Dishes that remind you of mum

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Posted at 10:57AM, 13 March 2012 by Natalie Hardwick - Web assistant, bbcgoodfood.com

Once a year, flowers and handkerchiefs come out for official Mother's Day celebrations, but in our kitchens mum is present all year round. Nostalgic childhood dishes bring memories flooding back in a mere sniff, whether your ma was a budding baker or a convenience queen. We asked the Good Food team and our fans on Facebook to reveal what food most reminds them of their mum, and the result is a top 10 list of comforting classics.

Macaroni and cheese

Our writers on bbcgoodfood.com Lily and Roxy both said a creamy, cheesy pasta bake was their mum's staple dish, with lots of you agreeing on Facebook. Boil pasta, make a cheese sauce, assemble in a dish and bake - how can any busy mum argue with that? Hiding tomatoes, leeks or spinach within the sauce adds nutrition for anti-vegetable tots, and breadcrumbs or bacon add bite. We have plenty of variants of the ever-popular mac and cheese on our site.

Cheese pie

Good Food deputy food editor Elaine says her mum was a dab hand at pastry, so she ranks her cheese and onion pie as her number one childhood meal. She says: "My mum's shortcrust was really short, so the pie was a fabulous combination of tangy cheese, soft onion and melt in the mouth pastry. I've tried to make it myself but somehow it never quite tastes as good! However, Barney Desmazery's recipe comes close."

Toad in the hole

Meaty, juicy sausages enveloped in a crisp, golden batter and coated in gravy is what reminds bbcgoodfood.com editor Hannah of her mum. It's a British classic and one of the thriftiest ways to please a gaggle of hungry mouths. In its most basic form you can serve it with baked beans or gravy, but it's a dish versatile enough to handle some clever additions - mustard and herbs in the batter, slices of apple among the sausage, or some caramelised onions served on the side.

Roast dinner

The unanimous verdict on Facebook was that nobody does roast dinner better than mum - even if back in the day it was tinned marrowfat peas and instant gravy. Her magic touch with a joint of meat provides the foundation, while cauliflower cheese and roast potatoes make up for the fact you have to eat your greens. Mum's official rule for roast dinner? Never give your Yorkshire pudding or gravy secrets away.

Mash-topped pies
The theme of meat and potatoes continues with the fifth most popular savoury dish by mum - a cottage or shepherd's pie. Mum's knack of making the very creamiest mash, along with her gravy skills, means this adaptable potato-topped meat pie is comfort on a plate. Facebook fans John Scott and Sara Beaumont plumped for an even more storecupboard version - corned beef hash, made with tinned beef and a steaming pile of buttery potatoes.

Baked custard

Our art director, Andrew says his mum's 'rustic' baked custard was a top childhood treat. It's a foolproof family dessert, even if you're more inclined to lean for a can opener than a whisk. If you are going to make your own from scratch, you'll need a lot of eggs and sugar, but the end product will be a hot, silken dream. Cinnamon and nutmeg work well as a topping, and you can stir in some rice to bulk it out. Finish it off with jam or fruit.

Pikelets and pancakes

Our deputy food editor Sarah says the pikelets of her native New Zealand were her mum's signature dish. This Kiwi speciality is the first thing she was taught to cook: "They're a bit like drop scones, or small American pancakes, but you let them go cold then spread with raspberry or boysenberry jam and top with a dollop of whipped cream for afternoon tea. Just the smell of them frying in a pan makes me think of my mum and gran. This batter recipe is pretty similar, just make the pancakes a lot smaller, about 6-8cm across, then cool but eat quickly."

Puddings

Whether it's treacle, suet or rice, dense hearty puddings were a popular choice with Facebook fans. Treacle puddings are a simple case of cobbling together your sponge ingredients, then deciding whether to bake, steam, or in the modern age, microwave them with sticky syrup. Ice cream or custard are the obligatory accompaniments. Mum was also fond of serving up a rice pudding, according to our fans. A deluxe version may include clotted cream or delicious steamed fruit, while some of you love it so much you could forgive a layer of skin!

Bread and butter

A school dinner classic and storecupboard treat, everyday sliced bread baked with custard and raisins is a timeless classic according to many of our Facebook fans. Of course, it can be given the wow factor by replacing bread with brioche, pannetone or hot cross buns, adding a healthy slug of booze for the grown-ups, or maybe fruit as a cursory nod towards nutrition. There's even a way of making it savoury.

Apple pie

Clutching onto some floury apron strings while your mum pulls out a sweet and crispy pie is another favourite memory for our Facebook fans. Although some mums don't spend hours sweating over the perfect pastry and proudly plump for ready-made, for others a fruit pie made from scratch was the perfect centrepiece for family occasions. Apple seems to be your favourite filling, although cherry, pear and rhubarb all work well, especially when served with cold ice cream or hot custard.

Let us know your mum's signature dish or, if you're a mum with a foolproof recipe for keeping the family well fed, share you secrets below...

Comments

Beannie

10 March 2012, 10:36AM
Beannie

The dish that most reminds me of my mum is the magnificent meat and potato pie she used to make. Served with pickled red cabbage, made by our next door neighbour, it was good hearty winter food.

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Lushious

14 March 2012, 1:04PM
Lushious

Mine is my something my mum would make, probably fortnightly, called Minced Meat Batter which was basically a savoury mince (onion and oxos!!) and batter pudding on top - but not a fluffy airy yorkshire pudding mixture, but something more substantial and stodgy made with self raising flour!! Along with roast potatoes it was a low cost mid-week roast. Me and my dad would fight over who would eat the leftovers cold the next day. Now me and my little boy fight over the leftovers!!!

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YorkshireJen

14 March 2012, 9:06PM
YorkshireJen

My mum was a foster mother back in the day, and unexpected arrivals would often have her trawling the store cupboards in an attempt to feed extra mouths. Her last-minute shepherds pie, served with baked beans to stretch it out, will always stick in my memory. She was also the pressure cooker queen, even if one time she did forget to put the valve on properly and plastered a pound of sprouts over an artexed ceiling!

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Scharlton

15 March 2012, 6:03AM
Scharlton

My mums scotch eggs were the best. She would deep fry them in the chip pan, which gave them a wonderful golden crispy crust. I have tried unsuccessfully to replicate them, shop bought ones come nowhere near.

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SK

18 March 2012, 7:59PM
SK

Roast dinners for me are the epitome of my mum's delicious cooking. http://ecstaticeating.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/mothers-day.html

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Lavender

21 March 2012, 11:30AM
Lavender

Isn't "pikelets" simply another name for "crumpets"?

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SUE

24 March 2012, 8:03AM
SUE

Lavender- crumpets are made in a ring mould, and have straight sides. Pikelets are smaller and flatter, and are allowed to spread whilst cooking.

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kittendothroar

4 April 2012, 10:54AM
kittendothroar

My fondest memories are of mums macaroni cheese, topped with slices of tomato and baked till gloriously golden!

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