Much loved family recipes you've never been able to recreate

[JesusInTheCabbageVan]

For me, it's my granny's bread. She used to make lovely homemade white bread that tasted somehow... cold? And maybe a sort of flat, mineral taste? I did wonder if it was something in the water (she lived in North Wales) but recently I found a bakery in Devon that had exactly the same bread. I want to ask them for their recipe but don't want to seem weird.

The sweet onions my Grandma used to make. They were white onion rings, but they were sweeter than pickled iyswim. I’ve never been able to recreate them.

Like Phoebe and Monica trying to recreate Phoebe's Grandma's cookies "Nestle Toll House" 😂😂

My grandmother was a terrible cook, God love her. But once a week she would make "S.P.O" ( sausage pots and onions) which was basically fried sausages in lumpy mashed potato with gravy and fried onions. It instilled in me a love of lumpy mash to this day, but I can never caramelise the onions in the same way so that they are slippery and sweet and tangy like she did.
It genuinely would be my death row meal, as long as she could come back from the grave to make it for me

My nana mashed potato. Was sooo buttery and soft and amazing.. No amount of butter I add ever comes close. Sigh.

Funny that every single post so far has been about a Nana

My grans date and walnut cake, I've tried many many recipes but they are never the dense, intensely sweet confection.

I'd give alot to be 10 years old, curled in a chair, reading a book with the rain drumming outside and a slice of that cake!

I already posted this on another thread, but this article might explain it all:

www.atlasobscura.com/articles/secret-family-recipes-copied

(Mine was also a bit hit and miss, but my God could she nail bread)

My grandmother used to make vanilla ice cream from scratch, I've only once tasted anything close to it and that was a small batch maker using Jersey cream and even then it wasn't quite right.

@tectonicplates interesting! Though they seem to have misunderstood the Friends joke

Nothing. I luckily took my grandmas cook book when she passed away. She wrote everything down as it was her hobby to pass down her cooking knowledge. She also taught me her secrets the year she unexpectedly passed sway. I feel like a part of her is always with me when I cook them.

Love her to the moon and back

My dm did a rice and chicken thing where all she seemed to
Do was chuck some rice in the bottom of a terrine with any veggies Rolling about in the fridge, a jug of stock (but not a specific amount) then chicken thighs on top. Came out when it smelled good.

Would be perfect for me now without the chicken but I cannot do it at all.

Actually, my mums ex husband who was with her for 2 years used to make the most amazing pilau I’ve ever tasted.

I cannot come close to it everytime I try. Luckily I learnt his lazagnia and it’s now my signature dish lol.

Or maybe I've misunderstood it?? I mean, I always thought the joke was that Phoebe's grandmother secretly used shop bought cookies, rather than that she baked cookies using that recipe...

Oh loads. My Cornish great aunt's pasties - I've never bought or recreated better. And she made her own clotted cream - I can only remember vats of hot milk that seemed to be there for days.

My late mother went to Cordon Bleu classes in the 70s, when that was a thing, and did some crepe/ham/cheese thing I've never recreated successfully. And some pudding with chestnuts and cream.

My Grandma cooked the best chips. Everyone crunchy on the outside and melted in the middle. I really wish I had taken note as no one else’s chips come close. Her iced fairy cakes were the best too!
I have finally mastered a pizza base garlic bread which I like nearly as much as pizza express’s version... which is just as well as I’m not sure how long they’re going to be trading for!!

This isn't a family recipe but since lockdown I have been obsessed with trying to recreate the sticky 'bought' malt loaf I ate as a child (it wasn't Soreen - it was similar in texture - but tasted better).

Every loaf I have made turns out bland and uninteresting despite doubling the malt extract quantities. I don't know what I am doing wrong.

By the way, I got the idea for this thread because I made chicken soup tonight, and it's never QUITE the same as my MIL's chicken aoup. The truth is I think mine is probably better, but... not the same.

Not a family recipe but the’ Deep Fried Crispy Aubergine’ I always had at a Malaysian restaurant in south London- they did Chinese food too so not quite sure of origins- it’s closed down now. Never seen it again on any menus or google recipes. So hot, crispy and spicy/salty.

My Granny’s mince and mashed potatoes

Pretty much anything my Italian grandma ever made - even when she moved away from her usually amazing southern Italian food and made traditional English dishes they tasted special.

I’ve never been able to remake her pasta e fasul and I’ve tried many times.

My granny’s toast...pan loaf under the gas grill and marg melted in. Also her lentil soup with a ham bone...

My Grandmother's gravy. I do think that it helped that she always cooked huge joints of meat (could easily be 20+ family members at Sunday lunch). Also left over gravy was put in the fridge in mugs or jugs and put into the next gravy.

My mum used to make a type of mousse which was always called 'Blackberry Yuck' in the family. Absolutely delicious.
Sadly, she has no memory of it, and we have failed to find a similar recipe anywhere to recreate it. It isn't a milk jelly, or a fool. It's a bit like both of those, but definitely different.

My Mam's broth.

I may give it another go this winter. Can't recreate the love. I do know she added extra dried peas to the broth mix because they were my favourite.