I don't know if all families do this, I suspect they do, but I have always associated a core group of 2-3 recipes with growing up. Meals that were cooked and served almost every weekend and then reheated for dinner at least once probably twice during the week.
Swill was among them not so much because I ate it regularly but because it was what my mother and aunts and uncles ate regularly. I spent a lot of time with my maternal grandparents, the took care of my sister and I during breaks from school, so what they ate became part of what I ate even if it wasn't necessarily cooked in my house.
So, swill.
This isn't the blog post that makes all my friends run to Wegman's for ingredients. (I have no proof that has ever happened so humor me.) Swill is made with leftover bone in roast pork and sauerkraut with hot dogs, onions and apples. It is tasty, especially so because someone who loves you and wants to make sure you have enough to eat made it for you.
To make you need (transcribed from a note my grandmother wrote me after hearing about my blog):
- Cut up meat leftover after having baked a pork loin roast, bone in. Discard fat.
- 1 or 2 bags of sauerkraut, Kissling's if available. To cut down on salt rinse in cold water.
(Photo from Super Fresh in Westmont)
- 5 or 6 apples. I prefer Granny Smith, cut into 6 segments. Discard core.
- 2 large onions coarsely chopped.
- 1 lb. carrots sliced (optional)
- 1 lb. hot dogs
Place all ingredients, except hot dogs, in large pot.
Simmer over low heat for about 1 hour adding hotdogs, sliced into about 6 pieces each, for the last half hour.
Server with boiled peeled new potatoes tossed with parsley, salt and pepper.
Original text:
Also the nice note, my grandmother has always written the best thank you notes, that accompanied the recipe.
A photo showing four generations, my grandmother, my mother, my son and I.
