Earl works with Capt. Len - My Food Truck Foray UPDATE

UPDATE!
Since my first time working with Capt. Len on his BBQ Food Truck, I have worked several more times, mostly on a Friday or Saturday night, but I have also done company parties and one gathering dedicated to Dog Owners. Working on a food truck  is much better than I anticipated, mostly because of the great customers! I had always understood that hungry people are hard to deal with, but that is not at all the case. Granted, I spend most of my time getting their food ready, but I have met older people, kids and even out of towners...WAY out of town, like Stockholm, Sweden!

The food truck community is a close knit group, not cut-throat businesses at all, really. Most Food Truckers want to try, and indeed request, food from the competition in exchange for their own. Many share space in a common prep area, and do so on an honor system of sorts. It is literally a "league of their own".  It is a business, with all of the challenges, but to me it is more like how it should be in business. Good people serving good products to happy customers!
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 (original article starts here)
Until now, I was the only member of my family that HADN'T worked in a restaurant environment.
But I ran into a longtime friend (longer than both of us care to admit), who was busy stocking his NEW food truck. He asked if I would like to help him, (I think half kidding), and I thought that it would be a great experience and said yes! His name is Capt. Len, and he abandoned his legal training to do what he loves and is very good at, winning competitions and awards. I have posted about his smoked pork and how delicious it is previously, and I even helped him sling baked beans at our class reunion last fall, but tonight I get the full experience. It is the longest day of the year and I am going to work in a small kitchen, in the hot evening. I think it will be great!

Let me be clear about 2 things. Len is the one who is really responsible for the cooking/smoking. My job was to make sure it got assembled properly and delivered to the customer as ordered. For my first time in the kitchen, they didn't really even let me handle a knife...but I did get cool blue gloves!

The second thing is this is not a food TRUCK. Rather, it is a TRAILER. And it is decked out with most everything one could want in a commercial kitchen on wheels, including a smoker! Len has developed his rubs and sauces over many years to give the best results possible, and that care and attention shows, or rather tastes. I find smoked food almost hypnotic in the way it attracts me to the source.

Ribs & Beans & Len's Sauce
Before & after I finished mine

The ribs are my personal favorite with the pulled pork a close second, but we got very good compliments on the brisket, so it really does hit the spot with everyone. I brought my wife some ribs following my little adventure and fortunately, she left me a little too!

I prefer mine with no sauce, but his sauce is a favorite and a special recipe he has developed for years.

Well, I have now worked in a professional kitchen. It was fun, funny, busy, hot and informative.  I will be doing it again soon. Thanks Len!

Earl Cooks Pork Butt Burnt Ends

One of the big buzz phrases in the barbecue world these days is "Burnt Ends" Like many restaurant favorites, these started as the parts of the smoked brisket that were once considered to be unsellable, so the restaurant employees got to eat them. They came from the fattier "point" cut of the brisket.

I have never had brisket burnt ends. Now they are popular, thay are also expensive. I don't cook whole briskets, so I never have the trimmings left over. I found several recipes called "poor man's burnt ends" that used other meats and sounded just as good. Some used pork belly, some used roast beef, but the one that struck me was pork roast. That is what I decided to go with. I had a beautiful half of a pork shoulder smoked by Capt. Len's BBQ, a nearly perfect place to start.

I cut the pork into about 3/4-1" cubes and placed them in and disposable aluminum roasting pan and coated them with 2 kinds of sauce. Normally, I wouldn't need sauce for this tasty pork, but burnt ends NEED sugar to caramelize and, well, burn. I added a store brand hickory BBQ sauce and a locally produced Smoky Bacon sauce.
Now for the roasting. Since the pork was fully cooked and smoke I had only to heat it through and caramelize the sugars in th sauces giving them the burnt look and crunch. I started wit the oven at 350℉ for about 20 minutes. Then I changed it to cook from above (broil setting) at the same temperature for another 20 minutes.

