if they didn’t like it, they wouldn’t cook it. Never had less than well done beef, mushrooms or any real ethnic food until I got into the real world.
My wife is a solid cook and we enjoy cooking in the kitchen together. All three of my kids (20,22,24) treat food & cooking as a serious hobby almost to the point of an obsession. So I guess I lucked out… |
|
|
|
|
Posted: 4/17/2024 11:25:40 AM EDT
[#17]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By TxRabbitBane: I have the opposite problem (?) … everyone in my family are bad ass cooks. The food at family gatherings is epic. Mostly simple southern cooking and bbq, but really well executed. Friends get a kick out of my family gathering dinner stories. It was SOP for grandma to cook enough for purposeful left overs. You know how in most families when there are left overs to send home, there's usually some scramble to hodgpodge some paper plates, foil, plastic wrap stuff to make the trip. Nope. Dad and my uncle would bring tupperware containers to Christmas and Thanksgiving to take home leftovers. I miss dinner at grandma's. I was at least wise enough to learn how to cook what she did, by her side while growing up. All hillbilly food. All delicious. Just now remembered her fried apple pies. Might have to make some this weekend. Haven't had them in probably 20 years. |
|
|
|
|
Posted: 4/17/2024 11:27:08 AM EDT
[#18]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By gearjammer351: I had a single mom who was (is) a terrible cook. She got roped into using many the 'convenience' foods from the 70s-80s. Her recipes were 'a can of this, a can of that, a box of this' etc. I don't think she knew where the produce section of the grocery store was. https://www.ar15.com/media/mediaFiles/252069/1478234910-picmonkey-collage_jpg-3190262.JPG https://www.ar15.com/media/mediaFiles/252069/49c251a5e94dacdf5320fdf82fda79118740304f-3190264.JPG https://www.ar15.com/media/mediaFiles/252069/andy-warhol-screenprint-cream-of-mushroo-3190266.JPG I actually bought hamburger helper a bit later in life to try it out. It was rich people food to me.
|
|
|
|
USA
|
Posted: 4/17/2024 11:27:53 AM EDT
[#19]
One time my mother accidentally baked a pin into a recipe of cinnamon rolls. It was on the kitchen island because we had been trying on new church clothes.
I took a bite and discovered it quite by surprise. My dad wrote a ballad about it. |
|
|
|
Posted: 4/17/2024 11:30:17 AM EDT
[#20]
Every Saturday mom would make a pot of sauce for the week, I’d come in cold New England Saturday afternoons and sit down to a hot meatball sandwich on scali bread. I miss you Mom, 20 years this year.
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: 4/17/2024 11:31:54 AM EDT
[#21]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By rw66: My Grandmother and Mother were excellent in the kitchen but both of them had one unwritten rule… if they didn’t like it, they wouldn’t cook it. Never had less than well done beef, mushrooms or any real ethnic food until I got into the real world. My wife is a solid cook and we enjoy cooking in the kitchen together. All three of my kids (20,22,24) treat food & cooking as a serious hobby almost to the point of an obsession. So I guess I lucked out… Back in the day, the FDA had housewives scared to death of trichonosis, salmenela, botchulism (I just butchered all those spellings but I ain't lookin em up for yall). Everyone has the stories of pork chops and steaks, chicken, and burgers that were done to the point of inedibility. |
|
|
|
AR, USA
|
Posted: 4/17/2024 11:32:03 AM EDT
[#22]
My grandpa would make what he called chili, but it was more like stew, because he took the opportunity to add all the leftover veggies and meat from the fridge to make sure they weren't wasted
|
|
|
|
Posted: 4/17/2024 11:40:12 AM EDT
[#23]
My mom tried
She used to make this crap she called Indian Stew. It was Dinty Moore mixed with canned mushrooms and sour cream. She would then pour it over brown rice. Wasn't the greatest as a kid, but now I miss it. Another was Stroganoff made with ground beef, over white rice. Had my cousins over for dinner one night. One of them said at the dinner table, "What is this slop"! We named it Aunt Jennies Slop there after. Lol |
|
|
|
KY, USA
|
Posted: 4/17/2024 11:44:26 AM EDT
[#24]
My mother is a great cook my dad on the other hand would starve before he would. Mom had to travel some for work the last few years before she retired. She had to cook a week's worth of food before she left. He would literally not eat for a week if she didn't
|
|
|
|
Posted: 4/17/2024 11:49:03 AM EDT
[#25]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By rw66: My Grandmother and Mother were excellent in the kitchen but both of them had one unwritten rule… if they didn’t like it, they wouldn’t cook it. Same here. I didn't have Indian food or asian food other than Chinese takeout until I was in college. I also missed out on goat cheese for all of those years. Thankfully she liked medium rare steaks and properly cooked pork. |
|
|
|
USA
|
Posted: 4/17/2024 11:49:59 AM EDT
[#26]
Despite my mother being made to sit next to her mom while growing up so she could learn how to cook so she could be a good wife it did not take. It took her years to learn how to cook the basics. Once day she decided to take some cooking classes and for a short time made some fine meals.
Stuffed steak, stuffed cornish game hens, and a few others, but it did not last long and it was back to the basics. She did make a great lasagna, meatloaf, veal and chick parm but the last two are not hard to screw up. She tried her hand at baking and did make an awesome cheese cake but the last one she ever made tasted like crap because she completely forget one of the ingredients but that was almost forty years ago. |
|
|
|
Posted: 4/17/2024 11:54:16 AM EDT
[#27]
My grandpa was a garbage man in a small town. He came home for lunch every day.
About 90 percent of the time my grandma made a hamburger patty (no bun, just the patty), boiled potatoes (peeled, no gravy just butter), and some canned vegetable (almost always green beans). They ate the same damned thing 90% of lunches for 30 years. |
|
|
|
|
Posted: 4/17/2024 11:56:21 AM EDT
[#28]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By wildearp: We were too poor for hamburger helper, or just hamburger. Bologna sammiches were what we had most of the time. I actually bought hamburger helper a bit later in life to try it out. It was rich people food to me. We were also pretty poor. I was showing a representative sample. Often, we had the store-brand versions of those. A big treat was a Totinos Party pizza when I had a friend over. 
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: 4/17/2024 11:57:26 AM EDT
[#29]
I was nearly shorter than the stove. My sister was slightly taller. We decided to make fries. To make fries, of course you have to boil the oil before putting the fries in. BIG FIRE. Had to repaint again. We were not allowed to heat food up until we were 12 years old. Kids.
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: 4/17/2024 11:59:42 AM EDT
[#30]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By DKUltra: My mom tried She used to make this crap she called Indian Stew. It was Dinty Moore mixed with canned mushrooms and sour cream. She would then pour it over brown rice. Wasn't the greatest as a kid, but now I miss it. Another was Stroganoff made with ground beef, over white rice. Had my cousins over for dinner one night. One of them said at the dinner table, "What is this slop"! We named it Aunt Jennies Slop there after. Lol One of my mom's staples was 'tuna casserole.' Box of mac & cheese Can of cream of mushroom soup Can of tuna Can of peas -all mixed together in a pan. I didn't mind it when I was a kid, but I didn't know better. Just the memory of it disgusts me now. 
|
|
|
|
KY, USA
|
Posted: 4/17/2024 12:04:10 PM EDT
[#31]
My mom thought chicken breasts need to be cooked for 40+ minutes.
I haven't spoken to her for 15 years. |
|
|
OR, USA
|
Posted: 4/17/2024 12:12:40 PM EDT
[#32]
My dad didn't really cook - except on the rare occasions when my mom had some evening event. He liked to get creative and it was always terrible.
He tried making duck l'orange - but we didn't have any duck or oranges - but we had chicken and grapefruit. It was chicken l'pamplemousse and it was inedible. Tasted like bile. He also made "triscuit surprise" once - which was crushed up triscuits mixed with cans of stuff - almost as bad as the grapefruit thing. But overall no complaints. My wife grew up so poor that "pancake week" was a regular thing. That's when there's no money and you have to eat pancakes 3x a day for a week. |
|
|
PA, USA
|
Posted: 4/17/2024 12:16:15 PM EDT
[#33]
My MIL showed up for thanksgiving one year with the mashed potatoes. Fortunately, we had some real potatoes to make, since her potato flakes were battleship gray.
