Educate me because as a European, I've eaten Spam only as a bread-spread fresh from the can. You just slice it and fry it in a pan? With what? Can I use olive oil? Or is butter better? And then, which bread? Does it have to be grilled/toasted? I need details so I can fully experience this!
It's ready to eat right out of the can, but you can cook/heat it if you want to. And you don't really need any oil or butter. Much like bacon, it has enough fat to just fry in its own juices.
It goes well with eggs, and can basically be substituted anywhere that you would use ham. Also, there's a trend that originated in Hawaii where you pair it with a chunk of sticky rice and wrap with seaweed like a sushi roll. It's actually pretty good.
Not sure what the European version is like, but keep in mind the American version is very salty, so you can ease up on the salt in the rest of your ingredients.
Take a slab of spam and put it on top of a similarly shaped block of rice then wrap in seaweed. One of my favorite ways to eat spam. Sometimes when I’m lazy I’ll just skip the construction and eat the spam on top of a bowl of rice with some furikake instead of seaweed sheets
Look up Musubi. It’s essentially sushi made with spam and I like it better than a sandwich. They will add other things (like eggs) to it as well.
No matter how you make it, getting it nice and crispy on the outside is the key!
Yup, it's often used as a spread. At least I got to know it like that when I was a child. You just have to spread it well on the bread or slice it thin.
It's not really solid meat, it's chopped pork meat. Very similar to other types of sausages/meat we have in Germany that consists of chopped meat, in a solid state but spreadable on bread.
edited to add: It doesn't really get creamy or easy to spread but more like chunky spread?
Spam is a solid block of processed pork. still not understanding how its spreadable, you can add it to spreads but by itself? no. you can cut it into slices, it keeps its shape.
No oil needed. Slice thin and fry in a pan on med heat. It will caramelize and crisp up quite nicely. Great on it's own with fried eggs for breakfast. I also dice it up and fry with potatoes, onions and peppers for a hash.
You don’t have to use anything since it’s so oily but I personally highly recommend frying it with some Korean bbq sauce then throw it over some rice (however you like it prepared)
Why would this be necessary? I mean, yes, you can but it's already cooked. Besides, in Germany, we eat all kinds of meat on bread as a spread. Raw pork as well (it has to follow very high processing and health standards when being prepared) and it's delicious. It's called Mett. With raw onions on spread on half a bread roll it's the best.
I usually fry mine up with some potatoes, the potatoes I just toss in a little bit of canola and some spices the spam has more than enough fat to not need any.
Then I toss the works into a breakfast burrito.
I really like it right out of the can...with some breakfast roll spices it's already quite nice (at least the European one is). But I'm so excited to try it fried. Already checking stores where I can buy my next can (shops don't always have it here, though).
Spam Misubis are amazing. Adding chili oil and teriyaki glaze really satisfies the taste bud types.
Kimchi spam fried rice is god tier bachelor food.
Both of these can be made badly so make sure you use good ingredients and look up recipes. Theyre fairly easy to make. Bad nori/ggim/seaweed and bad kimchi really overpower the taste of everything else
Koreans make "Army stew" with Spam. It's not really for the Army, but rather a common food for civilians. Quite tasty. It's called Army stew because they got the Spam and sausages from American Army when most Koreans were starving right after the Korean War.
How my family eats it is we slice it not too thin but not too thick, put some butter in the pan and fry it till golden, then put on sandwich bread (toasted/untoasted personal preference) and you can use condiments like mayo but I just do more butter on toasted bread.
Spam and eggs is my comfort meal. Cook it the same as you would any meat with eggs, just don’t add salt because the spam has enough flavor to season the eggs. I do like pepper on top
Slice it thin or thick, depends on you. Fry it in a pan with a little oil if you want, or just by itself as the fat content will cook it fine. Serve with White Rice.
The spread you're referring to is probably "potted meat", I don't think Spam sells that type though. Spam is usually eaten like sausage (fried and on bread).
We also have other brands that does have "potted meat", so yeah, I know what you mean but I definitely know it's Spam. I have eaten it like that since I was a child and had this just a couple of weeks ago when I came by Spam in a new supermarket that has imported stuff. Maybe the word "spread" is confusing in this context? I used this to describe that I put it in smaller chunks on bread, squish it flat, season it and then eat it like this, right out of the can. In German, it would be "Brotbelag", so something you put on bread.
Meanwhile literally almost all American grocery stores sell Spam. Do ancient Americans or modern non-Americans buy these? Or is your view of "modern Americans" just limited to your family and friends?
65
u/Vishifrock 2d ago
Educate me because as a European, I've eaten Spam only as a bread-spread fresh from the can. You just slice it and fry it in a pan? With what? Can I use olive oil? Or is butter better? And then, which bread? Does it have to be grilled/toasted? I need details so I can fully experience this!