Hominy & Bacon

 

New photos added/old photo removed 10/27/21 

"Hominy, hominy, you and me, that's hominy..." Ah, there's something wrong with these lyrics. They don't seem to be in harmony with the Suzi Lane song. Hey wait, in "harmony" with the Suzi Lane song?

This is super simple to make. Hominy is more of an American English term for corn that is soaked in a lye solution to remove the hulls prior to its use, which can also include drying the hulled kernels that are then ground into a meal called "grits," a popular food, especially in the American South, where they are very traditional. This hominy recipe is likely similar to some others, but it's something I've been making for decades, although about 12 to 15 years ago, I started adding adobo seasoning (which I love!).  
 
Ingredients:

2 cans hominy (white or yellow), drained
2/3 cup onion, chopped
1 to 2 tablespoons of olive oil
4 slices bacon, cut into about 1/2 to 1 inch pieces
1 1/2 teaspoons adobo seasoning*
2/3 teaspoon Spanish paprika (it's smoked)
2 to 3 green onions, chopped (garnish)

In a skillet, heat the oil over medium heat and add the chopped bacon and onion. Cook the bacon and onion until the onion is softened. I've made this where I didn't need extra oil, but I've also had times where the extra oil was necessary. It will naturally depend upon how much bacon fat is rendered from the bacon pieces. Add the hominy, then sprinkle on the adobo seasoning and the paprika. Reduce the heat slightly. Make sure to mix the hominy and seasonings together well, so that the hominy is coated with the oil/bacon/seasonings. Heat until the hominy is hot. Serve with chopped green onion strewn on top.

* Adobo seasoning is type of seasoning (seasoned salt) associated with some Latino cultures, especially Puerto Rican. It is available in supermarkets and Latino markets, but it is easily made at home. Here is the link:  http://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2017/11/adobo-seasoning.html
 

 

 

  

WORD HISTORY:

Speck-English has two words of this spelling, but this is the noun meaning, "bacon, fatty pork meat, lard." It goes back to Indo European "sphei," which had the notion of, "thrive, be successful;" thus also, "to grow fat." This gave its Old Germanic offspring, "spika," meaning, "fatty meat of swine, bacon." This gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "spic," meaning, "bacon, lard." This then became "spicke, spycke," then "specke" (likely the pronunciation and spelling by then were influenced by related languages German, Low German, Dutch and Frisian), before the ending "e" was dropped. Forms in the other Germanic languages: German "Speck" (bacon, bacon fat, but also, flab, blubber), Low German had "spek," but it "seems" standard German "Speck" has overtaken it, Dutch and West Frisian "spek," Icelandic "spik," Swedish "späck" (meaning "lard," and it seems to have been borrowed from German or, more likely, from Low German).