Sunday, June 24, 2007

Comfort Food

Whether comfort food is a guilty pleasure or a delectable treat that soothes the soul, I’m guessing we all have at least one. I have several!

American Romance editor Johanna Raisanen (remember her guest blog on April 13?) and I recently had a conversation about comfort food. She told me about her mother’s Christmas gingerbread cookies (my mouth is watering already) and her pulla—a Finnish sweet bread flavored with cardamom—and how delicious it was, especially “slathered with butter, right out of the oven.”

My grandmother used to make that bread as well! I don’t remember her using the Finnish name for it, but I do remember it warm from the oven. Oh, my.

That conversation with Johanna got me thinking about comfort food, and I realized that mine are all associated with my Finnish grandmother, who passed away in 1982 but lives forever in my heart. She was an amazing cook, and everyone in my family still raves about her breads and pastries.

She also made rice pies called piirakka, and although I haven’t had them in years, they are still one of my comfort foods. Piirakka are oval-shaped pies made from unleavened rye dough and filled with rice that has been cooked in milk, so its nice and creamy. I wish I knew how to make them, but my grandmother never used a cookbook and none of her recipes were ever written down.

My two other comfort foods are peanut butter cookies and butter tarts. Not specifically Finnish, but my grandmother made them all the time. She rolled peanut butter cookie dough into little balls and flattened them with the tines of a fork, so the tops had a crisscross pattern. To this day, a peanut butter cookie just doesn’t seem right if it hasn’t been flattened with a fork.

As for those butter tarts, what can I say? Still slightly warm from the oven, sweet and gooey with melt-in-your-mouth pastry . . . I can taste one now!

Wikipedia describes comfort food as “any food or drink to which one habitually turns for temporary respite, security, or special reward.” Accurate, but kind of cold sounding, don’t you think?

My comfort foods literally transport me back in time. My grandmother baked every day, and her kitchen was always filled with sweet, wonderful scents, not to mention a ton of love and laughter. A butter tart will take me there, every time.

What are your comfort foods? Do you associate them with someone or someplace special? I'd love to hear about them!

Lee
www.leemckenzie.com

PS: For more about my grandmother, please check out my SuperHeroine article at WetNoodlePosse.com.

12 comments:

Kathleen said...

Cinnamon Rolls...the smell of fresh cinnamon rolls always reminds me of the holidays..and those cold winter mornings! :)

robynl said...

right on kathleen; my Mom baked and baked and one of my favorite memories is the Cinnamon Buns fresh from the oven-she used raisins in them and I loved them. We would unroll the bun bit by bit; each bit(piece) had to have some butter and peanut butter on it and then into the mouth it would go; this was repeated until the bun was gone. Yummy in my tummy!!! Mom has since passed away but I will not forget her baking.

Minna said...

Finnish cinnamon buns and hot chocolate...

Anonymous said...

My comfort foods are also foods that my grandmother cooked. She was a wonderful old-fashioned southern cook: fried chicken, mashed potatoes w/gravy, homemade yellow cake with an almost fudge-like chocolate icing, chicken and cornbread dressing with the chicken cooked inside the dressing, and of course her sweet iced tea. Nobody can make it like Grandma could and I never drink tea anymore (although my family says my tea tastes just as good, I don't think it does). I miss her so much, I think about her every day. When I'm in the kitchen with my daughters, I find myself saying the same things to them that she said to me, and it brings back wonderful memories!

Lee McKenzie said...

Mmmm, cinnamon buns are great comfort food!

I agree, Kathleen. So good on a cold winter morning.

Robynl, your description of unrolling yours and eating it piece by piece made me laugh! What a wonderful image.

Minna, are you Finnish too?

Lee

Lee McKenzie said...

Alabamabecky, your post brought tears to my eyes and made me smile all at the same time.

I've never had chicken and cornbread dressing, but it sounds heavenly!

Lee

Unknown said...

my Dad's homemade apple dumplings

Estella said...

A big pot of beef stew transports me back to my childhood.

Jennifer Shirk said...

Hmmm. For me, it'd be the "Baked Macaroni" my mom used to make. It's like baked ziti but instead of ricotta cheese, it has cheddar cheese and bacon on top. YUM!

BTW, I just picked up "The Man for Maggie". Looking forward to the read. :)

Cheryl said...

Mine would be what my mom made often for us growing up. She calls them rivels, basically a drop dumpling of egg and flour, then covered with cream of chicken soup. Being so simple, you'd think they would be easy to make but you have to get just the "right" consistency. It took me forever to get it right. Still not as good as mom's, though. And every once in a while, I still beg her to make them for me.

Cheryl

Lee McKenzie said...

I love hearing about dads who cook. They're the greatest! I'll bet his apple dumplings smell as wonderful as they taste.

Beef stew, baked macaroni . . . yum!

I have never heard of rivels but when I googled them, up popped a bunch of recipes. I just might have to give them a try.

Thanks, Jennifer! I hope you enjoy The Man for Maggie!

Lee

Maureen said...

I remember when my mother baked bread and we would eat it hot out of the oven.