If you haven't heard of Yelp by now, you should familiarize yourself with it.
Yelp is the tell all, community review of everything from restaurants to gas stations and everything in-between.
I have been reviewing the places I've gone to lately and I plan on keeping up with that via my droid Yelp app.
I'm also posting a nifty little widget on here so that anyone who still keeps up with this blog, although somewhat dead :(, can check out the latest reviews, by me, on Yelp.
I think it's useful and these days, even in this economy, it's nice to go out to eat and have someone else clean the dishes.
Sunday, June 6, 2010
Saturday, January 30, 2010
Week 4: Buffalo Burgers
This week I asked my sister what I should cook and the word buffalo rolled off her lips, and I love buffalo. If there's a buffalo burger on a restaurant menu, I will almost always order it. I immediately wanted myself a buffalo burger, so I decided to make one.
I looked around on where else, but FoodNetwork.com, my quick access to a plethora of good recipes. There were a small number of recipes (only 17 recipes, compared to beef burgers which netted a total of 299 recipes). I went against my first impulse to cook Bobby Flay's version to try something a little more basic than his 99 step process which involved making a slaw and mango ketchup. Also, it called for rye bread, which I am not a huge fan of. The next recipe I came across was by a man named George Duran who I had not actually heard of. I decided to take a gamble and bet on his version of the Buffalo Burger.
As my sister was on her way to Whole Foods, I read off the ingredients list, which combines both buffalo meat with a small portion of regular ground chuck (beef), onions, sun-dried tomato paste, and something curiously called Liquid Smoke. As I learned this week, Liquid smoke is an ingredient which is created through the process of trapping smoke from wood chips into water. In this process, carcinogens are removed which makes it a safer alternative to actually smoking the meat, and faster too. Despite my sister's insistence that whole foods would not have it, she did return with a small bottle of the potent smoke water concoction. She did however return with a bottle of sun-dried tomatoes and not the paste, which was unobtainable. I chopped them finely and added them to the mixture. In hindsight, I should have placed them in a food processor instead, thus creating the paste. This was a process which did not occur to me until after I had cooked the burgers.
The buffalo meat surpassed my expectations. I could just tell, while working with it, that the burgers were going to taste extraordinary. Buffalo meat compared to the traditionally used beef, is much leaner having up to 90% less fat, but doesn't lose a bit of flavor. If anything, buffalo is more flavorful. One possible explanation is that buffalo cannot be domesticated like cows can. According to Buffalo Hills Bison, "Bison are handled as little as possible. They spend their lives on grass, much as they always have. They are not subjected to questionable drugs, chemicals or hormones." With raising cows, they are sometimes kept boxed up and fed formula feed and pumped full of steroids.
While cooking the burgers (which came out to 5 large burgers instead of 4 like the recipe said) I noticed the meat sweat a little. With such little fat in the buffalo meat, it must have been the added ground chuck which carried a higher fat content. This helped in keeping the burgers juicy when eating. I served it up with some whole wheat buns, thinly sliced red onion, cheddar cheese and a brown mustard, avocado, and two strips of bacon. It's not a burger until you add your favorite toppings.
The burgers were excellent, savory, and satisfying. The addition of the liquid smoke added a kind of wholesome flavor which tied all the ingredients in the burger together. This turned out to be a great burger, and it was fun learning about some of the unique ingredients.
I looked around on where else, but FoodNetwork.com, my quick access to a plethora of good recipes. There were a small number of recipes (only 17 recipes, compared to beef burgers which netted a total of 299 recipes). I went against my first impulse to cook Bobby Flay's version to try something a little more basic than his 99 step process which involved making a slaw and mango ketchup. Also, it called for rye bread, which I am not a huge fan of. The next recipe I came across was by a man named George Duran who I had not actually heard of. I decided to take a gamble and bet on his version of the Buffalo Burger.
As my sister was on her way to Whole Foods, I read off the ingredients list, which combines both buffalo meat with a small portion of regular ground chuck (beef), onions, sun-dried tomato paste, and something curiously called Liquid Smoke. As I learned this week, Liquid smoke is an ingredient which is created through the process of trapping smoke from wood chips into water. In this process, carcinogens are removed which makes it a safer alternative to actually smoking the meat, and faster too. Despite my sister's insistence that whole foods would not have it, she did return with a small bottle of the potent smoke water concoction. She did however return with a bottle of sun-dried tomatoes and not the paste, which was unobtainable. I chopped them finely and added them to the mixture. In hindsight, I should have placed them in a food processor instead, thus creating the paste. This was a process which did not occur to me until after I had cooked the burgers.
