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Foodie Tuesdays: Absurdly Processed Meat Products

I like to think I'm not that much of a food snob.  I certainly don't need to spend a lot of $$$ on food to be happy--I get just as much joy out of a $1.50 plate of noodles as I do out of the $240 I spent on a meal at French Laundry.  I rarely rule out foods entirely.  Even eggplant and okra, which I usually abhor, I will give a chance depending on how it's cooked.  I guess that's just it.  A food has to be made with purpose and authenticity for me to really enjoy it.

The exception being processed meat.

I don't care what you all say.  I love processed meat products.  Maybe because they are nothing but fat and salt that come in neat oblong little packages.  Maybe because they have the consistency of meat flavored jell-O.  Whatever it is, I can't resist.  Who cares if, as it says on about.com, they lead to cancer?  Below are some of my favorites:

1. Vienna sausages
2. Carl Buddig deli-sliced meats
3. Spam (especially in masubi and kimchi fried rice)
4. Baloney
5. Dino-bites
6. Imitation crab
7. Fishballs
8. White Castle Burgers

Update: Dude! How could I forget Slim Jims!

Posted over 4 years ago

15 responses

Sarah upvoted this
anthony marco said
to quote... * barf *
Stephanie Lim said
oh, don't be a hater-ator!  =P

anthony marco said
You'll love this one: http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3008/2899038973_effb27765b_o.jpg
Stephanie Lim said
@Mark Wow that is fascinating--I agree with you about the supermarkets... I try to go to small ethnic grocers when I can, and I normally don't eat much processed food (these meats are a treat).  Thanks for sharing your experience =)

@Anthony LOL umm i am half disgusted (a pig is one of the last animals whose brains I would eat...mostly because I imagine a lot of the toxins reside there) and half intrigued.  I mean generally organs have high cholesterol but how on earth does it manage 3500mg when there are only 5g of fat??

brandon said
Have you ever heard of the scotch egg??

http://buzzfeed.com/yacomink/egg-sausage-deep-fryer-v

Stephanie Lim said
@brandon um no but it looks TOTALLY AWESOME.

Alyssa and Haley Vue said
Mmm. Spam!
Michele said
I absolutely love processed meat. I could not live without some salami or prosciutto. Some of the most famous italian meat producers have some plants in the US.
Take a look at the products of Beretta Brothers, who have a plant in NJ:

http://www.fratelliberettausa.com/products.html

Reggie Soang said
brains are awesome! please check out the lamb brain I cooked back in May, after I came back from a butchering lamb class!

http://www.hoching.com/guineapig/?p=544

Stephanie Lim said
@reggie I am torn between fascination and mild disgust... I'm sure it's tasty.. it's just the idea I have to get over...

Stephanie Lim said
@tom i'm drooling just looking it up on google.  I wonder if my local german butcher carries it.

Reggie Soang said
sorry about the graphical images of lamb brain.

I am actually on the opposite side of the fence when it comes to meat. I don't like processed meat anymore. I do still eat hot dogs here and there at BBQ's, but I don't buy them. I prefer organic meat coming fresh from the farms; they just taste so much better than spam in my opinion.

of course, we all grew up with processed meats and they do have some sentimental values. But as I get older, I am more aware of what I put into my body.

Sarah said
hahaha i like this post! i love processed meat too but my dear husband always scolds me when he sees me eating them coz he didn't want me to die earlier than him and leave him to bring up the girls! :) evil! haha
Bard Judith said
Ah, so nice to know I'm not alone in my guilty pleasures. My daughter (five) and I both love Spam-n-eggs for breakfast once in a very widely-apart-while (so bad! So good! Bacon-flavoured Spam!) but my husband invariably averts his eyes and slurps up his soggy 'healthy' cereal with a shudder...

And I grew up with 'organs'... we had tongue, liver, kidney, on a regular basis. Lungs and brain less so. Here in Korea pigs' feet are very popular, and 'soon-dae' (blood intestine sausage) a street-stall snack, so my daughter will be equally unsqueamish in her approach to protein.... :)