What is the ultimate comfort food?
Comfort food-we've all had it. We all want it. And if you do not, I pity you. Comfort food is food that brings emotional joy and gratification, even if only for a short time. Maybe it's something that invokes a happy childhood memory. Perhaps it uplifts our spirits. For example, what's better for dealing with a relationship breakup than a tub of chocolate ice cream (other than possibly booze), am I right? Maybe it's something that stimulates the pleasure center of our brains. Comfort foods are typically something that is quick and easy to prepare at home or maybe ready made from the store that you can pick up and eat right away or quickly heat up in the microwave. One think is for certain, it is probably something that is high in fat, salt, sugar, and/or calories, and we love it for that. And if it isn't, then there's something wrong with you. You might feel guilty later for eating it, but you certainly feel good while you're eating. There's nothing wrong with enjoying a little edible escapism every once in a while.
So what is the ultimate comfort food? What's your ultimate comfort food? The one thing that will pick you up better than anything else? Let's hear what yours is. Here are some examples (but certainly not limited to) of comfort foods:
- Mac & Cheese (add shredded cheddar for more cheesy goodness)
- Grilled cheese (the gooeyer the cheese, the better)
- Pizza (especially the day old cold leftover kind)
- Doughnuts (always good with coffee)
- Ice cream (chocolate-nuff said)
- Chicken or tomato soup
- Chili (with meat, of course)
- French fries
- cookies (especially chocolate chip dunked in a tall glass of ice cold milk)
- Peanut butter & jelly sandwich (or just plain peanut butter straight from the jar, eaten off a spoon)
The list can go on and on, but you get the idea. While some people might resort to snacks like chips and candy, I'm trying to steer clear of those, as those can be lists all their own. But if they are yours, they're valid entries.
Tags
Who is online
63 visitors
Personally, I'd have to go with grilled cheese. Mac & cheese might be a close second. Or maybe french fries? pizza? Oh, it's all good!
I could eat dessert for every meal
Fresh strawberries on cheesecake and shortcake smothered in real whipped cream.
Ooohh, you're killing me here, LOL
When I went through that really bad episode of food poisoning, it also caused me to go through sugar detox. That was three years ago and now sugar does not interest me. I do like the sugar free Atkins candy though for those rare times I crave something sweet.
Did Atkins myself for awhile. Didn't take.
I don't use the products to diet. I just like the taste of some of them, especially their shakes. I am not much of a breakfast person but I do drink one almost every morning. They also have a very good chilli.
I love me a grilled cheese with tomato and rice soup! I dip my grilled cheese in ketchup. I know, I'm weird.
Anything goes good with ketchup. But instead of rice soup or ketchup, I would have a bowl of tomato soup (a comfort food in its own right) and dip the grilled cheese in the tomato soup.
Yeah, I've done that too.
If tomatoes are a vegetable would that make ketchup a tomato smoothie?
I don't know. But if you add a little water, ketchup becomes a soup. Although technically, a tomato is a fruit even though it's often regarded as a vegetable.
Tomatoes are fruits. Botanically, a fruit is a ripened flower ovary and contains seeds. Tomatoes, plums, zucchinis, and melons are all edible fruits.
That would make Ketchup a fruit smoothie...
I had forgotten about the fruit vs veggie in regards to tomatoes. Thank you for reminding me.
Happy to be of service.
You're missing meat loaf on your list.
Meat loaf with macaroni and cheese is my go to for comfort food
My bad.
It also goes good with a baked potato.
I make a great meatloaf.
Please give me your recipe. Mine is hit and miss
My Chicken and dumplings or my mom's chili. Bolognese with garlic bread comes in a close third.
Have won several Chili contests. I have tasty secrets.
I'd love to taste your chilis. I do have a fondness for chili. Especially when it has some zing to it.
Frybread.
I'm certified as an FBI.
Absolutely!! Frybread goes with anything, and enhances the flavor of most everything.
