Eric came in to hand me some edits for his new website. We were talking about the front page and I said “I think there’s too much spacing here” and he said, “Yeah, how about moving up the title a skosh.”
Q: Skosh? Who says that?
Eric: Me.
Q: Uhm, no you don’t. I’ve never even heard you say it once. Okay, who at Tony’s kept saying the word Skosh?
Eric: Nobody! (laughing)
Q: Speaking of Tony, he texted me the other night:
“Did Eric tell you about our lively discussion about regional foods, especially baked beans and navy beans?”
I told him you never mentioned it. Do I dare ask what the convo was?
Eric: Ok, this is going to take a bit to explain. It all started when we ordered BBQ from one of his favorite spots after the workshop one night. We had enough leftovers for the next night but we needed one more side. That is when the beans came in.
In the south, a popular side when ordering BBQ is the baked beans. BBQ chicken, pork, ribs and the baked beans. After the class, a few students were still hanging around and weaving. Tony said, “Let me know a half hour before you want to eat and I will make the beans.”
I’m thinking you can’t make baked beans in a half-an-hour. Ya, gotta soak them over night then you gotta bake them in a bean pot for 2-3 hours. “Oh, no” Tony said… like I didn’t know how to make beans. Van Camp’s canned beans and Tony’s secret twist. I think he might have put some onion in there.
Then I proceeded to tell him how I baked beans in a bean pot during the winters in my wood-fired stove when I lived in NH. Baked beans tend to be a ‘winter’ food in New England. Not to say we don’t eat baked beans in the summer but it’s definitely not as much as as the Southerners do with their BBQ.
I’m starting to think my fellow southerners don’t know where baked beans come from. One thing’s for sure, they certainly don’t know how to make them. In all fairness, I will give them a break. It is just too damn hot to be baking beans down here. Plus to all the northerners, you really don’t understand southern BBQ.
Then the whole conversation turned to ham hocks and beans. And when I say beans, they are boiling them. Tony then asked “did you have ham hocks and beans when you lived in New England?”
“What the heck is a ham HAWK” I said.
We all know the saying that pigs don’t fly. But in my head I’m thinking there’s an animal I haven’t heard of called Ham ‘Hawk.’ I’ve heard of country ham and after moving to Tennessee I soon learned what city ham is. But ham hawk?
Let’s bring in Tony here. BTW, Tony is not from the South, he is a midwesterner.
Tony : A ham HOCK is an actual cut of meat—the section of pork leg between the foot and the actual whole ham. The more common use of the term is for the bone with attached scraps left over after a whole ham, or basically, a hunk of cooked ham with the skin and fat. After Easter dinner, Mom always sends me home with vacuum-sealed hunks of ham left over. I keep these in the freezer for when I am ready to flavor lentils, split peas or navy beans (or greens if I made greens).
Q: Tony also told me you brought up canned brown bread. Ick. Why would you mention that molasses concoction?
ERIC: Since we were on the bean discussion I asked him if he had heard of brown bread. It was like I was on planet Mars! “What is brown bread?” he asked.
You cut both ends of the can and you push it out. Then you wrap it in foil and warm it up in the oven at 350° for about 10 minutes. Slice it into ½-inch slices and put a big slab of butter on it. It’s comfort food to go with the beans.
Comfort food? I could cover brown bread in two inches of chocolate and I still wouldn’t eat it. Thankfully, I was not brought up on that at all. I’m surprised you didn’t talk about Moxy.
Q: But what about the Navy Beans? What are those?
Eric: Can you bring in Tony again?
Tony: Navy beans are a dried white bean that needs to be soaked over night, and then cooked for hours. They are cooked with a ham hock (see above) for flavoring along with a mirepoix of onion/celery/carrots. You would typically have cornbread as a side with your navy beans. As you reheat the leftovers, they breakdown more and more, like split peas will, and the dish becomes thicker. Some will garnish the beans with chopped white/yellow onion and (gasp) catsup, though I personally don’t. While some call this a soup, we never did as that would kind of be like calling chili a soup, which it sort of is, but NOBODY calls it “chili soup”.
Thanks Tony. I like that word mirepoix! And is catsup a Midwestern word? I’ve always gone with ketchup.
Q: What aggravated you this week?
Eric: How do I word this. We had to get a new refrigerator. It arrived this morning and someone, let’s call this person “Kip your client” because they may, or may not be, related to your cousin, installed our sink when we moved here. Well, “Kip your client” put the hot and cold reversed! So I hooked up the water and flushed the air and out comes steaming hot water out the fridge dispenser. This also means that we’ve had cold water hooked up to our dishwasher this whole time!
Tony also sent me links for the dishes he mentioned. Ham Hock ‘how to’ and Navy Bean Soup with Ham. (Just click)
Bean Pot in image above is from the late Georgia potter, Lanier Meaders and was a gift from our dear friends Jud & Suzanne
Every Saturday night, baked beans, hotdogs, brown bread and cole slaw. Beans alternated between kidney beans and pea beans. And you’re right – not so much in the summer.