Comfort Food...
 

Let's hear about some of your "comfort foods" that you and the family enjoy...
Ours is homemade chicken and dumplings... it can be blistering hot outside and a pot of chicken and dumplings will still be no.#1 at this house. :cute:

Before I run off to the store to get fixings for a hamburger.
I have discovered that there are four definitions of comfort food.
Nostalgic.
Indulgence.
Convenience.
Physical.
Mine would fall under nostalgic.
I would guess I dont eat anything but comfort food.
What else is there, Foo Foo food.:lol:

The list would be great for me but I will try.
Chicken fried steak.
Fried chicken.
Soups chowders and stews of all types.
Hamburgers.
Spaghetti and meat balls.
Fried catfish etc.
To me the food I suspect to be in on the Convenience list, (Fast Food?) would be defined as garbage.:)

Worth

Grandma used to make a fine bologna salad when I was a kid.

My indulgence food is pimento cheese spread. I had it last week with a fresh jalapeno chopped up in it. Hot peppers and cheese balance each other out very well.

[QUOTE=daylilydude;493210]Let's hear about some of your "comfort foods" that you and the family enjoy...
Ours is homemade chicken and dumplings... it can be blistering hot outside and a pot of chicken and dumplings will still be no.#1 at this house. :cute:[/QUOTE]

Along the same lines of enjoying comfort food in the heat, one of my "comfort foods" (being 100% Bohemian Czech) is Chicken in Sour Cream Dill Sauce with Czech bread dumplings. When the garden dill was bountiful in mid-summer, this often graced our family table growing up, & it's been comfort food for me well into adulthood.

Number one on my list would be a crusty loaf of bread while it's still warm, hold the butter.

Another purely nostalgic comfort food I enjoy from time to time - as horrible as it sounds - is commercial fish sticks with tartar sauce & commercial macaroni & cheese on the side. Sometimes I do buckle under & make my own homemade & healthier "fish sticks" using fresh Cod, & these days I also add fresh broccoli florets to the mac & cheese, but other times the old childhood favorite is what I need to hit the spot. :)

Beef and noodles over mashed potatoes made from real potatoes.

Chicken fried steak WITH mashed potatoes and cream gravy.

Ham hocks with new potatoes and green beans from the garden.

Biscuits and bacon gravy. Sooo bad for you but so good.

[QUOTE=Patihum;493295]Chicken fried steak WITH mashed potatoes and cream gravy.

Ham hocks with new potatoes and green beans from the garden.

Biscuits and bacon gravy. Sooo bad for you but so good.[/QUOTE]


OMG... Anyone that knows me well knows I would try and eat a rock it if was wrapped in [B]BACON[/B]... :yes: so please tell me about this bacon gravy...

Tonight's dinner might fit the bill. My husband smoked baby back ribs over cherry wood most of the day and finished them with a sweet/spicy sauce. I spent most of the weekend shelling White Acre peas (a variety of field pea/southern pea). I cooked those down with bacon drippings and a bit of sugar, salt and pepper until they were creamy and perfect. I crumbled the bacon over the top. They are a pain to shell out but so good. I froze the rest for later. And we had sliced tomatoes out of the garden (Stump of the World tonight). And some small baked potatoes about the size of an egg, which is just right, IMO. I have sour cherry pie here and vanilla ice cream but I'm still too full for dessert.:)

Meat Loaf

Grandpa's "Prisoner Stew" AKA Lamb stew

A great Italian Beef sandwich

[QUOTE=shelleybean;493317]Tonight's dinner might fit the bill. My husband smoked baby back ribs over cherry wood most of the day and finished them with a sweet/spicy sauce. I spent most of the weekend shelling White Acre peas (a variety of field pea/southern pea). I cooked those down with bacon drippings and a bit of sugar, salt and pepper until they were creamy and perfect. I crumbled the bacon over the top. They are a pain to shell out but so good. I froze the rest for later. And we had sliced tomatoes out of the garden (Stump of the World tonight). And some small baked potatoes about the size of an egg, which is just right, IMO. I have sour cherry pie here and vanilla ice cream but I'm still too full for dessert.:)[/QUOTE]
That's why sometimes it's alright to have dessert first :yes: but I digress... it all sounds YUMMY!!

