Do any of you have a .....

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Addie

Chef Extraordinaire
Joined
Nov 9, 2011
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22,295
Location
East Boston, MA
Dish that you serve on a certain night? No matter what? Example; In Boston, beans and cod fishcakes were served every Saturday night for years. Wednesday was always pasta night. And Friday was always fish night. These traditions have gone on the wayside. But there are still some diehards. Sunday for Italians is now pasta day for the whole family. Everyone heads to Mama's house. Absolute mayhem in some homes. :chef:
 
Saturday nights in our home when I was a kid in Boston was for hot dogs and beans. Sundays were almost always roast chicken and pilaf.

Now, we don't really have specific dishes linked to days of the week. Special holiday meals are another story.
 
Friday night is usually Pizza night. But, not always the same pizza. I try and make some version of pizza. Home made crust, bisquik crust, deep dish, calzone, panzerotti, take out, pita pizza, you name it. As long as it has a pizza theme...
 
For us when I was growing up, Saturday night was always taco night and that usually held true raising my own family too. Now I still often make taco's on Sat. night........always the way Mama made them, by frying the corn tortilla's in oil. None of those store bought shells for me! :glare:
 
by frying the corn tortilla's in oil.

I will sometimes buy a package of them and fry them in butter, then put cheese on top and let it melt.:chef:
 
I learned how to cook to avoid having the same meals all the time. Growing up we had chicken night, salad night, pancake night, tamale pie night, chicken night, waffle night and ham night. The protein was scarce and the repetition made me crazy. I learned how to make lots of other dishes with hamburger, chicken, tuna and ham.
 
We don't, but when I was a kid, for a period of time, Dad came home on Thursday afternoons, and left on Saturday. He'd be starving when he got home, and the best bargain meal would be New England boiled dinner made with meaty beef stew bones, the kind with marrow. It sort of became a tradition. Since Fridays were the only really nice meals with Daddy at home, Mom decided to heck with fish on Fridays, and that was what would normally be our big Sunday dinner. That wasn't for long, but the Thursday boiled dinners kind of stuck with us for years. The only time we observed Fish on Fridays after that were during lent, and then it was fish-sticks and French fries! I hated fish, but in retrospect I realize why. When my parents were going out, it was often frozen (Swanson, I think) pot pies, again with French fries (the frozen kind that you do in the oven). When Dad pulled duties, we'd often have fried rice, because he hated (why am I saying this in past tense, he still dislikes) rice. Ironically, he loves sushi. Go figger.
 
When I was a kid it was the Swedish tradition of split pea soup, then pancakes for dessert on Thursdays.
 
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For our family it was always baked beans with cod fish cakes on Saturday. The beans were made in a large bean pot and took aly to make. Then on Monday, I always had bean sandwiches for school along with all my school mates. On Sunday, it was a New England boiled dinner with a smoked shoulder.

We also had cream cod fish on July 4th. I think that was because the Natives taught the Pilgrims how to use the cod to stay alive and for fertilizer for their crops. The cod fish is what saved them that first winter. We even have a large cod hanging in the State House.

We also had red flannel hash at least once a week. It was made with the meat and veggies from Sunday dinner. The red part was beets that my mother would grind up along with everything else.

The other meal we had on a regular basis was corn chowder with oysterete crackers. Again, in reference to the Natives. My grandfather was a full blooded Pasamaqoddy Indian from Maine. His family moved to Nova Scotia, then down to Massachusetts.

These are still meals that I make for myself. All my kids make them also. Or they ask me to make them for their house. Nothing like Mama's touch. :chef:
 
When I was in my tween and teen years it seems like each nights menu was set in stone not just for us but, for every house in town. I think it was partially due to the fact that everyone shopped in the same little IGA market that was run by a nice Scottish couple. She was the cashier and he was the meat man. He looked sort of like Mr. Whipple from the Charmin commercials. He pretty much determined the menu for the whole town. He and his wife looked out for the folks in town and if nothing else everyone ate well. If you or your family were having a tough time they knew it and sometimes your bill would get lost or an extra package of meat and a bag of candy would turn up in your box of groceries. I remember one Thanksgiving a new family had moved to town. They shopped in the nearby city and did not patronize our local store. Thanksgiving morning they opened the "city" turkey and found that it had spoiled. The lady was very upset and she called one of our neighbors, who in turn called everyone else. My mom called the grocer to see if he might have an extra bird. He did and he went in and opened the store so the lady could get her turkey. From that day forward she made a point of buying at least some of her groceries in the little IGA.