 Last time she was ever allowed to cook. She was so bad, Meals for Wheels wouldn't let her make anything, she just delivered it.
|
|
|
|
Posted: 4/17/2024 12:24:59 PM EDT
[#34]
Step-daughter and husband had a cook-out several years ago to "celebrate" husbands new grill. His normal diet is bacon, hamburger and pizza which limited the menu, so we had hamburger. I happened to look over at him tending the grill and noticed he was frequently dousing the charcoal with lighter fluid though they had started to get white around the edges. Thing is the hamburger patties were on the grill while he was doing it. He served them up about 10 minutes later. They looked like burnt trail markers and tasted like ................ charcoal starter fluid I know, it could have been a teaching moment but it would have been a wasted effort. Some men you just can't reach. |
|
|
|
|
Posted: 4/17/2024 12:30:18 PM EDT
[#35]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By bullsi191145: My mom was a great cook in most things EXCEPT pork chops. She would flat out murder them under the broiler and cook them to a level that resembled shoe leather coated with charcoal. I was in my upper 20s before I had a correctly prepared and cooked pork chop, and realized they were amazing WOW......I was going to post this almost verbatim. |
|
|
|
|
Posted: 4/17/2024 12:33:39 PM EDT
[#36]
I know it sounds like a story, but my Grandmother would get up at the crack of dawn and make biscuits from scratch, and have em ready for breakfast with farm fresh ham sandwiched in em. I'd eat those things till I couldn't walk. And when we'd leave her from the visits, she'd pack us a cooler of em. They were even delicious cold. One of those things that stays in your memory forever.
|
|
|
|
CO, USA
|
Posted: 4/17/2024 12:34:26 PM EDT
[#37]
Mom was a good cook. I learned to cook watching her and it’s something I take pride in doing well.
My wife’s mom couldn’t cook worth a hoot. My wife never learned. Living with me she is much better now but still picks recipes based on pretty pictures rather than understanding what is going on in the recipe. |
|
|
|
Posted: 4/17/2024 12:40:35 PM EDT
[#38]
My Mom was/is a fabulous cook. She was a stay at home Mom when we were kids, and she took pride in it. We moved around the world like every three years for a while there, with my Dad in the Army, and she always made our house a home, and fed us really delicious food. I was blessed, and I am thankful to God for my parents having been so good to me. I was a total dick as a kid and got sent to military school
, and would not have treated me with the same kindness and love that they gave me. |
|
|
|
|
Posted: 4/17/2024 1:43:37 PM EDT
[#39]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By gearjammer351: One of my mom's staples was 'tuna casserole.' Box of mac & cheese Can of cream of mushroom soup Can of tuna Can of peas -all mixed together in a pan. I didn't mind it when I was a kid, but I didn't know better. Just the memory of it disgusts me now. When I was a kid "tuna and noodles" was my favorite. Egg noodles, canned tuna, and cream of mushroom soup. It's the greatest comfort food ever. Yet people still manage to fuck it up by adding peas or, worse yet, potato chips to it. I still eat it occasionally. I'm 51.
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: 4/17/2024 3:18:14 PM EDT
[#40]
We had Thanksgiving dinner at my MIL's house one year.
She wanted to try a new gravy recipe, but instead of using chicken broth she used bouillon cubes to make her stock, but still added the amount of salt included in the recipe without tasting anything first. It was just a brine at that point, completely inedible. So she decides to dilute the saltiness with sour cream, of all things. The gravy recipe called for a bunch of diced onions, so her gravy was this thing that was super salty and sour creamy like a very bad chip dip. I know chip dip makes it sound good, but it wasn't even in the same neighborhood as good. I offered to make regular gravy with the turkey pan drippings, but she had coated the turkey skin with cranberry sauce (something she saw on the internet) and the sugar caused it turn into charcoal and it slid off the skin contaminating the drippings. It was truly awful. |
|
|
|
NC, USA
|
Posted: 4/17/2024 3:25:33 PM EDT
[#41]
My grandma was an excellent cook. She grew up cooking for her entire family. She’s old as crap now and doesn’t cook anymore but as she was fading, so to speak, she started cooking old things from the freezer that weren’t good anymore, expired things, etc.
