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LegitimateKale5219

My mom made a sheet pan dish called Apple crapple. None of us can replicate it. As far as we remember is dough on a cookie sheet with sliced apples placed on it.Top covered with another sheet of rough and maybe sugar sprinkled on top. Thin. It may be an old church recipe, but I have never read of anyone making the same thing. I wish I would have paid more attention to the old recipes because now that she has dementia, I can't ask her. so many recipes lost. She was an amazing baker. This is my very first post on reddit


Popular_Performer876

My mom made a dessert with this name. The filling in addition to apples was sugar, butter and crushed corn flakes. You’d never know the corn flakes were there. So good


Pontiacsentinel

u/legitamatekale5219 needs to try your recipe! Plus, I would like it, too.


Popular_Performer876

I’m traveling right now, but will post next weekend when I am back home. It’s pretty easy and a sheet pan of pie serves a lot more than a pie would.


[deleted]

Have you tried experimenting with different types of tomatoes or perhaps adding in some additional herbs/spices to your grandma's red sauce recipe to get closer to the taste you're looking for?


OGB

Are you putting butter, brown sugar, or cinnamon in with the apples between the sheets of dough?


GrapefruitFriendly30

Does the church she may have gotten it from still exist? At thrift stores I have come across specific “church recipe books” or family ones (like for example from a family reunion). Could see if that specific church has something like that.


jnfsfa

Bisquick baking mix had a peach cobbler recipe that sounds like this. You’d just use apples instead of peaches. If I remember the bisquick goes in the baking pan first then the sliced fruit on top. The crust forms over the fruit while baking. https://iheartrecipes.com/. Try here https://iheartrecipes.com/


jnfsfa

Sorry. I’m not good at this. It’s not coming up on the link don’t know why. Just google bisquick cobbler.


tofutti_kleineinein

My mom calls it apple bake. Like super thin apple pie. Not very messy to eat?


LegitimateKale5219

Yes, that's it! I will look up Apple bake recipes. Thank you


Pan-tang

Try collecting the ingredients together and bring her in front of them in the kitchen. She might just start making the dish and you can watch.


Regular-Garlic3693

Suggestion: in a microwave safe container layer apple pie filling, Betty Crocker yellow cake mix, cubes of salted butter, then nuke for 10 mins


badlilbadlandabad

My mom made a creamy, tangy, baked salmon when we were kids. I didn't like fish, but I would always love this. I had no concept of cooking as a kid and never really cared to know what was in things I ate, but I love to cook now. I finally asked her how she made it. It was literally just salmon, seasoned with salt and topped with a thick layer of mayonnaise and baked.


hagcel

As I read this, I knew it was mayo. It does something interesting to salmon that make it palatable to people who don't like fish.


TisNagim

The tangy flavor reminds me of one of my parents chicken dishes. Chicken breast smeared with mayo and parmesan cheese. But the kicker was that they used Miracle Whip and not normal mayo.


hagcel

Man, I gave you an upvote. It's not our fault our elders liked miracle whip.


PatioGardener

Hey man, miracle whip still slaps!


msjammies73

My mom made this too, except it was miracle Whip and bread crumbs, I think. I loved it.


winkers

I make this for potlucks and people love it. But I top the Mayo with breadcrumbs. Bake at 375°f until fish is 125°f internal and let rest.


drgreenair

Yesss ground rough chopped almonds or nuts some herbs garlic lemon zest mix it all in the mayo anything goes


pisspantsing

Oh boy. My mom used to make a very similar salmon. It wasn't half bad!


ThaneOfCawdorrr

I'm pretty sure my mom made this same dish! It was SO good! But once I saw the recipe I never had the heart to make it myself.


byneothername

Have you ever had a Lion King roll? It’s a dish that some sushi restaurants in California came up with in the early 2000s or so. It’s a California roll topped with salmon coated in spicy mayonnaise and then baked, then topped with some fish roe and green onions. You might like this based on what you just said if you haven’t tried it already. (You can Google it and see pictures and recipes if you’re curious.)


Peter_Hempton

Everyone mentions these family recipes. Fortunately I have learned all the family dishes, or the family is still around to make them. The one thing I can't replicate is the Kung Pao Chicken from the food court at the mall. It closed some 20 years ago and I've never had quite the same flavor. It was totally inauthentic, but very addicting. The sauce was dark like generals chicken, the chicken was crispy like panda express orange chicken, but it had the peanuts and dried peppers. I can taste it in my head right now. I've tried a few times, but one day I plan to put a real effort into recreating it.


