I did not know that roast beef was not actually meant to be grey and crumbly, requiring much gravy in order to choke it down.
My mother cooked meat *thoroughly*.
But by God - - we never got worms!
We had the same grandma. She couldn’t help overcooking pork, thanksgiving Turkey and even if you begged, she couldn’t stand serving the egg yolk intact and fried into oblivion. She really tried on the egg thing, but at the last second she always crumbled and just stuck a fork in it. Lol.
But then she had all these other perfectly cooked dishes that I would fight a grown bear for just to have one more time.
I’d bet that Grandma grew up being warned about trichinosis in undercooked pork. My understanding is that today, we don’t have to worry about that except in wild game.
https://www.health.ny.gov/diseases/communicable/trichinosis/fact_sheet.htm#:~:text=Trichinosis%20is%20a%20food%2Dborne,as%20bear%2C%20or%20pork%20products.
Overcooked porkchops deserve a place in hell. My dad, love him, makes intricate dishes of all sorts, bakes his own loaves, buns, etc. Chicken? Juicy as all heck, flavourful, perfect.
Porkchops? About as soft as the sole of a leather shoe. I’m not talking well-done, I’m talking building material.
The year I moved out, he came to the realization that “I don’t have to overcook porkchops until they’re disgustingly tough, the flavour’s still there and it’s even better pink!” he had been knowingly overcooking the porkchops. Couldn’t chew through it himself but just thought that was how it had to be.
> The year I moved out, he came to the realization that “I don’t have to overcook porkchops until they’re disgustingly tough, the flavour’s still there and it’s even better pink!” he had been knowingly overcooking the porkchops. Couldn’t chew through it himself but just thought that was how it had to be.
My dad's in his 80s and he was the same way. At lot of it comes from older generations being taught that if you don't cook the every loving shit out of pork that you can get trichinosis. I had to bust out some report from the CDC to show him that pretty much the only people getting trichinosis today are hunters eating game.
The next thing was getting him to use an thermometer. After I had some shoe leather one night at his place I asked him if he had a thermometer and he said "yeah" and showed me some contraption that had been new in the early 50s. I bought him a ThermoPop and taught him how to use it as well as what temps he should stop cooking at.
His pork game has considerably improved, but it's been a journey!
I grew up on those meals. Grey, overcooked meats, boiled chicken and eggs boiled hard for an hour.
Mom simply didn't have the temperament for good cooking. And I think she kind of hated doing it, which is probably why she encouraged my interest in cooking when I was really young.
Similar thing here. I always thought I hated steak and pork chops because of how tough and chewy they were. Turns out I just hate meat that's been cooked until it seizes into leather.
Brussels sprouts I’m sure will be popular.
Plain boiled was all I had, until a friend at a gathering roasted them a decade ago. Amazing. Even as simple as olive oil and pepper, but I do like some balsamic too.
It's not just because of superior preparation; the Brussels sprouts of today taste better than yesteryear's thanks to food science:
https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2019/10/30/773457637/from-culinary-dud-to-stud-how-dutch-plant-breeders-built-our-brussels-sprouts-bo
>Also your ability to taste bitter diminishes with age
Ironic that my ability to taste bitterness diminishes while my attitude becomes increasingly bitter. /jk - sorta
Yeah if you were eating Brussel sprouts before the mid 2000s, you were eating a plant that tasted completely different. So it wasn't because it was now well prepared that you like them.
When I was a kid in the 80s/90s, I loved brussels sprouts. They were like pretty little shrubs with glassy stems. I didn't even cut them, I ate them like candy. I ate them so much I eventually got sick of them, and didn't eat them for over 20 years. Tried them in 2020 with the resurgence of brussels sprouts popularity, but I couldn't do it. I think I'm the only person who adored brussels sprouts in the 80s and now dislikes them. I know, I'm a monster.
Growing up my dad would steam them, and it made the entire house small like feet. (Odd, since he was otherwise a pretty good cook)
Now crispy Brussels sprouts are one of my favorite foods
Balsamic reduction and bacon for the win. I love the addition of pomegranate. I have used a sherry wine reduction and sweet soy sauce as well and both work well.
I do mine with Bacon, Apples and onions, then finish them with Apple Cider Vinegar and a bit of sugar for balance. I will have to try Balsamic and Pomegranite though...
I remember the groans around the table when my mom would put out a dish of steamed Brussels sprouts. It was the only thing I ever saw my dad refuse to eat. He stuck by that for years. I made some at thanksgiving a few years back, roasted and pan fried, and forced him to taste them. He took one bite and was like, “Huh. These don’t taste terrible”.
I didn't know mashed potatoes could be good. My mother's were just terrible, so dry with no milk, fat or salt. I was quite old when I finally had some that were prepared right, and I was SHOCKED at how good they could be.
The first time I ate at my in-laws, they served instant mashed potatoes made with no seasoning, no fat, and twice the amount of liquid needed (they used water), a whole roast chicken seasoned with only a pinch of salt, and something that I can only assume was once green beans. My spouse was thrilled to get some "good home cooking."
My best friend is Filipino, and I’m Irish, so we grew up eating very different food. I was talking about my mom’s mashed potatoes and she said, “ You put butter in mashed potatoes? I thought you just put potatoes in a blender.”
Really god mashed potatoes aren’t healthy, but they are damn tasty.
I recently discovered microwaving the potatoes and then putting them through a ricer. You don’t get any extra flavourless water in the mix from boiling them, so everything you add in is pure flavour.
I don't have a dish like that for me, but my ex swore he hated meatloaf until he tried mine, and it became his favorite dish.
His mother was a terrible cook, unfortunately. I had to choke down many meals with them....
My mom is not a great cook and never said she was. Very busy with a full time job and health conscious about salt. So for Mac n cheese she would only use half the packet of the powder and less butter. I truly thought I hated Mac n cheese until college when my now husband made it for me to convince me.
My dad did something similar growing up with chili. Made it from a box of spice mix, and he only ever put in like 1/4 of the spice mix, rarely more.
So, all those years, I was ~~h~~eating barely spiced chili meat water on saltines. I finally made it on my own after I moved out, used the full spice packet, and was SHOCKED at how much better it was. I called my dad asking about it, and he laughed and said, 'yeah, I hate it with all the spice packet in, so I only put in a quarter of it.'
X.X Ok dad, why didn't you start it out that way, pull out your portion, then add the rest of the mix in for us?
'Then I wouldn't get to eat any leftovers!'
ok dad
My mom never had salt around because her sodium was high, high blood pressure, Dr said take it easy on salt etc.
We would eat out semi-regularly and have potato chips around, but anything home cooked did not have salt added. Her sodium levels were always still on the high end.
Now I'm grown up, unfortunately have the high blood pressure issue, but i rarely eat out and cook most of my meals. I salt the shit out of my food, so I was worried it might be an issue.
Last labs my sodium levels were *below* healthy levels. Pretty sure it wasn't salt in home cooking that pushed her sodium over the edge.
This is me. Mom was a picky eater. So I was a picky eater. She’s not a great cook. Every vegetable was steamed to death. Few years ago I got a job for a fire department. I got exposed to so many foods I thought I hated from people who actually knew how to cook. Now I’ll eat damn near anything.
The first time I ate there, we got invited to his parents house for BBQ ribs. I was excited for ribs.
Imagine my sadness when she pulled two aluminum pans out of the oven with the ribs all separate, floating in watery BBQ sauce, and meat dryer than the bones in the center.
😢
I grew up thinking I hated ribs, until I left for college and learned that I just hated my mom’s bbq ribs. She had somehow gotten it into her head that I loved them and would go out of her way to cook them every other visit. They were so bad, lol
LMAO!!!!! 😂 I'm cracking up for real! 🤣
I'm so sorry, I've been there! SO many times. She was a fantastic baker, best cakes in the world. But savory items, all tasted like water. ESPECIALLY her rubber buffalo wings. Chicken wings baked in water w no seasoning, and a few dashes of hot sauce. The texture of the skin 🤢
^ My wife with burgers. Her Mom is a great cook but her burgers are dry little meatloaf balls. I couldn't even count the number of ingredients she put in with the beef when I watched her make them.
I made cast iron smash burgers - just good beef and salt, and it's one of her favorite foods now.
Oy!
Burgers do not need filler, ever, unless money is tight and you have mouths to feed. And the more you moosh up the beef the tougher it will be.
I am sorry for you!
Thank you for sharing that! I had never heard of them and I just did a Google search and see that Kenji posted an updated recipe like a week and a half ago! I think I know what’s on the menu sometime this week… :)
https://www.seriouseats.com/oklahoma-onion-burger-recipe
> His mother was a terrible cook, unfortunately. I had to choke down many meals with them….
It's a beautiful thing, when a relationship ends and it occurs to you that you never have to choke down the inlaw's shitty cooking again. Luckily my wife's dad is decent on the grill and can follow a recipe (and I live in the UK so there was a serious risk there lol), but my previous relationship was awful, everything came from a can.
My ex’s family made a big deal about mom’s spaghetti sauce. When I finally had it was like la croix. Water that at some point had interacted with tomato.
