Are you a fan of Spam? No, not the junk email kind…the meaty canned mix that’s been around since WW2, when it was a much loved (or loathed) troop staple. It’s ubiquity and reputation was such that American GIs even labeled Spam “ham that failed the physical.”
A portmanteau of ‘Spice’ and ‘Ham,’ Spam is a cultural culinary icon. Originally marketed to busy housewives as ‘the miracle meat’ that didn’t need to be refrigerated, Spam’s big selling points included the possibility of enjoying it hot or cold, straight from the can, in countless Spam-centric recipes.
Soldiers On Spam
During the war effort, millions of cans of Spam were shipped to troops as a low-cost, filling, nutritious staple that was easy to transport and store for months on end. Inevitably, it quickly became the scourge of soldiers who had to eat it virtually every day in some form or another.
It even inspired some of them to think up increasingly creative ways to express their frustration at being served Spam for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. One anonymous poem ends with the lines:
And thus the endless cycle goes;
It never seems to cease —
There’s Spam in cake and Spam in pie
And Spam in rancid grease.
The reference to Spam in ‘rancid grease’ is particularly appropriate; one of Spam’s extracurricular wartime uses was as a lubricant for the moving parts of guns. Pioneering soldiers used the greasy meat residue to waterproof boots and tents, before enjoying a game of poker played with Spam slices inked with card markings.
The empty tins weren’t wasted either – they were often pressed into service as pots and kitchen utensils.
Related: 14 Must-Have Canned Foods You Didn’t Know Existed
A Festival of Spam?
Feelings about Spam during the war years might have been mixed, but today, Spam is still so loved in Hawaii, following the military presence there during WW2, that the locals have an entire festival dedicated to it.
Despite its rich history, if you think Spam doesn’t exactly set your culinary world alight, then we might just have a revelation for you. Try the homemade version.
Homemade Spam is tender and delicious and can form the basis of countless sandwiches and meals. The ingredients are few, the method is easy with no specialist equipment required and the results are seriously mouthwatering.
Serve up some nostalgia with a few slices fried up with eggs or in a grilled cheese Spamwich or go a little fancy and stir fry chopped Spam with Chinese rice or noodles.
Here’s how to get some homemade Spam into your life:
Ingredients:
- 5 lbs pork shoulder;
- 1 lbs ham;
- 2 tbs + 1 tsp Tender Quick (order online if your local store doesn’t stock it);
- 3 tbs – sugar;
- 3 tbs – cornstarch or potato starch;
- 1 tbs – Kosher salt;
- 1 cup – ice-cold water;
Method:
#1. Preheat your oven to 250º
#2. If you have a bone-in piece of pork shoulder, remove the bone with a sharp knife and set aside. Dice the pork shoulder meat into stew-size pieces, keeping any fat attached to the meat.
#3. Again, without trimming off any soft fat, dice the ham into the same size pieces as the pork shoulder.
#4. Spread the cubed meats in an even layer on a tray and place in the freezer for 45 minutes to firm up.
#5. Meanwhile, make your curing slurry. Mix the Tender Quick, sugar, cornstarch and salt in a bowl with the ice-cold water until the dry ingredients are dissolved.
#6. Set the bowl to one side while you grind the meats, either pushing them through a grinder or using a heavy-duty food processor (you might have to work in batches with this option).
#7. Combine the ground meats in a large bowl and pour over the slurry, mixing everything together really well, preferably with your hands.
#8. Once everything is thoroughly mixed, press the mixture into a bread pan(s) and securely double-wrap the pan with aluminum foil.
#9. Place the smaller oven pan into a larger one and pour in cold water to come three-quarters of the way up the side before putting into the preheated oven for 3- 3/12 hours.
#10. After the cooking time is done, remove from the oven and check that the center of the loaf has reached an internal temperature of 155º.
#11. Take the pan out of the water bath and place a heavyweight on top of the foil and leave until completely cool.
#12. Once cooled, place into the refrigerator – with the weight in place – overnight.
#13. The next morning, remove the weight and foil and loosen around the edges of your Spam with a butter knife. Slide-out onto a plate and slice!