One time, she cooked a massive beetle…one of those real mean looking ones…in the snap beans. It was served to my wife. She pointed it out to me in secret, trying not to embarrass her but my Uncle caught on and asked what was going on. As soon as he saw it he blurted out “MA!..YOU COOKED A BUG!” It was hilarious. |
|
|
|
Posted: 4/17/2024 3:31:40 PM EDT
[#42]
I grilled an amazing turkey for my in-laws one year. Wifeys dad liked it so much he tried to repeat at Christmas. Only problem was I grilled with indirect heat and special combo of charcoal and wood in November in So Cal.
He tried grilling on gas in Chicago in December with 20 mph winds and -5 temps. At 45 minutes to dinner the bottom of the turkey was burnt and the top was uncooked and cold. My MIL was pissed and took the whole turkey and threw it in the microwave. I ate only sides that year! |
|
|
|
|
Posted: 4/18/2024 3:02:37 PM EDT
[#43]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By Dorcas: When I was a kid "tuna and noodles" was my favorite. Egg noodles, canned tuna, and cream of mushroom soup. It's the greatest comfort food ever. Yet people still manage to fuck it up by adding peas or, worse yet, potato chips to it. I still eat it occasionally. I'm 51. nah, I can't do it now. I haven't exactly become a food snob, but my tastes are definitely a little more refined now. I think I remember a 'tuna & noodles' MRE that everyone hated -including me. It was too long ago for me to remember clearly. |
|
|
|
|
Posted: 4/18/2024 3:10:32 PM EDT
[#44]
My grandmother on my mom's side could cook. My mom could not, and my dad's side had a couple of recipes that were "okay" but not great.
My wife can follow a recipe alright but sometimes messes up. I am a badass cook. I am finally to the point where I have enough experience with different recipes, techniques and ingredients where I can make something from scratch from pantry ingredients that comes out good. And if I can get to the store and buy ingredients, I can cook almost anything. The only place I am severely lacking is with baking. It takes a lot of time and experience, and I'm not willing to invest that kind of effort. |
|
|
|
AZ, USA
|
Posted: 4/18/2024 3:14:21 PM EDT
[Last Edit: Tactical_Jew]
[#45]
Mom was an amazing cook and grandmother, too.
My crazy uncle would make a big cauldron of gulyas in the front yard. |
|
|
|
Posted: 4/18/2024 3:14:52 PM EDT
[#46]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By johnh57: My daughter took a home ec class. Maybe 7th or 8th grade, I don't remember exactly. She asked if she could make dinner one night. Sure! So she decided to make tuna noodle casserole. She didn't want any help, she had this. After a bit she announced it was dinner time and she pulled the casserole out of the oven. Looked good. She served it up, we noticed it was a bit crunchy. We asked her if she had boiled the noodles first - You're supposed to boil the noodles? Still tease her about that some 30 years later. Why do you hate crunchy noodles? At least she from learned her mistake and won't do that ever again. Now days with U-toob there's no excuse not to know how to cook. |
|
|
|
Win a FREE Membership!
Sign up for the ARFCOM weekly newsletter and be entered to win a free ARFCOM membership. One new winner* is announced every week!
You will receive an email every Friday morning featuring the latest chatter from the hottest topics, breaking news surrounding legislation, as well as exclusive deals only available to ARFCOM email subscribers.
AR15.COM is the world's largest firearm community and is a gathering place for firearm enthusiasts of all types.
From hunters and military members, to competition shooters and general firearm enthusiasts, we welcome anyone who values and respects the way of the firearm.
Subscribe to our monthly Newsletter to receive firearm news, product discounts from your favorite Industry Partners, and more.
Copyright © 1996-2024 AR15.COM LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Any use of this content without express written consent is prohibited.
AR15.Com reserves the right to overwrite or replace any affiliate, commercial, or monetizable links, posted by users, with our own.
