Navy vessels on the Mississippi & Ohio Rivers

[Master Oil Racing Team]

The funny thing about my Dad cooking Spam was, when I was on my own in college and didn't know how to whip up a quick meal, I cooked Spam in the way I saw my Dad cook it. The college friends liked it and they asked me what Spam was. In the tradition of my Dad, (as Bill Van would accuse), I told them it was made of chicken lips, pigs ears and stuff they didn't want to know. But Gene...what about SOS? You didn't like that?

[Bill Van Steenwyk]

Gene:

As I have accused Wayne in the past, sometimes our "genes" get in the way of what we may or may not have liked if we never heard the negatives. My feeling about spam is much the same as my Father's and as I heard a fellow say about Buttermilk.

He said the taste of Buttermilk was OK, what made him sick was the way the glass looked on the inside after you drank it.

My feeling about spam doesn't have as much to do with the taste, or even the appearance of the spam itself. It's that clear, snotty looking, vibrating, shaking, shimmying stuff that it is packed in. Thats TERRIBLE looking stuff, and I could never forget about it while trying to eat the spam, as no matter how hard you try to get rid of it all, there is always a little clinging to it somewhere, no matter how hard you try to wipe it all off. You will always see it on the way to your mouth, after you thought you had it all gone!!!

Wayne: I DO NOT want to hear what the clear stuff is.

[Gene East]

Bill,

If you fry Spam, that stuff is gone. Try it with eggs for breakfast. It's been a while since I've had Spam. My boys and I fix it on camping trips. Norma won't allow it in the house.

Perhaps we can get Charley to cook Spam instead of alligator at the next reunion.


Wayne,

Of course I like SOS. When you get down to basics, that's not much different than bisquits and gravy and I never met a true Southern boy who didn't like bisquits and gravy.

BTW:

What are you guys doing up so late?

[Bill Van Steenwyk]

Gene:

I suppose your statement about that "stuff" being gone after cooking or frying spam is correct. BUT, you still have to get it out of the can, and that is where the "stuff" is at it's worst and most visable. I will still pass, both on the Spam and the "stuff".

And before you suggest I get someone else or pay someone to get it out of the can and cook it for me so I could enjoy it that way, I am just not really interested in putting anyone else through that experience either. I worked in a funeral home as an embalmers assistant right after coming home from college, and even that does not compare with opening a can of spam. Some folks are like that about oysters, I like oysters, so it is just not the look or feel of spam, there is something more involved. Like the Supreme Court justice said when trying to define pornography, "I can't explain it, but I know it when I see it." Same with me and spam, I know it when I see it.

[Master Oil Racing Team]

There's nothing wrong with that stuff Bill Van. It's just a preservative by way of filling the rest of the can up. What else would you want it to be packed in...water?...olive oil?...tomato sauce? Just think green and recycling. They grind up the hooves, treat and boil it, settle out solids and skim scum, then use what's rendered as a gelatin preservative. You probably liked to smell the glue in elementary school right? Horses hooves. Remember they used to send the old swayback horses to the glue factory.

Do you not like vienna sausages either Bill Van? When my nephew was about 2 or 3 years old or so, my sister Jan handed him a vienna sausage to taste. He had never seen one before. He crossed both hands over his private parts and began to whimpering and crying out "No.....no..no..no.." He had a terrified look on his face, and he was so traumatized he still remembers it to this day. But now he laughs about it.

[F-12]

Do you REALLY want spam instead of gator? I can include some in with the gator so it at least has some flavor other than the gooey packaging.........I like fried spam though. Might be a thought................just for Gene

[lilabner]

I'm an LST veteran..LST 1164, Walworth County, built in 1952 in Pascagoula, Miss..As a Marine, I was on a couple more also from 64-68, but remember this one the most..Spent 2 months on it..not good, not bad..ate all the above mentioned and was thankful I had it..Would eat anything I was given in a can or otherwise..lost 40 lbs in Nam..came back at 139 lbs, 6'2", and a 29 waist...
Semper Fi

[ProHydroRacer]

[QUOTE=Bill Van Steenwyk.......It took 30 days for the crossing and he never had any desire after returning home to take any type of sea voyage again. He also never ate Spam after that trip overseas. My mother attempted to serve it one time in the early fifties, and my Dad said if she ever opened a can of that in the house again, he was leaving. Only time I ever saw my Dad have a harsh word to my Mother about what was on the table for supper.[/QUOTE]

Bill,
My dad told me the same thing about the sea voyage and Spam. He landed at Normandy with the 3rd Armor. Got hurt there and was laid up for over two years. He and I both ended up with bad arms his left my right.
Bill

[Gene East]

Wayne,

Do you suppose Bill likes Jell-o???

Let's not tell him.

[Master Oil Racing Team]

I wondered about that myself Gene. That's why I didn't say anything. But then I was wondering about why you thought it might be better for Charley to cook spam instead of gator tail? The thought did cross my mind for Charley to have an open can half full of spam next to the frying pan while he was simmerin' some gator tail. That might mean more for the rest of us.