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What are you EATING right now?


JBLoudG20

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ODE TO SPAM.

Most of you know that I'm a country boy. I may be gay, but I'm still a child of the woods. I was born and raised in Alaska, but my parents are both from South Texas. I grew up on Texan and Mexican food. Biscuits and gravy for breakfast, enchiladas or chicken fried steak for dinner. 

I always say I spent half my life in a tent. Sometimes we'd be in the middle of nowhere for weeks at a time. We relied on Moose and Caribou to fill our freezer. It was a fantastic way to grow up! I cherish those memories. Because of the long trips miles from civilization, we needed food that wouldn't spoil. One of the items we always had on these hunting trips was Spam. When the bacon ran out, it was Spam and eggs for breakfast. 

Even at home there was always Spam in the cabinet. Having two older Brothers, the lunch meat was often gone when I went to fix my lunch for school. So I'd break out a can of Spam. It started as my only alternative, but I quickly developed a taste for the stuff. Even to the point that I'd pass over the ham or roast beef cold cuts for my good friend Spam.

Even today I feel the craving a few times a year, and I overcome the judgment of others as I take the Spam from my cart and place it on the belt at the checkout. Like a full moon to a werewolf, I felt the calling yesterday. So I loaded up a few cans of my old friend, along with other grocery items.

Today I went to make myself a sandwich for lunch, and while grabbing pickles from the fridge, I spotted a jar of Tostitos salsa con queso dip I had picked up with tortilla chips. Hmmm? A healthy slather of the queso dip on a slice of the bread and some thick Spam slices, and a new favorite was concocted. A side of Grillo's pickles and Cheetos puffs, and lunch for a King was served and fully enjoyed!

OK, King of the trailer park maybe, but I can live with that. I'm mostly English, Irish and Scottish, with a little dose of White Trash to round things out.

D-E-L-I-C-I-O-U-S !

Edited by swt61
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I like this one...

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I remember my Mother getting everything ready to make ham salad one day, only to find out that my Brother had eaten all of the ham she'd bought for it. With all the veggies already diced, she decided to use Spam, but she was furious with my Brother. 

As it turned out, everyone liked it better with Spam. She used Spam from then on.

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When I was a kid we didn't have Spam, I'm not very sure it's available here yet, however we had a canned equivalent to ham that is Magro de Cerdo Apis

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The can has evolved with the years but the meat inside has been having a consistent good quality. It was rather expensive for our economy in those days, so it was more a treat on occasion than a daily food. I like having a can in the pantry.

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11 hours ago, swt61 said:

ODE TO SPAM.

 

D-E-L-I-C-I-O-U-S !

It's years since I thought of eating Spam (stands for SPiced hAM). But we used to fry the stuff.

Wikipedia is your friend https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spam_(food) . I had no idea it originated in Minnesota. Because it is such a worldwide thing, I'd cheerfully believed it originated in the UK (wrong).

And frying it is definitely a thing - Spam fritters. It could be eaten with the Scottish delicacy of deep fried Mars bar https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deep-fried_Mars_bar now this is a truly horrible thought.

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My Mom would fry it as a breakfast meat. But usually my Mom only fixed Spam on hunting/camping trips. Until she discovered it made really good ham salad, she never used it at home.

Antonio, that does look similar. Spam was cheap when I was young, but not anymore. It's not cost prohibitive, but it's also no longer the cheap alternative that it once was.

The state of Hawaii is the largest consumer of Spam per capita in the USA. They adopted it after WWII soldiers introduced them to it. South Korea is now the largest consumer of Spam worldwide.

Today I buy the low sodium version, which is the best tasting in my mind.

Come on out of the Spam closet people. Who else ate Spam back in the day, or even now?

Edited by swt61
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1 minute ago, Beefy said:

So glad you enjoyed it! Something about pork that works so well with just the sauces...

I grew up when they were still considered less lean than chicken, and it was only after you suggested it, that I researched it and found out that they've been breeding pigs to be more lean, and it is, indeed, "the other white meat", and -- especially the tenderloin and the chops, maybe less so the ham -- is quite lean!  So I will be partaking of the tenderloin and the chops frequently...but chicken thighs are still the best.  And one of these days -- maybe when I get below 188 -- I'll splurge on a hamsteak.

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On 8/28/2021 at 4:50 PM, swt61 said:

Come on out of the Spam closet people. Who else ate Spam back in the day, or even now?

I love it in the right dish.  Fried up with mac and cheese?  Yes please.  90% of the time I eat spam these days (which is still only once every six months or so) I'm eating a Hong Kong-style spam and egg sandwich. Something about junk food being from a foreign culture allows me to rationalize it as haute cuisine.

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