This past Saturday afternoon we went to lunch with several family members. As you can guess, we had so much fun. There was plenty of ribbing, joking, and laughing during the few hours we spent together.
We went to eat at a place that is very popular and has been around a long time, but that I had never tried – Buffalo Wild Wings. It’s quite a fun place, especially if you like sports because there were more TV’s hanging around than Best Buy has on their showroom floor! Well, maybe not that many, but a lot!
However, the experience did cause me to wonder about the name. We all know that pigs can’t fly, but then, I have never seen wings on a buffalo either. Who came up with the name? And since we are on the topic of strange names, do chickens have fingers? Do fish have sticks?
Here are some more odd-sounding names and a halfway decent explanation of their name:
Buffalo Wings: All my findings say that they originated at the Anchor Bar in Buffalo, N.Y. Now that makes sense.
Chicken Fingers: Chicken producers, after cutting the thicker and meatier portion of the chicken breast from the smaller tenderloin parts, decided to market them as a finger food. These small tenderloin pieces eventually evolved into Chicken Fingers.
Fish Sticks (also known as Fish Fingers): The term Fish Fingers is first referenced in a recipe given in a British popular magazine in 1900. Once commercial marketing started selling them in a breaded and frozen form, they became Fish Sticks, probably because they are a piece of fish that resembles a stick.
Whoopie Pies: According to food historians, Amish women would bake these desserts (known as hucklebucks, or creamy turtles at the time) and put them in farmers’ lunch boxes. When farmers would find the treats in their lunch, they would shout “Whoopie!”
Stinking Bishop: If you are anywhere near by, you will understand the first part of this cheese’s name. It does, by golly, stink! As far as the Bishop part, the cheese is immersed in the juice of Bishop pears, named after the farmer that grew them, Mr. Bishop.
Headcheese: Headcheese is not really cheese at all – in fact, it gets rather ugly sounding. This treat is made from various parts of a pig, calf or cow – including the tongue, ears, feet and heart. The origin of the name isn’t quite clear, but could be due to the fact that it is made in a “cheese” mold. I really didn’t want to dig any deeper on this one!
Burgoo: Kentuckians will tell you that burgoo is a stew made with various meats and veggies, all simmered together. The name could be from an interpretation of bulgur, from which the stew was originally made.
Bedfordshire Clanger: Both a savory and sweet suet pastry. Such is the reputation of the dish that people from Bedfordshire, England are nicknamed Clangers.
Cullen Skink: Cullen skink is a smoked haddock soup from the town of Cullen, in Northeast Scotland. One of Scotland’s national treasures, it is somewhere between a fish soup and a stew. Hearty, creamy and wholesome, it is said to “blow chowder out of the water.”
Succotash: A classic Southern side dish that features cooked corn and lima beans, succotash first appeared in the English language in the mid- to late-1700s. It is from the Narragansett Indian word msickquatash, which means “boiled whole kernels of corn.”
Sundaes: The first official documentation of this sweet treat dates back to an 1892 Ithaca Daily Journal advertisement for a pharmacy’s new ice cream specialty known as the Cherry Sunday. Legend says, the pharmacist topped a scoop of vanilla ice cream with cherry syrup and a candied cherry to please a reverend that stopped in for his weekly post-church treat – hence, Sunday!
Well, the list could go on, but I have run out of space. I think I will try my hand at some Cullen Skink with a Sundae for dessert.
In the meantime, here is one of my all-time favorite desserts that I love to make and take for special occasions. The name says it all.
Elegant Banana Pudding
2 bags Pepperidge Farm Chessmen cookies
6 to 8 bananas, sliced into bite-size chunks
2 cups milk
1 (5-ounce) box French vanilla pudding and pie filling
1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup sweetened condensed milk
1-12 oz. and 1-8 oz. container frozen whipped topping, thawed
1/2 cup sliced almonds, roasted
Line the bottom of a 13-by-nine-by-two-inch dish with one bag of cookies and layer bananas on top.
In a pan, combine the milk and pudding mix and cook according to package directions. Place a sheet of Saran Wrap directly on top of the pudding (to prevent pudding from forming a skin), and place in refrigerator to cool completely.
Meanwhile, in large bowl, combine the cream cheese and sweetened condensed milk together and mix until smooth. Fold the 12-ounce container of whipped topping. Add the pudding to the cream cheese mixture and stir until well blended. Pour the mixture over the cookies and bananas. Cover with the remaining cookies. Top with the eight-ounce container of whipped topping, and then sprinkle with the almonds. Refrigerate until ready to serve.
Kay Bona is a staff writer for the Hamilton County Herald and an award-winning columnist and photographer. Contact her at kay@dailydata.com.