Ever smooch a clam ?

Ever smooch a clam or have a bowl of graveyard stew ? I've had both and will most likely have them again some day.These are just two items I ate when growing up. Others, with not so colorful names included, Long Island hurry up, fritters ( clam and oyster ) and samp.

I had almost forgotten about the first two items. Been a good while since I had either. Graveyard stew, in case you are not familiar with that, is a food item for sick people. Got a sour stomache ? Make a batch of graveyard stew. Toast a big slice of bread ( preferably homemade) and then butter it liberally. Real butter please, none of this margarine stuff or substitutes. Place in a bowl and pour boiled milk over the toast. Bam ! Graveyard stew. As the old folks would say, " it's good for what ails you."  Does it work ? Absolutely. It'll cure just about anything given the chance, although the name may imply otherwise.

 Now smooching a clam is a different matter altogether. Clams are notoriously tight lipped. ( drum roll ). Seriously though, smooched clams are nothing more than fried clams. The thing that makes them smooched is frying them with salt pork.  Adds a little flavor and makes the meal more filling. One warning though, eat too many smooched clams and you will need graveyard stew !

 As for Long Island hurry up, that is just another name for a regular stew. Just throw some potatoes and whatever vegetables in a pot with some kind of meat, if you have it, then thicken with some flour. Fritters are just whatever fried in a batter. We mostly had clam or oyster fritters but you could make apple fritters too.  Samp is dried corn. Some folks call it hominy. Great Grandfather kept a pot of samp on the back of his coal stove from about October to March. Added a handful of corn every once in a while, or drop in a piece of meat. Salt pork was staple in every house back then. At least it was were I lived, below the bridge. You didn't eat that pork just used it for flavoring so to speak. And don't let that samp sit and get cold for too long or you will need the graveyard stew !   

 I love the regional names for different food items. For the uninitiated they can leave you wondering. The first time I went south the waitress asked me if I wanted hush puppies ? I thought the shoes I had on were just fine. Ya'll want grits ? Uh, I don't think so. Canadian bacon ? What's that, imported ? Are the pigs up there different ? Probably speak French and the French have to be different. Canadian bacon indeed.  

 The foods we grew up with are the comfort foods we love, by whatever name you call them. They may have medicinal powers or just taste good. It is true they never taste quite the way you remember them. This is especially true if a long time has passed since the last serving. I'm convinced it is the quality of the ingredients.  

Homemade bread, real butter ,milk that actually contains milk fat and some cream. I'm convinced we have homogenized, pasteurized and processed our food so much it no longer tastes the same. The nutritional value and healing properties have been taken out. Or it could be that no one can cook it the way Mom did. Not even you ! Let me tell you Mom made a mean blow fish salad. The poor mans lobster. And periwinkles are delicious in a salad as well. Ah, for the foods of our youth. I've got Mom's recipes but the execution of them is another matter altogether. Now I'm thinking about eels'. Dad called them skinables and I loved them fried. Haven't had any in quite some time.