I used to be afraid of Spam for some reason. But whereas things like sardines still creep me out, I’ve lost my irrational fear of Spam.
My ex used to make a chicken and rice dish for me with cut up Spam. And of course when I vacationed in Hawaii I made sure to have one of their breakfast eggs and Spam dishes (Hawaiians like their Spam). It basically just spiced salty ham. It’s not terribly different from a breakfast sausage patty.
I like it. I believe it can be eaten out of the can, though of course it is precooked so you can’t really call that “raw”. It would be like eating a deli meat or a room temperature hot dog. I think it’s best chopped up and “cooked” (warmed) in rice or eggs.
Some spam trivia:
• A friend of mine in college relayed this poem to me:
• There is an annual Spam carving contest
• In the famous Monty Python skit, although the frustrated dining customer is increasingly exasperated by the seeming lack of a dish without Spam, if you pay attention, at the very beginning the proprietor does actually mention a dish without Spam. This skit is also the origin of the term ‘spam’ in reference to unwanted email, because of the excessive and irritatingly amusing use of the word “Spam”.
I also like it lightly fried in sandwiches [rye bread, lettuce, slice of good cheddar cheese and some mustard]
Cubed and in omelets or scrambled eggs, in ‘farmers breakfast’ [diced pork product, cooked leftover potatoes, eggs and grilled tomato] or in hash[think corned beef hash just spam instead of corned beef]
It is one of those odd comfort foods, sort of like fried bologna sandwiches, something I do perhaps once a year or so.
I used to love Underwood’s canned deviled ham, even as a young adult. I quit eating it for a couple of decades, then saw it on a shelf when I was buying some canned tuna and picked up a couple of cans. Yeccchhh! Salty, greasy, and peppery. I don’t know if they changed the recipe, or my taste changed, or both, but it’s no longer an enjoyable treat for me.
As I said earlier, Spam does improve in taste if it’s at least warmed up, and preferably if it’s fried. I think that it does have too much seasoning in it and fat in it, though. YMMV.
I think they actually did change some recipes for vienna sausages, potted meats and the like. I also used to eat potted meats and vienna sausage when much younger, and then tried it again after 2000 to use up some that we had picked up sort of randomly as durable food goods in case of the Y2K bug kicking in. The dog enjoyed them shortly thereafter.
Spam seems to have stayed the same, except I do not like the lite, sodium reduced and turkey spams.
For our anniversary, we had a very low-key celebration. My boyfriend came over with a DVD, and I cooked us lemon chicken and fried rice. The fried rice had Spam, bacon, and eggs in it. I laughed at his plate as we were cleaning up-- he had carefully eaten around every chunk of Spam. That must’ve taken effort in the dark.
1 can Spam
1 8oz package cream cheese
2 tablespoons ketchup
1 or 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon lemon juice
cayenne pepper to taste
Mince the spam with a fork and then stir all by hand (if you’re my mom) or use a handmixer (if you’re me). Spread on one slice of bread, cover with more bread.
Opinions in my family vary on whether it’s best fresh or chilled. I prefer chilled. Opinions also vary as to whether Lite Spam is an abomination unto the heavens.
I like an occasional spam sandwich with mustard, lettuce, and tomato. The leftover will keep perfectly fine in a baggie or plastic wrap for a few days. (In the fridge.)
An old roommate of mine was from the home town of Spam in Minnesota. He said every year they had “Spam Days” wherein one could find spam being used for any and all purposes on this planet.
Spam’s OK. But like others, I can just get some precooked ham from the luncheon meats for about the same price. The invulnerability of Spam is really it’s only advantage to me.
I’d post some Spam links, except that it doesn’t come in links. Just cans.
In our family Underwood Deviled Ham was a rare treat. The can was too small and didn’t feed enough of us. I think my mom prefered to keep it all to herself so she either hid it or just didn’t buy it much. Instead of spam we usually just got cheap canned ham, spam was too fancy. We got that thin meat in a jar every so often, too, potted meat food product?
That reminds me, we used to have some potted meat product sometimes. I think it was called braunschweiger or something like that. I’m remembering I liked it… But I was a kid then.