Earl Eats Pork Belly Tacos at Taqueria27 - A Review & Update

Very recently I had the opportunity of joining Capt. Len (of BBQ fame), at a place totally different from the food truck scene, for some Mexican fare. On my first visit here, I tried their Duck Confit Tacos. This time I was looking for something a bit different from my first review/experience at Taqueria27. They offer classic Mexican dishes along with some re-imagined street food in what they call a "casual yet upscale environment". It was exactly as advertised! Everyone on the staff was polite, engaging and SMILING...even though we were in a bit of a hurry, and we let them know it. When I got the menu, I was drawn to a taco I had never heard of, designated simply by the alphabetic abbreviation "P.B.L.T.A." This reminded me of what my wife (a.k.a. "Turkey") refer to as "BLAT", or a B.L.T. with Avocado added, so I read on. 

What their taco offered was different. Rather than bacon, it was made of PORK BELLY. For the un-initiated, pork belly is a "boneless cut of fatty meat from the belly of a pig, considered a delicacy in many parts of the world", and it is a darling of the foodies and food-TV. It comes from the uncured, un-smoked and un-sliced belly of the pig, and is a bit fattier than bacon. To this they added lettuce, tomato and one of my favorites, avocado. In essence, this was our "BLAT" substituting a tortilla for bread and the father of bacon (pork belly) for bacon.

This was my best tasting experience yet. Everything was flavorful and seasoned just right. Two tacos were served with the order, and the only thing I would change is I wanted more, even though these were stuffed full of goodness. If you live in the Salt Lake Valley, go to this place! Taqueria27 is locally owned by a husband and wife team. They now have 5 locations in the greater Salt Lake City area. I recommend you try them. There are so many good choices, both classic and more modern, and I doubt you will go away hungry OR disappointed.

By the numbers:
Service ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Food ⭐⭐⭐
Price 💲💲
As you can see, the service and food are high and the price is low. A good value! Thanks again Capt. Len!

Earl Cooks the Best Burger I have Ever Cooked!

I love hamburgers. A good burger combines the best of meat, veggies, dairy, and bread all in one handy package! The burgers usually include 2 meats and cheese. Most often, the type of cheese doesn't matter to me, but it must be one that will melt easily and cover the patty with gooey smoothness. This burger was born from leftover ingredients from my Cinco de Mayo meals this past weekend. I had crispy flour tortilla shells, cheese, taco seasoning and avocado.

I started with one pound of 80/20 ground beef, which I seasoned with simple taco seasoning. I used a package, but it is easy to make your own. Now the uniqueness begins. I had some delicious flour tortillas left over from my fish tacos from Cinco de Mayo, which I CRUSHED into fine flakes and added them to the seasoned ground beef.  I divided that into four patties, and placed an indentation in the center to prevent cupping when the burger cooks.

I lightly coated each patty with the same seasoned coating I had used on the fish. Dixie Fry & Taco Seasoning (Dixie Fry is a simple coating for chicken & fish that my grandboy introduced me to.  After searing on both sides I added a dash of Weber® Gourmet Burger seasoning. I topped that with cheddar jack shredded cheese and covered the pan for just a moment, to melt the cheese.

To top the burger off, I used a perfectly ripe avocado. for a side dish I roasted some baby broccoli. This need no bun, just a knife & fork.

Results & Conclusions:
As I said in the title, this is the best burger I have ever cooked. Maybe not the best I have ever eaten, but I have never considered my burgers flavorful enough to rave about. The crunch from the tortillas and the mild taco seasoning worked almost to perfection. It was like Taco Tuesday!

Earl Cooks Pork Wrapped Pork Chops with Guac & Mashed Potatoes

Sometimes my cooking ideas come from experience. Sometimes from my cooking or eating history and sometimes from ingredients on hand. This dish came from all of those and was FABULOUS.

