I just received a wonderful piece of fan mail (yes, I actually get fan mail – and not just from my mother). It was from a self-identified non-native who presently lives in what we affectionately refer to as “the coal region,” the setting for THE FOURTH HOUSE.
After saying the sweetest thing (“Whenever I go through Frackville I will think ‘This town has produced a great author.’”), she mentioned what a culture shock it was moving there, particularly the food.
Ah yes, the food. I mentioned in THE FOURTH HOUSE that the region can best be defined by its love of kielbasi. Just now, even my Spellcheck tried to do what my editor tried to do about 40 times throughout the book: change the spelling of that magnificent word to “kielbasa.”
No, my friends; the word is “kielbasi.” And no, if you have been living elsewhere in this great nation of ours and have been eating some damn thing that looks and tastes like a thick, twisted hot dog, then you have not really eaten kielbasi.
(NOT kielbasi)
In Lantanengo County, we keep it real – at least as far as our pork products go. Most connoisseurs take their kielbasi “fresh,” rather than smoked. Smoked is that pink hot doggy thing. Fresh is gray. We like our meat natural and gray back in the region – no additives for us.
(REAL kielbasi — with pierogies, as it should be)
Surprisingly, fresh kielbasi is not spicy; in fact, it is rather mild – unless you add horseradish, which many of the locals do.
It is considered bad form to invite someone over to your house and not have some kielbasi ready to serve as an appetizer. It can be any time of day or night; there simply must be some in the house. It can be served or eaten hot or cold. It is the perfect every-time snack.
I know of no factory farm/mass-produced fresh kielbasi (or “kilbo” if you want to call it something else – so long as you don’t call it “kielbasa”). What you’ll find there is fresh from small local farms.
In addition to the classic fresh gray that I am rhapsodizing over, I hear there’s a place over in Andoshen called, I believe, “The Kielbasi Store” that features a whole slew of creative variations such as “kielbasi loaf” and what have you. I haven’t had the pleasure of shopping there yet, but I plan to soon.
Oh, how I miss the gray stuff …