The buffalo meat surpassed my expectations. I could just tell, while working with it, that the burgers were going to taste extraordinary. Buffalo meat compared to the traditionally used beef, is much leaner having up to 90% less fat, but doesn't lose a bit of flavor. If anything, buffalo is more flavorful. One possible explanation is that buffalo cannot be domesticated like cows can. According to Buffalo Hills Bison, "Bison are handled as little as possible. They spend their lives on grass, much as they always have. They are not subjected to questionable drugs, chemicals or hormones." With raising cows, they are sometimes kept boxed up and fed formula feed and pumped full of steroids.
While cooking the burgers (which came out to 5 large burgers instead of 4 like the recipe said) I noticed the meat sweat a little. With such little fat in the buffalo meat, it must have been the added ground chuck which carried a higher fat content. This helped in keeping the burgers juicy when eating. I served it up with some whole wheat buns, thinly sliced red onion, cheddar cheese and a brown mustard, avocado, and two strips of bacon. It's not a burger until you add your favorite toppings.
The burgers were excellent, savory, and satisfying. The addition of the liquid smoke added a kind of wholesome flavor which tied all the ingredients in the burger together. This turned out to be a great burger, and it was fun learning about some of the unique ingredients.
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Week 3: Southern Cooking - Cheese and Onion Bread
With the exception of a year here and there in my Army days, I know almost nothing about southern cooking. My friends and I were getting together for the NFL Playoff games. My best friend's wife, Sandra is a southern native, and for the last year and a half has been living in central California. She has been away from anything that resembles southern cooking so I decided to cook her something from her home. To my own admission, I know next to nothing about southern food so I turned to an expert in the field.
Who better to learn from than Paula Deen. Starting off almost every show with her trademark greeting "Hey Ya'll," she is the embodiment of a southern chef, cheery, flamboyant, and one hand in the butter dish. Despite my jests, she is an amazing woman who has built an empire from $200 and a start-up catering business. I scoured her recipes on FoodNetwork.com. It was a little difficult finding something simple, as I am a novice with this style cooking, and appropriate for a Sunday Playoff party.
Interestingly I found the perfect recipe: Lady and Son's Onion-Cheese Bread. Simple enough that I could do it and finger friendly. The mixture was easy, chop and cook the onion then combine with biscuit mix (I used Bisquick, to the insistence of my Grandmother), milk, egg, and half the cheese. Topped it with the melted butter and remaining cheese and threw it in the oven. Well ok, placed gently in the oven. Of course, the recipe calls for a garnish of parsley, but I (of course) forgot this, but it turned out really well regardless.
The biscuit/bread was a big hit and a perfect addition to the main course of grilled chicken drumsticks and my friend's Dr. Pepper Ribs, courtesy of Men's Health. I would say that I cheated a bit and added more cheese, which increased the cook time, but I'm a sucker for cheese. In the words of the late John Candy as Uncle Buck "I can't seem to get enough Cheese. I'm like a big mouse."
Who better to learn from than Paula Deen. Starting off almost every show with her trademark greeting "Hey Ya'll," she is the embodiment of a southern chef, cheery, flamboyant, and one hand in the butter dish. Despite my jests, she is an amazing woman who has built an empire from $200 and a start-up catering business. I scoured her recipes on FoodNetwork.com. It was a little difficult finding something simple, as I am a novice with this style cooking, and appropriate for a Sunday Playoff party.
Interestingly I found the perfect recipe: Lady and Son's Onion-Cheese Bread. Simple enough that I could do it and finger friendly. The mixture was easy, chop and cook the onion then combine with biscuit mix (I used Bisquick, to the insistence of my Grandmother), milk, egg, and half the cheese. Topped it with the melted butter and remaining cheese and threw it in the oven. Well ok, placed gently in the oven. Of course, the recipe calls for a garnish of parsley, but I (of course) forgot this, but it turned out really well regardless.
The biscuit/bread was a big hit and a perfect addition to the main course of grilled chicken drumsticks and my friend's Dr. Pepper Ribs, courtesy of Men's Health. I would say that I cheated a bit and added more cheese, which increased the cook time, but I'm a sucker for cheese. In the words of the late John Candy as Uncle Buck "I can't seem to get enough Cheese. I'm like a big mouse."
Monday, January 11, 2010
Week 2: Prosciutto and Pasta for Mom
It was my Mom's birthday this week so I decided to cook her dinner. This time I picked a recipe that has some of the ingredients she thoroughly enjoys: peas, tomatoes, and prosciutto.
