Tasty versions of horrible foods

[Charlie Reals]

David Peterson MN; But you haven't lived until you have tried Balut. Just google it.

David,It actually doesn't taste all that bad, the first time was a $100 bar challenge.I have enjoyed it twice since then. It's not top on the menu but when in the company enjoy the cuisine .
Charlie

[jason thigpen]

there is a guy i work with that slathers his pop tarts in butter every morning. he weighs close to 350, which isn't surprising! of course, if you subscribe to the paula deen philosophy, a stick of butter per serving will make anything better!

[Brian Libby]

Hogs head cheese is also yum yum!!! (not sure how it got that name ) If you were an farmer you did not waste anything!!!!

[Doug W Swanson]

I had 'Tacos De Lengue' in Mexico once. It's cow tongue and it was TASTY! Basically they take the tongue, boil it until it falls apart and then put it on a tortilla. Some of the best tacos I've ever had....

I've also had Cebeza. It's cow head where they roast it and then take the meat off and put it in tacos. Also tasty!

[Jim Koepke]

Jim,
How would you feel about making a trip to Savannah for St. Paddy's. You can be in charge of the traditional Breakfast Before the Parade!

I am not very fond of flying and my wife would likely get jealous.

jtk

[Bill Huber]

Well I am one of the ones that like grits. Grits, fried eggs and some ham..... how could ask for anything more.

Now on the Spam, when I was a kid mom would fry it, put it on toast and then cover it with melted cheese, I liked it then.

One of the other things we had when I was a kid was cottage cheese, apple sauce and potatoes. Now this is still one of my favorite dinners.

Boil some potatoes then smash them on a dinner plate about 3/4 or an inch thick with butter, salt and pepper. Now put a 1/2" layer of cottage cheese and then a 1/2" layer of apple sauce and dig in..... now that's good.

[Belinda Barfield]

LOL . . . so drive. Of course your wife was invited as well!

[Bob Turkovich]

LOL . . . so drive. Of course your wife was invited as well!

It's only about 2900 miles, Jim. If you leave now, you might make in time for St. Paddy's. (Weather permitting.....)

[Larry Bratton]

My dad and mom owned a small grocery business when I was a kid. My dad went into business right after WWII and had the very first commercial refrigerator in the small Alabama town where we lived. A meat market was his claim to fame. They brought in locally slaughtered beef and pork, and sold it to the public. Sunday morning was his best business day because most of the country folk that were his customers didn't purchase their meat for their Sunday meal until then. Now this meat market kept us in all kinds of bazaar things to eat at home. Anything left that was on the verge of spoiling got cooked at our house. My mother cooked fried chicken, steak and various kinds of meat for breakfast. My dad sold cheese that he bought in whole "hoops" that came in a round wooden box. He also sold salted mackerel that was packed in brine and came in a wooden tub. (My mother was always extremely watchful of me as a little boy that I did not turn over that tub of salted fish..pewww that stuff smelled fishy) However, fried crispy and served with my mother's homemade scratch biscuits and real home churned butter-I still remember how good that was. You can't find that stuff anymore. Probably the most unusual thing though, that you certainly don't see any more are the organs of liver, lungs (called "lights") and heart of fresh home slaughtered pork. Mother cooked it all together in a big pot with lots of pepper. It was served with green leafy vegetables like collards or turnip greens with her homemade corn bread. Yes, Curt, cracklins were also sold here and they were used to make cracklin corn bread. Another favorite of our family was mother's chicken cornbread. She fried chicken, then put that in her cornbread batter and then cooked it all together in a big iron skillet. Those days are long gone though. My cardiologist saw to that many years ago. Oh well, I'll just sit back here and have another carrot and remember yesteryear!

[Steve Costa]

According to my wife, a Texas lady converted to Californian, there was a dish whipped up in West Texas called "son of a gun stew" Seems this was made with rabbit entrails and when the folks would finish their stew the quote was "son of a gun". Surely this will make some mouths water....not mine!!!!

[Brian Elfert]

Personally, I like Pop-Tarts and I actually don't mind pressed turkey and the like. When I do eat Pop-Tarts I don't warm them up at all.

[Bill Cunningham]

My wife is from the Weymouth/French Shore part of NovaScotia. There is a dish there called Rapier Pie (Rappie Pie locally) To the uninitiated, it resembles a pan of wallpaper paste, with a nice brown crust, brushed down with margarine (butter was always too expensive in this area) but it tastes quite good (it's the texture that put some people off). I was born in Toronto, and I love it. Two out of three of my daughters like it as well (the youngest -34- is too fussy) My brother-in-law makes a great Rappie Pie, and he uses a 'juicer' to grind and remove the juice from the potatoes, before adding beef or chicken, broth and baking.. Below is a less modern method, but it's the only printed recipe I could find.. If you have French shore ancestry in your family, the oldest members may remember this..

This is something you eat for dinner and made its appearance in Nova Scotia around the year 1755. People in the French Acadian region (Southwest Nova Scotia) are still eating this to this day. The recipe is as follows:

Rappie Pie: Cook meat of your choice (Chicken or Beef) in (30 cups) water, onions, salted chives, 3 tbs. salt and 1 tbs. pepper. In a large Bowl put (4 lbs) grated potatoes, 1/4 lb margarine, 1 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp. pepper.
Stirring constantly;
GRADUALLY pour your boiling broth in 3 stages over mixture to the amount of 20 to 22 cups. Mix thoroughly!
Grease large pan (12" x 18"). Spread half of mixture in pan. Add boneless chunks of meat evenly. Cover with the rest of potato mixture. Bake at 350 degrees F for 3 hours. Should be brown crusty and delicious.

[Jim Koepke]

Bill,

That Rappie Pie sounds like a different version of Shepherd's pie.

I know when I was a kid I didn't like one dish and I haven't had it since, but my mom learned some of her cooking from her dad being an Army officer. Some people like the Army dish that can usually only be mentioned by its initials, S.O.S. (something on a shingle)

I think it was that dish that made me not like anything on white bread.

jtk

[Bill Cunningham]

Nope Jim.. It's not even close to shepherds pie.. As a matter of fact, if someone did not tell you it was made from potatoes, you would never in a million years guess that was the main ingredient.. It's almost like transparent gelatinous goo with a crust on it..
But a tasty transparent gelatinous goo.. Especially with lots of black pepper..

[Belinda Barfield]

Yes, Curt, cracklins were also sold here and they were used to make cracklin corn bread. Oh well, I'll just sit back here and have another carrot and remember yesteryear!

My parents have never been big on Christmas. Gifts were most often functional rather than fun - with the exception of the year I got a chemistry set and a microscope. This year for Christmas my mother gave me about ten pounds of fresh sausage and a big bag of cracklins. My cousin and his wife grow their own pigs and make and sell the sausage, along with lots of other pork parts. The day that my parents went to pick up my Christmas gift my cousin and staff had made 700 pounds of sausage. They were already sold out of smoked sausage - dang it! I made cracklin cornbread last Wednesday night. Does it count that I had roasted carrots with it?