Ham and Bean Soup variations!

[Black Hand]

Still don't get your analogy between food and guns...because I doubt if there is one.

A pile of parts is no more a gun than a collection of ingredients is a meal. Both have the potential to become something if properly handled.

 

[Vaino]

If you say so......Fred.... :grin:

 

[coloradoclyde]

Almost forgot we were talking about bean soup... :haha:

 

[Vaino]

I know and besides bean soup is much more interesting.

Not many soups that have as many variations as does bean soup......Fred

 

[zimmerstutzen]

There is a meat processing outfit near Philadelphia that was known for buying "downed cows" To this day, I will not eat any of their products.

But scratch made ham and bean soup has a special place in my heart. It was a frugal staple in our house when I was growing up with 4 siblings. And always better the second day. My dad's relatives had a picnic grove out in the country. We would gather there a few times per year and in the cooler months, they would make a huge cast iron kettle of ham & bean soup over an open fire. I mean a 40 gallon kettle. Something about the little bit of smokey flavor that made it special on a damp cool April weekend.

 

[Billnpatti]

To paraphrase Shakespeare (very loosely):
A hotdog by any other name is still a hotdog...

Very loosely quoted, indeed. I believe the quote is "What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet;" by which Shakespeare meant to say that what you call something has no effect on its true character.

At first, my wife had a problem calling the soup served up north chili because it was nothing like the chili served in Texas where she and I grew up. The "chili" soup was quite tasty but she still balked at calling it chili. I said "Okay, you admit that you like it so just call by another name." So we agreed to call it "Yankee Chili" and continued to eat it with delight. "A rose by any other name....." So, if you choose to call a hotdog a steak and it tastes good to you, so what? Sure it is not a Porter House but if it tastes good what does it matter what you call it? If it tastes good, eat it and enjoy it and don't fret over names.

 

[Billnpatti]

Certainly, if you are wanting to build an authentic rifle of one of the old schools, then design and materials are quite important. However, if you are less concerned about being authentic and want to make a rifle of your own design that shoots well, who's to say that is wrong? If it shoots well and pleases you that is all that counts. You may not be able to shoot it in all competitions but then again, that may not have been your purpose for building that particular rifle. What if your purpose was to build a rifle whose design suited you, met your needs and shot well. if it does that, then it matters little what the next guy, whose ideas differ from your own, has to say about it.

It is the same with food. If it pleases my palate and nourishes my body, then it serves my purpose and what do I care what someone else thinks about it. It's good and that is all that matters.

 

[Billnpatti]

"When I married, I told my wife that whatever she put on the table, it was exactly what I want."

not at my house during the first marriage. I ate a lot of really crappy food, because the wife made it. Never any salads, hardly every anything but spaghetti from a can, and noodles. (She could boil water) I usually cooked when we had guests, (to avoid hospital visits) We started taking turns cooking. Figured I could survive if I ate every other day. . Well I came home one day to a casserole dish full of something dark pink. She dished out a big helping for me and I noticed a pink drum stick sticking out of what appeared to be pink rice. It smelled like those hot cinnamon candies you can buy at Valentines day. Told her it smelled interesting, what is it. "Creamed Cinnamon chicken with rice". Tried and tried to eat without saying a word. When she answered the phone, I emptied the plate out the window. I started cooking every day.

As your first wife so ably demonstrated, it is a very important aspect of food that in addition to being nourishing, that it be pleasing to the palate. Not all flavors are complementary of one another. Cinnamon and chicken being a case in point. That is somewhat akin to chocolate covered dill pickles or marshmallow beer. Such combinations are somewhat akin to trying to make a rifle by putting car parts, gun parts and old washing machine parts into a sack and shaking it up and expecting a beautiful gun to fall out. Both chefs and gun smiths need training, skills, tools and materials otherwise you end up with such things as creamed cinnamon chicken with rice. :haha: However, having said that, let me say that if your palate was of such a nature that you found this combination to be pleasing then who's to say that it is wrong for you to eat it just because the rest of the world gags at the mere thought if it?

