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Canned Meat


David Ross

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Canned Meat is often derided as the food of the poor. Yet the derision by some falls on deaf ears when it comes to SPAM-the oft-maligned canned meat product that statistically is selling better than ever, especially in Hawaii.

So it raises the question of how good canned meat can be. Tonight I prepared some toasted garlic baguette slices spread with a fancy pork pate covered in black peppercorn aspic. As I tasted the trendy toast, I immediately thought of my favorite canned meat product-Underwood Deviled Ham-that salty, spicy spread that my Mother used to slather on Wonder Bread for my school lunch. In fact, Underwood Deviled Ham is every bit as good, even better in fact, than the expensive, hand-made pork pate I bought at a local delicatessen.

So can it be true? Is canned meat really all that bad?

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Spam musubi is a wonderful Hawaiian snack/breakfast. I eat it at certain favorite Maui golf courses early in the AM.

Canned tuna is of course a staple.

Canned salmon makes great salmon logs.

Canned corned beef is great emergency breakfast food.

Canned beef.....eh that's bomb shelter food.

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Canned snails is one of the best things that comes out of a can.

Sardines. I love 'em.

Canned chicken breast makes a nice salad in a pinch. (q.v. hurricane power outage thread)

Can't wait for winter. I am SO whipping up some snails, with my compound butter. (q.v. shallots thread)

Who cares how time advances? I am drinking ale today. -- Edgar Allan Poe

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Is canned meat really all that bad?

I suspect that if you canned good homemade beef burgundy or goulash that it would turn out pretty well. There's a blog "Cowgirl's Country Life" in which the author describes canning venison chunks; she claims the result is good, and it looks good in a couple of her other posts.

Dick in Northbrook, IL

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Spam musubi is a wonderful Hawaiian snack/breakfast. I eat it at certain favorite Maui golf courses early in the AM.

Canned tuna is of course a staple.

Canned salmon makes great salmon logs.

Canned corned beef is great emergency breakfast food.

Canned beef.....eh that's bomb shelter food.

I have found that the canned chicken at Costco or Sam's Club is good and economical.

I've got some Yoder's Amish canned meats (beef, pork sausage, chicken, turkey) - emergency supplies in case of - you know - I live in earthquake country - I can see the San Andreas fault ridge from my deck the closest point to me is 23 miles. The products from Yoder's are very good and I am rather picky.

I like Underwood's products - wish they still had the Roast Beef in my local stores as it was not as salty as the others.

I do draw the line at this! :laugh:

Edited by andiesenji (log)

"There are, it has been said, two types of people in the world. There are those who say: this glass is half full. And then there are those who say: this glass is half empty. The world belongs, however, to those who can look at the glass and say: What's up with this glass? Excuse me? Excuse me? This is my glass? I don't think so. My glass was full! And it was a bigger glass!" Terry Pratchett

 

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When I was a kid one of my mom's go-to quick meals was English muffins, spread with cream cheese and Underwood's Deviled Ham and toasted under the broiler. I haven't thought about it in years but now I'm feeling a serious craving.

"There is nothing like a good tomato sandwich now and then."

-Harriet M. Welsch

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I do draw the line at this! :laugh:

But it's so sparkly.... How can you say no?

I've been making rilletes (sp) at home for a bit now and canning them and I've never got one as good as the Underwood Deviled Ham. But then again, I like Spam and eggs.

I've canned venison and bison for storage and wondered about trying beef as some old timers in West Texas told me that that was the origin of the the chicken fried steak. Meat was canned in lard and the breading/frying was done to decrease it. I knew a few old farmers who still canned meat from when electricity wasn't around. (Parts of Texas didn't get power until the Johnson presidency or later.) I've also had canned or pickled lamb in Northern China. Since it was cooked with lots of little red peppers so the flavor was a bit hidden.

