Love it or hate it, Spam is here to stay — although you’re definitely in the majority if you really don’t care for it. For years, mainstream opinion has denounced the canned pork product, so much that its very name has been used as the slang term for undesirable email that you can’t avoid and just want to drag into the trash.
Spam, a product of Hormel Foods, is almost synonymous with “processed food,” yet with its unnaturally rectangular shape, it’s a product so peculiar that it has become sort of a cult food item. In many developing nations, particularly in the Pacific, Spam is a part of the culinary culture — a remnant of the days of American military bases that required cheap canned meat. I myself am Filipino-American and grew up with Spam, and I quite enjoyed it for breakfast. So I wasn’t too shy about trying a house-cured gourmet version of it.
“Spam really is a terrine — a French terrine,” says classically trained and seasoned Chef Edric Har (Le Bernardin, Veritas, Cru), who serves his own version of Spam at his restaurant, Brooklyn Wok Shop, in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NY. “It’s ground pork, it’s cured, it’s cooked. I mean, it’s even the same thing in a loaf. It’s just got a bad rap, you know, because it was in a can.”
The idea to make a gourmet version of Spam — sans the congealed fat that comes in the canned version — came from Chef Edric’s wife, Melissa, who runs the restaurant with him. It’s all a part of their combined efforts to make cleaner, “upgraded” Chinese food, which they’ve dubbed “Chinese food 2.0.”
“I go to my butcher. I get a nice fatty pork butt, you know what I mean? I use butt. I mean, that’s the best part of the pig, I feel,” says Chef Edric. “It’s ground, I cure it, and I cook it.”
The end result of his specific blending of pork, salt and a little cornstarch, as a binding agent “to give it that Spammy, spongy kind of texture,” is a gourmet “Spam” that is sliced and cooked in the similar fashion as the real thing. It’s served on his brunch menu with his version of egg foo young, rice and taro home fries, as “Eggs & Spam.” Right now it remains on the brunch menu to see if it catches on, in hopes that even a gourmet version of Spam might be cult-worthy.
Final Verdict: 4 (out of 5) stars
If I didn’t know this was a gourmet, house-cured version of Spam made with fresh ingredients, I wouldn’t have known the difference. It’s salty and delicious, and it reminds me of childhood — but perhaps I’m a bit biased because I already have the acquired taste for it. However, diner Laura Pence, who had never had Spam before (canned or otherwise), sampled it — and she quite enjoyed it.
“I always thought Spam was a gelatinous type of fake ham,” says Laura. “Who knew that it is real pork and that I actually like it? It’s like a delicious, salty comfort food… The fact that I knew this version came from high-quality meat may have swayed my opinion, but I would be open to trying the real deal.”
This upgraded version of Spam tastes exactly like the real thing, which is a weird thing to say because which Spam is “real”: the one in the can, or the one made fresh with meat from a butcher? In any case, Brooklyn Wok Shop makes a mean salty pork terrine, which just so happens to be nicknamed “Spam.” And as Chef Edric says, “There’s really nothing better than pork and salt.”
Agreed. Now do we have to use another word for email we don’t want?
Erik Trinidad is the author of Fancy Fast Food: Ironic Recipes with No Bun Intended, based off his popular food humor blog, fancyfastfood.com.
Websites we think you should visit…
[...]although websites we backlink to below are considerably not related to ours, we feel they are actually worth a go through, so have a look[...]……
You should check this out…
[...] Wonderful story, reckoned we could combine a few unrelated data, nevertheless really worth taking a look, whoa did one learn about Mid East has got more problerms as well [...]……
Awesome website…
[...]the time to read or visit the content or sites we have linked to below the[...]……
Gems form the internet…
[...]very few websites that happen to be detailed below, from our point of view are undoubtedly well worth checking out[...]……
Online Article……
[...]The information mentioned in the article are some of the best available [...]……
Recent Blogroll Additions……
[...]usually posts some very interesting stuff like this. If you’re new to this site[...]……
Visitor recommendations…
[...]one of our visitors recently recommended the following website[...]……
Recommeneded websites…
[...]Here are some of the sites we recommend for our visitors[...]……
Websites we think you should visit…
[...]although websites we backlink to below are considerably not related to ours, we feel they are actually worth a go through, so have a look[...]……
Sites we Like……
[...] Every once in a while we choose blogs that we read. Listed below are the latest sites that we choose [...]……
Cool sites…
[...]we came across a cool site that you might enjoy. Take a look if you want[...]……
writing, then learn to like it first….
