Southern comfort food breakfast

[Clipper]

Cold and windy day here. Only 28 degrees and a stiff breeze blowing. Kathy is baking this morning so I went out to breakfast by myself to a local soul food eatery run by a retired navy chief petty officer. The place is always packed on Saturday mornings because he makes home made liver mush on Saturdays. Liver mush is similar to scrapple but made with pig's liver and other miscellaneous piggy parts, including snouts, ears, and who the hell knows what else mixed with corn meal and spices. He makes it and bakes it in loaf pans and stores it in the fridge. When you order it, he slices two thick slices and fries them up crispy on the grill, plates them beside two fried eggs, a bowl of grits, and toast. The first time I went there with a friend I was hesitant to try the liver mush but I am glad I did. Liver mush is something I would not be comfortable ordering if it was commercially packed. The "miscellaneous" pork by-products would have me wondering what the hell they may have scraped together from the packing house floor and tossed in the grinder. Tony skips the "miscellaneous" and uses only fresh pork liver and substitutes pork belly and pork loin for the scraps. His wife makes the creamiest grits around. Two eggs over easy, the liver mush, sourdough toast, and a bowl of Marsha's grits with two pats of butter and salt and pepper, and I am fueled up and ready to face the cold.

I am heading out to check out two estate sales that are advertising wood working tools including an oscillating spindle sander. It is a sander that is comprised of a round cylinder that takes sandpaper sleeves mounted under a metal table. The cylinder rotates and moves up and down. Great for sanding curved pieces that can't be sanded with other power sanders, and much easier than hand sanding. It is one tool that I have been watching for the opportunity to buy used for a reasonable price. I am always on the lookout for routers also. When I can leave a popular bit in a router and just pick up a different router with a different commonly used bit while working, it saves time and labor. Wish me luck. When I head out in search of power tools Kathy just shakes her head and smiles.

Have a good day and wish me luck.

[BHU]

I've heard of scrapple but have never had it. I watched a cook make it on Diners Drive Ins & Dives, Fieti loved it. I also saw a guy make head cheese using a pig's head & I had all I could do not to hurl & I have a strong stomach.

Good luck with the tool search.

[Clipper]

Dec 17, 2022 13:18:02 GMT -5 BHU said:

I've heard of scrapple but have never had it. I watched a cook make it on Diners Drive Ins & Dives, Fieti loved it. I also saw a guy make head cheese using a pig's head & I had all I could do not to hurl & I have a strong stomach.

Good luck with the tool search.

LOL! I tend to be adventurous when it comes to trying new foods. While in Clarksville Tn for a bowling tournament a southern born friend ordered pig brains and eggs for breakfast. I decided that I too should try them. They came mixed in with soft scrambled eggs. THAT dish was also somewhat gag worthy, lol. As for headcheese I always steered clear of mass-produced head cheese such as you buy in a supermarket deli. I DO however like Studzienina, (polish headcheese) Pulaski Meat Mkt. used to have it. Kathy's dad loved it and got me into liking it too. I haven't seen it the last couple of times we shopped there. I felt confident that being store made, it probably contained better quality pig parts than supermarket. The other thing I tried once from there was their kishka blood sausage. Not my cup of tea. It was not too bad. Tasted like liver and spices, but when I thought about eating pig's blood I lost my taste for it. Kathy's dad was old school Polish. Pulaski and Haps were his go-to stores for a much of his meat and Polish ingredients.

The estate sales didn't yield anything of interest to me. the oscillating sander sounded like it was on it's last legs. I think the bushings in the mechanism were worn out. The only things I bought was some sheet sand paper, a couple of half cans of stain, and a couple of files and a wood rasp. Kathy was proud of me. I only spent a little over 20 bucks, lol.

[BHU]

Fieti tried it & said he got part of an ear. Lol

[Clipper]

LOL! He is weird. He HATES eggs too. He is a successful chef and restaurant owner, but he is such a loudmouth. I think pig ears would be best served to those who eat chicken feet. Not for me. Yuk.

[Atticus Pizzaballa]

Pig ears are a finger food served in many Spanish bars in Spain. Part of the tapos experience

www.tripadvisor.com/LocationPhotoDirectLink-g187497-d4035745-i41096744-Morryssom-Barcelona_Catalonia.html

I remember a travel show did a story of that on Create TV. I guess they are no different that pig skins people eat.

[Clipper]

Pets-Mart sells smoked and dried pig ears for dog chewies. I suppose there is not really anything repulsive about pig ears. Just cartilage and a thin layer of meat and skin. They are probably over-priced for what you get, just like chicken wings. I quit buying chicken wings in restaurant when they hit $1 apiece. At home we do drumsticks with buffalo sauce instead. I don't bother with pork skins either. To me they taste like salted and greasy carboard.

[Atticus Pizzaballa]

I don't like chicken wings. I do like the legs.A definite no for the Pope's nose.