Les Jones

Pork Chops with Caper Sauce - Wow!

Josh and Kerry gave us this recipe. They had something similar in Italy. This is a fantastic dish that we plan on making again and again. It's important to use thick chops, because it cooks for a long time, and they have to be boneless because you won't be able to see the bone through the sauce.

• 4 1-inch boneless pork chops
• 3 tbsp flour
• 2 tbsp butter
• half cup water
• 2 tsp prepared mustard (meaning, not dry mustard)
• 2 tbsp capers
• half cup beef stock (you can leave this off if you don't have any)
• half cup sour cream

Heat butter in skillet. Bread chops in flour and brown in the skillet over medium heat.

Pour off drippings and reduce heat. Season chops with salt and pepper. Add remaining ingredients except sour cream.

Simmer for 45 minutes. Add sour cream and stir until smooth.

My money back guarantee. If you don't like love this recipe, I'll refund the money you spent making it.

In Search of Efes Beer in Knoxville

Does anyone know where to get Efes Turkish beer in Knoxville? Melissa and I had it in New York and liked it a bunch.

LATER: We stopped by Sam's Party Store after the UT game hoping he'd have it. No luck. What he did have was some darned fine Wurzburger Oktoberfest </obligatory German spelling>.

I love me some Octoberfest. The sadly defunct New Knoxville Brewing Company had a great one that I drank at the Black Mountain music festival with Al Cruzen, one of the company's founders. He had a pup tent set up with two kegs of the stuff. Drink all you want. Good times. Al's brother is also a brewmaster and a nice guy. It must run in the family.

Does anyone know why Octoberfests aren't made year round? I hate sitting in front of the calendar 11 months out of the year, crossing out dates as the season slowly approaches.

Did General Tso Ever Meet Colonel Sanders?

THE WASHINGTON POST: Who Was General Tso and Why Are We Eating His Chicken?

Sullivan's in Maryville

Melissa and I ate at the new Sullivan's building in downtown Maryville.

The architecture is fantastic. It's a two-story room, defined with drop ceilings, raised seating areas, railings, and an upstairs banquet room. It reminded us a little of the brewpub in downtown Knoxville.

The menu includes steak and seafood, but there are reasonably-priced blue plate specials. Melissa had catfish and I had a vegetable plate. The catfish was delicious, and was browned just right. Someone's cooking school tuition was well spent. We didn't have any drinks, but Cecil and a fellow we met while walking around town afterwards both praised the bartenders.

The green beans were cooked with pork and were delicious. The mashed potatoes come with your choice of chicken, mushroom, or pot roast gravy. We liked the pot roast gravy better than the chicken.

Sullivan's is right next door to the renovated Palace Theater. It's in the old downtown JC Penney's building. The retailer's name is spelled out in tilework in the floor as you enter.

JC Penney's migration around town tells the story of retail in this town. During the downtown flight in the '60s and '70s, they moved to Midland shopping center, a huge strip mall just down the road. When Foothills Mall was built in the '80s, they moved there. Wynn's sporting goods now occupies the old JC Penney's building in Midland. You can tell by the black, white, and blue tile at the entrance.

Proffitt's department store made the same migration. I'm not sure if everyone knows it, but Proffitt's started in Maryville. The downtown store that currently sells educational products was the first Proffitt's. They eventually became a national chain, bought Saks, and took the Saks name, leading some people to think that Saks bought Proffitt's, when in fact it was the other way around.

We walked down to the construction site for the new Maryville municipal facility. To expand, the city tore down a number of commercial buildings, and several streets worth of houses. We were shocked to discover that they had also taken the playground and backlot building of St Andrew's Episcopal Church. In fact, it looks like the only boundary for the city's construction was the church itself and the graveyard. I can understand that the city needed to expand, but the church shouldn't have been intruded on. It outlasted the old municipal building, and is likely to outlast the new one.

Recipe for Jay's Health Drink

It's been a while since I posted a drink recipe, and we bought cranberry juice for the first time in forever, so I got to make this drink again. Hat tip to Jay for the recipe.

Pour vodka over ice. Add a few dashes of Angostura bitters. Float the ice with a combination of cranberry juice and lemon-lime soda. Delicious. It's similar to a Cape Cod (vodka and cranberry juice with a lime twist), but the carbonation and bitters improve it.

If you're watching your calories, use Diet Sierra Mist for the lemon-lime soda. It's fantastic, and most people can't tell it's diet. If you're on Atkins, Ocean Spray makes low-carb cranberry juice.

Review of Smokin' Joes BBQ

Jay and I decided to try Smokin' Joes BBQ in Maryville. Once we were seated, Jay asked for an ashtray, only to find out that this is one barbecue joint that doesn't tolerate the evil weed of tobacco.

The waiter asked for our drinks, and I ordered a beer, only to find out that this is one barbecue joint that doesn't tolerate demon rum. Demon beer. Whatever.

We split. Thus endeth my first review of Smokin' Joes BBQ.

Lisa told us that Joe's has a permit now, so we tried it again tonight. Sure enough, Joe's now has demon beer. Also Anheuser-Busch and Miller products.

They still don't allow the evil weed, which just goes to show that some vices are more vicious than others. My alcohol consumption is sociable and light-hearted, like female nudity. Jay's tobacco consumption is offensive and disgusting, like male nudity.

Speaking of offensive, Smokin' Joes BBQ serves dinner rolls instead of hushpuppies, and they don't put enough sauce on the pulled pork. The cole slaw, however, was charming and delightful, like female nudity.