They turned out great! This was my first attempt and some chunks were a bit overly crunchy, almost truly burnt. But they were still very tasty.

Results & Conclusions and Notes:

This was very much woth it and helped by the excellent smoked pork from Capt. Len's BBQ
Capt. Len's BBQ - Just Follow the Smoke!

Earl Eats Two Fast Food Bacon Burgers - A Review

It may seem unfair to compare a premium burger from McDonald's to a Junior offering from Burger King. But on this day, that's what I set-out to do...The Flame Grilled Bacon King Jr. from Burger King vs. the Bacon Smokehouse Burger from McDonald's. Both are similar in their descriptions but very different in their price points. How do they stack up, and which one is the Best Burger Bargain.

Let's start at Burger King: they describe their BACON KING™ Jr. as a "smaller package, same BIG taste. Two flame–grilled 100% beef patties topped with thick-cut smoked bacon, melted American cheese, ketchup and creamy mayonnaise on a toasted sesame seed bun." 

McDonald's describes their Bacon Smokehouse Burger as "A burger made with unexpected flavor combinations, including crispy Applewood smoked bacon, smoky bacon-onion sauce, real white cheddar(sharp), mild sweet mustard sauce and in-house fried onion strings. With a 100% fresh beef 1/4 lb. patty that’s hotter, juicier and cooked when you order. Served on an artisan roll." 

I liked both of these burgers very much. The BACON KING™ Jr. from Burger King had 2 patties while the Bacon Smokehouse had just the one, but it is a quarter pound patty. I have always liked the flavor of Burger Kings Flame Grilled patties, although a good friend of mine is just the opposite. The bacon was good on both too. The sharp white cheddar on the McDonald's offering was a pleasant addition but 2 slices of American from BK was good too. McDonald's "artisan bun" was nice and soft but the BACON KING™ Jr.'s bun was nicely toasted with the traditional sesame seeds.

I do like the addition of fried onion rings on the McDonald's burger as well as their bacon-onion sauce. I also like the creamy mayonnaise BK ads to theirs. I don't think the ketchup added to the  Burger King sandwich was necessary since it tends to cover up the flavor of the beef, but the mustard sauce on the McDonald's burger added a light tang without covering the beef flavor.

Results & Conclusions

As mentioned earlier, I liked both of these burgers. It seems like McDonald's is really trying to improve their fare. The Burger King sandwich is not really anything new, but is re-imagined and slightly downsized. If I were judging on simply which is best, McDonald's Bacon Smokehouse Burger wins. The fried onion rings,  sharp, white cheese and condiments won the day. However...

Burger King's is the best VALUE, by far! The McDonald's was nearly $6 for the sandwich alone. Burger King's price was around $3. Is it as good? NO! Is it good? YES!

Earl Cooks Grilled Ham & Cheese nn a "George Foreman"

The ads called it the George Foreman Lean Mean Grilling Machine. Daughter #1 simply called it the George Foreman. It ended up as mine!

This model is one that really is only good for a single sandwich, or a piece of boneless chicken or a burger. In addition, it is VERY difficult to clean, with no removable parts for washing. It is all by hand with no ability to immerse it in water, and by the time it reached me there was no grease drip tray. But I had never owned one and I wanted to see how well it would work.

A grilled cheese seemed like the best way to test it, but only after I cleaned it. That took awhile...then awhile longer...then awhile longer still!


Finally, I decided on my sandwich. It would be a grilled ham and Swiss.

• I started with 2 slices of "Turkey's" (a.k.a. my wife's) homemade bread.
• Next comes baby Swiss. The cheese must be all around the ham. I use black forest deli sliced ham—3 or 4 slices. So the order is, bread, cheese, ham, cheese, and bread again.
• Now I apply butter to the OUTSIDE of the sandwich. This makes the sandwich crispy and TASTY! It will also help release the sandwich from George. If you are using a grill or frying pan it will help there too.
• After grilling a few minutes, rotate to make it pretty. I had to add weight to press the sandwich enough for me.
• It was delicious and just what I wanted. It worked much like a panini press, but I had to do the pressing.

