The Unexpected Reason Grandma's Food Just Tastes Better

A hilarious theory might explain why your dishes never taste quite like Grandma's.

You know it, I know it, we all know it—nothing tastes quite like grandma's cooking. Even as well-seasoned food editors (pun intended), we're always chasing the taste memories of those dishes grandma used to make. Whether you follow the recipes themselves, use familiar seasonings, and employ the same secret ingredients, there is just something about grandma's (and mom's and dad's) cooking that hits different. Maybe it's the sheer power of nostalgia, or maybe it's something else entirely. A new, unexpected theory proposes what that missing piece to the flavor puzzle just might be.

Why Your Cooking Never Tastes Quite Like Grandma's

I first read about this idea in journalist Sam Sifton's weekly newsletter for the New York Times. When discussing a new recipe for American-style goulash, Sifton proposes that this dish provides the perfect opportunity to use up stale spices. In fact, the recipe got him thinking back to a 2016 conversation with food writer Arthur Schwartz on the merit of not-so-fresh spices in certain recipes.

In the article, Sifton asserts that you need pungent paprika for a dish like Chicken Paprikash, which derives so much of its punchy flavor from the spice. Schwartz argued that actually, if you want it to taste like the food you grew up enjoying, the opposite is true.

“If you really want your food to taste like a Jewish grandmother’s, you’ll need to season it with paprika that’s been stored near the stove for at least three years,” Schwartz said, laughing.

Whether Schwartz was somewhat joking or not, the sentiment is intriguing. As a food writer, I am accustomed to preaching the merits of using fresh, high-quality spices. Spices are the backbone of almost every dish, and the impact that fresh spices can have on the flavor of a dish cannot be understated. Not to mention, most people are in desperate need of a spice cabinet clean-out and refresh.

Over time, spices don't necessarily go rancid but they do become stale and their flavors dull significantly. However, that muted effect might actually be what you're going for in certain dishes. When I think back to my childhood pantry and especially that of my grandmother, I can recall finding spices in there that predated me. And perhaps it is those more subtle, subdued flavors that encapsulate the essence of those childhood favorite dishes.

My comfort foods are comprised largely of an array of brown and tan fare, super simple dishes made with a few ingredients and very little kick—think haluski (though we called it something else), matzo ball soup, and banana bread. While these days, I sprinkle cinnamon onto every loaf of banana bread with reckless abandon, and crown every bowl of matzo ball soup with sprigs (really it's more like bushels) of fresh dill, that is decidedly not the way my grandma did it. Maybe, if you want to cook like grandma did, think simpler, subtler flavors. One thing is for sure—you better be putting a heck of a lot of love into each dish, just like grandma did.

Read the original article on All Recipes.