John's Blog

Monday was a beautiful, almost spring like day which proved a be just a tease, since the last few days have been a return to the deep freeze. It seems like every-time I can finally see my lawn emerge from under the snow, a new snow storm rolls in to freshen it up and obliterate all of the emerging green.

Naturally all the frigid weather got me thinking of summer, which got me turning my thoughts to "da shore" as it's referred to around here. And as soon as I think of the shore, I have a strange craving for a "Taylor Pork Roll" sandwich. Some people refer to it as "Taylor Ham" but it is largely a NJ phenomena probably not available outside of the Northeast . (You CAN order it online if you live in parts where it's not sold.) Not really ham in the traditional sense, more like Spam without as much fat , it comes in a roll (duh) looking like salami or bologna but having a tangy taste and consistency all it's own.

The reason that I recall this tasty treat now comes from the annual pilgrimage to 'da shore for vacation we did each year when I was a kid . There were usually four families that loaded up the cars and traveled caravan style from PA to Jersey...usually with one of the fathers driving with his turn-signal on for about half of the trip. Once we hit our destination and got the bags inside, the first thing we did was to jump on our bikes and hit the boardwalk and peddle our little butts to a little restaurant that served up Taylor Pork Roll sandwiches, which we washed down with "Pennsylvania Dutch Birch Beer". When I visited there a few years ago, I was pleasantly surprised to find the restaurant still there , but like most childhood memories, it just wasn't the same.

Not that I have an obsession about weird meat , but this line of thought then got me thinking of (and craving) another regional processed meat product; scrapple. All the stuff not good enough to be used for anything else gets ground up and mixed with cornmeal, and formed in the shape of a brick, which is then sliced and fried. Sounds ugly, but it's actually tasty, although an acquired taste, I'm sure.

And since I've wandered down this path, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention another regional dish that sounds even more disgusting, hog maw, or stuffed pig stomach. It sounds nasty, looks frightening when served, but really isn't bad. Again, an acquired taste.