The one tradition from childhood that I do continue is that of having a feast day at least once a week. Growing up it was a big Sunday dinner and the leftovers were the foundation of other meals during the week. I still tend to follow that pattern especially in the winter months.
 
Nada, zip, zilch. Too many new things to try, no sticks in the mud.;) We do have meals we will make many times, but no hum, drum routine. That would just be boring. "Certain day" traditions may have developed due to lack of ingredients. For most of us, that is not the case anymore.

Craig
 
for a very long time we had sushi on fridays. sort of the fish on friday idea.

but traditions can get too expensive. :sleep:

i want to be adopted by a family that has a pork chop night, or at least fresh pasta and gravy on sundays.
 
for a very long time we had sushi on fridays. sort of the fish on friday idea.

but traditions can get too expensive. :sleep:

i want to be adopted by a family that has a pork chop night, or at least fresh pasta and gravy on sundays.
Come on over. Every Italian in town has a pot of gravy going today. Lasagna, pork chops in the gravy with the meatballs, ribs, and bricola (sp?). Fresh made Italian bread, Christmas cookies, pizagaina pie, (even though thats supposed to be for Easter) antipasta, etc. get the idea? Enough for every one to have two helpings of every thing and take some home.

My middle son married a girl from Naples. Boy, can her mother cook. Her father makes all the sausages, his own wine. He didn't leave Italy, he brought it with him.
 
In my family, Monday night was spaghetti, Friday night was steak, Sunday was roast beef. In between, we'd have burgers, chicken, chili (in the winter), walleye (in the summer). My mother rotated 7 meals, didn't like to cook (and wasn't a great cook--she likes it now that she can't cook--finally got out of that chore), and my father is a picky eater--will only eat certain things. I make spaghetti about once every 5 years. I don't do rotation now--I cook what I want to eat.
 
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Not in our house, but when I moved in with my college roommate, I got an education on how things were supposed to be. Her mother was the age of my grandmother, ordered all her groceries by phone and had them delivered, and had a schedule of what was eaten on which day. All I really remember about that is that Wednesday was macaroni and cheese and canned asparagus, and that peas had to be Green Giant baby LeSeuer (sp?) peas. Canned, of course.

I introduced Katie to fresh peas and fresh asparagus, and I don't think she ever looked back.
 
Not in our house, but when I moved in with my college roommate, I got an education on how things were supposed to be. Her mother was the age of my grandmother, ordered all her groceries by phone and had them delivered, and had a schedule of what was eaten on which day. All I really remember about that is that Wednesday was macaroni and cheese and canned asparagus, and that peas had to be Green Giant baby LeSeuer (sp?) peas. Canned, of course.

I introduced Katie to fresh peas and fresh asparagus, and I don't think she ever looked back.

I love those peas. Those are the only canned veggie along with cream style corn that I buy. I drain the juice for drinking (I know, I am weird) and cover the peas with Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing. I keep the peas in the fridge along with baked beans for sandwiches.

I never said I ws normal!:wacko:
 
that's ok, addie. we all have our peculiarities. i like to drink pickle juice. :doh:

i used to love to spend sundays at my childhood friend's house who's family was italian. his mom made the best fresh pasta, sunday gravy, mozzarella, and ricotta every sunday. she made raviolis so big that you were lucky to just finish one.

to this day i rarely eat ravioli because everything else just doesn't compare. the last time i had raviolis was in a restaurant 2 summers ago. the raviolis were stuffed with lobster and a runny egg yolk, and were served over medallions of filet mignon. man, it was good!

it took a dish like that to compare to my friend's mom's raviolis. and it still was only a close second. :)
 
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