New Caper Sauce Recipe to Try

Through a long series of mouseclicks I stumbled across this recipe for Venison with Sour Cream and Capers. It's similar to the Pork Chops and Caper Sauce recipe I posted a while back, but more complex. It adds cumin, onion, mushrooms, garlic, and whiskey. I'll have to try it. Pork Chops and Caper Sauce is one of our favorites.

Fun With Indian Food

Had Indian food today at Kashmir. It reminded me of the time I took my brother there. One of the things we had was nan (pronounced "non") bread.

Me: "This is nan bread."
Eric: "Is that sort of like anti-pasto?"
Me: "Right. You should drink it with 7-Up, the Un-Cola."

The Hill in St. Louis

Melissa found this CNN article about The Hill in St. Louis. I need to scan our photos from that trip.

The Hill is Ethnic Town in St. Louis. At different times it was German-, Irish-, French-, or Spanish- Town. Today, though, it's markedly Italian, with Italian groceries and restaurants. We ate at Charlie Gitto's and a little neighborhood deli with bocce ball courts. Melissa's dad swears he'd pay a hundred dollars just to eat at Charlie Gitto's again.

Italian food isn't the only fare. When we were there two years ago there was a great tapas restaurant called Modesto's. Modesto's had - I kid you not - the best rice I have ever eaten. I have no idea how you make fantastic, superior rice, but their chef did it, and it opened my eyes to the differences between good and great food. Incidentally, the big culinary traditions in St. Louis are crab cakes and toasted ravioli, and every restaurant does them up right.

Until I have time to scan those photos and write up St. Louis, I'll recommend these things: the St. Louis Zoo and St. Louis Art Museum (both free and right next door to one another), the St. Louis Arch, Ted Drew's, and the Budweiser factory tour (free as in beer, with free beer). The St. Louis Zoo is the most fun, best laid out zoo we've visited. We liked it much better than the San Diego Zoo, and Melissa preferred it to the Chicago Zoo (which I haven't seen).

Take a pass on the botanical gardens and Mammoth State Park unless you've got time to kill. Laplace Landing is a good area to walk around, get smashed, and see a band, and riverboat gambling is nearby if that's what floats your paddleboat.

You can tell that St. Louis is one of those towns that took it right in the breadbasket at the end of the industrial revolution. You can almost see the wispy ghosts of the missing employees. You'll drive through town and notice an old brick manse and think, "That house would be wonderful if Bob Villa fixed it up." Then you'll pass a whole street of those houses. Then you'll notice an entire neighborhood of the same. Gradually it dawns on you why no one is rehabilitating those old houses.

Irish White

Steve writes:

From the Metroblab:

My fave [Steve] Earle quote is from a few weeks ago when I attended a
funeral reception he was at. He was speaking (over and over) of his
recent weight loss and the Atkins Diet. "I miss potatos, but damn I
miss heroin too."

Review: Elkmont Grill in Alcoa, TN

Melissa and I ate at Elkmont Grill tonight. This wasn't casual dining; this was a dining Code Blue. This building had already claimed the lives of three restaurants - Friendly's, the Rib Crib, and Mashed Taters, all of which had disappeared so quickly we had never gotten to try them. Four facades later, we wanted to go to this one before it, too, went belly up.

The chef is from Blackberry Farms. The food is mostly traditional, but with plenty of fresh ingredients.

The house salad is served with lettuce and greens, with tommy toe tomatoes and a thick slice of yellow bell pepper. The house dressing is in two parts, with a whole blackberry vinaigrette and a mayonnaise-based dressing.

The sides are heavy on the fresh vegetables. Melissa didn't like the fried apples. I did, but I thought they had too much of a liquor taste and not enough sweetness. She also wasn't wild about the cole slaw, which I thought was outstanding - a fresh, crisp taste, with a variety of fresh vegetables.

We liked our first visit. We're going back to explore the menu further, but we won't be in such a big hurry. We think this is one restaurant the building won't kill.

May 4 Update - it's gone under. Darnit.

More Regrettable Food

James Lileks has a new entry in the Gallery of Regrettable Food: Knudsen Dairy Products. If you don't understand the celery reference it's because you haven't read this.

How Do You Make Boiled Eggs?

I'm serious. I read somewhere that there's a trick so that the shell is easier to peel. Maybe bring the water to a boil before dropping the eggs in the pot, or putting the eggs in the pot with cold water before bringing the water to a boil.

Watch for Falling Drunks

Topfive's suggestions for names of Wal-Mart brand wine:

15. Box O' Grapes
14. Chateau du Crack Chardonnay
13. White Trashfindel
12. Big Red Gulp
11. Grape Expectations
10. Domaine Wal-Mart "Merde du Pays"
9. Sam's Dog 20/20
8. Chef Boyardeaux
7. Trucker's Choice
6. Blue Light Special Nun
5. Chateau des Moines
4. Mogen Darryl
3. I Can't Believe It's Not Vinegar!
2. World Championship Wriesling
1. Nasti Spumanti

How about America's Choice Chardonnay Slushie?

Maurice's South Carolina Mustard BBQ

On the way to Florida we stopped in Columbia, South Carolina for lunch at Maurice's. Jim Thames had brought back some Maurice's sauce and fixed a pulled pork roast at work, and I wanted to try more.

When most people think of BBQ, they think of Memphis-style BBQ, with its sweet-to-tangy, tomato-based sauce. The Carolinas have other varieties.

There's vinegar-based BBQ, with just a hint of tomato. You'll also find mustard-based BBQ, which is what Maurice's serves. I ordered the Big Pig so I could get the complete experience to report to you, my reader. Taking one for the team, I had ribs, pulled pork, cole slaw, cornbread, fries, and a fresh pork rind with lean meat.

Verdict: it may not displace Memphis BBQ, but it's great stuff, and you should try it if you get the chance. If you're not planning a trip to South Carolina, you can try one of the online recipes, or get Maurice's to ship you some. He has an online store, and the shipping's free.

