Menudo: The Soup Not the Band

            I don't exactly recall when I first heard about menudo, but it was probably in the late 70s and it was probably from Ken Griffin, a magician for whom I worked for a few years.  Ken had been a leather craftsman making saddles and other items in Montana and elsewhere. He had gain reputable stature in the field of leather work when he decided he wanted to run away from it all and follow a childhood dream of becoming a magician.

           His wife, Roberta, had briefly been involved in the Hollywood movie scene in her younger days and as a woman with a great deal of spunk and driving ambition, she backed Ken in his dream.  They became well known in the magic field and Roberta wrote books under Ken's name about both magic and leather craft.  When I became involved with them most of their glory days were behind them and they had a lot of miles on their odometers.

           Ken had been born in Deming, New Mexico and he claimed he was part Mexican.  He certainly looked the part.  With a face as tough as the leather he crafted, he liked to take a drink or two more than once a day. An alcohol high had become a natural state for him.  When he was in prime form he would like to reminisce about past times and Roberta would fill in the places where his memory gapped.  The two of them were quite the team of storytellers.

           Somewhere in one of his story sessions he had talked about menudo and its medicinal value in curing a hangover.  I had not been too much of a drinker back then--oh every now and then, yet not too excessively--but I kept this hangover remedy in mind just in case I would ever need it.

            The date eludes me--it was probably late 70s or early 80s--and whether a hangover was even a part of the equation--I think not--but it was a few years after hearing Ken's story when I was in a small town in Texas that I saw "Menudo" advertised in the window of a small downtown cafe.  I was no longer with the Ken Griffin Show, but now married and working on another touring show.  Seeing the sign in the window that Saturday morning evoked those memories of Ken's stories and I decided this was to be the morning I would try this curative soup.

           It was a quiet, uncrowded little small town cafe that specialized in Mexican food and I don't remember much more than that.  What I do remember is that large bowl of menudo that the waitress set before me.  I breathed in the aroma of the steaming soup and nearly gagged.  It was evocative of a barnyard full of animals, not unlike the livestock area of a county fair or the odor that pervades as you drive past a large cattle feed lot.  It did not look at all appetizing.  A dirty looking broth which suspended slimy white strips of unindentifiable animal products and white globules of a white vegetable product stared back at me. 

           Since I had ordered it I was determined to eat it.  The first bite was so alien and offensive that I was not sure I would be able to finish the rest of the bowl.   I slowly continued to eat.  I recognized the vegetable globes as hominy and that part wasn't too bad other than being accompanied by the obscene broth it was in.  The meat product was a whole different matter.  They were slimy bits of rubbery fat colored substance that reminded me of octopus, which was another food that I was not a big fan of.  It had that cow taste, not like beef, but like eating a cow right there in the barnyard.  I'm pretty sure I didn't finish the entire bowl and I decided that this would be my last meal of menudo.

           This was not to be the case.  Over the next several years I would occasionally venture back into the strange world of menudo.  I discovered that menudo served properly should come with an array of condiments to help dress and flavor the concoction.  Lemon, chopped onions, cilantro, oregano, crushed red peppers, and minced jalapenos helped turn the earthy soup into a rich tasting gourmet concoction.  Shredded cabbage could also be mixed in to add a cooling crunchy texture.  It took a while but I began developing not only a taste for menudo, but a craving.

            After I moved to the Los Angeles area I began finding restaurants that had buffets that included menudo and all of the appropriate condiments.  Now, when I eat in one of these establishments I always head for the menudo first and have at least two bowls.  Zapien's La Salsa Restaurant down the street from where I live specializes in menudo.  I should probably go there more often but I don't.  They have a special giant bowl that if you finish it, you get a T-shirt and your picture on their Menudo Wall of Fame.  I like menudo now but I don't know if I could finish that big of a bowl.

         I usually keep some cans of menudo in my kitchen.  I typically buy the Juanita's brand because it looks the most appetizing and it's the one I'm used to.  It's a good quality brand.  At home I usually don't have all of the condiments and just eat the soup as it comes out of the can.  They season it very well and it tastes quite good the way it is.  Since I'm the only one in my house who will eat menudo (my wife won't even taste it), I usually eat the entire 3 serving can, unless my father-in-law is there to help me eat it.  He's 85 years old, but he likes his menudo.

