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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:
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.

TofuTart · 16/09/2024 09:55

DoIWantTo · 16/09/2024 09:52

By the by, but you’ve never had gravy on chips before?! You’ve missed out Grin

Yes, gravy on chips is a thing.
Mushroom soup and an Oxo cube isn't gravy though 😕🙂

OolongTeaDrinker · 16/09/2024 09:56

I would be a bit concerned that she is reverting to what was normal in her childhood (if that was actually the case with her mother and the mushroom soup). One of the first things that looking back in hindsight was the initial signs of my MIL's dementia was that she suddenly started to recreating things from her childhood - and it did start with cooking too.

Floppyelf · 16/09/2024 10:01

As you say its out of character

StickItInTheFamilyAlbum · 16/09/2024 10:04

TheGrimSqueakersFlea · 16/09/2024 09:44

Condensed soup was often used for gravy, pies, and sauces. I'm surprised people have mentioned dementia and called her behaviour worrying! Maybe she was just feeling nostalgic. It was probably perfectly normal for her

It's potentially concerning if it's unusual behaviour for the DM and especially if she shores it up with an anecdote that the OP has good reason to think is untrue.

When somebody has been a good cook and they forget that skill, it's not unusual for it to be an early symptom. Brain changes that occur in dementia often impair the mental abilities necessary for cooking. Moreover dementia can damage taste and smell so this might result in food combinations that the person hasn't done before.

Kelly51 · 16/09/2024 10:04

Chips n gravy is a thing, but mushroom soup 🤢

DisforDarkChocolate · 16/09/2024 10:05

Oh that sounds grim. I always find the soup used as a sauce thing very odd and worryingly high in salt a lot of the time.

Demonhunter · 16/09/2024 10:07

My DP makes himself some strange food combinations replicating what his mum made them as kids, often involves cans of condensed mushroom soup. I think it's quite common.

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 👌

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.

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?

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?

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:
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.

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..

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

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.

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!

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.

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:
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:
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!

Kago2790 · 16/09/2024 10:52

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

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 🤣

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 😆