Connor and Kindell cooking at Grandma's
A TALE TOLD UNDER THE PINE TREE
*******************************************
Pull up your lawn chairs boys...I'm fixing to tell you a
true story that you won't hardly believe, but it will
drive your taste buds crazy! (Get yourself a Pepsi
outta the chest, there.)
Like---does "crispy steak fingers, mashed potatoes,
covered with cream gravy" get your attention?
Well hang on for a trip up north to Old Montana where
an interesting tale unfolded, a couple of summers ago.
My grandson Connor, ALL-STATE 2009 TEXAS QB (HM),
comes to see us often and he became over time, quite
fond of Grandma's marvelous brown and crispy chicken-fried
round steak, mashed potatoes, and cream gravy dinners.
One day Mil had a brilliant idea---why not take one of
those tenderized "natural beef"---size-of-your-hand-round-
steak-patties from Keller's, slice it into five or six slender
strips...and thus have yourself some CRISPY BROWN
STEAK FINGERS!?
MIL'S inspired idea caught on and became a family
tradition! One which grandson Connor was extremely
fond of.
And such a dinner required sixty or seventy steak
fingers, all sliced properly, and then rolled in flour and
eggs (beat up) and rolled some more...and it took two
electric or cast iron skillets and a right smart of frying
to bring this meal off.
(A "RARE STEAK FINGER"---that is, half raw, was of
course, unheard of, and a travesty and insult to the
recipe.)
Connor began to assist in the total preparation of these
steak fingers, here at our house, frying and all, until he
got as good as Grandma, almost.
He went off to college at TEXAS A and M and batched and
made his own steak fingers and invited his friends.
So he got his Bachelor's degree and was accepted for
the Master's program and was asked to teach freshman
geology courses at that prestigious university.
By the summer of 2014, the advanced degree required,
among other heavy-duty requirements--- a summer-
long field trip a thousand miles north to Old Montana.
Pickups were loaded with tents, sleeping bags, Coleman
stoves, research equipment, cameras, and since the boys
were to be out in the boonies, they had their ice chests
and pots, pans and skillets.
Twenty students went accompanied by several A and M
professors.
Connor's culinary skills had preceded him and the boys
were divided into five groups of four as "messmates,"
to purchase their own food of choice and do their own
cooking. He was elected "COOK," and luckily had brought
his big heavy iron skillet!
Early on in the expedition, out in some cozy valley, with
a brook running through it, up there in the wilds of Old
Montana, Connor's Coleman was sending out the most
delightful and tantalizing smells, likely never-smelled-
before-since- creation in that little vale! CHICKEN FRIED
STEAK FINGER smells were permeating the entire valley.
it seemed!
His team had so many "samplers" dropping by, including
the three faculty members, that Connor finally offered
to teach the whole bunch how to purchase the correct
meat, slice it properly, batter the pieces just right (no mean
feat)... get healthful frying oil, and prepare the mashed
potatoes and gravy. Potatoes in envelopes were suggested.
So the word that comes to me, and can it be true... that
hardly any other food was consumed by those hungry,
hard-working young geology researchers---that whole
trip---except the favorite of all---CHICKEN FRIED STEAK
FINGERS, a'covered with cream gravy, with little pieces
of brown, floating in it...the scrapings...for flavor!
The story I heard related that that group of young
geologists, as they passed through towns, purchased
so much round steak, that a round-steak shortage
occurred that summer...in Old Montana!
***************
BY MIL
14 JULY 2016
(WRITER'S NOTE: There is quite a bit of truth
in this story, and a modicum of "literary license.")
Connor in Montana
No comments:
Post a Comment