Do you like eating Spam ? DW and I argue about Spam

[littleb]

Bought a can today while shopping at the grocery store.

[youbet]

The Spam Museum in Austin, Minn. is well worth stopping to see if you're passing through that area. It's not far off the Interstate and has been recently remodeled too! We were there in 2012 and it was really a hoot.

I can't say we're frequent Spam consumers but we do bring it with us when camping and it's OK fried with eggs at breakfast or fried and eaten in a sandwich.

In the 1970's I worked for one of Spam's competitors. I was in the can manufacturing department but frequently got over to the canning and processing area. Any canned meat product is going to look a bit unsavory during processing and canning and ours were not exceptions. Vienna sausages, chili, pate', meat based soups, etc. I had little appetite for any of it for a while. Things were extraordinarily clean, orderly and sanitary in the plant. It just didn't seem like mom's kitchen. I'm sure the situation at Spam is the same. When you're processing tens of thousands of cans a day, it's going to look like a factory......

[NW-Bound]

Quote:

Originally Posted by youbet ... Any canned meat product is going to look a bit unsavory during processing and canning and ours were not exceptions. Vienna sausages, chili, pate', meat based soups, etc...

Any slaughterhouse is going to look unsavory. That applies also to the meat department in the back of your grocery store where they shrink wrap the meat and make it look pretty before bringing it out to the shelves.

Back on Spam, I have not had it for decades. Time to try it again, I guess. As far as processed food, I guess it is not too different than regular ham or salami in terms of salt or added ingredients for preservatives.

PS. I have watched an episode of a show on FoodTV where they filmed inside a Spam factory. Nothing unsanitary or looking bad about it. The big chunks of meat may be fatty, but I did not see them add scrap or bad stuff to it. Did they "sanitize" for the filming? I don't know.

[Walt34]

DW walked in when I was reading this thread and said she hadn't had any Spam since her teens, same as me. On impulse, I just ordered two cans from Amazon along with some sriracha hot sauce. I'll have to think up how to prepare this with eggs and maybe some cheese.

[CardsFan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by swakyaby I confess to enjoying the occasional spam musobi: fry a slice of spam until browned on one side, flip it over and fry in a small amount of soy sauce and brown sugar. Lay a section of roasted nori, layer some sushi rice, then the slice of spam and top with another piece of roasted nori. Press with the can (or a musobi press), and enjoy while still warm. I actually own a spam slicer, and a musobi press in the shape of a can of spam. Sent from my iPad using Early Retirement Forum

Yesterday there was an episode of Andrew Zimmern's Delicious Destinations (Travel Channel) in Honolulu that featured something very similar. According to the show, Spam was popularized there during WWII, as a staple of the armed forces.

[braumeister]

Quote:

Originally Posted by youbet The Spam Museum in Austin, Minn. is well worth stopping to see if you're passing through that area. It's not far off the Interstate and has been recently remodeled too! We were there in 2012 and it was really a hoot.

I visited in 2011 and spent an enjoyable couple of hours there. Well worth the visit if you're in the region.

[ERD50]

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Originally Posted by Nemo2 In the early 1960s, outside Adelaide, South Australia, I worked for a while at a plant producing a Spam type product...........there might be many things I'd do with this stuff, but eating it is not one of them.

Quote:

Originally Posted by pb4uski You would probably say the same about hot dogs and especially about Jello.

From what I've read, there's nothing unsavory about Spam or hot dogs.

From wiki:

Quote:

Spam's basic ingredients are pork shoulder meat, with ham meat added, salt, water, modified potato starch as a binder, sugar, and sodium nitrite as a preservative. Natural gelatin forms during cooking in its tins on the production line.

And the whole hot dog scare is generally a myth. I looked into this a while back, and while in the US, hot dog producers are allowed to use a wide variety of 'parts and pieces', it turns out that all has to be on the label. So no one adds lips and kidneys to hot dogs, as they are afraid to turn off kids from hot dogs.

From the USDA:

Hot Dogs and Food Safety

Quote:

Byproducts, Variety Meats "Frankfurter, Hot Dog, Wiener, or Bologna With Byproducts" or "With Variety Meats" are made according to the specifications for cooked and/or smoked sausages (see above), except they consist of not less than 15% of one or more kinds of raw skeletal muscle meat with raw meat byproducts. The byproducts (heart, kidney, or liver, for example) must be named with the derived species and be individually named in the ingredients statement.