TheRealJai

I worked at a Chinese restaurant as a teen, and I’m so mad I didn’t ask the owner to teach me a few recipes (both authentic food they would make, and the Americanized stuff). His food was bomb. ILY Mr. Sun!


byneothername

Same but the local Hawaiian chicken place at the mall. They had some kind of homemade vinegar dipping sauce that was the best. So sad it closed.


hemlock_cupcakes

Kenji is your man: https://www.seriouseats.com/takeout-style-kung-pao-chicken-diced-chicken-peppers-peanuts-recipe


Peter_Hempton

Based on the photo I'd say that's not the dish. The sauce was much darker and the chicken looked more "crunchy" like I said it looked kinda like orange chicken from panda express but darker.


huevosputo

My grandma's kugelis/tarke I've tried her exact written recipe, online "award winning recipes," different grater sizes, bacon vs ham, raw onion and meat vs cooked before baking, different types of potatoes, milk vs scalded milk vs evaporated milk and everything in between... nothing replicates the taste and texture It's been fun trying though


TheRealJai

Just Googled it. That sounds freaking delicious.


huevosputo

Good lord is it ever The best is actually the day after making it, you take the cold firm leftovers and slice it into slabs and brown them in a pan with a touch of butter


TheRealJai

My favorite thing to do with leftovers. Brown them in butter. 🤤


ttrockwood

My grandmother baked pies for my grandfather’s restaurant for… decades. She brought pies to every holiday or birthdays or whatever any event it wasn’t a thing she could make them in her sleep. My mom is an excellent baker, like mastered macarons, pavlova, everything and even following grandma’s recipe and using the same thin metal pie plates grandma used she has never been able to replicate the pecan pie or pumpkin pie that grandma made. A few decades of daily practice is probably the issue.


trulymadlybigly

My great aunt was the same way but with cookies. she died and all her recipes were passed on but I swear she left stuff out because none of it is the same. She made this czech bready dish with cabbage and cheese she called cabbage cake that no one has ever been able to make the same.


ttrockwood

There’s absolutely some technique involved that can’t be explained by writing or even demonstrating, like the artistry aspect of cooking and baking that is unique and frustrating yet so very special


Nekodachi22

My grandad’s molasses cookies! His recipe is lost, and nothing I’ve tried has ever come close


tigresslilies

I have a recipe from my grandmother I would be willing to share. Her secret was adding a heaping teaspoon of nutmeg for the spice


Kharv911

Pizza patties from the schwans man, and my mom’s gingerbread


themissyoshi

Yo Schwans is a kids dream, I remember their blue berry breakfast pigs in a blanket as a kid.


TwilightConcious

Did your Schwans' guy sell ice cream from his truck too? We had one growing up in central Texas that did and we chased his truck down the street every summer.


FourCatsAndCounting

Schwan's orange push-ups, man. They just hit different.


Kharv911

This


Arctyc38

I keep meaning to recreate the apple pie flautas from Schwan's some time. Simple, but so good.


daytona955i

That's funny, I miss the pizza egg rolls.


kcbirder11

I quit getting Schwans when everything I liked went away...which was decades ago. Thai Chicken Egg Rolls. A Mexican thing sort of like an Enchirito in a cardboard bowl. They also had this delightful ice cream treat that was a round slab of vanilla ice cream on a chocolate wafer with a puddle of raspberry sauce, all covered in dark chocolate. SO GOOD!


Interesting-Ant2988

the glacier bag lemon ice cream was THEEE best


[deleted]

telephone squealing forgetful consist judicious money wise gold start tender *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*


emmybby

I bet she felt that same way about her own first 100+ batches of fried green tomatoes and fried fish, just keep working at it and your own grandkids will be saying the same about you one day :)


mrjimspeaks

Try pickled green tomatoes sometime, they're delicious.


Rustymarble

My mom called it Salisbury steak, but it was a tough cut of beef done in the giant electric skillet and covered in a tomato paste-based sauce. Served over rice. Can't find the right combo of tomato sauces to get it just right.


PeachPreserves66

I’m thinking that this may be called Swiss steak. My gram used to make something that she called Swiss steak and I’ve completely forgotten how she made it. When searching for a recipe, I’ve found many recipes by that name that include tomatoes. My Gram’s did not. Hers was more a braised round steak that did not include tomatoes. But, anyway, your description reminded me of my Swiss steak search.


Rustymarble

I have dodgy memory but I remember we had a meal called Swiss Steak as well! Maybe my memory assigned the wrong name to the dish! That's so funny! Thank you for the naming!


PeachPreserves66

It is so frustrating to search for the name I remember and to find something entirely different. I think I cam reproduce it by slowly braising tougher cuts of round or chuck steak. If I recall correctly, maybe they are dusted in a seasoned flour like you might do with stew beef. Just going to have to fiddle around with it maybe. Oh, and my Gram also did fluffy dumplings on to of the steak before serving. So. An additional challenge.


Pontiacsentinel

Cube steak is what you want for this.


Boognish-T-Zappa

Yes! I worked in a butcher shop in the early 90s and they used cube steak and swiss steak interchangeably if memory serves. I ran an insane amount of meat through that cubing machine back then. I legit can’t remember the last time I’ve seen one in a meat case though.


iseenyouwitkeiffah

This is it my mom used to make it! Love it.


Difficult_Chef_3652

I grew up with what the markets labeled "swiss steak." That was Pennsylvania in the 1960s. I'm in California now, where I sometimes see the same cut labeled "round steak." The cut looks like a thin ham steak. I tried one using Alton Brown's swiss steak recipe. That was nice. Nothing like what mom did to it. She always cooked meat to well done


crowwhisperer

this swiss steak “recipe” is very tasty. in a large pot soften chopped onions and celery. add a can of tomatoes (i prefer the fire roasted). dredge cube steaks in seasoned flour and brown (solid crisco is best). add to pot of tomato mixture. make brown gravy in the cube steak pan and then pour into pot of tomato mixture and the browned cube steak. stir gently, cover and cook on low heat for about an hour. stir often but gently so meat doesn’t break apart. i add chopped green pepper and okra at about the halfway time. serve over rice. it’s really best the next day.


