I'm not sure there's any flavors/smells that have quite that effect on me. But then, I haven't had a proper mushroom/barley soup since my Grandmother passed away, either.

Sweet potato casserole with marshmallows on it comes close.

But there's something about learning to make the stuff myself that's taken a little bit of the emotion out of it. Like pecan pie, which ought to do that, or some of my passover dishes: it's not emotional, it's just what we do. It's in the DNA and I don't miss it because I still do it.

Hey! That's what I almost said! That I thought I used to have more emotional resonance for some food smells before I started cooking those dishes myself.

That's an interesting twist on the phenomenon.

I don't have any foods/dishes that can do that to me, but there are a few that when I make them, bring back fond memories. The sugar cookie recipe I remember making as a kid where we almost ate more raw dough than we cooked is one of them. I still have the exact recipe, and I make it around the holidays, which brings all the combined memories...

I wish I could make fudge like my Dad did. He did it the old fashioned way in a double boiler and there was no marshmallow goo in it.

It's all your fault. I'm going to have to go find my Mom's old recipe file which has all the old family recipes in it...

The R.C. uses the same sugar cookie recipe that Mom used to use. I'll have to ask her if it still has childhood associations for her or not.

We weren't a fudge family, but my mother used to make something we called "bitty balls." It was a huge production that took the entire kitchen and a full day. I'm not sure what went into them. Peanut butter and some kind of cereal and something else, rolled into balls and then covered in melted chocolate.