Are there dishes you cooked when you were young that you don't cook much anymore?

I used to do a really good spinach casserole, but it was a lot of cleanup, and my kids are grown, so not any more.

Homemade chicken noodle soup from scratch. It was sooo good. I used an entire chicken and fresh vegetables instead of frozen. I also used barley as well as noodles. It took so much chopping and time that I haven’t done it in probably 15 years. I would chill the cooked chicken and scoop off most (but not all) of the fat that lay on top. Then came the very tiresome chore of separating the bones and junk from the meat. I will make it again, though! Maybe this winter.

I rarely make roasts because I live alone and don’t have anybody to share my food with. But every once in awhile I will make one and then have it for leftovers for the next three or four days. Also, although I don’t know if this qualifies for your question, I rarely cook bacon anymore. If I want bacon, I can get some at a restaurant, but it’s just too much of a pain to clean up afterwards, especially when I’m only making two or three slices for myself. Since it’s not the greatest thing for you, I just have it every once in awhile and treat myself.

@LifeQuestioner It qualifies based on the last question. I rarely make it either both for health and the piggies but it sure is good!

Heaps and heaps. Due to life changes, the people in the household (both the cooks and the eaters, and how many there are to eat the food), other recipes and health/diet/digestion changes, etc.

@Zaku Any prominent examples?

We used to make Philadelphia cheesecakes from scratch, with grahamcracker crusts made by crushing graham crackers with rolling pins inside plastic bags. Those were good, and we haven’t done that in decades.

And I was just talking with my mom about the other things she used to bake (sometimes with my help as a kid): chocolate chip and oatmeal/raisin cookies, brownies, banana muffins, peanut butter cookies.

My mom’s cooking changed a lot after she moved out from my dad, and his did too, and both of their cooking repertoires have changed since mine, as have mine, which have varied both based on the partner I lived with, and their diets, over time.

When I was a kid, my mom used to make many recipes I’ve rarely had since she moved out decades ago, and never cooked myself, including lamb chops, spare ribs, chocolate mousse, au gratin potatoes.

A few of her super old recipes I did retain, but it’s been years since I’ve made maccaroni and cheese in a casserole dish. It’s better when she does it.

There are several more recent recipes that were great but have been abandoned due to diet/digestion issues, such as a great chicken/kale/potatoes recipe, good tuna melt sandwiches with paprika, butternut squash risotto . . .

I miss my Ex’s roast beef and Yorkshire pudding dinners but that was a family meal.

I made some pies from scratch when I was younger. The crusts are soo much work, in my opinion. When I see chefs on TV doing it, they make it look effortless. When I did it, it was close to impossible, and the dough would crack when rolled out, it wouldn’t be rolled out in a circular shape, forget it. I did make a pumpkin pie once that had a pecan crust and that was easy because you make the pecan mixture and press it into the pan, so there was no rolling out.

My mom and my grandmother made everything from scratch. My mom would cook a dinner for the family, and everything from the roast to the stuffing to the gravy to the pies or cakes would be from scratch – everything except maybe the rolls, which would be the Pillsbury ones in the can that you pop open and bake. Jambalaya, mac and cheese, the list goes on and on. We all remember fondly the meals that my mom made for holidays and special occasions. She’d often find a recipe in the NY Times and make it just to see if it was worth making again. I see friends on FB bragging when they make things from scratch. My mom didn’t brag about it and she didn’t post about it, she just did it.

My grandmother, same thing. Huge roasts, roasted potatoes – the kind that are a little crisp on the outside and perfectly soft on the inside, pies, everything. Lamb chops, huge turkeys on Thanksgiving.

@janbb I love moussaka. Let us know how it turns out. I’ve only had it from a diner or from restaurants.

Pie crusts from scratch and yeast / sourdough breads; I haven’t done those in 40 years.

I used to make breaded chicken pieces that I have not made in over 20 years. It used italian breadcrumbs and cream of chicken soap mix. It wasn’t more labor intensive than making lasagna or paella, which I still make, but for whatever reason I just don’t bother making that chicken anymore. Worth mentioning I rarely make the lasagna from scratch, because of the labor involved, and I am really starting to believe I should cook more from scratch again, I think it’s healthier.

I don’t make pie crust anymore, I just buy it. I only make pie about 4 times a year anyway.