What you’ll notice immediately is the rich, delicious savory jelly that surrounds the meat. If you can resist eating your homemade Spam right away, store in the refrigerator for up to 5 days or freeze in parchment paper-wrapped slices.
The juicy, tender, meaty texture and that appetizing jelly is a killer combination that guarantees the first time you make homemade Spam is never the last.
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give up on the videos and go straight to what it is you want to sell…..otherwise I will unsubscribe. Your videos are not so good. at least give us the option to read and not listen.
There was a video in this post? You must have better eyes than I do.
Greybeard:. There was in the original post, but I couldn’t get it to play.
Thanks Claude for reposting this and to Rhona for an interesting article.
I believe he is speaking of the promotional emails that have a link to a video in them. The world seems to have decided that long winded stories for 45 minutes before getting to the point , sell product better. Maybe it does, I dont know.
I would agree that a text version would be nice since if I am watching I am already interested.
Could you pressure can this and make it shelf stable?
You can not do it in a canner, like in jars. It would be too dense to cook all the way through. You could however cook it then put it in jars and cook again if that is what you want to do.
Do you think that it will last with the fat included? I ask because all I have read states you cannot water bath can meat products and even pressure canning it is recommended to remove all fat. Signed: Trying to learn more.
they can fish like that and meat to
I pressure canned mine in jelly jars.
Once I put meats in to 1 inch line, I took a chopstick and made a “hole” all the way down in the middle. This enables it to cook without the thick density. I wouldn’t use pints or quarts Only 4 or 8 oz jelly jars.
Safety 1st?
You MUST use a pressure canner for meat. Water bath will kill you. Personally I keep all my stuff in a fridge as I do not trust my canning skills.
Pleasant Pleasures on youtube has a spam canning video. No mention of how long it lasts. Might last longer if you left out the corn starch and filled in air pockets in jars with some broth or water that has been boiled a couple minutes.
I am doing some today. Just used the pan recipe and packed in pint jars. tried to push out most air pockets. We will see how long it lasts on shelf as I will leave 1 jar on shelf .
Wrong you can pressure can spam. Look it up I believe 75 min @ 10psi sea level.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=893hkADxcT4&list=WL&index=9
She is pretty boring but suffer through. I’m doing 6lbs today.
You can in fact can spam. Claud does it. He alludes to this fact in his video. I just sent him an email asking how.
In a youtube video a woman shows how she does it. Packs it in pint jars. grinds meat in food processor. 1/3 fine 1/3 medium 1/3 coarse. pack and place in fridge overnight. then warm to room temp. she used 10 psi 75 min. I think maybe at level that would be 15psi. I saw the answer to that in her other video on same subject.
Teasers Pleasers. She has two videos. A good one and a kind of messed up one. Click below it and she posts recipe.
Uses clear gel instead of corn starch.
I agree; the videos have stopped me from buying a certain product “MANY” times. Too long and boring. And as rk says give us the option to read the transcript …
My dad (WW2 Vet.) told me SPAM was Squirrel, Possum, and Mouse.
That’s rich!
Five days!! How do you make it last 100 years?
Not sure about it lasting 100 years (probably not), but I believe you could pressure can it for 75 minutes at 10/15 lbs of pressure (depending on altitude) in large mouth pint jars instead of baking it in the oven. This would last for several years same as canned chicken, fish, pork and beef without freezer burn if stored that long.
I just posted that question. I didn’t read all the comments first.
can it. although the lid on jar might not last quite that long
PUKE!!!!! Never have liked spam. Would rather make pulled pork with the five pounds of meat. Enjoy
Canned pulled pork is a much better way to go.
They must lay awake at night to think up dumb stuff just to be able to say that they’ve authored a piece on a website.
if you make this spam with a good high quality smoked ham and perhaps more than a pound of it, it tastes quite good. This spam still has the spam flavor but not as salty nor strong flavored.
I never cared much for spam as a kid but this is much better.
First Comment..
This looks like it could work but what the heck is Tender Quick. Sounds like some kind of Boy Scout.