You won't find Maurice's BBQ sauce at your local grocer because, well, here's the thing. Big stores like Wal-Mart and Bi-Lo used to sell it, but they stopped because people complained about Maurice's politics. Maurice Bessinger is - how to put this? - a political nutcase and unreconstructed Confederate cracker. That's him in the picture standing in front of one his stores, which display the South Carolina flag flying over the Confederate battle flag. One of his pet peeves is that state flags should fly above the national flag.

You can get a better idea of his beliefs by visiting his (ahem) Truth Store. Or just visit his restaurants, which sell Confederate flag t-shirts emblazoned with the slogan "May We Never Forget Their Sacrifice" and books like "Myths &Realities of American Slavery." Or you can judge him by the company he keeps. At the store we visited, there was a signed thank-you note saying how good the barbeque was. The author? Pat Buchanan.

Jay Gregory on Vodka and Gin

Why drink gin in a world where there's vodka?
- Jay Gregory

Amen. A few weeks ago I ran out of my favorite cheap mixing vodka, Hannah and Hogg. Since then I've been working through my stock of Tanqueray gin. I like a little of the bite of gin, but if I mix drinks the way I would with vodka they're wince-inducingly strong in taste.

And forget gin for martinis. Bombay Saphire is supposed to be A number 1 martini gin. When I mixed a Saphire and vermouth martini, my friend Randall Wright aptly described it as tasting like "turpentine with a shot of hairspray."

Give me vodka, or even cheap vodka. Luksosowa, a Polish potato vodka, is pretty good out of the freezer. For martinis I prefer Smirnoff over some of the more expensive brands. I was thrilled to see that Baker-Peters Jazz Club agreed, and calls for Smirnoff for many of the drinks on their martini menu.

"If My Eggs Are Deviled Do I Call an Exorcist?"

Dear Uncle Cecil:

What's the origin of "deviling" in food preparation, e.g., deviled eggs, deviled ham, deviled crab, etc.? When I bring deviled eggs to a picnic, am I unwittingly consigning my friends to an eternity of darkness? Or are they (the eggs, not my friends) merely sinfully delicious?
- Joel, Pittsburgh, Pa

Cecil has the well-researched answer (16 references in the bibliography!)

Vodka Blush, the Drink from "Rosemary's Baby"

For our Halloween movie we watched Rosemary's Baby tonight. What a great movie. It's beautifully shot, but understated. Mia Farrow is wonderful.

Were those her T&A or did they belong to T&A doubles? I'll have to Google it.

In one scene they're drinking Vodka Blushes ("Vodka Blush? Have you ever tasted one? They're very popular in Australia").

I had never heard of them, so I Googled. The first page I checked was at Cocktails.about.com: "Vodka Blush Sauce - This is not from Rosemary's Baby." I finally found the recipe thanks to those friendly folks at the Church of Satan:

2 1/2 ounces Vodka
3/4 ounces freshly-squeezed lime juice(strained)
Dash Grenadine

Fill shaker 2/3 with fresh ice. Add ingredients. Shake and strain into chilled cocktail glass.

Enjoy, and spill a little on the carpet in memory of Minnie and Roman!

More trivia: Frank Sinatra served Mia Farrow with divorce papers on the set of the movie.

Director Roman Polanski's pregnant wife, Sharon Tate, was killed by Charles Manson. Tate has an unbilled cameo in the movie as one of Rosemary's guests at a party for her friends. Manson took his inspiration from The Beatles' White Album.

The apartment building in the movie is called the Bamford. In reality it's the Dakota, the building where John Lennon later lived and was murdered by Mark David Chapan. As Count Floyd would say, "Ewwwww... Skerry."

My Million Dollar Restaurant Idea

Everyone likes buffets, right? But as more Americans become weight-conscious, buffets are becoming less popular.

So I had this great idea: the all-you-can-eat diet food buffet. You'd have a salad bar, clear soup bar, rice cake bar, grapefruit bar, and dessert salad bar.

Email me now to get in on the ground floor of this historic investing oppurtunity.

See also my million dollar salad dressing idea.

Eggs Benedict

When I went grocery shopping this week I bought some ham and English muffins so I could make eggs Benedict. (We had them this morning and they were yummy.)

I was searching for recipes and found Eggs Benedict New York. There are recipes, a history of the dish, detailed nutritional information, reviews of packaged Hollandaise sauces, and reviews of eggs Benedict preparations at restaurants around New York.

Oh, and thanks to this site I now know the difference between bacon and Canadian bacon.

Standard bacon comes from pork "bellies," the underside of the hog, along the ribs. Canadian bacon comes from the meatier loin, along the backbone. It is trimmed of excess fat and is cured like ham. Often, ordinary ham is substituted in eggs Benedict. Canadian bacon should be freshly grilled, but is usually presliced before cooking, which does not improve flavor or texture. Technically, it is "Canadian-style" bacon if it is not of Canadian origin. Canadians do not eat it more than any other pork-product-loving people, though they may call it back bacon or pea meal bacon.

Over breakfast I told Melissa about my discovery of the difference between bacon and Canadian bacon. Her reaction: thanks, but I'd rather not hear about what part of an animal meat comes from while I'm eating it.

From the description of Hollandaise sauce: "A hardly cooked beaten egg yolk, gently thickened with hot drawn butter, plus a squirt of lemon juice." What is a hardly cooked egg? It could be a hard-boiled egg, or it could be an egg that's hardly been cooked. I guess it depends on whether the chef is working hard or hardly working.

The Flavor of Stretch Action Figure Innards

[It tastes like taffy or gooey hard candy.]