Prosciutto, according to LifeInItaly.com, is a specialty Italian meat that comes in two varieties, prosciutto crudo and prosciutto cotto, or raw prosciutto and cooked prosciutto, respectively. The origin of this savory meat dates back to the Roman times, when prosciutto crudo was first created and consumed. Taking only the best pigs fed only the right foods, the meat is taken through a process of trimming, skinning, salting, air curing, greasing, and then curing again. The entire process takes about one or two years and the result is an amazing thin piece of meat with an incredible flavor. Each province of modern day Italy has their own special way of creating the prosciutto but all areas use a similar process with exception to the time each step takes. Each variety of prosciutto holds an intense flavor, salty undertones, and a dry texture.
To accentuate the prosciutto, I selected this week's recipe from the cookbook Biba's Italian Kitchen. Biba Caggiano is a restaurant owner in Sacramento, Biba's, that my mother and I have visited. It remains one of the best Italian restaurants, and if anyone knows how to use prosciutto correctly, it's Biba. I chose the recipe located on page 82 in the Pasta section titled, "Bow Ties with Prosciutto, Peas, and Fresh Tomatoes. The recipe does include instructions on how to make the bow ties themselves and as tempting as that was, I decided to cheat and pick up the dry kind instead.
The sauce was pretty easy to create and only included a few ingredients, peas, butter, yellow onion, prosciutto, wine and tomatoes, but turned into something very tasty. Prep time was simple, chop here, chop there and you're done. Cook time was also short (under an hour) and easy (there were little more than four steps).
The result was an interesting combination of flavors that made a rich chunky sauce and when consumed with the bow ties it was excellent. I particularly liked how the peas interacted with the prosciutto, creating a hearty texture and the rich salty flavor of the meat complimented each other. It was a successful blend of flavor, texture and seasoning.
On a final note about the cookbook, I have never cooked this recipe, but I have cooked from this book before and each recipe is better than the last. It has pastas and pizzas, calzonies and poultry. Just about every authentic Italian dish from the real italy (as my grandfather would call it), and the instructions to make it all from scratch, dough, pasta, gnocchi, sauces and desserts. I highly recommend this cookbook for anyone wanting to learn great Italian cooking.
Prosciutto, according to LifeInItaly.com, is a specialty Italian meat that comes in two varieties, prosciutto crudo and prosciutto cotto, or raw prosciutto and cooked prosciutto, respectively. The origin of this savory meat dates back to the Roman times, when prosciutto crudo was first created and consumed. Taking only the best pigs fed only the right foods, the meat is taken through a process of trimming, skinning, salting, air curing, greasing, and then curing again. The entire process takes about one or two years and the result is an amazing thin piece of meat with an incredible flavor. Each province of modern day Italy has their own special way of creating the prosciutto but all areas use a similar process with exception to the time each step takes. Each variety of prosciutto holds an intense flavor, salty undertones, and a dry texture.
To accentuate the prosciutto, I selected this week's recipe from the cookbook Biba's Italian Kitchen. Biba Caggiano is a restaurant owner in Sacramento, Biba's, that my mother and I have visited. It remains one of the best Italian restaurants, and if anyone knows how to use prosciutto correctly, it's Biba. I chose the recipe located on page 82 in the Pasta section titled, "Bow Ties with Prosciutto, Peas, and Fresh Tomatoes. The recipe does include instructions on how to make the bow ties themselves and as tempting as that was, I decided to cheat and pick up the dry kind instead.
The sauce was pretty easy to create and only included a few ingredients, peas, butter, yellow onion, prosciutto, wine and tomatoes, but turned into something very tasty. Prep time was simple, chop here, chop there and you're done. Cook time was also short (under an hour) and easy (there were little more than four steps).
The result was an interesting combination of flavors that made a rich chunky sauce and when consumed with the bow ties it was excellent. I particularly liked how the peas interacted with the prosciutto, creating a hearty texture and the rich salty flavor of the meat complimented each other. It was a successful blend of flavor, texture and seasoning.
On a final note about the cookbook, I have never cooked this recipe, but I have cooked from this book before and each recipe is better than the last. It has pastas and pizzas, calzonies and poultry. Just about every authentic Italian dish from the real italy (as my grandfather would call it), and the instructions to make it all from scratch, dough, pasta, gnocchi, sauces and desserts. I highly recommend this cookbook for anyone wanting to learn great Italian cooking.
Saturday, January 2, 2010
Week 1: Philly Cheese Steak
The first week of the year is a Friday and Saturday, so I started off with something easy. For the last month I have been craving an honest Philly Cheese Steak. Shockingly, there are no sandwich shops that make the irresistible sandwich in my area. Crazy as that is, I had also never made one, so I went to the first place I could think of, FoodNetwork.com.
I found a few recipes, and I had cooked from Emeril Lagase before so I selected his recipe. Due to copyright laws, it is probably not allowed to post the recipe, but I will provide a link to it if you click here.
