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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To wonder why DM put mushroom soup on the chips.

83 replies

SueSuddio · 16/09/2024 09:33

I'll preface this story to say I love my slightly eccentric DM and her ways, but even this took me by surprise.

We were over for lunch and as I was getting my DC sorted out at the table DM called out 'Would you like gravy?'. 'Yes please' was the answer from us. A roast dinner? Get in.

However, I was wrong in this assumption. We had sausages, vegetables and chips, still all good, but the chips were piled on top on the veg and were completely covered in gravy.

Now I've had chips countless times with DM over the years, and gravy has never come even remotely near them. So this was a bold new move. Particularly in our part of the country, the South East, it just isn't a thing.

Nevertheless, I start to tuck in and immediately taste mushroom. 'Is this... mushroom gravy?' I ask. 'Yes' says DM matter of factly. Of course. DM then adds, 'I made it with mushroom soup and an Oxo cube.'

Now I'm astonished. This is effectively a plate of chips covered in canned mushroom soup. 'That isn't gravy' I find myself saying, ungratefully. To which DM, quickly tiring of this questioning shoots back, 'Yes it is, your grandmother used to make it that way', like we'd always been doing this - then looks at me like I'm mad.

I can't stop thinking about this!

OP posts:
CasperGutman · 16/09/2024 13:14

Sounds a little odd, but not unpleasant. Loads of American recipes (especially those from a few years back) use canned soup as a base for a sauce, so I can well believe this was something your mum and others have done before.

I wouldn't jump straight to "dementia". Although, if she's normally a good cook who enjoys preparing meals from fresh ingredients, and suddenly now is cooking as if it's the 1970s and the last 50 years of culinary evolution haven't happened, it might be worth looking out for any other signs that something is amiss.

TheGrimSqueakersFlea · 16/09/2024 13:02

@SueSuddio It really doesn't matter what you say, people on here will always suggest dementia or autism.

Dennisisamennis · 16/09/2024 12:45

It sounds oddly delicious

amusedbush · 16/09/2024 12:44

My mum always makes a pie on Boxing Day to use up the leftover Christmas Day gammon and chicken (no turkey here - bleugh!), and she uses condensed soup for the sauce/filling. Half mushroom, half chicken - delicious!

I'm not sure how I'd feel about oxo-fied soup on my chips, though. That sounds... lumpy.

Planesmistakenforstars · 16/09/2024 12:33

Kago2790 · 16/09/2024 10:52

At Uni, a housemate used to cook pasta and mix with Campbell's cream of mushroom soup.

Um. What's wrong with that?

notanotherusername2024 · 16/09/2024 12:30

Have literally NEVER heard of this. Ever. Weird and sounds really unappetising.

zingally · 16/09/2024 12:29

Gravy on chips is very common in many parts of the country - and bloody delicious - but mushroom soup and an oxo cube IS a bit odd...

If this is a totally "out of the blue" behaviour for you mum, I'd perhaps be a bit concerned.

Does she have any siblings you could reach out to and ask?

Sparklywhiteteeth · 16/09/2024 11:31

I think maybe your mum used the term gravy to mean sauce. I can see her logic, mushroom soup and an oxo cube, so beef and mushroom gravy. I can’t imagine it tasted good though. I’d simply assume she’s no cook, rather than she’s demented.

ISpyNoPlumPie · 16/09/2024 11:28

I love chips and gravy but chips and mushroom soup…oh no no no. My mum used to make toad in the hole with cream of tomato soup “gravy”. Awful. Times were different then 😆

Funkyslippers · 16/09/2024 11:03

Dearg · 16/09/2024 09:41

@Funkyslippers Much as I love a bit of Meatloaf, the singer, the idea of smothering him on oxtail soup just had me spit out my coffee 😂

Hey, don't knock it till you've tried it. Might not be quite so easy these days but I'm sure other rock stars are available 🤣

Kago2790 · 16/09/2024 10:52

At Uni, a housemate used to cook pasta and mix with Campbell's cream of mushroom soup.

PhilosophicalCheeseSandwich · 16/09/2024 10:50

SueSuddio · 16/09/2024 10:15

Regarding the dementia posts.

15 years ago DM made pasta and Brussel sprouts for my DH.

When we were kids, she made my brother and I microwave rice, bacon misshapes and pasta sauce for tea for going on for a year.

It's not really out of character for DM.

Edited

I replied from the viewpoint of someone whose mother has always had an idiosyncratic approach to cuisine. 'Stew' could be literally anything cooked in Oxo. She's only cooked for me once since I left home 30 years ago, she just doesn't know how to put a meal together. Using tinned soup to make gravy would be wildly exotic for my mum, I would be impressed if she bothered to go to those lengths to put flavour into a meal.

Just check next time if gravy is Bisto or Baxters!

SueSuddio · 16/09/2024 10:40

2dogsandabudgie · 16/09/2024 10:36

If you know your mum has always done "odd meals" why did you not just ask what you were having when she asked if you wanted gravy.

Good question! I won't make that mistake again.

OP posts:
SueSuddio · 16/09/2024 10:39

OolongTeaDrinker · 16/09/2024 10:23

But the fact that she insisted you knew that this was a normal thing would be concerning to me, rather than the odd food combo in itself, if she is known for being an eccentric cook..

I think it was more of a 'this is perfectly edible food, why are you being so fussy' kind of a thing.

OP posts:
2dogsandabudgie · 16/09/2024 10:36

If you know your mum has always done "odd meals" why did you not just ask what you were having when she asked if you wanted gravy.

Crazymadchickenlady · 16/09/2024 10:34

I love Heinz tomato soup on chips and it was one of the meals my Mum made when we were growing up. Never had mushroom soup in chips before but it probably tastes good!

Berga · 16/09/2024 10:27

SueSuddio · 16/09/2024 10:15

Regarding the dementia posts.

15 years ago DM made pasta and Brussel sprouts for my DH.

When we were kids, she made my brother and I microwave rice, bacon misshapes and pasta sauce for tea for going on for a year.

It's not really out of character for DM.

Edited

Then your mum probably doesn't have dementia, she is just a bit of a 70s and 80s throw some shit together kind of cook.

TofuTart · 16/09/2024 10:27

OolongTeaDrinker · 16/09/2024 10:23

But the fact that she insisted you knew that this was a normal thing would be concerning to me, rather than the odd food combo in itself, if she is known for being an eccentric cook..

But the fact that she insisted you knew that this was a normal thing

Yes, it's this bit which is WTF, if it's not a normal thing.
Not random food combos if she's prone to doing those

OolongTeaDrinker · 16/09/2024 10:23

SueSuddio · 16/09/2024 10:15

Regarding the dementia posts.

15 years ago DM made pasta and Brussel sprouts for my DH.

When we were kids, she made my brother and I microwave rice, bacon misshapes and pasta sauce for tea for going on for a year.

It's not really out of character for DM.

Edited

But the fact that she insisted you knew that this was a normal thing would be concerning to me, rather than the odd food combo in itself, if she is known for being an eccentric cook..

Glimber · 16/09/2024 10:21

Campbell's condensed soup as a basis for sauce is something I'm used to. I like the chicken and white wine one on pasta. I've also eaten a lot of rice Bolognese in my time. So while I wouldn't serve it to a guest, it sounds less outlandish to me than it does to you perhaps.

SueSuddio · 16/09/2024 10:15

Regarding the dementia posts.

15 years ago DM made pasta and Brussel sprouts for my DH.

When we were kids, she made my brother and I microwave rice, bacon misshapes and pasta sauce for tea for going on for a year.

It's not really out of character for DM.

OP posts:
lissom · 16/09/2024 10:15

Going out of leftfield but was it MORE gravy than usual and could it possibly be her teeth are getting tricky and she needs the chips more soaked up in sauce?

SleepwalkingInTesco · 16/09/2024 10:10

The only thing I would question is not acting like it's a new thing, I guess. Maybe she just thought it was an alternative to the usual?

Demonhunter · 16/09/2024 10:10

Allnewtometoo · 16/09/2024 09:54

I get the out of character side of things. DM recently made bacon sandwiches for us all. Then asked if we'd like tinned tomatoes on it. We all looked at her with a wtf expression. She went on to insist that she ALWAYS makes bacon sarnies with tinned Tomatos. She doesn't, and never has in my presence.

Something I loved when I was a kid! I don't eat bacon now but if the kids have bacon sandwiches in stottie rather than sliced bread, they have tinned tomatoes on it.

rolandthefarter · 16/09/2024 10:08

My mum used mushroom soup as a sauce for chicken supreme when I was a child. Ahhhh 1970s British cuisine at its finest 👌