Minced with carrot
There is no doubt that of all the more or less refined cuisines, the best one is mom's cuisine.
My mother didn't serve sophisticated dishes, and her repertoire was limited to a dozen or so items, but what flavors they were. Tomato soup with lumpy rice, ground beef with carrots and peas and buttered puree, beef steaks cooked with pickled cucumber and stale bread, kidneys with buckwheat, and on special occasions, chicken stuffed with liver and parsley.
I envy everyone who grew up in homes where their grandmother was the guardian of good food. I myself was not so lucky, because my first grandmother passed away before I was born, and I remember the second only from holidays, during which she served alder squash from the backyard forest, fried in butter from her own churn with sour milk, black pudding from her own pig, and black pudding made from the blood of ducks that roamed the farm.
My children were luckier and were able to grow up on Grandma's cooking.
But what is it that makes grandma's cooking taste so epic - as my youngest would say?
Is it because they use old, forgotten recipes? Or maybe because they have more free time and patience? Or because they themselves were raised in times when food was treated with more respect, and feeding was synonymous with care, not a boring duty. Or maybe simply because they never forget to season with heart.
When I cook something for my youngest, I always ask her how many points she would give me for the dish versus how many she would give her grandmother. I have to admit that my scores are usually pretty poor.
But can you ever catch up with grandmas in the kitchen? Logic says that it has to happen sometime, damn it. Maybe you have to get old for good, or at least retire. I don't know.
I do know one thing for sure though. The feeling you get when your child happily devours ground beef with carrots, peas and buttery puree you have prepared is unmatched.