 

[Billnpatti]

(mechanically separated chicken)

https://youtu.be/w2sndz9tNlw

I still do enjoy Vienna Sausages and crackers as an occasional snack. There is a quotation that is often mistakenly attributed to Otto Von Bismark "If you like laws and sausages, you should never watch either being made." I don't know who the true author is. Often there are many things from which we derive much benefit but we wouldn't watch being made. For instance, have you ever watched a knee replacement surgery? Beautiful results but, in my eye, horrible to watch.

 

[Kansas Jake]

When I was in high school a number of decades ago, I went to a FFA career day and by the luck of the draw ended up going to pork packing plant. I was lucky enough to see hot dogs being made. It took me several years before I could eat a hot dog.

Now, I have seen ham and bean soup being made and often make it myself. Seeing that only whets my appetite and anticipation for the finished product. The beans can be a little crunchy if you don't wait long enough.

 

[R.C.BINGAMAN]

Yep, notice the oriental writing on the cover page. Spent a bit of time with those boys they will eat just about any thing. Even have a very close friend like that. Seen him eat a big old slug one night in the jungle, said it was a bit crunchy.

 

[coloradoclyde]

Yep, notice the oriental writing on the cover page. Spent a bit of time with those boys they will eat just about any thing. Even have a very close friend like that. Seen him eat a big old slug one night in the jungle, said it was a bit crunchy.

FYI the Chinese own many meat packing plants in the US.

 

[Vaino]

Wieners or hotdogs are occasionally eaten but I only buy a good brand of Kosher all beef wieners

Some wieners never "firm up" when cooked and makes one wonder just what's in those.

Mortedella and bologna can also be "mushy" after frying.

Army "C" rations had a wiener option and when dropped on a table, they went "splat" and looked like a "blob".....Fred

 

[Black Hand]

I won't go near wieners/hotdogs in any form (unless at a fund-raiser for a good cause) or Bologna, and real Mortadella is (nearly) impossible to find here. The texture of Vienna sausages is unpleasant to me - it reminds me more of a meat-flavored paste and they set off my gag reflex.

A sausage made from ground meat (not pureed mystery bits) is acceptable, but even some of the sausages sold in stores are more fat than meat (e.g. Johnsonville). Thankfully, we have a local butcher shop that sells excellent sausages.

 

[zimmerstutzen]

I refuse to eat Bologna, unless it is Lebanon Bologna, a totally different animal. It is dark plum brown, heavily smoked and slightly fermented. The stuff that Angels must have invented. Fried, broiled, plain, doesn't matter. Great stuff. Your breathe will smell for hours.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lebanon_bologna
https://www.seltzerslebanon.com/

 

[Vaino]

I also experience a "gag reflex" w/ mushy sausages which was caused by the "C" ration wieners when I was in the Army. Had a buddy who hated going on bivouac because "C" rations were the only food. He'd eat the can of whatever and when finished, he'd walk over to the nearest bunch of bushes and vomit....even when he ate the chicken stew which I thought was the best of the lot.

The Spaniards have a bean soup called pote which uses very large faba beans, collard greens, potatoes, chorizo and blood sausage. The flavor comes from the sausages....the blood sausage {morcilla} is very different than that of most countries because it doesn't contain marjoram.

Spanish cooking sausages are very strongly flavored so they will add most of the seasoning to whatever dishes they're used in and still retain enough flavor when eaten. Very unique sausages......Fred

 

[George]

I guess as a kid I spent too many years when food of any kind on the table wasn't guaranteed to be picky about what I eat. Depression babies make adults with a different point of view.

Spence

 

[Black Hand]

I'm old enough to know what I don't like (having eaten a good number of dishes from a wide variety of cuisines/cultures), and since I'm the one doing the cooking, I don't cook/eat it. When I'm out, there is also no reason to order foods I dislike. When invited to dinner, I eat what I'm served...

There is nothing wrong with knowing your own mind. We are not 2 year-olds, forced to eat whatever is put in our mouth - We have a choice.

People raised during the depression were taught not to waste food (something I learned early) and had very few choices - eat what you had or go hungry. It is no longer the Depression - We have a choice.

I'd be willing to wager there are foods each of you would not eat. Life is too short to eat food you don't like...

 

[coloradoclyde]

I think this topic is running out of gas... :haha: ....more beans. :wink:

 

[tenngun]

:rotf: :surrender: