Re: seedling mulch NOW grits, tongue and other "delicacies"

Hi, Bonnie. When I had the sheep farm, we hired out the slaughtering and butchering, but did most of the rest of it ourselves. We always saved the pig fat/cow suet until the end of the slaughtering season, then rendered it together in a large vat. When it was bubbly, we threw in thin sliced potatoes and made the best potato chips I've ever had. We always had teenagers standing in line to eat them.

The potatoes also absorbed all the remaining blood in the fat [the real flavor, I think] and left it more or less inert and ready to store.


On Sunday, August 15, 2004, at 04:21 PM, Bonnie & Bill Morgan wrote:

Marge, I'm glad I'm not the only one who liked tongue, though not enough to
prepare, cook & slice it down myself! The sausages are another matter.
Most of my uncles were farmers in Loogootee or Jasper Indiana. I used to
spend some vacation time with Uncle Albert and he always did his own
butchering. He truly did clean out the intestines and use it for the
sausage. When Aunt Alvina got through seasoning it, and Uncle Albert had
stuffed it into the intestines, it was a wonderful thing to cook!

And when Uncle Albert had stripped all the fat off the animal (usually a cow
or a pig) he'd put that in a big pot and cook it all down. There would be
rind treats from there in the evening. After the treats had been scooped
out, Aunt Alvina would make her own soap. (I was too busy helping with
other things to see what she did to that fat to make the soap.)

Of course, those two communities in Indiana are primarily German
communities. Until a decade or so, you could see street signs that ended in
"strasse." It was like going to "little" Germany. The last time I was in
the area, one could still attend a worship service of your choice spoken in
German and the restaurants used to serve some great Sauerbraten, sausages
and pastries. Still, I would have liked to have tried your slender
frankfurter, Marge. It had to be heaven!

Blessings,
Bonnie (SW OH - zone 5)

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-gardenchat@hort.net [o*@hort.net] On Behalf
Of Marge Talt
Sent: Sunday, August 15, 2004 3:05 AM
To: gardenchat@hort.net
Subject: Re: [CHAT] seedling mulch NOW grits

Well, Bonnie, I will confess that one of my favorite items my Mom
used to make was pickled tongue.  I was the only one who really liked
it; have not had it for many years as Mom is now 86 and it's a lot of
work...also used to like pickled pig's feet - bought in a jar.
They're still for sale but I can't justify the calories - both items
eaten on saltine crackers:-)

Personally, I can't see the difference between tongue and any other
beef cut (well, excepting filet Mignon)....now, the scrapple under
discussion is another matter - my DH likes it - I think YUCK!  Pig's
feet is also another story for most people, I suppose.

But most everyone likes sausage (I'm not keen on most of it) and that
always contained all the left over bits - it was invented by some
thrifty cook so long ago I am sure nobody really knows when...and
sausage was originally packed in cleaned out intestines; think some
still is; I really don't want to know what's in the modern
equivalent, probably "edible" plastic of some sort....sausage
including hot dogs which are derived from, I believe, a German type
sausage.

One of my fond memories from visiting Germany when we lived in Europe
when I was a kid was this incredible narrow frankfurter type sausage
sold by vendors from carts on street corners - served on slices of a
crunchy sort of French bread with hot mustard; never had it
since...fantastic.  Hot dogs compared are sort of like processed
cheese compared to a fine Brie.

Marge Talt, zone 7 Maryland
mtalt@hort.net
Editor:  Gardening in Shade
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---------- 
From: Bonnie & Bill Morgan <wmorgan972@ameritech.net>
Mother frequently cooked tongue.  I didn't know what it was until I
was a
teen and was with her when she bought the cows tongue. All those
years as a
kid, I thought it was just a really tasty lunch meat. Mom usually
cooked it
when no one was around, aired out the kitchen before anyone came
back in and
quick chilled the tongue in the fridge, slicing it very thin before
I got
back home from school. It tastes good until you know what you are
eating.
:>0 

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Island Jim
Southwest Florida
27.0 N, 82.4 W
Zone 10a
Minimum 30 F [-1 C]

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