Where’s the Beef

Uncle David would sometimes bring gifts from the Bagley Ranch in Callao, Utah. Mom dutifully would cook every piece and part. She came from good pioneer stock and had a Bachelor's degree in Home Economics from Utah State University, so she never thought twice about cooking anything. We would have liver and onions on Tuesdays and sometimes on special occasions we would get the heart. My favorite was the tongue. I remember mom boiling and the skinning that tough sandpaper like cow tongue and making a tasty supper out of it. Sometimes she would make cow tongue sandwiches for my lunches. I didn't know it then, but the Mexicans consider it a delicacy. They call it Lingua.

Sometimes my siblings and I would complain about it. We wondered, “Where is the real beef –you know, the steaks”. Then Dad had a wonderful idea. He would purchase half a beef from David fresh from the ranch and put it in our freezer. Soon we were in heaven. No more liver and onions or other organs, we were heading to freezer for steaks. When Mom and Dad got wind of it, they put the kibosh on our freezer raids pretty quick. "This meat has to last us all year", Dad said.

Disclosure: To be truthful, I had some fun with this post. Uncle David's bovine organ donations to our family were probably not all that frequent. After all he didn't come into town very often. Mom never once complained about his gifts though or thought we should be getting something better. I don't think it ever occurred to her to say no, and she certainly wouldn't let it go to waste, so she cooked it and we ate it.

-Darell