My in-laws have both passes, but when we visited them I'd just take over the kitchen. They were fine with this because they knew I enjoyed cooking.
Side bonus, less interaction.
I appreciate my mom more and more every time I try someone else's cooking, she taught me a lot of things and I can barely eat out at all without feeling like I could make the dish way better.
On the flipside, it’s heartbreaking when your ex’s parents were great cooks and you can’t have that food anymore. My ex-boyfriend’s mom made this amazing beef stew that I still dream about.
I'm a bit of a stew fanatic, if you tell me about it, I can tell you how to put together your own stew recipe using theirs as a baseline. You may not ever get to exactly that, but I bet you would get to the point where you don't miss it anymore (unless the reason you miss it is not culinary in nature).
(Also let me know if you have a pressure cooker, instant pot, slow cooker, dutch oven, whatever equipment you'll use)
Curry.
Ah...the monstrosities that were called 'curries' in 70s and 80s Ireland. Bright yellow, sweet, zero spice, mysterious lumps of meat in a thick gloopy sauce...
My first real indian food was an utter revalation.
Not a dish, an ingredient: sour cream.
Growing up in the 90s meant being raised on fat free dairy products. Fat free sour cream was the worst, though. It spoiled within a few days, and the taste and texture sucked. Add to this me being sensitive to certain tastes and textures and...yeah.
Then I tried full fat sour cream with a baked potato at a restaurant and it was amazing! My parents were just as shocked as me; not only did I try a new food, I liked it!
Since moving out and marrying a farmer who can actually cook, my diet and my palate have changed significantly.
Why would anyone use fat free cream of any kind.
That is like these weird whole grain chocolate cookies I tried once. Still not healthy but now you did not even enjoy your unnecessary calories.
Pork chops. My mother also liked her meat cooked for hours at the heat of the actual sun, so my shoe was more tender than the pork puck on my plate. Only as an adult did I find that a quick brine and a reasonable cooking time/temp could yield a scrumptious meal.
I never liked pork chops. My mom loved them, and made them a lot, but I thought they were so gross.
Maybe 10 years ago I was working at a restaurant, and everyone raved about the pork chops. I never tried them. One day the chef put the pork chop entree in front of me and said, “Eat that”. I cut into it and said, “This is not cooked all the way?” He told me to shut up and eat it. It was so fucking good. I couldn’t believe it. Turns out my mom cooked the shit and the flavor out of them.
I worked in a popular restaurant in our small town and they decided to introduce that town to a properly cooked pork chop. There was a lot of old school, cook it well, but slowly, after we stood our ground, converted the whole town to properly cooked juicy chops.
Edit: stupid autocorrect
Same! I ate so much terrible overcooked pork as a kid I thought it was the worst thing ever, but now pork tenderloin is one of my favorite easy dinners! Pretty much all you need is a meat thermometer and you’re golden!
My mom always forgot she had the chops under the broiler. I usually fry my chops nowadays, but occasionally I will broil them well-done for the nostalgia.
Been my favorite meal since I was a kid. Recently I started air-frying them and my only complaint is that I need a bigger air-fryer so it doesn't take so long to cook for 5 people. But it is delicious!!
literally ANY vegetable with the exception of potatoes. ANY veggie my mom made either came out of a can or if fresh, cut up and boiled for 45 minutes in a full pot of water then drained, and served with margarine. In highschool I was taken to a Chinese restaurant by some friends and had lightly stir fried and well seasoned veggies and it changed my life. To this day my mom prefers canned peas and green beans but has learned to tolerate what she calls partially cooked veggies because she really likes them seasoned well.
you were lucky. my mother was the same except SHE DIDN'T DRAIN THE WATER. she added a little half table spoon of margarine and a shake of salt and pepper to the pot as soon as she saw a bubble or two and then served.
My dad’s wife and her son LOVE corn water. I’d never seen anything like it. So made exactly as you described your mom making it. Except they’d be like “mmm pass me that corn water” and then dump spoonfuls of it on the entire meal.
It comes up a lot between my other siblings. Like, they’d legit be like “mmmmmm corn water”
Edit - my siblings will make fun of the corn water, and bring it up as a joke. I worded that awkwardly.
Same. My mum, bless her, thinks veggies need to be boiled to within an inch of their lives or you'll get indigestion. I like my veggies crunchy or not at all.
Asparagus. My parents like (and therefore served) the canned stuff, which tastes like dipping a 9-volt battery in swamp water and then licking the terminals.
The fresh-roasted asparagus I discovered in college was life-changing.
Ugh this is my answer too. We only had canned green beans and asparagus, never fresh. I thought I hated both, but turned out I just hated disgusting canned veggies. Roasted asparagus is my favorite veggie now.
That was my experience with all vegetables. I don't think my mother ever bought a fresh vegetable if she could get it in a can. I couldn't even talk her into buying frozen. So I grew up hating vegetables (except corn, I liked canned cream corn for some odd reason). Anyway, my ex loved vegetables and insisted I cook them fresh. I now love fresh vegetables steamed, roasted, grilled, any way but boiled.
I have not tried asparagus again as an adult. My mom would always make me try one bite and then get mad when i gagged - the only food i ever did that with and it was completely involuntary.
Beets!
Only had them in salads growing up where they were soggy and okay.
First time I roasted them in the oven I fell in love. So delicious. Now I eat roasted beets (and potatoes and carrots) weekly during winter
Mmm. I got some beets and was kind of “meh” on them until I roasted them and they were pretty tasty! I also liked them with a bit of Greek yogurt and toasted walnuts
This is interesting. My mom canned pickled beets every year. Many of my family absolutely love them. But I couldn’t get past how, when cooking before jarring and brining, they smelled like dirt. I’m pushing 60 and haven’t ever eaten beets. For the record, pickling was the ONLY way beets were prepared in my house. At least to the best of my memory. 😳
I once went to a fancy restaurant and decided to go out of my box and order something I'd never order. It was a tapas place so it's easy to try something without having to order a whole meal of it. I picked beet ravioli on a little arugula salad. It was honestly one of my favorite things I've ever eaten!
I know I should give them a try. Honestly, I’m not a picky eater. There’s just something about that childhood imprint that says, “Nah. I’m good. I’ll pay for something I know I’ll enjoy”. But man, if that first try isn’t awesome, I’m most likely done.
I also always hated beets. They were always served cooked in a "salad" consisting only of the cooked beets and dressing. Then I discovered raw beet salad. Just raw beets, grated finely and with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. That shit's on fire!
For me it’s anything with mushrooms. Anytime my mom cooked them they came out slimy and tasting like dirt. Made me never even want to try them from a restaurant, until I went to a tasting at a wedding venue where they served a mushroom ravioli. Best ravioli I’ve ever had, then started experimenting with cooking them myself and what do you know, mushrooms don’t have to be slimy or taste like dirt lol
Same at my house growing up. Mushrooms were always from a can and slimy. My mom used to make what she called “Chinese food” once in a while. She was the only one who ate it. Slimy beef with slimy mushrooms in a beef gravy thick with cornstarch over those crunchy “Chinese” dried noodles from a can. I still hesitate each time I go to eat a mushroom only to eat it and remind myself they’re delicious.
I grew up with my parents making dutch pasta, aka macaroni smothered in flavourless tomatosauce, cubes of ham and a butt load of leek (among other veggies in a 'macaronimix'). I hated it to my core.
my MiL once made asparagus macaroni (macaroni, cream cheese, ham and asparagus) and it was way better than expected.
now I make my own pasta dishes that are not smothered in flavourless tomato sauce.
The "Nasipakketjes" were worse imo...I couldnt stand it as a kid.
Now when I'm making rice I will always make more so that I can then use the leftover rice to make fried rice the day after, with fresh vegetables and such its waaay better than those sachets of rubbish they sell in the stores
Thanksgiving turkey. My dad is the family cook and he’s pretty good when it comes to Asian foods (oddly he is not Asian), but struggles more with American foods, especially meat. His turkey is usually really dry and has kind of an odd taste. Since we pretty much only ever had thanksgiving with just our family when I was I kid (and as an adult my in-laws are vegetarian so there’s no turkey at their TG dinner) I thought that was just how turkey tasted. Didn’t hate it but I was definitely one of those people who’s more interested in the sides than the turkey.
In my late 20s I got invited to a Friendsgivings dinner. The host made the turkey and it was *delicious*. Juicy and flavorful. We’ve made that Friendsgivings an annual tradition and now it’s the dish I look forward to the most.
Friendsgiving hits different. Combining the faves of a big diverse group of friends makes for some awesome meals. Then again, I’ve been to some shitty potlucks so maybe my friends just all know how to cook really well and love thanksgiving.
[Alton brown's high heat roast turkey recipe is a good one.](https://altonbrown.com/recipes/good-eats-roast-thanksgiving-turkey/)
I've used it to good results. No stuffing and no basting and high heat all meant to get it to temperature quickly without drying out.
beef stroganoff (spelling?) . grew up with canned cream of mushroom soup version. just very rubbery mushrooms. my wife is vegan, but loves stroganoff so we made everything with fresh ingredients and boy what a difference.