Ecstatic_Mastodon416

I read this and it reminded me of swiss steak as well! I have an old copy of the American Woman's Cookbook with the recipe my grandma used. I'll send you a pic if you like! Although it occurred to me that it's probably easy to find online too


Rustymarble

Now that I have the proper name, I imagine it will be easier to recreate it! LoL. Thank you very much for the info though!


monnie_bear

Could you send it to me? I'm always looking for more comfort foods


Pontiacsentinel

You're starting with cube steak, right?


CCrabtree

Swiss steak is what we called it, if it's the same thing. Stewed tomatoes is the sauce. They have a totally different flavor.


firstghostsnstuff

My mom’s chicken soup. Any of her soups really but especially that one.


littleprettypaws

For how basic of a dish chicken noodle soup is, it’s surprisingly difficult to find a really good one that’s not bland.


nerdytogether

My tamales never come out as firm as my grandma’s.


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Suspicious-Eagle-828

Boiled bread. I know that it sounds weird, but man it tasted so good! Basically made the yeast bread dough, pulled off chunks to boil in water and then roll them in butter and cinnamon sugar. Either my tastes changed or the old recipe she used was different, but I cannot get it replicated!


TheRealJai

Did the bread have a pretzel-like flavor?


Suspicious-Eagle-828

no - tasted like normal bread dough, but I loved it as a kid.


A911owner

Isn't that basically just a bagel?


OLAZ3000

My aunt's cold sour cherry soup (German-Hungarian) I can make it but hers was better, not sure why, I kind of think maybe she added something... maybe plums?


MikeHolmesIV

Gyümölcsleves? I tried it once and wasn't a fan, but I think I had a bad rendering of it. I want to make it some time. I don't even know where I'd get sour cherries in the U.S.


bluejammiespinksocks

Look for pie cherries. Michigan is full of cherry trees but many grocery stores will sell sour cherries in pails in the frozen section.


foodie42

In this thread: "I've tried to replicate an old recipe and it seems like something is missing..." The way we've changed the foods (and even water) to be "healthier" and/or cheaper. That's what's different. You mom's mayo salmon was probably made with wild-caught salmon before we over-saturated the water with garbage, and developed farm-raised fish (which is great, but tastes different), and the mayo had trans fats, and/or was home-made with eggs laid by chickens that didn't eat crap corn and get pumped with steroids. Your grandma's fried green tomatoes were probably popped straight off the plant and the breading wasn't high fructose corn syrup white bread. Your favorite pastries were probably made with genuine lard and/or unpasteurized butter. The flour wasn't bleached to chalk. There's (important) additives to tap water these days, and it changes by region. I've been trying to recreate my grandmother's chicken noodle soup for the last ten years. I watched (and helped) her make it more times than I've taken my 4yo dog for a walk. The ingredients just aren't the same. The closest I've gotten was literally sourcing everything to the least-procesed, freshest versions of each ingredient... and even ***THAT*** isn't the same. Last time I tried: I grew my own tomatoes (and parsley), then canned them myself; I bought a hand-raised chicken and eggs from the same private farm; I ordered stone-ground sifted flour from a small grainery; I hand made, then sun dried the pasta, just like she did; etc. Still didn't taste quite right. Maybe the water had a unique flavor to it, but I can't figure out how to replicate that. If anyone is interested in the recipe and wants to have a go, I'll post it. Still great, simple soup, but it's just not the same because the ingredients themselves have changed.


Pan-tang

Wow! Good points. You are a very serious cook. You may also be a 'super taster' like my wife. A person's palate also needs to be taken into account. Not everyone can taste certain flavours.


imustachelemeaning

carnation breakfast bars. so delicious.


barbiegirl2381

Yes!!


imustachelemeaning

pretty soon, there’s going to be a world where nobody has tasted such nor knows what we’re talking about.


hagcel

My mom made spinach. It was frozen spinach, boiled in soy sauce seasoned water, and served with bacon and sliced hard-boiled eggs. It was so damn tasty, and I've never been able to find her recipe.


Solid_Speaker471

Something that my Mom called barley burger stew. Anthing I have googled is tomatoe based and this was more of a brown gravy base. I have tried and got close, but no cigar.


Masonjaruniversity

My Mom would make this strawberry yogurt pie that was just the most delicious summer dessert like...ever. Sweet, smooth, creamy, and frozen my GOD is was so good. She only made it a few times and can't remember the recipe . It was probably 40 years ago sooo I mean I understand, but I haven't been able to get it right.


ljmaystrader

I dont know why, but this reminds me of a koolaid pie


choreg

Here is a 1980's Strawberry Yogurt Pie recipe SAFETY NOTE: I added the word 'pasteurized' to the eggs as raw whites are used. Back then we didn't worry about salmonella in eggs. Also, flavored yogurt used to come in 8 oz cups! 1 pint strawberries 1 envelope Knox gelatin 1/2 cup sugar, divided 2 pasteurized eggs, separated 1/2 cup milk 1 cup strawberry yogurt 1 teaspoon lemon juice prepared crust - graham cracker Puree fruit to equal 3/4 cup. Beat egg yolks with milk. In saucepan place gelatin, 1/4 cup sugar, and egg mix. Blend and let stand a few minutes then cook on low heat to dissolve gelatin - about five minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Whisk in fruit, yogurt, lemon juice. Chill til thick but not set. In a bowl, use electric mixer to beat whites to form peaks. Gradually add remaining 1/4 cup sugar. Beat til stiff. Gently fold into filling. Turn into cooked crust. Chill thoroughly or freeze.


