Some people know how to make really beautiful books and Daniella Germain is one of those kinds of people. You might remember that she wrote a book called My Abuela’s Mexican Feast a couple of years ago? Well this book is the follow-up.
Her first book (a tribute to her grandmother) was super great, so I was excited to get my hands on this new release (in honour of her grandfather). Of course, because DG is the goods, it’s equally wonderful.
I’m excited about cooking some things from it. I’m also excited that Menudo is a kind of spicy tripe soup because… MENUDO!
There are a whole bunch of great salsa recipes: Green Salsa, Avocado Salsa, Bean Salsa, Red Salsa, Salsa Volcanica, Salsa Azteca and more. There are delicious taco filling ideas. Yum. Tacos are my homegirl. There are cooling sorbets and gelatos, jug-worthy cocktails and interesting puddings and sweets too. There are also some interesting glimpses into Daniella’s family history and life in Mexico. PLUS a recipe for biscuits called ears. If you want to eat delicious ears, this is your book! *love*
Apart from all that goodness, My Abuelo’s Feast features Daniella’s trademark illustrations, pulling the whole thing together into something uniquely her. Nice work, lady!
Giveaway
Daniella’s publisher Hardie Grant have given me three prize packs to give away to three lucky (Australian) readers! Thanks heaps!
Here’s what you could win:
1x signed copy of My Abuelo’s Mexican Feast1x signed copy of My Abuelo’s Table (first book)1x A5 journal designed by Daniella Germain1x pack of 3 mini notebooks designed by Daniella Germain
Just tell me your favourite grandma or grandpa inspired thing to eat in the comments below** (you need to scroll down!) Our favourite three answers will be the winners*!
Good luck, loves! I hope you win!
Thanks for making another ace book, DG!
x Pip
* Entries close on February 28th at noon Melbourne time. Winners contacted via email on Monday 2nd March. Hardie Grant is sending the prize packs out.
** Entries are moderated (to remove any spammers) but all legitimate entries will be be published – it just might take a little while for me to approve them (esp if I am sleeping) so be patient!
My dad used to make this because his mum (my grandmother) made it for him. Make up a packet of jelly crystals using only 1 cup of boing water. Stir until crystals are dissolved. Set for one hour. Whip together with 1 tin of evaporated milk until thick, frothy and double in volume. Spoon into individual dishes or a glass bowl and set in fridge for about 2 hours. Little people will love this ….but so will adults who are young at heart.
My maternal Grandma is Dutch and my favourite dutch food of all time is butter cake, which is this really plain cake that uses an ungodly amount of butter and is the best food ever invented, it comes out at christmas and easter goes faster than any other desert.
My grandma doesn’t cook much but she does make the most amazing apple and rhubarb pie. The only way she will eat vegetables is in a zucchini slice which I make now for my little family but it always reminds me of grandma.
My maternal grandfather was from the former Yugoslavia so I grew up eating delicious Balkan foods; stuffed and roasted bullhorn peppers, spit roasted suckling pork in a backyard BBQ pit, cevapcici (skinless sausages), cabbage rolls, choc hazelnut wafers, spiced fruit strudels, jam filled yeast donuts, vanilice biscuits, baked lemon ricotta crepes..! But by far my favourite dish, and persisting food memory, is a savoury cheese pie, simply called ‘Pita’. Made with eggs and fresh cottage cheese layered between buttery, buttery filo pastry I could never eat enough. I lament the fact that whenever I make it myself, while delicious, it lacks a certain something that my aunties and grandmother archived so effortlessly.
Hi Pip! My Ba Ngoai (Vietnamese grandma) used to make a lovely banana and bread pudding. Little squares of bread were layered with banana and baked in a coconut milk custard until golden and caramelised. You should try it! Perfect with a cup of tea, or for nibbling on while playing card games with grandma and the aunties.
Bread and Butter Pudding is the winner for me Pip.
I love creamed chip beef on toast — or as my U.S. Navy veteran grandfather sometimes calls it, ‘Sh*t on a Shingle.”
It’s crusty toast topped with white sauce, into which there are cut-up pieces of chip beef. Which you guys lack in Australia and now I’m craving!
My English grandad always liked a chip butty – a white bread sandwich with lots of butter and fat hot chips stacked inside. Carb overload, but so good! My Dad would bend the rules by putting bacon in as well, another good English classic.
My nanna was a TERRIBLE cook, but she had Kraft processed cheese and we weren’t allowed to have it at home.
You know the one, in the blue cardboard box, looked a bit like soap 🙂
She also had Tang, powdered orange drink and it was “full of sugar” according to my mum. I loved it.
We always had chips cooked in dripping and a Fry Bentos pie. It came in a flat can, you took the lid off with a can opener and baked it in the oven. It was horrible. You can still buy them, I wonder if I’d like them now?
When my brother and I would stay at our Nan and Pa’s we would always have pancakes in the morning. I would be that excited because my Pa’s were the best. I would get up at the crack of dawn and stand at the end of Nan and Pa’s bed waiting for them to get up. (I look back at that and I must of looked like a creepy kid looking over them) Pa made the most amazing pancakes. They were very thin and we would cover them in butter and sugar and roll them up and eat them just like that. This one time though I Pa ran out of milk so he used red cordial. Yes RED cordial and we had pink pancakes. At the age of 6 I thought they were the coolest thing ever and always wanted pink pancakes.
The saddest thing is, I have never had pancakes like that since Pa has been gone and I can make them like he did. But the memory will always be there of Sunday morning pancakes! Sometimes when I was good Pink ones
When I was young my mother wanted me to grow up vegetarian. Little did she know that every time she left me with Nana I was fed delicious hungarian goulash, which included among it’s many great ingredients succulent beef and smoked bacon. I thought she would be furious when she eventually found out, but she wasn’t. Instead, she asked Nana for the recipe and would make it for me herself on special occassions. They can no longer make it themselves, and I can’t seem to do it justice myself, so I will go far out of my way to find a great hungarian goulash!
My Nanna was a wonderful cake and biscuit maker. I remember the marble cakes she made for our birthdays and the jelly cakes she made for the party. Every Christmas she made a passionfruit pavola. I loved the crunchy part around the edges. After she passed away when I was 25 I felt compelled to be the one to take over the pavlova making at Christmas time. Her love of baking really ignited something in me. I’ve since made so many variations of pavlova for Christmas day. My cousin once told me that eating pavlova at Christmas reminded her of nan and it made me feel so happy that I was able to carry on that tradition!
Polenta with Baked chicken. My Aussie Nanna made it, I think to keep my Grandpop – who is from northern Italy, happy. Well I don’t know if that worked but it sure ticked the box for me.
I’m not sure how authentic the polenta was, but any dish that is 50% cheese tastes pretty damn good to a 10 year old’s taste buds! The chicken was always so tender and then by the end of the dish the polenta would be soaked in the yummy tomato sauce. Delish!
Days spent at my Danish Granny’s house always included finger knitting and baking kanelsnegle. Little round parcels of sweet snail-shaped pastries. We would always help her and make our own versions full of raisins and shaped like little men. They were then served up to our Grandad for morning tea and he always diligently ate our horrid creations. Bless him. The smell of cinnamon baking in the oven will always transport me back to those golden times.
Every year at Christmas or pretty much the summer season we used to get loads of ‘molenchane’ – Nonna’s calabreze dialect for melanzane. They’re a fritter consisting of a herby tomato-y parmeggian-y and meat sauce, reduced to niente! Then squish in some seemed eggplanty goodness, breadcrumbs, fry it all up and bibbedy bobbedy boo (as the Disney fairies say), you have yourself the best thing I ever did eat from Nonna’s table. I have tried to replicate it and my mum’s version is pretty close but no one has ever made them so well….mmmmmm melanzane!
I sadly never got to do much cooking with my own grandparents, however I just asked my 4 year old daughter about her favorite thing to cook with Nanny ( My Mum) and she said ” I love when Nanny says we are going to pop our aprons on and make biscuits, the best part is when it gets messy and I lick the spoon and bowl, then we pop them in the oven and wait for them to cook.” My daughter is very lucky to be able to make such lovely cooking memories with her Nanny.
A dish we literally call Nanas mince! So simply yet so delicious and very “kiwi”. Prett much mince on toast but with raisins and all sorts of yum in it
My Babi (Czech for grandma) taught me from a young age (I am now a high school cooking teacher) how to make delicious dumplings that can be served either as a sweet dish or savoury. To make the sweet version Babi told me always put seasonal fruit but I always like strawberries in the middle of the dumpling. Cook them in boiling water once cooked pour melted butter over the top with some cottage cheese and dust with icing sugar. Its heaven on a plate and even more delicious in your mouth. For the savoury dishes we always serve either potato or bread dumplings with a hearty beef goulash or a roast duck. Dumplings are a classic staple in Czech cooking and I am so proud I can still carry on that tradition for my family.
Oh my! A handwritten cookbook, with lovely drawings, and little notes, not to mention I have recently re-discovered my love for Mexican food. Be still my beating heart! My Gran had the lightest hand with scones, and I can remember her dipping a dented aluminum measuring cup into the flour bin. I still use it today 🙂 Two cups of flour and 3 tsp baking powder, sifted into a bowl, a nice old ceramic one. Take the same measuring cup, break an egg into it, half fill with oil, and then fill up with milk and water. I wish I could tell her that I now use whey leftover from my cheesemaking. It makes them extra light and fluffy. Dont spread them out on the pan – they like to cuddle each other as they rise up high. Touch the dough lightly, dont knead too much, just use your fingertips…. Gosh I can hear her gentle advice every time I bake them. Thank you for the chance to wander down memory lane.
I was lucky enough to know both my grandmothers into adulthood. My Father’s mother is still alive, but I always felt closer to my Mother’s Mother – Nanny. She passed away almost 5 years ago after a rather epic battle with Alzheimer’s. It has been a very long time since I had any of her cooking, and while her cooking may have lacked finesse, she made up for it in love. She had 10 children, and therefore, was able to conjure up a variety of no-nonsense meals to please most while sticking to a very tight budget! I always loved her beef pie with (always) homemade pastry, and she made an oft-requested chocolate-coconut fudge for treats. Honestly though, I just miss the way she’d say, “I’ll just put the kettle on” as soon as you walked in the door of the kitchen.
As an aside, I’m a book designer. A couple of years ago, when Daniella’s first book was published, it was shortlisted for a book design award. I was at the award night – before official proceedings all nominated books are out on display, and I was doing the rounds. I came to Daniella’s book and was waxing lyrical about how beautiful I thought it was and how much work it would have been, etc, and it turned out that I was blathering away to Daniella herself!
My 94 year old nana makes this dish we call “Pickle Fish” which sounds absolutely revolting, hey?
Well it’s NOT. It’s AMAZING.
It’s a delicious South African fish curry with saffron and onions that we only ever get once a year at Easter time. Every naysayer who ewwwwwws at the idea of pickle fish changes their mind once they have a pickle fish sandwich on white bread with butter. Oh my gosh, I’m salivating. I can’t wait for Easter!
My Nana Alice made the loveliest Sago–creamy and rich, thick and sweet, with gloopy tapioca seeds becoming rubbery pearls that I would roll around on my tongue for as long as humanly possible.
Pip I’ve absolutely LOVED reading all these comments, what amazing little snippets of family history and stories. Fantastic.
Rachel – (in England!)
I only remember one of my grandmothers, but she made the best lemon curd ever! I remember standing in her kitchen in her house (an old Welsh farmhouse) helping her make it and then eating it on warm scones. No lemon curd tastes quite like it…
My favourite thing to bake for any family event, is my Great Grandmothers ginger cake. I love the link between me and my ancestor through baking a delicious treat for our families. I imagine her standing over her mixing bowl, putting the same ingredients together as I am, and wonder if she would ever dream that her great great grandchildren would be jostling to get a slice of her cake, and that they would mention her almost weekly, in a request for it. That’s the kind of immortality I’d love to achieve!
My grandma dish is mashed potatoes. My nanna always made them so tasty, it took me years to figure out it was because she put in lashings of butter and salt!
