Comfort
Or more accurately comfort food.
notdefined and I have been going back and forth about ways and whys of pork barbecue and such and it got me to thinking about the food I grew up with and the type memories those thoughts elicit. I love food - always have. There is not much that I will at least try at least once. One only has to look at me to tell that food and I have had a far too cozy relationship. Part of it has to do with the fact I come from a family that associates eating with nearly every emotion. We celebrate with food and those celebrations seemed to be happening quite often. We also ate when we were sad. A death in the family meant a ton of food in the house and people noshing nearly constantly. It was always, "clean your plate" and "have some more". I was a chunky monkey of a kid, but not so much to be classified as obese until severe degenerative arthritis hit in my later 30s and I had to stop a lot of the higher impact cardio I used to do.
Anyway, one of the items we discussed was :"red" slaw. Not sure if I have explained it before, but "red" slaw is served with pork barbecue throughout North Carolina. It seems maybe parts of Virginia do it as well, but not sure about that. The slaw is still made with regular green cabbage, but the dressing is made with ketchup instead of mayo. Stay with me folks! Ketchup, vinegar, black pepper, sugar and a bit of hot sauce (Texas Pete to be NC authentic) are mixed in with the cabbage to marinate it a bit. It is a nice tangy complement to barbecue, but in NC most people use either this or regular "white" slaw as topping for hamburgers and hotdogs as well.
My favorite was my grandma's. She only made it when she made her hamburgers, often when we were staying with them on a school out day when Mom, who was a teacher, had to go in to work. She also made her burgers more like meatloaf, with salt and pepper, torn off white bread pieces and a bit of Worcestershire sauce to season. Other than the slaw, she would put out whole onion slices, tomato, mustard and ketchup. It was a spring and summer lunch treat mostly as lunch always seemed to also involve servings from the ever present pot of beans and potatoes she would have on. Well, that and her fried cream corn. Follow that up with a slice of whatever pie or cobbler she had also thrown together. Grandma's kitchen always had hugs and food in residence.
We were a bit on the poor side in my earliest growing up years, but we still ate fairly healthy. Mom made sure of that. I learned to eat boiled greens and pinto beans at an early age and still love them to this day, especially with some chopped onion and cornbread mixed into the beans. My favorite Mom meal though was one she called "Barbecued Hot Dogs" Basically, she split hotdogs down the middle and spooned sweet pickle relish in. Then she would squirt ketchup over and bake them. This seemed to always be served with her mac and cheese - and it never came out of a box. When I reminded my mom of this meal I used to love when I was a kid, she said, "I always felt horrible putting that kind of food out for you boys, but we had to do what we had to do." She was really surprised I had fond memories of eating, as she calls it now, her "white trash" cooking.
Well, she also knew I would eat anything about. I cringed at brussels sprouts (still do) but she also tells me she once caught me digging in the trash for an old stale biscuit she had thrown out when I was a toddler.
Yep, I love me some food. What taste elicits really fond feelings from your childhood? I now am going to have to make burgers with red slaw for dinner, but alas no corn...
notdefined and I have been going back and forth about ways and whys of pork barbecue and such and it got me to thinking about the food I grew up with and the type memories those thoughts elicit. I love food - always have. There is not much that I will at least try at least once. One only has to look at me to tell that food and I have had a far too cozy relationship. Part of it has to do with the fact I come from a family that associates eating with nearly every emotion. We celebrate with food and those celebrations seemed to be happening quite often. We also ate when we were sad. A death in the family meant a ton of food in the house and people noshing nearly constantly. It was always, "clean your plate" and "have some more". I was a chunky monkey of a kid, but not so much to be classified as obese until severe degenerative arthritis hit in my later 30s and I had to stop a lot of the higher impact cardio I used to do.
Anyway, one of the items we discussed was :"red" slaw. Not sure if I have explained it before, but "red" slaw is served with pork barbecue throughout North Carolina. It seems maybe parts of Virginia do it as well, but not sure about that. The slaw is still made with regular green cabbage, but the dressing is made with ketchup instead of mayo. Stay with me folks! Ketchup, vinegar, black pepper, sugar and a bit of hot sauce (Texas Pete to be NC authentic) are mixed in with the cabbage to marinate it a bit. It is a nice tangy complement to barbecue, but in NC most people use either this or regular "white" slaw as topping for hamburgers and hotdogs as well.
My favorite was my grandma's. She only made it when she made her hamburgers, often when we were staying with them on a school out day when Mom, who was a teacher, had to go in to work. She also made her burgers more like meatloaf, with salt and pepper, torn off white bread pieces and a bit of Worcestershire sauce to season. Other than the slaw, she would put out whole onion slices, tomato, mustard and ketchup. It was a spring and summer lunch treat mostly as lunch always seemed to also involve servings from the ever present pot of beans and potatoes she would have on. Well, that and her fried cream corn. Follow that up with a slice of whatever pie or cobbler she had also thrown together. Grandma's kitchen always had hugs and food in residence.
We were a bit on the poor side in my earliest growing up years, but we still ate fairly healthy. Mom made sure of that. I learned to eat boiled greens and pinto beans at an early age and still love them to this day, especially with some chopped onion and cornbread mixed into the beans. My favorite Mom meal though was one she called "Barbecued Hot Dogs" Basically, she split hotdogs down the middle and spooned sweet pickle relish in. Then she would squirt ketchup over and bake them. This seemed to always be served with her mac and cheese - and it never came out of a box. When I reminded my mom of this meal I used to love when I was a kid, she said, "I always felt horrible putting that kind of food out for you boys, but we had to do what we had to do." She was really surprised I had fond memories of eating, as she calls it now, her "white trash" cooking.
Well, she also knew I would eat anything about. I cringed at brussels sprouts (still do) but she also tells me she once caught me digging in the trash for an old stale biscuit she had thrown out when I was a toddler.
Yep, I love me some food. What taste elicits really fond feelings from your childhood? I now am going to have to make burgers with red slaw for dinner, but alas no corn...