It starts awhile back when Grandboy #2 called for help with cooking (Pork On Pork Makes Gpa Proud) 
He wanted to make bacon wrapped pork chops and I gave some advice and guidance, and he did good. Today I had some great, thick sliced, bacon and some great, thin sliced, pork chops I had just bought, and a meal was coming together in my head.

Earlier in the day, I decided to make a guacamole in the same fashion I first saw it made in the first town I lived in, Cuaulta, in the state of Morelos, Mexico. My roommate showed me a glass jar that had the colors of the Mexican Flag. Large chunks of avocado made up the green layer, large chunks of onion made up the white layer, and large chunks of tomato made up the red layer. There was a bit of cilantro and jalapeño, (gringo amounts), but very chunky. Not blended, not mashed. That is where I first tasted guacamole, and I fell in love. Here are the steps:
—Step 1: Take 2 avocados that are perfectly ripe and halve them and remove the stone. With your knife, score the avocado flesh lengthwise in half inch wide strips. Now score the flesh in half inch strips at a 90 degree angle to the first. Remove the diced avocado to a glass bowl or jar that has an airtight lid using a serving or tablespoon. You can also remove the flesh first and dice, if you prefer. Salt the avocado.
—Step 2: Dice 1 good sized onion. I always use yellow, but in Mexico they like white. Top the avocado COMPLETELY with the diced onion. The same acid that makes one cry is what will keep your avocado from turning brown!
—Step 3: Halve or quarter a good portion of grape tomatoes. I used multi colored, but you can use any color. In Mexico we just used standard tomatoes. Again, enough to cover the WHOLE SURFACE of your container. You can also add diced peppers of your choice and cilantro. I only added a small amount, but spice it up if you like.
—Step 4: Seal & refrigerate. It is important that you use a container that is just large enough to hold it all with almost no room for air. After about 3 or 4 hours, flip your container upside down to redistribute the gases and acids from the onions and tomatoes. My container had a large, flat bottom and top to make this easier.

This is the chunkiest and most simple guacamole I have ever made and it is the first one I tasted 45+ years ago in the heart of Mexico. My plan is to top my pork wrapped pork with this. It is almost an avocado chop salad.

Now for the main event. THE MEAT
—Step 1: I grab my 12" cast iron skillet and brown 6 pieces of the thick cut bacon.
—Step 2: I leave the bacon grease in the pan and lightly brown the thin-cut pork chops with garlic pepper and sea salt. This step is NOT intended to cook these through, just to give them a bit of color. Even if pork is the other white meat, brown it! While browning the chops, preheat oven to 350℉.
—Step 3: Wrap the browned pork chops with the browned bacon. I used 2 strips per chop and anchored them with toothpicks. I used bone-in chops (our favorite). If you use boneless loin chops it may be easier to wrap the bacon. Now return chops to the skillet. Place skillet into your preheated oven. Set timer for 10 minutes
—Step 4: After 10 minutes have passed do one of two things a) turn the chops over or b) turn on the broiler element in your stove and cook for another 10 minutes. (I chose the latter). This ensures crisp bacon and pork chops that are cooked through. If you use a thicker chop, cook longer. Always adjust for your own oven.

Mo' Bacon IN the Side
For our side dish, more bacon is in order so I go with Idahoan Applewood Smoked Bacon Mashed potatoes!

Results
My wife almost licked her plate clean. That is a glowing endorsement from her, and nothing for her to eat  for lunch the next day. I topped my pork chop with the guacamole, and loved every bite. I ate what was left of the guacamole the next day with chips. All in all one of my best creations to date!

Earl Cooks Pan Seared Teriyaki Sesame Salmon with Avocado & Rice

It has not been that long since we started eating salmon on a regular basis. I don't why, but it was not even in our wheelhouse. Partly because everyone said it was difficult to cook properly, and partly because of our own unfamiliarity with it. We had always had white fish of one kind or another, or shellfish. But in an effort to get more healthy, I decide to give it a try. We have tried it fresh and frozen; seasoned and not. 