My grandma used to make an amazing billy sponge cake in a billy can. It had something like 8 eggs and puffed up so high but was really hard to bake. No one else’s would ever turn out the same, whenever I think of her I remember her cake!
My Nanna’s name was Constance and she is no longer with us.. But my most favorite memory was having breakfast in her house.. Waking up the breakfast breakfast bar was set for 3 courses. The toast was cooling in the rack and there was every condiment you could imagine. Everyone must be up to start breakfast! And then the grapefruit goes under the grill .. all warm and supple and then sprinkled with brown sugar. You had to eat half a grapefruit before you could move onto cereal or toast or eggs. It is delicious! It always makes me think of those morning when I have a warmed grapefruit now .. luckily I inherited her grapefruit spoons as well..
Oh gosh this is really easy… it’s my grandma’s tomato sauce! So many memories of eating it, I especially remember grandpops fave way was with left over roast lamb on toast and a good splash of grandmas tomato sauce. Grandma used to make it from her home grown tomatoes when she younger and gardened lots more! As she got older my sister and I started making it with her and it became a yearly ritual. A long day stirring sauce and learning the tips and tricks to make it yummy and bottle it safely, and there was always some beautiful piano playing throughout the day too as grandma played better than I’ve heard anyone play – so much feeling. My sis and I still make grandmas tomato sauce each year now that grandmas gone, sometimes my sis will even jump on the piano and play a bit tho that bit is prone to make me teary (it is now!!) as grandma taught both myself and my sister and then my kiddies when they were younger. Next weekend my sis and I having our sauce day and it’s the first time we’ll be doing with our own homegrown tomatoes… I’m so pleased and know grandma would be utterly thrilled with our bountiful tomato crops. I reckon it’s gonna be an awesome batch of sauce, homegrown tommies are the sweetest. xx
I just had some coconut ice on the weekend, bought from a little country town, this was a staple at our family functions, my nan and my mum are avid sweets bakers and whilst I make an effort, the gene has passed down to my sister!!
My Grandfather made me a stove so I could bake mud pies for his morning and afternoon tea. Granny would be upstairs in the kitchen baking sponge cakes and slices and I’d be out in the garden with Grandfather. The stove was made of wood and had cotton reels for the knobs so i could adjust the heat. Grandfather drew the hotplates on and it sat out in the sunshine in the middle of his vegetable garden.
I would make layered mud cakes in imitation of the rainbow layer cakes I’d seen Granny make. I’d use Grandfather’s seedling containers as my cake tins and use different coloured dirt to make the cake. There was red clay, brown and black soil and white sand. Sometimes I’d layer leaves in there for extra colour too.
I’d call Grandfather over and I’d turn the cakes out and Grandfather would pretend to take tea and declare the cake delicious. Whenever I eat rainbow layer cake or marble cake I think of being in the garden with Grandfather.
My grandmothers were both avid bakers. I grew up with classic cakes, slices and biscuits; homemade jams, Christmas puddings.
I love baking and letting my kids know that the recipes that I use were used by their great grandmothers- and some of the time, their great, great grandmothers too.
My grandma came from a small village in Greece and didn’t get much of an education, which meant she developed some pretty off beat ideas about nutrition. Don’t drink too much water, it’ll get in your lungs (but lemonade is fine). Watermelon is very fattening! You look pale, have some ice-cream!
Lunches at grandma’s were loud, filled with her stories of the neighbourhood and blow by blow recaps on the latest episode of Bold and the Beautiful. She would serve up without pausing for breath and at some stage bang a huge bowl of roast potatoes down on the table among the other dishes. They were perfectly golden orbs of deliciousness; crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside. No matter what else was on offer, I always went for the potatoes first. She’s not here anymore but she did share her secret to perfect roast potatoes with me before she left: oil and salt darling! Oil and salt!
Hi Pip,
My grandmother, affectionately called Mumma, apparently couldn’t boil water when she married my grandfather at the age of 19. She must have had a knack for cooking, however, because my fondest memories of her always involve her cooking. I always remember the spread she would put out for us when we went to her place after school — a plate of cakes and biscuits, paired with an extra-special treat of a glass of soft drink. Her sultana cake was one of my favourites — moist, dense and sweet — washed down with a cold glass of pub squash. My darling Mumma, although still with us, is a shadow of her former self, as the ravages of time have seen a decline in her mental and physical health. I visit her as often as I can, to sit and have a little chat, but I really miss the glamourous and affectionate woman she once was. Above all, I know her love for all her grandchildren and great-grandchildren is not dimmed, and I am grateful to have had, and still have her in my life.