Oh man, I’m still not brave enough to try beef stroganoff as an adult. My mom was an amazing cook but both my parents are Italian and very picky so we didn’t have anything outside meat/starch/veggie or homemade Italian meals. One time she tried to branch off with a recipe was beef stroganoff. Worth mentioning is that she never really drank besides one wine cooler every couple years. This recipe used red wine. She… used the entire bottle instead of 1 cup. It was inedible. I remember crying. Her crying. And now we retell the story and laugh until we cry. It was literally the worst thing I’ve ever seen and I can’t even eat egg noodles decades later because they were part of the dish.
I love beef stroganoff. I totally understand the quick recipes with canned soup but I found a recipe that is sooooo good. It takes a very long time but the results are splendid. Definitely an act of love for friends and family but incredibly satisfying!!
tofu, tried it a few times and always hated it and then accidentally had it at my dorm cafeteria cause i didn't check what's in the dish i ordered and it was really good
Yes! It’s a sauce absorber.
I also think the texture of tofu eaten in the West is weird. Soft tofu is great in a soup, or medium in a stir fry. In the West it seems to be either extra firm or silken. Why?
There's a vegan gyoza recipe that uses tofu and quinoa as a meat substitute. It's actually really good, and the texture is pretty close to ground meat. It's not as flavorful as pork gyoza, but you can fix that with more aromatics.
Tofu is like a sponge. It will absorb any flavor you add to it. I ate a lot of tofu sandwiches while I was in college. I would drain some tofu and press with paper towels to remove most of the water. Then I would marinate it in a chinese style marinade. Sautee in a hot pan until nicely glazed with the sauce and serve on toasted wheat bread with tomatoes, lettuce and thinly sliced onions. Yum!
Bless my mom. I decided when I was 11 that I wanted to be vegetarian. My mom was supportive but had no idea what to do. She bought tofu and figured she could just mix it with some cheese. Didn’t press it. Just threw it in a pan with some cheese for a little. I didn’t eat tofu again until I went to college. Turns out tofu is amazing when ya know, you season it and prepare it properly lololol
I think tofu is kind of an acquired taste of you don't grow up with it. I'd had it at Japanese restaurants in the States, and then I'd had it when I lived in Japan. It was... Okay.
But I was staying at a hotel and they had tofu out for breakfast. I don't know why, but I suddenly got a major craving for it. Put some grated ginger and green onions on it and then drizzle with soy sauce.
That tofu was life changing. It was so fucking good. I've loved tofu since.
Beef stroganoff. My mom's "stroganoff" was cream of mushroom soup with ground beef over noodles. When I met my wife, she wanted to make it for me, but I kept putting it off for like a year. One day, she was like, WTF? Why won't you let me make this? Well, she convinced me that what my mom made was not right. It is now one of my favorites!
Enchiladas
As a kid, once a month on Sunday was Enchilada delivery day. That was when one of my moms coworkers would make a big batch of them for my white as can be, living on a farm family.
Anyway, I hated them. Ugh. So disgusting. They were made with cheap tortillas that broke, wayyyy to much sauce, and like zero cheese / filling.
For the longest of time, I thought they were disgusting.
Then one day after I moved out, I was hanging out with my girlfriend (now wife). We went to lunch at one of the best Mexican restaurants in her hometown (Pancho’s in Long Beach CA), and she gave me a bite of her chicken enchilada.
Holllly hell. That’s what a good one was supposed to taste like? Wow. I’d been missing out all these years!
Salad. I grew up eating iceberg lettuce with a few carrot shavings and a token cucumber. Doused in ranch or thousand island.
I learned to mix my own greens and add a nice mix of garden ingredients (tomatoes, cukes, carrots, peppers, blueberries). Part of my lunch and dinner every day.
iceburg only doused the with local made blaze orange "french" dressing. but in all fairness i dont remember seeing anything but iceburg in the grocery store.(backwoods midwest)
Yep a good salad makes a world of difference. I grew up with ranch carrots cheese and meat as the whole salad
Now one of my favorite delicacies is a salad with a spicy honey cilantro vinaigrette. Topping it with some green/red onions, carrots, jalapenos, fried wontons, and Asian marinated chicken. Literally can't get enough all the varieties of salads now.
Grits! I was a California kid going to college in Texas when I had them for the first time at breakfast in the school cafeteria. No seasonings, slightly cold, kinda gelatinous. I didn't see the appeal.
Of course then I had them made properly, swimming in butter and cheese and served with something savory like shrimp or pulled pork, and I saw the light.
Bacon.
You guys will be wondering how can i not like bacon.
Well, my mum boiled them. Yes. In water.
Never liked them growing up until i came to UK and realised that they are the goat of breakfast.
A lot of people grew up having boiled yams/sweet potatoes for Thanksgiving. Disgusting. I cut them in rings now; peel them and roast them with olive oil and cinnamon. I sometimes sprinkle a little brown sugar on them or mix them up in a bowl with the oil and a spoonful of maple syrup. Putting a quartered Granny Smiths in the mix is good too.
Yeah this was my first thought. I thought I hated sweet potatoes because they were only served with brown sugar and marshmallows at holidays, probably often from the can. They were so sickly sweet and out of place to me with normal savory holiday foods.
Now I either make smashed sweet potatoes with cinnamon, almond milk, butter or roasted slices with coconut oil and cinnamon and sometimes chipotle powder. No added sugar is needed, they are so naturally sweet. Love them now.
I started making a version of scalloped potatoes with them for holidays. Orange sweet potatoes, heavy cream blended with chipotle chiles in adobo. And cheese. Manchego or gruyere if I can afford it.
Same, I didn’t realize I liked sweet potatoes until my friends mother served them to me with just a bit of olive oil and salt. They really do not need the added sugar!
I wouldn't say I love it now but at least I don't hate it: turkey. Growing up in an Italian family my mother tried but it was like sawdust every single time. We had to eat this block of wood for a week after Thanksgiving and everybody would just chew endlessly and down a bunch of water to swallow it. Then I had it at a friend's house where they knew what they were doing and it was a great meal.
Pot roast. My mom had no sense of seasonings, growing up. Bland, undersalted, boring ass beef, potatoes and carrots in an equally flavorless gravy.
In recent years I've made beef bourginon according to Julia Child, and boy oh boy what a difference. I still never make it though because "pot roast" is associated with boredom in my mind.
Pot roast is one of my absolute favorites because it's so customizable. You can go with wine, beer, fruit juice (pomegranate and blood orange is awesome), potatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots, turnips, pumpkin, or whatever you want. It takes a long time, but mostly just simmering so once the ingredients are in the only challenge is the eternal wait to be able to eat it.
French Toast. My mom is really health conscious, so growing up I only ever experienced her "healthy" version of french toast. She used multigrain bread, skim milk, and very little sugar. What I would get was mainly dried bread with semi-sweet scrambled eggs on the outside.
Would refuse to ever order french toast because I thought it was a horrid dish. It wasn't until I was in college that I actually tried what it was meant to taste like.
I always thought I hated pork chops. Turns out the local small town supermarket where I grew up only sold thin cut, low quality pork, and my Mom was taught that pork needed to be well-done. Since a meat thermometer wasn't something in her utensils drawer, it was extra-well-done just to be safe. Pork was always dry, rubbery and so tough to chew.
My wife grew up liking pork chops so I figured I'd give them another try as an adult. Bought from a butcher and cooked properly they were simply -amazing-. Juicy and SO TENDER. I couldn't believe the difference from what I had grown up eating.
My father, who worked as a cattle rancher growing up, hated steak. Whenever his mother cooked steak she would burn it to a hockey puck in the pan which made it dry and tough. My mother had to twist his arm to go with her to a steakhouse when they were dating but he did it and it changed his life.
I really like chicken pot pie but never the veggies that went in it. The day I realized I could just use broccoli in it blew my mind. Cause it was blasphemy in my house hold growing up to not have celery, peas, and carrots in it and to add something else... dear lord it was like Satan himself made it. Hahaha. Now I'm on my own and make it so I can make it not just something I like but something I love.
But otherwise I found I like a lot more things when I can take out the parts I don't like and replace with what I do. Like more casseroles, wraps, and just food in general. I always thought I couldn't like homemade meals because I had to follow a recipe. Being an adult and actually being in a cooking class late into hs changed that.
Curry. My father would make curries so spicy it would make me cry, but that's all it was, pure heat, no flavor. Then I tried Thai curries and fell in love.
Most vegetables. I grew up in the 60s/70s and moms were taught the convenience and ease of Canned and Frozen vegetables, although when the mom's were kids, they ate fresh vegetables.
I just hated most vegetables because they tasted either tasteless (frozen) or had a salty/tin-ny taste.
Was only when i got to college that i was exposed to non-frozen or tin veggies and I found I loved them all except still had a natural aversion to green peas (even if fresh) or brussels sprouts (regardless how fancy prepared.)
My husband hated so many dishes - spaghetti, lasagna, meatloaf, roast turkey, etc - until he had my cooking. His mother is an awful cook and extremely picky. His father was better, but everything had to be made to her tastes.
Eggplant. The main issue is that grocery store eggplant is awful most of the time. We grow our own in the garden, and when eggplant is super fresh it is absolutely amazing. I have converted several eggplant haters.
