Comfort foods

[charliechaplinfan]

It's the fudgey kind of brownie that I really like but all the recipes I've tried are packed full of sugar. I think I need to go back to the Joy of Cooking and bake their reduced fat version.

Is a mac slang for a burger?

[movieman1957]

"Mac" is slang for macaroni.

[jdb1]

Not just generational, but also dependent on where you live, Judith. I've never even seen pastini in the stores. The ones in Little Italy, in the Northeast area of KC may have tons of it, but not out in the boonies where I live! I take it you boil it then bake it?

I think I've gained another 5 pounds in the last two days.....

I don't see pastina in the stores much any more either, Knitty. I haven't shopped for it in Little Italy here in NYC mostly because everything in the Italian provision stores in that area is so overpriced for the tourists. There are so few true Italian provision stores left in Brooklyn, I'm sad to say. What is left has restyled itself "specialty," and uses that excuse to mark prices up beyond reason.

I remember that the pastina came in smaller boxes than the other Ronzoni pasta to indicate it was intended for children ("Ronzoni sono buoni!" as their ads used to say -- poetically but technically ungrammatically.) I remember going to a party when I was in college where a member of the Ronzoni family was in attendance, and his name was . . . . . Ron Ronzoni. No kidding.

You do not bake the pastina ("little pasta") -- it's boiled only, and is presented as a hot breakfast-cereal type dish. Wow, I'm having a Proust-like moment here, recalling the taste and smell of the stuff. When my daughter was a toddler, I tried to interest her in pastina, but she kept spitting it out. It think it was the texture of the tiny pieces -- she doesn't like couscous either.

Who's up for some milk and cola? (I like it with Coke, but Pepsi is valid as well.)

[Professional Tourist]

You do not bake the pastina ("little pasta") -- it's boiled only, and is presented as a hot breakfast-cereal type dish. Wow, I'm having a Proust-like moment here, recalling the taste and smell of the stuff.

And, one must have a fine-mesh strainer in order to drain the water -- a colander will not do! Ronzoni's web site is marketing pastina as a pasta to use in soups, but I think it's too small for that -- for soups I prefer orzo or tubettini.

Yes, I have clear memories too of the aroma and taste of a buttery bowl of pastina. No restaurant serves it, and I don't think I could bring myself to cook again, even for this. . . .

[knitwit45]

Who's up for some milk and cola? (I like it with Coke, but Pepsi is valid as well.)

Didn't Laverne, of Laverne and Shirley, drink that??? I kind of remember her asking for that when she'd been sick, so I guess that qualifies as a "comfort food". eeeuuuuu

[ChiO]

OK -- this is it:

Sunday afternoon dinner at my maternal grandparents. Grandma would boil (she called it "stew") a chicken, but not just any chicken. One of her chickens that she had wrung the neck of (hatchets bothered her) and plucked the day before. Then it was "chicken"; now it's "free-range" and costly. Then, when the chicken was done and its fat was glistening on top of the water, she'd throw in the egg noodles she'd made with freshly picked "free-range" eggs from the survivors of the neck-wringing exercise. Plus mashed potatoes. Salad? Don't remember. Vegetable? Maybe some sweet corn (off the cob) from the garden, either fresh or frozen depending on the season. Then, if the Coronary Gods were smiling, a fresh strawberry (from the garden) cobbler. (sigh)

The noodles & broth, of course, were consumed by making a hollow in one's serving of mashed potatoes and putting them into that hollow. My first spouse reacted in horror when she first witnessed this. But what do Montgomery Co., Marylanders know about fine eats? But then Mrs. ChiO, who unfortunately missed meals with my Grandma, reacted the same way when she heard about it. But what do Greeks know about fine eats?

[jdb1]

Who's up for some milk and cola? (I like it with Coke, but Pepsi is valid as well.)

Didn't Laverne, of Laverne and Shirley, drink that??? I kind of remember her asking for that when she'd been sick, so I guess that qualifies as a "comfort food". eeeuuuuu

Laverne drank milk & Pepsi, but then she's from The Bronx. Many of us were given milk & cola after the inevitable tonsilectomies of our childhood. The cool part was how the milk foamed up when you put the soda in. If you were really creative, you would put in a squirt of chocolate syrup, and make a cola egg cream. Don't diss it until you've tried it!