I guess of all of the things I like the most is a soup my Mother made and I still do.
I like it so much my (I'm full now and it doesn't taste as good) thing doesn't kick in.
My body wont tell me to stop.

It would start with one of those huge granite kettles you use to cook tomatoes down in.
In would go either ground meat or big chunks of beef from the farm.
Next would be potatoes carrots celery garlic paprika peppers onions sweet peas corn tomatoes I mean the whole garden would go in this huge kettle.
All of the vegetables would be cut in big chunks.
Then it would just sit on the stove and slowly simmer.
She would come along every now and then and taste it and maybe add something.
I remember there would be lots of black pepper and it would settle on the bottom in a layer.

When it was served it would be so hot I would add milk to it to cool it off.
I would sit there and eat till I couldn't swallow anymore.
I liked it with celery salt and garlic powder added to it.

Of course the huge pot had to cool off so as the day went along I would go get another bowl. :lol:
I always felt like it was a sad day when it finally played out and there wasn't anymore.:(

I could eat it every day.
The very first thing I ever cooked on my own in my own place was this soup and I ended up feeding a whole pile of guys with it.:lol:
The wolfed it down like it was the best thing on earth, and you know what, 'it is.

If anything can bring back memories it is that huge kettle of soup.
My wife would say how on earth can you eat that every day you have made enough for an army.
You have been eating it for a week.:))
Comfort food indeed.
Worth

Thanks Daylilydude for this thread.

Its going to help me know more about everyone's comfort food. I sure need lots of comfort food. Right now, I am making chicken pho (noodle soup dish), jus wished it was cooler today but will still enjoy!!

chicken and dumplings
potato soup
gumbo
fried catfish with tomato relish

sawmill gravy with sausage on top of homemade buttermilk biscuits are my comfort breakfast.:)

Home made new england clam chowder with lots of saltines and a dash of tabasco.
Tomato sauce cooked down thick with sausage on bread.
In sweet corn season corn chowder will do nicely.
Any kind of hash with lots of brown crusties.
Garden Green beans.
Baked beans.
Apple crisp
Pumpkin pie


I like to cook and have touched up moms chowder recipe.
Baked beans, has morphed into cassoulet which you should try if you havent yet.

[QUOTE=Nematode;493396]
Baked beans, has morphed into cassoulet which you should try if you havent yet.[/QUOTE]

I LOVE Cassoulet, & it has been our traditional New Years Day meal for many many years now. Since my husband doesn't eat any red-meat products, I developed a recipe that uses the leftovers from our also-traditional Christmas Day roast goose, boneless skinless chicken breasts, & poultry sausage (Kielbasa &/or Andouille), along with tomatoes, onions, celery, white wine, breadcrumbs, & those delicious creamy brothy white beans. Geeze - now I'm hungry for it & it's only July! :lol:

"Beef and noodles over mashed potatoes made from real potatoes".
PaulF

Ditto Paul, was surprised to see your post, never thought this was a popular dish. My grandmother used to make this and it was always one of my favorites. She would always make it for me whenever I went to visit and she made hers with homemade egg noodles, they were the best !!

Deer steak pounded out flat flipped in four and fried.
Gravy made from the drippings to put on the meat, slices of bread and boiled potatoes.:yes:
I ate a lot of bread and gravy growing up.

Best served the day after killing a deer at around 10 in the morning so you can take a nap till one in the afternoon.
Worth

My Mom had a special dish she made, she called it conglom.:lol:

Worth

[QUOTE=Worth1;493577]My Mom had a special dish she made, she called it conglom.:lol:

Worth[/QUOTE]

Conglom thats good.
We had "hash-n-trash" every week, it was potato hash with leftovers from the week.
Nothing got thrown out.

Bacon gravy
 

[QUOTE=daylilydude;493298]OMG... Anyone that knows me well knows I would try and eat a rock it if was wrapped in [B]BACON[/B]... :yes: so please tell me about this bacon gravy...[/QUOTE]

I've never measured any of this so to give you an idea of how much bacon I use a 12 inch cast iron skillet.

Cook your bacon off until crispy and remove from pan.

