If you ever ate chicken soup, or any sort of soup, for that matter, at my house between 1991 and 2004, chances are good that you ate Black Labrador saliva.
See, being the farm-bred and half-Dutch family we were, stock was something you made, not bought. Likewise, the refrigerator was the back deck in the winter, for the most part, not the white metal box in the kitchen. Every Thanksgiving, Christmas, and other special occasions calling for turkeys or chickens was immediately followed by stock-making, and of course homemade soup. Once you've boiled the carcass and aromatics for hours, the stock must cool so that the fat rises to the top and can be skimmed off, clarifying the broth. This is where Maggie, the Lab, comes into play.
She thought cooling stock, covered or not, was fair game for dog tongue. Much like the bottom of the grill, hot or not, was a prime licking location. So after the stock went on the back deck to cool and clarify, you were more likely than not to catch a black labradorian retrievering dog nosing her way into a recycled tupperware container and licking the delicious poultry fat off the top off the broth.
Being the aforementioned farm-bred and half-dutch family, dog saliva was no match for cheapness. Besides, it would be boiled eventually, right?
Thus, if you ever at chicken soup, or any other soup, for that matter, at my house between 1991 and 2004, you probably ate Black Labrador saliva.
RIP Baggie Maggie.
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