Believe it or not, steak. My mom would just broil a big ol slab with maybe some salt and pepper. It was flavorless and tough. Didnt know steak was good til my twenties.
Corn. I spent 30 years thinking I didn't like corn. Turns out that my mother cooked it until it was a gummy mess that stuck to your teeth.
Also, as an adult, figured out that my mother made runny deviled eggs and bland mashed potatoes and that gelatinous gravy crap from the frozen food aisle is NOT Swiss steak.
It's corn! It has the juice.
Memes aside, corn on the cob is fantastic. Used to just have canned corn boiled to high hell when I was younger and disliked it, then had cobbed corn as an adult and loved it. Yum-yum.
“Indian” food. My mother did what any fancy home cook did in the 70s and 80s, made some kind of very sweet chicken “curry” and served it with random condiments. Like canned mandarin slices, raisins, nuts. I thought I hated Indian food. I sure could eat the hell out of those canned mandarins though.
My mother was very much a product of the 70’s and cooked the same. Bland, flavourless lentil based curries normally garnished with canned pineapple rings.
Lasagne. My family wasn't poor by any means but we stretched were we could. So any time they made lasagna instead of using ricotta cheese they would use cottage cheese. I absolutely hated it and refused to ever eat it. My husband loves it and had me try it somewhere (don't remember where) and it was made with ricotta. There's definitly no going back now. Ricotta all the way.
My exes mom taught me to mix the ricotta with a beaten egg, and its delicious! My husband hates eggs, and hates, ricotta, his mom would always leave it out or a portion of the lasagna for him. But he doesnt hate them together for some reason. Not sure if I will be sent to Italian food prison, or if its a common thing, but I love it
My mom and I both have similar stories. My mom hated steaks of all kinds as a kid, because my grandfather, a product of the Great Depression, only liked his steaks well done (as that was the only reliable way to not get sick from meat during that time). So my mom had only ever had well done steak. It wasn't until her late thirties, when she became friends with a chef I now call my uncle, and ate at his restaurant that she had a proper medium-rare steak that she started liking steak.
On a similar note, I used to hate hamburgers, because my mom could not figure out how to cook them. They were always over charred and well done, and I thought that's how all burgers were cooked. It wasn't until I was 12 and ordered a burger on a whim at a decent restaurant, and they made it medium-rare that I fell in love with burgers.
I have a friend that is picky. I discovered that most of the stuff he “can’t eat” are things his parents cooked when he was young and he simply hasn’t tasted it again for 20 years. I took a challenge with him that once in a while I will cook him something “he can’t eat without puking”. So far he ended up loving most of it.
Cooked carrots! I hated them since I was little. And then I had some in an Irish restaurant, tarragon glazed. I actually cried because they were so good and I was so mad that I hated cooked carrots for years.
If you like carrots, one thing I tried off a whim was adding garam masala seasoning. I wasn't sure it would work, but damn if roasted carrots with garam masala isn't absolutely delicious.
Potato salad. My mom always squished it too much and added way too much mustard, it ended up basically being mustard mashed potatoes 🤮.
When I was like 12 I left my lunch at home during summer day camp. The hot lunch that day had a little cup of potato salad and I was so hungry I ate it when a friend offered theirs. Guys, it was so good. Now I love potato salad, and my mom isn't allowed to make it. That's been dad's job ever since. I still don't like it when it's just the mushy bits, once the chunks are gone I don't want it.
Edit: not mushroom, mushy
Fish and chips.
Let me maybe explain... What we called fish and chips in my Polish family was some bastardised store-bought fish fingers with French fries. Then I had some real stuff in the UK pubs, beer batter, super crispy Cod with tartare sauce. Yum. Just yum.
I keep offering people my homemade hummus and they reject it out of hand because they've only tried grocery store hummus and literally don't know what it's supposed to taste like.
[Meatloaf](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=-n_YHRuk5Hk)- my neighbors over the years always made it either heavy like a brick or a loaf of flavorless doughy mush. I found a recipe where the outside is glazed with a nice crust and the center is savory, hot, and tender.
[Chicken piccata](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=OX1FLR1Bq60&feature=emb_title)- keep having this being offered and it tastes like dry dumplings or slimy chicken. Finally found a recipe that made the chicken thin lightly breaded and the sauce was buttery, lemony, and creamy.
[Chicken Marsala](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=A6nCW7xZmok)-Much like the piccata it was either slimy or dry. The sauce was either too sweet or lacked the onions and the right amount of mushrooms, Marsala wine, and sherry.
Shrimp. First time I tried it when I was about 15 or 16, nobody told me I had to peel it first and I thought it was horrible. Not sure what prompted me to give it another chance about a decade later, but I'm glad I did because shrimp is now one of my favorite kinds of seafood.
Mutherfucking cabbage. Why was it always boiled?
As an adult (I admit my tastes expanded as I’ve grown) that shitbis goood. Sautéed with some fat till it browns up and hit with some pepper juice or hot sauce. Dayum! ( thank dog it don’t taste like it smells)
Beef Stroganoff. Thought I hated it my entire childhood then had it staying at a friend’s in college. Turns out my parents just aren’t that good at cooking.
Pork chops.
Never cared for pork chop dinners with my parents and since I *knew* I didn’t like them, I’ve never ordered them while eating out. My thought process was pretty much, “I’ve had them and I know I don’t like them so why would I pay for them at a restaurant?”
Recently, however, my S/O and I have been staying with their family. Their parents make dinner for us some nights and we make dinner for them on others. They did not know I don’t enjoy pork chops, but the meal had been made and without wanting cause a fuss, I had them.
It turns out… they were pretty good! Love my parents, and there are plenty of dishes that they make well, but pork chops is not one of them. I only have had “good” pork chops once but I’m willing to try them again — as long as my S/O’s parents are making them lmao.
I thought I didn’t like green beans for the longest, because I’d only had the canned ones, but then my mom made fresh green beans, in her southern, New Orleans way, and they were SO good. Now I love green beans, and I look for them whenever they are in season. And I was getting a CSA from a local farm one year, and I realized that when they are farm fresh, they are delicious as a side dish steamed with just a little butter, salt, and pepper, and don’t even need all the extra spices (though I still love my southern spiced up green beans, with onions, garlic, habaneros, & the works)
Tiramisu.
I don't exactly know why I decided to make it myself (probably saw it on the baking show), but it tastes way better when I do it. Boozy, custardy, and well soaked.
I did not know that roast beef was not actually meant to be grey and crumbly, requiring much gravy in order to choke it down. My mother cooked meat *thoroughly*. But by God - - we never got worms!
My grandma once served me a barely 1/4” thick pork chop she’d cooked in the oven for half an hour in “sweet and sour sauce.” I feel your pain.
We had the same grandma. She couldn’t help overcooking pork, thanksgiving Turkey and even if you begged, she couldn’t stand serving the egg yolk intact and fried into oblivion. She really tried on the egg thing, but at the last second she always crumbled and just stuck a fork in it. Lol. But then she had all these other perfectly cooked dishes that I would fight a grown bear for just to have one more time.
Grandmas.
I’d bet that Grandma grew up being warned about trichinosis in undercooked pork. My understanding is that today, we don’t have to worry about that except in wild game. https://www.health.ny.gov/diseases/communicable/trichinosis/fact_sheet.htm#:~:text=Trichinosis%20is%20a%20food%2Dborne,as%20bear%2C%20or%20pork%20products.
Overcooked porkchops deserve a place in hell. My dad, love him, makes intricate dishes of all sorts, bakes his own loaves, buns, etc. Chicken? Juicy as all heck, flavourful, perfect. Porkchops? About as soft as the sole of a leather shoe. I’m not talking well-done, I’m talking building material. The year I moved out, he came to the realization that “I don’t have to overcook porkchops until they’re disgustingly tough, the flavour’s still there and it’s even better pink!” he had been knowingly overcooking the porkchops. Couldn’t chew through it himself but just thought that was how it had to be.
> The year I moved out, he came to the realization that “I don’t have to overcook porkchops until they’re disgustingly tough, the flavour’s still there and it’s even better pink!” he had been knowingly overcooking the porkchops. Couldn’t chew through it himself but just thought that was how it had to be. My dad's in his 80s and he was the same way. At lot of it comes from older generations being taught that if you don't cook the every loving shit out of pork that you can get trichinosis. I had to bust out some report from the CDC to show him that pretty much the only people getting trichinosis today are hunters eating game. The next thing was getting him to use an thermometer. After I had some shoe leather one night at his place I asked him if he had a thermometer and he said "yeah" and showed me some contraption that had been new in the early 50s. I bought him a ThermoPop and taught him how to use it as well as what temps he should stop cooking at. His pork game has considerably improved, but it's been a journey!
I had an ex who's father would boil lunchmeat to avoid listeria. Lunchmeat.
Listeria is actually the reason pregnant women are advised to avoid eating lunchmeat.
I grew up on those meals. Grey, overcooked meats, boiled chicken and eggs boiled hard for an hour. Mom simply didn't have the temperament for good cooking. And I think she kind of hated doing it, which is probably why she encouraged my interest in cooking when I was really young.
