I know what you mean about "Mom's cooking". My mother overcooked just about everything. Cauliflower, at her hands, became a bumpy paste, calves liver a one-toned leather, garden peas a mess of burst globules...

It was not really her fault. I found a 1924 cook book that said how long to cook things. Garden peas, for instance, it said to boil for 20 minutes!