I had arranged for a retired priest to take the morning Mass and confessions, so that enabled a little more leisure this morning. Nice!
You may wonder why I did that. Two reasons: first, I have three Masses today (early Mass, wedding, plus Sunday vigil), and a priest is not supposed to offer that many Masses except for real need. That's to prevent what ought to be the life-giving center of a priest's life from becoming something mechanical or a drudgery. My second reason was to allow the people to have an alternate confessor, in case they have any qualms about going to a familiar priest -- i.e., their pastor.
At any rate, today's breakfast was all about goetta. A lot of you don't know what that is. This is the technical definition, but this is the true reality. Even though goetta is a Cincinnati thing, the nearby Krogers store carries it. So first thing I did (after making coffee) was to slice it up and fry it, with a little bacon fat. You can fry it without any added fat, as it has some fat in it, but not much; the added fat -- you could use butter or olive oil -- gives it a nice crispiness and keeps it from sticking at the beginning.
Then I found half an onion in the fridge, and thought I could use that. So I chopped that up while the goetta was sizzling. When the goetta was finished -- in two batches, meaning I have leftovers! -- I tossed some butter into the pan and added the onions. Then I quickly whipped up some eggs, poured that over the onions for the omelette.
Making an omelette -- at least, as I make it -- is pretty easy. You just pour in the eggs and don't stir them much. But you do want to pull back the edges of the egg from the pan, allowing the remaining liquid part of the egg to touch the hot pan. It works better if you take the omelette out before it looks totally "dry"; this is always my mistake, waiting too long. When it's ready, you roll it up and turn it over onto the plate. At the last minute, I decided to throw some grated Parmesan cheese in.
Anyway, here's what it looked like:
That is, after I ate it -- sorry! But it was hot and I was hungry; do you think I'm crazy?
Now I have to write my homily for Sunday, which I've been putting off.
14 comments:
I have seen goetta in the case here in Dayton but never brave enough to try it. I guess I need to!
There is nothing like a really good breakfast! I'm glad to read that someone enjoys food as much as I do! I have to compensate with lots of exercise. :)
Have a good day with your masses.
Love the food posts. Goetta sounds a bit like the Pa. Dutch and Philly area scrapple.
I love to eat breakfast out. It's cheap; and for me, a person who loves to cook, I just like someone else cooking breakfast for me.
Ndspinelli:
Although scrapple and goetta look a lot alike, they definitely don't taste similar. I am not sure, but I think scrapple has liver in it. Whatever it is, I do not like it. Not at all.
Dear father, you can take the kid out of Cincinnati, but you can't take the Cincinnati out of the kid. Take care love Eileen
Padre, Scrapple indeed has liver and other organ meat in it. I lived w/ a Philly girl and her boyfriend in KC. She LOVED scrapple and would have it shipped to her. I disliked it @ first. But, my old man taught us to always try something. He also said it was higher order thinking to continue trying to acquire a taste for something. Who would love scotch their first taste..well maybe a Scot! But, if you truly don't like liver, kidneys, heart, etc. then scrapple is not for you. I do need it grilled crispy for my taste.
Head cheese is something my old man loved. I have given it attempts over the years, knowing our taste buds change. As Anthony Bourdain points out, our culture rejects gelatinous foods. And, I see my dislike for head cheese is more about texture than taste. Our parents grew up more w/ gelatinous peasant food. Regarding organ meats. An old and wise doc told me about 10 years ago one of the reasons our culture has developed a vitamin D deficiency is because we no longer eat organ meat, peasant food, like we did in his generation. Organ meat is loaded w/ vitamin D and the supplemental D in milk does not make up the difference. He said to take a supplement or eat more foods w/ D, like organ meat.
When I was a kid we ate the whole animal. Maybe not the hair, but everything else. Liver, kidneys, all sorts of assorted organs. I developed an actual appreciation for it that has helped me appreciate the strange creature parts I have been offered in my travels. It has also cut my grocery bill!
A doctor told me once also to eat organ meat. She said that the strict vegetarianism I was practicing would age me beyond my years. That scared me! I eat meat once per week, and since I don't like to cook meat, I often order chicken liver sauce and pasta at a local Italian restaurant. It's surprisingly good!
My doctor was right that radical vegetarianism is not healthy. A raw vegan restaurant I like attracts a big crowd of skinny, pale young people. They don't look especially robust. I know, I followed this diet strictly for years and wondered why I was exhausted and sick all the time.
Jennifer, I have a college roommate w/ a 28 year old son w/ Type 1 diabetes. He is a raw vegan. Dad and mom constantly worry about him. But, he is all in on this. They pray a lot.
Mr. Spinelli, it's sometimes hard for me to eat meat but it is our nature to do so. When I go to the local Adventist grocery store, I'm surprised by how many varieties of fake meat there are. Everything from ersatz liver pate to fake steak. It's hard for me to accept this reality that we are supposed to eat meat because I really love animals. But I pray about it a lot.
Several years ago there was a case in Germany where some children were malnourished because the parents had them on a radical vegan diet. I think the state took the children away. Maybe God did not mean for us to have such strict diets.
Jennifer, I have a neighbor who is just like yourself. She grew up on a farm and I surmise that's part of it. she doesn't preach about it. She's like you in that regard. She just quietly doesn't eat meat, and has said it's because meat disgusts her. I understand that.
I think the eating of meat is an important cosideration of our place in God's plan. If we understand how we fit into this, and eventually participate in it we can humbly appreciate the sacrifice of the animal for us in a respectful way. When we say our prayer before the meal, think of the blessing we wish on the meal as well as ourselves and think of these things. Thanks to all who contribute and call for God's blessing on them all: the animals, the fields, the seas and streams. May we be worthy of this gift and strengthened by it to live as Christ showed us when he walked among us in the flesh.
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