Doctor-Liz

Sweet and sour fish. There was a Chinese restaurant near us that had the*best* sweet and sour fish - it was white fish and the sauce was a crust in the fish itself (somehow). Never worked out how it was done.


thedumone

Not a child, but 25 years ago I used to get fried chicken in garlic sauce from a Chinese restaurant and I’ve never found a similar dish in another restaurant. Strongest garlic dish I’ve ever had. Every time I ordered it over the phone they’d warn be about the garlic and I’d say yes I know and then they would say “oh it’s you!” I was probably the only one to order it on the regular.


TigerPoppy

lefse, specifically the potato variety. Mine come out too thick, or too oily, or somehow fail to remind me of my youth.


Bird_Gazer

Haven’t made it in years, but my grandmother told me it starts with really good mashed potatoes, with the cream, butter, and salt added. Then one part potatoes to one part flour. Stack them under a towel as you make them, and the heat from the top ones, softens the dry edges on the lower ones. Yum! I’ll have to break out the ol’ lefse roller one of these days.


bakingcake1456

My grandma made this delicious pink sauce with pasta. I don’t even know what it’s called. I don’t think she even knows lmao


VisitRomanticPangaea

Maybe try pasta alla vodka? That’s a pinkish sauce. https://www.seriouseats.com/pasta-with-vodka-sauce


bakingcake1456

I think that’s the closest thing to it! :) thanks


von_leonie

Could also be sugo rosso with beets. This is like super pink.


mizzbananie

My mom’s orange loaf. Her recipe was lost to dementia by the time we realized it had never been written down. Also my grama’s molasses cookies. I’ll never forget those.


nakedjig

I obviously don't know your grandmother's age, but you might google WW2 or Great Depression molasses cookies. There was a shortage of cane sugar both times and the good recipes I've found came (in the US at least) from one period or the other. I make oatmeal cookies with molasses.


ObsessiveAboutCats

My grandmother had a kickass cinnamon roll recipe that came from her mother and her mother's mother. She taught it to me when I was 10 or so. I lost one of the two pages at some point and even with the other safely scanned into storage, my luck has been not so great. They are at best "eh". But one of this year's goals is to seriously up my bread game (I missed the Great Pandemic Baking Spree due to being an on-paper-at-least essential worker). So I intend to try again. I am going to perfect that damn recipe.


Chungus_fdtp

My mothers tuna casserole or my fathers black bean stir fry.


Nanosleep1024

My grandma used to make rolls from scratch, every Sunday. No recipe, just a big wooden bowl of flour with other stuff thrown on top and mixed. The bowl got topped up with flour and put back in the cabinet.


Anon_Rawr

You may be looking for a sourdough recipe! >*topped off with flour and put back in the cabinet.* It sounds like she was feeding her sourdough starter.


jonschaff

I regularly ate these amazing pasta noodles in the school cafeteria when I was 12. They were buttery, delicious and a little salty but I can’t quite recreate the flavor after years of trying.


Pontiacsentinel

Try margarine. It might be what they used instead. I love butter but just this week was nostalgic for margarine flavor.


SpiralToNowhere

There was a recipe for oatmeal squares we used to call 'chicken feed' . My mom lost the cookbook, a family treasure , in a move, and we haven't been able to get it exactly right since.


CollinZero

My grandma's sour cherry bread. We’d pick the sour cherries. I know she would mix them with sugar and roll the bread up. The bread was sweet. Maybe slightly yellow I think. There were probably eggs involved. It was magnificent. Toasted with butter. Sigh. I managed to recreate her rabbit stew served on firm polenta.


Tom__mm

My late mom’s corny Swedish meatballs. Probably just the taste of childhood but I’m a pretty good cook and I’ve tried. Can’t get it.


jeanie1994

Cottage pie made by my mother I can’t get the homemade mashed potatoes right and every version I try is bland to me, even when I add plenty of salt.


TheRealJai

I find sour cream and/or chicken base added to mashed potatoes makes them more flavorful.


onemorecoffeeplease

The water to boil the potatoes needs to be salted. Then start mashing them with a good tablespoon of butter. Then add some milk, and just to be sure they will be awesome, add a tablespoon of Mayo.


Anon_Rawr

Try stirring an egg yolk into the mash before baking. That was my grandma’s secret.


DConstructed

An apple bread pudding I had as a kid in New Orleans while visiting with my mother.


