OT - What food reminds you of your Dad?

lousubcap

Liver and onions.  

xfire_ATX

My Dad (gone 4 years) wasn't the best at making food (or really fixing anything broken or new)- when I was maybe 12 he bought an in ground gas grill that we installed and ran a line off the gas meter (how he did that amazes me today) (line was buried maybe 6" under the grass) and would cook St Louis Style Pork Steaks, and if we begged long enough (a year) Cowboy Packets.  Later in life he perfected the ultimate Cheesy Potato dish.  He once fell asleep while making hard boiled eggs and the pot boiled down and the eggs eventually exploded waking the entire house up.

In general as soon as I got old enough to be semi trusted* with the grill I got that task.  He would go on diets and eat unseasoned chicken breast and brown rice for months at a time was his other go to dish.

Two months ago I recreated the St Louis Pork Steaks for my mom- I hadnt had them in 20+ years and forgot just how good those suckers are.

*First time I was sent to light the gas grill my 12 yo logic thought lets let the gas build up a bit in the closed environment and then put the match to the hole.  Well it didn't blow the lid completely off but did bend it.  I got it in place quick enough that when he ran out it looked fine.  Next day while he was at work I had to disassemble bend it back right and reassemble so he never knew.

havertyj

Spaghetti and meat balls. In terms of grill food that I am reminded of about him, steak, not seasoned, and well done. I did not learn how to prepare and cook steak until after I was married. I thought what my dad had made for years was the best thing.

TrippleRipple

My dad only cooked two things. Burgers, sometimes he get all fancy and season them with salt and pepper and chicken. Regular cut up fryers. Slathered in Open Pit BBQ sauce, Incinerated. Both on a gasser filled with lava rock. 

SonVolt

There was something magical about the '80s & '90s when Dads could somehow grill chicken breasts completely covered in BBQ sauce. Like slop that shiit on straight from the bottle before they even hit the grill.

The sauce always burned.... The chicken never browned... The meal always delicious. 

Pass me the Ranch and Baco's™ please, and let's see what the ol' Alex P. Keaton is up to on channel 3. 

nolaegghead

SonVolt said:

There was something magical about the '80s & '90s when Dads could somehow grill chicken breasts completely covered in BBQ sauce. Like slop that shiit on straight from the bottle before they even hit the grill.

The sauce always burned.... The chicken never browned... The meal always delicious. 

Pass me the Ranch and Baco's™ please, and let's see what the ol' Alex P. Keaton is up to on channel 3. 

This probably helps explain why we still see so much colon cancer now.  Although the mandated reduction of nitrite in bacon and addition of antioxidant made large strides in reducing it.

EzraBrooks

Pre-egg: the smell of lighter fluid

Post-egg:  pulled pork, because he loves it so much he makes a butt almost weekly

ArvadaMan

Mmm..... Lighter fluid.

I don’t miss the flavor but the smell always brings back memories.

xfire_ATX

SonVolt said:

There was something magical about the '80s & '90s when Dads could somehow grill chicken breasts completely covered in BBQ sauce. Like slop that shiit on straight from the bottle before they even hit the grill.

My dad had a pan of sauce he would pull, dunk and put back on grill.  I don’t know when I learned this was an option vs normal 

4TheGrillOfIt

SciAggie said:

Chicken fried steak. 

X2.  Big time.  

Teefus

Biscuits and Gravy. Homemade in an iron skillet.

northGAcock

bubbajack said:

Souce meat, Sardines in a can, Saltines and mustard, with a splash of schlitz out of a can. Good ole days! On the back of his Volari.

You can’t forget the smoked oysters. 

ColtsFan

northGAcock said:

bubbajack said:

Souce meat, Sardines in a can, Saltines and mustard, with a splash of schlitz out of a can. Good ole days! On the back of his Volari.

You can’t forget the smoked oysters. 

A can of sardines, a pack of saltines and a bottle of hot sauce and I’m set. Love them

JohnEggGio

My dad never heard of low and slow for spare ribs.  They were cooked directly on a rippin' hot full load of briquettes, of course fired with generous amounts of lighter fluid.  Lift the lid and fight back the flames...   To eat them required a bite and rip technique that made me think of starving cavemen anxiously awaiting first bites after a fresh kill. 

