Let's talk about Spam

[pam]

No I don't mean the unwanted or asked for emails etc.  I'm talking Spam the food.

I grew up on Spam and I still love it to this day.  Got a craving for a Spam sandwich tonight.  Mayo, spam, tomato and onion.  It is soooo good.   

One of my favorite things with Spam is Spam musubi.

Any special way you eat it?

 

 

[zil]

Let's talk about spam, baby.

Let's talk about you and me.

Let's talk about all the good things and the bad things we can eat.

Let's talk about spam!

[Fether]

40 minutes ago, pam said:

Any special way you eat it?

 

 

 

[Guest]

I use it as a substitute for ham or for hot dogs.  But instead of a hot dog bun, the shape lends itself to regular square bread.

[Guest MormonGator]

"SPAM= Stuff Posing As Meat"-Jeff Foxworthy 

[NeuroTypical]

I was raised by a WWII vet.  The mere mention of the stuff would get my dad emitting curse words.   The word "spam" was banned in my father's household.  When he found out stores were selling it to the public, well, it was a worse thing for the country than men with earrings.

Until the early '90's.  Someone got him to try some.  His opinion changed - apparently it wasn't anything like the stuff he had to eat in WWII.  It became a staple at his house.  He ate it on crackers.  Continuing Gator's word-substitution, he called it Stuff on a Shingle.

[paracaidista508]

SPAM is clearly a wow violation. Also one needs to see a shrink if they like that stuff.

I used to have SPAM hash and potatoes growing up. Yuck

[JohnsonJones]

I used to hate it as a kid.  These days, if cooked right, it isn't bad.

That could be an interesting thought though, with @NeuroTypical statement, I wonder if the reason is if SPAM is different today than it was when I was a kid.  Maybe that's why I couldn't stand it as a kid, but today it's not half bad?

[anatess2]

My kids can live on spam and rice for an entire year and not feel deprived.

Or vienna sausage and rice.

Or canned corned beef and rice.

If you ask my kids, there's only one way to make spam - slice it and pan-fry it in its own juices until it caramelizes.  You can eat it just like that with a side of rice, or you can be fancy and put it in a musubi with furikake seasoning.  Both my kids are experts at making these except they can't be patient long enough to make them into musubi unless I crack the whip on them... the spam is gone before it hits the musubi mold.

I have several ways to make spam - and it all starts with slicing them up and pan-frying them in its own juices.  Then I would tear them into tiny pieces to mix into an omelette... or Mac and Cheese... or Fried Rice... or ribbon pasta with scallions... or mixed in with the cheese in quesadillas... or used to top a baked potato... or mixed with sweet corn and sweet peas.   Or I can put a slice on english muffins with eggs benedict or put on a sandwich with honey or used as filling for a hawaiian roll with scrambled egg and cheese.

 

Edited January 30, 2018 by anatess2

[Iggy]

Never had spam until I hooked up with husband #1. He is from Hawaii [he is Cherokee, Irish & Japanese] , and his Mom [ full blooded Japanese born & raised in Hawaii] cooked it every which way from Sunday. That and canned corned beef. So, when he brought home several cans of spam, I read the tin, very carefully opened it (hated that metal key), put some whole cloves in it and baked it like a canned ham. He never had it that way and told me in no uncertain terms to NEVER fix it that way again.

So, I called his mom and asked her how to fix it. She hung up on me. About 8 days later I received a letter from her with her recipes for spam. She also included one for canned corned beef. I never fixed that one. Sounded horrible. Corned Beef and Cabbage. Shred corned beef, stir fry. When hot add shredded cabbage with sliced onions. Eat w/ steamed rice. BLEH!

Now, from childhood, Mom took bologna that she bought at the local Deli in the round chunk. Put it through the manual meat grinder on fine, along with dill pickles, yellow onions, celery and a few saltines to clean out the grinder. Added miracle whip, a teaspoon of yellow mustard and made sandwich spread. Absolutely loved that. So ~ with that history, I mashed the spam, finely chopped onions, celery, dill pickles, added mayo [because hubby detested MW] and made sandwiches. He liked them! I also got where I could heat spam fried to a crisp and served with fried eggs and hot steamed rice. BUT I had to add lots of yellow mustard to the spam and lots of soy sauce to the rice.

Husband #1 loved vienna sausages. Those I hated. We fed those to babies. Mom said by the time I was four, I was throwing them back at whomever fed them to me and screaming NOOOOOOO! So, Hubby ate those all by himself. I love canned ham. To me that is the best sandwich meat on the earth. So, when I can get it on a real good sale, I buy a lot.

Since I am on a super low fat diet, no more spam at all. No more hot dogs, even the all beef ones.

[anatess2]

30 minutes ago, Iggy said:

Never had spam until I hooked up with husband #1. He is from Hawaii [he is Cherokee, Irish & Japanese] , and his Mom [ full blooded Japanese born & raised in Hawaii] cooked it every which way from Sunday. That and canned corned beef. So, when he brought home several cans of spam, I read the tin, very carefully opened it (hated that metal key),

Whoa... that must be super ancient!  I've never seen spam with the key and I've been eating them since the 70's!  The corned beef on the other hand, I've never had without the stupid key.  I mean, seriously... here we are in 2018 and we're still opening corned beef with that stupid key!!!

[Connie]

I have never eaten Spam in my life... that I know of.

[anatess2]

18 minutes ago, Connie said:

I have never eaten Spam in my life... that I know of.

Ahh Connie.  You've been much deprived. 

 

[Vort]

1 hour ago, anatess2 said:

Whoa... that must be super ancient!  I've never seen spam with the key and I've been eating them since the 70's!  The corned beef on the other hand, I've never had without the stupid key.  I mean, seriously... here we are in 2018 and we're still opening corned beef with that stupid key!!!

