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Strange Family Food Traditions

Roguejim

Roguejim

CAVEAT:  If I already posted this, just move along.
 
I begin with this food item that I've seen nowhere except from my wife's family.  Apparently, it originated with my wife's grandmother, and is usually brought out during holidays.  My wife made it this evening, so, I share this delicacy with you.  This is a canned pear half, filled with mayo, and sprinkled with cheddar cheese.  It's better than your brain is telling you.
 

 
No photo here, but my Mom used to take that chipped beef that comes in a jar, lay out a single piece, smear cream cheese on it, and wrap it around the white end of a green onion.  My Mom would pile a plate full with these things.  Yeah, I ate a few.  My nephew demanded it every Christmas. 
 
Whaddya got?
 
 
 
My grandmother makes this "salad" with shredded raw carrots, raisins, little bit of sugar and mix it all together with good ole mayo.......do not like at all. Still remember having to eat it as a kid and she still makes it once and awhile to this day.
 
I developed my love for hot stuff at an early age because my dad would make something he called "Blazin Saddles".....it's "chili" with leftovers in the fridge and make it super spicy.  When I say leftovers I mean everything from spaghetti to Chinese food and cornbread. 
 
I'd try the pear thing, I'm an adventurous person :)

Scorched said:
My grandmother makes this "salad" with shredded raw carrots, raisins, little bit of sugar and mix it all together with good ole mayo.......do not like at all. Still remember having to eat it as a kid and she still makes it once and awhile to this day.
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ew, I remember that stuff too, you see it at family reunions around here lol
 
Grandmother is 91 and still cooking. She makes all kinds of strange things, some good some not so much. Watergate salad is another one she makes often. Pistachio pudding, marshmallows, pineapple, maraschino cherries, cool whip, sometimes fruit salad instead or with the pineapple and coconut. I think that's everything in it lol.
 
Scorched said:
Grandmother is 91 and still cooking. She makes all kinds of strange things, some good some not so much. Watergate salad is another one she makes often. Pistachio pudding, marshmallows, pineapple, maraschino cherries, cool whip, sometimes fruit salad instead or with the pineapple and coconut. I think that's everything in it lol.
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Yeah, that Watergate salad is fairly common.  I've seen it with some type of nuts in it, too.  Maybe it was pistachios? 
 
Now that I think of it, my Mom made fried meatloaf sandwiches which I've never seen anywhere else.  I make them, too.  They might be my favorite all-time sandwich.  Take cold meatloaf out of the fridge.  Slice into 3/8"-1/2" slices.  Fry in butter until both sides are good and crisped, brown.  Drain briefly on paper towel.  Sometimes I toast the bread, sometimes not.  Assemble with mayo, onions and lettuce.  No substitutions, and no Ketchup!  Better than most hamburgers.
 
I had a family friend who would make the pear recipe as well, also have seen pineapple slices done that way... Odd to say the least, but not utterly terrible in my book.
 
East Texas Heat said:
I had a family friend who would make the pear recipe as well, also have seen pineapple slices done that way... Odd to say the least, but not utterly terrible in my book.
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Wow!!  Alright then.  Can you tell me what part of the Country/world your friend was from?  I wonder if it is a regional thing...
AZ-Mason said:
My grandma put snickers in a salad once. Only once because that was a disaster.
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Very cool, but disgusting!  A short lived tradition, I would imagine.
Alright, so I Googled "pears mayo cheese".  It might be an old Southern recipe.  Some would add a maraschino cherry on top.  It's not obscure at all.
 
I'm fascinated with some of the recipes from the older generations. You can tell these recipes came from hard times and people had to make do with what was available. I once had tacos at a friends that had every kind of meat. It had hotdogs, ground meat, pork, chicken, steak, bologna and who knows what else, just any kind of meat product. People would do this because there wasn't ever enough of one meat to feed everyone so they would combine everything. Usually cooked outside in a skillet over a wood fire with some nice seasoning and you got some surprisingly good taco meat!
 
Roguejim said:
Yeah, that Watergate salad is fairly common.  I've seen it with some type of nuts in it, too.  Maybe it was pistachios? 
 
