Mashed potatoes? It's gonna be that kinda party???

apple pie with cheese on it

I did some growing up on the reservation as a kid up in the Northwoods of Wisconsin. We were dedicated Bambi eaters. I swear there is nothing like a giant pot(I'm talking a giant prison pot) of venison stew and fry bread with kool-aid(purple). Grease-dripping-down-the-chin grand ole good time. You know how you gotta get that last little lick to clean the bowl? Stew sauce on the tip of the nose like? That was the shizzznit.

Then there was this thing Grandma did with corned beef hash, fried spuds, and a whole henhouse(it seemed like) of eggs. She would put it all together in pie tins, muffincups, meatloaf pans, whatever. Throw it in the oven. It was like an Indian frittata. Oh, don't forget the fry bread either.

Wait! Oatmeal and bacon grease. THE breakfast of champions for real! (w/the fry bread of course)

great

now i gotta google "fry bread"

Flour, salt, baking powder, sugar, liquid(water, milk or condensed milk). Some put a little shortening in the batter.

Mix, knead for a couple minutes, and make into smaller hand friendly pieces.

Into a frying pan with about two inches of crisco, lay these pieces of dough and fry until GBnD on both sides.

Ta-da.....fry bread.

fry bread is the man. I ate a lot of it in Phoenix. You go to county fairs in Oregon and they call them scones or elephant ears, but i know what they are. really yummy with honey and powdered sugar, or on a plate with some hotass chili on it.

Comfort food... pancakes. A big old stack of pancakes drowning in syrup. No butter. Grilled Cheese and tomato soup of course. Doesn't remind me of jail, but reminds me of the good times when i was broke and could afford a loaf of bread, a can of soup and a chunk of cheese all at once, and a quart of milk with the change. I was shittin in tall cotton when i could afford to make GC&TS. Also PB&J on white bread. Gotta be Jif creamy, gotta be Smuckers grape, gotta be Wonderbread. Washed down with lime KoolAid. Preschool nap time feelings. Cranberry gel from the can for Thanksgiving, sliced thin and even, as a nod to gramma rose.Smart Half is all about homemade fried chicken, and he can fry up a mofo chicken better than anything the colonel has squeezed out in 40 years.

and he can fry up a mofo chicken better than anything the colonel has squeezed out in 40 years.

fried chicken

ome day i'll post my correspndence with Gacy while he was in jail for you all to read

oh

if you don't get that reference

John Wayne Gacy was one of the founders of KFC before he got all weird and I corresponded with him while he was in prison.

We won't talk about the art he did for me cause Michele gets all weirded out by that thought.

Really, I kinda do too

But, i'll tell that story another day.

Comfort Food. I have 3.

Chili Cheese Fries (made with steak fries and steak chili) from a little place is Pasadena.

Quesadillas, any kind, but Del Tacos for some reason do the trick at 2am.

and last but not least, Oreos. Man, thats is THE thing to eat.

Ice cream. I don't discriminate either. Some are better than others, but, if pressed, I will eat just about any kind or any brand.

My grilled steak. By this I'm usually referring to New York strip or Porterhouse, but this has been rarer the past few years. Sirloin has been the cut du jour in my household lately.

Krystal burgers. But only after 3AM. And only after a large quantity of alcohol has been previously consumed.

Any other time and they just cause assplosions.

Good times.

First of all, if you haven't tried fry bread, you're missing one of the most amazing foods on the planet. So simple, so basic, so yummy. My friend Wilbur's Gran used to make it by the freaking basket and send us all off with like four pieces before she'd let us out the door with a hug. Of course, the Gramma hug didn't hurt neither.

Comfort food? Grilled cheeze and tomato soup is up there, but these days it's my Vegetable, Lentil and Italian Sausage soup and a big chunk of french bread.

Go ahead, call me a cracker now... Fried chicken, mashed potatoes and corn. Maybe with some greens, maybe not (it all depends... if my wife is eating as well, there's no greens). Big fat pieces of corn bread and all the iced tea (unsweetened) I can drink.

That's when you know I've had a rough day. I go right back to momma's cooking.

simple. a slice of white bread with butter on it. it makes me feel happy.

when the other half has had a rough week, and shit's getting him down, i make a shepherd's pie. it seems to work.

greens are nasty, dude.

mom's meatloaf AND mashed potatos? check!

grilled cheese n tomato soup on a rainy day? check!

dad's chili? check!

my dad cooked the shit outta some venison stroganoff while we were growing up, but i don't consider it comfort food...

thanksgiving turkey with all the trimmings (mom's stuffing, gravy with giblets, potatoes, cranberry sauce -- sliced, still in it's can shaped form, etc..) THAT's total comfort food.

shepherd's pie? check!

the best? my mommom (read:grandmother) used to make everything all better with a piece of sugar bread:

white bread and butter with sugar poured on top.

oh did it make mom mad but boy was it GOOD!