             Menudo is a good example of something that I have acquired a taste for.  From the first exposure in which I was completely repulsed by the substance to the present where I look forward to my next bowl, the journey of appreciation for menudo was taken carefully.  It was a process of years and the camaraderie of other menudo lovers who encouraged me.  Maybe that first bowl really was poor quality--I really have no way to gauge it now.  When I eat menudo, it still smells kind of weird to me.  I'm still not a huge fan of the meat product, but I love the broth, the hominy, and all the fixin's that go with it.   I guess instead of the beef tripe, which is the meat product of which I speak, I'd rather have good quality fat free pork meat.  But then I guess it would not longer be menudo and  I would have pozole instead.   And that's a whole different post about a different soup.

         Look at this!  Here I 'm supposed to be posting shorter blog bits and today I've gone so long that I can't post what was the truth out of the lies that I posted Saturday and Monday.  Okay--I promise you that on Friday I will reveal which was true and which were lies.  Oh brother!  Did I lie when I said my blog posts would be shorter?

PIckled Pigs Feet and Pork Rinds

            My special thanks to Dave at Dolores Canning Company for providing me samples of Pickled Pigs Feet and Pork Rinds.  I received no payment for the following review and the opinions expressed are my honest personal opinions.

            If you have read my March review of the Dolores Chili Brick, you may remember my rave review of the product and the recipe I created using it.  At that time I had mentioned that having enjoyed the Chili Brick so much I was curious to try the pickled pigs feet and pickled pork rinds made by the Dolores Canning Company.  Dave Munoz from Dolores saw my interest and graciously sent me a jar of each.

            

        Now, these are products about which I have been curious but have been hesitant to try.  I tried to find some of my family members who might want to sample these with me, but none stepped forward except my adventurous youngest daughter, Angelina.  I seem to recall having tried pigs feet about forty years ago and somewhat liking them, but I was apparently not so enamored as to try them again since that time.  This past Sunday Angelina and I were up for the challenge.

           Appearance-wise what can I say.  They look very weird in an unappetizing sort of way.  My wife refused to look at them.  Ange could only describe them as "gross".  Here is a picture of the two jars from the unlabeled side.

         When opened, the pork rinds smelled of vinegar, jalapenos, and oregano--the odor was essentially the same as jalapenos en escabeche, which is a pickling solution.  The smell was not unpleasant.  However, the pigs feet did not smell as good.  The odor was not quite as vinegary and with a stronger meat scent--and not good like smoked meats, but like fatty meat soaked in vinegar.

           Ange tried the first tasting which was the pigs feet.  I captured the moment on video.  By the way, despite the fact that she still looks like a kid, Ange is 21.  The toddler in the background is hers.  I'll let the video speak for itself.

         Okay so Ange wasn't thrilled with the pigs feet.  I guess I wasn't too surprised.  I thought I might do better with it.  But no, this was a bit much even for me.  There did not be much in the way of any meat--it was very bony.  Okay they're feet.  I guess they would be bony.  The texture was too coarse and rubbery for me.  It reminded me of a leather shoe that had been tenderized in vinegary brine.   It was all too alien for even my exotic tastes.

         So now it was on to the pickled pork rinds.  Angelina threw in the towel.  She refused to have any part in this one.  I was scared.  It looked like small strips of fat in a pickle jar with some jalapenos mixed in.  The jalapenos looked good, but the pork pieces were less inviting.  It was not too unlike the meat substance you find in a bowl of menudo.  If you are not familiar with menudo I'm going to talk about it in my post tomorrow.  If you've had menudo then you are familiar with that meat substance I'm talking about.

        I sampled my first bite.  Not totally unpleasant, but not invitingly pleasant either.  I was not looking forward to subsequent bites.  I did not like the texture at all.  I was like uncooked bacon or salt pork that had been soaked in vinegar with jalapenos.  I was hoping that it might be chewy, but the texture was more like congealed fat.  It reminded me of strips of cantaloupe that had been dried and then reconstituted in a fatty vinegar brine.  I ate more of this than I did the pigs feet, and yet after several bites the jar still looked full.  I was finished for today.  