This has to be the only blog in the world on which someone would feel comfortable admitting to eating the innards of Stretch Armstrong's nemesis.

Or so I do fondly hope.
- ilyka on JimTreacher.com

Person I was thinking of when I posted this: Steve K. - LJ

About Those Wine Experts

Wine "experts" are frauds:

M Brochet carried out two studies. In the first, he invited 54 of Bordeaux’s eminent wine experts to sample different bottles, including a white wine to which he had added a flavourless substance giving it a red colour. Not a single expert noticed. "It is a well known psychological phenomonen – you taste what you are expecting to taste," M Brochet said. "They were expecting to taste a red wine, and so they did." Similar experiments elsewhere had come up with similar results.

Funny stuff. I guess a good rule is "if it tastes good it is good" and ignore the price tag. Hat tip to Philip Greenspun, who reports on the cheap and excellent wine in Chile.

Wine is apparently the topic of the new movie Sideways. Waiter Rant has something to say about that.

Have I Mentioned Waiter Rant?

The Maltese Falcon – sort of

"Hey Armando! I’ve got a guy who told me that if I have to ask him if he wants the Gamberi spicy or mild YOU don’t know how to cook." I yell

"Oh really?" Armando grins evily.

"He wants it spicy." I say.

"Does he?" Armando says.

I point smiling to the crushed red pepper and intone slowly in my best deep evil voice, "KILL HIM!"

Waiter Rant is on Fire Lately

His tipping war stories are hilarious. And he got a mention in this NY Times story on blogging waitrons. The second paragraph in the article is pinched from this Waiter Rant piece on the intersection of Star Wars and Sideways.

But this... This is outstanding. Willy Wonka is a parable of the Hebrew idea of God and the nature of evil.

No More Liquor Cabinet for Me

A few years ago I decided to finally put together a well-stocked liquor cabinet. I had wanted one for a long time, and put about $800 into stocking it with liquor and liquers. It was great being able to make any drink anyone wanted any time.

Last week I decided to get rid of the liquor cabinet. Having that much delightful booze around turned out to be too convenient and too tempting, and I wound up drinking more often than I would like to. Be careful what you wish for, I guess. I'll keep a bottle of something around, but I'm going back to my old buddy, beer. It takes a lot longer to drink a beer than a mixed drink, and you run out often enough that it self-regulates.

Tip-Top Tip Tips for Waiters

How to get better tips. I liked this one: "7. Drawing a smiley face on the check increases a waitress's tips by 18 percent but decreases a waiter's tips by 9 percent."

Only Eight Howard Johnsons Left

The last Howard Johnson's in Maine just closed. HoJoLand lists the survivors (they haven't updated the list to remove the Maine location). The Vermont HoJo is scheduled to close next month, leaving seven. The old stores will become HoJo ghosts.

I'm barely old enough to remember when HoJos were more common. I ate at them a couple of times on the road as a kid. Was there one in Knoxville near West Town Mall? I think so. There was a HoJo in Gatlinburg until 15, 20 years ago.

The last time I saw a Howard Johnson's was in Manhattan on our honeymoon. We saw it and ran in for breakfast one morning. After looking at the terrible condition of the place, and the filthy menus, we got up and left. It's amazing how a once-powerful chain can degenerate so quickly.

In one of Kurt Vonnegut's sci-fi short stories he mentions HoJos in passing. In the story there are suicide centers set up for people who want to end their lives, and the centers all have purple roofs. They're always built next to HoJos, which have orange roofs, so that people can have a last meal and a dish of ice cream. When Vonnegut wrote his futuristic story I don't think he expected to see the end of HoJos in his lifetime.

The Ramp Festival is May 1

The Ramp Festival is coming May 1 in Cosby. I keep meaning to go, but I always miss it. Heck, I was stationed in Cosby when I worked for the park service, and I missed it then.

For anyone who doesn't know, ramps are leek- or onion-like plants that grow wild.

In Fried Chicken News...

KFC is experimenting with ditching their initialized moniker and going back to their original name. They'll have new sides, too. From the Sun-Sentinel via Colby Cosh.

KFC on Wednesday opened a store in Louisville, Ky., that uses the full Kentucky Fried Chicken name and features the new, updated image of Sanders, who's wearing a red apron over his white suit. The new store is "a restaurant of the future" and will also test new items, including $3.95 entrees such as chicken mashed potatoes and chicken rice, Warschauer said. The new menu includes buttermilk popcorn shrimp and "Kentucky" sides like corn, yams, cinnamon apples, and collard greens.

Those new sides sound good. Hopefully they'll degrease their chicken while they're at it. Until then, give me Lee's Famous Recipe Chicken. Lee and Sanders were partners at one point, though Lee's history page doesn't mention it.

Alternate History Trivia Question: at what famous Civil War battle did Colonel Sanders fight General Tso?

Answer to last week's Alternate History Question: Elvis Presley, our 37th president.

Great Moments in Marketing History

Now here's a great idea. Name your new bottled water "Assindia". Because nothing says clean water like "ass" and "India." From the Ganges to your lips.

Via Matt McGlynn. In a perhaps related post, we find out that having stinky pee after eating asparagus is universal, but the ability to smell stinky asparagus pee is genetically determined. Some people can smell it and some people can't.

Vince Staten's Old-Time Barbecue

Yesterday I mentioned author Vince Staten. He was an editor of the Daily Beacon when he was at the University of Tennessee, and has since written books about American institutions of drugstores, supermarkets, hardware stores, and BBQ. I just found out he has his own restaraunt, Vince Staten's Old Time BBQ. It's in Prospect, Kentucky, outside of Louisville. Google map here. Sounds like a place to go the next time we're up that way. Here's a review of his Legal Limit hot sauce.