Neither of my grandmothers were memorable cooks, but my maternal grandmother has always had an alter-ego The Bickie Bandit. No sweet biscuit is safe when she’s in the house. One of my favourite things to do is to indulge her passion for biscuits by picking a recipe with her , helping her down to the kitchen (she’s pretty frail and spends most of the day pottering in her bedroom upstairs), makeing the biscuits while she listens to the wireless, then having a cup of tea and a fresh biscuit together. The rest are put in a tin which mysteriously disappears.
My grandma was a pretty crazy lady by all accounts – she died when I was four, but her legend lives strong in the stories my mum and her sisters tell of her. She loved dressing up and throwing fancy dress parties; she lived alone (my grandad died when my mum was only a girl) with her pet kangaroo who was at least a foot taller than her and followed her around the garden and to the shops. My last memory of her is her standing in front of her hall stand, whilst having a heart attack insisting she put on her hat and gloves and lipstick before leaving for the hospital. Apparently she never had any food in her fridge except ingredients for her legendary pavlova. I love when my mum or my aunt attempt to recreate her pav at family events (always with banana and fresh passionfruit). They say it’s never as good (but still amazing) and I get to hear more tales of this unconventional woman I look so much alike and who makes me make sense amid my quite straight family. Crazy skips a generation it seems 🙂
My Grandmother was a wonderful cook. Cooking was really part of her job. She kept the farm running, made sure that everything was fine, dandy and tasty for my grandfather. She made the most delightful slices and fruitcakes. The two most memorable foodstuffs were sides. One was a jellied pea that should have tasted horrible, by all accounts, but just didn’t! Well, my young tastebuds thought so, anyway! The other was a delightful tomato salad, made with tomatoes, onions and cream. My mum has managed to duplicate the recipe, and we have it for Christmas lunch.
I once helped my grandmother cook honeycomb. Such a science experiment to me, and she did it all off the top of her head, not a recipe in sight. I can’t go past a clear bag of plain honeycomb now without buying it.
I can not boil an egg without thinking of her also. The last time I spoke to her before she died she asked what I was doing, I told her boiling an egg, she replied “You have a heart of gold, and so should that egg!”.
It’s the simple things x
My Grandma wasn’t a great cook* (and things got even worse when she was in the early stages of Alzheimer’s) but as kids we always loved staying over at her place because we got to have fizzy drinks and – best of all – vanilla ice-cream with sprinkles! I can remember so clearly the yellow Tupperware bowls she served it in too. Sometimes the simplest treats are the best!
*I should say that she was alway the life of the party despite her terrible ways with food. She was a strong lady who knew not to take anything too seriously; she knew how to have a laugh and enjoy the moment. My happiest memory is of her perched on an upturned rubbish bin (an impromptu seat) in our driveway, glass of wine in hand, surrounded by a gaggle of grandkids (all girls!) sitting on the pavement around her, all looking up at her with gleaming eyes, telling stories, laughing. Sigh. You’ve gone and made me a little teary now. x
Scrumptious book! When my Grandpa retired he started doing the cooking. He adored fritz (Adelaide people will know…remember the butcher giving you a piece of fritz with sauce?). It is known as “Devon” or “luncheon slice” over here in the East. (Wonder what it’s called in the West?). Anyway, he would give Nana the irrits when he came back from the shops with a kilo of fritz, instead of a roast or some nice chops. It didn’t come in neat round slices either, rather as a length of fat sausage you would cut slices (well, chunks) off. But, fritz aside, Grandpa did jump into the culinary world with gusto and tried all sorts of things. The hands-down winner was a mouth-watering, decadent chocolate and ginger slice. Thirty-plus years on, I can still taste it. Sensational.
