Creating a Food Memory
Creating a Food Memory
Do you have a favorite food memory? What’s food memory you may be wondering. It is a memory that is created that centers around a certain food or meal that was shared around the table with family and/or friends. It might be a holiday food that reminds you of an aunt or your grandma who always made it for the family every year. Or it might be what you had for dinner as a young person for a special birthday.
Our family has many food memories, but our favorite is about a simple sandwich that is not only savory, but has a fun story centered around it. At our house the sandwich is known as The Polish Boy.
As a young girl, one of the first times I went to Randy’s home for dinner, his mom made the Polish Boy. I loved the dinner so much I asked to get the recipe for it and when I did, I heard the story of how their family came to adapt the recipe from a local restaurant. Here is what they shared with me:
Randy’s father, Ralph, served with the volunteer fire department in East Cleveland and sometimes before he came home, Ralph would stop with his buddies at a local restaurant for a sandwich named The Polish Boy. His father loved the sandwich so much, one night he brought home one of sandwiches and asked Randy’s mom to taste it so she could duplicate the recipe. She did! They told me they called it The Polish Boy because that is what the local restaurant named the sandwich. Of course, I asked which restaurant and they said, “Hot Sauce Williams.” I said, “What? Hot Sauce Williams shares a parking lot with my father’s grocery store!”
There were many Saturdays when I worked at my father’s store that he would run across the parking lot and bring me a hamburger from Hot Sauce Williams. (They were amazing as well!) It was a pleasant surprise to me that our families had a connection even before I met Randy!
Many years later I made Polish Boy sandwiches for our kids and the first time, Randy told the story of our families both sharing this same restaurant before he and I had ever met. I don’t care how many times I served these sandwiches over the year, it never failed, our kids wanted us to tell the story over and over again! They would bring friends over or home from college and ask that we have Polish Boys for dinner, and they always wanted us to tell the story again! We have now shared it with our grandkids. (A good story is worth sharing many times.) We have had a lot of fun with this. This is not our only food memory. We encourage our kids to share their memories of food as well. My daughter has a favorite birthday cake – but I’ll let her share that memory with you some day!
I have included the recipe below for your enjoyment if you should decide to try it, but perhaps it would be better for you to make a food that holds a fondness for you. If there is, I would encourage you to make it and share the story with your family. Encourage other members of the family to share their food memories with you. Then make those and allow them to share the memory connected with that food. It’s really fun!
Mom Frazee’s Polish Boys
(Adapted from Hot Sauce Williams)
4 kielbasa sausages cut in half (I use Eckrich turkey sausage)
8 hoagie rolls with a crisp crust
1 bag of shredded coleslaw
1 small jar of Marzetti slaw dressing (or you can make your own)
1 bottle of your favorite BBQ Sauce (We like Open Pitt Original for a little spiciness)
1 bag of frozen French fries
Cook French fries in oven (Mom Frazee dee-fired them) according to package directions. Cook kielbasa on the grill until heated through. While sausages are cooking, slice hoagie rolls open (not all the way trough) and put them aside. Put the coleslaw in a bowl and add the dressing. Put the barbecue sauce in a bowl and heat in the microwave for a minute or so just until warm.
When everything is done cooking. Have everyone gather around the table and make their own sandwich. Open a roll and put some coleslaw on it. Then add some French fries on top of the coleslaw (Yes! on the sandwich!). Put kielbasa on the top of the French fires and add barbecue sauce on top.
Yields 8 servings