Add enough flour to the bacon grease to absorb all of it. (This part is best done with the pan OFF of the heat.) I'm guessing I use 2-3 heaping tablespoons of flour.

Back on the heat and whisk in milk/cream. 2 cups for extra thick almost stands up on it's own gravy. 3 cups for thinner gravy. Bring the gravy up to a low boil stirring constantly. Cook for 2-3 minutes. This removes any flour taste.

Crumble the bacon up and stir into the gravy.

Best served over baking powder biscuits made from scratch or eaten straight from the pan with a spoon!

Above all else the top comfort food for me is chilli. Followed closely by homemade vegetable soup.

A few more comfort foods include homemade cheese biscuits, home fries, charcoal grilled steak, fried fish, collard greens, fresh tomatoes, cheese burgers, and pretty much everything "Thanksgiving" from the Turkey to the green beans in cream of mushroom soup with onion ring crisps on top.

As you can probably tell, most food is comfort food for me! ;)

PS [QUOTE=matereater;493496]"Beef and noodles over mashed potatoes made from real potatoes".
PaulF

Ditto Paul, was surprised to see your post, never thought this was a popular dish. My grandmother used to make this and it was always one of my favorites. She would always make it for me whenever I went to visit and she made hers with homemade egg noodles, they were the best !![/QUOTE]
ditto ditto

[QUOTE=Patihum;493625]I've never measured any of this so to give you an idea of how much bacon I use a 12 inch cast iron skillet.

Cook your bacon off until crispy and remove from pan.

Add enough flour to the bacon grease to absorb all of it. (This part is best done with the pan OFF of the heat.) I'm guessing I use 2-3 heaping tablespoons of flour.

Back on the heat and whisk in milk/cream. 2 cups for extra thick almost stands up on it's own gravy. 3 cups for thinner gravy. Bring the gravy up to a low boil stirring constantly. Cook for 2-3 minutes. This removes any flour taste.

Crumble the bacon up and stir into the gravy.

Best served over baking powder biscuits made from scratch or eaten straight from the pan with a spoon![/QUOTE]

Thank you for this Patihum... this looks like a weekend breakfast, as I am positive I will need to take a nap... :D

Conglom...hash n trash! Funny! Leftovers were never wasted at our home either.

[QUOTE=coronabarb;493733]Conglom...hash n trash! Funny! Leftovers were never wasted at our home either.[/QUOTE]Funny story. As a right of age passage each of us 4 kids growing up spent one full summer with our grandparents age 13. Our Grandparents then planned a special historical trip. For each of us it was different. Mine was a scenic trip up the Eastern seaboard and into Canada, visiting all the museums, landmarks, old battlefields etc.. anything of historic importance.

But back to the topic. One of my brothers on his trip was asked by my Grandmother if leftovers would be ok for dinner, since she wasn't wanting to cook.

My brothers reply was a classic that the family will never tire of telling at reunions.......

"What's a leftover?":twisted:

Truth is we never had leftovers. Mom could cook 4 chickens and not one piece would be leftover.:?: 4 teenagers, 3 of them active boys all in one household insured we ate an insane amount of food. And if we really wanted to do it, we could double or triple that for any given meal. Combine that with the fact everyone in our family is a good cook..........:panic:

PS Don't get the wrong idea. We were thin but well fed. Our parents insured we had plenty of nutritious food and little to no snacks or junk food. Quite healthy actually. But we could seriously pack down the chow! ;)

Poor old forgetable pizza Not a mention. A shame

Old Chef

[QUOTE=Old chef;494018]Poor old forgetable pizza Not a mention. A shame

Old Chef[/QUOTE]


Nah - pizza will always be a "comfort food", but it has to be take-out pizza. Artisinal-style homemade pizza doesn't make it into the comfort-food list, as much as we enjoy it. ;)

[QUOTE=Old chef;494018]Poor old forgetable pizza Not a mention. A shame

Old Chef[/QUOTE]

Pizza no, Calzone yes.:P

Do you serve Calzone?

Worth

I'm bringing up Hungarian Goulash.
Not the hamburger meat macaroni and ketchup stuff but real Goulash.
Making some tonight.

Worth