Utah Fishing ReportsYesterday the news reported 17 inches of new snow fell on the town of Randolph. That means more than 17 inches fell in the local mountains where the Dream Hunt will begin on November 17th. 17 vs 17, what does that mean? Nothing really.
But will that depth of snow melt or settle enough for the hunters to gain access to all the area that is available to hunt? That is a tough question.
So, I propose we hire a local rancher, who has nothing to do with his time after he feeds the cattle and the horses, to take his tractor and blade up into the hills and plow out all the roads and trails. We could pay him in beer when we get up there and set up camp. We can also offer him a steak on steak night.
I think it’s a great idea.
Another thought is to line up a bunch of snow machines, the type they use to groom trails at ski resorts and for packing down the snow for snowmobile trails. ANDY! We need you bad! Those bad boys have heaters and everything to keep you warm and dry. I can just see the Willow Creek Free Trappers now all huddled up in those machines cruising the back roads of the Crawfords! With those you wouldn’t even have to hike to the dead animal, just drive to it.
A third thought is to purchase ourselves some snow shoes and learn to use them. A whole lot better idea than bucking waste deep snow like we did two years ago.
How about a fourth idea of praying for warm weather to melt what has been laid down?
It’s one thing for the Wind River Range to get a bunch of snow to help push the big boys down to the hunting range, it’s another thing to have all that snow bury the hunting range itself.
Pray for warm!
Bears Butt
Oct. 25, 2012
I hit Wyatt’s BS today for a semi annual haircut and while there an elderly gentleman mentioned his Aunt liking Head Cheese. I asked him what was in head cheese and he admitted he did not know, nor did he care for head cheese. So that conversation ended, but I said, it looks like Bears Butt will have to do some research and post it up.
My intense research brought up a whole bunch of different aspects of Head Cheese, but all of them pointed at a pigs head or a calf head as the main ingredient.
I continued my research and even found a you tube video of someone actually making it. But, since I have not had lunch yet, I quit watching it after just a couple of minutes. At the point where one of the ladies said she had to shave the pigs head before she began cooking it…that was it for me.
When the job is all done it actually looks like something I would like to eat or at least try some day, but someone else will have to make it. I will use the excuse that I don’t have a pot big enough to put a whole pigs head in it. Nuff said.
On another site I actually found a recipe for head cheese and it’s pretty much simple stuff that goes into it, but when I really think about what is being cooked out of and off of the pigs head it just doesn’t seem like something a person should really do and eat afterwords. I mean, think about it, the head is stuck in the pot of water and boiled. The eye balls are removed before sticking the head in, and I’m sure there is some really bizarre thing done with them. But the head is boiled for several hours and then the meat is picked off and that is what goes into the head cheese. The gelatinous stuff comes from off the head and out of the brains, sort of a clear jelly like stuff when it cools. Picture if you will a freshly opened can of Vienna Sausages or Pickled Pigs feet (I like those baby’s), that is the gelatin I’m talking about.
Why head cheese? Well, not everyone has the cash to go lay down for a good steak or even a burger and yet we all get hungry and when we get hungry enough we start to think of ways we can render a meal out of most anything we have available. I picture some really poor people once seeing a butcher throwing a perfectly good pig head out into the trash and so they took that head and boiled it to make sure it wasn’t going to kill them and thus started the head cheese tradition. Better than nothing huh?
Here is a recipe I found on one of the sites:
| Hogs Head Cheese PREP TIME: 3 Hours YIELDS: 4 (1 pound) trays |
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| COMMENT: Many cooks today feel that hogs head cheese is a country rendition of the more classical daube glace. Though similar in nature, I feel head cheese is the by-product of sausage making such as boudin, and has been around for hundreds of years INGREDIENTS:
METHOD:
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From this you can see they not only used the pigs head, but also its feet and some of the better cuts from the butt to make this a bit more appealing. But for a traditionalist, I think just the head should be used. You decide. I think I’ll go have a bologna sandwich, at least I don’t know what all is in that cut of meat.
Bears Butt
Oct. 23, 2012
Looking to purchase some bulk raw peanuts in the shell to feed the jay birds this winter. Since this year has been such a successful year to grow peanuts all over the U.S. I figured I could go on line and find some for less cost than buying from the local bird food place. Well I can’t.
So, we will be heading down to Layton to buy some soon.
But in my surfing, I came across boiled peanuts and a recipe for them. 5 pounds of so of raw shelled peanuts, 3 quarts of water, and 3 cups of salt. Boil it up and keep boiling for 3 hours. Once boiled you eat the peanuts by shelling the soft shells and eating the nuts inside. These are commonly referred to as “Goober Peas”! Did you know that? All the Southern folks do as that is where the whole thing started.
