A Steaming Plate of Graveyard Special
During the Carter recession of 1976, I was lucky enough to get a job over the summer working for a country club. I found the place interesting largely because the staff of over a hundred was almost entirely foreign born. Some of them lived on the premises in employee bungalows so they could send the bulk of their wages back home. Dinner was free to all in the employee kitchen.
The members of Woodmont Country Club paid top dollar for prime cuts prepared by a master chef. Downstairs in the employee kitchen we dined on "graveyard special." It was my favorite dish, a flotsam of organ meats, chicken wings and backs, and assorted oddities over a bed of rice. It looked like something you might find in a crypt, hence the name, but it was tasty and all you could eat. I never complained.
I was shopping at my local Albertsons recently when I noticed that organ meats are making a comeback. I'm sure everyone is aware how expensive meat has become over the last two years. I assume that organ meats are making a comeback because they are cheap. What gets my dander up is when I see welfare recipients with government debit cards purchasing swordfish and pork loin. Meanwhile, those of us on a budget are shopping for meat substitutes.
Is this part of the new socialist scam? The government subsidizes ethanol made from corn. The price of feed corn goes up for meat producers. The cost is transferred to consumers at the butcher's counter. But if you're dependent on the state, you get the prime cuts for free. If you're a taxpayer, welcome to your new status as a serf. Have yourself a nice steaming plate of graveyard special. You'll get used to it.
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Nov '10
Re: A Steaming Plate of Graveyard Special
Strictly speaking, it is not "new." The whole point of a socialist tyranny is to maintain power (i.e., buy votes) by offering goodies to its most loyal constituents (chiefly public employees and welfare recipients). The rest of us do not vote the "right way" so we are condemned to a diet of thin gruel or chicken guts. But we still pay taxes to finance the goodies for the privileged children.
Aug '10
Re: A Steaming Plate of Graveyard Special
On the bright side, organ meats are supposed to be good for you. We may have been doing ourselves a nutritional disfavor by avoiding organ meats and the tougher, cartilaginous cuts.
Hubby is partial to chicken hearts, and has been getting me acquainted with this delicacy. Rubbery, but... captivating, in a chewy way.
Not that this is in any way excuses imbecilic ethanol programs, etc.
Jun '10
Re: A Steaming Plate of Graveyard Special
Lady Kurobara
Strictly speaking, it is not "new." The whole point of a socialist tyranny is to maintain power (i.e., buy votes) by offering goodies to its most loyal constituents (chiefly public employees and welfare recipients). The rest of us do not vote the "right way" so we are condemned to a diet of thin gruel or chicken guts. But we still pay taxes to finance the goodies for the privileged children. · Jan 13 at 8:58am
What's "new" is that I'm the one eating chicken guts. And I resent it. I feel like a kulak who understands it's time to turn his pigs into sausage before the state expropriates his livestock. I suspect many Americans are doing the same. This will not end well.
Jul '10
Re: A Steaming Plate of Graveyard Special
I was shopping the other day and noticed a young mother with two toddlers picking through the premium organic veggies while I browsed for plebian produce on special sale.
She was in front of me on the checkout line. Wanna guess how she paid?
Aug '10
Re: A Steaming Plate of Graveyard Special
Kenneth: I was shopping the other day and noticed a young mother with two toddlers picking through the premium organic veggies while I browsed for plebian produce on special sale.
She was in front of me on the checkout line. Wanna guess how she paid? · Jan 13 at 10:23am
Interesting. The one time in my life I was eligible for food subsidies, I was rather shocked to discover that fresh veggies were not subsidized under the subsidy I was eligible for.
I ended up not applying for the subsidy, incidentally, but volunteering at a soup kitchen instead, where the cooks and servers also got to eat gratis.
Edited on Jan 13, 2011 at 10:49amJun '10
Re: A Steaming Plate of Graveyard Special
Midget Faded Rattlesnake
Kenneth: I was shopping the other day and noticed a young mother with two toddlers picking through the premium organic veggies while I browsed for plebian produce on special sale.
