It’s Saturday afternoon and a sunny one at that. The afternoons now are a bit shorter and quite a bit cooler. I’m still in shorts, this is a good thing (hey Marfa, hope you’re doing well).
Yesterday I took the boys on their first camping trip to Lake Chabot (less than an hour drive away). All went very well, good company blended with good food makes an event. Surely you’re wondering, damn man you totally missed the Farmer’s Market. Nope, Mama headed out this morning instead. SCORE.
Nobody could ever accuse me of not being a typical American. What I mean by that is I, for the most part, have a typical palate for this part of the world. When we slaughter a cow, Americans don’t use it all (correctly). Nor do we use a hog to its full potential. In many parts of the world you can find all sorts of wonderful treats that aren’t readily available here or accepted. Which is more the case, we don’t accept certain foods. One of which would be Pat
It’s only in the urban groceries that we don’t use all of the cow or hog anymore, but even that is changing. Some groceries carry sweetbreads and the like.
Small town butchers still make excellent sausages and things like head cheese or souse using parts of the cow or hog you normally wouldn’t see. I just found Smithfield cured hog jowel in a local Super Walmart. The Super Walmarts have increasingly supported small entrepeneurs. I’ve gotten cured country hams from a small company in Missouri and Boudin Blanc from a Louisiana company here in Colorado.
I’m making a trip back to Missouri to see my dad in a nursing home later this month. The town has an excellent smoke house with their own beef sausage (sold by Walmart, Dierburgs, etc. in Missouri). They make an excellent spiced head cheese. I’m hoping it has been cold enough to make blutwurst. Their’s is excellent – better than the dry stuff shipped in to our German delis here from Wisconsin.
About the only thing I don’t see in the country stores anymore is brains. Last time I saw it served was in a French restaurant on King Street in Old Alexandria, VA.
It’s nice to hear someone who’s paying attention to the goings on. I count myself VERY lucky to be close to good food stuff. Yum.