Archive for the 'Food' Category

Texas Corny Dogs

Published by
Steve
at February 11, 2008 in Food, Poll and Texas. 3 Comments

This is one of those things about Texas that I love - Corn Dogs!  (aka - Corny Dogs.)

Texas Corny DogTexans enjoy their traditions – and nothing is quite as traditional as a corny dog at the State Fair of Texas. The Fletcher brothers, Neil and Carl, had no way of knowing the phenomenon that they were “cookin’” up back in 1942 and selling for a mere 15 cents. In an attempt to break into the food concession business they created the ultimate in fair food – sweetened corn-battered hot dogs on a stick, dipped in oil heated to 365 degrees and fried to perfection.

The Fletcher family continues to serve up these delectable treats each year at the State Fair of Texas. Operating out of six locations throughout the grounds, the family sells more than 500,000 corny dogs during each 24-day event. (That’s alot of corn dog goodness going on!)

So, what do you think about corny dogs?  Take the poll;

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Corny Dogs Recipe

  • 8 hot dogs
  • 1 cup yellow cornmeal (not stone-ground)
  • 1 cup all-purpose flour
  • 4 teaspoons baking soda
  • 3/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 cup sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 cup milk
  • peanut oil for deep frying
  • Wooden skewers or Popsicle sticks
  • Yellow mustard for dipping

Texas Corny DogBoil the franks for a few minutes. Remove from water and drain.

Combine the dry ingredients. Combine the egg and milk. Add to the dry ingredients, mixing well.

Insert the skewers to within 1/2 inch of the top of each hot dog. Coat each hot dog evenly with cornmeal mixture. Deep fry, a few at a time, in hot oil for 3 to 5 minutes or until golden brown. Serve with lots of yellow mustard.

A Pardon For A Turkey…

Published by
Steve
at November 25, 2007 in Food and thoughts. 0 Comments

So it seems another turkey has received a presidential pardon…

President Bush Pardons Thanksgiving Turkey

My personal opinion, if you pardon a turkey, you better NOT be eating turkey on Thanksgiving.  Otherwise, what’s the point?

The Great Ice Cream Debate

Published by
Steve
at September 24, 2007 in China, Family and Food. 6 Comments

Erica and I have a running debate about which ice cream is better; Breyers or Blue Bell. (Now that we’ve been to Italy, ‘gelato’ is now confusing the debate.)I’ve included a poll on the right column of this blog - cast your vote!

Ice Cream

The top three Ice Cream brands in America are Breyers, Dreyer’s, and Blue Bell. Where did Ice Cream come from?

Popular folklore asserts that Marco Polo saw ice cream being made on his trip to China and took the recipe home to Italy with him on his return. However, in his writings Marco Polo never claimed to have introduced ice cream to the west.

How about that Gelato?

Ice cream is a traditional dessert in Italy. Much is still hand-made by individual gelateria (look for the sign ‘produzione propria’, meaning ‘our own make’ in the ice cream shops). Italian ice cream or gelato is made from whole milk, eggs, sugar, and natural flavourings. Gelato typically contains 7-8% fat, less than ice cream’s minimum of 10%.Before the cone became popular for serving ice cream, in English speaking countries, Italian street vendors would serve the ice cream in a small glass dish referred to as a “penny lick” or wrapped in waxed paper and known as a hokey-pokey (possibly a corruption of the Italian “ecco un poco” - “here is a little”). 

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That’s Italian!

Published by
Steve
at September 14, 2007 in Family, Food and Travel. 2 Comments

Erica @ LunchToday Erica and I took the two girls out in the stroller for a walk and to find a nice place for some authentic Italian cuisine.

We found one place, a bakery (as best we could tell) that had some really delicious looking food. However, there was no seating and we just wanted to find something more relaxing than a ’standing meal’ with the two girls.

Elizabeth & SusanWe eventually found a place in what seemed to be Varese’s downtown and it turned out that it was very close to where Erica’s mom was having a Bible study, so she was able to walk over and join us for lunch!

We ended up having a great lunch of panini sandwiches and lasagna - as well as some great bread and peach iced tea! We managed to order using a combo of our special skills in ‘English for non-English speakers’ as well as a modest amount of pointing and charades. After we ordered, Erica’s mom showed up and ordered her food in about a tenth of the time it took us to order ours!

GilatoHowever, I’m sure the girl’s favorite part was the chocolate gilato that they had as a desert! In this photo, things had not gotten real messy yet - thank goodness for the trusty ’stain stick’!