Greekfest / Seeking a Good Saganaki Recipe

Greekfest was this weekend at the World's Fair site. It reminded me that I need to learn to cook saganaki. The best saganaki I've ever had was at Zorba's, an open-24-hours hole in the wall in Chicago's Greek Town. They served it in a small iron frying pan that was hot as all get out.

Saganaki is fried cheese, so it can't be that hard, but I'm finding lots of wildly different recipes. The big dividing lines are whether or not the cheese is floured, olive oil vs. butter, oregano vs. no oregano, and flambéed or not.

So, what's a good saganaki recipe?

Carrots

My Million Dollar Beer Name Idea

So there's the St. Pauli Girl, who looks like this:

I looked at that picture and wondered - don't we have a famous busty blonde in Tennessee? Yes. Yes, we do.

Eureka! The perfect name for an East Tennessee beer would be St. Dolly Girl (or St. Dolli Girl if you want to be pretentious). I'll leave it to others to do the Photoshops.

See also:
- My Million Dollar Rap Music Idea
- My Million Dollar Salad Dressing Idea
- My Million Dollar Restaurant Idea
- Teddy's Million Dollar Doughnut Idea, and My Million Dollar Cell Phone Idea

Chris Wage Comes out of the Closet

His shocking secret.

And mine:

More Than One Way to Cook a Duck

I like duck, and so for the past few years I've been cooking one for Thanksgiving. We had a turkey day at work this afternoon, and I signed up to bring the duck.

There are some amazing recipes online. (Like this one from the Naked Chef.) Thing is, I wouldn't be home to cook. I had to shove the bird in the oven and go to work, and Melissa would bring it just in time so it would be hot and fresh. Most of the recipes I found were too fussy for that.

Instead, I used this easy recipe. Rinse the duck and place in an oven bag. Combine all of the other ingredients in a blender, mix, and pour into the bag. Place the bag in a pan and cook for 2 hours at 350 degrees. Easy squeezy.

1 duck, skin removed
1 package brown gravy mix
1/4 cup flour
1 tsp. salt
2 tbsp. sugar
1 cup hot water
2 tbsp.orange marmalade
1 6 oz. can frozen orange juice, thawed

The recipe was a hit. The meat is tender and falls off the bone, and the orange flavor masks the gaminess that some people don't like in duck. The one thing I would do differently would be to remove the skin before cooking, so that's the one change I made from the original recipe.

SATURDAY UPDATE: BTW, we also deep fried a duck along with the turkeys. I can't say I'd do it again. It was sort of tough. I have some leftovers from the fried duck that I'm going to make into czarnina (Polish duck soup) this afternoon. Only where the directions say "Put vinegar into glass or crockery bowl (not metal) and into this catch the blood when killing the duck or goose and stir to avoid coagulation. Fresh pigs blood may also be used." I'm going to substitute "leftover fried duck."

Any Other Fiestaware Collectors Out There?

Melissa and I got married in our thirties, so we already had all of the usual housekeeping stuff. Some was better than others, so we kept whichever was best and gifted and yardsaled the rest. When it came to dishes, it was no contest. I had bachelor dishes from K-mart, and she had Fiestaware.

I had seen Fiestaware at antique stores at high prices and assumed it was some ancient stuff that wasn't made any more. Melissa explained that it's still made, but every six months or a year the maker (The Homer Laughlin China Company) retires an old color and introduces a new color. Also, the entire line was discontinued in 1973, with production resuming in 1986. Here's a Fiestaware color chronology. There are currently 15 colors in production.

Like Melissa, most people buy each place setting in a different color. You can buy everything in one color, but eventually it will be discontinued. Then if you break a piece you'll have to buy replacements on the collector's market, which today is eBay. A current place setting is about $20 on sale. Discontinued place settings can run $150 or more for rare colors like Lilac, which was only made in 1993-95, or for the pre-1974 pieces.

Most of our pieces are current, though Fiesta Yellow was discontinued a few years ago and Sea Mist Green and Rose are being discontinued effective the end of this month. We also have some antique Rose (1951-59) pieces passed down from Melissa's relatives. When someone asks what we want for Christmas we ask for a place setting in the new color. This year for Christmas we received Peacock Blue, which is what made me write this post. The last three years we've picked up Tangerine Orange, Shamrock Green, and Scarlet Red.

In our area Proffitt's carries Fiestaware. For online shopping, try Fiestaware Fiesta. If you live in East Tennessee or are travelling to the Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg area, visit the Rebel Dish Barn on Highway 66 in Sevierville. They have a huge collection of Fiestaware, with discontinued colors and unusual pieces like butter dishes, candlestick holders, and trivets that aren't carried in most department stores.

Incidentally, Fiestaware is dishwasher safe, microwave safe, and oven safe to about 350 degrees. Also, I'm picky about the shape of soup/cereal bowls, and for me the bowls are perfect. Fiestaware is tough, too. In four years we've never broken or chipped any of ours.

The best reason to have it, though, is that it's fun. I had boring dishes as a bachelor, but now opening the cupboard and seeing all of those colors makes me happy.

Trivia Bonus! The current Fiestaware glaze is lead-free, though older, pre-1974 reds weren't. The original Red (1936-1943) contained uranium oxide, believe it or not. Cecil Adams has the scoop. Homer Laughlin discontinued the color not necessarily because of safety concerns (according to Cecil, the radiation didn't exceed background levels), but because the government wanted all of the uranium it could get for the Manhattan Project.

How Real Men Cook Quiche

My mother-outlaw wanted a quiche recipe to use leftover ham, so I thought I'd write it up for the blog, too. Quiche is one of the easiest things in the world to make. I saw quiche made once on the Food Network and couldn't believe that was all there was to it.

