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Nostalgia: The Recipes Our Fathers Have Taught Us

2008_06_13-dadcookingleonardohnmatthews.jpgDads who cook get short shrift. While talk around Mother's Day centers around the recipes that Mom taught us, and all the lessons we've learned from her, the best Dad gets are some *hot* new tools for the grill, or an ugly tie.

But for those of us whose fathers know a thing or two about the kitchen, and would rather have a new set of carving tools than carpentry tools, Father's Day is as good a time as any to thank Dad for what we've learned from him.

 
 

Growing up, my mother took charge of the kitchen, shooing my dad away. But when he got in there to cook, the things he made were without compare. Mom was the one who made healthy dinners with lots of green vegetables, Dad was the one who added an extra stick of butter.

Mom taught me to take pride in my food - making everything pretty and nutritious. But Dad still teaches me to take joy in my cooking - how to relax and take the pressure off as I experiment to see what happens, or how to gild the lily by making things richer. It's because of him that I use words like indulge as I stir extra cheesy buttery grits, just like Dad makes.

His buttermilk cornbread recipe is still the one I use, and I keep meaning to call him to get his barbecue sauce recipe. And when it comes to feeding a crowd, Dad's got down the easy, affordable party hors d'oeuvres that please.

Does your dad cook? What are the recipes he's taught you that you cherish most?

Image: Flickr user Leonard John Matthews
, licensed under Creative Commons

Related: Father's Day gift idea - mixology classes at the Astor Center

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Inspiration, recipes, nostalgia, Father's Day, dad

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Comments (18)

My father was an awesome cook -- very much about the joy and richness that our father talked about. Unfortunately I never truly appreciated it since I ate out so much before going to college.

posted by rizzuhjj on June 13th 2008 at 9:50am
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your father talks about*

Or maybe there's something I don't know about you... :)

posted by rizzuhjj on June 13th 2008 at 10:02am
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My dad did all the everyday cooking, and was quite good at it. It's fun to watch him now that he doesn't just make what my mom decides will be dinner for the week (she did the budgeting/shopping). I was visiting them recently and he called me into the kitchen to show me something - he'd bought a bottle of truffle oil. The joke was that he went deer hunting every year to drink and cook all the guys breakfast, which seems about right since I know he never had a gun.

posted by LauraII on June 13th 2008 at 10:02am
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My dad can grill like the rest of them, but one thing he made that my brother and I still talk about are his few salads. Lettuce, tomato, cheese, carrots, (the standards) and then he'd throw in plums, pickles and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles CEREAL!

My brother (who was 3 or 4 at the time) of course thought it was the coolest thing ever. Mom was always horrified.

posted by ashleym (aka autzve on flickr) on June 13th 2008 at 10:32am
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My dad taught me how to make sauce. All kinds of sauce. From stretching and embellishing a basic jar of "tomato sauce" to fancy pants hollandaise. I will always appreciate this as a good sauce covers a multitude of sins. He totally rocks.

posted by roseslaw on June 13th 2008 at 10:42am
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My dad was a great grill man, but he also ruled the kitchen for breakfasts--scrambled eggs, pancakes, eggs with tomatoes and garlic, sausage, bacon, breakfast sandwiches, on and on. He also did a lot of broiled fish and shellfish.

posted by OneWallKitchen on June 13th 2008 at 10:53am
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My dad is the one who inspired my love of food and taught me how to cook. My parents are divorced and I grew up splitting my time between houses. My mother hardly ever cooked and fed my sister and I microwave meals. My dad, on the other hand, made us homemade dinner every single night we were with him and we always ate dinner together. He is the one who taught me importance of good food and eating together. It's nice to see the dads getting some credit.

posted by SarahBrin on June 13th 2008 at 11:13am
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My dad was the grill master in the summer and, when there wasn't much in the cabinets, he'd raid the spice rack and make a jar of tomato sauce sing. From my father I learned the joy of experimenting.

Thanks for asking!

posted by foodwoolf on June 13th 2008 at 11:16am
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My dad taught me how to cut open a can of tuna with a knife. Also, how to fry a dozen eggs and eat them in one sitting, after consuming large amounts of alcohol.

I love my dad.

posted by spossberg on June 13th 2008 at 11:57am
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A couple favourite comfort-food recipes in my family cookbook are "Daddy Macaroni" and "Daddy Meatloaf". My parents generally shared the cooking, but those were two of HIS specials. I still prefer my Dad's baked macaroni and cheese to any other that I've tried. And I loved helping with the meatloaf as a kid because you got to mush and mix it with your hands.

posted by angorian on June 13th 2008 at 1:27pm
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One of my favorite 'Dad" recipes is a simple one.
Grilled Bacon Jalepenos....
Cut off the top of the jalepenos stuff with pepper jack cheese, wrap with bacon then grill...
I can seriously eat at least 20 of these, I don't care if i look like a fat ass!

posted by april_d on June 13th 2008 at 2:00pm
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My favorite memory of my Dad cooking was when he spit roasted a turkey in the fireplace in our basement one year.

He had built a room in the basement into an English pub. There were pictures of naked ladies there. Let's just say I was the most popular kid in the neighborhood (when my parents were gone).

posted by art on June 13th 2008 at 3:03pm
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My Dad is an awesome cook. One of my fondest memories are of him making salami soup for us kids. Sounds awful but that stuff was the bomb. When my son was small, I made it for him too. Good stuff.

posted by rose on June 13th 2008 at 5:09pm
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My dad wasn't much of a cook, but sometimes he'd do the roll-your-own taco/burrito thing: Crisp fried corn tortillas, warmed-up flour tortillas, bowls of ground beef with chile seasoning, refried beans, salsa (from a bottle), hot sauce (also from a bottle) grated cheese, shredded lettuce, chopped tomatoes, chopped onion, all laid out on the table--the food part of the most fun dinners I had with him and my sisters.

Naturally, I do it now with my kid.

posted by MollyNYC on June 14th 2008 at 7:53pm
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Wow. I'm envious of all your culinary dads. Mine doesn't cook - he barbecues stuff, but only if my mother or I do the prep work.
If my mother goes out of town for a weekend, he manages to eat out every night, between going to restaurants and being invited places for dinner.

posted by lemonader on June 15th 2008 at 10:50am
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My father has always gone through phases of a recipe. There was the summer he made French bread every few days, or the fall we ate his broiled chicken breast with black pepper recipe every night. My parents generally split the cooking, and my mother always took over when we had guests, but my father is the better cook. He learned from his grandfather, who cooked for my father's family when he was growing up. (My grandmother was a physician, and couldn't be bothered with things like cooking-- thankfully father-in-law, husband and sons took over!)

posted by Eliza on June 15th 2008 at 1:46pm
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First my dad taught me that everything's easier if you make a list. We were the only family I knew that had a weekly menu on our fridge. Second, that everything taste's better with butter, including a simple omelet. Third, the joys making and eating Antiguan style saltfish, sliced hard-boiled eggs and fresh hardo bread on a Sunday morning.

posted by SJO on June 16th 2008 at 9:02am
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@SJO,

Do you eat ackee in Antigua?

posted by art on June 18th 2008 at 7:52am
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