SPAM ‘n’ Cheese Ribbon Loaf

Sliced SPAM layered with cream cheese filling, sliced and served with potato salad and tomatoes

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City/Region: United States of America

Time Period: 1951

 

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SPAM. The iconic canned meat product. Beloved by some, reviled by others, SPAM was buoyed by a very successful marketing blitz by the Hormel company starting in the 1930s. There were radio and magazine ads, The Hormel Girls (a singing group), and recipes.

I’m not the biggest fan of SPAM, and this recipe turned out way too salty for me. If you want to make the historical recipe, go ahead and follow it, but I would personally opt for the reduced sodium SPAM and cut out the salt in the cream cheese mixture. If you like SPAM, definitely try this out! It’s super flavorful, but it’s just not to my taste.

“Tender, pure-pork SPAM joins with a zesty cream cheese mixture for memorable eating. Serve for supper or lunch—or as a noteworthy appetizer.

SPAM ‘n’ Cheese Ribbon Loaf
Cut in 8 slices……1 whole SPAM
Mix together……1 (3-oz.) package cream cheese (softened with a little milk)
1 tsp. lemon juice
1 tsp. grated onion
1 tbsp. minced parsley
1/4 tsp. salt
Spread between……slices of SPAM
Chill……4 hours (or longer; overnight if desired). Slice and serve. Good with deviled eggs or potato salad.

Economical all-meat buy! No bone, no waste. SPAM is all meat…juicy pork shoulder and mild, tender ham, with Hormel’s unequalled seasonings.”

— Hormel advertisement, 1951

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Ingredients:

• 3 oz cream cheese, softened
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon grated onion
• 1 tablespoon minced parsley
• 1/4 teaspoon salt*
• 1 12 oz can SPAM*
• Lettuce, cherry or grape tomatoes, deviled eggs or potato salad, for serving

*As written, I found this recipe to be very salty. You could try the reduced sodium SPAM if you’d like, and/or leave out the additional salt in the cream cheese mixture.

Instructions:

1. Place the softened cream cheese in a large bowl and work it with a spatula to make it as smooth as possible. Stir in the lemon juice until it’s fully incorporated.
2. After the lemon juice is fully mixed in, stir in the grated onion, parsley, and salt until fully combined.
3. Wipe any gelatin off of the SPAM. Slice it into 8 equal slices and lay them out.
4. For even layers, divide the cream cheese up into 7 equal portions, about 16 grams each. You can also eyeball this if you’re not fussed about even layers. Spread each portion of cream cheese onto the SPAM slices. You want to spread it all the way to the edges and make it as flat and even as possible. One slice will not have any cream cheese on it; this one will be put on the end. Set these in the fridge for about 20 minutes to let the cream cheese firm up a bit.
5. After the slices have chilled, lay out a piece of plastic wrap. Take the slices and sandwich them together so the slices are perpendicular to the work surface. This makes it so that gravity is less likely to get the filling to squish out. Once all the slices have been assembled, carefully wrap the loaf tightly in the plastic wrap and set it in the fridge for 4 hours or overnight.
6. After it has chilled, slice the loaf across the “grain”. To serve it forth as it appears in the 1951 ad, arrange it upon a platter with a bed of lettuce, garnish it with cherry or grape tomatoes, and add some deviled eggs or a scoop of potato salad.

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