Tonight I wanted to try Sea Cuisine's Teriyaki Sesame Salmon Fillets. It is a frozen product. Two wild caught Alaskan fillets pre-seasoned with ginger soy sauce & garlic. The great thing about this product is we can have it in the freezer and pan sear it whenever you need some omega 3 fatty acids! This is a delicious product with an ever-so-slight peppery flavor. It cooks up rather quickly, without defrosting, in a medium-high skillet. I paired it with white rice and a whole avocado. I put butter and soy sauce on my rice and my wife added lemon to hers. The bite with the rice is a great mouthful and the best way to eat this. What can be said of the avocado? EAT IT! 

Results:
This was one of the best frozen fish meals we have had, and we will keep this on our shopping list and you should too!

Earl Eats BLAT Salad for Dinner

 My BLAT Salad Components & My BLAT Salad Dressed with Blue Cheese

What? You have never heard of a BLAT? In our house BLATs are a staple! If you have had a BLT, you've almost had a BLAT...Bacon, Lettuce, Tomato and AVOCADO. (we had to do a bit of rearranging to make BLAT - BLTA just wasn't right.) When living in Mexico in the mid 70s, one of the places I lived was the avocado capital of Mexico, Morelia,, Michoacán. The avocados were the size of softballs and perfectly ripened. My father loved avocados and I wish I had been able to send him one like those available in the market there daily. Back then, in the states, we only rarely saw avocados because of their delicate nature. We didn't have them year round like we do today. It's winter and I just bought them on sale! Back to our BLATS...

My wife (a.k.a. "Turkey") prefers salads to sandwiches, So I thought I would deconstruct a BLAT and make a salad, since she would probably make hers into a salad anyway. The ingredients are:

Crumbled Bacon, Butter Lettuce, one Haas Avocado, Grape Tomatoes, Homemade Croûtons and for mine, Fat Free Chunky Blue Cheese Dressing.Only a couple of these are not standard BLT components. The salad dressing is a substitute for mayo or Miracle Whip, the croûtons are a substitute for bread and the crumbled bacon for strips of bacon.

As you can see in the top photo, On the left, I have the components sorted on the lettuce, and then assembled and dressed to the right. How can you go wrong with bacon, tomatoes, and avocados topped with blue cheese? You can't and we didn't. It was marvelous and filling!

A SIDE NOTE:

My wife chose Hidden Valley Cilantro Lime for her dressing and no croûtons. What can I say, nobody's perfect!😁

Earl Eats "Turkey's" Super Supper Salad

From top left: Cherry Tomatoes, Hard-Cooked Eggs,
Green Onion, Blue Cheese, Avocado & Bacon

My Salad on the Left and "Turkey's" on the right
I also added cottage cheese to mine.

It seemed like a great night for a dinner salad and I had some great components—Cherry Tomatoes, Hard-Cooked Eggs, Green Onion, Avocado, crumbled bacon, blue cheese and lettuce. I was all set to make it except for 1 thing. My wife, AKA "Turkey", likes her green onions sliced extremely thin, thinner than I am able to slice them apparently, and she likes the tomatoes halved, ever since I tried to poke mine with a fork and shot tomato clear down the other end of the table at a wedding banquet some 40 years ago, which, of course, she remembers to this day! So I asked her if she would slice the onion and the tomatoes, thinking I would continue and do the rest, when I got to the kitchen she had done everything, as shown above! All that was left was each of us putting our salad together and dressing it. I was surprised she wanted to do it, and I think she was a bit surprised too! Here they are, she chose Cilantro Lime Ranch Dressing and I went with Chunky Blue Cheese. My dad loved Roquefort when I was growing up and I learned to love the flavor and my mom taught us to love hard-cooked eggs on our salads. My grandpa loved growing tomatoes and while in Mexico, I lived in the avocado capital where the best avocados I have ever eaten were found, so in this simple meal, much history is revealed and memories jogged.