AppStateDDS

Blue plate special = meat and two veg with a roll and iced tea.  

Also, wayyy over cooked chicken or pork chops from the gas grill.  

Eoin

Absolutely nothing. My dad never cooked, so no memorable dishes, good or bad. He also worked a lot (freelance musician, 3 x 4 hour sessions a day was the norm), so when we were kids, tea time was mum only. 

CornfedMA

Sh!t on a shingle and waffles. My folks were divorced and we spent weekends with Dad. Those 2 dishes were the only things he was good at cooking and they made up 100% of the dinner menu. 

CtTOPGUN

Pasta fagiole was the first hing my Dad decided to cook when he retired. Inspired by Dom Deloise' cookbook, he finally decided to give cooking a shot once he retired.

 Lost him 4 years ago. But all my cooking equipment is on the back deck of Mom's house. Anything I cook out there reminds me of him as well. Not quite the same spending the day outside there without him. It was my Dad that bought the large BGE for my to use back in the day.

Photo Egg

When I think of Dad and food, hand cranking homemade ice cream always comes to mind first.

EzraBrooks

JohnEggGio said:

My dad never heard of low and slow for spare ribs.  They were cooked directly on a rippin' hot full load of briquettes, of course fired with generous amounts of lighter fluid.  Lift the lid and fight back the flames...   To eat them required a bite and rip technique that made me think of starving cavemen anxiously awaiting first bites after a fresh kill. 

My dad would boil them first in pickling spices.  His were on the other end of the spectrum, falling apart and mushy.  He has an egg now and still swears by 3-2-1 method so they still are always over.  But I'm a good son and don't say anything lol.

JohnEggGio

EzraBrooks said:

JohnEggGio said:

My dad never heard of low and slow for spare ribs.  They were cooked directly on a rippin' hot full load of briquettes, of course fired with generous amounts of lighter fluid.  Lift the lid and fight back the flames...   To eat them required a bite and rip technique that made me think of starving cavemen anxiously awaiting first bites after a fresh kill. 

My dad would boil them first in pickling spices.  His were on the other end of the spectrum, falling apart and mushy.  He has an egg now and still swears by 3-2-1 method so they still are always over.  But I'm a good son and don't say anything lol.

Coming up on 27 years since we lost my dad.  Would dearly love to egg some ribs for him.  Dang...that thought got me...

havertyj

Photo Egg said:

When I think of Dad and food, hand cranking homemade ice cream always comes to mind first.

Oh yes! I forgot about hand cranked homemade ice cream. My dad used to make that all the time. Usually for July 4 or birthdays, but man it was good!

2beast

Head cheese 
Wild mushrooms cooked with onions and scrambled eggs 

The Cen-Tex Smoker

Burned to a crisp select sirloin coated in Heinz 57 and honey (which was also burned onto the steak). 3x a week. Sometimes he also burned chicken. I loved it all. 

jdsmithii

Big Jim cooked two things: frozen burgers on a hibachi-style propane grill that was covered in aluminum foil, then served on white bread, or tapioca pudding.

nolaegghead

My childhood was not quite as traumatic as I thought...

gmanrva

My dad is no cook but he when he had to feed us it was a bologna sandwich. On another note he taught me how to clean and cook blue crabs from the cheseapeke bay. He worked all the time but we spent a lot of time on the water together on the weekends, now we still do try and spend as much time together as we can but it has been less this year with COVID. Cherishing ever minute we have together knowing that we never know how many we have left.

kl8ton

Pancakes

BBQ chicken on the Weber kettle

500

Fried bologna sandwiches with mayo on white bread. Also, grilled chicken legs, sauced with Open Pit BBQ sauce, then wrapped in foil and chilled; eaten from a cooler in the stands, while watching a race.  Potatoes and onions cooked in a foil packet over the coals of a campfire, at some camp site, across any number of campgrounds across this country.