meat and potatoes

meat and potatoes

pl.n. Informal (used with a sing. or pl. verb)

The fundamental parts or part; the basis.

Thesaurus

Noun

1.

meat and potatoes - the fundamental part; "successful negotiation is the meat and potatoes of arbitration" cornerstone, fundament, groundwork, basis, foundation, base - the fundamental assumptions from which something is begun or developed or calculated or explained; "the whole argument rested on a basis of conjecture"