My Granna Wendy was never much of a culinary queen but nonetheless she was still a queen. When I’d have sleep overs at her cottage, she would whip together her specialty after dinner treat – cornflakes, tinned plums and double cream. I didn’t think much of it at the time but I now find it a delightful little dessert.
Every Monday night since I can remember, my large Fijian family of aunties, uncles, brothers, sisters, neices, and nephews has gathered at my Aunty Judy’s house for ”curry night’. My grandfather sat in his special chair, and grandchildren went up to carefully choose his plate of curry from the kitchen, he was getting old and frail. Just before Christmas last year, my grandfather sadly passed away. Curry night at Aunty Judy’s has become a more somber affair as we remember Pa Charlie and all the wonderful things he brought to our lives. The curry still flows and tears and laughter are guaranteed every Monday night.
I recently went out for proper Mexican and realised it’s one of my favourites so I’d definately like to enter this! Both my Narmie and Opie were cooks and their recipes and cooking styles still inspire me today as an adult. Fried eggs, homemade chips and steak was a staple by my Narmie and the best ever grilled cheese on toast was cooked by my Opie most mornings. Their food was simple but the best and now as an adult I can’t help but want to just love food the way they did!
My grandparents weren’t particuclarly good cooks. Nan’s chicken curry salad was the culinary highlight of every family occassion (I figured out it was coronation chicken reading a reprinted version in the womans weekly 25 years later). What I remember them coooking the most though was Ookie Muckie (Pop’s own version of Bubble and Squeek). I can still see him standing in his singlet in front of the stove, throwing mince and leftover vegetables in a fry pain and cooking them into a mushy scramble to serve over white toast. Not genius, but mine.
My Grandma Tillie was the kind of cook who made everything from scratch. Dinner at her apartment was usually a gorgeous roast dripping with the richest brown gravy imaginable. The lightest fluffy white creamy mashed potatoes, flaky golden homemade dinner rolls, spiced crab apples and delicious creamed spinach topped off our plates.
But what I miss most is my grandma’s chocolate meringue pie. It began with a pie crust so buttery and flaky that it would melt in your mouth. Next came the deep dark rich chocolate filling covered with a baked meringue whipped into tiny golden peaks. Words cannot do justice to the sublime experience of eating my grandma’s chocolate meringue pie. I miss you Grandma Tillie!
Well, it is rather funny but my grandma used to pickle everything! One of my strongest memories of her house is playing with my cousin and brother on a hot summer day, and seeing this red cold watermelon sitting in a plate. The mouth watered with the excitement of biting this sweet cold slice of red..you could only imagine (or better not!) the horror of finding out it was pickled!!
BUT! she made the best cucumbers pickles ever! And no matter how hard I try I can’t duplicate the taste of them. They should be May cucumbers and the water should taste a bit more salty than tears…
My German grandma Oma used to make my brothers and me a dish called kaiser schmarren which was affectionately known as ‘schmon’ by us grandkids. It’s kind of like steaming bowls of scrambled pancakes sprinkled with sugar and lemon juice and served with warm stewed apples. So yum. We used to wolf it down when we’d visit her after squad swimming sessions. Comfort food at its best. Now I make it for my son and baby daughter both of whom love it, much to Oma’s delight. Mine too!
My Nan was a great but humble and generous home cook. I have lots of lovely memories of learning from her. She would be horrified that I am sharing with you something Nan
and Pop would have for an easy and cheap meal but I thought was the BEST thing ever. Nan’s secret vice was condensed milk sandwiches! My grandparents had been through tough years and the condensed milk sandwiches came out of them having to make do in lean times. Nan always found ways to spread the food for all the family and any friends who tagged along. Thanks Nan.
What a beautiful book! I love the illustrations – Mexican is my fave food too!
My grandparents and I were not close. And so I will tell a story of my mum and dad, who love food as much me.
When I was a little girl, well, up to age 16 really (and sometimes even now, age 33, when I go back home!) my mum would comb my scalp every night after my bath. While it was time consuming and it often hurt, it was bonding time for us. We would make up stories, creating menus for these characters in the stories. Maybe those times when she did my scalp gave me my passion for words?
