For what it’s worth, I found that a good substitute is the wing tips from packages of whole chicken wings. Before the skyrocketing demand for ‘buffalo wings’ cranked the price, I used to get multi-packs of wings for around $.99 lb, and I’d use my cleaver to section them off.
The first two sections were made into homemade ‘traditional’ wings with butter/vinegar/tabasco and the tips would go into a freezer bag to power up my next batch of stock. Nowadays, wings run $2.99/lb even whole, and I don’t bother to buy them often. Sadness.
Damn, I remember when wings were 19¢/lb., same as backs. Nobody wanted them.
In 1906, a certain Collins & Harlan recorded a song called “Ni*** Loves His Possum”. This would suggest that possum was one of those “bad” foods reserved for the lower strata of society. Ironically though, have you ever heard of Billy Possum? Just like the Teddy Bear started as a mascot for US President Theodore Roosevelt, there was an attempt by the supporters of President William Howard Taft with a possum mascot (first stuffed, then toy possums were produced) after Taft, shortly after being elected, was served “possum and taters” (a whole possum on a bed of potato!!!) at a banquet, and devoured it. See here.
No, we didn’t just put feet into the soup, we actually ate them. Delicious!
Just discovered this factoid that, during the 18th century, it was routine for Ohio meatpackers to throw ribs into the Ohio river because they were considered valueless.
The meatpacking industry also resulted in tremendous amounts of pollution. The relatively warm temperatures in southern Ohio caused meat to spoil quickly, resulting in a horrendous odor. Parts of the butchered animals that business owners could not sell, they simply dumped into the Ohio River, hoping the current would wash the waste away. Before the arrival of a large number of German immigrants during the 1830s, most meatpackers simply threw the ribs of the animals into the Ohio River. Most Americans refused to eat spareribs. Once Germans, who loved spareribs, moved to the city, the meat processors had a market for the ribs.
So you’re saying the German immigrants in the 1830s weren’t white or just that Germans aren’t racist like the English?