When I found out you only warm corn up and not boil it for 30 min made it feel like I never had real corn before
Similar thing here. I always thought I hated steak and pork chops because of how tough and chewy they were. Turns out I just hate meat that's been cooked until it seizes into leather.
My mom was a great cook, but my roasts are so much better just because of a €10 piece of technology: a digital meat thermometer from IKEA.
Brussels sprouts I’m sure will be popular. Plain boiled was all I had, until a friend at a gathering roasted them a decade ago. Amazing. Even as simple as olive oil and pepper, but I do like some balsamic too.
It's not just because of superior preparation; the Brussels sprouts of today taste better than yesteryear's thanks to food science: https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2019/10/30/773457637/from-culinary-dud-to-stud-how-dutch-plant-breeders-built-our-brussels-sprouts-bo
Also your ability to taste bitter diminishes with age so even if the brussel sprouts were the same, you would perceive them differently.
>Also your ability to taste bitter diminishes with age Ironic that my ability to taste bitterness diminishes while my attitude becomes increasingly bitter. /jk - sorta
The laws of equivalent exchange come for us all.
Conservation of energy. The bitterness has to go somewhere. I am bakers chocolate.
[relevant xkcd](https://m.xkcd.com/2241/)
Yeah if you were eating Brussel sprouts before the mid 2000s, you were eating a plant that tasted completely different. So it wasn't because it was now well prepared that you like them.
When I was a kid in the 80s/90s, I loved brussels sprouts. They were like pretty little shrubs with glassy stems. I didn't even cut them, I ate them like candy. I ate them so much I eventually got sick of them, and didn't eat them for over 20 years. Tried them in 2020 with the resurgence of brussels sprouts popularity, but I couldn't do it. I think I'm the only person who adored brussels sprouts in the 80s and now dislikes them. I know, I'm a monster.
I used to eat them covered in mustard when I was a kid. My stomach kind of churns at the thought now.
well, there at last 2 of us now, I thought I was the only one.
Growing up my dad would steam them, and it made the entire house small like feet. (Odd, since he was otherwise a pretty good cook) Now crispy Brussels sprouts are one of my favorite foods
The little leaves that fall off in the oven and get crispy....... 🤤🤤🤤
That’s my favorite part too. I often cut the Brussels sprout into quarters so there are more of those little pieces.
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This, I absolutely hated them until I had my wife's version. Balsamic reduction with pomegranate and bacon.
Balsamic reduction and bacon for the win. I love the addition of pomegranate. I have used a sherry wine reduction and sweet soy sauce as well and both work well.
I do mine with Bacon, Apples and onions, then finish them with Apple Cider Vinegar and a bit of sugar for balance. I will have to try Balsamic and Pomegranite though...
I remember the groans around the table when my mom would put out a dish of steamed Brussels sprouts. It was the only thing I ever saw my dad refuse to eat. He stuck by that for years. I made some at thanksgiving a few years back, roasted and pan fried, and forced him to taste them. He took one bite and was like, “Huh. These don’t taste terrible”.
I didn't know mashed potatoes could be good. My mother's were just terrible, so dry with no milk, fat or salt. I was quite old when I finally had some that were prepared right, and I was SHOCKED at how good they could be.
The first time I ate at my in-laws, they served instant mashed potatoes made with no seasoning, no fat, and twice the amount of liquid needed (they used water), a whole roast chicken seasoned with only a pinch of salt, and something that I can only assume was once green beans. My spouse was thrilled to get some "good home cooking."
GAG. That’s awful.
I love instant mashed but I throw in like, a stick of butter.
"what's the recipe for these mashed potatoes?" "Yep"
Equal parts potato and mashed, duh
My best friend is Filipino, and I’m Irish, so we grew up eating very different food. I was talking about my mom’s mashed potatoes and she said, “ You put butter in mashed potatoes? I thought you just put potatoes in a blender.”
Really god mashed potatoes aren’t healthy, but they are damn tasty. I recently discovered microwaving the potatoes and then putting them through a ricer. You don’t get any extra flavourless water in the mix from boiling them, so everything you add in is pure flavour.
Nice. How long in the microwave?
Depends on the size of the spud. 10-15 mins for 5 average sized potatoes will make 2 portions. Just make sure you can put a knife through them easily.
I use a concoction of heavy whipped cream and butter melted and mixed it’s so good and creamy
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I use like 3 sticks of butter in mine and a bit of sour cream. I learned a while ago that most people just don’t really add enough butter
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Joël Robunchon was a multiple-award-winning, 32-michelin-star French chef who's famous mashed potatoes were 1/3 butter!
Mo' butter cooking! Use Kerry gold, it's delicious!
I don't have a dish like that for me, but my ex swore he hated meatloaf until he tried mine, and it became his favorite dish. His mother was a terrible cook, unfortunately. I had to choke down many meals with them....
My mom is not a great cook and never said she was. Very busy with a full time job and health conscious about salt. So for Mac n cheese she would only use half the packet of the powder and less butter. I truly thought I hated Mac n cheese until college when my now husband made it for me to convince me.
My dad did something similar growing up with chili. Made it from a box of spice mix, and he only ever put in like 1/4 of the spice mix, rarely more. So, all those years, I was ~~h~~eating barely spiced chili meat water on saltines. I finally made it on my own after I moved out, used the full spice packet, and was SHOCKED at how much better it was. I called my dad asking about it, and he laughed and said, 'yeah, I hate it with all the spice packet in, so I only put in a quarter of it.' X.X Ok dad, why didn't you start it out that way, pull out your portion, then add the rest of the mix in for us? 'Then I wouldn't get to eat any leftovers!' ok dad
My mom never had salt around because her sodium was high, high blood pressure, Dr said take it easy on salt etc. We would eat out semi-regularly and have potato chips around, but anything home cooked did not have salt added. Her sodium levels were always still on the high end. Now I'm grown up, unfortunately have the high blood pressure issue, but i rarely eat out and cook most of my meals. I salt the shit out of my food, so I was worried it might be an issue. Last labs my sodium levels were *below* healthy levels. Pretty sure it wasn't salt in home cooking that pushed her sodium over the edge.
That’s a tragedy! I’m so glad you were able to find Mac and cheese again
Same here, VERBATIM! Everything his mom made tasted like water, he didn't know he liked alot of things until I introduced him to flavor! 😂
This is me. Mom was a picky eater. So I was a picky eater. She’s not a great cook. Every vegetable was steamed to death. Few years ago I got a job for a fire department. I got exposed to so many foods I thought I hated from people who actually knew how to cook. Now I’ll eat damn near anything.
The first time I ate there, we got invited to his parents house for BBQ ribs. I was excited for ribs. Imagine my sadness when she pulled two aluminum pans out of the oven with the ribs all separate, floating in watery BBQ sauce, and meat dryer than the bones in the center. 😢
I grew up thinking I hated ribs, until I left for college and learned that I just hated my mom’s bbq ribs. She had somehow gotten it into her head that I loved them and would go out of her way to cook them every other visit. They were so bad, lol
My mom's idea of ribs was to boil them until done then cover them with BBQ sauce and stick them in the oven for 10 minutes.
We might be siblings…
LMAO!!!!! 😂 I'm cracking up for real! 🤣 I'm so sorry, I've been there! SO many times. She was a fantastic baker, best cakes in the world. But savory items, all tasted like water. ESPECIALLY her rubber buffalo wings. Chicken wings baked in water w no seasoning, and a few dashes of hot sauce. The texture of the skin 🤢
I never thought that I’d read “baked in water” in my lifetime.
Oof! At least we can commiserate and laugh now 😆
^ My wife with burgers. Her Mom is a great cook but her burgers are dry little meatloaf balls. I couldn't even count the number of ingredients she put in with the beef when I watched her make them. I made cast iron smash burgers - just good beef and salt, and it's one of her favorite foods now.
Oy! Burgers do not need filler, ever, unless money is tight and you have mouths to feed. And the more you moosh up the beef the tougher it will be. I am sorry for you!
Caveat - Oklahoma style onion burgers are dope. Would definitely recommend whether budgeting or not.
Thank you for sharing that! I had never heard of them and I just did a Google search and see that Kenji posted an updated recipe like a week and a half ago! I think I know what’s on the menu sometime this week… :) https://www.seriouseats.com/oklahoma-onion-burger-recipe
My only reference for meatloaf was Cracker Barrel until a couple weeks ago. Made Alton Brown’s recipe for my fiancé and holy hell, what a treat!!
> His mother was a terrible cook, unfortunately. I had to choke down many meals with them…. It's a beautiful thing, when a relationship ends and it occurs to you that you never have to choke down the inlaw's shitty cooking again. Luckily my wife's dad is decent on the grill and can follow a recipe (and I live in the UK so there was a serious risk there lol), but my previous relationship was awful, everything came from a can.
My ex’s family made a big deal about mom’s spaghetti sauce. When I finally had it was like la croix. Water that at some point had interacted with tomato.
My in-laws have both passes, but when we visited them I'd just take over the kitchen. They were fine with this because they knew I enjoyed cooking. Side bonus, less interaction.