It is rumored that during the Civil War (is there such a thing as a “Civil” war?) the Southern troops had a tough time getting food and so they resorted to boiling up peanuts. A batch of boiled peanuts would last up to 7 days in the ruck sack and provided quite a bit of protein for the troops. At least they had something to eat.
At any rate, they were pretty good and so they kept eating them after the war and still to this day you can find road side stands that sell the boiled peanuts. I’ve eaten some and they are quite tasty.
So, while you enjoy yourself some Goober Peas you might just enjoy this song written about them.
Bears Butt
Oct. 23, 2012
A light dusting of snow this morning on the foothills above town. More snow is forecast for tonight and tomorrow. A quick look at the National Weather map and I see the Wind River Range in Wyoming is also getting hit with snow…..This is all looking up for a great Crawford Dream Hunt in a month or so.
Let’s not wish too hard for snow however, remember two years ago? WAY TOO MUCH SNOW for that hunt!
Bears Butt
Oct. 23, 2012
As most of you know I like Olympia beer, it is by far my favorite adult beverage and I have enjoyed it since the early mid 1970’s (1973 I believe).
Olympia looked as if it was about to die on the vine a few years back, but do to a total change by the companies officials it has a new look. But looks aren’t everything.
The company was taken over by the makers of Pabst Blue Ribbon beer some time back and they remarketed the Olympia without the “made in Tumwater” on the can. So obviously it’s being made somewhere else.
Olympia Beer! MMMMMM!
Here is one old time consumers report on Olympia that I found in a very discreet place on the internet.
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Anther CAN from Chaz who deserves a nice return package from me for the gem that he shipped out! Someone recently inquired as to whether I am holding on to my spent CANs and the answer is generally “No” with some exceptions, especially those with cool graphics, like this one.
I have a distinct fondness for Oly, dating back to the mid-1980’s when I was a young, (usually) broke punk sailor who loved to frequent Annie Newsome’s El ‘n’ Gee Club in New London, CT. The best night was Oly Night, when CANs were on the cheap, the music was loud and I was having a rockin’ good time. I know that it is no longer brewed in Tumwater (I spent a lot of time staring at the label back inna day), but the mere logo speaks volumes to me. I like that they are willing to tweak the recipe to bring something even slightly different to the table. Yeah, I could be a smartass about what CANstitutes the other 5%, but its Oly and it gets a pass from this aging rocker. Anybody know what became of Circe? Was that The Reducers that just took the stage?!?
A nice example of the Crack & Glug resulted in two-plus fingers of thick, rocky bone-white head that held in like a champ, finally falling into nothingness. Color was a deep golden-yellow with NE-quality clarity. Dang, I wish that I had poured this into a schooner glass, as was the standard. I may have been hallucinating, but I could have sworn that I smelled Saaz hops on the nose. Hey, it’s my story and I’m sticking with it. Mouthfeel was medium and the taste was maltier than many AALs to which I have subjected myself, but it was not completely unadulterated, either. I got some cereal flavors in there, but still … better than the standard. Finish was semi-dry, not sweet at all as that grain bill might suggest. The lacing was phenomenal for the style. I would put some in the cooler for both nostalgia purposes as well as the aesthetics of a cool looking CAN.
Serving type: can
Reviewed on: 06-14-2011 00:01:04 | More by woodychandler
Thank you Woody!
Bears Butt
Oct. 22, 2012
For a quick breakfast today we decided to have bacon and tomato sandwiches on a single slice of toast. Of course I cut the toast lengthwise to accommodate the length of the bacon pieces.
My problem this morning was the fact that I only had 3 slices of bacon to work with. SOOOO, I cut one slice of bologna in two and used that on MY sandwich along with the third slice of bacon.
There was some doubt as to how it would taste, but it was actually quite good with the bacon sort of adding the smokey flavor to the relatively un-flavorful bologna.
Well, as usual, that got me thinking about bologna and what is in it. Perhaps I should not have ventured into the internet world to find out exactly what goes into bologna, but I did and to my surprise there is nothing in there (or supposed to be in there) that violates USDA rules. I suppose occasionally a worker could slip up and toss the floor sweepings into the grinder instead of the trash container, but then that worker would not be considered a true bologna chef.
In my research I found that it takes a true connoisseur to be a master bologna maker. That meat is ground and pureed from beef, pork, chicken, turkey and even venison all mixed up together with seasonings and actually smoked or cooked to perfection. I like bologna.
I even found a recipe for making it and I’ll share it with you right here. Thanks to “E-How Foods”!
http://www.ehow.com/how_4473991_make-bologna.html
One of these days I’m going to try making some, but I don’t think I will make it in 15 pound increments. At least not at first.
Bears Butt
Oct. 21, 2012