The other day, I devoured a can of Spam in my pantry that was best eaten before August 2013. I just remembered I also have a brick of Velveeta that’s been sitting in my fridge since I moved in in October 2011. Now I have something new to try! 
After thinking about this some more and reading the reviews, I now think this may be brilliant.
There are still plenty, you just have to go to Queens. I can think of four off the top of my head.
It seems like every mom in my town was making “tamale pie” when I was growing up. It was vile stuff - looked like the poop of someone who had eaten a lot of whole kernel corn the day before.
I’m glad that the craze for this icky dish died out.
Yes, many of these things were very popular for a decade then went out of style, even tho in most cases you can still find them somewhere.
I’ve been to a couple of them. They’re fun when your kids are preteens and young teens – they love the buffets where they can eat as much mac and cheese and fried potatoes and baked ziti as they can hold.
I enjoyed them because the People of Queens come out in their Sunday Go to Meetin’ outfits; it’s like observing a Martian landing. And some of their women are quite comely, even in the skintight neon minidresses.
The quality of the meat is atrocious, though. Sweetbreads and kidneys are not to be found.
And, in my part of the country, they are called Vi-EENA sausages. Often eaten on white bread with Miracle Whip. :eek:
Eh? I’ve never once been to a restaurant that has Spam on the menu. Anywhere. I also can’t remember the last time I’ve gone to any group events with contributed food and seen someone place a Spam-featured dish on the table.
Mostly what I don’t see are the recipe suggestions for it. If you look at vintage magazines, especially ones targeted to women (again, which I just had to do for research) there used to be a lot of ads featuring Spam recipes. During the WWII and post-War era, especially, I found one in nearly every issue. Admittedly, I didn’t have to look at anything past the '50s.
In contrast, these last few years, I ended up getting gift subscriptions for similar magazines (not my choice, I might add) and the times I do leaf through them (generally when I start to think I might be a decent parent and I need to guilt trip myself because DAMN, some of those suggestions make Martha Stewart look like a slacker), I never see ads for Spam. Given that at least a quarter of these magazines seem to be focused on recipes/snacks for your kids/fast one dish healthy dinners or the like, the difference is pretty glaring. Granted, most of these magazines focus on ‘healthy’, and I doubt anyone’s going to put Spam at the head of the healthy food parade.
I did know Spam retained its popularity overseas, especially in the Polynesian regions, but there’s not much of it on the shelves around here. I have to look for it to find it. Who knows, maybe it’s the stores I shop. I always have to find some before Christmas, because I usually stick a can in the better half’s Christmas stocking along with some smoked oysters and sardines. (Hey, he likes it, it’s his stocking.)
I guess it’s an acquired taste. I know I can’t help but look at it and think ‘soylent green is made from people!’ But I kind of feel that way about pickled bologna, too, and half my family would beat me to death for saying that as well.
Thank you! Actually? You gave me an idea. My great-aunt’s got Alzheimer’s and she’s in a facility near here. A few times a week, I take her dinner or lunch - food she likes and remembers. The food’s surprisingly good there, but she’s not from around here and she misses regional favorites. I’ll give this a shot. 
Much appreciated!
CMC fnord!
Try Chivito de Oro or La Fusta, both in Jackson Heights. The meat is just fine, and you’ll find sweetbreads and blood sausage and other organ meats in plenty.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk
Ah, thank you! And with that as a search term, I bet youtube will supply…yep, here’s one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wU-VYesyAlA
You’re welcome. And what a lovely thing to do for your great-aunt! So many elders get stashed and forgotten. 
I use my 2 cup measuring cup. Although I do have two gravy boats, they are in boxes in the store room in my basement and it’s way too much trouble to dig them out than it is to use the handy measuring cup.
Too many things here to comment on individually, but I will say that I love vintage recipes and nothing is out of style at my house. (I’m not particularly fond of organ meats, but we do tripe and things like that.)
What about stuffed vegetables? Stuffed cabbage (sarma), stuffed peppers, stuffed zucchini, mayonnaise “salads” served in hollowed tomatoes? I still make these sorts of things from time to time, but they seem to have dropped off the radar lately.
Also, a few pages back, someone mentioned “spiedies” kabobs. I wonder if that’s related to my husband’s Sicilian family recipe for “spiedini”? Sort of like individual braciole or rouladen–pounded steak filled with a mixture of seasoned breadcrumbs, parmesan, parsley, and stewed tomato. Then rolled up on skewers and grilled or baked, and dipped in lemon-garlic butter. Yum!
Well, the etymology of the word “spiedie” comes from the Italian “spiedo,” meaning “spit” (as the cooking implement), so they at least share a common etymology. I believe the originator of the Spiedie is a place called Lupo’s in Endicott, on Binghamton’s border. The vinegary marinade shares some similarities with other dishes in the upstate/Western New York region, like Buffalo’s Chiavetta’s marinade (basically, a vinegary Italian dressing type of thing) and Cornell chicken (a vinegary somewhat mayo-like marinade). Binghamton’s riff on it puts in on skewers, whereas the other two it’s just a marinade for grilled chicken, whether whole or in parts.
Well, I did manage to find some chorizo Spam! The Hormel product locator claimed it wasn’t available in my area, so I ordered 6 from them, but then today at the grocery store I decided to check on a lark and, lo and behold!, there it was! Success!
I fried a slice up a couple minutes ago, and my review is that it’s pretty darned good, if you already enjoy Spam. Doesn’t really taste all that much like chorizo to me, but it does taste almost exactly like the filling of a Tom-Tom tamale (which is a local treat–it’s probably something like the filling of one of those Hormel canned hot tamale things, but I don’t remember if I’ve ever had that.) Needless to say, I think it’s quite tasty and it gets a thumbs up from me.
I was picking up a few things at my local Butera last night and did remember to check for chorizo Spam. They didn’t have it, of course. Where did you find it?
My neighborhood Pete’s Market at 43rd and Pulaski had it.
On New Year’s Day, the cooking newsletter I get from the NY Times revealed this!
I made it with Guinness and aged Irish cheddar. It’s great.
IIRC the etymology is from “spiedini”, meaning “skewer”. It was brought to the Southern Tier by immigrants from the Abruzzo region of Italy, was called spierini or spiducc, and was marinated skwered mutton cooked over a brazier. Spiedies started off as a lamb dish, but now it’s almost impossible to find lamb spiedies (Lupo’s doesn’t have them. Pancho’s Pit did until they closed down.) I can’t say about Chiavetti’s (which is unknown in the Binghamton area), but spiedies definitely predate Cornell chicken.
Lupo’s didn’t open until the 60s, but more grandparents told me about eating spiedies at Sharkey’s and Red’s Kettle Inn in the late 40s. Those places are both still there and selling speidies, but neither is Italian, so presumably speidies were sold in Italian restaurants before that.