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| My Mom and Mother-in-Law Christmas Eve 2010 |
The Hubs and I both grew up in Saskatchewan but come from different cultural backgrounds. We grew up eating some of the same things as well as different foods based on our parents' ethnicity.
My mom is from a French background, my dad’s family is German, and The Hubs parents are both of Hungarian descent.
Dad liked basic food. He was a meat and potatoes kind of guy for sure. He didn’t like casseroles. He loved pie though, his nickname was pie at one time, so I’ve heard.
I remember mom’s turkey dressing, Christmas pudding with hot maple sauce, fruit cake, pies and rhubarb and strawberry compote.
My mother-in-law is an amazing cook. She can make scrumptious goodies out of a few basic ingredients. She has made many Hungarian dishes and desserts over the years that I would never attempt to replicate including noodles, dumplings, chicken paprikash, soups and poppyseed pastries.
Years ago, The Hubs and I attempted to replicate his mom’s recipe for Hungarian gomboc leves (dumpling soup). We made the soup base using the recipe she gave us, and things were going well. We proceeded to make the dumplings, which are made using mashed potatoes and flour. We dropped them into the hot soup base, put the lid on and left the soup to cook.
When I refer to the recipe she gave us, I mean a couple sentences jotted down on a tiny piece of paper. The recipe included vague instructions and no specific ingredient amounts. What could go wrong?
After repeated experiences like this over the years, I have learned that when you ask for a recipe from your mom or mother-in-law you must get the entire recipe; ingredients, directions and all. She may try and dodge your questions, but you need to pin her down and make her give it up or you are just setting yourself up for failure.
We were so excited to eat our soup. When we thought the time was right, we lifted the lid and cautiously peered inside. To our great disappointment, the dumplings were gone! Gone I say!
We hadn’t added enough flour to hold them together and they had dissolved when they hit the hot liquid. We laughed so hard and it was a pitiful culinary experience that night with only broth to drink.
I have concluded that some things are just better left in the category of “my mom used to make that” or the dreaded and foolish comment some men have made “that doesn’t taste like my mom’s does”. I think I will put a section in my recipe book entitled Mom Used to Make This, But Don’t Try It!
When The Hubs read the draft of this post, he thought he and I should have a cook-off to see who could make this soup better. I said, “nice try, that recipe comes from your heritage you should make the soup. Don’t put the responsibility of whether or not it gets passed on down the generations onto my shoulders.” This was way too much pressure for me.
He phoned his mom for a recipe consultation and set about making the soup. It was edible but was still not as good as his mom’s. I am starting to think she is withholding a secret ingredient...our quest to perfect this recipe continues.
Gomboc Leves attempt 2018
This soup has a lot of carbs in it, but that was how they cooked back in the old country many years ago. They used accessible and inexpensive ingredients. They were making a big pot of soup to feed a large family that had worked outside all day. The Hubs and I ate our soup and then laid down on the couch. I guess that is why we probably don’t need such big, hearty meals all the time. We don’t toil in the fields much these days.
What are your favourite foods that your mom or mother-in-law made? Have you cracked the secret code to make it as good as she does?
“I cook with wine, sometimes I even add it to my food”. WC Fields
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