Kevin

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Spam is horrible stuff, 10 million people eating it won't convince me otherwise. I didn't like it when I was kid and it was "eat what's on the table or go hungry" and I don't like it now. I'm not really a fan of Underwood Deviled Ham either. I liked it when I was a kid but now I find it too salty to enjoy no matter what it tastes like. But I would gladly eat both daily rather than eat either of the other two canned meats that were popular where I grew up, potted meat and vienna sausages, monthly. The usual problem for me with canned meats is the salt level. Even if a product happens to be inoffensive or even good flavor-wise, I can't get past the salt. With the potted meat and vienna sausages, dumping in enough salt to kill the taste would be an improvement.

It's kinda like wrestling a gorilla... you don't stop when you're tired, you stop when the gorilla is tired.

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I loved Vienna sausage when I was a kid, and when Mom fried slices of Spam, I thought it was a treat. One of my college roommates lived on potted meat and Ritz crackers. These days I can live without all of them, but I secretly still like pan fried Spam. I buy it in prep for every hurricane season, but my husband is of the opinion that even the Apocalypse wouldn't be enough to make him open that can.

Would Dinty Moore's Beef Stew be considered canned meat (even though there are other ingredients)? I used to love it when Mom made biscuits (from the refrigerator case) and she would split them open and top them with Dinty Moore. Hey, a working mother of four had to occasionally have a back-up, easy meal!

Dear Food: I hate myself for loving you.

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Home canned beef is still popular here in Southeast Missouri. I work in the Extension office, and we get calls from people who need the instructions. I haven't done it, but I might pull some roasts out of the freezer and try it one of these days.

Be sure to do it by the book--this book!

I have done stock (chicken, beef and ham) and clams, when I lived on the Olympic Peninsula. The clams were great in clam chowder, and the stock makes a bowl of soup a 10 minute process. (And it is sooooo much better than commercial stuff.) :wub:

sparrowgrass
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I've seen this product in my neighborhood:

http://www.21food.com/showroom/287886/product/canned-meat---square-army-brand-chopped-pork-pattie-loaf-%28-14.99-oz---425-g-%29.html

From what my father told me about army rations, it seems like a counterintuitive marketing strategy.

It is imported from Poland, and apparently comes in different rankings--

http://www.squareenterprises.com/products.php?bd=2&td=-1&sd=-1&pp=8

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I love smoked sprats in a can; probably my # 1 choice in canned meats right now.

I don't much care for canned tuna anymore although it hasn't been that long that I always had it on hand - just got tired of it, I guess. Occasionally if it's on sale I'll buy some Dolores brand Atun con chipotle or a la Mexicana or con vegetales. They can make nice, ready snacks out of the can. Goya makes a similar line, I think.

I loved Underwood Deviled Ham as a kid - on white bread with Hellmann's, maybe even adding some dill pickles. But I tried it a few years back and couldn't even finish one can. It did make me wonder about making my own. Isn't deviled ham just a variety of potted meat?

A number of years ago while visiting Virginia frequently for genealogical research I picked up a jar of deviled Smithfield Ham somewhere - maybe at a gift shop at the Richmond airport. Appealed to my snob side and is what inspired me to try Underwood again.

One canned meat I wish I could have tried: in the course of research I came across newspaper ads in the 1920s for Gebhardt's potted chili meat in individual serving sized cans. I could imagine finding one of those in your lunch box together with some saltines and feeling fat and happy that day.

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Isn't deviled ham just a variety of potted meat?

In a technical sense, yes... but compared to the stuff in the cans labled simply "potted meat", Underwood Deviled Ham could almost hang out in the gourmet section.

As an interesting (to me anyway) aside, Heston Blumenthal did a fancied-up version of Spam for his "70's Feast". He remembered it being part of his school lunches from that time and wanted to do the gourmet nostalgia thing with it as part of the meal. The recipe is in the Heston's Fantastical Feasts book. It consists of a pork shoulder and Joselito ham base flavored with shallots, garlic, thyme, black truffle juice, brandy, ruby and white port and madeira. Sounds like a tasty, albeit expensive, can of "Spam" to me but I haven't tried it yet.

It's kinda like wrestling a gorilla... you don't stop when you're tired, you stop when the gorilla is tired.

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Isn't deviled ham just a variety of potted meat?

In a technical sense, yes... but compared to the stuff in the cans labled simply "potted meat", Underwood Deviled Ham could almost hang out in the gourmet section.

