Beans Beans Beans... What Did You Grow Up On? - Regional Foods & Brands

[Amber]

I grew up on a combination of Polish cooking and good ol' country cooking.

Some of the Polish favorites: 

Pieorgies made the real way - ditch the potatoes and garlic.  Make your own basic dough, add cottage cheese, boil and then fry the pieorgies in butter.  I can't even look at a box of frozen pieorgies.  When I was really little though they were called "Froggies" by my grandparents who taught us the recipe.

We also ate a lot of this thick barley and tomato soup/stew.  We called it Jimesetti (completely unsure of the spelling!!) but I have no idea what the original name of the dish is.  It's barley, small veggies, tomato sauce, ground beef and molasses.  Delicious.  It was my choice of birthday dinners for a LONG time!

As far as the country cooking - my favorite is my grandfathers milk gravy.  There is nothing better along side a good biscuit, fried chicken and mashed potatoes.  Delicious!!  Heck, it's even great with Elk steaks - which I have had the pleasure of eating on occassion.

Who else had grandparents who fed them food and only told them afterwards what they actually ate.  Mine did that ALL the time.  "Oh by the way, how did you like the elk, dove, quail, phesant etc."  Can't tell you how often this happened to me when visiting grandma and grandpa *lol*

[Jeff Wrangler]

Who else had grandparents who fed them food and only told them afterwards what they actually ate.  Mine did that ALL the time.  "Oh by the way, how did you like the elk, dove, quail, phesant etc."  Can't tell you how often this happened to me when visiting grandma and grandpa *lol*

I can't say my grandparents ever pulled that one on me, but it makes me think of a certain Pennsylvania German delicacy--I use that word lightly--I was subjected to from time to time while growing up: Pig stomach! (I think in other parts of the U.S. it may be called "hog maw," but among the Pennsylvania Germans it's just plain pig stomach.)

Anyway, it used to be said that farmers used every part of the pig except the squeal, so my grandmother would take a thoroughly cleaned pig stomach, stuff it with diced potatoes and sausage, and roast it for I-don't-know-how-long. The stuffing of sausage and potatoes was actually pretty good, but they'd never get me to eat the stomach itself, which turns brown and crisp from the roasting.

I'll never forget one November when Grandma actually suggested having pig stomach for Thanksgiving Dinner. I looked at my mother, and my mother looked at me, and Mother then announced that we would have Thanksgiving Dinner at our house. Mother didn't like pig stomach either! 

[Andrew]

For me in Indiana, it was B&M Boston Baked Beans.  Maybe that planted a subconscious seed that ended up with my being in Boston.  I have to wonder if the BetterMost name had something to do with B&M as well as Brokeback Mountain.

My mother got them in the glass jars.  They had a lump of pork fat at the top.  Something like the one pictured below, but as I remember the jars were more practical, straight-sided so you could pack more into your pantry.

http://www.bgfoods.com/bm/bm_products.asp

[Lynne]

I am on a quest for the thread that mentioned a now-defunct Old Rose distillery...this isn't it, but it's fun!

*bump*

[loneleeb3]

I am on a quest for the thread that mentioned a now-defunct Old Rose distillery...this isn't it, but it's fun!

*bump*

I been lookin for old rose and can't find it anywhere. Maybe thats why! LOL

[Ellemeno]

I grew up in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, the Amish Country (think of Witness, with Harrison Ford). New Jersey may call itself the Garden State, but for generations Lancaster County has billed itself as the Garden Spot of America.

Since it's now late spring and summer is a-comin' in, my thoughts are turning to the locally grown produce we feasted on. First, at this time of year, local strawberries and what we in the Pennsylvania Dutch Country know as "sugar peas" but the rest of the world knows as "snow peas."

How that staple of Asian cooking made its way to the Dutch Country I have no idea, but they have been grown in Central Pennsylvania long enough to be considered a part of "traditional" Pennsylvania Dutch cooking.

Hi Jeff, I'm very late to this conversation.  Sugar peas and snow peas aren't the same.  Snow peas are very flat (though maybe curled).  Sugar pea pods are more rounded, more like English peas, and are much more flavorful.  I am proof they are different - I love sugar peas, and am not wild about snow peas.