And my dad and I used to play with play dough, making all different size cheeses. I think I knew the types of cheeses (red leicester, stilton, parmesan etc) by their play dough shape and colour before I’d actually eaten them!
Gosh I love how food brings family together.
My Nana was many things…. she was the most wonderful knitter ( she very patiently taught me to knit ), she loved pretty flowers and had a beautiful English cottage garden. She loved her granddaughters fiercely and her friends and family with her whole heart. She was loyal and steadfast and I (her eldest granddaughter) loved her immensely and hope always to be a little like her. However she was a terrible cook, the one thing I remember her baking was rock cakes, I loved them despite the risk of breaking teeth when biting into them. They certainly lived up to their name. She always used extra mixed spice and to this day I adore the smell of mixed spice but no matter how hard I try I can never replicate her recipe which is long lost. Later when we were in primary school we used to go to the granny flat (she lived with us) after school and she would make us hot buttered toast and cups of tea. She always bought her bread from the bakery, and she would slice it with a big bread knife whilst holding the loaf against her hip. I was so amazed that she could cut perfectly straight, thick slices of bread that way. Hot buttered toast and tea is now my favourite Nana inspired thing to eat, so comforting and comfortable.
Roast potatoes with rosemary salt! My grandma used to make it all the time. Though not typical Nanna food it reminds me of her whenever I make it and tastes soooooo good!
I don’t have man memories of my grandmother, I only met her a few times as she lived in England and passed away when I was nine, we were only able to visit her twice. I remember being told by my dad that I make scrambled eggs just like she used to, served with salt and pepper sprinkled soldiers. So every time I make scrambled eggs I think of her, and wish I had been able to know her better.
My grandparents were Scottish & Chinese (on different sides of the family) so combining the two is fun. Glutinous rice with black pudding, yum.
My Nannie’s Savoury Mince! A great Friday night staple or comfort food when feeling poorly. x
I am one of 12 grandchildren and my grandma would always make us an icecream cake on our birthdays. They would never be the same and it didn’t matter if it was freezing the cake would always go in an instant. Now I am older I appreciate the time taken to make an icrecream cake- it’s not something that is just whipped up but takes at least a day to plan and put together, something she always took the time to do for us even when we were old enough to cook our own.
My Grandma made the best fruit salads. In individual bowls she would put cottage cheese in the bottom, then all different kinds of chopped fruit and topped with yogurt. She always made this for me when I visited. My grandma lived in her own home until she was 96. She had a great sense of humour. I guess fruit salad is good for the body and the soul!
Such a beautiful prize! I have so many food memories of my nan. As a farmer’s wife, nothing she cooked was fancy but it was all delicious…the least complicated but the family favourite is undoubtedly the brandy sauce at Christmas. Made simply with butter, icing sugar and brandy it has taken on legendary status in our house, it is unbelievably delicious. As a child I thought it was magic the way she made it but now I have her handwritten recipe, i can see it was easy but obviously made with love. My nan passed away two years ago aged 98 and for about the last 10 years it’s been my mum’s job to make the sauce…we eat it with icecream once the Christmas pudding has gone ????
My grandma makes the best steamed chicken – I could eat it all day! My first food memory of her was of her buying the chicken fresh from the market (chicken still alive) and her running around the house getting the chicken sorted out (of course chickens are smart things and going running about). These days the markets in Hong Kong don’t sell live chickens so she buys ones which are already feathered and ready to cook, probably a bit better as she’s a lot older now and can’t go running after those chickens. Still tastes just as good though!