Result & Conclusions:
I am certain that subsequent models improved a bunch. The George Foreman Grills are made by a company called Salton. My biggest complaints are the poor design for cleaning and the inability to apply pressure to whatever is cooked.

I am glad I didn't buy it and don't want to clean it much, but for a quick burger or grilled sandwich, it is nice to have around.

Earl Revives Party Pasta Salad for "Turkey"

As you may have read here, my wife (a.k.a. "Turkey") does not care for most pasta dishes. She thinks "pasta" is well named, as Webster defines it: "paste in processed form". I have managed to get her to like some pastas when cooked right with the proper sauce. In the 1980's pasta became SALAD. Not a dish served hot, with a rich, meaty & cheesy sauce but cold and mixed with veggies and, unbelievably - uncooked ramen noodles!

At Daughter #2's birthday party last week, we ate well and laughed hard. We ate burgers and all beef hot dogs cooked to perfection by my son-in-law (a.k.a. "Rutt") and pasta salad made by my daughter. We also had a Texas Sheet Cake, expertly crafted by my son-in-law's mom. The wind kicked up and the candles looked like a mini forest fire. What a great way to spend an evening! Family - Friends - Food, an unbeatable combination.

All of this leads me to the reason for this post. We came home with some pasta salad leftovers and I was able to make it into something "Turkey" ate and enjoyed. To the basic pasta salad I added:

• Avocado
• Tomatoes
• Pepperoni
• Balsamic Vinaigrette
• Italian Cheese Mixture
• Fresh Spinach

If it seems like I made a whole new salad, I did add lots of components to make it a refreshing dinner on a VERY hot summer's evening. Thanks to my daughter, we I ate two very different  pasta salads that week, both of which were much better than those of the 80's!

Earl Cooks Fires Up the Upright Barrel Smoker after Years of Disuse

Several years ago I thought I would try smoking some meats, so I bought a cheap smoker (pictured new on the left). I met with almost no success, because I had no Idea what I was doing. Now that I am cooking regularly I thought I would give this little guy another try. I had leftover charcoal and mesquite wood chips from when I first got the smioker, and I wanted to try smoking some things I thought would be good. But first, I set myself to cleaning up this smoker. Thanks to the lid, the inside was okay. It didn't look like the photo, and there were a of bunch spider webs inside, but that cleaned up quickly. What took a bit of time were the grates. This model has a charcoal pan, a water pan, and two grates. Not worried about the charcoal pan, but I do need to clean the rest...especially the grates.

I knew I wanted to start with some basics that are cheap, to experiment on. Yukon Gold potatoes, a sweet yellow onion, and some inexpensive franks would be ideal. I quartered the potatoes, quartered the onion and used bun length franks from Bar-S. I decided to add some peeled, hard cooked eggs later too!

Using my chimney starter and a brown paper sack sprayed with vegetable oil, I lit up the briquettes. It takes about 20 minutes to get them to the white ash stage. Alton Brown on the Food Network uses newspaper, but we have gone totally electronic for our news and I don't have any. But I do like to get  paper bags when I shop because they are not only recyclable, they made are from recycled paper. As you can see IT WORKS GREAT! Once the coals were ready, I put them in the coal rack on the bottom. Then I added mesquite wood chips. I should have added them wrapped in foil or in a smoking box, but I plain forgot! Oh well. I also forgot to add the water pan to create a moist heating environment.  I fixed that later, but for now, it was fine.

I started by putting the potatoes on the bottom grate and the eggs, which I had hard cooked and peeled, on the top. My reasoning was the eggs would not need much time, and the potatoes could use the extra smoke. This turned out to be slightly faulty reasoning, which I will explain later.*

The first thing off the smoker are the eggs. As you can see, they had a lovely smokey color. The problem became that the smoke and heat on an already-cooked egg created a bit of a rubbery exterior. The egg was perfect inside, with no green ring around the yolk, and you could taste the smokiness. Next I removed the potatoes which were smoky, but again the skin was a bit tough. I had no idea what I was doing with these items going in. I now know what went wrong.