She was in front of me on the checkout line. Wanna guess how she paid? · Jan 13 at 10:23am
Interesting. The one time in my life I was eligible for food subsidies, I was rather shocked to discover that fresh veggies were not subsidized under the subsidy I was eligible for. Which rather surprised me.
I ended up not applying for the subsidy, incidentally, but volunteering at a soup kitchen instead, where the cooks and servers also got to eat gratis. · Jan 13 at 10:35am
I was eligible once also. The amount of paperwork necessary to qualify for the benefit was so absurd that I got ticked off and found a job the next day instead.
Umm . . . gold bullion?
Aug '10
Re: A Steaming Plate of Graveyard Special
~Paules
I was eligible once also. The amount of paperwork necessary to qualify for the benefit was so absurd that I got ticked off and found a job the next day instead.
Had a job -- of sorts -- with a temp agency at the time I thought of applying. Said agency delayed my paycheck until they went bankrupt and absolved themselves from paying me.
Fortunately, it was only for a short time, and the lessons I learned from the experience were probably worth more than the salary they owed me anyhow.
Edited on Jan 13, 2011 at 2:17pmJul '10
Re: A Steaming Plate of Graveyard Special
The fact is that as globalization proceeds, American wages and standards of living will decline.
The Peloisi/Obama agenda simply accelerates that decline.
Say goodbye to filet mignon and Hawaii vacations. Say hello to cheap cuts of meat and camping in state parks - if you can afford the gas to get there.
Edited on Jan 13, 2011 at 2:11pmMay '10
Re: A Steaming Plate of Graveyard Special
I appreciate your observation. Do they have Cracker Barrels where you live? Southern cuisine developed from poor whites/slave food - I guess soul food might be a more sensitive description. The meat that you had was tough so you deep-fried or boiled it, lots of carbs. Cook the bitter out of your greens. I remember visiting my grandmother in Arkansas during the summer and watching folks sit around outside smoking cigarettes and sucking on pickled pigs feet. It's amazing what people will eat.
Jul '10
Re: A Steaming Plate of Graveyard Special
As Obama was was pushing Cap and Tax and gas prices were going back up with no federal interest being shown in stopping the trend, the meat industry saw their fuel and fuel-sensitive feed costs go spiraling, and ran a classic inventory reduction resulting in country wide sales of meat. Now those inventories are smaller and the scarcity is driving meat prices up, compensating for the again rising fuel prices.
Todays irony: High fuel prices push the cost of ethanol production higher. Any Congresscritters listening out there? Kill the dead weight cost multipliers. Now.
Oh, and Card Check should be a felony.
Thank you.
May '10
Re: A Steaming Plate of Graveyard Special
Seems like even organ meats & things like stew meat are awfully high.
May '10
Re: A Steaming Plate of Graveyard Special
USDA Debit Card anecdote: Recently, I was in line at the supermarket behind a rather, um, ample couple who were checking through a pretty full grocery cart full of stuff. The checker had pretty much finished checking all the items through when the store's loudspeaker announced that the USDA Debit Card system had temporarily gone down. This couple, who were paying for their things with a USDA Card, took one look at each other and, without a word, simply turned and walked out of the store, leaving all their things sprawled on the checkstand for someone else to deal with. I watched them go out to the parking lot and get into a rather nice, big, SUV.
It just seemed to me to be such a display of utter selfishness, such unconcern for anybody else; i.e. the checkstand clerk, the customers waiting behind, etc. that I could only think came from the dependence and entitlement that government charity creates.
May '10
Re: A Steaming Plate of Graveyard Special
This is kind of dodging your point, which is well-taken, although I am reminded that some of the cheapest foods can be some of the most delicious, and vice versa.
My father grew up in a large family on a farm in Iowa. They were not particularly well off (this was hilly country, unlike the flat river bottom area a dozen miles away). Nonetheless, they frequently had what I'd describe as minute steak for breakfast, and would haul in from the timber enough morel mushrooms -- I kid you not -- to fill a couple of shopping bags. Today, 2 oz. of dried morels sell for $30 online.
On the flip side, beef tenderloin is rather flavorless off a grill and tough in a braise -- give me a bowl of slow-cooked stewing beef anytime.
