A couple of weeks ago, I had a craving for some Spam late at night. I fried up two cans’ worth and made butties with home-baked bread and HP sauce. Yum!
I think this is sandwich in Brit-speak, right? Can anyone explain the etiology of this term that sounds nothing like what it is.
I think it’s a borrowing from German Buterbrot, literally buttered bread. Or maybe it’s the other way around.
Buterbrod is used in other languages as well, notably Russian. In all of them, it means “sandwich.”
“Buttie” is just typical British slang for (usually) a quick bacon sandwich.
Parts is parts.
Back in the day, I wrote for a zine and one thing I remember was that one writer said of SPAM, “That jellied shit that surrounds it looks like alien jizm.”
IDK how that person knew what it looked like, but chances are, they weren’t wrong.
When I was the scout master for our troop, the summer camp we went to had an outdoor cooking competition between the various troops. The kids were supposed to cook the food, but the adults really got into it. Roast chicken. Fajitas. Chateau briand. Dutch oven stews and cakes.
I brought the ingredients for chocolate chip pancakes and fried SPAM, drenched in maple syrup. All cooked by the scouts.
We won first place. Deservedly.
Funnily enough, I just said that today (regarding chicken).
Spam:
I ate a can of SPAM® tonight
Gel and all
(Gel and all gel and all…)
You almost had my recipe
Didn’t you dear
You nearly had it broiled and fried
Dinner bound served with sweet onions
And a couple beers
It attracted flies
And flies are free to fly
Fly away
High away
Bye bye
(Ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh)
- Elton John
My mom probably used margarine. That was back in the day when we thought it was better for you than butter.
I also have a can of deviled ham in the pantry. It’s really good in bean soup.
I love it. I’ll have Spam, Spam, Spam, Spam, Spam, Spam, Spam, Spam, baked beans, Spam, Spam, and Spam. Seriously, I grew to enjoy Spam when added to Ramen and vegetables. The only reason I did not like it as a kid was because of the intense saltiness. Also, it was easy to confuse it with Armor Treat, which was made with ingredients that would make a Scrapple maker cringe.
We get spam both in the can and in the individual packaged slices - if it is both of us we fry a can, if just me I will fry up 2 slices.
I also tend to have the little glass jars of dried beef slices to make shit on a shingle.
And rolled and cut biscuits, not drop biscuits. Drop bikkies just do not develop the nice layers.
I did it. I had SPAM for lunch today. First time I’ve eaten it in probably 40 years… maybe longer.
I was in the grocery store the other day and remembered this thread. I picked up a can of the Original recipe (make a note for next time to get the low sodium version). I stood there holding it and turned to an elderly gentleman near me (that is to say a man my age 
) and asked, “Am I nuts for buying this can of SPAM with the intention of eating it?” He shifted his gaze to the middle distance and replied, “Ya know, about twice a year I get a craving for the stuff and then I just gotta buy some!” Validation from a complete stranger is always gratifying.
So I sliced a couple of hunks about 1/2" thick (make a note for next time to slice thinner for maximum crispiness), fried them in a cast iron frying pan. When both sides were crispy, I spread a bit of mustard on the upper side then sprinkled on a little brown sugar and covered the pan so the topping would melt.
It tasted okay. Actually pretty tasteless, but oh-so salty! The crispy edges helped. The sugar-mustard topping helped, too. It was better than I expected. Will I eat the rest of the can? Maybe.
I served it with a very small baked sweet potato, one ear of fresh corn, and a wilted baby spinach salad with bacon (cider vinegar & bacon fat), onions, and cherry tomatoes. Good idea to have sides so you can take a bite of something else in between the very salty bites of SPAM.
I make a marinade with soy sauce, oyster sauce, and brown sugar. Let your slices sit in that for awhile, then cook. Eat as is or as spam musubi.
My favorite SPAM – though it’s been a few years since I’ve had it – is the chorizo flavored one:
Fried up with some eggs, or in a sandwich (especially with eggs), it’s a pretty decent treat. I was surprised with how much I liked this, though I do like regular Spam well enough. It doesn’t quite remind me of chorizo so much as those canned hot tamales. Or the filling that goes into a Chicago Tom-Tom tamale, for those in the area who understand that reference. Definitely best fried.
[Musing…] I guess SPAM is kind of the tofu of the meat world, eh?
I’m finding it a bit puzzling that some people keep mentioning the gel in Spam. Spam has hardly any gel…certainly not as much as some soups, a canned ham, or even my dogs’ canned food.
Just saying.
Not anymore, but in the good old days when the can required a key to open* the entire loaf had a couple of millimeters on all sides. Really nummy when it had a chance to congeal between two slices of bread in a school lunch.
Another feature that seems to have gone by the wayside is the piece of gristle that was guaranteed to hit the tooth which was about to come out.
* See here for a side by side comparison. The product pictured isn’t the genuine item, but the concept is the same.
What about that Figgy Pudding SPAM®?
(anybody actually try any?)
I’m not a regular Spam consumer, but it’s never been nearly so bad as it’s been described. Decent to fairly good would be how I’d describe it.
From what I can tell, the hatred for Spam started in WWII when some soldiers/sailors/marines ended up getting it to eat repeatedly, and got ridiculously tired of it as a result.