Pork and Beans or Beans and Pork For Dad

While serving as a combat Marine in Korea, my father told me there were two main meals on the line: pork and beans and beans and pork and there were two different labels for the same identical meal. You could write a novel in that insanity and Joseph Heller already did.

It was with this Catch 22-styled military anecdote in mind that I served him one of his favorite meals, pork and beans or beans and pork by slicing up some Vienna sausages into a pot of baked beans. I also added some onions and sprinkled it lightly with black pepper.

Now I must say it was a first for me to “cook” with Vienna sausages and my hands trembled a bit as I handled the pink, greasy tubes. MY GOD! Was I actually helping kill my 90-year old father? Would DHS report me if the word got out, like in this post?

After a time, I laughed as I heated the concoction and bubbled and boiled its toil and cauldron. I doubt even Macbeth’s witches would have brewed up something so evil.

But, the Old Man wanted a favorite dish and I would prepare it the best I could and hope the headlines wouldn’t report a terrible death by methane asphyxiation or explosion. We had some concern about that.