As an interesting (to me anyway) aside, Heston Blumenthal did a fancied-up version of Spam for his "70's Feast". He remembered it being part of his school lunches from that time and wanted to do the gourmet nostalgia thing with it as part of the meal. The recipe is in the Heston's Fantastical Feasts book. It consists of a pork shoulder and Joselito ham base flavored with shallots, garlic, thyme, black truffle juice, brandy, ruby and white port and madeira. Sounds like a tasty, albeit expensive, can of "Spam" to me but I haven't tried it yet.

Back at the beginning of the '60s, when I was a new bride, I spent most of a day preparing a recipe from a big, glossy cookbook, titled "Spiced Ham Loaf" only to have my husband, ex Navy Petty Officer, announce, "Honey, you have re-invented Spam!"

Needless to say I never made that mistake again.

"There are, it has been said, two types of people in the world. There are those who say: this glass is half full. And then there are those who say: this glass is half empty. The world belongs, however, to those who can look at the glass and say: What's up with this glass? Excuse me? Excuse me? This is my glass? I don't think so. My glass was full! And it was a bigger glass!" Terry Pratchett

 

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Many folks in Alaska smoke and can various meats - salmon in particular, but also moose and reindeer. There's a "get it when you can and put it up for when you can't" attitude there that is still pervasive, especially among the old-timers. I've been to many a party where someone's home-smoked-and-canned salmon was served, and fabulous isn't too strong a word for what that tasted like.

I also keep canned white chicken meat on hand for impromptu salads.

Like others, I had Underwood Deviled Ham sandwiches when I was a kid, but we never had white bread in the house. We always had an assortment of other sorts of breads available - various nuts and grains type breads, whole wheat, rye, etc. Our kid lunch sandwich of routine was made with Roman Meal. I still eat deviled ham sandwiches occasionally, on wheat, made with Duke's mayo and a big slice of sweet onion and beefsteak tomato, but no longer crave it.

When I was really young, back in the '50's, my mother would sometimes fry Spam slices in butter, adding a can of pineapple or fruit salad (we kids loved those bright red cherries and would fight over who got the most) to the skillet. But, aside from the cherries, nobody much liked it. If my dad got to the pan before Mom finished it and turned it out, my dad (the real cook in our family) would sprinkle it with a bit of curry powder, so the taste was akin to that hot curried fruit salad that was ubiquitous several decades later. That did make it better, but Mom wasn't a fan of curry, so invariably that would be the dinner-table argument discussion. Eventually Mom gave up on Spam entirely, a choice we all appreciated.

:biggrin:

Edited by Jaymes (log)

I don't understand why rappers have to hunch over while they stomp around the stage hollering.  It hurts my back to watch them. On the other hand, I've been thinking that perhaps I should start a rap group here at the Old Folks' Home.  Most of us already walk like that.

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It's odd how often this kind of thing happens to me on eG. I haven't bought Underwood in a couple of years. A few days ago I picked a can off the shelf at the grocery store. Had some white bread leftover from making a breakfast casserole. White bread, Duke's mayo and deviled ham sandwich for dinner on Friday. Tasted great. Then I come to eG today. Just another weird food coincidence!

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White bread, Duke's mayo and deviled ham sandwich for dinner on Friday.

No slice of Vidalia onion?

I don't understand why rappers have to hunch over while they stomp around the stage hollering.  It hurts my back to watch them. On the other hand, I've been thinking that perhaps I should start a rap group here at the Old Folks' Home.  Most of us already walk like that.

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White bread, Duke's mayo and deviled ham sandwich for dinner on Friday.

No slice of Vidalia onion?

No - I am, unfortunately, not a fan of raw onion. It's one of those things I've been trying my whole life to like and haven't succeeded in yet. Along with peppers, mushrooms, spicy foods and many, many vegetables, my life would be a LOT easier if I could just like them. Sigh.

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I highly doubt a reputable fine dining restaurant would use canned meat or fish, but I'm often wrong. Now personally, in the confines of your own home, I think that if Underwood Deviled Ham or Fried Spam suits your taste buds, (as it does mine), we shouldn't feel guilty at all about using a canned meat product. (Albeit canned meat that is the butt of jokes). It's really no different than Julia Child having a penchant for Cheetos.