        An unpleasant aftertaste and a fear of pigs lingered with me throughout the rest of the day.  And yet hours later my mouth watered when I though of these products.  I am thinking that, like menudo, this might be one of those things that one might have to acquire a taste for.  I'd like to ask someone who likes these products what it is that they like about them.  And there must be a number of people who like these.  Or maybe they are sold as a novelty joke food product to trick unsuspecting people.  If I watch somebody actually eating these and truly savoring them then maybe I'll be convinced.

         Now I'm a big fan of those crunchy crackly deep-fried pork rinds.  I'll buy those every now and then to snack on.  The pickled pork rinds?  In all fairness, I think they might have a place in some recipes or with other foods.  I think they would be really good chopped up into a bowl of pinto beans.  After all I usually have some kind of pork to season my beans and I like to add vinegary chow chow or relish into the beans when they are served.  Pickled pork rinds would probably be very similar to this.  Also I can picture using the pickled pork rinds in some kind of salad.  So far I haven't figure out what kind of salad, but I can imagine some kind of salad.  Maybe they would be good in a dip or a salsa with chips.  But I don't know if I would want to just sit around and snack on pickled pork rinds.

         As for the pigs feet, I really am at a loss (so is the pig I guess).  I understand that pigs feet are often used for soups, stews, and to season beans, but I don't think those are the pickled variety.  I'm thinking that a lot of this might be cultural.  I asked a Latino clerk at my local Ralph's Grocery store and he said there was no way he was going to eat pickled pork rinds or pigs feet.  Then again he seemed like he had probably grown up in the United States.  Maybe it was cultural for him too.

         Maybe someday someone will educate me about eating pickled pigs feet and pork rinds.  Or maybe they'll tell me some other ways to use them other than eating them out of the jar.  It still makes me shudder when I think about it.  And yet my mouth starts salivating when I start thinking about those two jars still in my refrigerator.  Who knows?   Shudder.

          Have any of you ever tried pickled pigs feet or pickled pork rinds?  If so, tell us about your experience.  Are there any other ways to eat these that you know about?   Are you adventurous about trying new things?   Would you be willing to try these items?

         

Blog Boggled: The Long and the Short of It

        I've been talking about changes and today I want to talk about one that I'm considering--shorter blog posts. 

        During most of my blogging history I have typically been posting 1000 word blog posts  Recently, I have been cutting down to 600 to 800 word posts.  I am thinking that sometimes I may resort to 100 to 300 word posts (a collective sigh emanates). 

         I often put a lot of time and effort into my posts, including the actual writing and at times a fair amount of research.  But I wonder if it's worth it.   I realize that a long post also requires much effort on behalf of the reader, but sometimes I feel it is necessary to go long in order to get across a point I'm trying to make.  The question remains:  Is my point really that important in a blog post?

          How about you?  Do you do much research for your blog posts?  Is a blog post really worth much time investment?   Do you tend to jsut skip over a blog post that you feel is too long?

And now continued from my Saturday post:

Patricia Stoltey awarded me the Creative Writer/ Liar Blogger Award where I was supposed to make up  5 lies and 1 truth:  I did and there weren't many guesses so I thought I'd give it another chance since I spent at least five minutes of my time coming up with these stories.   On Wednesday I will reveal the truth and the lies.
Which do you think is the true story?

1. I was once a roadie for the Marshall Tucker Band (a popular country rock band in the 70s)

2. I was the salutatorian of my graduating class in high school.

3. I have hiked the entire Appalachian Trail.

4. I performed in a circus that featured Ted Cassidy and Jackie Coogan from the television show "The Addams Family".

5. While rafting down the Colorado river through the Grand Canyon, the raft I was in capsized and I broke my leg, necessitating a helicopter rescue out of the canyon.

6. In the late 70s I spent one season working as a featured magic act in a carnival sideshow.

There you go -- which one is true?