SPAM - Canned Meat in my Kitchen

I am, by all accounts, health conscience in my food. I try to eat five more servings of vegetables a day, drink lots of water, and stay away from too much meat. But the call to try out SPAM in my kitchen was too great so off the shelf and into my basket it went on Friday. I kept thinking, it can’t be all that bad can it?

When you read the label you get a sense of what you’re in for. Calories from fat are 140 per serving. The calories in one serving are 180. Do the math fair reader. You are eating a slab of lard. Still, even that can be okay once in a while (though some in the medical community think that even a single fatty meal can muck you up, (see this article on the risk from fat in a single meal written by Dr. Simeon Margolis, M.D., Ph.D. of John Hopkins, click to the article on Yahoo at this link HERE)

Undaunted, we at Beck’s Cafe lept at the chance to try the fabricated food to see if it had any redeeming value outside of being an excellent source of material for Monty Python. We donned aprons, fired up skillets and, with our trusty dog at our heels lapping it’s chops for any scraps that might make their way to the floor, and we began to cook.

Cooking Spam straight up is easy. Anyone who can boil water can do it (though you may wonder why you’d do it). You simply POP the handy top off and presto, pink perfectly square meat that has a “meaty/porky” smell to it (since pork is the main ingredient that scent is a good thing). Then, skillet heated to medium heat, you can get it out by:

• Scooping some out with a melon baller
• Slicing delicate strips of it out trying to make it look elegant
• Making squares or cubes out of it
• Cutting up triangular or rough shapes
• Using a cooking cutter to create odd shapes such as bunnies or stars, let your imagination free!

Once chopped to a desired shape, simply slap it into the skillet and away you go! It should hiss and sizzle as it hits the heated pan and then you need to cook it till it’s lightly to medium browned on the outside. DON’T burn it, you’ll regret it we assure you.

The smell and taste are uniquely, well, spammy. Its sort of a bland meatless taste that has added spices to it in order to enhance the taste. It is greasy. It doesn’t so much leave a puddle of grease in your pan like, say, bacon. It’s more like the grease is permeated IN the meat and never leaves. I have to give Hormel Foods credit, they try hard to make a food tasty that is really formed to exist for the long haul on your shelf. If you have no food, SPAM is a great source of calories. If you do have food it might be better to try other options for a nice meal.

The Cook’s Thoughts
You can get creative with SPAM, Hormel has a whole list of recipes to choose from. To see the list of recipes click to the Hormel site via this link here.

I found in cooking it that if you cook it with something, like eggs, the Spam tastes better. It’s tastes seems to blend a little with other tastes.

And what did those who ate it think?
* DAMN get me something to drink to get this taste out of my mouth!!
* Hmmm, I think I’ll pass on that taste test.
* Slobber, slobber, gulp {my doggie enjoying a morsel)