Ingredients
2 pieshells, preferably deep dish
2 eggs
1 cup half and half

1. Preheat oven to 350-375.
2. Use a fork to pierce holes in the bottoms and sides of pieshells. The holes prevent air bubbles from forming between the layers of the shell. Air bubbles tend to pull the shell away from the sides.
3. Bake shells by themselves for 5 minutes. That keeps the shells from being mushy.
4. Whisk together 2 eggs and 1 cup half and half (or cream if you're not worried about the calories) and any spices. Use an electric mixer for a fluffier quiche. If your ingredients aren't already salty, add a pinch of salt. If you want pepper, use white pepper instead of black paper so you don't have black flecks in the quiche.
5. Arrange ingredients on the bottom of pie shells. (See below for suggestions.)
6. Slowly add egg and cream mixture. Stop within half an inch of the top of the shell to allow for expansion as the mixture heats. Depending on the ingredients, sometimes I dust the top with paprika.
7. Bake roughly 20 minutes. Deep dish pie shells take longer. Use a toothpick to see if it's done.

You can use almost anything for the ingredients. I usually make quiche when I have leftover meat and vegetables to use up, so my ingredients are sort of pedestrian, but you can use more exotic stuff. (Maybe Triticale will pop in and suggest something yummy.)

Ham or chicken - Cut into small pieces. Crispy, crumbled bacon is good, too, and is one of the ingredients in Quiche Lorraine.

Frozen chopped spinach - Thaw, then press out excess liquid to keep your quiche from turning green. I usually whisk the spinach in with the egg and cream mixture.

Cheese - I like cheddar with ham, but you can use almost any good sliced or shredded cheese - just keep the Kraft Singles away from the quiche.

Bell peppers, onions, mushrooms - Dice and lightly saute.

Can We Have New Year's Dinner Again Next Sunday?

This year's New Year's dinner was the best I can remember in my whole life. My mom made black-eyed peas and pork chops. Melissa made fried potatoes, turnip greens, cole slaw, fried hog jowls, and cornbread. I never thought much of hog jowls, but she breaded hers in a little flour and bread crumbs and they were delicious. For dessert Melissa made a triple layer lemon cake from scratch and it was unbelievable. I can't wait to have that meal again.

Sommelier Later, Alligator

OR

See you in a while, oenophile.*

Brittney to Starbucks: "Hasta La Vista, Barista!"

OR

That's no machiatto, muchacho!

See also:
- Sommelier Later, Alligator!
- What's the Difference Between Chico and Muchacho? (spanish.about.com)

Weird Old British Grocery Items

The Independent looks at ongoing sales and even revivals of ancient British brands with names like Angel Delight, Bisto, Smash, Pearce Duff's Blancmange Powder, and Fray Bentos Steak and Kidney Pie. Via Colby Cosh, he of the impermalink.

Does Your Pee Stink When You Eat Asparagus?

Take the poll, then read the post.

In Fried Chicken News...

Courier-Journal via Frank, the Colonel is getting a new look:

The new Colonel is younger, better defined, a video-age celebrity chef. And he doesn't have to share his space with the letters KFC. He's meant to represent Kentucky Fried Chicken again. His new look is less like your grandfather and more like your cousin.

French Fries: Is There Anything They Can't Do?

So I was reading about the chip butty sandwich. (It's two pieces of buttered bread with fries (chips), usually served with ketchup and vinegar, but sometimes with gravy or curry.)

That lead to the Wikipedia entry for French fries. I had no idea there were so many variations.

French fries are almost always salted just after cooking. They are then served with a variety of condiments, most notably tomato sauce, ketchup, curry, curry ketchup (mildly hot mix of the former), hot sauce, mayonnaise, tartar sauce, tzatziki, fry sauce, Ranch dressing, barbeque sauce, gravy, brown sauce, honey, vinegar (especially malt vinegar), piccalilli, pickled cucumber, gherkins, or very small pickled onions.

In the United Kingdom the traditional accompaniments are salt and malt vinegar. More recently, particularly in the North of England and Wales, gravy and curry sauce are available from some chip shops. In the north of the United Kingdom including northern England and Scotland, Chips, Cheese and Gravy is a popular dish.

In the Pacific Northwest, especially the Seattle area, fries are often served with tartar sauce, which may sometimes be mixed with mustard. In California, especially San Diego, french fries are covered with cheese, carne asada, sour cream, and guacamole. These are called carne asada fries and are served almost exclusively in taco shops.

In the Philippines they are often served with a sprinkling of cheese powder.

In Vietnam, restaurants are usually found serving fries with sugar over a dollop of soft butter.

In Pakistan, they are served on the street with a mint cilantro sauce, pudina ki chutney.

According to that article the best way to prepare French fries is to cook them in two stages. Once, at about 350°, F to cook them through. Then remove, let cool slightly, and cook again at a higher temperature of around 375° F to brown the outside.

A third method, invented by the celebrated French chef Joël Robuchon for the home cook, is to put the sliced potatoes into a saucepan with just enough cold oil in it to cover the potatoes, then cook them over high heat until golden, stirring occasionally.

Whatever Taco Bell is Paying Roboto, It's Not Enough

So this evening I read this Thursday Night Fever post. An hour later I go to Taco Bell. Sure enough, I get a Crunch Wrap.

Bonus! - Check out this totally bitchin' Cowbell Guy Halloween costume. Genius.

Double D Bonus! Is it just me, or does that one girl have really big you-know-whats?

P.S. Roboto - This almost makes up for de-bewbifying your old logo.

Duck Liver for Breakfast

I got up early this morning and cooked two ducks for the company Thanksgiving dinner today. That meant I got to have duck liver for breakfast. Mmmmm mmmm!

