Spam! Spam! Spam! Spam! Loverly Spam!

            Every body remembers the raucous rendition of that timeless salute to canned meat by Monty Python. It was an ode to Spam, the canned meat concoction that possibly saved the British from starving during World War 2 and those of the Koreans and Japanese in the war’s aftermath.

            But what is Spam? What is it, where did it come from and why.

            Let’s go back, back to our ice age friends, Biff and Agnes. They were finishing up the last of the Azendohsaurus’ steaks and those steaks were a little past prime. Biff sniffed at them and said “These steaks have gone bad, It is a shame that there isn’t someway to preserve meat.” That is what he meant but what he said was “Ugh goghgo plu gazink.”

            For years after Biff and Agnes left this mortal coil mankind has been trying to do just that and has been reasonably successful.

            One of those success stories started in the little town of Austin, Minnesota in 1891, when George A. Hormel founded his namesake slaughterhouse and meatpacking facility there.

            In 1929, Jay Hormel, after serving in World War One, took over as the company’s president and under his leadership a six pound hunk of pork luncheon meat was developed. Butchers would shave of portions for their customers.

            Jay Hormel wanted to provide a product more appropriate for home use, available in smaller, family size.

            Julius Zillgitt, a Hormel employee, experimented with canning meat, he discovered that vacuum sealing pork into a can prevented the meat from sweating inside the can. He was experimenting with 12 ounce cans so that became the original standard.

            Others at Hormel developed the proper combination of pork shoulder (once considered an undesirable byproduct), water, salt, sugar and sodium nitrate (for coloring) and Spam was born. The name could have been an abbreviation of “spiced ham,” “spare meat,” or “Shoulders of pork and ham.”

But it was more likely an acronym for “Specially Processed Army Meat.” as one of the objects of the company was to sell it to the army as an easily transportable and practically no “use by date.

All this didn’t happen overnight. It took some time to get it just right and Spam wasn’t introduced until 1937. 

            It was far from a sensation with the housewives of the day. They looked with jaundiced eye on any meat that could be stored without refrigeration. In some towns the grocers kept it in the butcher’s meat case. With the strong reluctance those house wives started realizing the advantages to having “swing meat” you could keep in the pantry and not clutter up the ice box. On top of that (in my opinion) Spam tasted good. It started to become popular and then, “Pear Harbor.”

            The Spam hit the fan. The difficulty of delivering fresh meat to the front during World War II saw Spam become a vital part of our fighting men’s diet. It became known as a lot of things; one of the mildest was "meatloaf that missed basic training."

            During World War II, Spam was introduced into Guam, Hawaii, Okinawa, the Philippines, and other islands in the Pacific and they liked it, it became a unique part of the U.S. influence in the Pacific.

            The people of Korea and Japan "were on the point of starvation. The cans of Spam coming in were an absolute godsend in those terrible situations at the end of World War II. Today, Korea is the world's second-largest consumer of Spam only after the United States. In Korea Spam is considered a luxury item.

            Today, Spam fervor in Hawaii has sustained a decade-old Spam festival in Waikiki, where chefs and Spam-lovers gather to appreciate and explore the lunchmeat's role in Hawaiian culture.

            During WWII, Spam made its way to England, where rationing and the presence of American troops saw meat become a memory. Having the sort of food that can survive in the tropical heat and be kept on a shelf for weeks and months was a huge boon. Brits celebrate the very existence of Spam and how it kept them from starving during the war.

            WWII ended, thousands of American GIs returned home and refused to eat Spam. Spam, Spam, loverly Spam. Not me, when I got out of the Air Force I still liked Spam. But then I liked S.O.S. too.

But those guys weren’t having any of it. Spam saw its role start to slowly shift away from convenient protein source to "sometimes-food" side dish. When you look at the core of America after the war, Spam really stepped away from being that 'center of the plate' meal.

            "Moms around the country fancied it up. They put cloves in the Spam and hung pineapples down the sides and used it as a center plate.  Those returning vets said that it was still Spam and the hell with it. Spam became more of an ingredient rather than an entree it was used for sandwiches and as an ingredient served with eggs."

            Spam stepped up their advertising and promotion. With the drop in sales the Hormel Company panicked. They gathered a troupe of former servicewomen to promote Spam from coast to coast. The group was known as the Hormel Girls and associated the food with being patriotic. In 1948, two years after its formation, the troupe had grown to 60 women with 16 forming an orchestra. The show went on to become a radio program where the main selling point was Spam. The Hormel Girls were disbanded in 1953.^[47]

            But Spam survives today, I think they have played games with the size of the cans and even the recipe but I still like it. How can any product that is included in so many recipes be anything but tasty?

            Did you know that you can make Spam Jam, Spam Hash, Spam Rarebit, Spam Burgers and a Spamaletti.

            Do these sound a little low brow? Well Spam can be used in the Haute-ests recipes too.

An upscale New York Asian Fusion restaurant features  Sushi Ko, a delicious sushi.  

          Spam musubi   is a type of sushi that has marinated cooked spam in sushi. A delicacy in Hawaii... Maharlika is found in the Philippines and consists of beer-battered Spam fries. . . Delicious. 