My Nanna Tilda would make us as a special treat, which was every time we had a sleepover at her her house, jacket potatoes and rolled up pancakes for tea. The potatoes were so salty and crispy and the rolled up pancakes were nothing like Mum would make. The were fluffy and filled with lemon and sugar and rolled into a sausage. We had to eat them with a spoon and a fork, as polite society dictated. I loved Nanna Tilda, she was a real country Nanna and also introduced us to scolded cream, instant coffee and caroway seed cake
My dear, long departed Nan used to make the BEST potato salad. When I was young I used to watch and help her make it. I know that it had capers, cooked bacon, sour cream and mustard (to name but a few of the extras) but do you think I can replicate it now? No matter how many times I have tried, I’ve never quite got it right. I think the missing ingredient is her. Whatever that special something is that Nan’s and Grandma’s put into their cooking that make it just right. The other food memory I have of my Nan, that always reminds me of her, is tomatoes on toast with a sprinkle of sugar. I thought it was really odd and I don’t like it at all, but whenever I see someone do it, I’m taken straight back to a special time and place. x
my Grandma was a pretty terrible cook but she proves that you don’t have to be a good cook to provide good food related memories…. She used to give us cups of tea, always in her antique tea cups from a silver teapot delivered on an Art Deco tray mobile, and let us add as much sugar as we wanted. I never stirred so that I could eat spoonfuls of tea soaked sugar after drinking my cup. She also made terrible coffee icecream that I loved (instant coffee, sugar and powered skim milk) There are many more memories… Tomato on toast sprinkled with sugar, rock cakes, homemade peanut butter…. I could go on and on.
Oh Pip! These are simply gorgeous! My Grandma was an excellent cook and I miss her homemade Apple Pie so much! Nothing compares!
My favourite Grandma thing to eat is my Great Nanna’s sweet and sour chicken w/ rice. It’s comforting and delicious (and healthy) but more importantly, every time I sit down to eat it with my family, someone tells a story that happened at a time when we were eating it, “Remember when Nanna made a big batch of this and then as we were eating we found out the rice had weevils in it?”, or “Remember that time your Aunty made it wrong and then there was that argument and Jay threw plates and smashed them, and we all laughed?” 🙂
I also can’t remember my grandparents but there is a recipe of my mothers which always seemed wonderful. I guess it was always when we didn’t have much money but I never knew that.
It was called Mock Fish and it was just grated potato, grated onion, egg and flour but it was just out of the frypan, hot and smelling wonderful and I could put vegemite or sauce on it. I could eat them until I was full.
My favourite Grandparent recipe is defiantly bread and butter pudding, especially fantastic on rainy days with home made custard.
How GORGEOUS are those books?! I am so into Mexican food. Love it!
To be honest most of my cooking is grandma/grandpa food. Not MY grandma/pa food but just food from that generation. It’s all so wonderfully simple & humble & comforting. Things like scones, Anzac biscuits, sponge cake & casseroles conjure up images of years gone by by with people making the most of what they had. I adore that kind of cooking.
One of my greatest aspirations is to be a member of the CWA. I want to hear the stories & be part of all that history. Those are the recipes I love the most. But maybe not as many sultanas or creamed corn 😉
I never knew any of my grandparents but my mum cooked several of her recipes and the best was her cabbage rolls. Filled with rice and herbs and slow cooked in tomato, soused with lemon before eating.
I never met my Oma, because she was in Germany and we were in Australia, but whilst growing up my parents would always cook her food so we felt we were sharing in her memories. One of my favourite things was Vanillekipferl (or Almond Crescent Cookies). They are only ever made at Christmas time in our family and are so special. I may not have met my Oma in person before she passed, but whenever I cook or eat Vanillekipferls, I feel like she is there cooking with me. Food is such a wonderful way of sharing our ancestors’ spirit and teaching our children about heritage and family.
My nana spent her time as a new bride in the Mallee during the depression. She made do with everything and could turn a stone into a culinary delight. I didn’t appreciate then but I do now how hard her life was. Best recipe rhubarb cobbler and home made custard, all from scratch.
I used to make crab apple jelly with my grandma with the crab apples from her backyard- I still love eating jelly, any sort, but it is never as good as hers 🙂
my Gramma in NZ used to make the yummiest bottled preserves. When we lived in Wellington, she always had a cupboard full of bottled nectarines. They were so yummy, I especially remember having them after dinner with ice cream. It was the best although sometimes they were a little tart haha
My Yiayia used to make moussaka for me everytime I had sleepovers at her house! She also used to take the skin off all the eggplant before cooking it because otherwise I wouldn’t eat it! So now moussaka is how I remember my Yiayia
My Grandma like to have a cookie every time we had ice cream. Her Hello Dolly’s were the best. Potato salad and a Salad made from fresh grown Tomatoes Onion green pepper oil sugar That’s it.