And in Kenneth's neck of the woods, there was a not-inexpensive Bay Area restaurant that didn't cook anything -- meaning, heat wasn't applied to any of its offerings. I heard some positive reviews, but it didn't last long. Shocking.
My point: eating well doesn't have to cost much, if it's prepared correctly and you know your ingredients.
Edited on Jan 13, 2011 at 3:09pmMay '10
Re: A Steaming Plate of Graveyard Special
Thank God my husband hunts. We've got a freezer full of elk. At least there aren't "forest laws" for us serfs.
Jan '11
Re: A Steaming Plate of Graveyard Special
Any time the government gets involved, people game it for their own benefit, using food stamps to get recycling money http://tinyurl.com/4vkdx5n. Government, please stop helping us.
Nov '10
Re: A Steaming Plate of Graveyard Special
~Paules
Lady Kurobara
Strictly speaking, it is not "new." The whole point of a socialist tyranny is to maintain power (i.e., buy votes) by offering goodies to its most loyal constituents (chiefly public employees and welfare recipients). The rest of us do not vote the "right way" so we are condemned to a diet of thin gruel or chicken guts. But we still pay taxes to finance the goodies for the privileged children.
What's "new" is that I'm the one eating chicken guts. And I resent it. I feel like a kulak who understands it's time to turn his pigs into sausage before the state expropriates his livestock. I suspect many Americans are doing the same. This will not end well.
You and I are definitely of one mind about that.
Dec '10
Re: A Steaming Plate of Graveyard Special
You need to buy in ridiculous bulk sizes and store it properly.
My family has always canned and preserved foods, and with the price of everything going up again, we've taken to canning meats again.
Buy the whole primal in the cryo bag and butcher it yourself. Pork, Beef, Deer, Turkey, and Chicken all pressure can just fine.
We use pork loin, beef round or chuck (whichever is cheaper at the time), and whatever deer we kill. Turkey and chicken is a lot of trouble, and the frozen stuff is still cheaper than the fresh-on-the-bone for the time being, so we haven't done much of that.
If you can buy it for <$1.90/lb, you can eat pretty well for not a lot of money. Two pounds of pork will fit in a quart jar, and will feed six people when stretched with mashed potatoes. Total cost for the meal ~$1 per head, and that's with portions that satisfy a big fellow.
Gotta be sniggly when money is tight.
Dec '10
Re: A Steaming Plate of Graveyard Special
It's priceless that "core" inflation eliminates the costs of food and energy. Energy costs are killing farmers and corn ethanol was bad enough, for those raising livestock. Now, here in Florida, we have operations using citrus waste processing for ethanol production. One result has been that the citrus waste that previously went to chicken farmers is now going into fuel tanks. The EPA has bumped up the ethanol content allowed in all gasoline from 10 to 15%; which is a 50% increase on the pressure applied to the costs for feed for chicken, beef, and pork farmers.
Nov '10
Re: A Steaming Plate of Graveyard Special
Actually, you might try food stamps as a way to more easily afford good food. I learned of this strategy recently from one clerical employee in our hospital who had heard of it from a different clerical employee.
The second young woman had (reportedly) explained, "you see, lots of the people who get food stamps only want beer and booze, and so you can buy their food stamps from them." She said she would buy them at about 50% of face value. But, since these days the "food stamps" come in the form of a plastic card, you really have to know who you're buying them from.
I am editing this post to add that I do not really advocate this. I assume it's illegal. I just thought you all would want to know how your tax dollars are working, apparently.
Edited on Jan 13, 2011 at 5:28pmNov '10
Re: A Steaming Plate of Graveyard Special
Lucy Pevensie: Actually, you might try food stamps as a way to more easily afford good food. I learned of this strategy recently from one clerical employee in our hospital who had heard of it from a different clerical employee.
The second young woman had (reportedly) explained, "you see, lots of the people who get food stamps only want beer and booze, and so you can buy their food stamps from them." She said she would buy them at about 50% of face value. But, since these days the "food stamps" come in the form of a plastic card, you really have to know who you're buying them from.
That is a good idea. But, sadly, it still comes down to "jobbing the system."