Sunday, July 10, 2011

1950's week - day 2







The good Spamwich of the East.



Two slices of bread, some blanched and sauteed Spam, some Velveeta. We may be approaching satori here.

Look, you know you've been waiting for this. I will tell you right up front that there are two essentials to experiencing the Spam and Velveeta phenomenon. You must blanch the Spam. Let me say that again - you must blanch the Spam. If you don't, it has a flavor that can inhibit your enjoyment of it - a large part of that is sodium. Blanching reduces that dramatically. Bring a pan of water to a boil. Slice your Spam into 4 or 6 pieces lengthwise. Slip the slices into the water. Remove from the heat and allow it to stand for 10 minutes. That's all there is to it.

As far as Velveeta is concerned, you mostly want to use it in small quantities. It is an excellent melting cheese. Make no mistake about it, Velveeta is indeed cheese, albeit a construct. The miracle about both Spam and Velveeta is that they don't cost very much. I find them both to be really "fun" foods.
My mother used to make us grilled Velveeta sandwiches. I made one for my self recently. Gosh, it's not gourmet food, gosh it tasted good. There's nothing complicated about it. If you're me, you use white bread and mustard and Velveeta. Of course you need a half tablespoon of butter in your saute pan to toast it up. My wont is to add Spam to this.

I will leave you with this thought: blanch the Spam.




















11 comments:

Unknown said...

Now this takes me back...My grandma used to make us fried spam sandwiches with Velveeta all the time! I know for sure she did not blanch the spam and I still loved it way back when!! I blanched it the one time I made Spam Parmesan, it turned out really good!

Andrea the Kitchen Witch said...

Velveeta, the cheese of my childhood :) Spam wasn't part of that childhood however. Fried salami or bologna and velveeta sandwiches, yes :) They were good too! Excellent tip on the blanching of SPAM. If I ever get brave enough to try SPAM I'll blanch it for sure. You wouldn't lead me wrong! :)

PS totally off topic but I got brave & bought some fish sauce :) Haven't used it yet but you'll know about it when I do!

Create. Snap. Eat. said...

So very curious! This was a fun read. I, too, ate Velveeta as a child. I loved to stick my finger in its edge and pop it in my mouth when my mother wasn't looking. I must try this with a Spam sandwich, though!

megcjones said...

i've had spam once in my life - a few months ago in culinary class, when we were discussing (big surprise here) 1950s cuisine. it sort of freaked me out, not gonna lie, but i should probably give it another shot sometime.

Food Glorious Food! said...

Ohhh I miss SPAM!! A must during my college years... love them! Great memories :)

Pam said...

I just can't do spam. I have family that LOVE it though.

Chris said...

So I shouldn't brine the SPAM? ha ha ewwwww, holy salt lick, Batman.

I liked fried SPAM sandwiches as a kid.

Did you see Greg Henry's SPAM sliders with quail eggs?

Unknown said...

You are truly the Spam King! You make simple ingredients like Velveeta and Spam sound like a perfect meal. Now I am hungry!

Unknown said...

Good old spam. Jokes aside, I actually like spam. I don't know what's the fuss all about. Fried spam with fried eggs... yum.

Bo said...

I'm going to have to try blanching it...I'm not sure about the Velveeta...I like those boxes of Velveeta shells and cheese, but when I have bought a big block of Velveeta...I have been disappointed.

Bernard said...

Very effective material, thank you for this post.
steel buildings

Blog Archive

Tuesday Tag-Along

Tuesday Tag-Along

Foodie BlogRoll

Followers