Tender Quick is a curing salt, composed of sugar, salt, sodium nitrate, and sodium nitrites, and other ingredients. It is sometimes called “Pink Salt”.
Torn: Do you think papaya enzyme would work?
Ground celery seed contains natural nitrates and could be used. Since the Tender Quick contains sugar, why is more needed?
https://www.amazon.com/Morton-Tenderquick-2-pounds-Pack-6/dp/B00473OQ56/ref=sr_1_6?crid=1FJ3E86PLDCAY&keywords=tender+quick&qid=1564422762&s=gateway&sprefix=tender+quick%2Caps%2C149&sr=8-6
Tender Quick is a hidden name for Sodium Nitrate or otherwise called saltpeter which is used to make Gun Powder if you use it use it very spareingly ,
Sorry, gunpowder uses potassium nitrate, not sodium nitrate.
I have this mental image of the “Spam” sketch from Monty Python, with Vikings all chanting “Spam….spam…spam….”
LOL.
I remember WWII and spam was our ham for Easter, my
Mother would dress it up that you thought you were really
eating ham with pineapple on it. So don’t say you don’t like it when you eat all the garbage at fast food places. I
liked it and it was good. Ask the people from WWII,
Why go to all that work to make Spam that needs to be eaten right away. Eat pork like you normally would and save the Spam in the can for the EOTWAWKI.
Gosh! I love tinned Spam. It’s high level protein and relatively cheap as is tinned ham, too. Eat cold as a sandwich filling or sliced and fried. I guess having to eat it every day, as a military in WWII would soon get tedious but eating now and then, now, no problem.
I went to EOTWAWKI and all got was this lousy T-shirt. The music sucked and the pizza was cold and not one spam salesman in the place.
I freeze the spam. Eat it almost every day. This tastes far better than that crap in the can. Although it will pack the pounds on you with all that fat.
I remember eating it during WW2 but no it was not good. SPAM aka Something posing as meat.
Gosh! I love tinned Spam. It’s high level protein and relatively cheap as is tinned ham, too. Eat cold as a sandwich filling or sliced and fried. I guess having to eat it every day, as a military in WWII would soon get tedious but eating now and then, now, no problem.
SPAM was a big improvement in my Dad’s diet when he enlisted in 42. Fast forward to the 1950’s and SPAM was on our table once a week. Remember Bubba (Forrest Gump) endlessly reciting all the ways you could cook shrimp? Growing up, SPAM was our shrimp. My favorite was chunked SPAM in a big bowl of Campbells Pork And Beans.
Reckon I last ate SPAM IN 1968. Don’t miss it.
Canning cooked hamburger would be easier with a better balance of nutrition…That being lower in fat calories, more protein and little or no added sodium. Spam may fill the need for an occasional change in diet.
For those of you who like Spam…go for it. I don’t remember disliking it but it was never served at my house because it was suppose to be so unhealthy. Probably not any unhealthier than then the crap we eat at the Fast Food places. Probably better for us than the processed sugars I’m addicted to.
I just had Spam for dinner tonight. I like it really cooked thoroughly, until it is just a little short of jerky.
While this article was interesting, it seems like a lot of work to me when one can buy a can of Spam for $2.50 and sometimes less when it is on sale. It’s already in the can ready to put on the shelf. It’s easy to transport, nice convenient square shape. The pull top is more convenient than the old key top to open, although the lid is just as sharp as the edge on the old key top can.
One thing I have noticed is that Spam doesn’t have the gelatinous stuff in the can that the Spam from my childhood had. I was never fond of that, whatever it was.
Everyone talks about the fat content in Spam, but when I cook it, I don’t wind up with that much fat in the pan. I think the formula might be different from what it was during WWII.
In any event, there are many people alive today that wouldn’t be here if it were not for Spam, dried potatoes, dried eggs, powdered milk and American cheese. My wife might well not be here today were it not for the foregoing in post WWII Japan. I am sure there are folks whose ancestors were in Germany post WWII and survived on those items and were happy to have them.
