Keeln Time, before they left us, gave us a book and a can of hamburger meat. That’s right, a can of hamburger meat. Sounds terrible huh? Well, being a Spam fan in the first degree (not the low salt stuff but the real Spam) it even sounded a bit yucky to me too. Then again, having lived a year on C rations, the idea is not new. Go with me to yesteryear when resupply came in the form of a case of C rats per man for a six day patrol. There were twelve meals, each different, but with some of the same condiments. We got used to the bland nature of those meals and some we would not eat, but they were canned in the 1950’s. Back to the present. Keeln Time said they were first introduced to the canned hamburger in the islands where beef is seldom available. Chickens, pigs and seafood are the main meats there. A fellow cruiser was a bit of a gourmet and he served beef dishes often. Now if it is not available locally, then canned or frozen imports from the mainland are the only sources. OK, say I, how does it taste? Says KT’s crew: “ain’t bad”. They gave us a can. They did say that it is fully cooked in the can and that keeps it from spoiling. Shades of C rats came to mind. They also warned that when first opened, there is a slight “dog food” aroma to it. Once heated and mixed into the spaghetti sauce, it is great. For that matter, tacos are a good use also. With that in mind, I contacted the company that offers the stuff and ordered a case. No refrigeration was the key decision maker. The company is in the Dallas area and they offer canned butter and canned cheese as well as many other “survival” type foods. Mind you, a 14.5 ounce can is over $6. It must be good at that price. Did I mention that we had yet to try the one KT gave us?
Tiring somewhat from our usual method of snacking around, I decided to do a real meal for Bear. You know the routine, dishes, napkins, fake candle on the table and even a Caesar salad. The main course was spaghetti with meat sauce. I might have made a bit of a poor decision by breaking out a can of sauce that we put aboard back in January. Well, the expiration date just passed so it must still be good. After all, they take a conservative approach when applying those dates anyway. Don’t they?
I seated Bear in the late afternoon sunshine in the cockpit with a somewhat mediocre glass of ships wine. Well, we have all this wine aboard also stowed in January. She and I have decided to drink the stuff lest it ruin, so to speak. I charged into the galley with the gusto of a hound dawg and started the food prep thingy. The can of sauce was ok I guessed since the ends were not bulging and it tasted ok. Not exactly what I had hoped but it would do. The pasta was humming along in the water in the microwave and that is when I opened the can of hamburger. To say that it had a “slight” dog food aroma was off by a wee bit. It was mostly the immediate and complete cabin filling smell of more like cat food that stopped me and caused the reaction. The mind immediately went back to the Nam and those C rats. It was good that I was warned lest I chunk that $6 can of meat out the hatch. Ok, thinks I, it looks great and there is no fat in the can. It must have been 99% lean and fully cooked. Wanting, needing, to dissipate that aroma, I dropped it in the sauce and started mixing. The other thing immediately noticeable is that it is not chunky. It is fine ground so when mixed in too much sauce, it sort of disappears, but not the aroma. Spaghetti sauce con dog food is unique. I was able to mitigate some negatives with enough oregano, pepper and other spices such as fajita seasoning and it turned out marginally like spaghetti sauce with meat. The meal went fine, thanks perhaps to an over-serving of ships wine.
Once completed and with a movie in the player, I cleaned the table and the dishes. We still had about half a gallon of sauce left over which would otherwise have been in the freezer. Bear and I decided not to keep the leftovers and thought some harbor dwelling denizen might enjoy it. The bottom line is that we have decided that while near fresh provisioning, we might just stow that meat, all 12 cans we now have in inventory. It might taste much better after being away from beef for a few months whilst we are in the islands--- or not.
PS: We have decided that some of the stuff we “laid on” back in January might, just might have reached a premature expiration date. One sure sign is a can that has bulging ends or maybe crackers that no longer crunch. Then there was that can of exploding anchovies, but that is another story.
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