Spam (the versatile ham product)

[angus]

I buy a can every year about this time.  It has the appropriate texture for an adiabatic bomb calorimetry experiment, and everyone is familiar with it.  It is also sticky so it doesn't fall out of the pan or separate from the firing leads when high-pressure oxygen is introduced to the cell.  Material inhomogeneities produce varied results, of course, but many trials can be averaged to reproduce the caloric content printed on the label.

Moreover, apparently the Chinese love it.  I read somewhere that Shangai Hormel Foods is one of the most profitable subsidiaries of Hormel, largely because of the success of spam on the Chinese market.  I generally enjoy Chinese cuisine, and some of the best meals I've ever had have been in China, but it's also true that the Chinese eat certain bizarre foods that I wouldn't eat.  As for Spam, it smells nasty, it looks nasty, and the one time I tried it the taste was nasty, so I don't think I'd eat it, but it certainly lends itself well as a laboratory sample.  On that basis I give it a thumbs up.

[angus]

I can't count on more than one hand how many times I've had it. I've only had it sliced and pan-fried on its own and diced in macaroni and cheese. It wasn't bad at all, but it's still a food I'd generally prefer to avoid on account of nutrition information.

I guess we don't eat macaroni and cheese either.  We've never bought it, but my son tried it once in school and did not enjoy the taste.  I was actually glad to learn that, because neither the artificial colors, nor the powdered, partially-hydrogenated cheese food substitute, nor the genetically-modified wheat flour are the ideal foods for children.  Spam, at least, is made of stuff that has evolved over the millenia along with humans and their metabolic enzymes. 

My wife is pretty obsessive about food.  She likes meat to be meat, leafy vegetables to be leafy vegetables, etc.  As a result we don't eat many pre-processed, canned, or frozen foods.  My son is allowed to eat the school lunch once per week, as a reward for good behavior, but only when they're serving something reasonably nutritious and reasonably delicious.  I'm not so obsessive about that sort of thing, but I can understand the desire to avoid the colors and the gluten.  Fortunately, he really likes meat and he really likes broccoli and seaweed and seafood and fruit, etc., so it's not hard to get him to eat food that his enzymes are prepared to digest.  Unfortunately, he also really likes candy, so it's good that we have fairly comprehensive dental insurance. 

[angus]

There was an all-you-can-eat Korean buffet on Commonwealth Avenue in Boston in the mid 90s that had nine different kinds of Kim Chee on the buffet.  I liked it and went there once in a while, but it was never a very popular place.  I think it has since closed.

You do realize you can make macaroni and cheese by grating and melting actual cheese with milk instead of mixing powder and water together, no?

Sure, and I suspect that any higher-end restaurants that serve macaroni and cheese, assuming that there are higher-end restaurants that serve macaroni and cheese, do just that.  

[angus]

Tamari in Pittsburgh.

Next time I'm in Pittsburgh we'll have to give it a try. 

[angus]

I guess we don't eat macaroni and cheese either. 

You might like this recipe

add to that a little safron, cumin, and maybe some slivers of prosciuto, and you'll have a fine side dish for any back yard barbeque.

[angus]

hahaha.  She has been a slave in the kitchen recently.  Trying out all sorts of new things.  Last night was a baked chicken dish with cumin and paprika and cayenne.  The night before involved pork loin with lots of garlic.  We're experimenting with a gluten-free (more honestly, gluten-reduced) diet for the boy, who seems to experience lethargy when he eats copious quantities of things like crusty sourdough batards or spaghetti bolognese.  Luckily, we both like to cook and we have long been in the habit of always buying meat and fresh vegetables, so it's not too big a stretch.

Now, shopping takes up quite a bit of time because she tends to read ingredient labels thoroughly.  I usually take a book.  Just now I'm working on an 800-page volume by Leo Tolstoy.  Spam is actually on her list of approved foods, it's just that I don't much care for it.