When did you last eat spam? [... if ever]

[mangerton]

.............. carrageenan (whatever that is, don't bother!),..............

It's a product used as a thickener and emulsifier in many processed foods, including icecream. It's made from seaweed.

I would avoid these pressurised creams no matter how much you pressurised me. Similarly with "coffee creamers" which contain a whole lot of things you'd probably rather not know about. If it didn't start life in a cow, I won't touch it.

I always preferred Instant Whip to Angel Delight, but haven't had either for years. I'll have a look next time I'm shopping.

[mangerton]

It's my dad's sweet condiment of choice I've tried it - not bad on the old strawbs

My late father had a very sweet tooth, but always put pepper on his strawberries.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Spam Fritters, Chips, Baked Beans ........1s 3d
Steak Pie Cabbage Potatoes ................ 2s 0d
Corned Beef Bubble & Squeak ..............1s 6d
Manchester Tart & Custard .................. 1s 0d
Bread Roll & Butter ...................................9d
Cupt of Tea ..........................................6d
Biscuits .................................................. 3d

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=anwy2MPT5RE

[Nick Armstrong]

My late father had a very sweet tooth, but always put pepper on his strawberries.

I'm rather at a loss for words....

[Roslynmuse]

Thanks, Cali - this is exactly what I was thinking when I read the thread title!

I had spam fried in batter about 30 yrs ago and it provoked a gagging response. Pork luncheon meat, similarly prepared, years before, didn't. Maybe it would now.

Finding a bit of gristle in my corned beef hash put me off that too, probably when I was about six or seven. As with so much processed meat, it isn't so much the taste as the texture - and the fear of finding something the teeth bounce off - that puts me off. There's not much ham that I fancy, unless its very wafer thin and there are no transparent bits in it. Royal Oak - yes, remember that too. There seemed to be an awful lot of jelly round it. Where's that vomiting smiley again?

As a child I was occasionally given what was referred to as 'Ulster Fry' - thinking back, it was wafer thin pork luncheon meat fried to a crisp. Quite liked that.

Less happy memories associated with brawn, tongue, haslet, Wall's pink sausages...

Strange that I quite like a bit of black pudding.

Talking of puddings - Angel's Delight and Instant Whip were interchangeable in my mind, but butterscotch and chocolate were favourites.

Elmlea - a passable replacement for cream if you don't think too deeply about it. A cheap variant of condensed/evaporated milk? Could never tell the difference between them.

[Flay]

I love butterscotch Angel Delight with vanilla ice cream.

Instant whip was a completely different desert. Wasn't it use on things?

[french frank]

I'm surprised the ASA hasn't been on to (some of) us by now:

spam = electronic junk mail

Spam = the trademark of the Hormel Foods Corporation's spiced ham

spiced ham = this

[gurnemanz]

Spam fritters were a regular feature of our school dinners. Fat oozed out liberally from the "batter" as I recall but I can't remember disliking them.

The only time a school meal actually caused me to vomit was when stewed figs and custard turned up. An irrational aversion to figs in all their manifestations persists to this day - over 50 years later.

[french frank]

I bought some pastrami last week - now that makes a decent sandwich!

Decided it needed some gherkins, so out to the Coop. When I got the jar back home I couldn't unscrew the lid, not even after standing it in boiling water. Was reduced to attacking it with a hammer rather than missing out on the gherkins ...

[gurnemanz]

Sliced gherkins with liver sausage make a good sandwich.

[Bryn]

Spam = the trademark of the Hormel Foods Corporation's spiced ham

Ahem. Spiced Pork And Ham, actually.

"Pork with Ham, Salt, Water, Modified Potato Starch, Sugar, Sodium Nitrite."

from http://www.spam.com/varieties/spam-classic

[Nick Armstrong]

Thanks, Cali - this is exactly what I was thinking when I read the thread title! I had spam fried in batter about 30 yrs ago and it provoked a gagging response.

.... haslet

I love butterscotch Angel Delight with vanilla ice cream.

Gentlemen of excellent good taste...

Haslet: there's a throwback to growing up in the Midlands - it was a favourite of my dad's... I didn't mind it, with lashings of some sort of sauce to make it less dry. Then on a trip to Borough Market, much more recently, I found out it was a Lincolnshire speciality (the Aged P grew up in Newark, not far away...) - some pork farmers from near Newark were selling their haslet at Borough. Bought some, not vile... but no cravings since then...

I recall another pork-based delicacy offered by the cold meat counter of the grocer's in the 70s: polony sausage - vaguely spicy dryish sausage in a bright red skin, to be sliced and eaten in sandwiches (with tomato ketchup to make it tolerably flavoursome). (Same as baloney... a corruption of bologna sausage, I think).

[Roslynmuse]

Haslet: there's a throwback to growing up in the Midlands

Misread that first time as 'a growback to throwing up in the Midlands'...

[Nick Armstrong]

Misread that first time as 'a growback to throwing up in the Midlands'...

[Pabmusic]

Here is an easy breakfast dish from the Philippines:


Spam fried rice


Ingredients:

1 tin of Spam, chopped into 1/4" cubes
4 cups of cooked, then cooled, rice (something like Thai jasmine rice, rather than basmati or long-grain)
1 chopped onion
5 minced garlic cloves
Chopped spring onions
Chopped tomatoes
¼ cup soy sauce
Salt and pepper to taste
Oil (anything good for ‘crisp’ frying)
2 eggs

Procedure:


1. Sauté the chopped Spam in 2-3 tablespoons of oil until crisp on the outside; add the onions and garlic and cook until the onions are translucent.

2. Add the cooled rice and 1-2 tablespoons more of oil. Mix the rice thoroughly with the Spam, onions and garlic. Add 1-2 tablespoons of soy sauce and distribute it evenly over the mixture. Flatten out the rice and brown it lightly. Stir the mixture and repeat.

3. Make a hole in middle of the rice and break an egg into it. Let the egg cook as you gradually stir it into the rice. Add the rest of the soy sauce and stir fry until the egg is cooked completely. Season with salt and pepper.

4. Add chopped tomatoes over the top and decorate with a fried egg and spring onions.

Variations:

This recipe is often made substituting chopped hotdog sausages for the Spam. A chopped chilli can be added at any stage (that is, either to be fried or as a raw garnish) for a little ‘kick’ (though this is surprisingly uncommonly done for a SE Asian country).