Serves Four

Lately I’ve been thinkin about “porcupines”. Not the critter; all be-it I do identify with the defensive little feller. Nope, more like the approach of the dark season and memories of birthday’s past that got me dwelling on ‘um.

Momma usta always ask me what I wanted to eat for my birthday supper and when I was little, it was without hesitation that I would ask for Porcupines. Now I know you think there are few things that Southerner’s don’t eat, but NO, we do NOT actually eat porcupines, we fix’um.

(Here’s why they’re called porcupines – as they cook the rice starts to poke out and they look like little porcupines.)

Momma always used her electric skillet and I’m bettin’ that this recipe came with the book cause it’s a bear to make these in the oven. I could almost eat the whole pan by myself, but I know I didn’t cause momma always gave Daddy what she liked to call, “the “Lion’s share”. Funny, I don’t even remember what went with’um, maybe a pineapple salad with shredded cheddar cheese and Hellman’s mayo spooned in the center, or maybe canned pears with cream cheese, didn’t matter cause it was all about the Porcupines. I didn’t have to worry about my brother eatin’um cause they had texture and he didn’t eat texture, nope I don’t think that boy ate real food til he went into the service, but that is another story, today, the focus is on Porcupines.

Folks my age remember these meatballs made with ground beef, rice, onion, tomato soup, and Worcestershire sauce. Buck doesn’t know it, but I’m gonna make him a skillet full of Porcupines this week. It’s gonna rain and be cold here on Wednesday and that’s perfect Porcupine weather.

So thank you Momma, thank you for workin all day then comin home and it pullin together my birthday dinner. Later it would morph into spaghetti, then pork tenderloin with black-eyed peas and stewed tomatoes, but these little meatballs still have a special place in my heart.

Ingredients:

1 pound lean ground beef
1/3 cup uncooked long-grain rice
1/4 cup chopped onion
1/4 cup water
1 teaspoon salt
dash ground black pepper
dash of Worcestershire
1 can condensed tomato soup
1/2 cup water

Preparation:

Combine the ground beef, rice, onion, 1/4 cup of the water, salt, and pepper. Shape meat mixture into 12 to 15 meat balls. Combine the soup, and rest of the water in a large saucepan; (electric skillet, but who has one these days) bring to a boil. Add meatballs; reduce heat, cover, and simmer over very low heat for 1 hour. Stir occasionally.
Serves 4.