Thread: An Introduction to GROMEN

Originally Posted by garza

A lady in the village raises chickens. I was at her house Friday and a few of them were pecking around my feet. She told me she'd named them 'Stew, Roast, Bake, Fry, and Barbeque'.

Coming as it does from a certain provincial Spanish - barbacoa - one would expect the accepted English spelling to be 'barbecue.' More so as the pronunciation of the syllable 'que' - again, to go with the Spanish connection - can only be 'keh.' ¿

The Backward Ox - Just a bit of my Mississippi cultural heritage shining through. I grew up seeing signs like 'Dominic's Bar-B-Q' and frankly I've never thought of the word as having an official spelling. You are correct. Oxford says 'barbecue'. As we said back in the days that were, 'ain't dat sump'm?'

The shame of it is that I have no idea where to get real barbecue these days. On weekends, especially, you'll see barbecue stands all over. Anything that's cooked on a grill and slathered with Kraft Barbecue Sauce is sold as barbecue.

When I was a kid every black family and many white families, including mine, had its own carefully guarded secret recipe. The sauce was in two parts. There was a marinade for soaking the meat for three or four days, and a braising sauce used to lightly coat the meat just before it was cooked. The meat would be put first into a big iron skillet or Dutch oven for just a minute, turned rapidly several times, then coated again and put on the grill. A cover of some sort was put over the meat and not removed until the cook judged the meat was done. The most popular grill both then and now is the split 55 gallon drum, hinged and vented.

Only hardwood charcoal, and not the store-bought kind, should be used to make the coals. The bags of charcoal in the supermarket have chemical additives that give the meat a funny taste. You have to drive out into the country and find the old man who makes charcoal for a living and guarantees it will burn slow and true.

My brother taught agriculture and kept a couple of sheep on the school field, when the lamb was born the kids christened it "Chop". One August bank holiday he left them out on the field for the long weekend, a local old lady reported him to the RSPCA for leaving them out all night, he said "The RSPCA man said they were the best kept sheep he had ever seen and we adjourned for tea in the shed, I don't know what she thinks Welsh hill farmers do?"

Have girl friends named Dolly and Lavernia and Mary Dog?


Baaaaaaa

Originally Posted by The Backward OX

Have girl friends named Dolly and Lavernia and Mary Dog?


Baaaaaaa

Ah yes... Australia; where the men are men and the sheep are nervous.

Fellas , you are drifitng off track. The mod will be watching. You must come back to considering old age, sex, debauchery, fallibility, performance, fact.

Divus, I've sent you a Private Message.

The Ox, I got the message and I think I have done what you suggested,

Ta very much

I am intrigued, did it involve old age, sex, debauchery, fallibility, performance,etc.

As you might expect of older, mature gentlemen, a little of all of those things - in the mind if not in the flesh.

Merely to remember can be a delight, one will always forget the price which was paid in whatever currency it was rendered.

I like your peice.

This is something I tell anyone who puts writing before me, and that is to be precise.

I can see how you allude to something more, but considering you have only put before us what we see, then it's a little weak.

I feel as though there is an underlying anger here. Do you believe so? If so, elucidate us, otherwise, keep going.

I like it. I would like to read more.