Hogmaw, always popular
The last post on hogmaw, as usual, drew a whole bunch of comments, including some from new readers that I really wanted to feature!
Tracey, a good friend and longtime Yorker, writes: “I would only eat the skin as a child, then when I got a little older my Mom would make a smaller one for me of just sausage and potatoes while the rest of the family’s had cabbage in it also. Now I’m not a big fan of any part of it, but that may change again at some point in time!”
Dianne says, “Hog Maw! Now there’s something to cluck about. My dear mother-in-law would bring a clean maw, ready to bake, when she visited us out-of-state. The kids were disgusted. She’d attempt to get them to eat by telling them they’d never get the rhubarb sauce if they didn’t eat the hog maw. The kids were disgusted by both!” (OK, what’s rhubarb sauce – I’ll bite!)
New commenter Mike Laucks had some great hogmaw memories – and a thrilling suggestion to someone like me who isn’t much of a cook.
He writes: “My mother, grandmother and aunt made hogmaw from the time I was born (in 1939) until they passed on. My wife, who was born in Europe never heard of it until she married me and has become as addicted to it as I am. I’ve tried to make it myself from old family recipes but can never quite achieve the same taste. I made a life-changing discovery several years ago when I learned that Miller’s meat market down on Indian Rock Dam Road sold already-stuffed hogmaws at their stands at New Eastern Market and Central Market. All you do is stick them in the oven at about 325 degrees F for 4 hours or so. I’m not advertising for them but their version, although not quite the same as my grandmother’s, is pretty close and much better than my own attempts. Enjoy!!”
That’s awesome – thanks, Mike! In fact, it was so awesome that I sent my intrepid photographer, Jo, to photograph the “pre-cooked” version on one of her trips to Eastern; it’s her photo that you see here. I do have to add, in the interest of full disclosure, that neither Jo nor I would eat this if you paid us!
