I was reading on CNN.com about Garrison Keiller's trip to the Iowa state fair. The article made mention of a pork chop on a stick, and Keiller's delight at eating it with his hands. This got me thinking. About pork chops.
There is something fundamentally wonderful about a pork chop. Some of my fondest memories from childhood center around this shoulder-blade-shaped meat product. I remember quite clearly bonding with Mom as we Shaked and Baked. She'd wet the chop, I'd shake it madly in the coating, together we'd bake.
Or the Waffle House pork chop. In this fast-paced, maddening world, it is good to know that at any time of the day, at almost any roadside pull-off, you can find a moderately priced Pork Chop waiting for you. I have never actually purchased a pork chop at the Waffle House, but I am vastly comforted to know that I can.
I live on my own now and I don't often make dinner with mom anymore. Usually we reserve our kitchen bonding for more complicated dinners - like when she showed me how to cook a turkey. Every now and then, however, out comes that blue box. Family, comfort and nostalgia are only a shake and a bake away.
posted by EKFricke at 8:11 AM
3 Comments:
I read this post, and I immediately wondered "Why pork chop on a stick? They already come with handles. Further musings led to other profound comestible conundra. Is there something about shaking and baking that is naturally restricted to food with handles? Consider the drumstick. Would it be possible to shake and bake, say, bacon or fish, or other meats without built-in handles?
And why restrict the shaking to baking? Could you shake and broil? Shake and steam? Could all this product placement lead to payment by the Shakery and Bakery?
I find it strange that the topic of pork on a stick with a light sprinkling of nostalgia should crop up again in such a short period of time. Let me explain: I grew up in northeast Pennsylvania and recently returned there from Australia for an extended visit with family. Normally when I go back, I only have a day or two to say hello to everyone and then I am gone gone gone. This time, however, I actually had a little bit of time to slow down and bathe in the nostalgia of childhood memories. Some memories were triggered not once but twice while dining at a couple of local restaurants. In each of these restaurants, a local delicacy straight out of my childhood was being offered: City Chicken! Now, the ignorant might assume that City Chicken is just pigeon with a fancy name and to tell the truth I never really questioned what the dish actually was. (Kids can be that way.) City Chicken is clumps of tender, shreddable meat served on skewers and covered in gravy. It turns out that City Chicken is actually veal and pork on a stick which is sometimes breaded (Shake & Bake perhaps?) before being covered with gravy! I will always have a special place in my heart for skewered pork and it will always remind me of family and innocent times. Thanks, Liz, for taking me back yet again! Here's to food with handles!
Behold the power of pork!
Post a Comment
<< Home