I remember this topic being discussed late last year. Back then I was odd-man-out (hardly a unique situation) because I couldn't grasp the definition of comfort food. I opined that while food is certainly necessary to live, I never understood certain foods having a hallmark as being comforting.

I couldn't fathom why the stereotypical Macaroni and Cheese was considered by the masses as sacred and comforting, but a dish of Baked Ziti was ordinary. At one point I considered the concept to be nothing more than a marketing device.

But then many people offered explanations ranging from a replay of their mother/grandmother's love (or a substitute thereof) to a step back to simpler times.

I asked my much-better-half if she had any favorite comfort food and her response was anything you bring home that I don't have to cook would be comforting to me.

So it is about a year later, and I still don't get it, even after reading Michele and Turtle's favorites, and the above comments. Mind you, their dishes all sound tasty, even those I never considered previously (bacon grease on oatmeal? I'll take a large bowl!).

But I can't imagine ever saying to myself The world is crap; God, I wish I had a bowl/plate/fork of _____ (Now a bottle of booze is quite another topic entirely.)

Since so many people are so enamoured to their favorites, this is something else that I am clearly missing out on.

I make a killer cajun red beans and rice. The whole family loves it. It's very comfortable.

I like to cook. I like food. I would LOVE to hear the Gacy story(stories). Ohhhhhh....

Good old spaghetti and meatballs for me. Or maybe ziti instead of spaghetti. Maybe throw some some sausages in there with the meatballs too. With garlic bread. That's the best.

kali, i'm sooo with you on the bread/butter/sugar thing. i used to eat that when i was a kid quite a bit. i think i'd probably go directly into a sugar coma if i did it now, though.

sucks.

another really comforting dish is soft-boiled eggs on toast, but only the way my dad made it. everyone else seems to put in extra eggslime. grody. he always made it perfectly....crunchy, buttery toast cut into squares, yolk soaking into them. so good....

Just the smell alone of garlic bread in the oven is one of the most comforting things in the world.

And I'm with you on the soft boiled eggs on toast, dynamine. Mom used to make that for me when I stayed home from school sick.

ok, fully having soft boiled eggs on toast when i get home...

Grilled cheese with pickles? Never tried it that way. For the record, grilled cheese and tomoato soup is what I eat when I can't think of anything else. Or I'm too lazy to cook a meal.

Tomato soup is the devil... Actually, all soup is evil. Horrid bowls of disgusting dribs and drabs of whatever is leftover cooked in a pot until mushy.... Served steaming death and smelling of rotting flesh and old vegetables....

"Mommy, why is that man ranting about soup ?"
"He used to work for a soup company, honey. Just ignore him."

I hate soup.

Random weird fact about me:

Tomato soup makes my ears burn.

soft boiled eggs on toast????

i've never heard that

Oh, it's awesome. I'll have to make it for you.

It has to be done just right...no runny slimy stuff.

Steak. Rare as Hell.

Mostly because it's simple and delicious. Most of the others can be screwed up. And, yes, I have screwed up while making mashed potatos.

But, a rare sirloin is always good.

Comfort food? Popcorn with too much butter and even more Parmesan cheese.

So many comfort foods - chicken fried steak smothered in gravy probably tops the list. Migas, chilequiles are a close second. Treats (leftover pie crust cut into strips and covered in cinnamon and sugar, then broiled for a few minutes) never fail to make me happy. And hangover cure? Peanut butter and karo syrup. Just that mixed in a bowl, sitting on the couch watching Tommy Boy. Doesn't really cure the hangover, but you just don't care. And brown sugar/butter sandwiches. Awesome stuff.

dude, i make mean chilaquiles for a huera.

the bowl of karo sounds strange to me, though. is it, like, the dark syrup? the light? what's it taste like?

It's the light syrup. You blend the syrup and PB together with a spoon and get basically a thin peanut butter (surprise!). The syrup basically takes away the dry taste that straight peanut butter normally has and adds some sweetness. Eat a jar of pb and 1/4 to 1/2 jar of karo, and you're fed for the day. Great lazy man food.