Spam

Maybe it was all the stories we heard about Spam growing up in Minnesota.

We grew up in the northern part, still the stories took on mythical proportions. We knew that Hormell made this canned meat known as 'Minnesota Delight' and the meat plant was somewhere down in the mysterious southern part of Minnesota. We didn't get around much in Minnesota. Austin, MN proudly claims Hormell packing plant as their own, and of course we are proud that Minnesotans have employment. The money stays in the state because we didn't go out of state. Most Minnesotans are born, raised, married and buried in this beautiful state.

Everything about Spam was mysterious to us because we never knew for certain just what parts of the pig went into the mixture. Anyhoo, (that's a Minnesota word for anyway) it comes out of the can a pink color. Why do they call pork the 'other white meat'? We enjoyed the good natured fun around Spam. There are Spam carving contests and inventive Spam receipe contests. There are Spam Festivals where everyone gets to be silly and think up silly Spam costumes to wear. The winters are long in Minnesota.

It's only been in the last couple of years that Spam has made it into our house again. Spam was considered survivor meat in Alaska when we ran out of moose, caribou, salmon, hooligan and halibut. It made it back on the grocery list because they lowered the sodium content. Hmmm, funny. Jim reached for the salt shaker tonight. I decided to overcome childhood memories about Spam and become inventive where this meat is concerned. BTW, what have they possibly used to keep all those pork parts together, it never falls apart in the frying pan.

Our favorite dinner with Spam is stir-fry. You may not see the pictures very easily, but the stir-fry was chopped Spam in Minnesota orderly squares, asparagus, onion, garlic, red pepper flakes, cilantro, green onion and low-sodium soy sauce. I forgot to put in the mushrooms!! Oh well, left over Spam makes a good omelet with mushrooms.

Now the real reason I love cooking Spam is because it makes Jim happy! I had to face it, Jim loves Spam.

Spam hint: Costcos price is best, four cans to a pack. We have it hidden in the garage in a cupboard. Our kids know where it is though and it keeps disappearing. Life is full of mysteries, right?