No, not Campbell's. Not Chunky. Not even Healthy Choice.
A cream can! Remember cream cans? We had them floating around the house as stand-in end tables. Maybe you hoisted them straight from cow to cooler. Now we're likely to see them only in an antique store or in an old barn.
I'm not sure where this one began life. Or even the day. It looked clean, however; and our host is the most immaculate cowboy I know so we had no worries.
This was an experimental dinner, testing out what sounded like a cool, easy way to cook a lot of vegetables for a crowd. I was wary. Very wary. So hairy-eyeball wary, in fact, that I suggested they scrap the vegetable idea altogether. I know. Me. The ex-vegetarian. But come on - we're talking about a crowd of cowpokes. The beans, beef and sourdough would keep them pleased as punch. A cowpunch. (Ha! Sorry; I amuse myself.)
We sat and watched the pot boil for a while. This wasn't as boring as it sounds, though. We had a penny to watch!
See, the only way we could tell that the veggies had begun to boil was a tiny stream of steam. Try seeing a stream of steam.
See it?
Yeah? Well, you have better vision than we do.
So Jack's idea was to plop a penny on top of the tiny air vent hole. When the steam pressure built up enough, he said, the penny would move.
My, but my eyeballs are getting hairy.
We sat on old molasses tubs around the fire (did I mention it was nearly 90 degrees outside?)and pretended to get caught up while each of us sneaked a peek at the penny.
The anticipation was fierce, lemme tell ya.
Eventually it happened and we all squealed. Ok, maybe just I squealed. Anyway, the grub was good.
For those interested in the specifics, the pot contained 5 pounds of red potatoes, 1 head of green cabbage, 2 red onions, a bag of frozen corn on the cob, some Tony Chacheres seasoning and a little water. Half of it fed 9 of us with several trips for seconds. It took around 45 minutes to boil sitting on a pipe stuck in the embers of an elm wood fire.
Bon Appétit, or as we say around here, Good Eats!
A cream can! Remember cream cans? We had them floating around the house as stand-in end tables. Maybe you hoisted them straight from cow to cooler. Now we're likely to see them only in an antique store or in an old barn.
I'm not sure where this one began life. Or even the day. It looked clean, however; and our host is the most immaculate cowboy I know so we had no worries.
This was an experimental dinner, testing out what sounded like a cool, easy way to cook a lot of vegetables for a crowd. I was wary. Very wary. So hairy-eyeball wary, in fact, that I suggested they scrap the vegetable idea altogether. I know. Me. The ex-vegetarian. But come on - we're talking about a crowd of cowpokes. The beans, beef and sourdough would keep them pleased as punch. A cowpunch. (Ha! Sorry; I amuse myself.)
Sometimes I amuse a cowpunch, too.
See, the only way we could tell that the veggies had begun to boil was a tiny stream of steam. Try seeing a stream of steam.
See it?
Yeah? Well, you have better vision than we do.
So Jack's idea was to plop a penny on top of the tiny air vent hole. When the steam pressure built up enough, he said, the penny would move.
My, but my eyeballs are getting hairy.
We sat on old molasses tubs around the fire (did I mention it was nearly 90 degrees outside?)and pretended to get caught up while each of us sneaked a peek at the penny.
The anticipation was fierce, lemme tell ya.
Eventually it happened and we all squealed. Ok, maybe just I squealed. Anyway, the grub was good.
For those interested in the specifics, the pot contained 5 pounds of red potatoes, 1 head of green cabbage, 2 red onions, a bag of frozen corn on the cob, some Tony Chacheres seasoning and a little water. Half of it fed 9 of us with several trips for seconds. It took around 45 minutes to boil sitting on a pipe stuck in the embers of an elm wood fire.
Bon Appétit, or as we say around here, Good Eats!
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