Khaibet

My grandma's brown gravy, over slices of cheesy toast. She passed away when I was 13, before I really got into baking or cooking (although she did teach me to make soft scrambled eggs and thick-cut porkchops!). I have all her cookbooks, but nothing I've ever tried from them has been exactly what I remember of her gravy or bread.


rncookiemaker

We had a [rotisserie grill](https://www.etsy.com/listing/1407771500/vintage-used-farberware-450-a-open?ref=share_v4_lx) that Mom would use frequently for beef roasts, chicken, hamburgers, pork chops, etc. When she would rotisserie the chicken (small compared to today's chickens in stores), it would be salt and pepper, maybe. No other prep. It would be so juicy and the skin so crisp (and I don't usually like poultry skin). Her grill rotisserie motor died after over 35 years of regular use, and because all the kids moved out, she didn't replace it.


Cera_Sonder

My mom would make me a delicious coconut cake for my birthday. It had buttercream frosting and she would dye the inside rings so that it was a checkerboard design when you cut into it. It was spongy and light but the cream was so rich.


littleprettypaws

The way my Mom makes a cup of tea. It’s the perfect balance of milk and sugar, and it never ever tastes even remotely as good when I make myself a cup. It’s really simple, but yeah a cup of tea.


j_essika

Stifado. We had this a few times a year growing up but my mother doesn’t remember the recipe and her ex-husband kept the recipe box when they split up. I’ve tried making it a couple of times but it just never tastes the same.


lpn122

My grandma’s goulash and plum kuchen


cooper8828

My grandmother's yeast rolls.


Justajed

My grandma made chicken and dumplings and the dumplings were wonderful, and SANK in the broth. We haven't been able to duplicate it.


DangerousFly4245

have you tried the bisquick recipe for dumplings? that’s how my mom made them and i make them that way now and we all think they are very good.


That_Question_6427

My grandmother made a shrimp dip once that was one of the best things I've eaten. I've searched high and low for a similar recipe and asked all the aunties to no avail.


Justajed

Grandma Ellen was a scratch cooker/baker from Alaskan mining camps and feeding all her siblings on a Minnesota farm growing up so I think her recipes are unfortunately lost to time. I don't even think she measured a single thing in her life. I do enjoy a good chicken n dumpling still but I'll never have hers again.


jenilyntx1

Franco American macaroni and cheese in a can


ok_raspberry_jam

My grandmother mastered Yorkshire pudding. Her recipe is lost to the sands of time.


Pan-tang

The key is you MUST use beef dripping, you roast the dripping until it smokes, in a swift movement you pour the batter in the dish and slam the oven door. Do not open the oven door at all until it is baked. You will learn when that is.


Seven3eight1

My grandpa made the most amazing applesauce that I have never been able to replicate. I don’t know if it was the variety of apples, or the specific cinnamon heart candy, but damn—I miss that applesauce. He passed before I was old enough to know to ask for a recipe.


Hadesman1

My mother had a recipe for Pretzel Chicken schnitzel she gave to our housekeeper and we had it every shabbat for years. We moved away and I realized my mother never actually knew how to make it, and I've tried many times myself and I can never get the pretzels to stick to the chicken And it wasn't just pretzel crumbs, it was whole chunks, and it was crunchy in every Bite, I still miss it.


nomiesmommy

My friends mom made this tomato pie that I loved, and I'm pretty sure she got the recipe from the back of an 80s flour bag. It was basically layers of fresh tomatoes, onion, swiss cheese and seasoning in s pie crust. It didn't use eggs, wasnt a custard style pie. It sounds so simple but i can't come up with anything similar.


El-Viking

I thought my grandma made the best chicken and dumplings. Apparently the dumplings are supposed to be some light and airy hot garbage unlike the dense, doughy deliciousness my grandma made. It's OK, you're allowed to be wrong.


PaintSlingingMonkey

My Grandma was a German-Norwegian from Northern Wisconsin born in 1908 She made something *she* called “flatbread”, and I know it had cornmeal in it, and it was *wafer*-thin, yet somehow durable because most of the pieces were palm-sized. Never read a recipe that seemed remotely close, and she could’ve picked it up anywhere because she was almost 60 when I was born. What a bomb-ass baker. RIP Grandma DeeDee :)


amandapant1

Not a family recipe but school chicken and rice. So good.


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hawley088

My mom's homemade Mac and cheese. Idk what she did but even to this day I have never had homemade Mac and cheese better then hers


CCrabtree

Powdered mustard is generally key in good Mac n cheese.


Shabettsannony

My grandmother's Mac and cheese. I have the recipe and the dish she used, but none of us have been able to replicate it. She had a certain touch. We've all just had to come up with our own recipe and let Bibi's version live in our memories.


sharpsassy

My dad made a chicken over rice dish with mandarin orange slices in a cream sauce. As a kid I remember it being so delicious. I google search it occasionally, but nothing comes up that rings the bells. He was from the rural Illinois area, so I always imagined it was a mid-western dish.


erpritz

Could it be something like Hawaiian Haystacks?


LittleRileyBao

My mom made these bars called goom-bars. (Probably spelling that wrong. I honestly don’t know what they are called.) It was German chocolate cake that has caramel mixed into it. Then baked. It was so good I can’t seem to find a recipe for it. My mom doesn’t remember either.


