It’s Spam Appreciation Week. Yes, it actually exists!
In the days before Spam was a term for annoying emails, it was more synonymous as a brand name for canned cooked meat.
Keeping the troops marching through the Second World War, Spam (or to give its correct styling, SPAM), was a name everyone knew.
And it has remained on supermarket shelves and in kitchen cupboards, not to mention school dinner and even chip shop menus ever since. But how long has it been since you tasted some SPAM?
Well, this week could be the very time to reintroduce this former favourite as it is SPAM Appreciation Week 2018.
Since it was launched in 1937, the canned meat (which is made of primarily high quality pork shoulder meat hand cut from the bone)* has sold billions of tins worldwide.
There have been different variations introduced including a “lite” version as well as packs of the ubiquitous SPAM fritters so enjoyed by us Brits.
If you thought we liked SPAM, we have nothing on the USA’s 50th state, Hawaii. They get through an amazing six million cans of SPAM each year, which equates to around five cans per person!
Why do they like it so much? The Second World War, as already mentioned, is a big factor as there was a large military presence there and it was difficult to get fresh meat out to the island. It’s also not considered a second rate option in Hawaii, in fact it’s so popular you can get it in ten different flavours, including, SPAM with cheese, garlic SPAM and hot and spicy SPAM.
Believe it or not, there’s also for SPAM musabi. That’s a fried slice of SPAM on rice pressed together to form a small block then wrapped with a strip of seaweed.
Now, we know Hawaiian food is an emerging food trend but we are not convinced the SPAM craze will catch on here. However, we are always one to try something different here in the SK kitchen, so taking inspiration from our cousins across the Pond, here’s a recipe inspired by the good old US of A.
Philly Dilly SPAMwich
Ingredients:
- 1 Loaf of Rye and Sourdough Sliced long ways into 6 or you favourite bread
- 50g Green peppers sliced
- 50g Sliced White Onion
- 15g Salted Butter
- 10g Olive oil
- 340g Tin of Spam Sliced into 6 equal slices
- 120g Soft Cream Cheese
- 140g Extra mature Cheddar Cheese
- 6 Big Gherkins sliced thinly
Method:
- Fry Your onion and peppers in olive oil and butter till golden.
- Using a chargrill pan chargrill the sliced spam till golden and crispy.
- In a bowl mix the cream cheese and extra mature Cheddar and spread on the 3 sides of your bread. Those pieces are your inside slices.
- On the bottom slice of bread place the golden spam slices, then on the middle slice layer up your sliced gherkins, pepper and onion mix. Then place your last slice on top.
- Using the chargrill pan toast your SPAMwhich in the left over juices from your spam to melt the cheese and give your bread a golden toast.
- Serve with some extra gherkins and your favourite crisps.
About Neil Shaefer
Marketing & Communications Executive of SK Foods.
Your food. Our Passion.