Elizabeth actually made quick work of her ‘mini cone’ (which was actually what they use to give samples) and then started to beg for mom’s chocolate and mint gelato. Mom was NOT feeling generous…

There was also a bit of play time around the fountain, Anna pondered taking a swim, but we convinced her to stay on dry land - all-in-all, a successful trip!

Anna and the fountain

Angry Italians hold “pasta strike” over price hike

Published by
Steve
at September 13, 2007 in Food. 0 Comments

Italian LunchOkay, I’m in Italy right now, albeit, north of Rome, but I knew nothing of the boycott! I sure am glad that I ordered a pizza for lunch and not pasta!

ROME (Reuters) - Many Italians excluded their beloved pasta from their supermarket shopping on Thursday in protest at forthcoming price rises and consumer groups hailed the boycott as an excellent result.

Italians are in a state of outrage that rising wheat prices mean a plate of spaghetti in the next few months will almost certainly go up, even if by only a few cents, as many families eat pasta every day of the week.

“Pasta, bread, milk — these are the most important things. We are not protesting for perfumes or jewels, but for pasta and bread,” said one of demonstrators, Marisa, at a Rome protest.

“It is the government’s fault, they’ve eaten everything.”

Justice Minister Clemente Mastella promised to support the cause by skipping his favourite Neapolitan dish of pasta tubes stuffed with tomatoes and ricotta.

But there were few signs of his compatriots making a similar sacrifice at lunchtime, with hungry workers eating their usual pasta dishes at Rome restaurants that ignored the boycott.

Pardon My French

Published by
Steve
at September 3, 2007 in Food and History. 1 Comment

We had french toast this morning with one of our best Chinese friends and the question of “why is it called ‘french’ toast” came up. This is what I found…

The most popular theory on the origin of French toast is that the recipe was created by a tavern owner in 1724 just outside Albany, New York. Supposedly, Joseph French, the restaurateur, listed the dish on his menu as ‘French Toast,’ named for himself. This is why the French in French toast is often capitalized.

Interesting!  I guess the decision by some to call it “Freedom Toast” was made from a position of ignorance (in more ways than one!) since it has nothing to do with France!

Think you can handle spicy? Try ‘ghost chili’!

Published by
Steve
at August 3, 2007 in Food, funny, news and wierd. 1 Comment

I spotted an article about these super-duper hot peppers and thought I’d share it. I especially like the quote “When you eat it, it’s like dying.” I’d love to let some of my Hunan friends try one of these!

Spice used in India to cure stomach ills is named world’s hottest pepper

Hot PepperCHANGPOOL, India - The farmer, a quiet man with an easy smile, has spent a lifetime eating a chili pepper with a strange name and a vicious bite. His mother stirred them into sauces. His wife puts them out for dinner raw, blood-red morsels of pain to be nibbled — carefully, very carefully — with whatever she’s serving.

Around here, in the hills of northeastern India, it’s called the “bhut jolokia” — the “ghost chili.” Anyone who has tried it, they say, could end up an apparition.

“It is so hot you can’t even imagine,” said the farmer, Digonta Saikia, working in his fields in the midday sun, his face nearly invisible behind an enormous straw hat. “When you eat it, it’s like dying.”

Outsiders, he insisted, shouldn’t even try it. “If you eat one,” he told a visitor, “you will not be able to leave this place.”

The rest of the world, though, should prepare itself.

One for the record books
Pepper Scale
Because in this remote Indian region facing bloody insurgencies, widespread poverty and a major industry — tea farming — in deep decline, hope has come in the form of this thumb-sized chili pepper with frightening potency and a superlative rating: the spiciest chili in the world. A few months ago, Guinness World Records made it official.

If you think you’ve had a hotter chili pepper, you’re wrong.

The smallest morsels can flavor a sauce so intensely it’s barely edible. Eating a raw sliver causes watering eyes and a runny nose. An entire chili is an all-out assault on the senses, akin to swigging a cocktail of battery acid and glass shards.

For generations, though, it’s been loved in India’s northeast, eaten as a spice, a cure for stomach troubles and, seemingly paradoxically, a way to fight the crippling summer heat.

Now, though, with scientific proof that barreled the bhut jolokia into the record books — it has more than 1,000,000 Scoville units, the scientific measurement of a chili’s spiciness — northeast India is taking its chili to the outside world.