Have A Coronary

You’re probably thinking I mean a heart attack, but I’m not. A coronary comes from the Latin coronarius, of a crown (from corona, crown). It wasn’t until the 1670s that coronary became associated with the heart due to the crown of blood vessels surrounding it.

Perhaps you’d like a cardiac arrest instead. That comes from the Greek kardiakos for pertaining to the heart), though the arrest part didn’t become the word we most affix it to until 1950, when people living on Western diets started dropping like flies.

The ancient peoples were somewhat confused about the internal organs. The Greek kardia also means stomach, which is close to the old French cauldun (“bowels”), a word that sounds a lot like cauldron, a cooking pot. This makes sense in a metaphysical way, the stomach and its acids roiling away. The term “heartburn” is a result of this verbal proximity if not its anatomical one.

Whomever invented this exceptional sandwich ought to be crowned “Big Boy King.” If they’re still around. Which is doubtful.

Cooking for Two, Better Homes and Gardens, 1968

Also from this book: Goodnight Asparagus, Pizza Burger

Happiness Is...

Forty-five years after the song “Happiness Is” was written, extolling the simple pleasures of childhood, how many of them still hold true?

If the answer is “all of them,” that’s probably a good thing.

Peanuts Cook Book, United Features Syndicate, Inc., 1969

Potato Chip Sandwich / Chip Buttie

This seemingly simple, easy to follow recipe might, to the casual observer, look like a joke. It is not. For a start, the type of potato chip is not defined, and there are many to choose from. Are kettle-cooked chips best? Plain or salt and vinegar? Ruffled or flat?

In England, this sandwich is made with french fries instead of potato chips, big fat greasy ones, only they are called “chips,” not “fries,” and with butter instead of mayonnaise. It’s traditionally made on a slice of bread which is then folded in half over the chips, which makes it a “buttie,” rather than a “sandwich”; therefore it is known as a “chip buttie.”

The "Greasy Chip Buttie Song" is an anthem chanted with gusto by fans of the supporters of Sheffield United Football Club, though it has been adopted with various regional references by many football clubs, both in England and internationally. Its lyrics are as follows:

You fill up my senses

Like a gallon of Magnet

Like a packet of Woodbines

Like a good pinch of snuff

Like a night out in Sheffield

Like a greasy chip butty

Like Sheffield United

Come fill me again...

Na Na Na Naa Naa Naaaa, ooo!

(check video in the sidebar for a taste of how it sounds)

White Trash Cooking, Ernest Matthew Mickler, 10 Speed Press, 1986