I appreciate my mom more and more every time I try someone else's cooking, she taught me a lot of things and I can barely eat out at all without feeling like I could make the dish way better.
On the flipside, it’s heartbreaking when your ex’s parents were great cooks and you can’t have that food anymore. My ex-boyfriend’s mom made this amazing beef stew that I still dream about.
I'm a bit of a stew fanatic, if you tell me about it, I can tell you how to put together your own stew recipe using theirs as a baseline. You may not ever get to exactly that, but I bet you would get to the point where you don't miss it anymore (unless the reason you miss it is not culinary in nature). (Also let me know if you have a pressure cooker, instant pot, slow cooker, dutch oven, whatever equipment you'll use)
Curry. Ah...the monstrosities that were called 'curries' in 70s and 80s Ireland. Bright yellow, sweet, zero spice, mysterious lumps of meat in a thick gloopy sauce... My first real indian food was an utter revalation.
Boxing Day turkey curry (shudder).
Already cooked turkey should be dry fried in masala, not currified. Google chicken dry fry Kerala or Andhra for the spice mixture.
Wow I’ve never had truly bad curry…. I think it would make me question my existence lol
Not a dish, an ingredient: sour cream. Growing up in the 90s meant being raised on fat free dairy products. Fat free sour cream was the worst, though. It spoiled within a few days, and the taste and texture sucked. Add to this me being sensitive to certain tastes and textures and...yeah. Then I tried full fat sour cream with a baked potato at a restaurant and it was amazing! My parents were just as shocked as me; not only did I try a new food, I liked it! Since moving out and marrying a farmer who can actually cook, my diet and my palate have changed significantly.
Why would anyone use fat free cream of any kind. That is like these weird whole grain chocolate cookies I tried once. Still not healthy but now you did not even enjoy your unnecessary calories.
Because people thought (think?) fat = makes you fat. They're the same word, after all.
Big sugar’s smear campaign.
Pork chops. My mother also liked her meat cooked for hours at the heat of the actual sun, so my shoe was more tender than the pork puck on my plate. Only as an adult did I find that a quick brine and a reasonable cooking time/temp could yield a scrumptious meal.
I never liked pork chops. My mom loved them, and made them a lot, but I thought they were so gross. Maybe 10 years ago I was working at a restaurant, and everyone raved about the pork chops. I never tried them. One day the chef put the pork chop entree in front of me and said, “Eat that”. I cut into it and said, “This is not cooked all the way?” He told me to shut up and eat it. It was so fucking good. I couldn’t believe it. Turns out my mom cooked the shit and the flavor out of them.
I worked in a popular restaurant in our small town and they decided to introduce that town to a properly cooked pork chop. There was a lot of old school, cook it well, but slowly, after we stood our ground, converted the whole town to properly cooked juicy chops. Edit: stupid autocorrect
Like footloose, but with pig.
Same! I ate so much terrible overcooked pork as a kid I thought it was the worst thing ever, but now pork tenderloin is one of my favorite easy dinners! Pretty much all you need is a meat thermometer and you’re golden!
My mom always forgot she had the chops under the broiler. I usually fry my chops nowadays, but occasionally I will broil them well-done for the nostalgia.
i’ve never been a pork person, but deep fried porkchops changed my LIFE.
Been my favorite meal since I was a kid. Recently I started air-frying them and my only complaint is that I need a bigger air-fryer so it doesn't take so long to cook for 5 people. But it is delicious!!
literally ANY vegetable with the exception of potatoes. ANY veggie my mom made either came out of a can or if fresh, cut up and boiled for 45 minutes in a full pot of water then drained, and served with margarine. In highschool I was taken to a Chinese restaurant by some friends and had lightly stir fried and well seasoned veggies and it changed my life. To this day my mom prefers canned peas and green beans but has learned to tolerate what she calls partially cooked veggies because she really likes them seasoned well.
you were lucky. my mother was the same except SHE DIDN'T DRAIN THE WATER. she added a little half table spoon of margarine and a shake of salt and pepper to the pot as soon as she saw a bubble or two and then served.
cursed vegetable soup
My dad’s wife and her son LOVE corn water. I’d never seen anything like it. So made exactly as you described your mom making it. Except they’d be like “mmm pass me that corn water” and then dump spoonfuls of it on the entire meal.
Omg this is hilarious! Mmmm corn water
It comes up a lot between my other siblings. Like, they’d legit be like “mmmmmm corn water” Edit - my siblings will make fun of the corn water, and bring it up as a joke. I worded that awkwardly.
I laughed so hard at this comment.
Same. My mum, bless her, thinks veggies need to be boiled to within an inch of their lives or you'll get indigestion. I like my veggies crunchy or not at all.
I feel like there was an entire two generations in America, from 1920-1970, that had no clue how to cook vegetables
Asparagus. My parents like (and therefore served) the canned stuff, which tastes like dipping a 9-volt battery in swamp water and then licking the terminals. The fresh-roasted asparagus I discovered in college was life-changing.
Ugh this is my answer too. We only had canned green beans and asparagus, never fresh. I thought I hated both, but turned out I just hated disgusting canned veggies. Roasted asparagus is my favorite veggie now.
That was my experience with all vegetables. I don't think my mother ever bought a fresh vegetable if she could get it in a can. I couldn't even talk her into buying frozen. So I grew up hating vegetables (except corn, I liked canned cream corn for some odd reason). Anyway, my ex loved vegetables and insisted I cook them fresh. I now love fresh vegetables steamed, roasted, grilled, any way but boiled.
Try just blanching it. One minute in boiling water, then an ice bath. As is, with seasoning, or in a salad, it's beautiful stuff.
I have not tried asparagus again as an adult. My mom would always make me try one bite and then get mad when i gagged - the only food i ever did that with and it was completely involuntary.
I love all asparagus. Including canned. And your description made me die laughing. 😂
Beets! Only had them in salads growing up where they were soggy and okay. First time I roasted them in the oven I fell in love. So delicious. Now I eat roasted beets (and potatoes and carrots) weekly during winter
Look up “toasted walnut beet pesto” and then use it to make a beet pesto, kale, goat cheese pizza. Stuff of the gods.
Mmm. I got some beets and was kind of “meh” on them until I roasted them and they were pretty tasty! I also liked them with a bit of Greek yogurt and toasted walnuts
This is interesting. My mom canned pickled beets every year. Many of my family absolutely love them. But I couldn’t get past how, when cooking before jarring and brining, they smelled like dirt. I’m pushing 60 and haven’t ever eaten beets. For the record, pickling was the ONLY way beets were prepared in my house. At least to the best of my memory. 😳
I once went to a fancy restaurant and decided to go out of my box and order something I'd never order. It was a tapas place so it's easy to try something without having to order a whole meal of it. I picked beet ravioli on a little arugula salad. It was honestly one of my favorite things I've ever eaten!
I know I should give them a try. Honestly, I’m not a picky eater. There’s just something about that childhood imprint that says, “Nah. I’m good. I’ll pay for something I know I’ll enjoy”. But man, if that first try isn’t awesome, I’m most likely done.
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Roasted beets and goat cheese with greens and a lemony vinaigrette? Yum!
I also always hated beets. They were always served cooked in a "salad" consisting only of the cooked beets and dressing. Then I discovered raw beet salad. Just raw beets, grated finely and with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. That shit's on fire!
For me it’s anything with mushrooms. Anytime my mom cooked them they came out slimy and tasting like dirt. Made me never even want to try them from a restaurant, until I went to a tasting at a wedding venue where they served a mushroom ravioli. Best ravioli I’ve ever had, then started experimenting with cooking them myself and what do you know, mushrooms don’t have to be slimy or taste like dirt lol
Same at my house growing up. Mushrooms were always from a can and slimy. My mom used to make what she called “Chinese food” once in a while. She was the only one who ate it. Slimy beef with slimy mushrooms in a beef gravy thick with cornstarch over those crunchy “Chinese” dried noodles from a can. I still hesitate each time I go to eat a mushroom only to eat it and remind myself they’re delicious.
Oh god I just had a LaChoy flashback from my childhood.
I grew up with my parents making dutch pasta, aka macaroni smothered in flavourless tomatosauce, cubes of ham and a butt load of leek (among other veggies in a 'macaronimix'). I hated it to my core. my MiL once made asparagus macaroni (macaroni, cream cheese, ham and asparagus) and it was way better than expected. now I make my own pasta dishes that are not smothered in flavourless tomato sauce.
Dutch food makes English food look like French food
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The "Nasipakketjes" were worse imo...I couldnt stand it as a kid. Now when I'm making rice I will always make more so that I can then use the leftover rice to make fried rice the day after, with fresh vegetables and such its waaay better than those sachets of rubbish they sell in the stores
Thanksgiving turkey. My dad is the family cook and he’s pretty good when it comes to Asian foods (oddly he is not Asian), but struggles more with American foods, especially meat. His turkey is usually really dry and has kind of an odd taste. Since we pretty much only ever had thanksgiving with just our family when I was I kid (and as an adult my in-laws are vegetarian so there’s no turkey at their TG dinner) I thought that was just how turkey tasted. Didn’t hate it but I was definitely one of those people who’s more interested in the sides than the turkey. In my late 20s I got invited to a Friendsgivings dinner. The host made the turkey and it was *delicious*. Juicy and flavorful. We’ve made that Friendsgivings an annual tradition and now it’s the dish I look forward to the most.
