Grated extra-sharp cheddar and slices of white Pullman bread are the secret to this no-fail souffle, a recipe from the mother of Food Network Kitchen recipe developer Bob Hoebee. "She loves that you set it up the day before and just bake it on serving day," he says.
With the help of his mother, Marie, a young Bob Hoebee cuts into a cake in the late 1950s. Her recipe for Never-Fail Cheese Souffle was originally from a women's club potluck dinner.
Stir-Fried Broccoli in Oyster Sauce
Food Network Kitchen recipe tester Vivian Chan says her mother came up with this simple broccoli dish –– a 20-minute recipe that incorporates ginger, garlic and chiles –– as a way of offering a better alternative to typical takeout.
"Fun fact," says Vivian Chan, with her mother, Estella, in the late 1980s: "I think my mother coordinated my outfit to match hers." Thanks to her mother's easy recipe for stir-fried broccoli, Vivian never orders such dishes from her local takeout place anymore.
Oma's German Potato Salad Recipe
After her grandmother moved to New York City in the 1950s, she stayed true to her German roots in the kitchen, says Food Network Kitchen purchasing assistant Amanda Catrini. For this salad, the potatoes are tossed with cooked onion in a mustard sauce and sprinkled with chopped herbs and bacon.
Amanda Catrini and her oma, Annelise, are pictured in the kitchen of the family farmhouse in 2013. In addition to making potato salad, her grandmother "continues to cook the most-delicious and -authentic German food," Catrini says.
Vietnamese Chicken Salad (Goi Ga)
The secret to this flavorful chicken salad with cabbage, says Food Network Kitchen food stylist Susan Vu, is her mother's nuoc cham (dipping sauce): She would make a thick simple syrup before adding aromatics and fish sauce.
Susan Vu is shown here as a young girl with her mother, who has been known to say: "No one likes a bland nuoc cham!" Her delicious version of the sauce is used in this Vietnamese chicken salad.
Pasta e Fagioli
A mix of pasta shapes plus white beans, tomato paste and pecorino cheese make up this comforting pasta e fagioli. The recipe also calls for salt pork, which Food Network Kitchen food stylist Vince Camillo remembers his mother using in place of the traditional Italian pancetta.
Vince Camillo's mother, Carmela, would sort the beans for her version of pasta e fagioli the night before making it.
Sugared Puff-Pastry Tea Cookies
These 20-minute tea cookies are made with just four ingredients: puff pastry, lemon, sugar and an egg white. Food Network Kitchen recipe developer Andrea Albin recalls her mother making the original from leftover dough scraps.
Here's a photo of Andrea Albin and her mother, Veronica, taken in the early 1980s. On the left are recipe cards for glace royale and a puff-pastry apple galette –– the original source of the dough used to make Sugared Puff-Pastry Tea Cookies.
Mom's Cheesecake
The secret to this cheesecake, says Food Network Kitchen executive chef Robert Bleifer, is his mother's use of whipped cream cheese in place of the conventional variety, which she used in defiance of the package instructions.
Robert Bleifer's mother, Gail, is on the left as a young girl in the 1940s, on her way to a birthday party. "My mom is a terrific cook," Bleifer says. "I always looked forward to big family dinners, not just for seeing relatives but because I knew she would be making the best cheesecake ever."
Spaghettini with Spicy Seafood
Crushed red pepper flakes give this pasta and shrimp dish its enticing kick. Food Network Kitchen recipe developer Stephen Jackson remembers this as one of his mother's "go-to party dishes," but says it has "the approachability of a quick weeknight meal" as well.
Stephen Jackson and his mother, Elisabeth, in the mid-1970s. Her recipe for spicy pasta with shrimp was one of the first dishes that made him "love seafood," he says.
Pork Belly Adobo
"As simple as this recipe is, it always projected the love she put into it," says Food Network Kitchen food stylist Richmond Flores of his mother's pork belly adobo. The Filipino dish calls for marinating the pork in a sweetened soy-garlic marinade and cooking it until tender.