The key is awesome. It leaves those cool sharp metal edges.

[NeuroTypical]

2 hours ago, Connie said:

I have never eaten Spam in my life... that I know of.

I've tried it twice.  Once out of defiance to my father who had banned it from our house.  Once at his urging after he had a change of heart.  

I didn't really like it either time.

[anatess2]

2 hours ago, Vort said:

The key is awesome. It leaves those cool sharp metal edges.

Where's the Grrrr button?

[zil]

22 hours ago, zil said:

Let's talk about spam, baby.

Let's talk about you and me myst'ry meat.

Let's talk about all the good things and the bad things we can eat.

Let's talk about spam!

New and improved!

[Guest MormonGator]

Is there anything less good for you than Spam? Look at the nutritional information. Seriously, why not just smoke crack before breakfast? It'll probably be healthier. 

[zil]

2 minutes ago, MormonGator said:

Is there anything less good for you than Spam?

Twinkies?  Spam & Twinkie sandwich?  Fried Spam & Twinkie sandwich?  Battered fried Spam & Twinkie sandwich?

[zil]

Just now, zil said:

Battered fried Spam & Twinkie sandwich?

Dipped in whipped cream or catsup or tartar sauce or whatever it is that floats your boat?  Maybe hollandaise sauce?

[Iggy]

20 minutes ago, zil said:

Twinkies?  Spam & Twinkie sandwich?  Fried Spam & Twinkie sandwich?  Battered fried Spam & Twinkie sandwich?

Deep fried battered spam & battered twinkie???? BLEH - Twinkie has the shelf life of Eternity!!

anatess2, I met hubby #1 in 1972 - we traveled together for 6 years, then got married. So, it was after May of 1972 - he did all the grocery shopping, brought the food home to the motel kitchenette for me to cook. Some of the stuff he bought - boggled my mind as to how to cook it!  In July/Aug of 1973 when he picked me up at my Mom's in South Dakota - we took Mom grocery shopping. He was floored that she and I tagged team in the store. She had a cart, I had a cart and we made him sit with the carts as we filled even more. Mom shopped for 3-4 months at a time, and we paid for half of her groceries. Finally he learned that I knew how to shop AND I also cooked for Mom, the two younger sibs, Grams and hubby & myself.

While I was still in high school, I helped Mom with the dinner. The two older sisters did the desserts. Even though I was working from noon till 9 pm - - I prepped the food for the next day after I got home from work. Well, Mom and myself did. This was our time to bond - we worked together in the kitchen.

[JohnsonJones]

@Iggy this is a side note, and absolutely off topic.  Your description (including dates) sound scarily like a couple I used to know back in the 70s, down to the husband being a Japanese/Irish mix (and I think also Native American but I never knew what type).  His mother was also full Japanese.  His mother's side of the family  had been lucky and never gone to the US internment camps, but he had family on his mother's side that served with the Japanese-American units in the Pacific.  This fellow was sort of...geekish and wore glasses.  It would be crazy if you guys just happened to be that same couple I knew of back then.

[pam]

10 hours ago, anatess2 said:

Whoa... that must be super ancient!  I've never seen spam with the key and I've been eating them since the 70's!  The corned beef on the other hand, I've never had without the stupid key.  I mean, seriously... here we are in 2018 and we're still opening corned beef with that stupid key!!!

Even in the 70's it had the key.

[pam]

Spam musubi rocks!!

[Iggy]

7 hours ago, JohnsonJones said:

@Iggy this is a side note, and absolutely off topic.  Your description (including dates) sound scarily like a couple I used to know back in the 70s, down to the husband being a Japanese/Irish mix (and I think also Native American but I never knew what type).  His mother was also full Japanese.  His mother's side of the family  had been lucky and never gone to the US internment camps, but he had family on his mother's side that served with the Japanese-American units in the Pacific.  This fellow was sort of...geekish and wore glasses.  It would be crazy if you guys just happened to be that same couple I knew of back then.

My 1st worked for Stromberg-Carlson from about 1969 until 1978 and traveled the 8 states of the west coast installing telephone communication systems for companies. He stood 6'3", weighed in at around 210, didn't wear glasses till after he left S-C. Was a hard drinker. Ex-MIL's parents were sent to a camp and they lost all of their land & possessions. Grandma & Grandpa were always good to me, treated me with love, gentleness, compassion. More so than their grandson, my husband. He was mean, cruel, abusive, cheating, etc. [[They had 8 daughters and 1 son. The daughters said I was the only Caucasian (white) they liked, thus they were good & nice to me.) I loved them dearly. I wrote to them weekly while we were on the road.]] The first 6 years of our relationship was bliss and fun. I loved traveling. Living out of suitcases and the car. We had a very large military duffel bag with our dishes, cook ware, bath towels and two sets of queen sheets, cases, pillows.Had a small duffel bag with our personal hygiene items as well as laundry/dish cleaners, etc. When we were in town for over a week, everything got unpacked.

My ExFIL's family hailed from Kentucky. THEY were the hard drinkers, abusers, etc. He was out of the picture long before I was in the picture. He abandoned his wife and three children around 1954-56. MIL never filed for divorce. He did - about 15 years after he left. She never re-married, he did about 3 times.

I divorced my 1st in 2004. Separated from him in 1999 - then it took until the end of 2003 for me to save up enough money AND find a Para Legal to file for divorce. Then it took a couple of months to track the jerk down to serve him the papers. To celebrate the Dissolution of Marriage, I ate an entire Marie Callander's Razzelberry Pie!! I heard he went on a drunken binge. What binge??? He was always drunk!