Now that I think of it, my Mom made fried meatloaf sandwiches which I've never seen anywhere else.  I make them, too.  They might be my favorite all-time sandwich.  Take cold meatloaf out of the fridge.  Slice into 3/8"-1/2" slices.  Fry in butter until both sides are good and crisped, brown.  Drain briefly on paper towel.  Sometimes I toast the bread, sometimes not.  Assemble with mayo, onions and lettuce.  No substitutions, and no Ketchup!  Better than most hamburgers.
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Just made these tonight bacon wrapped meatloaf sliced then after cooking and refrigerating sliced and fried topped with cheese and caramelized onions. Funny :)
2n69loo.jpg
about 4 layers for me wife like single. Sorry about the ketchup if it helps it spiked with some habenero :)
 
ikeepfish said:
I developed my love for hot stuff at an early age because my dad would make something he called "Blazin Saddles".....it's "chili" with leftovers in the fridge and make it super spicy.  When I say leftovers I mean everything from spaghetti to Chinese food and cornbread. 
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I have my own recipe with leftovers, this means mostly meat, like salami, sausage, or meat in any form, cheese, or depends on what I can find in the fridge, cut, fry with different others, like chopped tomatoes, peppers, canned sweet corn, spices, etc, and at the end drop some eggs too, mix all together. I call it drunk man puke :) (guess why?).
My kids love it!
 
filmost said:
My wife's family introduced me to canned hashed beef stir fried with cabbage, salt, and pepper.
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that actually sounds good.  grandma made lots of odd combinations, but I attribute that to making do with what was available.
 
my sister mixes cottage cheese with tuna fish for sandwiches.  the horror.
 
I make sandwiches with toasted white bread (crust removed), cream cheese and paper thin red onion.  douse liberally with course ground black pepper. deelish.
 
 
that actually sounds good.  grandma made lots of odd combinations, but I attribute that to making do with what was available.
 
my sister mixes cottage cheese with tuna fish for sandwiches.  the horror.
 
I make sandwiches with toasted white bread (crust removed), cream cheese and paper thin red onion.  douse liberally with course ground black pepper. deelish.

Those both sound really freaking yums!
 
SmokenFire said:
 
my sister mixes cottage cheese with tuna fish for sandwiches.  the horror.
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I used to make something similar when I was lifting but I aslo added hard boiled eggs to the mix.
 
This one isn't that crazy. Orange slices drizzled with olive oil and cracked black pepper. This one comes out every Xmas eve in my parents house. It sounds a lot weirder than it really is. But our guests would always look at it with a skeptical eye.
 
Fresh pears, cored, quartered (or cut into eightths -- this was in my youth), paired with strips of roasted sweet pepper...and wrapped in prosciutto (hope i spelled that nearly right, i'm talking about Italian cold-smoked ham). Sounds like a jarringly inappropriate combo, but it's a surprisingly apt meld. Awkward to eat without a bib, but very nice as an antipasto.

Y'know, i've watched enought Star Trek... when the main course was eaten, and the pasta mixed with the antipasto, i always wondered why my belly wasn't the nexus of a warp-drive implosion...
 
SmokenFire said:
that actually sounds good.  grandma made lots of odd combinations, but I attribute that to making do with what was available.
 
my sister mixes cottage cheese with tuna fish for sandwiches.  the horror.
 
I make sandwiches with toasted white bread (crust removed), cream cheese and paper thin red onion.  douse liberally with course ground black pepper. deelish.
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Yeah, that does sound like a "horror". I've seen folks put ketchup mixed in with their tuna...ugh. I need to make your second sandwich "tradition".
oldsalty said:
Just made these tonight bacon wrapped meatloaf sliced then after cooking and refrigerating sliced and fried topped with cheese and caramelized onions. Funny :)
2n69loo.jpg
about 4 layers for me wife like single. Sorry about the ketchup if it helps it spiked with some habenero :)
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You know, that ketchup looks good with all that bacon. A win!
 
Errh meg gawd I love meatloaf sandwiches. It's always a gamble between now and tomorrow, do I eat it all now or wait for the awesomeness of the sandwich.
 
 
I can't think of the wierdest thing I make, but this talk of grandmothers reminds me of one odd thing. My paternal grandmother invented molten chocolate lava cake. It's easy compared to the fancy pants recipe used now, you simply take the cake out of the oven half way through the cook time, cool, frost and serve. If you jacked the oven high enough, the outside is crispy, and the centre is a molten pile of goo.
 
 
Anyone who names a dish after Blazing Saddles is gold is my books :rofl:
 
Roguejim said:
Wow!!  Alright then.  Can you tell me what part of the Country/world your friend was from?  I wonder if it is a regional thing...
Very cool, but disgusting!  A short lived tradition, I would imagine.Alright, so I Googled "pears mayo cheese".  It might be an old Southern recipe.  Some would add a maraschino cherry on top.  It's not obscure at all.
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Somewhere in the south is all I know, she's an old school southern cook. Tons of butter and mayo, we always used to look forward to her homemade biscuits and gravy and her awesome tater salad.mmmmm
 
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