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Message
Cooking memories from your childhood that inspired you to cook. What are they?
Posted on 1/12/14 at 1:47 pm
Posted on 1/12/14 at 1:47 pm
Growing up I have many memories that are etched in my memory forever, the sounds of clanging pots and pans, the smell of onions cooking down, the pre tastings, and the intriguing life discussions that always seemed to be in the kitchen as food was being prepared, quite a bit more interesting than anything else going on in the house, and everything gravitated there eventually anyway like a magnet for activity.
That being said, some of my most lasting memories, and those that really stick out are centered around my babysitter from Opelousas who could cook the best sticky chicken stew I've ever had in my entire life experience with the dish, and one I have yet to top or master, and believe me I've tried often. Another is my mom's cleaning lady Caretha who would come once a week and would always provide us with a pot of something on the stove we never asked for, namely her amazing butter beans in salt pork, or perhaps it was the other way around, I could not tell. Just plain jaw dropping bliss is the best way I can describe it. The next is of course Mom's plethora of different dishes she would serve up, and the cooking marathon Sundays where she would cook multiple dishes for the week, and the big decision on which one to eat today. Then there's grandma's hand in the kitchen along "da rivah" and the lively discussions in French with her and my GGrandmother so none of could understand the juicy and sordid details of widow Lalonde, or Cookie's latest shenanigans.
If it seems that food and life seem to be intertwined here, I suppose that's a lot of what it has meant to most of us in this part of the country, and why food is still so very important to our live in more ways than just sustenance and surviving another day. It's for this reasoning that I would love to hear other poster's influences in and around food, and what has inspired you to cook besides just liking to eat of course. I feel certain there are some real gems out there. Let's have it.
That being said, some of my most lasting memories, and those that really stick out are centered around my babysitter from Opelousas who could cook the best sticky chicken stew I've ever had in my entire life experience with the dish, and one I have yet to top or master, and believe me I've tried often. Another is my mom's cleaning lady Caretha who would come once a week and would always provide us with a pot of something on the stove we never asked for, namely her amazing butter beans in salt pork, or perhaps it was the other way around, I could not tell. Just plain jaw dropping bliss is the best way I can describe it. The next is of course Mom's plethora of different dishes she would serve up, and the cooking marathon Sundays where she would cook multiple dishes for the week, and the big decision on which one to eat today. Then there's grandma's hand in the kitchen along "da rivah" and the lively discussions in French with her and my GGrandmother so none of could understand the juicy and sordid details of widow Lalonde, or Cookie's latest shenanigans.
If it seems that food and life seem to be intertwined here, I suppose that's a lot of what it has meant to most of us in this part of the country, and why food is still so very important to our live in more ways than just sustenance and surviving another day. It's for this reasoning that I would love to hear other poster's influences in and around food, and what has inspired you to cook besides just liking to eat of course. I feel certain there are some real gems out there. Let's have it.
14
Posted on 1/12/14 at 2:06 pm to Mike da Tigah
My great grandmother's french toast and coffee milk for breakfast. Sandwich on evangeline maid bread for lunch. Crawfish eutoufee (sp?) Made with blonde roux for dinner. Man life was good when I was a kid.
Posted on 1/12/14 at 2:10 pm to Mike da Tigah
My childhood memories of cooking are not good. We were poor. We had very little food. My mom's idea of dinner was a liver cheese sammich. Bro and I were very skinny from malnourishment.
But on weekends, dad cooked. He was a roughneck and was a great cook but worked till late at night on week days. Bro and I watched him cook and learned the skills. We gorged ourselves on Sat and Sun because we knew we were gonna starve on Mon thru Fri.
Dad's weekend menus that we watched:
Catfish Courbillion
Gumbo..seafood; chicken and sausage
Cornbread
Grilled chicken
Boiled crabs
Crawfish etouffe
Jambalaya
My favorite was the grilled chicken. He would start the BBQ pit (barrel style) and pull up a couple of lawn chairs in the back yard.
Then he would send me in to the kitchen for a beer. I always got the first sip as a reward. Then he would pick up a couple of pecans from our tree and clack them together.
A squirrel or two would come up to him. He had trained them to react to the sound. A squirrel would run up his pant leg onto his lap and take the pecan gift. I was amazed.
