Flavors From My Childhood: Part 1

My recent entry on oats has made me want to recount other memorable comestibles from my early years. Being a child of divorce, I was exposed to a diverse array of dishes. I will not include in my selection dishes that I got at restaurants. There are many of those, seeing as I was raised mostly by a single father. I’ll divide things up into two categories: dishes from the father and dishes from the mother. In a later entry, I will cover dishes from the mother. The reader will note the astonishing difference in character between the two cooking styles.

Dishes from the Father (in no particular order):

1. Super _____: Prefixing the title of any dish with the adjective ‘super’ meant that whatever food was denoted by the term filling the blank was probably covered in Wolf Brand Chili and shredded cheese. The most often served “super” dishes were Super Chili and Super Hot Dogs. I grew up in Oklahoma where it is customary to cover everything with chili. How I miss the chili cheese burgers at Goldie’s in Tulsa.

Super Chili was a bowl of Wolf Brand Chili (no beans) covered with melted, shredded, yellow cheese. Adding to the super character of this dish was the layer of crushed crackers at the bottom of the bowl. Seeing as it was the crackers that got the chili and cheese, This dish would be more aptly titled “Super Crackers”. Sometimes slices of cheese were embedded in the chili, which was nice. You’d get a spoonful of chili and find a huge, thick glob of melted cheese. Super Chili, while filling, is not a particularly exciting dish.

Now, it was special time when it was Super Hot Dog night. Imagine two plump franks, usually microwaved, atop a buttered and toasted open-faced hot dog bun. Slather them in Wolf Brand Chili (no beans) and melted shredded yellow cheese and what you have is nothing short of a heart attack masquerading as perfection. People laugh when I tell them about this delicacy, but it is a culinary feat no Oklahoman can pass up.

2. Mexican Squash: I don’t know what this was, but it seemed that no matter how many times I told my father I hated squash, he continued to serve it.

3. Strange Macaroni Dish (SMD): I cannot recall the exact name for this dish, though it did have one. Now, mind you, this will sound a bit disgusting, but I ate it up like there was no tomorrow. This treat consisted of usually overcooked noodles (kids don’t like it al dente), melted Velveeta (note, Velveeta is NOT a cheese), and Hunt’s tomato paste. The acidity of the tomato nicely balanced with the Velveeta, often sending me back for seconds. SMD was typically a side dish.

4. Spaghetti: Now my father will tell you that his spaghetti is from some family recipe, but don’t believe it. Spaghetti nights were very frequent until the Hasty Bake smoker joined the family and steaks became regular fare. Here’s how you make the father’s spaghetti: go to the grocery store, get some ground round (preferably frozen, if not, then you have to freeze prior to preparation), one of those green boxes of Kraft spaghetti mix, take it home and follow the directions pretty much, except brown the meat (while it is still frozen). Follow the directions for making the sauce, but do it in the same pan as the browned beef. Serve with the noodles that come included in the green box (which I loved to eat raw), cover in melted shredded yellow cheese (not Velveeta), and enjoy. I never complained about spaghetti night, especially if there was a lot of cheese involved.

5. Steak night: As mentioned before, my father acquired a large Hasty Bake smoker/grill. Dinner was never the same, but it, strangely, never differed. Let me explain. I conjecture that at some point my father got a significant promotion, as the Hamburger Helper meals became less frequent and steak dinners became the typical weekend night fixins. And there was the Hasty Bake. Steak night, as I remember it, usually consisted of a giant filet mignon wrapped in bacon and smoked with apple wood or cherry. The dish was a tasty, albeit bloody, mess. A baked potato (which became stained pink with blood by the time you finished your meat) usually accompanied the steak and some steamed vegetable, most often asparagus, brussel sprouts, or broccoli. Through these dinners I learned to love veggies that most kids would slip to the dog under the table.


I’ll add, lastly, that all dishes were served with a cup of water, on green plates.