To start I read the instructions, and was a little baffled by the step that requires me to pre-heat the oven when it is not used... okay, minor set back, I just won't use the oven. I started by purchasing the ingredients at the the local Holiday Grocery store. After talking to the butcher, using rib-eye would be both costly and it would fall apart after being cut there at the store. He suggested I use a Top Round Steak cut thinly.
According to RecipeTips.com, Top Round is a portion of meat cut from the upper part of the rear leg of the cow. It's a much leaner meat than the original recommendation of rib-eye, and still very flavorful. The Top Round was also a lot cheaper. Hey, I'm on a budget here! If you're big about the nutrition aspect, NutritionData.com states that the Top Round Steak has about 236 calories, 8g of fat, 0g carbs, and 40g of protein for 4 oz of meat (the portion per sandwich). Pretty healthy if you ask me. I ended up buying a pound and making four sandwiches. After purchasing enough ingredients to make 4 sandwiches, the bill was somewhere around 15 dollars.
I cooked three sandwiches with the provolone cheese and one with the American cheese. Both types of sandwiches turned out really well. I did feel that the provolone Cheese Steaks needed a little extra salt. Seeing as how American cheese is about 90% sodium, the other sandwich was perfect. I did add some Veganaise (a mayo alternative) to the sandwich just to give the bread a little extra flavor. Out of the two, I would have to say the American Cheese sandwich was the best, despite the obvious sodium overload.
Not only was the cooking easy, the prep and cook time for the dish was less than 20 minutes. For a cheap quick meal, this was by far the best sandwich I have made. I highly recommend trying this recipe. There is virtually no skill required in making this either, just make sure you have at least one metal spatula to cut the meat during cooking.
Week 1 Successful. My house is not burnt down and the stomach is satisfied.
I found a few recipes, and I had cooked from Emeril Lagase before so I selected his recipe. Due to copyright laws, it is probably not allowed to post the recipe, but I will provide a link to it if you click here.
To start I read the instructions, and was a little baffled by the step that requires me to pre-heat the oven when it is not used... okay, minor set back, I just won't use the oven. I started by purchasing the ingredients at the the local Holiday Grocery store. After talking to the butcher, using rib-eye would be both costly and it would fall apart after being cut there at the store. He suggested I use a Top Round Steak cut thinly.
According to RecipeTips.com, Top Round is a portion of meat cut from the upper part of the rear leg of the cow. It's a much leaner meat than the original recommendation of rib-eye, and still very flavorful. The Top Round was also a lot cheaper. Hey, I'm on a budget here! If you're big about the nutrition aspect, NutritionData.com states that the Top Round Steak has about 236 calories, 8g of fat, 0g carbs, and 40g of protein for 4 oz of meat (the portion per sandwich). Pretty healthy if you ask me. I ended up buying a pound and making four sandwiches. After purchasing enough ingredients to make 4 sandwiches, the bill was somewhere around 15 dollars.
I cooked three sandwiches with the provolone cheese and one with the American cheese. Both types of sandwiches turned out really well. I did feel that the provolone Cheese Steaks needed a little extra salt. Seeing as how American cheese is about 90% sodium, the other sandwich was perfect. I did add some Veganaise (a mayo alternative) to the sandwich just to give the bread a little extra flavor. Out of the two, I would have to say the American Cheese sandwich was the best, despite the obvious sodium overload.
Not only was the cooking easy, the prep and cook time for the dish was less than 20 minutes. For a cheap quick meal, this was by far the best sandwich I have made. I highly recommend trying this recipe. There is virtually no skill required in making this either, just make sure you have at least one metal spatula to cut the meat during cooking.
Week 1 Successful. My house is not burnt down and the stomach is satisfied.
Cook Week 2009
I started this New Years with a cooking resolution: Each week I'll cook at least one new recipe that pushes me out of my element.
Like most, I am a home chef. I have no formal training, and most of the recipes I have are either passed down from the family or taken from a limited library of cookbooks. More than anything else I find myself making simple Italian pasta dishes such as Fettuccine Alfredo. As delicious as that dish is, it is not very inventive. Which leads me back to the resolution.
My goal is to follow the resolution by cooking a new recipe each week and writing about the miscellaneous cooking news, products, and anything interested related to cooking. Feel free to read and cook along. My only hope is that I can do this without burning my house down.
See you in the kitchen!
Like most, I am a home chef. I have no formal training, and most of the recipes I have are either passed down from the family or taken from a limited library of cookbooks. More than anything else I find myself making simple Italian pasta dishes such as Fettuccine Alfredo. As delicious as that dish is, it is not very inventive. Which leads me back to the resolution.
My goal is to follow the resolution by cooking a new recipe each week and writing about the miscellaneous cooking news, products, and anything interested related to cooking. Feel free to read and cook along. My only hope is that I can do this without burning my house down.
See you in the kitchen!
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