Ir also makes a great dessert. Just fry it up and let it cool for about two minutes, then dust it with powdered sugar. Or dredge it in cinnamon with sugar. You can use jelly or jam on it as well.
It is a happy food.
What is frybread?
It's flat dough that is deep fried and often topped or dipped with marinara sauce or confectioners sugar. It's something you find at carnivals or similar events.
Or used to make Navajo tacos. Or dipped in honey.
Knead bread dough, deep-fried with various toppings. I favor berries to add sweetness to frybread.
Another Native comfort food is wojapi which is a Native American berry dish.
You'll find Fry Bread at all Pow Wow's and in all Indian homes. Nookomis (grandmothers) are very proud of their secret receipt for fry bread.
The photo above is fry bread with wojapi (berry sauce) on it.
Then there is one comfort food beside Fry Bread that my mother and grandmother always had in the house.
miinibaashkiminasiganibiitoosijiganibakwezhigan. I know, it's a very long word, 66 letters but it's really really good. But I have to keep it secret. Sorry..LOLOL
That works too.
Frybread is a simple bread that is fried. It can be used with all kinds of food, or just by itself.
Here is a recipe for the Cherokee Frybread if you would like to try some yourself. It is similar to that of most of the other Tribes.
That looks so good.
When I want to have it with Italian food, I add a bit of Garlic powder to the ingredients. But, the garlic flavored Frybread goes good with salads and other types of food as well.
You can experiment to your hearts content. Garlic flavored Frybread also goes good with beef stew, potato soup, and even Chili.
You can also add a bit of cinnamon to the ingredients and a little sugar. I like to top mine with caramel frosting.
I was thinking honey in the mix.
Sounds good.
Me cooking is like giving Freddy Kruger a set of knives, no good can come from it.
Don't worry Kavika. I won't tell.
I have had some of the honey Frybread and it is indeed very tasty. For those who like sweet treats, it makes a really nice dessert.
LOL, silence is golden or something along those lines.
Inherited a bread machine from mom. Been stretching the limits with it.
Speaking of bread, what about fresh baked bread, hot straight from the oven, and topped with melting butter? The aroma of fresh baked bread alone is enough to give comfort. Couple that with a cup of fresh ground and brewed coffee, and you have the ingredients to heaven.
Folk bake a loaf of bread when trying to sell their houses because that smell makes the buyer feel at home.
Mom willed me her bread machine because we had so much fun working up recipes with it over the years.
Don't forget the Tiptree strawberry jam.
When I was a kid, my grandmother grew her own strawberries and made homemade strawberry jam.
I tried making bread once. I used too much yeast and it was like the scene in I Love Lucy where Desi tried to make bread, Mine literally pushed open the oven door because it ran out of room.
That an cookies.
that looks goodddd....
I love frybread, but cannot get it in my neck of the woods down on the AZ/Mexico border. I'm talking about the kind only Native Americans know how to make properly. Every year we have the Cochise County Fair, except this year, a Native American couple from the reservation in Tucson bring their cart down and sell the most fantastic frybread. I scarf that stuff down like there was no tomorrow!
LOL, sounds familiar.
My maternal grandmother who was half Mescalero Apache used to make it for me when I was little. That's where I learned to love it.
Nookomis (grandmother) always plays an important part in children's lives. From making frybread for them to being a storyteller.
Grandmothers are one of the most important links in Indian culture.
Wow, it isn't ''clean speech week'' in Auntie Fee's house.
Indeed they are. One thing for sure, you don't mess with Grandmother. The results are very far reaching, and so is her hand.
I've never had the pleasure of actually tasting frybread. I kind of wonder if it is similar to the French beignets. We've made French beignets here at my house. They're usually served covered in confectioner's sugar and occasionally with a honey drizzle or chocolate syrup drizzle with some strong coffee.
Yes, homemade baked mac and cheese...
topped with fried onion for the perfect crispiness.
Don't forget the bacon bits.
Never. When it comes to cooking & comfort, bacon makes everything better.