The last thing I took off the smoker was the last to go on...the HOT DOGS! They were the one thing I had confidence in. I have cooked many many hot dogs...but I have never smoked them!

They were PERFECT! Especially when I put them on some toasted buns, with Dijon mustard and a pickle slice.






*Some footnotes:

•  I said I would tell you why putting potatoes on the bottom and eggs on the top didn't work. I needed to cover the potatoes to protect them from the heat. The bottom rack was too hot.
•  The eggs were cooked and peeled, but the added heat  caused them to split. They too needed protection. I tried leaving the shell on in another batch, and they cooked, but no noticeable smoke penetrated the shell. I will have to find another way.
• I didn't write much about the onion. It turned out very smoky and I added some to my hot dog, but it was too big to stay in the bun, so it isn't shown, but tasted great.

Conclusions:
This was a qualified success. The hot dogs were well worth it and I will be doing them again - soon! I also realized that I had the components for a smoked potato salad, which sounds very good and I will post how it turns out! I also gained a new tool in my cooking arsenal, well an old tool revived, my smoker! I will be using it as a smoker and a small charcoal grill well into the Fall!

Earl Cooks Sausage Gravy Over Fries - Who needs Poutine?

Poutine (pu ˈteen) is a dish originating from the Canadian province of Quebec consisting of French fries and cheese curds topped with a brown gravy. I like fries, cheese curds AND brown gravy but I must say, I have been a bit unimpressed by those I have tried at food vendors, and my attempts to make them myself have only been half-hearted at best. But I came across a dish I developed a while back that puts poutine to shame...country sausage gravy over fries! 

What you Need:

• Fries - homemade, cooked from frozen, or leftovers from your takeout.

• Breakfast Sausage - This can be cooked from the package or from the microwavable precooked versions, or from the Sausage McMuffin you ordered with fries and saved for this.

• Country Gravy - This can be from a package, bottle, or can, or you can whip some up yourself,  just make certain you use a lot of fresh ground pepper. 

The fries will need to be as hot as you can make them, but DON'T USE THE MICROWAVE. Microwaves will make the fries soggy. Use a skillet or the oven to heat or reheat them. After mixing the crumbled sausage into the the country gravy, pour over the fries.

These can be eaten with your fingers, but you will want a knife and fork to get every drop. Try this with a runny egg on top to make it even better. It is a great way to use up leftover gravy from biscuits and gravy too!

Grilled Brisket with Applewood Smoked Bacon Mashed Potatoes topped with Chives & Au Jus

After my experience at Capt. Len's, my wife and I returned to the food truck park to sample some of the other delights offered by the trucks in the SoHo Food Park where I worked with Capt. Len and the crew. We tried a delicious Chicken/Bacon/Ranch pizza from Fiore Pizza's mobile, wood fired oven, cleverly made in a clear sided, wood covered truck. It was delicious and perfect for the two of us.
It was a great evening.

But I wanted some of Capt. Len's brisket, so I bought a half pound of it to eat later.

So the next day I took the brisket and placed it on my new stove-top grill that my wife gave me for Father's Day, to both heat it up anew and give it some nice markings to add to the smoke and rub, for which Len is famous.

As an appropriate side dish, I chose to make some applewood smoked bacon mashed potatoes to which we would add our home grown chives and REAL butter. No other accompaniment was needed, but I chose to make an Au Jus  from soup base & seasonings cooked down to a thin glaze.

We drizzled the Au Jus on both the potatoes and brisket, and ate very well indeed! 

I have said that I prefer the Ribs followed closely by the pulled pork from Capt. Len's, but after having this delicious dinner, they all are equally tasty and satisfying. No matter what you get, the smoke will bring you back!

