Cooking Tips From My Mother That I Use All The Time

For Mother's Day, how my mother shaped my culinary habits

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Exciting news for anyone following the news from Rome. The Catholic Church has a new pope, Leo XIV, who is from Chicago. He’s a White Sox fan and I’m sure he never puts ketchup on a hot dog.

Happy Mother’s Day to all the women among our readers. Whether you have given birth or not, you have probably served as a mother or an inspiration to the people around you. It can be a difficult holiday when you have lost your mother, whether recently or years ago.

Cooking Tips From My Mother

This October marks the 10th anniversary of my mother’s death. (That’s her on her 99th birthday in 2012. Yes, she lived to nearly 102.)

It’s hard to believe that a decade has almost gone by. In the past few months, I’ve been settling into my house in Ann Arbor. It’s furnished both with my things and things I inherited from my mother.

I’ve spent a lot of time sorting through cookbooks, recipes, papers and especially photos that were in storage, and of course, memories come flooding back.

In my kitchen and dining room, I have multiple things that belonged to her, from Pyrex primary color bowls to sterling silver and fine china. But beyond that, I have cooking lessons that she taught me. Here are five that I’d like to share.

Get out everything you need at once

Before I knew the expression mise en place, my mother practiced it. Whenever she was cooking from a recipe, she first gathered everything she would need to make the dish. She didn’t go so far as to measure everything into ramekins, like chefs do on TV, but she did have the dry and wet ingredients on the table so that she could add them in order.

Learn to do a few things well

Although my mother liked trying new recipes, she had some tried and true things that she could make from memory, and which I now can make without looking up the proportions. Her list included spaghetti sauce, lasagne, apple crisp, fritatta, wilted lettuce (warm bacon dressing on leaf lettuce), cucumber salad with sour cream, and vegetable soup.

I’ve made all of them multiple times, and if you came over for dinner, I’d be able to feed you without looking at a cookbook. My repertoire also includes oven French Toast, lemon pasta from Ina Garten, which I made last night, and all kinds of roast vegetables, along with tofu and mushroom stirfry.

Be thrifty so you can spend on the best

The latest bout we’re having with inflation has been hard for people who’ve never had to economize. In fact, I wrote some tips for Food & Wine on saving money. We had neighbors who owned an orchard, and we got regular gifts of apples that she put up for apple sauce. She’d also buy bushels of tomatoes and preserve jar after jar of sauce, which we ate throughout the year.

My mother spent her grocery money where it mattered. One area was meat. We had a family friend who was a butcher, and he would alert her when sirloin steak was on sale or if he got a particular deal on roasts. We’d stretch the Sunday meal for a few weekdays, followed by spaghetti, and fish on Fridays.

I don’t eat much meat now, but I almost always make doubles of any significant meal so that I can have it for another night, and I’ve become an avid Aldi shopper. However, I love my fishmonger and I am happy to spend on seasonal produce at our farmer’s market.

Keep a clean kitchen

We did not have a dishwasher in the house where I grew up. “I’m the dishwasher,” my mother would regularly declare. My dad would dry, and after he died, I took over drying responsibilities. Later on, she got an actual dishwasher, but she initially used it so infrequently that our plumber lectured her; a dishwasher can’t sit idle or else it doesn’t clean as well.

I make ample use of my dishwasher, which you can see in this photo, but I can’t stand having dirty dishes pile up on a table or in the sink. As soon as I get done prepping a dish, whether cake or cookies or roast veggies, I immediately clear the table, put away the ingredients and place the dishes in the sink. Then, after dinner, I’ll load the dishwasher and make sure everything is in its place.

Don’t clutter your counters

The kitchen in the house where I grew up was nothing like the sprawling kitchens you now see in suburban homes. Thinking back, my mother had a mixer and a toaster sitting out, and that was it. She made coffee on the stove.

Later on, my mother moved into a larger home (above) where she had tons of space for all kinds of kitchen gear, including a Robo Coupe food processor that was ahead of the trend. But her rule was to hide most appliances in cupboards or in the basement, rather than having them sitting out on top.

