Are there any foods that evoke a memory for you?
When I was in High School I was the last of 5 kids to leave the house.
My mom made salmon cakes on time for dinner.
For whatever reason I really enjoyed them that night and told my mom.
After I left home my Mom would make them whenever I came home saying she “made my favorite meal”.
I liked them that night for whatever reason, but it was never a meal I would explicitly request.
But I never had the hear to tell my Mom. I just ate them and thanked her.
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Pickled herring on rye crisps, a staple at my great and uncle’s house during the holidays.
Hotdogs from a place I grew up on, they’re exactly the same for over 60 years.
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Tell us you’re a Midwesterner without telling us you’re a Midwesterner.
When I was dating my wife, we went to her parents house for Christmas and her dad offered that to me.
She thought I was just being nice by eating it, but I grew up on that stuff.
100%
My Polish grandmother made everything from scratch. She ground beef and pork and stuffed casings to make keilbasa. She made her own golabki (stuffed cabbage). She made her own pastry for chrusciki (angel wings).
Unfortunately, my grandmother had no written recipes and made everything from memory. Using amounts such as handful or little bit. My aunt watched a few times and wrote down everything. Close, but not there.
I miss them all and have made many attempts to find replacements as tasty. Came close with keilbasa, especially in Detroit and recently at the one eastern european restaurant here. Found a few places that made very good stuffed cabbages, but the spices were not quite right. Never found any bakery that could make angel wings as thin and light.
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My German Grandmother used to make kolache’s that were to die for.
My daughter found a recipe that is almost exactly the same.
I may have to tell her to come home from school next weekend to make me some.
They evoke a very different memory for me. I grew up Catholic in the 60’s…when there was no meat on EVERY Friday (not just during Lent). Mom made “salmon croquets” quite often…and I could not stand them. I was so thankful when the vatican changed it to no meat on Fridays only during Lent…but once I left home, I never had them again. Heck…I think mom quit making them after the kids left home. When I would go back home in later years, my mom WOULD make my favorite meal - honey ham, sweet potatoes and fried apples.
My Polish mother in law used to make both a couple times a month, now it’s during the holidays and a few other times a year. It’s not Thanksgiving without golabki at my house.
I’ll buy a small jar at Thanksgiving and Christmas, I like it but don’t love it.
Pretty much what we do. My FIL and I eat them and I send what is left home with him.
A few years ago I bought the big jar at Costco around Thanksgiving and I ate almost half the jar but my wife made me get rid of it because it was taking up valuable refrigerator space and it was June.
Grandparents came to the US in the early 1900’s from Lithuania. Seems as if some of the foods are very similiar between Poland and Lithuania.
Parents used to make the stuffed cabbages and there was a small mom and pop store near me that made fresh kielbasa.
Local bakery had dark rye bread and would carry chruskis. About 8 years ago by mail ordered some dark rye and chruskis. The bread wasn’t that great but the chruskis were good. Been a while, can’t remember where I got them from.
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On Fridays Mom often made Tuna Spaghetti.
It was not bad but the Problem was, we seldom got Meat Spaghetti.
Every time I went home Mom made Cucumber Dip… not with Sour Cream but with Cream Cheese. I loved it… especially with UTZ Potato Chips.
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My paternal grandmother, who was from Russia, made the most delicious Russian Apple Cake. Since my father loved it my aunt, who is his sister, continued to make it for us after she died. My father would frequently tell my mother that she should ask his sister for the recipe but my mother never did. I think the real reason why my mother didn’t ask for that recipe was because she thought that if she made it for my dad it wouldn’t be as good as when his mother made it. After all these years, Apple Cake still evokes memories of my dad and his family.
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To all the Polish and Eastern Europe descent who are posting. If you ever drive through Nebraska stop and get a Runza. You won’t be disappointed
There used to be one of those across from where I worked. I never went there, and barely knew it was there…it was tucked away in a “hidden” corner of a shopping center. I guess it’s closed now and the nearest one is in Lawrence.
My daughter goes to the one in Lawrence about once a week.
Did any of your Polish mothers or grandmothers make pierogis. One of my childhood friends had a Polish mother who made the best pierogis and I think of her whenever I eat pierogis. I met this friend when I was two years old and her family bought a house that was two houses away from where we were living at the time. Even though she moved to Marin County, which is North of San Francisco, CA when she got married, we never lost touch and have been friends continuously for over seventy years!