The thread about Christmas dinners made me think about the home cooking of my childhood..

Post war Britain had a pretty good reputation for cooking, and looking back, that was probably deserved. Compared to what I read about here, I would say our everyday cooking mundane with food being seen primarily as a fuel than an eating experience.
I should add that I grew up in a working class home, with a father who worked as a builder and a mother who worked part time around my school hours so while not dirt poor, money was always tight..

With all that in mind, I would say that mum was a pretty good cook and for the most part I enjoyed her food. We didn’t have many “fry-ups” and convenience food was not a huge part of our diet either. Given my dads job and the British weather, I would say our food was “hearty” with lots of casseroles, stews and roasts. Meats tended to be the cheaper cuts but the results were good none the less..Sunday dinner was not set in stone as we were often out and about, but if served was usually a roast chicken with the far more expensive beef only being served on “special occasions”..

I don’t recall mum ever having any real disasters in the kitchen, but veg was generally boiled within an inch of its life and very over cooked by todays standards..

All in all, given our financial situation and mum’s lack of time, I think we ate pretty good, certainly better than many today who live off convenience food and take aways..

We cook ALL the time. It's to the point that I almost hate going out to eat as I'm almost always disappointed. If I want a good meal, I stay home.

By contrast, I've spent about 30 some nights at my sister-in-laws (her, husband and 2 kids), and my wife about 60 nights since we've been together.

In those 60 nights I know of ONE meal that was cooked there. I can't even begin to fathom it.

I think part of it is how you've been brought up to see food..

Growing up, I think cooking was "almost" another chore and certainly not something enjobable akin to a "hobby"...

I lost my mum when I was a teenager and I remember buying myself a £2 cookbook: "How to boil an egg"..I was determined to learn to cook and not to just get by on the three meals my father could probably knock up at that stage lol..

I'm not sure what has changed over the years, but I cook now as I enjoy it, and enjoy the food ..I am not brilliant by any means, but don't have to rely on ding meals out of a microwave as my ex wife did...

Possibly its having more time and a little desposible income? Or maybe its the TV Cooks that have slowly changed attiutdes over the years?

Whatever, I couldn't imagine not being able to get by in the kitchen, although I still like to return to my childhood favourites, especially this time of the year...

Food growing up was home cooked, I doubt if we ate at a restaurant more than a few times a year. My parents were middle class but food was a fairly simply affair of meat and vegis and salt and black pepper was about it for seasoning. My mom was a bit of a germaphobe so everything was cooked well and goodly done. I never enjoyed fish until cooking it myself.

Most of our meals are home cooked though we eat out more than we should. Honestly we can cook better than most places.

I've always enjoyed cooking and the biggest upgrade on our house was the appliances. I figure we use them all the time, might as well have good ones.

Our kids are learning to get by in the Kitchen and our oldest son doesn't like eating at restaurants and prefers home cooked meals.

My mother's cooking was OK. Both of mu grandmothers were good cooks. They had more time to do it right. I do 99% of the cooking and the wife actually prefers my meals over eating out. The last time we ate fast food was Wendy's and it cost us twenty bucks and we both had reactions. Fast food goes right through me. I could get a colonoscopy right after!

I was talking about this with my other half and as she has a similar family background, it was funny just how similar her experiences were.

One thing she remarked was when her mother cooked cabbage, it was boiled for what seemed like hours and the smell filled the house for days!

That brought back memories of my own and I still hate cabbage to this day!

I never knew meat had juice until I moved away from my parents home..."had to kill the bacteria"

I don't know if it was overcooking, but I can't stand brussel sprouts. You know if you wrap something in bacon and cook it in garlic butter and still can barely eat it, it's not fit for human consumption.

I think my mom would shudder if I offered her sushi or sashimi.

mom cooked all meat in one of those little electric broilers. steak, burgers, chops, whatever. never saw her fry or grill a burger. i think to her cooking was a chore not to be prolonged and necessary only to fill 7 mens bellies. i actually enjoy cooking a limited variety of dishes.

I grew up in a farm family in Southern America. We ate everything but the squeal. Lots of game, home made butter, canned our veggies, made our own bacon and hams.
Granny would feed a dozen or more every day at lunch. Wood stove, and then an added electric stove. Basic home cooking. Everything from scratch.

My reality, too. Most new (and usually short-lived) restaurants try far too hard IMO to differentiate themselves. I think I understand why, but, after awhile, folks tire of what they view as a gimmick and the places fold.

We have a couple go-to restaurants, and I can probably recite 2/3's of their menus. Solid standards that they execute flawlessly and rarely change their offerings.

Had a burger "out" on my way to the range today and was sorely disappointed. Medium well does not mean rare and when I ask for ketchup, mustard and mayo it does not mean I want to bathe in it.

Should have made myself a tenderloin sub at home and ate it on the way in the truck. Would have had less of a mess.

Save the extra "glop" to mark your targets.

Just sayin' of course.

Carry on,Sir.

Growing up, meat, if there was any, was either fried in a cast iron skillet or in a pot roast. Most dinners included a BIG pot of mashed potatoes and if you said you were still hungary, you got another dollop of mashed potatoes.

Sunday dinner was mostly a chicken that I killed the night before and one rooster does not go far with two adults and four kids.

My father was a coal miner in the 50's. Typical scenario was work one year,on strike one year,laid off one year. It was pretty lean. Back then you got surplus food,not food stamps.You had to cook it all. Canned meat that was a little bit better than canned dog fod, powdered eggs. We had a cow so we didn't have to use the powderd milk.I ate enough no cook oatmeal chocolate cookies to last me a life time.

A few summers we ate corn on the cob three times a day.

We sure as heck never even knew what the word obesity was.

Grew up on a farm, money wasn't plentiful, but food was.
We got tired up steaks and wanted burgers as kids. Always had cattle, hogs, and chickens never went hunger.

My Mom grew up on a farm in San Saba County TX and then in Atlanta from high school on when my Grandmother and step Grandfather moved to Atlanta. With that background she was a bit of an anomaly when it came to south side of Chicago cooking!

We had Tex Mex long before there were any restaurants that served it in Chicago and even if there were my Mom's would have been better. Her fried chicken was legend and if there was a neighborhood party she was TOLD "you're bringing chicken, make two batches." .

It was a good middle class upbringing but we routinely went to u-pick farms for beans, tomatoes and corn and then had a garden for squash, more tomatoes, peppers and misc other stuff. That all got canned, or in the case of tomatoes, spaghetti sauce was made and frozen. She made great greens and we always had it with some homemade pepper vinegar that came from a small depression glass decanter that was her grandmothers. It's just the way she was brought up.

She had a good repertoire of other dishes, meatloaf, homemade pizza, soups and such. We really did eat pretty well. She never really enjoyed cooking I think but she did it as part of the homemaker duties.

She's occasionally see a recipe and experiment. Bananas Foster once. After the fire and we got the new kitchen.... (not really)

I grew up in an Italian household. We nearly always ate home and the food was fantastic. When we would occasionally go out it was for breakfast or Mexican and Chinese for dinner.