I’ve kept to her practice. I have a toaster, a Nespresso, a blender, and a microwave on my counters, and that’s it. As a frequent user of Freecycle Ann Arbor, I know that if I want some type of kitchen gear, I can ask for it. I scored a nice electric tea kettle and a bamboo steamer that way.

Are there some kitchen practices you’ve inherited from your mother? Please share them with us.

What Did The Cardinals Eat?

The papal conclave only lasted two days, which suprised a lot of people who expected the cardinals to take more time for deliberations. This might have spared them from what sounds like some pretty uninteresting cuisine.

According to the BBC, nuns at the residence where the cardinals stayed prepared simple meals that are typical of Lazio, the Italian region surrounding the Vatican, and of Abruzzo. That meant minestrone to start, followed by spaghetti, and entrees that included lamb skewers and boiled vegetables.

New York’s Cardinal Dolan, who is used to the splendor of his mansion near St. Patrick’s Cathedral, deemed the food pretty ordinary.

The process is tightly controlled, to ensure that the cardinals’ food is safely prepared, and that no one can smuggle out a message to anyone following the papal deliberations.

The cardinals had to give up their electronic devices during the conclave, so there are no selfies of the food or the meal service.

I figure Pope Leo is about to be deluged with food gifts, the way Pope Francis was, as I told you a few weeks ago. Garrett Popcorn is already on it. He won’t starve.

Shrimp Fraud Is Rampant On The Gulf Coast

The seafood industry is crucially important to Louisiana and Texas. But, according to Texas Standard, shrimp fraud is driving a way of life for generations of people to the brink.

The issue involves passing off imported shrimp, from places like Asia, South Asia and South America, as local shrimp. According to New York Times contributor Brett Anderson, seafood testing company found that much of the shrimp served in restaurants around Houston came from waters outside the Gulf of Mexico.

More than 90% of shrimp consumed in America is imported. (Read the package of those tiger shrimp the next time you’re in the supermarket.)

In the 1980s, the shrimp industry in Texas was worth around $500 million, but lately, that value has dropped to around $84 million.

The main impact is that it has collapsed the price that domestic fishers can ask for their product. I was actually stunned when I lived in New Orleans at how cheap a pound of shrimp could be. I’ve paid as little as $5 for what would cost around $25 up here.

I thought I was buying local shrimp, but it’s possible that the cheap shrimp I bought came from somewhere else and that the most local thing about it was the store that was selling it.

So ask lots of questions about the source of your shrimp and read packages to see if you are getting what you are paying for.

British Tea Causes A Tempest With Japanese Fair Goers

The world expo in Osaka, Japan, opened recently, and it did not take long for fair goers to spot something amiss. The British pavilion drew heat for its $35 high tea service that wasn’t high enough for the price.

According to the Japan Times, visitors complained that the “Four Nations Heritage Afternoon Tea” was not the elegant experience they expected to have.

While the spread included sandwiches, scones, pastries and sweets, inital diners said that they were served a tea from a teabag stuck in a paper cup.

The British moved quickly, replacing the disposable cups with ceramic ones, and issued a deep apology.

"We have improved our service after some feedback saying we have failed to live up to expectations," a British Embassy official in Tokyo said in a video posted to X.

"Afternoon tea is an important part of our tradition that symbolizes British culture," she said in Japanese.

The rest of the menu looks like standard pub fare, with fish and chips, chicken tikka masala, and a ploughman’s lunch. You can get the tea service as a bento box to go.

Keeping Up With CulinaryWoman

I had fun writing for the Ann Arbor Observer about all the new businesses in town with Korean roots, like Bonchon, Tous Les Jours and BB.Q. I spoke with local merchants with Korean roots, like the owner of Ondo Bakery and Cafe, for their views on the newcomers.

I am always happy to hear from CW readers. You can reach me via the Substack app, by replying to the newsletter, or in one of these ways.

• Website: www.michelinemaynard.com

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Tomorrow, in Red Beans & Advice, I’m looking at a flavor that’s spreading across the bakery world but which might still be unfamiliar to many diners.

Have a wonderful Sunday and a good week.

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