Growing up some of my fondest memories were spending time with my Dad in the kitchen, and enjoying some of his special dishes. 

Most everyone celebrates Father'ss Day.  We all do so in many different ways.   Some of us take Dad out for dinner on this day, others of us may have a great big BBQ, or some of us may do something different.  This year we will celebrating the day with a big fish fry for my family.  Thinking about this made me think about my Dad, and about how he cooked.  I lost my Dad a few years ago, but growing up and spending time with him in the kitchen was a lot of fun for me growing up.  While my Dad wasn't the world's best cook, he did make a few things very, very well.   My Dad made some of the best hash browns I have ever had in my life, and he was known for some pretty mean pancakes.   Another thing that my father did very well was BBQ Missouri style. 

My Dad's hash browns, were frozen, and they came out of the package, but they were some of the crispiest hash browns, and they were always far better than what you would get in a restaurant.  My Dad simply heated up the pan well, added in some vegetable oil, and then once the pan got hot, he added the potatoes, and a little salt and pepper.  I was never able to master this until about 20 years later.  When I cook I like to fiddle with everything, his secret was to leave them alone. 

My Dad was also known for making really good pancakes.  Now being a typical father, he didn't make them from scratch, he simply added about a teaspoon of vanilla extract to a commercial pancake mix.  This makes for a much better flavor than leaving this out.  My Dad actually had requests for making his special pancakes for when his store had pancake breakfasts.  People always wondered what made them so special.

My family is from Missouri, and one thing that people in Missouri much like everyone else, they made a lot of BBQ.  Here are a couple of recipes from my family that were used.   Now we always started out with a marinade, or basting sauce with our meats.  You can use this on chicken, pork, or beef.  Now our favorite was always pork steaks.  Once the meat was pretty much done, then you can add a homemade BBQ sauce or one out of a bottle, your choice. 

Missouri Style BBQ Sauce

Father's Day is a special day, if you are lucky you have your father or another special man in your life to spend time with.  I know Father's Day makes me take time out to remember how special my Dad was.  I enjoyed learning to cook different things with him, and after all of those years I remember certain items that I can cook to bring back my Dad's memory.