JCantEven4

My grandma used make these really thin pancakes in a cast iron pan when I had sleepovers. They weren't quite crepes, not quite pancakes. I can't find a recipe hers is just some flour, baking powder, and nothing else apparently because stops after that. She's 92. She gets a pass.


myjessup

Sounds like Swedish pancakes.


Solid_Bob

My school cafeteria had these little potato bites that were well seasoned and lightly fried. They looked like little orange cubes, sometimes soft some times crunchy but so damn good. I cannot for the life of me 1. Replicate it 2. Find any evidence online of what they looked like or that they existed. They were kind of this neon orange. I know it had paprika but that’s it.


Past-Charity9402

My great grandmothers fried chicken. By the time she was ready to share the recipe she had dementia. Ive tried to replicate it and cannot even come close to how good her chicken was.


carolinethebandgeek

My mom’s cookies. I know the recipe by heart because we grew up making it but somehow when she makes them they’re crack. When I make them they just seem flat. Hers vary but now that I’ve moved out of her house they usually taste amazing. In terms of home attempted restaurant recipes, PF Changs lettuce wraps. Sauces are hard when you don’t have an Asian cooking background and the difference between soy sauce and dark soy sauce is confusing. Also ramen eggs that are like this place near me. I don’t know if they use tea or what— the eggs come on your ramen with almost a purple tint to them but I have absolutely no idea how they’re making them.


der3009

My dad's pancakes. The recipe is simple and I have it. I've seen him make it. But 1. he uses a large electric griddle, so he can make like 8 at a time and I think it's just a better surface to do it on. and 2. He eyeballs nearly everything with "appropriste" measuring cups. eg. 1 cup of flower could be way more or way less. seen him do it. I've only done it once.


Schmidaho

The Pasta House salad. The Pasta House was (is?) a chain of Italian restaurants in the St. Louis area, and they made this chopped salad that more or less became the standard side salad at every Italian place I ever went to until my family moved in the mid-90s (RIP The Edge). I’ve made guesses at the ingredients for the salad and dressing and I’ve gotten close, but can’t seem to capture the vinegary yet cheesy yet peppery flavor. Honestly I’d be happy if I could figure out the nuances of any St. Louis-style Italian dish, but the salad frustrates me the most. EDIT: oh my god it still exists. This is the recipe: *Romaine and iceberg lettuce tossed with tender artichokes, sliced fresh red onions, pimentos, and aged Wisconsin Parmigiano cheese. Tossed with our famous dressing made in house with premium red wine vinegar, olive oil, and spices.* Those “spices” might as well be the KFC Original Recipe for all I know.


Lonely_Ring9646

Yes! The St. Louis salads! I’ve lived in the Mid-Atlantic for almost 20 years, but I can still taste them now. They were also always so cold.


Schmidaho

OH MY GOD I THOUGHT IT WAS JUST ME YES! So cold! So perfectly crunchy! And so tangy! The perfect companion to St. Louis garlic cheese toast, which is *also* impossible to find elsewhere. I haven’t lived there for 25 years and I can still taste both.


Lonely_Ring9646

The toast! And the toasted ravioli. I was literally trying to explain American Italian food to my husband tonight but I was probably just meaning The Hill in St.Louis (and the outliers!)


Schmidaho

I FOUND IT I found a couple blogs with actual recipes. This is getting made this weekend. https://www.italianbellavita.com/2021/03/how-to-make-st-louis-pasta-house-salad-copycat/ https://meghanitup.com/st-louis-original-italian-salad/


Schmidaho

Definitely, Italian on The Hill is so different from American Italian elsewhere in the US and I didn’t realize it until I’d moved and traveled a bit. I also tried to explain how it was different to my husband, and he just didn’t get it until we went to a wedding in STL and I took him to Cunetto’s. Some things you just have to experience directly. I don’t miss the city much but oh god I miss the Italian restaurants. They all had the same smell too.


optical_mommy

My mother used to make these vinegar green beans. But even she can't seem to replicate them now since I asked, and they came out sweet. She said they were sweet and sour, and so I tried making them with less sweet, but it still didn't come out the way I remember. Very annoying.


[deleted]

My mom makes a green bean, bacon, potato…stew? I don’t even know how to explain it. It’s the above three ingredients with a good amount of black pepper. I’ve tried to make it, but it’s never as good. Which is weird because other than that, my mom generally eats steamed everything with no seasoning.


midsummerclassic90

I’m lucky enough that my mom is still alive and remembers all the things we made as kids. She keeps all of her old family recipe books. What drives me crazy is I will ask for a recipe and she will give it to me… without all her secret ingredients and modifications. When I call and say it didn’t turn out the same, she’s forgotten that she adds a cup of mayo or leaves out an egg white. Every. Time.


Brain_version2_0

My mom’s chicken tikka masala and homemade naan. I can never get the flavor of the sauce right, and my naan comes out bland. I follow her recipe exactly!


jumbledgarbagebrain

My grandmas potato salad, chicken and dumplings, and pierogis. My moms ‘pizza sauce’ for English muffin pizzas. It was ketchup, sugar, oregano, and garlic salt. We were BROKE broke lol. Once a year I get a random nostalgic craving for one of those English muffin pizzas.


Swannfc

My step mother's vegetable soup. It was the only good thing about her and I miss it every day.


ImReverse_Giraffe

Did you ask her?


teacherladydoll

None. My Mom and I each cook terribly (not really but we don’t follow recipes exactly and free style a lot) so our dishes are similar 😅


SilverBudget1172

My grandma lasagna, she died with 54 years old, since that I cant réplicate or Cook a dish closer than his flavor.


ExtremeTEE

My Grandmother Roast duck with orange sauce, the skin was really crispy and the meat juicy, I\`ve never had anything like it before.


629mrsn

My grandma’s biscuits. My mom’s chocolate pound cake. And my exmotherinlaw tomato gravy


Sailorgirlkalista

My mom made donuts with pureed squash in it. She fried the donuts and gave us the donut holes tossed in sugar. They were amazing


livenoodsquirrels

There’s a restaurant near me that has butternut squash donut holes with a salted caramel maple Dipping sauce and they are PHENOMENAL. I grieve your loss.


unicornhornporn0554

My uncle made what we think were baked chicken thighs. None of us have ever been able to replicate them. He wasn’t the type to use recipes or measurements, and he didn’t make them often so I just never had the chance to learn.


DangerousFly4245

my mom’s lasagna, meatballs, brown gravy, and a peach cake dessert.


hihelloneighboroonie

Great grandma's cinnamon rolls. She never measured. They were delicious. I made them with her as a kid but never learned the recipe.


EsterCherry

My great grandmothers sponge cake. It was such a fantastic texture and taste! It had to have been a simple recipe with no fancy ingredients…. Great Grandma always kept her cooking simple and tasty. I have been unable to replicate it or find someone in the family that knows how to make it. She (and her daughter/Grandma B) never wrote recipes down. I’ve been able to replicate some of Grandma B’s baking….but still no sponge cake!


pedanticlawyer

We had one of my dad’s grad students over from dinner. She was from China. She made a soup I can barely remember except that I loved it- it was sour and rich and meaty. I crave it every time I’m sick.


woozles25

My mom made beef and noodles - it was like a stroganoff with roast beef and those fat egg noodles. She gave me the recipe, she showed me how to make it. I cannot replicate the flavor. DH's mom made something he calls salmon puffs that he can't find a recipe for


[deleted]

Mackerel cakes


Similar_Craft_9530

I can't get my mom's Carne asada down.


briarwren

Sooo many recipes. My grandfather didn't share hardly any of his, and he's been gone over 21 years. His "road kill" sausage. The dipping sauce he made for stuffed mushrooms. His amazing spice cookies that used a base recipe in Bon Appétit. He let me help make them once (25 years ago), but he didn't let me write any of it down, and I've never been able to replicate them. When I was six, my father was stationed in Germany. My grandparents came to visit, and there was this one particular restaurant my family loved. We especially enjoyed their Jägerschnitzel and my grandfather somehow sweet talked their recipe out of them. He never did share, and none of the recipes I've tried at home or in restaurants have ever been right.


MortalGlitter

A bean pie that wasn't grainy at ALL. It was light colored with small dark flecks (think the flecks in vanilla bean icecream) but was smooth like a pumpkin pie. Not heavy, gluey, or dense. But every time I've tried to duplicate the delicate flavor and texture it's a mealy let down.


KetoLurkerHere

Chicago Public School butter cookies. I've seen attempts at them over the years but, possibly just due to changing palates, they're not quite the same. They were just these huge cookies, probably 3-inches across, formed by rolling the dough into a ball and then pressed flat with three fingers so there would be those finger length ridges in the cookies. Just a fantastic perfect simple cookie. Anything (any recipe) I've tried that swears it's the same is just...sweet. It's probably my palate so I guess I'll always have the memory!


kayloulee

The chicken and corn pies from the Bakery and Carvery in Lismore Square Shopping Centre, NSW. They renovated the Square in 2005 and the bakery and carvery couldn't afford the new rent, so they closed. Supposedly one of the bakeries in town got the recipes but I've tried theirs and it wasn't the same. I loved these pies as a kid. I've tried to replicate them and of course I couldn't get it right.


Beautiful_Rhubarb

my great grandmother used to make pizza, which my mother/sibs thought was amazing. Her whole house smelled like it often. I have never gotten her "recipe" but I've nailed it a few times, but I cannot quite hone in on what does it lol. Served a sheet of it as an app a few weeks ago at a family party and mom's cousin came up to me raving and said he was going to show me the recipe because it was "almost there" lol. But how? it's more an art than a science and dough has got more to do with humidity/temp/time etc (this sounds like servsafe class lol) I know part of it was she made her own sauce and I don't usually do that for pizza unless I have some leftover I can tweak but i still 99% of the time in this life have no idea what I'm doing regarding anything.


SootyFeralChild

There was a cookie that was always at church functions that I've never learned the name of. It was a graham cracker with a chewy, salty caramel that soaked into the cookie and nuts on top. I'd kill for one, but I dunno what they are lol...


msjammies73

Ha! Midwest church desserts are a species all to their own. I’ve had said graham cracker cookie many times. I think it’s something similar to this: https://www.cocoandash.com/toffee-graham-crack-bars/ There are a lot of recipes similar to this with small changes. You might be able to find just the right one.