Earl Cooks Gnocchi alla Sorrentina with Sausage

We love gnocchi. We have tried it in many forms, including my wife's homemade gnocchi made with her homemade ricotta. This is another version that took a bit of adjusting to get the seasoning right, but eventually "Turkey" (a.k.a. my wife), said it was a keeper. The genesis of this dish came while shopping, where I found some bulk mild Italian sausage at a terrific price (99￠/lb.). It was 2 lbs but I needed to use it rather quickly because it was nearing the sell-by date. Two lbs. is too much for the two of us for one meal, especially when added to pasta or something else, so my plan was simple. It would become two meals! Not two different meals but two of the same with tweaking taking it from okay to very good! I went to my pantry and my freezer to collect ideas.

What I found was 2 items I had never used from Trader Joe's. Frozen Gnocchi alla Sorrentina & their Traditional Marinara Sauce. I will admit that the differences between tomato sauce, marinara sauce, and other tomato based sauces is somewhat lost on me, so I buy what I think I will like. Gnocchi alla Sorentia literally means Gnocchi in the style of Sorrento.That is, gnocchi with tomato sauce and mozzarella cheese.

Since I would be adding A LOT of Italian sausage, to the frozen product I would add MORE tomato sauce in the form of marinara, and more mozzarella cheese, which I grated from block mozzarella. [*HINT: America's Test Kitchen recommends block mozzarella when you want stringy, stretchy cheese, not the fresh stuff !]

I shredded the cheese ahead of time, and I think it takes quite a lot of cheese. My wife likes the cheese to take the spicy edge off of the sausage spices.

With the bulk sausage, start by breaking it up by hand into a LARGE skillet pre-heated on medium to medium high heat. We want to both lightly brown and render a bunch of the fat from the sausage. As it cooks, continue to break it up into smaller and smaller chunks. Take time with this, you don't want it to be crispy, just firm and cooked through. Once the sausage is cooked through, remove it to a colander in a bowl to allow the fat to drain away. Remove any excess fat from the pan with a paper towel, and return to the heat, lowered to medium.

The frozen gnocchi mix is a bit strange. The sauce is in frozen disks, and looks odd at first in the pan. Just continue to heat it in the pan until it becomes sauce and gnocchi. Because I was adding the sausage, I needed extra sauce. When I added the sauce, it looked much better.

I added half a jar (8 or 9 oz.) of Trader Joe's Traditional Marinara Sauce to the cooked gnocchi & sauce. Now I had a base to which I would add the sausage and cheese.

Take the cooked and drained sausage and and add it back to the pan with the sauce & gnocchi. This gives the sausage a chance to flavor the sauce, and for the sauce to flavor the sausage. The gnocchi will pick up flavors from both.

Now top with the shredded mozzarella and cover the pan to melt the cheese

It is now covered with yummy white gooey-ness and was super stringy as you can see from the bowl sides which are covered in cheese strings.

This was delicious, but the sausage was a bit spicy for my wife's delicate palate. But I have a fix for that! As I said, this would be enough for 2 meals. Here is the adjustments I made to accommodate "Turkey's" palate.

ADJUSTMENTS:
To make the flavor more mild I simply made adjustments to the quantities of 2 ingredients: Cheese and tomato sauce. I added 4 oz. of cheese and another cup of marinara sauce to the second batch. The cheese I added to the sauce and let the dairy moderate the spice of the sausage, again topping the whole dish with another 4 oz. of cheese and allowing it to melt. My wife liked it and said it is a keeper with the added dairy and sauce! So my sausage bargain made 2 dinners and a lunch!
 

Free Roasted Corn at the Local Farmer's Market - Such a TREAT

Recently, I discovered that our local Farmer's Market, was offering FREE roasted fresh corn every Tuesday. I love shopping there because the produce is both fresh and local, along with local sauces and jams and even fresh artisan breads.

