What’s a local home-cooked meal that you probably wouldn’t find in a restaurant, but everybody’s mom made?

30 comments

1. Goulash probably.

2. Not mom, but my dad’s meatloaf.

   You can find meatloaf at some restaurants, but its not a staple.

3. Tatertot casserole (aka hotdish.) I haven’t seen it in a restaurant yet, but it’s definitely a staple comfort food in the upper Midwest.

4. Pot roast.

   In the slow cooker. Sunday. Meat. Potatoes. Carrots. Celery. Packet of the onion soup. So simple. So delicious.

5. [Egg in the Basket](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egg_in_the_basket?wprov=sfti1)

6. Sloppy Joes and casseroles of all sorts.

7. Chili and cinnamon rolls. Every place has chili but few remember to pair them with cinnamon rolls

8. Pork neckbone stew, hoppin John, smothered turkeynecks, smothered chicken, cube steak, butterbeans, fried green tomatoes, pimento cheese, sweet potato pie, grits and gravy, sweet potato pie, turnip greens.

   These are some southern US foods that are popular in southern households in the American south but you probably won’t ever see them on a restaurant menu even if it’s a southern restaurant.

9. Creamed chipped beef on toast. Aka “Shit on a shingle”

10. Pork or chicken on the grill with Ah-So sauce.

11. Chicken and Dumplings. Any assortment of casseroles. Super Bowl foods like 7 layer dip! Deviled eggs. Banana pudding seems pretty rare for restaurants. Hamburger Helper.

12. There are no dishes that everybody’s mom made when you come from a place with lots of immigrants.

13. Tuna casserole.

14. Maybe meatloaf? My mom didn’t make it (mostly vegetarian growing up), but always saw it served at friends’ places & school lunches, and I don’t think it comes up a ton on restaurant menus.

15. Maybe American Chop Suey or Meatloaf

16. I feel like I’ve never seen chicken pot pie on a menu

17. Meat loaf is tough to find. Corn Pudding.

18. Bread sandwich

19. My mom and grandma both made Swedish meatballs a lot but I rarely see that on restaurant menus

20. Tuna noodle casserole. I haven’t seen it on a restaurant menu.

21. chip beef on toast.

22. Pasta with gravy, an Italian dinner every Sunday

23. Not a recipe per say but I never see Peas in a restaurant (Ohio).

24. More like a bunch of neighborhood dad’s/family but low country boil

25. I’d say chicken spaghetti. I don’t think I’ve ever seen it on a menu.

26. This isn’t a full meal but steamed artichokes. Served with mayo or melted butter for dipping. I’ve seen fried and grilled artichokes at restaurants, but never just plain old steamed like at home.

    Edit to clarify that this is local as most artichokes in the US are grown in California and they’re very prevalent in stores, at farmers markets, and in home gardens here.

27. Probably funeral potatoes

28. Idk if anyone else’s parents made it, but my grandma always made chicken a la cuckoo. It’s basically chicken and broccoli in a cheese sauce over rice. She also makes frogmore stew. It’s got whole ears of corn, potatoes, shrimp, sausage, and beef.

29. There was a restaurant nearby that made sausage gravy and biscuits, but they got bought out by some Yankee idiot who turned it into a bar that sells $25 hamburgers. I hope they go bankrupt.

30. Chicken Bog. Usually it shows up at a random house or a festival celebration