Did Someone Else’s Mother Teach You Anything?

Shrimp. Apples. Meatloaf. Did Someone Else’s Mother Ever Teach You Anything?

Do you remember the way your mother taught you to cook?

Dried Fruit, Arranged Artistically in a Bowl

Dinner in 30 Minutes

When I was growing up, my mother gave me a 20-minute cooking lesson once.

1. Mix a pound of hamburger with ketchup, Wonderbread crumbs, and a raw egg. Form into a loaf; top with ketchup; bake for 25 minutes. Slice and serve.

2. Peel, cut into chunks and boil the potatoes. 10 minutes later, drain, butter and serve.

3. Pour frozen vegetables into boiling water. 5 minutes later, drain, butter and serve.

4. Pour glasses of ice water for everyone.

5. Serve everyone’s plate in the kitchen so you could control the portions.

A Simple Diet

Pork chops were broiled. Chicken was usually cut into pieces and baked. Frozen fish came out of the bag breaded and was broiled. Beef was broiled.

Vegetables rotated between corn, green beans, peas, beets, cauliflower, broccoli and carrots. Occasionally, we had an iceberg lettuce salad, with carrots and cucumbers and French dressing, or a vinegar-drowned cucumber and onion salad.

There was always a bowl of fresh fruit on the kitchen counter and a pitcher of ice water with raw carrot and celery sticks in the refrigerator for after-school snacks.

Sodas and salty snack foods were rare. I made occasional brownies and birthday cakes.

Dinner was always on the table 30 minutes after Mom started, promptly at 6PM six nights a week.

Dad served us popcorn or grilled cheese sandwiches Sunday evenings.

It was simple and healthy. We were all thin, except my mother, whom I learned later must have been eating cookies at work.

Presenting Food Like an Artist

I did not have serving bowls or platters on the table until I married.

After my husband and I eloped, I finished my Junior year of college, while he went to boot camp.

During that semester, one of my roommates took me home and her mother introduced me to an entirely different way of serving food.

Even though my roommate was an only child, her mother could have hosted her own cooking show.

She made each platter and bowl of food look like it was ready for a photo shoot.

And, she taught me how to do it.

The Secret

There are two secrets: regularity and design.

The regularity comes from having pieces of food all the same size. If you have some that are a different size, you can serve them in the middle of a platter surrounded by the rest.

The design comes from laying the food on a platter in a simple, regular, artistic way.

A circle, or spiral, is the easiest and most dramatic way to present food.

Translating Food Into Art

While my mother would have just piled up pork chops on a plate, if she had been inclined to serve them on a platter, my roommate’s mother would have layered the pork chops, slightly overlapping, in a circle, or spiral pattern around the edge of the platter.

You can do the same thing with cookies, slices of bread, or slices of cheese.

Similarly, if my mother had been serving slices of apple, she would have just dumped them in a bowl.

My roommate’s mother would have laid them out in a circular spiral on the platter, easily accessible to anyone who wanted to pick one up and a beautiful design to enjoy while you eat them.

You could do the same thing with shrimp, avocado slices, or stuffed dates.

If the dish has several colors, arrange them evenly disbursed or in separate spots on a platter.

Memories

This year, I will be relieving my mother-in-law’s caregivers for Thanksgiving.

Otherwise, the turkey slices would be laid out in a spiral around the irregular leg pieces in the middle of a platter.

Thin slices of homemade bread would be neatly layered in a circle.

And, I would be serving pickles in my mother’s 3-section divided glass hobnailed dish.

What are your Thanksgiving food traditions?

What did you learn from someone else’s mother?

From someone else’s father?

What are your grandchildren learning from you?

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