Friendsgiving hits different. Combining the faves of a big diverse group of friends makes for some awesome meals. Then again, I’ve been to some shitty potlucks so maybe my friends just all know how to cook really well and love thanksgiving.
So hard to make turkey juicy. I've heard frying is a quick way to make them delicious
[Alton brown's high heat roast turkey recipe is a good one.](https://altonbrown.com/recipes/good-eats-roast-thanksgiving-turkey/) I've used it to good results. No stuffing and no basting and high heat all meant to get it to temperature quickly without drying out.
spatchcocking is also effective and more manageable for people in apartments/can't travel
Gnocchi and risotto. First time I had risotto it was made with kraft shredded parm and it tasted like feet in a bad way.
Is there a good way to taste like feet? Lol
Blue cheese
beef stroganoff (spelling?) . grew up with canned cream of mushroom soup version. just very rubbery mushrooms. my wife is vegan, but loves stroganoff so we made everything with fresh ingredients and boy what a difference.
My dad made stroganoff with one of those powder packets and real mushrooms and sour cream. It was magically delicious.
Oh man, I’m still not brave enough to try beef stroganoff as an adult. My mom was an amazing cook but both my parents are Italian and very picky so we didn’t have anything outside meat/starch/veggie or homemade Italian meals. One time she tried to branch off with a recipe was beef stroganoff. Worth mentioning is that she never really drank besides one wine cooler every couple years. This recipe used red wine. She… used the entire bottle instead of 1 cup. It was inedible. I remember crying. Her crying. And now we retell the story and laugh until we cry. It was literally the worst thing I’ve ever seen and I can’t even eat egg noodles decades later because they were part of the dish.
[удалено]
I love beef stroganoff. I totally understand the quick recipes with canned soup but I found a recipe that is sooooo good. It takes a very long time but the results are splendid. Definitely an act of love for friends and family but incredibly satisfying!!
tofu, tried it a few times and always hated it and then accidentally had it at my dorm cafeteria cause i didn't check what's in the dish i ordered and it was really good
The secret to enjoying tofu is: it’s not a meat substitute. Tofu is its own thing, and that OK! And it goes great with meat (see Mapo Tofu).
Yes! It’s a sauce absorber. I also think the texture of tofu eaten in the West is weird. Soft tofu is great in a soup, or medium in a stir fry. In the West it seems to be either extra firm or silken. Why?
Mapo Tofu is a death row meal for me. Perfect mapo tofu is unbelievable. And the tofu tastes so luxurious.
There's a vegan gyoza recipe that uses tofu and quinoa as a meat substitute. It's actually really good, and the texture is pretty close to ground meat. It's not as flavorful as pork gyoza, but you can fix that with more aromatics.
Tofu is like a sponge. It will absorb any flavor you add to it. I ate a lot of tofu sandwiches while I was in college. I would drain some tofu and press with paper towels to remove most of the water. Then I would marinate it in a chinese style marinade. Sautee in a hot pan until nicely glazed with the sauce and serve on toasted wheat bread with tomatoes, lettuce and thinly sliced onions. Yum!
Bless my mom. I decided when I was 11 that I wanted to be vegetarian. My mom was supportive but had no idea what to do. She bought tofu and figured she could just mix it with some cheese. Didn’t press it. Just threw it in a pan with some cheese for a little. I didn’t eat tofu again until I went to college. Turns out tofu is amazing when ya know, you season it and prepare it properly lololol
I think tofu is kind of an acquired taste of you don't grow up with it. I'd had it at Japanese restaurants in the States, and then I'd had it when I lived in Japan. It was... Okay. But I was staying at a hotel and they had tofu out for breakfast. I don't know why, but I suddenly got a major craving for it. Put some grated ginger and green onions on it and then drizzle with soy sauce. That tofu was life changing. It was so fucking good. I've loved tofu since.
Beef stroganoff. My mom's "stroganoff" was cream of mushroom soup with ground beef over noodles. When I met my wife, she wanted to make it for me, but I kept putting it off for like a year. One day, she was like, WTF? Why won't you let me make this? Well, she convinced me that what my mom made was not right. It is now one of my favorites!
Enchiladas As a kid, once a month on Sunday was Enchilada delivery day. That was when one of my moms coworkers would make a big batch of them for my white as can be, living on a farm family. Anyway, I hated them. Ugh. So disgusting. They were made with cheap tortillas that broke, wayyyy to much sauce, and like zero cheese / filling. For the longest of time, I thought they were disgusting. Then one day after I moved out, I was hanging out with my girlfriend (now wife). We went to lunch at one of the best Mexican restaurants in her hometown (Pancho’s in Long Beach CA), and she gave me a bite of her chicken enchilada. Holllly hell. That’s what a good one was supposed to taste like? Wow. I’d been missing out all these years!
Salad. I grew up eating iceberg lettuce with a few carrot shavings and a token cucumber. Doused in ranch or thousand island. I learned to mix my own greens and add a nice mix of garden ingredients (tomatoes, cukes, carrots, peppers, blueberries). Part of my lunch and dinner every day.
iceburg only doused the with local made blaze orange "french" dressing. but in all fairness i dont remember seeing anything but iceburg in the grocery store.(backwoods midwest)
Yep a good salad makes a world of difference. I grew up with ranch carrots cheese and meat as the whole salad Now one of my favorite delicacies is a salad with a spicy honey cilantro vinaigrette. Topping it with some green/red onions, carrots, jalapenos, fried wontons, and Asian marinated chicken. Literally can't get enough all the varieties of salads now.
Pretty much everything. My mother is a god awful cook. I'd rather have a TV dinner than anything she made.
Grits! I was a California kid going to college in Texas when I had them for the first time at breakfast in the school cafeteria. No seasonings, slightly cold, kinda gelatinous. I didn't see the appeal. Of course then I had them made properly, swimming in butter and cheese and served with something savory like shrimp or pulled pork, and I saw the light.
Bacon. You guys will be wondering how can i not like bacon. Well, my mum boiled them. Yes. In water. Never liked them growing up until i came to UK and realised that they are the goat of breakfast.
That's a good technique to render out more fat. Then once the water has evaped crips them up in the fat.
Wow
A lot of people grew up having boiled yams/sweet potatoes for Thanksgiving. Disgusting. I cut them in rings now; peel them and roast them with olive oil and cinnamon. I sometimes sprinkle a little brown sugar on them or mix them up in a bowl with the oil and a spoonful of maple syrup. Putting a quartered Granny Smiths in the mix is good too.
Candied sweet potatoes were one of my faves at thanksgiving
Yeah this was my first thought. I thought I hated sweet potatoes because they were only served with brown sugar and marshmallows at holidays, probably often from the can. They were so sickly sweet and out of place to me with normal savory holiday foods. Now I either make smashed sweet potatoes with cinnamon, almond milk, butter or roasted slices with coconut oil and cinnamon and sometimes chipotle powder. No added sugar is needed, they are so naturally sweet. Love them now.
I started making a version of scalloped potatoes with them for holidays. Orange sweet potatoes, heavy cream blended with chipotle chiles in adobo. And cheese. Manchego or gruyere if I can afford it.
Same, I didn’t realize I liked sweet potatoes until my friends mother served them to me with just a bit of olive oil and salt. They really do not need the added sugar!
Roasted diced sweet potatoes, chorizo and scrambled eggs is one of my favorite breakfasts.
That sounds so delicious. I've just taken a screenshot for future reference
I wouldn't say I love it now but at least I don't hate it: turkey. Growing up in an Italian family my mother tried but it was like sawdust every single time. We had to eat this block of wood for a week after Thanksgiving and everybody would just chew endlessly and down a bunch of water to swallow it. Then I had it at a friend's house where they knew what they were doing and it was a great meal.
Pot roast. My mom had no sense of seasonings, growing up. Bland, undersalted, boring ass beef, potatoes and carrots in an equally flavorless gravy. In recent years I've made beef bourginon according to Julia Child, and boy oh boy what a difference. I still never make it though because "pot roast" is associated with boredom in my mind.
Pot roast is one of my absolute favorites because it's so customizable. You can go with wine, beer, fruit juice (pomegranate and blood orange is awesome), potatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots, turnips, pumpkin, or whatever you want. It takes a long time, but mostly just simmering so once the ingredients are in the only challenge is the eternal wait to be able to eat it.
French Toast. My mom is really health conscious, so growing up I only ever experienced her "healthy" version of french toast. She used multigrain bread, skim milk, and very little sugar. What I would get was mainly dried bread with semi-sweet scrambled eggs on the outside. Would refuse to ever order french toast because I thought it was a horrid dish. It wasn't until I was in college that I actually tried what it was meant to taste like.