I still love pecans but don't have the patience to train all the squirrels in my yard.
But on weekends, dad cooked. He was a roughneck and was a great cook but worked till late at night on week days. Bro and I watched him cook and learned the skills. We gorged ourselves on Sat and Sun because we knew we were gonna starve on Mon thru Fri.
Dad's weekend menus that we watched:
Catfish Courbillion
Gumbo..seafood; chicken and sausage
Cornbread
Grilled chicken
Boiled crabs
Crawfish etouffe
Jambalaya
My favorite was the grilled chicken. He would start the BBQ pit (barrel style) and pull up a couple of lawn chairs in the back yard.
Then he would send me in to the kitchen for a beer. I always got the first sip as a reward. Then he would pick up a couple of pecans from our tree and clack them together.
A squirrel or two would come up to him. He had trained them to react to the sound. A squirrel would run up his pant leg onto his lap and take the pecan gift. I was amazed.
I still love pecans but don't have the patience to train all the squirrels in my yard.
Posted on 1/12/14 at 2:10 pm to madamsquirrel
quote:
My great grandmother's french toast and coffee milk for breakfast. Sandwich on evangeline maid bread for lunch. Crawfish eutoufee (sp?) Made with blonde roux for dinner. Man life was good when I was a kid.
Nice... I forgot about coffee milk. Ours was with French bread. Yours sounds delish.
Posted on 1/12/14 at 2:12 pm to Zach
You have great stories there Zach. 
Posted on 1/12/14 at 2:14 pm to Mike da Tigah
Fondest cooking memories would have to be my Pop cooking anything outside. I don't ever remember him actually cooking in the house, his meals were always outside in a burner, Coleman stove, or BBQ pit. There are still things that when I cook them, I have to cook them outside, the way Pop did it (ie hen sauce piquant, fish gravy)
My Mom was/is a great cook & could do all the traditional Cajun dishes to perfection, greatest memories are her doing crawfish bisque & stuffing about a hundred heads & her Sunday dinners.
My grandmother was quintessential "ol Cajun lady" who would go out in the chicken yard & pick out supper. She was also skilled in making fresh hogs head cheese, boudin, & all other goodies that came from "butchering day". Also remember her asking my brothers & myself to go kill her some robins & blackbirds so she could make a jambalaya. They don't make em' like that anymore.
Another great culinary memory would have to be when Mom, my grandmother, & our help would get together around thanksgiving & spend two days making sweet dough pies. They would spend a day making the dough & prepping the fresh sweet potatoes & fresh blackberries & the next day putting it all together.
Those were the good ol days & every time I cook outside or use my grandmother's pots, my heart smiles as all of those memories come back to me. Those 4 people influenced & made me the cook I am today.
My Mom was/is a great cook & could do all the traditional Cajun dishes to perfection, greatest memories are her doing crawfish bisque & stuffing about a hundred heads & her Sunday dinners.
My grandmother was quintessential "ol Cajun lady" who would go out in the chicken yard & pick out supper. She was also skilled in making fresh hogs head cheese, boudin, & all other goodies that came from "butchering day". Also remember her asking my brothers & myself to go kill her some robins & blackbirds so she could make a jambalaya. They don't make em' like that anymore.
Another great culinary memory would have to be when Mom, my grandmother, & our help would get together around thanksgiving & spend two days making sweet dough pies. They would spend a day making the dough & prepping the fresh sweet potatoes & fresh blackberries & the next day putting it all together.
Those were the good ol days & every time I cook outside or use my grandmother's pots, my heart smiles as all of those memories come back to me. Those 4 people influenced & made me the cook I am today.
Posted on 1/12/14 at 2:20 pm to TIGERFANZZ
quote:
TIGERFANZZ
That's badass. I had forgotten all about the robins. We plinked them with our pellet guns in the pasture out back behind the family grocery store. My uncle was the chief outlaw. We just tagged along and followed his lead.
Your grandmother sounds like a real amazing Cajun lady. I bet she was something else as they say.
Posted on 1/12/14 at 2:25 pm to Mike da Tigah
My dad made an awesome squirrel stew.
Posted on 1/12/14 at 2:33 pm to Mike da Tigah
quote:
Your grandmother sounds like a real amazing Cajun lady. I bet she was something else as they say.
