Hogmaw heads north to Connecticut
I heard right before Thanksgiving from reader Bob Lehr of Southington, Conn., about one of my favorite topics, hogmaw.
He wrote, “Nobody in Connecticut has heard of hogmaw; however, I found the pig stomachs at a local ShopRite. I am making it for family and friends tomorrow night. My friends are a bit tentative about the whole thing. I will eat part of the stomach; I assure you that they will not.”
Well, of course, I wrote back and asked how it went – I was very curious!
In mid-December, Bob replied, “Several weeks ago we were guests of Carole and Larry Alberti. They had a house guest who prepared us a wonderful Italian dinner. The Italian, Giuseppe Villario, was a very interesting man. He owns a company and has been the principal designer for silverware that is sold in Tiffany’s and other high end stores. He is also the person that designed the bell that is seen in Polar Express. He is a terrific cook. We returned the favor by making two hogmaws, coleslaw and several other dishes. The hogmaws came out really well and everybody seemed to really enjoy them.”
He continued, “When I tell friends that we are using pig stomachs, most of them give me a funny look that seems to say, ‘You have got to be kidding me – food inside a pig’s stomach.’ However, once they try it they always really like it. I do miss the good food that I always had in York.”
Bob, thank you so much for sharing your story with us, and for sharing our York County traditions with your friends up north!