Speaking of monotonous diets, while on Okinawa we had chicken in one form or another for six meals a week. After two years of that much chicken it was a long time before I looked forward to a chicken dinner. I always suspected that the mess sergeant had his own private retirement fund going but had no proof of same other than the low budget meals we were served.
My Grand Mother and Mother called this Potted Meat. I always have known SPAM to be like a Meat Spread.
I looked up potted meat on line because I seemed to recall a separate product called exactly that from my days as a grocery clerk eons ago.
There is a wide variety of brands of potted meat according to an internet search. There is even chicken potted meat which was a surprise to me. Wow! That really tops it for me with regard to the yuck factor.I can’t imagine anything more disgusting that ground up chicken parts, bones, gristle and fat. OTOH, I once had chopped chicken liver in Jewish delicatessen of outstanding repute in our town and it was smashingly good. Certainly the equal to the finest liver wurst or braunschweiger.
Wikipedia’s discussion of potted meat is not laudatory.
Spam has a potted meat which is labeled with the trade name Spam, but is also labeled potted meat where as the Spam we all know and love is different from potted meat.
Underwood’s Deviled Ham is considered potted meat.
Rick South is correct, potted meat is described as being spreadable whereas the Spam that we all know and love could hardly be described as spreadable.
This post is written partially tongue in cheek, so, please. no vile flames about how you and all your ancestors hate Spam with a passion only exceeded by ISIS for Israel.
Either the Potted Meat or the SPAM was within my realm of food to eat when a lot of nothing was available. Canned (Commercially) Chicken was a staple in the cupboard as a go to at times. (Talk about a large portion of clear fat, Open one of those) My curiosity was canning it at home with the high fat content. As mentioned, the modern world says this a big No No. I personaly am curious on how people got along before the FDA started thinking the had to tell us what Moms and Grondmothers aleady knew?
I grew up eating SPAM. SPAM and pineapple sandwiches were a particularly good treat. Oh how I long for the old days.
Spam and pineapple reminds me of Easter Sunday dinner when my mother prepared roasted canned ham with clove spikes and canned pineapple on it. I always thought there wasn’t a significant difference between canned ham and Spam. I am going to have to try Spam and pineapple sandwiches soon. Thanks for the tip, Johnny.
Those of us from the high humidity and temp, in the south, where did those from way back when store the jars?.. Today suggests that you need to stored at a Temp that did not exist in one’s home back then. I’m attempting to learn what my mother did a few decades ago (Okay, maybe more than a few) , but I didn’t pay attention to. It was just what occurred.
We had below-ground basements, root cellars, “cool rooms”, (like a bunker, but smaller). My uncle used 50 gallon barrels buried in the back yard and covered with 8 to 10 inches of dirt for insulation. My grandfathers root cellar doubled as a storm cellar and saved his family’s life during a tornado in 1924. The items stored had to be surrounded with an insulation like straw or sand, not attic type insulation.
Root vegetables like carrots, onions, potatoes and turnips, apples, and cabbages were what I remember best. Also winter squash and pumpkins. Most came out of their garden, but they bought 200lbs potatoes every Fall, most was gone by Spring. There were very few vegetables going rotten.
How about your method of canning spam ?
Okay then. I just tried this made with your average big bone in cheap ham from store.
Not so great. Tastes more like the store bought spam but less salty. Will not be doing that again.
Use a real good smoked ham. If you like the maple or brown sugar type then use that. Last time, I used a 12 buck a pound smoked and this tasted great.
Perhaps you could also just use some liquid smoke in cheap ham.
UPDATE : 15psi 75 minutes is way too much. Some said 11 psi but book on cooker said 15.
It ruined it. Top half of jars shrunk about half way and all that fat is now in bottom half as liquid. Basically burned up the top half that was not under water.
2 jars not sealed. 1 sealed.
I would say 10 or 11 psi max. Plus maybe have to fill with enough water to reach top of jars.
Good Morning ! The PSI depends on your elevation when pressure canning. Anyone above 1000 ft. uses 15PSI, under 1000 ft. is 10 – 11PSI. I’m canning up my SPAM today at 11 PSI. as I am under 1000′ elevation.