Haven't had Spam for over 30 years, but I recall occasionally frying up a slice to add to an egg at breakfast. It was OK, and convenient.

-ERD50

[Nemo2]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ERD50 From what I've read, there's nothing unsavory about Spam

The stuff 'we' were making, and the slaughterhouse was adjacent to the plant, had (IMO) an excessive percentage of pork fat relative to pork meat.

[NW-Bound]

Yes, Spam does have a lot of fat, not other pork organs.

But, but, but is that not what bacon is, which is loved by so many?

[Lucantes]

I love SPAM and many other canned or processed meats and could care less what other people think about that!!
Have loved it since I was first introduced to it way back as a poor child, and love it still to this day!
To be honest, I don't care what they do to it to get it exactly the way it comes out of the can when I open it...cause I luvs it!
"Spam, Spam, Spam, Spam, Spammity Spam, Wonderful Spam."

[Dawg52]

I haven't had Spam in 40 years or so. I remember the taste was ok but the smell not all that great when frying. May try a can soon just for the hell of it. Im sure my dog will eat it if I don"t like.

[ERD50]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nemo2 Quote: Originally Posted by ERD50 View Post From what I've read, there's nothing unsavory about Spam The stuff 'we' were making, and the slaughterhouse was adjacent to the plant, had (IMO) an excessive percentage of pork fat relative to pork meat.

Quote:

Originally Posted by NW-Bound Yes, Spam does have a lot of fat, not other pork organs. But, but, but is that not what bacon is, which is loved by so many?

Yes, high in fat. But isn't fat a 'savory' flavor?

Even when I did occasionally eat it, it was in small amounts, about the same as a slice or two of bacon.

-ERD50

[oldphd]

Took this photo a couple of months ago on the north shore of Oahu. Couldn't even fit all the varieties in!

[Danmar]

Haven't had it for many years. Way too salty for my taste as I recall.

[hankster]

It's the perfect addition to one's doomsday pantry. Someone once said "It has the shelf life of a rock!"

My dad has always loved Spam (he turned 95 years old in March)

[Johnora]

Why yes I like SPAM, but especially when in Hawaii with eggs and rice, go figure, it just tastes better over there.

[bjorn2bwild]

Queue Monty Python
P.S. According to Wikipedia this sketch was the influence behind the naming of spam email.

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

[NW-Bound]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ERD50 Yes, high in fat. But isn't fat a 'savory' flavor? Even when I did occasionally eat it, it was in small amounts, about the same as a slice or two of bacon...

Fat by itself is fairly bland, but add a bit of salt, some flavorings such as smoke, and the combination drives people crazy. Oh, I just describe bacon too.

Anyway, here's what Wikipedia has to say about Spam.

Quote:

Spam was introduced by Hormel in 1937. Ken Daigneau, brother of a company executive, won a $100 prize that year in a competition to name the new item. Hormel claims that the meaning of the name "is known by only a small circle of former Hormel Foods executives"... The difficulty of delivering fresh meat to the front during World War II saw Spam become a ubiquitous part of the U.S. soldier's diet. It became variously referred to as "ham that didn't pass its physical", "meatloaf without basic training", and "Special Army Meat". Over 150 million pounds of Spam were purchased by the military before the war's end. Domestically, Spam's chief advantages were affordability, accessibility, and extended shelf life. However, in spite of Hormel using quality pork shoulder to make their product, rather than the lips, tongue, and snouts used by competitors, consumers could not tell the difference by their appearance.

So, according to the above, if you do not care for lips, tongue, and snouts in your luncheon meat, you should insist on Spam by the brand name instead of competitors' products.

Hmmm... How about a taste test between different brands to see for yourself? This could be the subject of a good thread for someone a with discerning palate, as most people could not tell the difference.

[braumeister]

When my father was growing up on a farm during the Depression, they used "everything but the squeal" from a pig. I had a friend who grew up poor on a farm in the 60s who did the same. It was just common sense not to waste anything.

My Chinese friends just love a treat of chicken feet.

And then you get into preferences about organ meats, which I personally think are offal good, but many wouldn't touch.

[38Chevy454]

I very occasionally have it, best to be grilled as many suggested. I always have it in scrambled eggs with cheese. I don't see it as any worse for you than bacon or sausage, those are also high in sodium and fat. The perception of Spam in different areas of the country is quite amusing.