Using caution with some family dishes...

[jusnikki]

Is there someone in your family (or a friend) whos cooking you will not eat??


I realize that some people don't know about cross contamanation.
Some people are just sloppy with how they prepare food.

I have a sister whos food I "will not" eat and she knows I'm funny about her cooking. But she's a sloppy preparer. I watched her put food on a counter and pass over it with a wet dish towel or she will taste food and put the spoon back in the food. I don't care how hungry I am, I'm not hungry enough to eat her cooking, lol. But she knows I love her..

Then I have a niece who is the worse cook ever....and I know you think you know somebody worse...no you don't! You wouldn't believe the hairbrain ideas she comes up with.... Everytime she brings a dish to something, it gets put somewhere where it get be mistaken for edible food...

 

[buckytom]

nope, i don't wanna know. i eat philosophically at family gatherings.

nietschean philosophy.

family is more important than possible gastrointestinal discomfort.

 

[Andy M.]

Eating at SIL's is an adventure, though not one of a culinary nature.

She pretty much doesn't cook. It's either take-out from a local Italian-American restaurant that's been either left out on the kitchen counter for hours until dinner or "kept warm" in the oven for hours. Since the food isn't very good served fresh at the restaurant, there isn't much hope for us.

We were there Saturday and her son fired up the grill and cooked the toughest sirloin tips I've ever eaten. SIL's contribution was rice and PF Chang's orange chicken from the freezer section of your supermarket.

I drank enough of my beer so it was all good.

As buckytom suggests, it's family, you don't go for the food.

 

[PrincessFiona60]

I don't eat either sister's cooking...I offer to cook and they always take me up on it.

 

[Dawgluver]

Bless her heart, my SIL has organic produce rotting all over the countertop from the farmer's market, plus a weekly coop produce delivery, and has tried in vain to convert my carnivore brother into a vegetarian. She can't cook, though she gives it a great effort. Her walleye fillets were dismal. Such a sad ruination of a wonderful fish. This, coupled with a know-it-all attitude makes her somewhat unteachable.

 

[Aunt Bea]

I don't eat at potlucks, ever!

 

[pacanis]

I'm with BT, if it's food, I eat it. I can't say there's anything my family does that I don't agree with though. After all, they're family.

 

[purple.alien.giraffe]

I have one brother that once caught a hot dog on fire cooking it in the microwave. He also burnt boiled eggs, fried eggs, grilled cheese (both the bread and the cheese inside) and mac and cheese. He never tried anything more complicated.

From what dad says though he's gotten a lot better since he got married. I haven't had his cooking in a long time. Dad says he's actually gotten pretty good.

 

[PrincessFiona60]

I have one brother that once caught a hot dog on fire cooking it in the microwave. He also burnt boiled eggs, fried eggs, grilled cheese (both the bread and the cheese inside) and mac and cheese. He never tried anything more complicated.

From what dad says though he's gotten a lot better since he got married. I haven't had his cooking in a long time. Dad says he's actually gotten pretty good.

My brother thinks that if 24 tablespoons of any spice or herb is good, then 48 must be better.

 

[bakechef]

Pretty much everyone who cooks in my family is darned good at it, and keeps a clean kitchen, lucky for me.
My brother's second wife was a terrible cook though, and their one time roommate (a family friend) is the worst cook I have ever encountered, and she loved to cook. It was pretty bad, every time we would go to visit, she would send us home with baked goods, she didn't fully understand baking, and often winged it, with awful results. I'll never forget the apple pie that was burned black on the top, and contained dry, raw apples inside, not sure how she accomplished that feat.

 

[Luca Lazzari]

I survived one year of Italian Army food in the '80s, so I've nothing to fear...

 

[sparrowgrass]

My exMIL was the worst. She would get up at 3am on Thanksgiving morning to start the turkey--which would be done to perfection by 8am, but left in the oven til noon, and then set on the counter til dinner at 2pm.

After dinner, the turkey and all the trimmings were left in the kitchen, so folks could make their own sandwiches for supper. About 9 , the carcass was removed to the enclosed back porch. Years ago, before they put the double glazed windows on the porch, and before they put the water heater (makes heat) and freezer (makes heat) on the porch, it probably did keep things cool over night, but . . . .

She always wondered why I fed my kids scrambled eggs or peanut butter for supper and breakfast after Thanksgiving.

She also made jello 'salad' with shredded carrots every year, and every year, wondered why no one ate it.

 

[pacanis]

I've seen shredded carrots in jello before. It might have even been served that way in school once in a while. I don't like chunks of anything in my jello though, so can't say much more other than I've seen that done. And bananas, too. Come to think of it, I wonder why the bananas never turned brown...

 

[jabbur]

For the most part, both sides of the family do okay with cooking. My SIL (married to my brother) is okay but then she has to feed a child with multiple food allergies (can't eat beef, tomatoes, wheat, rice, milk or dairy, and other stuff too numerous to keep track of). So she'll cook something that her child can eat to bring to family gatherings. Needless to say, it is pretty awful stuff just because of the limitations. My MIL (before her dementia set in) cooked everything to well done. She was always worried about bacteria in the food. She did okay with some dishes but turkey was always dry. She also was afraid of spices so a lot her dishes were pretty bland. But I agree with others here that it is family and that is more important than the food.

 

[Timothy]

My Mom, bless her heart, was a terrible cook.

As an example, she would cook beef liver at a strong simmer, for 30 minutes on each side. It came from the pan in a form that was more suitable for making shoes than for eating. Can you say chewy?

At an early age, my youngest sister and I both learned to cook out of self defence. When eating at friends homes, we discovered that foods could actually taste good and be easy to eat! They didn't have to be cooked to Sahara dryness, or shark-skin toughness.

My sister learned by taking cooking courses in high school and I learned by working in an upscale restaurant as a prep-cook for a chef, (after moving through dishwasher, busboy and waiter).

My brother and oldest sister simply stopped eating meats. They grew up thinking of meats as one of the foulest forms of food on the planet, because of the way it was cooked, not the health or humane issues.

I eat almost anything. I've only found a few foods that didn't appeal to me at all. "Uni", which is sea urchin's reproductive organs (gonads), and Fish Eyes are two of them. Just can't find a liking for either. Raw beef is another. That one is a texture issue with me. The flavor is fine. I tried Durian once and it was just nasty.

 

[bakechef]

For the most part, both sides of the family do okay with cooking. My SIL (married to my brother) is okay but then she has to feed a child with multiple food allergies (can't eat beef, tomatoes, wheat, rice, milk or dairy, and other stuff too numerous to keep track of). So she'll cook something that her child can eat to bring to family gatherings. Needless to say, it is pretty awful stuff just because of the limitations. My MIL (before her dementia set in) cooked everything to well done. She was always worried about bacteria in the food. She did okay with some dishes but turkey was always dry. She also was afraid of spices so a lot her dishes were pretty bland. But I agree with others here that it is family and that is more important than the food.

My partner's mom is the same way, no spice and no salt. She will cook a pork loin with garlic cloves, but nothing else, and she cooks it until it is too dry to swallow. She cooks thanksgiving turkey early in the day and sets it on the counter until we get there, it's usually cold by dinner.

She's kind of a terrible person, so I don't mind saying these things, lol. I usually make a better thanksgiving the next day at home.

 

[jusnikki]

LOL I had a good laugh reading some of this. I'm just funny about what I eat family or whatever. ANd if I see a person cooking and their not doing it like I think they should I probably ain't go eat it, lol.

My mother was a great cook. Though it seems only me and one sister inherited those genes.

And those of you who said it's about family not the food, that ain't true. It's always about the food.....J/K...lololol.