She sure was. Not to mention that she would plant a huge spring, summer, & winter garden. That's another thing I got from her, gardening. Although my garden couldn't compare to hers, she would spend hours a day in the garden.
Posted on 1/12/14 at 2:51 pm to Mike da Tigah
A hundred stories.
I love calf liver - dredged in flour, fried with onions and smothered in gravy with rice, purple hull peas and cornbread.
As a kid, I hated it, and one night my mom insisted that I would eat the small piece that was put on my dinner plate. This was the day I would draw the line in the sand and I said, "I hate it and will nto eat it."
"Fine, you will not leave the table until you do."
Everyone else finished diner and took their plates to the sink. I sat in defiance, refusing to yield. As mom washed the dishes I was certain she would cave and she didn't. I tried to negotiate with no success. I would show them, I put a piece in my mouth and gagged, cried, whined. All to no effect. I choked down a small bite and then a second and then a third. It was almost gone. Only a couple of other bites and I could leave and go die of liver poisoning. Having to look at me in a undertaker's box before lowering me into the cold-cold ground - That would show them.
Then with the last bite a light bulb snapped on.
My mom almost died when I asked if I could have another small piece.
From that night forward. I love the stuff. One of my favorite cooked at home meals. Maybe I'll photo post it sometime.
I love calf liver - dredged in flour, fried with onions and smothered in gravy with rice, purple hull peas and cornbread.
As a kid, I hated it, and one night my mom insisted that I would eat the small piece that was put on my dinner plate. This was the day I would draw the line in the sand and I said, "I hate it and will nto eat it."
"Fine, you will not leave the table until you do."
Everyone else finished diner and took their plates to the sink. I sat in defiance, refusing to yield. As mom washed the dishes I was certain she would cave and she didn't. I tried to negotiate with no success. I would show them, I put a piece in my mouth and gagged, cried, whined. All to no effect. I choked down a small bite and then a second and then a third. It was almost gone. Only a couple of other bites and I could leave and go die of liver poisoning. Having to look at me in a undertaker's box before lowering me into the cold-cold ground - That would show them.
Then with the last bite a light bulb snapped on.
My mom almost died when I asked if I could have another small piece.
From that night forward. I love the stuff. One of my favorite cooked at home meals. Maybe I'll photo post it sometime.
This post was edited on 1/12/14 at 2:53 pm
Posted on 1/12/14 at 2:57 pm to Mike da Tigah
quote:
memories from your childhood that inspired you to cook.
What are they?
the main one was "getting hungry".
Posted on 1/12/14 at 3:02 pm to TIGERFANZZ
quote:This is the reason I don't eat canned vegetables and tomatoes from the supermarket. I will pay top dollar for local produce.
would plant a huge spring, summer, & winter garden
Posted on 1/12/14 at 3:04 pm to Mike da Tigah
Too many stories from both mom and my one grandmom(all of the grands besides her if they were alive it was too early for me to remember). My mom had a thing which she practiced with me and my siblings. I think I may have just took a greater interest. was if you can see the stovetop whil looking sown at it you were in the mixture of food preparation of the food. It would start with breakfast food and expand from there. I cooked my first duck at about nine. By the time I was fifteen I was cooking meals from Bon Apetit and Gourmet recipes, and doing a bit of cake decoration basics. As far as exposure to food itself it came from gardening and small time(4H) raising of animals(rabbits and chickens) by my oldest brother, a chicken removed from his head will cause a lot of laughs as he runs around until his body tells him you're dead dude.
ETA mom learned to cook so many things that no connection to Louisiana or the So. Alabama cultural influences of her childhood as her family had spent time in Panama and Haiti and the flavors of them made her explore what else made up the world of food, and I inherited as much as I could. I wish I still had her voice to hear and ask her questions about dishes eaten forty years ago which would pop into my head as something to recreate for me the ex and my dog, of those two I miss the dog most.
ETA mom learned to cook so many things that no connection to Louisiana or the So. Alabama cultural influences of her childhood as her family had spent time in Panama and Haiti and the flavors of them made her explore what else made up the world of food, and I inherited as much as I could. I wish I still had her voice to hear and ask her questions about dishes eaten forty years ago which would pop into my head as something to recreate for me the ex and my dog, of those two I miss the dog most.
