Who's a better cook. You or your mom?

[-..__...]

It would have to be me. It helps that after nearly 20 years as a firefighter, cooking becomes an essential (and appreciated), skill

Growing up, spices were: salt, pepper, ketchup and boiling water.

Meat was always very well-done (I never knew there was such a thing as "medium" until I was about 20).

Traditional Irish cooking: boiled hot dogs and baked beans.

Pizza or tuna fish on toasted white bread was a Friday night staple (Boston Irish Catholic... the Pope said we couldn't eat hot dogs on Friday).

My most vivid recollection is of pork ribs boiled until they were a ghastly grey.

[bigwillq]

1. Mommy

She still cooks for me.

[Book Lover]

2. Dad's the professional chef

So it has to be him.

[EstimatedProphet]

3. Me

Mom's just not a cook...

[flamingyouth]

4. My mom is a self-taught cook

Her mother, may she rest in peace, was a HORRID cook. Everything was boiled into an unpalatable mush, basically. So, when my mom got married, she started from scratch. And she taught me to cook as well.

I love cooking, as does my mom. We make some of the same things, but we each have our own specialties.

Have you ever seen this cookbook, Firehouse Food? I really like it:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0811839885/qid=1096502581/sr=ka-3/ref=pd_ka_3/102-9105685-5122520
:hi:

[fudge stripe cookays]

9. Your gran sounds like my great gran.

Only Urgrossmutter Rennscheidt vas from ze old country. Und she cooked everyting in ze same grease. Potatoes, meat, vegetables...zey all tasted exactly ze same.

When her son married my grandmother, she was VERY resentful, because everyone loved my grandma's cooking. She knew she and her Teutonic tastebuds couldn't compete.

[-..__...]

14. I might have.

"Have you ever seen this cookbook, Firehouse Food? I really like it".

Someone at the station bought that and left it in the kitchen (I think that's the one). Are all the recipes from San Francisco firefighters?

Most people probably don't think about it or realize it, but firehouses have some of the best chefs found anywhere. None of the ones I know are real gourmet cooks, but they can whip up a traditional American meal that's to die for.

[flamingyouth]

16. Yeah, it's the SF book

It's a great book. I lived not far from a fire station growing up, and I often smelled some tasty food being cooked there! :9

[fudge stripe cookays]

5. Definitely me.

My mom hated cooking for years.

To me, it's like a big adventure. I made a crown roast for Christmas a few years ago, and a buche de Noel.

I love reading Bon Apetit and Cooking Light; have a bazillion cookbooks. reprehensor didn't realize the deal he was getting at the time, and the kitchen has been slower than usual the last year or so, but he really enjoys when I spend all day on a fancy dinner.

FSC

[flamingyouth]

10. And you never invite me over!

:cry:
Just kidding; hopefully you two can come by for a bite when you're in town next spring!:hi:

[fudge stripe cookays]

19. Hopefully!

We even like the same spices! =)

FSC

[Shoeempress]

6. Me. Every time we used to visit the folks, either my husband or I would

get food poisoning. No Joke. It's amazing I survived my childhood

[Lady Effingbroke]

7. Another vote for mom.

My mother prepares edible, healthy meals which are safe to eat. I, on the other hand, would burn water.

[bigwillq]

11. Hello. I love your screen name!!!

I don't think we've met yet!

I'm Will. Welcome to DU!

[Lady Effingbroke]

13. Hi, bigwillq!

Thanks for the welcome! :hi:

[bigwillq]

21. Are you enjoying your stay so far? (nt)

[Lady Effingbroke]

23. Very much so, lots of friendly people here.

I've finally found a site with like-minded people where I can speak my mind, politically, or just goof around and have fun. DU rocks! :toast:

[tedoll78]

8. My Mom.

She makes the absolute best gumbo in the world.

*sigh*
(just when I was getting over my homesickness.. one day I'll return to New Orleans..)

[dave123williams]

12. Mom, hands down.

...and I'm pretty handy in the kitchen; she's just capable of cooking shit you just wouldn't believe! :)

[barb162]

15. my mother was a great cook and there were several dishes

that were so outstanding. She did it without recipes

[Nikia]

17. I think that I am getting to be better

There were a couple of really good things that she made. Some I have duplicated without getting a recipe by just remembering the taste and ingredients and going for it. There were a few really horrid things that she made, which had undercooked tomatoes as main ingredients (I don't like tomatoes unless they have been cooked down into sauce or salsa.). Many things that she made were ready made. We ate a lot of frozen vegtables and pre made stuff at the meat counter (meat loaf, stuffed potatoes/peppers, and premarinated chicken) as well as hamburger helper and chef boyardee stuff. We did eat some exotic ethnic foods, of all of our ethnicity and some that we were not, including almost every vegtable but it was basic. When she became richer, they went out to eat a lot.
I don't cook as often as I should but I am trying different things. I still rely on box stuff more than I should. In time, I suppose that I won't need premade sauces, spice mixes, or anything that is sold as a mix. Part of the problem is that my husband is a picky eater and actually likes most flavors of hamburger helper and Prego spaghetti sauce.

[HawkerHurricane]

18. My Mom

but that's not saying much.