"Nothing burps better than bacon." (Al Bundy)
Truer words never spoken.
Whenever I am feeling a bit down, I fry up some bacon, and soon my outlook is very much improved.
Tummy says, "It's about time!!" (grin)
Finely shredded bacon, diced onion, minced garlic, fancy crab meat mixed with cream cheese then wrapped in won-ton wraps and deep fried in peanut oil then dipped in soy sauce.
That's how I learned to make crab rangoon.
Alas, I almost never eat this anymore. But if I am to be honest, I would like a burger, mushrooms, onions, pickles, ketchup but no cheese.
That sounds good minus the ketchup and ADD Swiss cheese.
A good burger needs ketchup. Although, BBQ sauce is a good substitute. Swiss, absolutely.
Try provolone sometime.
Cant go wrong with a good provo cheese.
Absolutely. I had my first ever provolone on french bread grilled cheese the other day. I loved it.
That sounds good.
It's never too late to go back.
Cheese makes everything better. Provolone goes good with mushrooms. As does bacon.
I will take your word on the mushrooms. I am allergic to them.
I'm sorry to hear that. Sauteed portabella mushrooms adds a nice flavor.
Try them garlic-stuffed. The garlic is sure to kill whatever...
The only outcome would be that I die with bad breath.
With garlic butter on the grill!
olive oil works too.
Once a month or so I have a really great cheeseburger, maybe a few fries.
Sounds like a nice way to treat yourself.
That's what comfort foods are all about, smile.
That it is Pat. That it is. Expanding waistline be damned!
WHO is the cruel human who denies the need of this adorable critter?
He should check his favorite shoes after that. There may be a present in them.
As in Fat Freddies cat?
I got my idea for that comment from the movie The Truth About Cats And Dogs.
My Mom And Pop diner makes the best bacon cheeseburger I have ever had.
I could go for a bacon cheeseburger right about now. Grilled medium rare, with the juices dripping off.
Can't do medium rare here. A law was passed years ago due to a law that all burgers must be fully cooked at restaurants. But how you cook one at home is up to the person.
That sounds like too much government oversight. Hell, that's unconstitutional! We have a right to have slightly undercooked beef! I sense a new protest cause starting!
What do you mean "cook?" I like my meat still mooing when I slap it on a roll.
I can deal with a medium rare burger as long as the bacon is crispy.
Is there any other way?
Ever try steak tartar?
I don't think so. But I'm open to trying it.
There are a lot of recipes for it on line. I spelled it wrong. It is tartare.
Beef stew or jambalaya.
Now that's something I haven't had in a long time.
Had jambalaya for the first time in New Orleans last year. It was DELICIOUS! It was a combo "platter" with jambalaya, red beans and rice, Andoullie sausage, and Cajun shrimp. MMMMMM! It was so good. Oh! And the blackened chicken... mmm. I need to make some blackened chicken again; everyone in my house loves my blackened chicken, even my kids!
Once in a blue moon, I'll make a super hoagie: A loaf of Italian bread, toasted. Apply mayo to the bread and stack layers of sliced roast beef, turkey breast, ham (3 meats minimum), with cheddar, swiss, and provolone cheese (also 3 cheese minimum) in between the meat layers, smeared with spicy mustard. Topped with sliced tomatoes, lettuce, onion, pickle, olives, and jalapeno, garnished with a little ground black pepper. It's a lot of work for a comfort food. But oh so satisfying, as well as being a salt/calorie bomb.
Sounds like the ultimate Dagwood! Awesome! Now I’m hungry!
o-o-o-o-oh....
I've been hungry ever since I found this thread!
Damn shame there won't likely be tailgating at Arrowhead this year.
Had to show Bronco fans how to do it when I spent a few years at Mile High back in the Elway days.
Working stadium parking lot undercover security at Mile High made me fat. Easy money.
I thought a Dagwood was a super piled high sandwich?
It is. Mine tends to be piled high with meat and cheese.
