Calf Slobber (Calf Slobbers)
Calf slobber (also “calf slobbers”) is that white stuff found in a calf’s mouth. It became the nickname for meringue that tops pies or egg custards. A foamy head of beer is also sometimes called “calf slobber.”
GrannyG’s Critters
2006-Jun-18
Meringue aka “Calf Slobbers”
I decided I would make my son-in-law a Lemon Meringue Pie for Father’s Day. Sadly, he is one who hates chocolate ! The phone rang, and my grandaughter Katie said, “Granny, Daddy said you put calf slobbers on that pie you sent us !” I wasn’t quite sure what he had told her, so I thought about it for a minute. “Yep, Papa Benny went down and got calf slobbers off Hombre (the big Longhorn Steer), put it in a bucket, and I whipped it up and put it on that pie.” “EWWWWWWW”......“I am not going to eat it !” Her daddy got on the phone and said she ate all of it but the meringue. I am still laughing at that child !
Meringue
3-4 egg whites
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/3-1/2 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon Cream of Tartar
1 TBSP Corn Starch
1 teaspoon vanilla
Whip the egg whites until they are frothy and double in size. Sprinkle in the mixture of sugar mixed with the cream of tartar, corn starch and salt. Whip until the egg whites are stiff and all the sugar is dissolved. Slowly add the vanilla. Put on top of your favorite cream pie and bake at 400 degrees for 10-12 minutes, or till light brown.
Google Books
Cowboy Lingo
by Ramon F. Adams
New York: Houghton Mifflin Books
2000
original copyright 1936
Pg. 233:
“As peaceful as a church,” “as scarce as sunflowers on a Christmas tree,” “as calm as a toad in the sun,” “as solemn as a tenderfoot trapper skinnin’ a skunk,” “as worried as a bull-frog waitin’ for rain in Arizona,” “as scared as a rabbit in a wolf’s mouth,” “as dangerous as walkin’ quicksand over hell,” and “as slippery as calf slobbers,” are all strong cowboy figures of speech which leave no doubt in the mind of the listener of their strengh.
Google Books
The American Thesaurus of Slang
by Lester V. Berrey and Melvin van den Bark
New York: Thomas Y. Crowell
1953
Pg. 93:
calf slobber, merin-goo, meringue.
Pg. 847:
calf slobber, meringue.
(Dictionary of American Regional English)
calf-slobber(s) n [See quot 1949 Webber at 2] chiefly S Midl, SW joc
1. Saliva
1954 Harder Coll. ew TN, Calf-slobbers...saliva.
2. Meringue.
1927 American Speech 2.390 [Vagabond argot],
1933 American Speech 8.1.27 nwTX, Calf slobbers.
1949 Webber
1949 Publications of the American Dialect Society 11.4 wTX, Calf-slobbers...Meringue. Vulgar.
c1960 Wilson Coll. cs KY, Calf-slobber—Meringue on pies or egg custards.
(Historical Dictionary of American Slang)
calf-slobber n. Texas.
1.a. meringue. Also pl.
1927 American Speech II 390: Meringue, on pastry, is called calf-slobber [by hoboes].
1933 American Speech (Feb.) 27:
Meringue.
1.b. (see quot.)
1983 K. Weaver Texas Crude 64: Calf-slobber. Foam on a head of beer.
2. emphatically nothing.
1980 Hogan Lawman’s Choice 70: That doesn’t mean calf slobber to me.
28 June 1888, Van Wert (OH) Republican, pg. 2, col. 7:
Calf slobber ‘ll cure children’s sore eyes. Weak molasses-water she good for sore eyes.—Detroit Free Press.
20 January 1901, Galveston (TX) Daily News, “Wash White’s New Year Resolutions,” pg. 10, col. 2:
State of Texas, County of Hopkins.
(...)
I won’t took no mo’ vittles outen de safe when Miss Matie’s spectin’ company ‘unless she meks sum mo ‘aig custads wid calf slobber on ‘em.
2 September 1923, Mexia (TX) Daily News, pg. 2, col. 2:
Yes, and we’d give a King’s ransom—if we had to—to possess once more the ostrich-like appetite and digestion we used to bring to bear upon the fried chicken and “calf slobber custard” at the country picnics. Go way, town grub, you done los’ yo’ tas’—Terrell Transcript.
The Transcript man shore has been to them country picnics, or he wouldn’t know so much about calf slobber custard pie.