Some people can't boil water. I can. I call it 'soup'.

[gollygee]

20. Depends on which of us you ask LOL

I am. But my mom would never believe you.

My mom agrees with your mom about how to prepare meat. She feels the same way about all foods - they can't be cooked too long. If ten minutes is good, 15 will be even better.

My mom was an early owner of a microwave and used it for everything. I do mean everything. I've had more rubbery chicken than I care to remember.

[fugue]

22. Me, when I'm inspired to do it

I did a lot of the cooking for the family when I was in high school. My mother was in college. At the time we were poor, and the only meat we could afford was chicken. Just so that my siblings wouldn't groan when they saw one defrosting, I learned to do more with a chicken than the mind can readily imagine. My sister was speaking nostalgically about my chicken timbales only a month or so ago. (I'm a vegetarian now, so they're forever relegated to Memory Lane.)

A friend and I also had a small bakery business for a couple weeks one summer; our specialty was cream puff shells stuffed with bavarian cream or chocolate mousse, but we also did pies, banana bread, stuff like that. We didn't make a lot of money, and my mom shut us down because of the heat generated by the stove (making the air conditioner work harder), but we were good.

Eventually cooking just became a chore, and that's when my skills dipped a bit and leveled off. I did have a brief renaissance when I shared an apartment with my sister: her idea of a meal is a TV dinner, and I was appalled. It didn't last long, but it proved I am still amazing when I want to be.

At all things except pizza. My father made the most incredible pizza in the world, but my sister and I have reached the conclusion that the pizza-making gene is on the Y chromosome. My brother is the one of the kids that takes the least after Dad, but he clearly has the pizza gene, and my sister and I just as clearly do not. Sigh.

[VOX]

24. My mom passed away last year, and she's **still** a better cook...

And I mean no disrespect to my mom -- I really miss her.

But I'm serious -- I have as much aptitude in the kitchen as a cumquat. I can do plumbing repair, troubleshoot a combustion engine, do carpentry to precise specs, etc. But everything I try to cook tastes like roadkill, or worse.

I can make pasta, and operate the microwave (duh), but those are my upper limits on the culinary arts.

Thank God my wife is a terrific cook. She doesn't mind doing it -- I do all prep work and clean-up, with pleasure.

[5thGenDemocrat]

25. My mom cooked like a Nazi

God love her -- she was a MENSA member, great person and only had, like, three jobs in over forty years. But she could not cook.
We bought her a microwave and she was delighted because she could burn the food in a quarter of the time. She even scorched TV dinners until we explained that she had to take them out of the box first.
Dad was a much better cook. His biggest flaw was that he couldn't hold a job for longer than a couple of weeks at a pop. The two came to the agreement that, generally, mom would work and dad would cook. This kept us five kids from wearing rags or starving to death.
John
Note that I haven't said I am a better cook than mom. I could live on bologna sandwiches forever if I had to but, fortunately, Polly likes to cook and she is very good at it.
Polly says her biggest problem is burning her buns. I respond that that is my job.

[NashVegas]

26. My Mom

And mainly because she's always had a better handle on menus and a good notion of when it's inappropriate to go exploring and be creative.

[maveric]

27. Right now, I am. 10-45 years ago Mom was.

Ma is getting old and does not cook anymore since my Father died.
She and my sicilian grandmother taught me everything.

[bearfan454]

28. Me by far.

But franmarz can kick ass on some dishes from Spain.

[alarcojon]

29. I'm a pretty good cook

but my mom is better. When she passes recipes along to me, I get the feeling she is holding back on a secret ingredient.

[ironflange]

30. My mom is a great cook

She moved to town at sixteen to do cooking for a boarding school. She may not have needed that impetus, it's hard to find a farm girl who can't cook. She taught me everything she knows, too, so it's pretty well a dead heat between us. The best thing I learned from her is how to fake it in the kitchen, how to make really good stuff just with what is at hand. Naturally, we're partners in a catering company, specializing in good old homestyle cuisine. Oh yeah, Ukrainian specialties too.

My MIL, OTOH, is a dreadful cook. Ugh. Cook everything until it's good and dead, it's kind of like eating at Luby's. :evilgrin: Mrs. Ironflange cooks like her, so I do all the cooking at home. If I couldn't cook, she'd have kicked me out of the house long ago.

[johnnie]

31. My mother would agree

I was the one that did a lot of the cooking at the house. My sisters and brother didn't do much. Now, my youngest sister is a great cook.
My mother knew how to cook, but I liked doing it more than she did. I ended up learning to do it pretty well. I approach it like art, so I just enjoy it. I had to then cook for all my ex g/f's also.
I don't do it as much as I used to because I am the only one at the house. Unless I go to the folks for big dinners or cookouts, then I do the cooking.

[gardenista]

32. Awww, it's me. Wish it wasn't.

We've had some very, um, interesting Thanksgiving dinners.

Once, she left the giblet bag inside the turkey. Very appetizing.

Another time the mashed 'taters turned out like papier mache paste. I mean, they were running off the spoon.

Everyone pretended it was great.

My husband and I are trying to figure out how to get out of it this year.