[JackFavell]

I just picked up some pastina the other day - I've never used it before, but my daughter loves tiny pasta like tubettini etc.... we must have a huge Italian population here in southeastern CT, because there are pasta varieties here I never ever saw in my life before. It's kind of great.

ChiO- That fresh chicken soup sounds to die for. Although mashed and noodles sounds a little starchy to me. My grandma ALWAYS had a roast chicken in the fridge, ready to make sandwiches out of with guldens mustard and rye bread.

Pot Roast. with carrots and potatoes and brown brothy gravy. or slathered with caramelized onions until the whole thing falls apart. YUM.

[jdb1]

I just picked up some pastina the other day - I've never used it before, but my daughter loves tiny pasta like tubettini etc.... we must have a huge Italian population here in southeastern CT, because there are pasta varieties here I never ever saw in my life before. It's kind of great.

If there is a plethora of pasta varieties, it's more likely it's because the area is populated with upscale chefs manqués who want to try every obscure bit of nonsense they see on the Food Network. There are probably hundreds of pasta shapes, but most everyday ethnic cooks don't use that many. We all have our favorites, and tend to use them over again for most dishes. Of course, certain dishes work better with certain shapes (I wouldn't use fusilli to make manicotti), but I would probably use one of the more rarefied shapes only for some special occasion, for the sake of presentation.

I second your pot roast motion. Pot roast was always a special meal at home when I was very young. I'm not a very adventurous cook (baking is my thing), but I do make a mean pot roast. What cut do you use? I make it with chuck, which requires longer cooking time, but comes out as tender and flavorful as can be.

[charliechaplinfan]

Milk and coke and pepsi is a new one with me but it does have a certain appeal. It reminds me of Guys and Dolls when Sky takes Sarah to Havana and she drinks milk and bacardi, I've never tried it but one day I will.

I like to cook most things from fresh so I know what we are eating, I think back to my childhood when everything was better when it came out of a tin and had heavens knows what colours and preservatives and I turned out all right, so far

[JackFavell]

I tried other cuts, but you are right, chuck is the best... the others don't have the flavor and proper moistness.

[jdb1]

I tried other cuts, but you are right, chuck is the best... the others don't have the flavor and proper moistness.

Whenever I get a roast from the butcher he always comments that I'm the only one of his customers under 70 who uses chuck for pot roast. My psychotically frugal mother used only the cheapest cuts of meat, and when it comes to potting, braising and stewing, that's not a bad thing.

That reminds me of another comfort food -- the little bits of chuck steak cooked gently in the spaghetti sauce all day Sunday for Sunday dinner. That was my grandmother's Depression Sunday dinner (when they could afford meat), and my mother made it too, only with bigger pieces of chuck. The meat is really delicious that way. We usually had macaroni on Sunday, and spaghetti during the week.

Lest I give the impression that I was eating pasta and gravy all week, let me remind you that mine was a multi-ethnic family, and we interspersed the pasta with flanken, tzimmes, luckschen, knaedlach and goldene yoiche (flank steak, sweet & sour stew, noodles, dumplings, and chicken soup).

Saturday was Chinese food day. Anybody have a Chinese dish as comfort food? Did you all experience chow mein on a bun with crisp noodles? That was a big fave on the boardwalk in the summer, because you could hold it in your hand as you walked.

[mrsl]

.
This gets weirder and weirder -- I love hearing all this food stuff from across the U.S. No other cut than chuck ever crossed my mind for pot roast, I also cut one up for stew.

As kids, my mother, another psychotically thrifty cook made us believe that Coke and ice cream were the same as cola floats. To this day, I prefer Coke in a float (or as we called them 'black cows' over root beer), but the taste of milk and Coke is basically the same.
.

[JackFavell]

I love a good Dr. Pepper float.

[charliechaplinfan]

I use chuck steak for casseroles and stew, some dishes just need a bit of marbling in the meat.