This post was edited on 1/12/14 at 3:15 pm
Posted on 1/12/14 at 3:46 pm to CITWTT
I loved going to my Grandparents farm on the weekends. My grandmother wasn't the best cook but she always let me help her in the kitchen. Every weekend we would make biscuits. I remember cutting them out with a juice glass. Her "specialty" was chicken and dumplings, she brought them to every family function. I would always cut out the dough and drop them into the pot. Her fried apple pies were the bomb, we picked the apples from the tree in the yard and she would also lay some out on a screen in the sun for dried apples. I hated picking muscadine's. My mom told me a story about how a snake fell off the vine onto my uncle one time and it terrified me.
One of my goals this year is to start canning jams etc. They always had a pantry full of canned items. When I finally move into a house I want to plant a garden as well.
One of my goals this year is to start canning jams etc. They always had a pantry full of canned items. When I finally move into a house I want to plant a garden as well.
Posted on 1/12/14 at 3:51 pm to Mike da Tigah
Anything my grandpa cooked on a bigass cast iron pot
Posted on 1/12/14 at 6:32 pm to DeepSouthSportsman
Best childhood memories were Sunday Dinners at grandmas house - both of them which were two extremes.
My grandma in Morganza was from a poor farming family. She spoke mostly french and every Sunday she made the best sticky stewed chicken anywhere with rice and gravy, white beans or snap beans from the garden.
She could feed 12 people with one chicken.
My grandparents in Opelousas were pretty well off and had an old black maid who helped with the cooking. And that woman could cook.I had no cousins on that side the family so watching her cook is what I would do on Sunday. My Grandpa loved his beef roast so Sunday dinner there was a big ordeal and consisted of Roast Beef, Rice and Gravy, Dirty rice dressing, Potato Salad, Cushaw squash, Mirliton Casserole, Baked Mac and Cheese, Corn Maque Choux, Snap Beans and sliced tomato's when in season. It was quite a spread.
Other than that, Watching my dad on Saturday cooking Gumbos in the fall, Inviting friends over for Gumbo and listening to the John Ferguson and the Tigers on the radio.
Great Memories. Thanks for reminding me.
My grandma in Morganza was from a poor farming family. She spoke mostly french and every Sunday she made the best sticky stewed chicken anywhere with rice and gravy, white beans or snap beans from the garden.
She could feed 12 people with one chicken.
My grandparents in Opelousas were pretty well off and had an old black maid who helped with the cooking. And that woman could cook.I had no cousins on that side the family so watching her cook is what I would do on Sunday. My Grandpa loved his beef roast so Sunday dinner there was a big ordeal and consisted of Roast Beef, Rice and Gravy, Dirty rice dressing, Potato Salad, Cushaw squash, Mirliton Casserole, Baked Mac and Cheese, Corn Maque Choux, Snap Beans and sliced tomato's when in season. It was quite a spread.
Other than that, Watching my dad on Saturday cooking Gumbos in the fall, Inviting friends over for Gumbo and listening to the John Ferguson and the Tigers on the radio.
Great Memories. Thanks for reminding me.
Posted on 1/13/14 at 9:59 am to Mike da Tigah
One of the "event" meals our family had was when my mother and grandmother would stuff hundreds of crawfish heads and make Crawfish Bisque. I really got into cooking because my first wife was a lazy piece of shite and I love to eat good food like my mother cooked. But I enjoy being the only one in the immediate family who can cook the bisque. Grandmother has long since passed, and my mother has bad arthritis in her fingers. When I cook bisque, it is about the only time the family will gather together for a meal aside from Christmas and Thanksgiving.
Posted on 1/13/14 at 10:29 am to Mike da Tigah
Growing up in the Cajun Heartland, our dads went to "Suppers" where the men would cook at one of their camps or kitchens at a rice dryer or other place of business. That's where it all went down: the deals were made and politics discussed over rich suppers with meat, rice and gravy and heavy drinking.
As teenagers we immitated our fathers' traditions and cooked at camps or when we went hunting and developed serious culinary skills from an early age.
Posted on 1/13/14 at 10:55 am to 911Moto
You should post those pics in the bisque thread.
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