A Last Comment on Sausages and an Interesting Article

OK, if you double the amount of sage, savory, and pepper in the Ames recipe for sausage you can actually taste something. Definitely different than the spice combinations I'm used to today. A little research-God bless Wikipedia-has led to some interesting revelations. As I noted the other day, summer savory was almost certainly the herb used by Mrs. Ames. Winter savory is generally considered to be too bitter for use in large does. Checking out summer savory I learned that in Atlantic Canada it is often used as a substitute for sage. The names of several traditional dishes where it is used are given and savory in sausages is also confirmed. Thus the Ames recipe comes from a flavor tradition that has deep roots around here. The final taste combines some of the mustiness of sage with a back of the mouth warmth and some sharpness from the savory. The amount of black pepper in the recipe isn't enough to add an overall heat to the sausage in my opinion. Overall, interesting and easy to make, but out-of-step with the preferences for spicier sausages today. I'd be careful of this savory, by the way, it's apparently a staple of Transylvanian cuisine and we all know what else those Transylvanians have a craving for.

On a serious note The Chronicles of Higher Education just published a thoughtful and intellectually rigorous skewering of conservatism by Professor Corey Robin of Brooklyn College. It's a really challenging article because I think most of us are pretty inconsistent in our political ideas. I hate change-does that make me conservative? Professor Robin makes a distinction between traditionalists who are happy with the familiar and conservatives who feel compelled to defend hierarchical orders-the idea that the elites should rule. I read a comment in the Patch the other day from someone called Bob or Bill "the Swede" Anderson claiming that the Shovel Shop project will turn North Easton into downtown Taunton. My first visceral reaction was to write a response along the lines of "Ain't that what they said about the Ames' dumping all those Swedes on the town a century and a half ago?" I hate hierarchies, I hate us being better than them, I hate bosses taking advantage of workers, financiers cheating small time investors, husbands abusing wives, arbiters of taste telling me what Christmas decorations are appropriate, and the state making demands for my obedience, yet like most teachers since Socrates I believe the best qualified should be the leaders in every field of endeavor. I suppose like Socrates I have the naive belief that in order to be the best qualified you would know to act in the best interests of all. But, of course, its presumptuous to say you have any idea what's in the best interests of anyone else, and great knowledge also breeds great arrogance (just ask Socrates about Alcibiades). Here I am stuck in the middle way wishing I was still a philosophy teacher-nothing like a bunch of 18 year olds to straighten things out. Thanks Professor Robin for making me think!