I've been thinking some more today about how I really do like Canned Meats:

-There is a Hawaiian restaurant in the SEA-TAC terminal just above my office. Their Spam, white rice, fried egg and biscuit breakfast is delicious.

-Canned anchovies qualify as a canned meat (protein) product, and what kitchen would be without them?

-While technically not in a "can," Hormel dried beef is packaged in glass jars using a "canning process." If you are a Traditionalist like I am, it's still a good product to use in that old-fashioned dish "Creamed, Chipped Beef

on Toast."

-Our local fair is going on right now and every year there is a category for "Canned Meats." The stuff they put in the canning jars alwasy looks like High School lab experiments to me, but given the fact we live in the upper reaches of Eastern, Washington in the Pacific Northwest, canned wild game is plentiful. There are jars of canned salmon, canned venison, elk, and the odd sampling of canned bear and moose meat. I'll venture into the canned salmon, but I've had roasted bear and it

was awful. I can't imagine how horrible canned bear meat would taste given my naive palate.

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Now personally, in the confines of your own home, I think that if Underwood Deviled Ham or Fried Spam suits your taste buds, (as it does mine), we shouldn't feel guilty at all about using a canned meat product. (Albeit canned meat that is the butt of jokes). It's really no different than Julia Child having a penchant for Cheetos.

Agree 100%. I'm a firm believer that everyone should eat and drink what they like without concern for what the person at the next table or next chair at the bar thinks about it. If somebody enjoys potted meat or vienna sausages, have at 'em. I won't be looking down my nose at them... I just won't ask for a bite. :biggrin:

It's kinda like wrestling a gorilla... you don't stop when you're tired, you stop when the gorilla is tired.

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I am all for Spam, still fry it occasionally, but best of all it was in my Army canteen,

battered and deep fried, two thick slices with plenty of tomato sauce and French fries .

Mind you, most things taste good battered and deep fried

Martial.2,500 Years ago:

If pale beans bubble for you in a red earthenware pot, you can often decline the dinners of sumptuous hosts.

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Do you know that you can order (retail) some "regional" Hormel products on line because they are not carried in markets in some localities?

A friend who has a B & B and has mostly repeat visitors year after year, orders the Hormel Pork Hocks and Pigs Feet because they are simply not available in any of the markets handy to her location. She has to drive down from the mountains to shop at a really big supermarket and even with the shipping costs, it is cheaper than putting gas in her van for that trip.

Hormel on line sales.

Edited by andiesenji (log)

"There are, it has been said, two types of people in the world. There are those who say: this glass is half full. And then there are those who say: this glass is half empty. The world belongs, however, to those who can look at the glass and say: What's up with this glass? Excuse me? Excuse me? This is my glass? I don't think so. My glass was full! And it was a bigger glass!" Terry Pratchett

 

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Once upon a time there was a recurring thread that would have felt right at home with small chunks of spam fried til crispy. I grew up loving fried spam, then read the label and havent bought it since. But once in a while my dad will make the crispy cubes and there isnt enough in one can for the three of us. We dont even let the offspring or spouses try them. Salty fatty crispy.

"You dont know everything in the world! You just know how to read!" -an ah-hah! moment for 6-yr old Miss O.

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I am all for Spam, still fry it occasionally, but best of all it was in my Army canteen,

battered and deep fried, two thick slices with plenty of tomato sauce and French fries .

Mind you, most things taste good battered and deep fried

Harking back to my Army days in the late '50s, I recall the Spam hash - potatoes, onions and peppers that seemed to appear on the Saturday menu whenever one particular mess sergeant was on duty.

The mess hall was in another building (at the Presidio SF) but if we had our windows open we knew what was on the menu as soon as we got out of bed.

"There are, it has been said, two types of people in the world. There are those who say: this glass is half full. And then there are those who say: this glass is half empty. The world belongs, however, to those who can look at the glass and say: What's up with this glass? Excuse me? Excuse me? This is my glass? I don't think so. My glass was full! And it was a bigger glass!" Terry Pratchett

 

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