Just read the Arrowhead tailgating rules for the season.
Bottom line is you can't walk sideways out of your parking place.
That takes a lot of fun out of tailgating.
Sharing BBQ with fellow tailgaters is half the fun at Arrowhead.
Currently; Chiefs 31, Texans 7 11:25 left in the 4th.
GO CHIEFS!
Homemade cheeseburger and fries.
Chocolate frosting right out of the can.
Anything with gravy.
Sliced sharp cheddar cheese with sweet pickles.
Salt.
And a tube of chocolate chip cookie dough.
Squeezed on a spoon. Now there's a comfort food.
I always thought that "comfort food" was something that was soothing and easy to digest. For me, the ultimate comfort food is mashed potatoes, either topped with gravy, or else mixed with butter and mayonnaise. Second best would be a piece of moist, heavy chocolate cake, but it would need to be paired with a drink of cold milk. Third choice would be moussaka, and rounding it out to 4 would be a strawberry jam and peanut butter sandwich including sliced banana on fresh chala (egg bread). Just ate dinner and now I'm hungry again.
Mayo on mashed potatoes? It must be an acquired taste.
What about french fries with mayo instead of ketchup?
Actually I like BBQ sauce with fries.
Are you Belgian???
Why don't you try it, maybe you'll like it?
Canadians like their French fries with vinegar like the Brits do.
How can anyone follow the Brits concerning food??
LOL. Well, I DID like their fish and chips when I was there, although nothing else compared with French cuisine. We did have one unique meal, though - we ate a Medieval banquet dinner in Ruthin Castle in Wales on Christmas eve.
There were serving wenches, harpists and vocalists, and our only utensils were a dagger and a spoon. Cannot remember more because it was in 1971.
... and if I'm honest, there was a prime rib from Scotland....
Oh, and I forgot to say that we drank mead.
Pass. To each their own.
When I was in London I was asked if I wanted a spotted dick and I asked if the guy drove a nice car.
What's in the kegs in a pub in Scotland...
No. I take my fries with ketchup. But I've seen mayo used as a substitute.
We have a place here called Mid Evil Times that does the same thing plus a show.
I never mentioned pile isle in my comment and I have no idea what is in the kegs.
"Pale ale" said by a Scot...
You had me at ale.
I like mine with ranch style dressing.
I can see that working. Ranch is also a suitable substitute for blue cheese with buffalo wings.
Or gravy and cheese... mmm poutine.
I personally love my fries with mayo AND ketchup. Kraft made "mayochup" for people like me. And actually yes, my dad's family is originally from Belgium; however, they came to North America (now known as the St. Lawrence River in Canada) in the mid 1500's. I was excited when I was overseas for work and it was automatic that we received mayo (without being charged extra)!!!
When I grill a burger, I'll put mayo on the bun and ketchup on the burger. When the 2 mix into a mayochup and drips off the burger, I'll scoop it up with a couple fries. I will admit, it is tasty.
Yes, gravy and cheese curds - a French Canadian specialty.
Is that Poutine?
On French fries, yes.
Greasy, greasy KFC!
Totally disgusting. Wonderful.
My favorite fast food comfort food is McNuggets.
I agree. Because it is rather greasy I only eat it once in a while. I get the extra crispy, and add KFC slaw to go with. There is not one really close to me, but, it is within a short drive. So that helps keep me from eating more than I should. But, when I get the hunger pangs that only KFC extra crispy will satisfy, no distance is too far.
Absolutely!
It's just as aw
fulsome as the chicken...I like their bowls.
Exactly! Sounds so good, smells great but half way in to the second piece you wish you hadn’t. You get that film on the tongue and your teeth feel like they have little sweaters on them! But a month or two later you go back for more.
See... I like Popeye's chicken better than KFC. I know, blasphemous. However, I like KFC mashed potatoes WAY better than Popeye's.
I love Popeye's spicy gravy.
