I grew up in in NY and my mother was a fabulous cook. She could make any ethnic dish so we tried everything. My absolute favorite....chicken fat (schmaltz) sandwiches. She also made a great chopped chicken liver, probably the best i’ve ever tasted, no mayo. I have an aversion to mayo when it’s too much. My daughter absolutely will not touch it.
My Mother was a Great Cook as well. We’re Italian, but she also made some mainstream Dishes like Breaded Liver and Onions that everyone raved over. Between the Liver and my Dad’s favorite side dish Beets (YUCK!), I never ate much Dinner on Thursday nights as a Child.
The upside was, the Dog enjoyed really the Organ Meat I fed him every Thursday night until he died.
After that, I had to resort to dropping it down the Heater Vent on the Floor. I made a point to eat in front of the TV in the Den, not to watch the Shows, but to use the convenient In Floor Liver Disposal System. IFLDS for short.
Ever seen fossilized Beef Liver? The HVAC guy did when he installed the new Heating and Ventalation System in my Parent’s House. I was about 25 years old when my Mother called me and asked me how it got there. She loved telling that story to anyone who would listen.
I assume that she also thought our Dog died because he overdosed on Beef Liver.
We have another Family joke. My Wife and my Brother’s Wife got my Mother’s Recipe for her Spaghetti Sauce. No matter how hard they try, it just didn’t, and still doesn’t taste quite the same as when my Mother made it.
We think we figured it out though. My Mother was a Smoker and we figured out the missing Secret Ingredient was Ash.
When I saw the Episode of Everybody Loves Raymond when Raymond’s Mother gave his Wife one of her Recipes that was missing one key Ingredient, my Wife and I cracked up.