I post this mostly to make people who don't like liver or duck squirm, but it really was delicious.

Froot Loops with 1/3 Less Sugar = Froot Loops with 2/3 Less Flavor *

I mean, it's like there was hardly any real froot flavor at all, and it was just a bunch of sugar you were tasting all along.

Plus side - With all that sweetness out of the way you can really taste the loops.
Downside - The loops taste like cardboard.

* Sorry. I try to avoid math on the blog, but sometimes it's necessary.

Hostess Comic Book Ads

Archive of all Hostess comic book ads. There were tons of those ads when I was reading comic books as a kid, and they're all about as corny as this one:

I guess discovering what crime The Human Computer actually committed is left as an exercise for the reader.

Via Random Panels, who is worth checking out if you like comic books. His Kirbycize is awesome.

And if you like those ads, see Jim Treacher's re-imagining of vintage comic book ads. Not safe for work, and that third one with the Hulk is a bit much. Oh vey.

Bonus! Archie comics has been re-designed for a modern, realistic look. I agree with whoever said this sounds like a New Coke experiment to be followed by Classic Archie. Via Treacher.

Mmmmmm... Hog Jowls

We had our usual New Year's Day dinner. Black-eyed peas, fried hog jowls, mustard greens, cornbread, fried potatoes, cole slaw, and pumpkin pie. It's one of my favorite meals of the year.

This time Melissa used her new food processor to make the cole slaw from scratch. Great stuff. I'm going use the leftover carrots to make carrot salad.

P.S. - The jowl is the cheek meat of the hog.

24/7 Lobsters

Secret Life of Lobsters. Amazingly interesting, especially the blog part and how to kill a lobster before cooking.

Are "Nun Chucks" the Things in Karate Movies, or the Wine Nuns Drink?

Mother Superior called all the nuns together and said to them,

"I must tell you all something. We have a case of gonorrhea in the convent."

"Thank God," said an elderly nun at the back. "I'm so tired of chardonnay."

Bento Box Art

Click the picture for more. Hat tip to BoingBoing.

P.S. - eBay has lots of bento box stuff. Heck, I'd like to have this lunchbox.

Elijah Craig Bourbon

This is one of my new favorite bourbons. It's right in the narrow price range between Wild Turkey 101 and Maker's Mark and I like it better than both.

Based on the Wikipedia entry, it doesn't look like Elijah Craig bourbon is really related to the Baptist preacher who invented bourbon, but it's nice of them to honor the good Reverend with such a fine whiskey.

Backroom BBQ

On Saturday I got to try Backroom BBQ. It's at the old Lucille's space in Knoxville's Old City, and is part of the Patrick O'Sullivan's enterprise. I had the Pit Sampler, with a quarter rack of pork ribs, beef brisket, chicken, and pulled pork for the very fair price of $13.95 with two sides. I couldn't eat it all and wound up bringing the ribs home.

The beef brisket was very tasty. The chicken was boring, as BBQ chicken tends to be unless it's spicy. The pulled pork was very nicely smoked, and I enjoyed the ribs for my Sunday brunch.

Sauces on the table are Memphis-style sweet and tangy BBQ and Carolina-style BBQ which is less tomato and more vinegar and therefore hotter (and thinner). Knoxville is about halfway between the two styles geographically, so it's nice they offer both. Both sauces were good. I liked their Carolina sauce better.

Jay had the pulled pork sandwich and was very happy with the size of the meal for the modest price. About six bucks as I recall.

The sides were a weak point. The hushpuppies were overdone, the coleslaw was on the bland side, and the flat-sliced potatoes were completely overcooked. Corn on the cob - one of my favorites - is only available deep-fried, which is an abomination of nature. Granted I didn't taste it, but based on past experience with fried corn they could have thrown the ears on the smoker and gotten corn that was both tastier and healthier.

The place was not what anyone would call clean or snazzy. I expect authentic BBQ joints to be a little grungy, but Lucille's was a classy enough jazz dive and Sullivan's is a nice enough place, so it seems like Backroom BBQ's grunginess is a combination of overeager pseudo-authenticity and a general lack of cleanliness. I may have been a little sensitive because I had the kids with me, so judge for yourself. If you can deal with the hygiene standards at the usual run of BBQ joints you probably won't mind, and Backroom's 'cue is good and the price is right.

Study: Fried Chicken Beneficial to Health

Bojangles chicken is returning to Knoxville after a long absence. The chain that's known for their spicy chicken and "dirty" rice is opening a new store on Lovell Road north of the interstate. An anonymous source who asked to be identified by the initials "LJ" said he believes the store will be open by summer.

The new Bojangles is part of a nationwide trend of increased fried chicken consumption following new research that fried chicken is actually good for you. In a November, 2006 study published in the Kentucky Journal of Medicine, Dr. Leslie Jones found that patients who consumed at least one fried chicken meal a week had lower cholesterol, less body fat, and a lower incidence of respiratory problems. Other scientists have replicated his results and found them "finger-lickin' good."

Southerners have long known of the beneficial effects of fried chicken. Colorful local character "Colonel" Jes Lones likes to say that "Chicken puts hair in your heart and a song on your chest." The Chinese believe fried chicken was the secret to the success of General Tso's troops.

Les Jones covers the fried chicken beat for the Knoxville News-Sentinel. He can be reached at legandbreastman@knoxnews.com. Staff reporter L. Jones also contributed to this report.

Mustard Seed

There used to be a restaurant in Knoxville called The Mustard Seed Cafe. I never really thought anything about the name.