Hot roast beef sandwich with fries covered with gravy
that pup would get a little of the sandwich
I have loved that video like forever. If I need to cheer up, I watch it. It is pure voice over genius.
I used to tell people that when I was a kid I had a dog that looked just like that.... but his voice was different.
I love a good French Dip. I feel so satisfied after I eat one.
Warm homemade apple pie, topped with homemade vanilla ice cream.
Smores by a campfire.
Tuna fish casserole topped with potato chips. A dish from childhood, it must be made by mom and eaten at her kitchen table.
Now that sounds...comforting.
Okay, I have always wanted to ask someone who likes apple pies why some want a slice of cheddar cheese with it.
Not sure. My grandfather loved it. I tried it, I didn't like it.
Oh man! My wife made that for dinner.... once. I actually liked it but I had never seen anything like it before. When our youngest boy puked it up all over the dash, from the back seat mind you, that was the end of that dish in our household....
Mac and cheese.
Anything potato-based.
Vegetable beef soup with fresh-baked bread still warm enough to melt the butter.
Cream of potato soup, with corn and chopped bacon mixed in?
Works for me.
Make it spicy too.
And garnish with cheese. Cheddar or pepper jack.
Absolutely.
Or both.
Twice baked potatoes with cheese, bacon, and sour cream are the bomb.
So true.
As long as I don't have to cook it pretty much any food is good
That is one thing that makes comfort food comfortable-not having to put significant work into preparing it. Quick and easy is one aspect of comfort.
That's what my husband says too.
Chicken Fried Steak with mashed potatoes and green beans include a frosted glass of sweet ice tea. For dessert Blueberry pie topped with chocolate ice cream and cool whip.
MMM! Blueberry pie. It's one of my favorites.
Does buttered lobster count?
If it's served to you and you derive comfort from it, then yes.
Good, cause I've been craving that lately. Methinks a trip to Walmart is in order tomorrow...
That's another thing about comfort foods: they're supposed to satiate a craving too.
a BLT or just bacon
Why not both together? A double bacon BLT. Also good if you hold the L & T.
Finally, someone who loves a BLT without the LT other than me.
I can go either way, as long as there's plenty of B. Nice and crispy too.
I do a BL, no T with mayo and smoked cheddar.
Melted cheddar over the B.
Crunchy peanut butter on toast with a big glass of ice cold milk.
Make mine creamy
I make homemade almond banana bread that everyone seems to go crazy for and the house smells wonderful afterward.
I'm a savory lover personally.
Meatloaf mixed with mashed potatoes and cream of mushroom soup.
A big baked potato with butter, sour cream, shredded cheese, and bacon bits.
French fries
Cheese curds
My chili
Cajun blackened chicken with mashed potatoes
Chili dogs with nacho cheese and mustard (we had that for dinner last night)... hot dogs were grilled of course.
A grilled sirloin (medium rare to medium, not quite bleeding still) with a baked potato (as stated above) and a side of baked beans.
Pan-fried egg whites with sides of bacon and buttered toast.
Sausage gravy smothering buttered biscuits (we call that heart attack on a plate) with a side of crispy hash browns.
GOOD GRIEF I'M HUNGRY!!!
I've seen some cook a meatloaf with a hard boiled egg in the middle. I don't get why though.
I'm not sure either. I use an egg and bread crumbs in the mix for my meatloaf, but it's to help get things to stick together.
I forgot to mention, and I'm surprised no one has mentioned it yet, but nachos and cheese. Or a full nacho platter with the works and sour cream or guacamole on the side.
I almost did, but I'm getting hungrier by the minute just by listing things off. I like my nachos with nacho cheese, sour cream, greasy ground beef with taco seasoning in it, some taco sauce, and black olives.
Don't forget to add chopped tomato and shredded lettuce
Can't have raw tomato. I break out in hives.
What about lightly sautéed, perhaps mixed with a little minced garlic?
As long as I cook out those excessive acids, I'm good.
I don't like raw tomatoes, but I love sucking out what my called tomato snot out of them.