Meat Mixtures

The transformation of a steer or pig into the standard roasts, steaks, and chops generates a large assortment of scraps and byproducts. These remainders have always been put to use, reassembled into everything from the “goat sausage bubbling fat and blood” that the disguised Odysseus wins in a warm-up fight before his battle with Penelope’s suitors, to the Scots haggis of sheep’s liver, heart, and lung stuffed into its stomach, to the modern canned mixture of ham, pork shoulder, and flavorings called Spam. Chopped or ground up, mixed with other ingredients, and pressed together, meat scraps can provide one of the heartiest parts of a meal—and even one of the most luxurious.