Mom vs. Food

This post is a wee bit late but just right given the huge surge in food culture these days. Its my childhood at its finest. I culminated the below on my recent trip to North Carolina.

Its a cross-section of interesting foods that I found in the supermarket mixed with a little nostalgia. The supermarket trip is always necessary before heading home each time because the food just tastes better and fresher there...also you can't seem to find a lot of this stuff in NYC. My litte brother drove from Virginia and brought a cooler with him--I'm just sayin'...

So I hope you enjoy my food trip:(Cheers to making my food idol Bobby Flay proud).


BOILED PEANUTS:
As a child my grandfather would sneak into the house with a small brown paper bag of boiled peanuts for me. He worked the late shift so he would tiptoe into the house and surprise me with these and I would just be so excited. That is where my obsession with these began. Basically, they're soft and salty and quite simply delish!

Now they sell them in these huge cans so you don't have to watch them boil on the stove for hours anymore. You literally can not eat just one.




MOUNTAIN DEW:
Disclaimer I don't drink this nor do my children but the 'throwback' packaging was so cool that I had to snap a picture. It took me back to my younger years so I had to include it. My preferred sugary down south soft drink of choice however is Mellow Yello :-)



BBQ or CHOPPED BBQ
Down south when you hear BBQ, people aren't usually talking about chicken, ribs or having a BBQ, they are referring to pulled pork in a tangy bbq sauce (but not saucy). This tasty dish is usually on a soft bun and can be supersized by adding cole slaw. I don't eat this anymore but I do have fond memories of stopping with my grandma at Pauline Bridgemen's on Hwy 211.



SAUSAGE:
This is just good sausage for adding to dishes or eating in the morning for breakfast...the sage one sounds yummy don't you think?




SOUSE:
Souse is basically every cast-off pork part you can find mixed together with vinegar and spices and put into a loaf pan and cooked. Its often eaten as a sandwich and I hear its tasty (side eye).




C-LOAF:
This one is a kicker...C-loaf is for a lack of a better explaination--someone taking the work out of the ardous task (don't ask --you do not want to know) of chitterlings prep. And for those of you who don't know, chitterlings are pig intestines (definitely an aquired taste). And you see the high price right?!! That's because all you have to do is open it, add apple cider vinegar (my cousin Conda says do not skimp on some off-brand whatever-is-in-the-house vinegar), hot sauce and cook. Its so semi-homemade Sandra Lee might come over to high five your bad self!



And the Piece de Resistance...
Pork Skins - which is just that, its the deep fried skin of a pig. In the process most of the fat falls off so you are left with a light, airy, pop chip like snack. The only thing is the salt content (yikes) but if you only eat a couple your golden.

The funny thing to me is now they are the rage at these fusion restaurants. Hubby and I saw them on the Brookyln Bowl menu a couple of weeks ago--Grandma, who knew you were so way before your time? She made these or 'cracklins' (fried even harder and not for anyone with a crown or dentures) from scratch.

I bought two bags for my mother-in-law--she's a super fan.



P.S. I need a to pour a little out for Liver Pudding which I did purchase while there but was super greedy and opened the package before shooting it. Anyhoo, the jury is still out on what this is. My co-worker Patrik and I are against the notion that this is blood sausage. Anyway, its good with grits and gravy :-)