My first experience was a surprise. I was buying fresh peas but they made sure I got some corn if I wanted, and boy did I want! It was so delicious, I forgot to even take a picture before eating most of it! It was beautiful corn although is was a bit under roasted because I didn't want to wait and there were many people wanting it. The following week I took my lovely wife (a.k.a. "Turkey"), because she wanted to try it. Just a few bites...or so she thought. She wolfed it down almost as fast as I did. We left pleased AND with some Rainier Cherries from Utah and some local apricot jam and some smokey bacon sauce from a local, veteran owned business. All in all a great summer evening!

If you want to checkout the Facebook page of the farmers market it is: Sandy Farmers Market

Earl Reviews Carl's Jr. - Taking My Mouth To Memphis...MAYBE - A Review

Carl's Jr.™ has a storied past in our neck of the woods. A few years ago, Carl's Jr., a west coast success story, effected a purchase/merger of the bigger east coast chain by the name of Hardee's®. How does that have anything to do with my area, one might ask? Well, a few years earlier, Hardee's took over an institution here in Utah, Dee's Hamburgers, famous for CHEAP burgers and lots of locations...oh and their animated clowns on their sign. So Dee's became Hardee's and then Hardee's became Carl's Jr. here.

There are still remnants of Dee's in the form of their Denny's style family dining restaurants around the valley. The bright clown is gone, as are the nickle burgers. But the story doesn't end there. My beloved aunt was outraged when Carl's Jr. began to advertise their Six Dollar Burger. She exclaimed that she would NEVER pay for a Six Dollar Burger at a fast food place through a drive through. What she didn't know was that the Six Dollar burger was actually a six dollar value, for under four dollars at the time. Enough of the storied past, now for the review.

My errands today took me near a Carl's Jr. and my eyes went to their ThickBurger® menu offerings, particularly the Memphis Barbecue. I ordered the single patty version. My photo to the left shows their ad inviting us to take our mouths to Memphis, and as you can see, I did! Mine didn't quite look like their ad. As I unwrapped mine, for some reason the bun had a cut in it. Very shallow and very strange. As I removed the top bun you could see the components: A ground beef patty, American cheese slice, fried onion slices and BBQ sauce. The BBQ sauce was just right, but I don't know why this is a Memphis BBQ ThickBurger® . It was definitely a burger, but it was not thick, and didn't have any discernible BBQ except for the little bit of sauce, which was good, but not what I felt was advertised. Let me show you in the next photo

Their Ad (Top) As Delivered (Bottom)

While it tasted fine, it was not what one would expect based on the photos and description. It was supposed to include pulled pork and if there was any it was so small it couldn't be seen or tasted. The price was about $5 bucks, which would have been a great price if it looked like the ad, but it looks more like a McDouble, only it's not double. I hope it was just the location I visited. I will have to try another and see what I get.

By The Numbers:
Service: ⭐(Drive Up Was Quite Slow)
Food:   ⭐ (Tasty but disappointing)
Price: 💲💲💲💲 (Expensive for what I got)

Waffle Iron Grilled Ham & Swiss

This week I have been reviving our old Belgian Waffle Iron to use in new and unique ways, motivated by the fact that I am trying not to heat-up the house to much. It has been around 20℉ HOTTER than the seasonal average. Today, I decided to try making waffle iron grilled ham & cheese. The picture to the left shows the result after cutting in half diagonally. It looks a little rough around the edges because my wife's delicious homemade bread didn't quite fit on the smallish waffle iron.

We can't remember where or why we have a Betty Crocker Belgian Waffle maker, but I am sure there was some kind of deal. It is more than 20 years old and probably one of the reasons I don't like to make waffles. It is simple to use. Plug it in and wait for the ready light and go! No moving parts except the hinge and that's one of the problems...no removable parts either.Very tough to clean. But to keep the kitchen cool, I was willing to give it a go.

I started with 4 slices of my wife's homemade bread, sliced rather thin. In addition, I had some deli sliced Black Forest Ham (3 thin slices per sandwich); Sliced Swiss cheese (2 per sandwich); and shredded cheddar or cheddar jack cheese.