Melissa bought a charm bracelet at an estate sale last year. She showed it to one of her co-workers who looked at one of the charms and said "Do you know what this means." Melissa didn't, and the woman told her "It's a mustard seed, as in faith in a mustard seed." Melissa still didn't understand, so she continued "It's in the Bible."

Sure enough:

Luke 13:18,19 He said, "What is the Kingdom of God like? To what shall I compare it? It is like a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and put in his own garden. It grew, and became a large tree, and the birds of the sky lodged in its branches."

Luke 17:6 He replied, "If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, 'Be uprooted and planted in the sea,' and it will obey you."

And there's a book called Faith in a Mustard Seed that the woman must have been thinking of.

Things I Wonder About: Beaujolais Villages

Are the people who make Beaujolais Villages called the villages people?

Along with the previous two that makes three awful wine-based puns I've got up my sleeve.

Zenreich's Tri-tip Steaks

Sounds delicious and he has some other interesting recipes. I also like this other guy's soy/whiskey marinade.

I cleaned up my grill yesterday before it started raining and installed a new stainless burner. I'd be grilling today if the rain hadn't decided to stay with us.

No Truth in Fast Food Advertising

The KFC Famous Bowl. As seen in KFC advertising:

The KFC Famous Bowl. In reality:

That's from Fast Food Ads vs. Reality. The same author does fast food reviews, and offers this review of the KFC Famous Bowl:

My stomach sank. It appeared to have already been eaten at least once. It looked like a pipin’ hot bowl of vomit.

But, of course, I ate it anyway. And it was good, really good. The chicken was tender and tasty, not the kind with the hard breading that tears holes in your gums, or anything like that. The gravy was delicious, the corn buttery, and there was so much sodium and fat my heart is still cutting in and out – and it’s the arrhythmia of love.

If they could maybe dress it up a little, and get away from the insinuation of fresh barf, I think the public would embrace the Famous Bowl.

Hat tip to BoingBoing.

Smokin' Ham

I cut a cooked ham in two to double smoke on the grill. One side gets the Hickory Smoked Ham recipe, the other maple syrup and dijon mustard. I'll let you know which one the family liked best.

I'm just getting started in smoking, and something I read suggested starting with cooked ham. Since it's already cooked you don't have to worry about getting the meat to a safe temperature. Smoking it just adds flavor and warms the meat to serving temperature.

UPDATE: The maple syrup and mustard ham won hands down. And talk about a recipe that's easy to remember - one part dijon mustard to one part maple syrup.

I cut a crosshatch pattern on top of the hams to hold the sauce and develop a little texture. Meanwhile the insides of the hams stayed plump and juicy. I cooked them for about two hours with one side of the grill on low and the other side turned off completely, and the hams on the cool side on the top rack. I put a pan of water half on top of the burner and half off and then threw in wood chips periodically for smoke flavor. Good eats.

Buy a Piece of Mothership BBQ

Jim's looking for investors to finance his move to a new location. clickety

I have busted my ass getting this prototype where it is today. I have worked 70 to 80 hours a week for nearly a year. I am really really tired, but I am dedicated to this project. However, I need $50,000 for the move. I am willing to sell more equity in the company than that amount of investment would usually get. I have a business plan. I'll show you the numbers. If you have a dottering old rich uncle who is loose with his checkbook, let me know.

Otherwise, I've got to pack it in.

If you've ever eaten at, read about, heard about or dreamed about Mothership BBQ, please link to this post.

Tri-tip Steaks

This afternoon I used the tri-tips steak recipe I found recently. The cut used was described as a "sirloin bottom." I'm not 100% sure that's the right cut of meat, but for $4.28 a pound the price was right. 'Course, Zenreich paid nearly three times that for his meat, which further makes me think I didn't get the right cut. Oh, well, the proof is in the pudding, right?

I used Zenreich's recipe for J.J.s rub. If you don't want to follow the directions, just throw your entire spice rack into a bowl and stir. Seriously, it's a huge variety of spices. I had everything except coriander, but the recipe wiped out my supply of savory, thyme, paprika, and white pepper.

I got the grill hot and seared the meat for five minutes on each side on the bottom rack. Then I moved it to an aluminum foil boat on the top rack and added wood chips. They caught on fire instantly. Next time I'll let the grill cool first. I turned the grill to low and 10 minutes later added chips again.

The picture above is a test cut/appetizer cut about 30 minutes later. After cutting both ends for appetizers and cutting the meat in half I turned one side of the grill off and left the tri-tip to slow cook for an hour. After that it was cooked through with some pink left in the center. It was good, and tender as long as it was cut thin. I actually think I overcooked it just a bit, out of fear of not cooking it enough.

We served the thin-sliced beef on baguette rolls with mayonnaise, dijon mustard, and sliced tomatoes, with sides of potato chips and homemade carrot salad, and with apple pie for desert. It was delicious.

P.S. - J.J.'s rub was delicious. It's very spicy, though, so you may or may not like it. Little kids might not. I liked the flavor, but I'm also still looking for other rubs. Preferably some that are a bit simpler. You could probably take J.J.'s and throw out the spices with the least volume and have 90% of the flavor. Also, if you don't have a food processor or grinder leave off the bay leaves - eating a chunk of bay leaf would not be fun.

Diary of a Pizza-cooking Madman

Jeff's Famous Pizza is a guy telling you everything he knows about cooking Neopolitan pizza. He claims to have spent six years perfecting his technique, and I believe it. It's amazing how many different approaches he has tried to create the ideal crust, sauce, and cheese. He got frustrated trying to find the perfect mozzarella cheese in Atlanta, so now he's making his own. A mouth-watering read.

Pizza Hut's "Hand-tossed Style Pizza"

I drove by a Pizza Hut that had a sign advertising "Hand-tossed Style Pizz