SootyFeralChild

You. Are. My. Hero. Thank you so much!!!


msjammies73

My pleasure. You triggered a childhood memory with your comment and I think I will make these with my son tomorrow. Maybe someday he will wax nostalgic for those Carmel graham Crackers he made once with his mom when he was six.


trulymadlybigly

Church potluck food is the tits. I’ve never made funeral potatoes as good as those old broads could


ILoveFckingMattDamon

I hate anything that tastes fishy and can’t stomach salmon at all. But there was a type of fish I LOVED as a kid and I haven’t been able to figure out what kind it is to buy and make it again. It was the only fish I would eat without it being deep fried ala Long John Silvers. Whatever this was it had fishy oily taste at all. My mom made it for Sunday supper sometimes (80s) and my folks both died when I was a kid so I have no one to ask. I remember it was a super thick filet of a very white meat fish. It didn’t taste like dirt the way catfish etc does, it wasn’t tilapia (I’ve tried that after being told it was a mild fish-nope), it wasn’t cod (tried it). But it was so damn good roasted with a lemon pepper seasoning kinda crust on top and some wild rice because all I could taste was the lemon pepper and not any of the fish. I need to eat more fish and would LOVE to figure out what this was.


CalmCupcake2

This sounds like the fish loaf(?) Sort of thing that you could buy frozen in the 80s, it was real fish but pressed into blocks and you'd season it and bake it. It didn't have a flake, and was sort of a thick rectangle. My mum would serve this every Friday with boiled potatoes, for the blandest meal ever. She'd press cracker crumbs on top. She completely stopped eating fish when they took this off the market.


msjammies73

Where did you grow up? There’s a type of fish served a lot in northern part of the Midwest states that’s literally called a Whitefish. Caught in Lake Michigan and Lake Superior. Other places too of course. It is utterly delicious just broiled with salt, butter, lemon, paprika, and pepper. So it made me think of the lemon pepper. It’s super mild and moderately firm.


ILoveFckingMattDamon

Deep South 😂 But I’ll try whitefish, if that sounds right!


mangatoo1020

My mom used to make a casserole in which the main components are ground beef, green beans, cooked egg noodles and some kind of tomato sauce. The tomato sauce is what eludes me.. I know it was something from a can, as my mom was all about convenience foods lol. I just can't get the flavor right. Also there was a green jello salad she made for holidays. I do have the recipe for it, but you have to let the jello gel for a very precise time before you blend in the cream cheese with a hand mixer... Too soon and it doesn't set right, too late and it doesn't blend in correctly lol. I just can't get the timing correct lol


CalmCupcake2

The sauce/ gravy from this steak house my parents went to in Halifax in 1980-83. It was called Steak n Stein and the gravy was thick, vinegary (sherry, maybe?) And had little square hunks of mushrooms. Google says it closed in 2003. I could drink that like soup.


Fluffy_Salamanders

My mom’s chocolate chip cookies. Most times she’d either lose the recipe and find a new one or get distracted and change something. Many a smoke alarm went off in my childhood and not even she could make the same batch twice. I’ve completely given up on recreating any of them and resort to the Toll House back of the bag because it’s always in the baking cabinet and the easiest to find. I still get close to the originals sometimes. Being her offspring I am also often distracted and occasionally singe them. The fire alarm is weirdly nostalgic


Catladylex

My mom's Spanish rice. I always make it either too wet or too dry.


vodkasprinkle

My Oma’s fish soup. It has fish and white rice in it, I can’t remember what else. Also she baked cookies one time with waaaaaay too much butter and they were the best I ever had .


funmaster320

My mom makes super easy cornmeal pancakes that she has showed me time and time again and I somehow cannot figure out how to do it myself. I literally recorded her doing it last time and still can’t make them right!!!


stitzman

Suet pudding


dearjuliet82

French Onion Soup my grandma used to make. I’m 99% she used some sort of soup base packet but I can’t seem to figure out which one. I begged her to write down for years and could never get to do it. Man I miss that soup and my grandma.


Ready-Scientist7380

Mom fixed tamale pie in a big roasting pan. I kinda know the recipe but cannot get it right. She has been gone for years so asking for help is out the window.


cracker_pleased

I had a babysitter that made a dish called Brunswick Stew. It seems like a regular stew but thickened with (cornmeal?) Anyway, I’ve only ever seen it at a couple barbecue restaurants as an adult, but theirs was not nearly as good.


aimeerolu

Deer noodles: deer meat (or beef, if we were out of deer) in a brown gravy served over spaghetti noodles. Topped with chopped hard boiled eggs and/or chopped green onions. Grandma’s cheesecake: you can find a similar recipe by looking up 8 minute cheesecake. Combo of cream cheese, sugar, vanilla, sour cream, and cool whip. Best no bake cheesecake ever. I make a strawberry sauce by soaking chopped up strawberries in sugar and then blending with an immersion blender and add more chopped strawberries so it’s chunky.


Puzzleheaded-Tone119

theres this simple past dish my ex mom made once. it was a tomato type broth with onions and garlic & angel hair pasta. it was the best thing I’ve ever eaten. been trying since to replicate it, have failed each time.