On the bread, start with the Swiss Cheese Slices, Then the 3 slices of ham, two of which will be folded in half and the third flat on top of the 2 folded slices, to this with the shredded cheese. Swiss isn't as good as the cheddar for that melty goodness one expects from a grilled cheese, but Swiss is a natural ham.

Next, butter both sides of your sandwich liberally. The butter helps keep the sandwich from sticking, enhances the browning and crunch, and of course, adds so much flavor.

As I mentioned, my bread was a bit too big and my sandwich a little thick for this ancient appliance which doesn't expand, so when I pressed the lid down, it crushed the sandwich but it made a great crisp sandwich that, when trimmed and cut in half, looked and tasted very good.

Results & Conclusions:
I was very impressed with the crispy meltiness of this sandwich. My wife took hers to work the next day and said it retained the buttery crisp crust. I will make this again, but with a tool that better adjusts to my needs. We have a more modern waffle iron that may be called into service next time.

Birthday Boy's Birthday Super Slam is a Home Run - A Review

My Granboys and I have a long standing relationship with Denny's. It started when my daughter (#1) would take the day off for her son's birthday. For years we would go to breakfast for grandboy #1's birthday, and for many years Denny's was our go to. Then 2 things happened. The first was the opening of of "The Original Pancake House" nearby, the second was the closing of the Denny's nearby. My grandboys and I have eaten in many Denny's in Utah, Idaho & Nevada. Their prices are good and our favorite meal, breakfast, always hit the spot. So it has been quite awhile since we ate at a Denny's for a birthday breakfast, but this year they are offering their Super Slam Breakfast for just 6 bucks! I stole their site ad just to show you how good it looks and we loved it.

2 Eggs, 2 sausage links, 2 slices of bacon, 2 pancakes and hash browns! It was as good as good as it sounds.

Daughter #1 went a bit lighter with the Value Slam. A good value, if you don't want as much  food as we MEN wanted! She also scrambled her eggs but we got ours runny, as eggs should be cooked and eaten, but she likes to use them to absorb ketchup.

Our server was excellent. She was friendly and funny. The only thing was she couldn't find a Chewbacca cup. They were sold out.

We arrived hungry and left full and fulfilled. Happy Birthday to My Grandboy #1

Earl Cooks Grilled Dogs - Hot Doggity!

Hot Dogs Looking Good but Onions a bit raw

It's no secret that my wife and I LOVE hot dogs. They are a nearly perfect food! They can be grilled, fried, baked, deep fried and on and on. Why then is it getting hard to find places that sell them? My favorite used to be Arctic Circle restaurants' foot long, which they cooked until a bit crisp, cut in half, on a griddle (flat-top). Sonic has a great selection and theirs is pretty good and we have a dedicated hot dog restaurant called the "Dog Haus", what they call a craft, casual restaurant. And while I think they have a wide selection, it is about the price of steak dinner!

My wife and I used to go to Sonic for dogs EVERY week as a sort of "date night", but their menu changed and we got out of the routine we seemed to be in, skipping going out for hot dogs.

The new indoor grill/griddle my wife (a.k.a. "Turkey") gave me for Father's Day may change all of that! The first thing I wanted to cook is Hot Dogs. I buy some Bar S Classic Bun Length Franks. These may not be as good as the ones we had as a kid, since they are now loaded with cheaper cuts of meat (mostly chicken), but I am going to bring the best out of them I can. They do make a beef version, but "Turkey says she doesn't think it is as good. A word of caution here: DON'T BUY the 12oz. package! They are not going to feed your family and they are maybe 10% cheaper but 33% less meat in the package!

Here is the low-carb version of hot dogs. I topped mine with a pickle, tomato wedges, and onion chunks. Getting used to this new grill/griddle will take some experimenting, but with experiments like this, who cares! The hot dogs were great but I didn't time the onion right. It tasted fine, as onion always does, but was a bit on the raw side except for one wedge, which was perfect and my wife left it for me!