forcing yourself to do something you do not like would not give you good outputs. when you force yourself t write, it will radiate into your writing, your readers will feel and notice it, and most probably, you will not be…
presented.it’s not all about youyour blog entries…
needn’t be – in fact, shouldn’t be – all about your company, your products or your services. most people are interested in themselves and their own lives. most people also have a range of interests.let’s say you’re a realtor. instead of…
Online Article……
[...]The information mentioned in the article are some of the best available [...]……
Websites worth visiting…
[...]here are some links to sites that we link to because we think they are worth visiting[...]……
Blogs ou should be reading…
[...]Here is a Great Blog You Might Find Interesting that we Encourage You[...]……
Check this out…
[...] that is the end of this article. Here you’ll find some sites that we think you’ll appreciate, just click the links over[...]……
Blogs ou should be reading…
[...]Here is a Great Blog You Might Find Interesting that we Encourage You[...]……
Superb website…
[...]always a big fan of linking to bloggers that I love but don’t get a lot of link love from[...]……
Websites you should visit…
[...]below you’ll find the link to some sites that we think you should visit[...]……
don’t know any better (hard to believe)…
or the lazy ones that don’t want to do the work.there are web resources out there that you can check the originality of your copy. the best and most utilized in defiantly copyscape, you can find this site through google by…
You should check this out…
[...] Wonderful story, reckoned we could combine a few unrelated data, nevertheless really worth taking a look, whoa did one learn about Mid East has got more problerms as well [...]……
Recent Blogroll Additions……
[...]usually posts some very interesting stuff like this. If you’re new to this site[...]……
Websites we think you should visit…
[...]although websites we backlink to below are considerably not related to ours, we feel they are actually worth a go through, so have a look[...]……
Check this out…
[...] that is the end of this article. Here you’ll find some sites that we think you’ll appreciate, just click the links over[...]……
Online Article……
[...]The information mentioned in the article are some of the best available [...]……
Websites we think you should visit…
[...]although websites we backlink to below are considerably not related to ours, we feel they are actually worth a go through, so have a look[...]……
Great website…
[...]we like to honor many other internet sites on the web, even if they aren’t linked to us, by linking to them. Under are some webpages worth checking out[...]……
Cool sites…
[...]we came across a cool site that you might enjoy. Take a look if you want[...]……
You should check this out…
[...] Wonderful story, reckoned we could combine a few unrelated data, nevertheless really worth taking a look, whoa did one learn about Mid East has got more problerms as well [...]……
Check this out…
[...] that is the end of this article. Here you’ll find some sites that we think you’ll appreciate, just click the links over[...]……
have a blogging software program to keep…
you from going nuts. using a software enables you to author, edit as well as publish content material on multiple websites as well as blogs. if you want to add comments, put images or post more blogs online with good results,…
Related……
[...]just beneath, are numerous totally not related sites to ours, however, they are surely worth going over[...]……
Great website…
[...]we like to honor many other internet sites on the web, even if they aren’t linked to us, by linking to them. Under are some webpages worth checking out[...]……
Visitor recommendations…
[...]one of our visitors recently recommended the following website[...]……
Recent Blogroll Additions……
[...]usually posts some very interesting stuff like this. If you’re new to this site[...]……
Blogs ou should be reading…
[...]Here is a Great Blog You Might Find Interesting that we Encourage You[...]……
Healing’s Dragon…
to locate matters to improve my web page!I suppose its okay to help make usage of a couple of of one’s principles!!…
Websites you should visit…
[...]below you’ll find the link to some sites that we think you should visit[...]……
Visitor recommendations…
[...]one of our visitors recently recommended the following website[...]……
Links…
[...]Sites of interest we have a link to[...]……
sexy-black-ebony-females…
[...]below you will come across the link to some web-sites that we assume you ought to visit[...]…
The Ships’s Voyages…
I believe engineering just can make it worse. Now there is a channel to under no circumstances treatment, now there wouldn’t be a prospect for them to find out….
Related……
[...]just beneath, are numerous totally not related sites to ours, however, they are surely worth going over[...]……
Websites you should visit…
[...]below you’ll find the link to some sites that we think you should visit[...]……
Websites worth visiting…
[...]here are some links to sites that we link to because we think they are worth visiting[...]……
Check this out…
[...] that is the end of this article. Here you’ll find some sites that we think you’ll appreciate, just click the links over[...]……
Recent Blogroll Additions……
[...]usually posts some very interesting stuff like this. If you’re new to this site[...]……
Blogs ou should be reading…
[...]Here is a Great Blog You Might Find Interesting that we Encourage You[...]……
Online Article……
[...]The information mentioned in the article are some of the best available [...]……