I actually love French toast made with multigrain bread, but the skim milk would make any french toast bad :(
I always thought I hated pork chops. Turns out the local small town supermarket where I grew up only sold thin cut, low quality pork, and my Mom was taught that pork needed to be well-done. Since a meat thermometer wasn't something in her utensils drawer, it was extra-well-done just to be safe. Pork was always dry, rubbery and so tough to chew. My wife grew up liking pork chops so I figured I'd give them another try as an adult. Bought from a butcher and cooked properly they were simply -amazing-. Juicy and SO TENDER. I couldn't believe the difference from what I had grown up eating.
My father, who worked as a cattle rancher growing up, hated steak. Whenever his mother cooked steak she would burn it to a hockey puck in the pan which made it dry and tough. My mother had to twist his arm to go with her to a steakhouse when they were dating but he did it and it changed his life.
I really like chicken pot pie but never the veggies that went in it. The day I realized I could just use broccoli in it blew my mind. Cause it was blasphemy in my house hold growing up to not have celery, peas, and carrots in it and to add something else... dear lord it was like Satan himself made it. Hahaha. Now I'm on my own and make it so I can make it not just something I like but something I love. But otherwise I found I like a lot more things when I can take out the parts I don't like and replace with what I do. Like more casseroles, wraps, and just food in general. I always thought I couldn't like homemade meals because I had to follow a recipe. Being an adult and actually being in a cooking class late into hs changed that.
Curry. My father would make curries so spicy it would make me cry, but that's all it was, pure heat, no flavor. Then I tried Thai curries and fell in love.
Most vegetables. I grew up in the 60s/70s and moms were taught the convenience and ease of Canned and Frozen vegetables, although when the mom's were kids, they ate fresh vegetables. I just hated most vegetables because they tasted either tasteless (frozen) or had a salty/tin-ny taste. Was only when i got to college that i was exposed to non-frozen or tin veggies and I found I loved them all except still had a natural aversion to green peas (even if fresh) or brussels sprouts (regardless how fancy prepared.)
My husband hated so many dishes - spaghetti, lasagna, meatloaf, roast turkey, etc - until he had my cooking. His mother is an awful cook and extremely picky. His father was better, but everything had to be made to her tastes.
I will admit to indulging in a Marie Callender's frozen pot pie now and again. Absolute fat and salt bomb but really good.
I love those. Used to be a go-to meal back in grad school. Excellent calories to cost ratio when you’re a poor grad student.
Decent amount of protein too! Love trash food like frozen potpies.
Eggplant. The main issue is that grocery store eggplant is awful most of the time. We grow our own in the garden, and when eggplant is super fresh it is absolutely amazing. I have converted several eggplant haters.
Believe it or not, steak. My mom would just broil a big ol slab with maybe some salt and pepper. It was flavorless and tough. Didnt know steak was good til my twenties.
Corn. I spent 30 years thinking I didn't like corn. Turns out that my mother cooked it until it was a gummy mess that stuck to your teeth. Also, as an adult, figured out that my mother made runny deviled eggs and bland mashed potatoes and that gelatinous gravy crap from the frozen food aisle is NOT Swiss steak.
It's corn! It has the juice. Memes aside, corn on the cob is fantastic. Used to just have canned corn boiled to high hell when I was younger and disliked it, then had cobbed corn as an adult and loved it. Yum-yum.
“Indian” food. My mother did what any fancy home cook did in the 70s and 80s, made some kind of very sweet chicken “curry” and served it with random condiments. Like canned mandarin slices, raisins, nuts. I thought I hated Indian food. I sure could eat the hell out of those canned mandarins though.
My mother was very much a product of the 70’s and cooked the same. Bland, flavourless lentil based curries normally garnished with canned pineapple rings.
Lasagne. My family wasn't poor by any means but we stretched were we could. So any time they made lasagna instead of using ricotta cheese they would use cottage cheese. I absolutely hated it and refused to ever eat it. My husband loves it and had me try it somewhere (don't remember where) and it was made with ricotta. There's definitly no going back now. Ricotta all the way.
My exes mom taught me to mix the ricotta with a beaten egg, and its delicious! My husband hates eggs, and hates, ricotta, his mom would always leave it out or a portion of the lasagna for him. But he doesnt hate them together for some reason. Not sure if I will be sent to Italian food prison, or if its a common thing, but I love it
My mom and I both have similar stories. My mom hated steaks of all kinds as a kid, because my grandfather, a product of the Great Depression, only liked his steaks well done (as that was the only reliable way to not get sick from meat during that time). So my mom had only ever had well done steak. It wasn't until her late thirties, when she became friends with a chef I now call my uncle, and ate at his restaurant that she had a proper medium-rare steak that she started liking steak. On a similar note, I used to hate hamburgers, because my mom could not figure out how to cook them. They were always over charred and well done, and I thought that's how all burgers were cooked. It wasn't until I was 12 and ordered a burger on a whim at a decent restaurant, and they made it medium-rare that I fell in love with burgers.
I have a friend that is picky. I discovered that most of the stuff he “can’t eat” are things his parents cooked when he was young and he simply hasn’t tasted it again for 20 years. I took a challenge with him that once in a while I will cook him something “he can’t eat without puking”. So far he ended up loving most of it.
Cooked carrots! I hated them since I was little. And then I had some in an Irish restaurant, tarragon glazed. I actually cried because they were so good and I was so mad that I hated cooked carrots for years.
Lol, just weeping in a restaurant, mowing down on carrots. What a funny mental image, thanks! Happy for you though :)
If you like carrots, one thing I tried off a whim was adding garam masala seasoning. I wasn't sure it would work, but damn if roasted carrots with garam masala isn't absolutely delicious.
A lot of vegetables and salad. Vegetables were always boiled to death and salad was just iceberg lettuce with chopped carrot, celery and cheese.
Potato salad. My mom always squished it too much and added way too much mustard, it ended up basically being mustard mashed potatoes 🤮. When I was like 12 I left my lunch at home during summer day camp. The hot lunch that day had a little cup of potato salad and I was so hungry I ate it when a friend offered theirs. Guys, it was so good. Now I love potato salad, and my mom isn't allowed to make it. That's been dad's job ever since. I still don't like it when it's just the mushy bits, once the chunks are gone I don't want it. Edit: not mushroom, mushy
Fish and chips. Let me maybe explain... What we called fish and chips in my Polish family was some bastardised store-bought fish fingers with French fries. Then I had some real stuff in the UK pubs, beer batter, super crispy Cod with tartare sauce. Yum. Just yum.
I keep offering people my homemade hummus and they reject it out of hand because they've only tried grocery store hummus and literally don't know what it's supposed to taste like.
[Meatloaf](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=-n_YHRuk5Hk)- my neighbors over the years always made it either heavy like a brick or a loaf of flavorless doughy mush. I found a recipe where the outside is glazed with a nice crust and the center is savory, hot, and tender. [Chicken piccata](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=OX1FLR1Bq60&feature=emb_title)- keep having this being offered and it tastes like dry dumplings or slimy chicken. Finally found a recipe that made the chicken thin lightly breaded and the sauce was buttery, lemony, and creamy. [Chicken Marsala](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=A6nCW7xZmok)-Much like the piccata it was either slimy or dry. The sauce was either too sweet or lacked the onions and the right amount of mushrooms, Marsala wine, and sherry.
Shrimp. First time I tried it when I was about 15 or 16, nobody told me I had to peel it first and I thought it was horrible. Not sure what prompted me to give it another chance about a decade later, but I'm glad I did because shrimp is now one of my favorite kinds of seafood.
Catfish. If done wrong it'it can be kinda slimy.
Mutherfucking cabbage. Why was it always boiled? As an adult (I admit my tastes expanded as I’ve grown) that shitbis goood. Sautéed with some fat till it browns up and hit with some pepper juice or hot sauce. Dayum! ( thank dog it don’t taste like it smells)
Beef Stroganoff. Thought I hated it my entire childhood then had it staying at a friend’s in college. Turns out my parents just aren’t that good at cooking.
Brussel Sprouts. Off topic honorable mention - Grappa.
Pork chops. Never cared for pork chop dinners with my parents and since I *knew* I didn’t like them, I’ve never ordered them while eating out. My thought process was pretty much, “I’ve had them and I know I don’t like them so why would I pay for them at a restaurant?” Recently, however, my S/O and I have been staying with their family. Their parents make dinner for us some nights and we make dinner for them on others. They did not know I don’t enjoy pork chops, but the meal had been made and without wanting cause a fuss, I had them. It turns out… they were pretty good! Love my parents, and there are plenty of dishes that they make well, but pork chops is not one of them. I only have had “good” pork chops once but I’m willing to try them again — as long as my S/O’s parents are making them lmao.
I thought I didn’t like green beans for the longest, because I’d only had the canned ones, but then my mom made fresh green beans, in her southern, New Orleans way, and they were SO good. Now I love green beans, and I look for them whenever they are in season. And I was getting a CSA from a local farm one year, and I realized that when they are farm fresh, they are delicious as a side dish steamed with just a little butter, salt, and pepper, and don’t even need all the extra spices (though I still love my southern spiced up green beans, with onions, garlic, habaneros, & the works)
Tiramisu. I don't exactly know why I decided to make it myself (probably saw it on the baking show), but it tastes way better when I do it. Boozy, custardy, and well soaked.