One Potato, Two Potato...

Last night, while waiting for the fried potatoes to finish cooking, I poured a glass of wine and sat down with Larry in the living room. He said, "I really like fried potatoes. When I was growing up we had potatoes in some form every night for dinner." I commented that we did as well - often fried with a bit of onion thrown in, but sometimes just boiled, which we would smash up with a fork on our plates and simply add butter, salt and pepper. We went on to remember many of the other dishes that came out of our childhood kitchens. Most of Larry's memories centered around his grandmother's cooking. My memories were of the delights that my mother put together.  She didn't have a big budget for groceries, but somehow she managed to feed us well. How did she do it? I don't even remember her having a cookbook in the early days of my childhood. I do remember her clipping recipes out of Family Circle or Ladies Home Journal, but I think many of her meals were put together from memories of her own childhood. As Larry and I spoke of potatoes, one of my Mom's dishes that came to mind was something she called Boiled Dinner.

When I look up Boiled Dinner online, I found many recipes for New England Boiled Dinner, which called for corned beef. Mom made hers with inexpensive pieces of stew meat, which she would simmer  in a pot of water with vegetables (so actually, it should be called a "simmered dinner.")

 Boiled Dinner was different from stew. The pieces of vegetables were larger and the broth was clear rather than thickened. The low, slow cooking temperature of the simmering water tenderized the meat.

 The vegetables Mom added included cabbage, carrots, onions,and potatoes. 

The carrots and potatoes would always be in large chunks, rather than in a dice.The vegetables were simmered until just tender, and all of the flavors melded together in the pot.

While many boiled dinner recipes call for serving the meat and vegetables on a platter, our dinner was the soup. Mom would serve it with a stack of sliced white bread to sop up the broth.

While many boiled dinner recipes call for serving the meat and vegetables on a platter and saving the broth to make a soup later, our boiled dinner was the soup. - See more at: http://kitchencourage.areavoices.com/2011/02/23/mom%E2%80%99s-boiled-dinner/#sthash.itDb9X2x.dpuf

While many boiled dinner recipes call for serving the meat and vegetables on a platter and saving the broth to make a soup later, our boiled dinner was the soup. - See more at: http://kitchencourage.areavoices.com/2011/02/23/mom%E2%80%99s-boiled-dinner/#sthash.itDb9X2x.dpuf

While many boiled dinner recipes call for serving the meat and vegetables on a platter and saving the broth to make a soup later, our boiled dinner was the soup. - See more at: http://kitchencourage.areavoices.com/2011/02/23/mom%E2%80%99s-boiled-dinner/#sthash.itDb9X2x.dpufMom would serve it with a stack of sliced white bread to sop of the broth. It was delicious!

This was one of my favorite childhood dishes, since I was a big fan of vegetables - especially cabbage.

I've never tried making this myself, and since I don't eat beef,  the flavors of just the veggies alone wouldn't be quite the same as what I remember. Sometimes it's best not to try to mess with tradition.