Day 26: The Tail End

Although it was plentiful in my fridge, I made a conscious (and seemingly unthinkable) decision to avoid bacon for breakfast.  Instead, I picked up a fresh croissant from the friendly girls at Brick Street Bakery and proceeded to pack it with some of the liver pate that I picked up yesterday at Starsky.  To the thick helping of pate, I added a slice of Havarti.  It was “capital T” Tasty!  Perhaps not your typical breakfast selection, but I’m a firm believer that there’s no such thing as breakfast food…breakfast is merely what you eat in the morning.

Lunch was some of yesterday’s leftover blood sausage.  I offered some to Peter since, like Mikey, he’ll try anything.  The truth is, we’ve had it together before.  In fact, a whole bunch of guys I work with have had it before during something I call “Lunch of The Titans”, a potluck where the goal is to bring something interesting or home-made.  An Estonian co-worker brought blood sausage one day and only the most adventurous among us was willing to try it.  I personally find them to be a little bland, but with a drizzle of olive oil and some coarse salt they become pretty tasty.

Lunch of the titans eventually fell by the wayside when it got too popular.  People used to ask if they could join us and we would agree, but many didn’t really understand the intention behind “Lunch of the Titans”: to share food that was special because it was either home-made or unique.  In one memorable instance, two guys showed up with a single takeout container of General Tso Chicken from Schezuan Schezuan, to nobody’s surprise but their own they were banished from future events.  I happen to love General Tso Chicken, but when two guys offer a $7 container of takeout with the expectation to share in someone’s home made salami, pasta, venison, jerk chicken, peanut butter pie, or the like, they are sorely mistaken.  The road to good food and good times while holding court with friends is seldom composed of a short cut.  Ultimately “Lunch of the Titans” fell victim to its own popularity/infamy.  The participants were repeatedly pestered about the event; “aren’t we good enough to join your party?”  The painful answer was sometimes “no”; and at the worst of times it was “no, and neither is your food”.



Blood sausage and pasta




Bacon cufflinks; eggs are the other side.



On the menu tonight was the tail part of “tip to tail” eating.  Contrary to popular belief, they aren’t actually curly, more like elongated nubs.  Originally dinner was going to be a tail stew, but then I decided to roast them in a sauce that was similar to the one I used for the feet.  After an hour and a half roasting and another 15 minutes uncovered under the broiler the skin was crispy and the sauce had a thick lip smacking quality to it from the collagen having rendered down during the roasting process.  The sauce was as good as I remembered it.  My pig’s tail dinner was supplemented by some liver stew that my mother brought over when she paid a visit with our family dog.  I could go on and on about it, but I’ll keep it short: Best damn liver stew I’ve ever had.  Mom left before I could eat it, so I didn’t get to ask her how she made it.  But since mom cooks on the fly, I know full well that any recipe she would share would best be described as an estimate.    That’s why my mom and I can’t bake…we lack the ability to follow a recipe, and that’s fine by me.



Roasted and bubbling tails



On the right: could be a tail, could be an elongated nipple, could be a ....?

Liver stew : Sweet  livr

Not quite an anagram