            Then there is Spam Wellington, you just might want to try this so I will give you the recipe.

            2 cans Spam luncheon meat  (12 oz ea)

            1 can Pillsbury biscuit dough

            ½ cup Brown sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place Spam, as close together as possible on cookie sheet. Sprinkle with brown sugar. Pop Pillsbury can. Cover Spam with dough. Pinch edges of dough together with fingertips so that Spam is not exposed.
Bake for 30 minutes or until dough is golden brown. . . Let stand 10 minutes before carving.

ENJOY

THE GUTS OF THE MATTER.

            Haggis is a savory pudding made with sheep's heart, liver and lungs; minced with onion, oatmeal, suet, spices, and salt, mixed with stock, and  traditionally stuffed in the animal's stomach.

            Yum, yum. Right. . . Wrong. You’’ American stomach probably rebels at eating “innards” or animal guts.

            Back in the early 1940s, the U.S. was shipping much of the nation’s meat supply to Europe and the Pacific to support troops fighting in WWII. Here at home, the meat supply started to dwindle. By 1941, New York restaurants were using horsemeat for hamburgers and there was a poultry black market.

            The impending meat shortage worried the Department of Defense. The first thing they did was ration meat but then they did something that made sense.  They called on the nation’s leading sociologists, psychologists and anthropologists and asked them to figure out how to convince Americans that they should eat organ meats, the protein-rich livers, hearts, kidneys, brains, stomachs and intestines that were left behind after the steaks and pork loins went overseas.

            Organ meat wasn’t popular in America. A middle-class woman in 1940 would sooner starve than despoil her table with tongue or tripe. Those experts had to convince Americans to eat livers and kidneys, housewives had to know how to make the foods look, taste and smell as similar as possible to what their families expected to see on the dinner table each night.

            They tried, they tried hard. They printed and passed out thousands of recipes showing how to camouflage innards to make them appear like something familiar. They took adds in local newspapers extolling the virtues of tongue, brains, and tripe. They even went to Hollywood and had several short subject movies made showing beautiful dishes such as Brains and Eggs and Tongue in Gelatin Aspic.

            The promotions must have shown some success. Liver and Onions has become fairly popular and  I know people who will knowingly eat kidney pie  or brains and eggs.  My Uncle Eddie was one of them but I also remember that he pretty much covered these dishes with catsup. but I degress. . .Back to Haggis.

            Haggis has been around for a long time but it didn’t go back as far as our friends, living in a cave, Agnes and Biff. I am sure they ate animal innards, but haggis was a bit more sophisticated.

            Their son, Fast Eddie or more likely one of his offspring might have ended up in early Greece where a kind of primitive haggis is referred to in Homer's Odyssey.

            The Ancient Romans were known to have made products of the haggis type. Whenever they had the guts.

            The name "hagws" or "hagese" was first used in England around 1430, but the dish came to be considered traditionally Scottish but there is a lack of historical

evidence that could conclusively attribute its origins to any one place.

            Haggis was "born of necessity, as a way to utilize the least expensive cuts of meat and the innards as well."

            Haggis is popular in England, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand and , of course, Scotland but not so much here in the United States.

            Many Scottish shops and manufacturers make what they call vegetarian haggis, substituting various pulses, nuts and vegetables for the meat..

            Haggis is widely available in supermarkets in Scotland all year, the cheaper brands are normally packed in artificial casings, rather than stomachs. Any Scotsman will tell you that the stomach casing is essential.

            However haggis is also sold in tins. Similar to our own Spam.

Just in case you have the stomach for it and want to give it a try. . .

Ingredients

·                         1 sheep's stomach, cleaned and thoroughly, scalded, turned inside out and soaked

·                         overnight in cold salted water

·                         heart and lungs of one lamb

·                         1lb beef or lamb trimmings, fat and lean

·                         2 onions, finely chopped

·                         8oz oatmeal

·                         1 tbsp salt

·                         1 tsp ground black pepper

·                         1 tsp ground dried coriander

·                         1 tsp mace

·                         1 tsp nutmeg

·                         water, enough to cook the haggis

·                         stock from lungs and trimmings

 

Method

1.                       Wash the lungs, heart and liver (if using). Place in large pan of cold water with the meat trimmings and bring to the boil. Cook for about 2 hours.

2.                       When cooked, strain off the stock and set the stock aside.

3.                       Mince the lungs, heart and trimmings.

4.                       Put the minced mixture in a bowl and add the finely chopped onions, oatmeal and    seasoning. Mix well and add enough stock to moisten the mixture. It should have a soft crumbly consistency.

5.                       Spoon the mixture into the sheep's stomach, so it's just over half full. Sew up the stomach with strong thread and prick a couple of times so it doesn't explode while cooking.

6.                       Put the haggis in a pan of boiling water (enough to cover it) and cook for 3 hours without a lid. Keep adding more water to keep it covered.

7.                       To serve, cut open the haggis and spoon out the filling. Serve with neeps (mashed turnip) and tatties (mashed potatoes).