This shows that even cheap foods can taste good when properly prepared and cooked and that bargain "franks" can be good! Thanks "Turkey" for the great Father's Day gift you let me pick out!

Earl Reviews KFC Pot Pie $5 Fill-Up

Were you aware that the first Kentucky Fried Chicken Restaurant was not in Kentucky? It was near my home in Salt Lake City. It is one of my first memories of chain restaurants. My picture here represents my memories of the place, with Colonel Sanders' picture on every bucket, bag & box...the REAL Colonel. Well today after running several long errands, I felt a bit peckish, and was near home, but not wanting to prepare lunch. I decide it would be a great time to review what is now only known as KFC and their $5 fill-ups. Recently my wife and I have totally stopped eating at KFC, because it just hasn't been as good. We used to eat there quite regularly, but that stopped when their food & service stopped being good!

But since their $5 fill-ups are all over the TV, I thought this would be a good time to see what it was all about. 

As I pulled up to the drive-up menu and looked at the $5 offerings, only one seemed appealing...one of our old favorites, the Chicken Pot Pie! We used to get these whenever they were on special for four bucks, add to that a drink (med.) and a chocolate chip cookie and it would be a good deal...if the pie was as good as it was in the past...AND IT WAS!

The minute your fork pierces the crust, you know it is good. The crust is crunchy and you would eat it by itself. The thing that makes the pie's taste is the sauce. It is the perfect consistency and clings to the chicken and the veggies (carrots, peas & potatoes), and gives a chicken-y taste to each bite. What you are left with is a pie tin you feel like licking clean.

In addition, their cookie is LOADED with chocolate chips. The drink is, well, a drink.

I have tried several of the $5 meals that seem to be the craze right now and this is the best BY FAR!

Another benefit of this meal is that these are baked in a HOT oven. If you live within 20 minutes of the KFC, you will still get home with hot food. If you don't wait your tongue will let you know and you may not taste anything for awhile.

By the Numbers:
Service ⭐⭐⭐ (it was drive up, what can I say)
Price 💲💲 (A very good product a a good price)
Taste ⭐⭐⭐⭐ (much better than the price would suggest)

Earl Cooks Artichoke Hearts With Zucchini & Yellow Squash

This is a dish where the preparation takes longer than actual cooking time, which is  a nice change. For this dish you will need:

 —Artichoke Hearts

 —Zucchini

 —Yellow Squash

 —Butter

 —Salt & Pepper

 —A Veggetti Pro or other other spiralizer. What is a SPIRALIZER you ask? 

It is a kitchen tool that turns firm vegetables into spirals, like the zoodles you find in the grocery stores. There are several versions including professional versions, or attachments to your stand mixer. But for under $15 you can have one and save yourself the cost of buying the store made zoodles for 3 to 4 times the price of the ones you make. 

Don't buy the Veggetti, buy the
Veggetti Pro

A note here. The "Veggetti", a cheaper version is too much work and often doesn't work. Buy the pro version. You get more blades and less wrist work. You will thank me later.


On with the dish...
...as my picture shows, I turned a zucchini and a yellow squash into ribbons. This was just for fun. If you don't have a spiralizer, chop them or slice them to your liking. 

Now for the artichoke hearts. We have found Trader Joe's frozen artichoke hearts a winner. They do not have the bad texture and preservative taste of canned or bottled. I recommend keeping several bags on hand for quick and easy side dishes. 

Place the artichokes in a good sized sauce pan with a stick of butter. Our favorite way to eat artichokes is by dipping them in melted butter, so I was trying to mimic that experience with this dish. (My wife also like hers with lemon, but I don't like to interfere with the buttery goodness). Once the artichokes are heated to temperature, add the 2 kinds of squash. This will certainly need some fresh cracked pepper, and maybe salt. The squash is a blank canvas in a way, and can be seasoned as you like, but I did not want to coverup the artichoke in mine. Alfredo would go well, as would Parmesan, so make it your own!