Hogmeat

Well I have mentioned Herbie from time to time on this little blog and this week he has reappeared with a new request. First, here is a pic of me with Herbie from last November and a few others of Herbie showing our son Mike how to crack open a coconut when Mike was here in December.

Herbie is known throughout the town as being a big 'shady' and I've already shared about his visiting us, begging for food because he has no money, then showing up with 2 cases of Guiness asking Ginni to help him get it to the van he lives in with our Church van. Anyway this past week we had several days of rain. Herbie cooks outside and the rain made it impossible to cook. Consequently he showed up at our door asking if Ginni could cook his hogmeat.

Now let me explain. One of the animals that still runs wild in the swamps here are wild boar. Ginni and I actually saw three of them crossing the road one night about a month ago. Occasionally the locals will hunt one down, or hit it with their car, and a whole wild pig generates alot of meat. Clearly, somehow, Herbie had been given several chunks of 'hogmeat'. I say chunks because these were not pork chops but basically two large chunks of meat that had been hacked off the animal, probably with a machete.

When Herbie asked Ginni if she'd cook it for him she said "Sure", it was then Herbie said, "Thank you, and don't worry about the hair I'll cut that off later." Hair? Yup, these chunks of meat were from a black boar, and included bone, meat, skin and hair - all intact as it had been chopped of the dead animal. While not exactly what Ginni thought she was signing up for, she put the meat in a pot, added some potatoes, celery, carrots and spices and boiled it all up for him. He was a happy camper when he left and not only had his hogmeat cooked, but had potatoes, veggies, and a mayonaisse jar full of the broth as well!