Mum's cooking that I cannot equal however hard I try.

My mother used to make the most delicious pastry that I cannot emulate. Her mince pies,apple pies and meat pies were to die for. I know she put in more margarine than necessary but she put it down to having cold hands.

My mum made the best pastry. I can bake lovely cakes but no matter how I try I just cannot match her pastry.

I loved my mother's stovies and I cannot make the meal remotely like hers. Chips also were very good- I gave up trying many years ago.

Geenfinch same here. She used to use Stork hard margarine, I wonder if that was the secret!

My mother was a good cook as well, I never remember her looking at a recipe. There were no shop bought cakes in our house and she was often asked to provide cakes for chapel functions. I have no cooking skills and am asked not to provide cakes

As well as Mum’s roast dinners the other thing I really miss is Mum’s steak and kidney pie. It was absolutely delicious, the pastry was perfect as was the filling. I even loved eating it cold. No pie has ever come close to hers. (Mum always had cold hands and she used to say that was a help when making pastry). I can picture her now, rolling out the pastry with an empty milk bottle. We weren’t rich enough to have a rolling pin.

My mother's chips were to die for too. No matter how hard I try, I can't get them right. They were so crisp and crunchy, mine are always too soft for me.
She also made the most amazing toffee apples, which she would hand out to all the neighbour's children. The teeth police would be after her now. .

Artyfarty my mother used that margarine too.She used a 6:8 ratio which made it very short.

Yes chips, pastry, cakes, scones all wonderful. She wasn’t quite so good with a roast dinner. In those days I think it was usual to over cooked roast meat, especially beef.

I can’t begin to equal my mother’s cooking, and gave up trying long ago. I don’t know if it’s possible to have a natural talent for cooking, or if it’s just a matter of practice and patience. The good cooks I know (including my mother) are very patient and willing to take time over details. I’m impatient and just want to get it over so I can do something more interesting.

Could those old gas ovens be the secret of our mothers' Roast potatoes and chips (apart from the lard). Did they heat maybe to a higher temperature than modern ovens and so sealed the outside of the potatoes more quickly?

Mum’s mince pies,my workmates use to ask for them at Christmas. In fact any pastry she made and her pork crackling would melt in your mouth.

I can't make pastry as good as my Mother's.

My Nanna and Mum were rotten cooks. The chickens ate better than we did. And I have carried on the tradition.

My mother made lovely pastry and her baked custard was the best ever. I still make rabbit pie like she did with a suet crust. Its my favourite meal. As to chips I am convinced we don’t get the same quality of potatoes nowadays.
I think it is probably the old gas ovens which had more hot air moving about inside.

I think we now tend to overthink the healthy options which is why we cannot emulate our mother’s cooking. I never buy lard, use only butter for pastry and cakes. The latter are made often with no fat at all. I know darn well that if I reverted to the old fashioned way of thinking (or not thinking) that taste would improve.

My mum used to make the most delicious faggots. Just thinking about them now is making my mouth water! I wrote the recipe down years ago but can't lay my hands on it now but they did contain minced up onions, bread, herbs like sage and of course offal - mainly liver. Mum wrapped the balls of mixture in membranous stuff which she called 'caul' and poached them in the oven. I have tried to buy 'caul' but it's the sort of thing that you don't get on the butcher counter any more.

My mother was a good home cook but I'm better- she used lard for cooking - vile!

When my grandmother and aunt did roast lamb for lunch they always cooked it in a rack in the cooking tin and put a layer of suet pastry underneath, which, by the time the lamb cooked was delicious and crustyand I coudn't get enough of it ( and to h*ll with the health considerations, we didn't have it every day, only about once a month). I have tried to make it but always end up with this greasy mess with the consistency of a dumpling.

my mum was what she called a plain cook,I did try to make her macaroni cheese rissoles last week ,sadly not enough cheese sauce so they were solid and not very good..I might try again

My mother was a pretty awful cook and I think that's what gave me my determination to be a good one.

MOnica My mother would pour the yorkshire pudding mix under the rack the roast beef was cooked on. Apparently, this was an old trick: the mean in the family would get the meat while the women and children got the yorkshire pud with the meat juices in. In Yorkshire - am I right?

... the MEN in the family...

Apart from her fruitcakes my mum was a very mediocre cook. I am much better. In the other hand, my dad was brilliant!