Respect, it's what we learned growing up...you and I both grew up in the military and I think that has a lot to do with it.
Who gets "the last piece" at your house?
- Thread starter vitauta
- Start date
The friendliest place on the web for anyone that enjoys cooking.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
Respect, it's what we learned growing up...you and I both grew up in the military and I think that has a lot to do with it.
Claire
Master Chef
I'm sure you're right. People think growing up in the military means having fathers who ruled with an iron fist and were mean and abusive. In fact, in my experience, growing up in the military meant having mothers who ruled the roost. My parents (77 and 81) are still together and still very much in love. My retired sergeant dad is a very gentle man and would never insist upon the table manners Mom taught us. It was earned respect, not demanded.
purple.alien.giraffe
Executive Chef
In our house, with a few exceptions, it's whoever gets to it first which the hubby will kind of sheepishly admit is him. We're both pretty laid back about leftovers. It's something we've kind of learned.
vitauta
Executive Chef
we all know that look, fabiabi--it's pure diabolical genius. please teach me that look....
Claire
Master Chef
Fabiabi, we also were always told to ask if anyone else wanted that last pork chop (offered to Dad first). If so, the last serving got split. Mom made enough food for a small army, so it seldom came down to that until my sibs married and started having kids.
buckytom
Chef Extraordinaire
when i was growing up, we usually had just enough for 1 serving for everyone, 2 for dad. no one questioned it, ever. it was that respect thing that's been discussed.
on the rare occasions that there were leftovers, mom would have them put away before anyone noticed so she could make another meal out of them. no one ever asked, really, since we almost always ate in the dining room and the food was served by mom from the kitchen.
today, my son usually gets last dibs, then dw. i've never had a problem with that since there's always more than enough, and i prefer to see them satiated.
i almost always get the leftovers, though, because i work and eat at such odd hours, and dw isn't a fan of leftovers very often.
on the rare occasions that there were leftovers, mom would have them put away before anyone noticed so she could make another meal out of them. no one ever asked, really, since we almost always ate in the dining room and the food was served by mom from the kitchen.
today, my son usually gets last dibs, then dw. i've never had a problem with that since there's always more than enough, and i prefer to see them satiated.
i almost always get the leftovers, though, because i work and eat at such odd hours, and dw isn't a fan of leftovers very often.
Snip 13
Master Chef
My husband or one of the children. I don't fight over food lol! Just let them wrestle for it :p
Kayelle
Chef Extraordinaire
I understand completely Bea!! This brings back a very old memory of one of the worse altercations my late husband and I ever had. Keep in mind we were both in our early 20's, and still quite immature and self centered. We were grilling two small steaks that were a real stretch for our food budget. Like you, I formed a real mouth watering bond with one of them, and both of our forks hit the one steak at the same time. It got ridiculous then......"you take it, no you take it, I had my eye on that one, so did I, I wouldn't eat that one now if my life depended on it".....you get the idea. Then it got into a shouting match about how selfish the other one was. Ack!!
That was over 40 years ago, and we laughed over the memory many times.
vitauta
Executive Chef
Kayelle
Chef Extraordinaire
not the point, i know, but who got the steak?
The really funny part vitauta, is I don't remember.
While Daddy was served first and he got dibs on the leftovers, if there was not enough for all of us, the children ate first. There were a few too many times Mom and Dad went without and it wasn't always necessarily a meal.
Claire
Master Chef
I am right with you, Aunt Bea. When I lived near my extended family, we often grilled at our house. I'd have put a couple of steaks on the side for the very rare my husband and I like. Everyone else, especially in-laws would say, "Oh, gross" if they even saw pink. Then, by the time we sat at the table, the rare stakes would be gone. Disappeared. Consumed. Gobbled, given the speed. Somehow, "oh gross" turned into "so yummy I'll eat it in 20 seconds." So, yes, I form a relationship with a steak cooked over coals, and I might bite your hand if you take it!
Barbara L
Traveling Welcome Wagon
Same here on all counts.
I'm right there with all of you on the steak thing. More than once I have had "my" steak taken by someone else.
vitauta
Executive Chef
so wonderful and liberating to hear i'm not the only one! i thought it was my dirty little secret--that i can become so jealously possessive about "my" personal steak on the grill. in most other food matters, i am effortlessly generous, kind and differential to others. i wonder, could there be a connection to our primal survival instincts being rekindled by the grill?
What is the word KatieH used, fascinating...
I am finding this personal steak business fascinating
I've been around a lot of grilling and this is the first I've heard about this kindred spirit thing with one's food... or should I say one's "perceived as theirs" food?
You folks aren't moving your food around enough on the grill if one steak looks better than another
Now if you'll excuse me I need to go bond with a beer.
I am finding this personal steak business fascinating
I've been around a lot of grilling and this is the first I've heard about this kindred spirit thing with one's food... or should I say one's "perceived as theirs" food?
You folks aren't moving your food around enough on the grill if one steak looks better than another
Now if you'll excuse me I need to go bond with a beer.
What is the word KatieH used, fascinating...
I am finding this personal steak business fascinating
I've been around a lot of grilling and this is the first I've heard about this kindred spirit thing with one's food... or should I say one's "perceived as theirs" food?
You folks aren't moving your food around enough on the grill if one steak looks better than another
Now if you'll excuse me I need to go bond with a beer.
In my case it could be a streak of connective tissue that will be turning into jelly once it warms up...Shrek will cut around that piece and throw it away...
or a particularly succulent piece of meat surrounded with tasty fat, that will be heaven when cooked...Shrek cuts around that, too.mmmm, I like a nice ring of fat around a steak, or a good fat laden tail. Sometimes even the loins are trimmed too much and missing all that flavor.
I had a buddy who would take his steak back to the table, cut the fat off, then ask to have the fat tossed back on the grill. He preferred a little extra char to his fat.
I had a buddy who would take his steak back to the table, cut the fat off, then ask to have the fat tossed back on the grill. He preferred a little extra char to his fat.
Claire
Master Chef
Fiona, I, too, love the connective tissue, fat, and bone. I think, oh, heck, no one is going to want that one. Then -- abra cadabra, the fatty, bonier steak is gone. I haven't cooked steaks on the grill for a large group for a long time. Nowadays, I buy a porterhouse and husband and I share it and it works out fine. We both like rare, I like fat and chewing on the bone. We only do it once or twice a year. So it is no biggie. But I swear, I wanted to kill my siblings' in-laws when they'd gripe about rare then consume the meat I put aside for us!
I love rare and sitting around to chew the fat, too!
As proven by my fire hydrant shape.Unless I "rescue" it, Shrek's fat ends up in the trash. I offer to clear the table on steak nights.
Last edited:
