September 2010


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Thai Hot Coffee in Four Parts

photo (23)

Part One: Years ago, and I actually mean years ago, I went to Maine and bought a lot of food—canned and dried goods—from an Asian grocer.

Part Two: When my sister came to visit me in DC, even longer ago, I introduced her to Thai iced coffee, the mother eff of all coffee drinks. She was enamored.

Part One + Part Two: Because my sister liked iced coffee so much, and lived at home with my parents, I brought them raw materials from my trip.

Part Three: We are a family of savers and just as the expiration was nearing, my dad found a can of sweetened condensed milk and snuck it in my bag. Quickly I had to find a use.

Part Four: I remembered I’m a DAD GANSIE in training and I had a package of O-lieng powder—roasted coffee beans, soybeans, brown rice and caramel—in my cabinet. It’s probably stale, but since I just finished my canister of illy, this discovery was perfect timing.

But now I have most of a can left of the condensed milk. Any usage suggestions? Can I sub it in for heavy whipping cream?

(inauthentic) Thai Hot Coffee

Add 2 spoonfuls of O-lieng powder to a French press. Top with just boiled water. Let steep for 3-4 minutes. Press. In a mug, pour in a half spoonful of sweetened condensed milk, pour in coffee. Stir.

in Drinks / Recipe 8 comments
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Top 10 New Foods at the 2010 State Fairs

With all due respect to George Washington Carver, America’s greatest food inventions have all originated in one place — the state fair. From cotton candy to corn dogs to deep-fried Coke, the enterprising folks at America’s state and county fairs top themselves year after year. Some observers thought state fair cooks had hit their peak last year, when the Texas State Fair debuted Deep Fried Butter. But in 2010, they outdid themselves once again, proving that if it’s edible, it’s even better battered and fried. From coast to coast (but mostly in the middle) here are our top ten favorite finds:

10. Hash Brown Hot Dog  – San Diego County Fair

hash brown dog

Hot dogs with french fries is a pretty fantastic lunch, but boy it takes a lot of effort to transport all those individual fries from the plate to your mouth. If only we could get the hot dog and the potato to be one cohesive unit, preferably arranged on a stick. Thank you, San Diego. Thank you. (Photo: It’s Holly)

9. Deep-Fried Cheddar-Bacon Mashed Potatoes…On a Stick  – Minnesota State Fair

potatoes

Sorry, San Diego — did you really think you could best the Midwest at spuds-on-a-stick? Here, Minnesota achieves the state fair trifecta — potatoes, pork and cheese — all deep fried, all on a stick. For more of Minnesota’s many, many state fair foods, check out Baking Junkie’s heart-stopping food crawl through the MN State Fair. (Photo: Baking Junkie)

8. Garbage Burger – Indiana State Fair

garbage burger

It’s the great state fair dilemma. Should pork be the basis of your dish — or a topping? In Indiana, this is not a problem. Behold the garbage burger — a deep-fried pork patty topped with a healthy serving of pulled pork. Why settle for one pig when you can have two? See more at The Hot Cookie. (Photo: Sarah Richcreek)

7.  Deep-Fried Frito Pie – Texas State Fair

frito pie

No other state takes this season as seriously as Texas, the good people who started the deep-fried everything movement with their corn dog in 1942 and haven’t looked back since. Earlier this week, ES told you about frito pies — those delicious piles of chili-topped corn chips. One guess what Texas has gone and done to ’em. (Photo: Texas Fried Frito Pie)

6. Deep Fried Klondike Bar – San Diego State Fair

deep fried klondike bar

California continues its surprisingly strong showing by having the cojones to throw a chocolate-covered ice cream bar in the deep fryer. This one’s more concept than execution, because not so surprisingly, it’s a total disaster to eat. My Burning Kitchen has more. (Photo: My Burning Kitchen)

Next: Top 5 New Foods at the 2010 State Fairs

in Cheese / Desserts / Featured / Food Travel / Lists / Pig 42 comments
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Introducing the Pie Shake…Yes, That’s Pie. Shake.

pie shake

Walking through the NoPa neighborhood of San Francisco recently, the veggie gf and I stumbled upon a restaurant with a name so simple and enticing we couldn’t resist: chile pies (& ice cream). Yep, that’s the name of the restaurant. And they have just three basic menu items:

– Classic New Mexico-style frito pie (for the uninformed, that’s chili poured over a bed of fritos).

– Fresh slices of sweet&savory pie with outrageous varieties such as green chile apple pie with walnuts and a cheddar crust.

– Ice cream and frozen yogurt in creative flavors like bittersweet chocolate and horchata.

Obviously, this was already approaching a pretty perfect restaurant as far as I’m concerned. But then I scanned to the bottom of the menu and saw one more item that just about knocked me over…

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in Desserts / Drinks / Featured / Food Travel 16 comments
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Talk Like a Pirate Day

product-pirate-booty

I’ve definitely ranted about all of those “Day of Days,” as I so eloquently called the phenomenon. A day for soft serve ice cream, a day for mustard, a day for bulk foods…

Anyway, I think I may have found the best “day of” yet: Talk Like a Pirate Day. Which of course, is today, September 19th.

I don’t know what may pop into your head when you hear “pirate” – is it Peter Pan, Pittsburgh baseball, puffed rice? Well for me, it’s a quote from the best movie of all time: PCU.

Rand: I scheme and plan for MONTHS and it gets screwed up because YOU can’t control the students! NEVER send a woman to do a man’s job!
President Garcia-Thompson: You cocky, pointy-nosed little Reaganite! If you hadn’t provoked them, we wouldn’t BE in this mess!
Rand: Whoa! Reality check here! Earth to TALL BITCH! What is your fault? THIS IS!
[turns on Droz]
Rand: Hey, poor boy! Go and have all your parties with all your new friends! I can see it now, Andrews. You and all the knee-jerk, bleeding-heart liberals, sipping tea and playing patty-cake. And those useless hippie pot-heads, those commie-pinko leftists. The bunny huggers, the pillow biters…
Droz: Whoa! Whoa! Which ones are the pillow biters again?
Rand: The BUTT-PIRATES! And those beastly man-haters, tell those chicks to shave their pits then call me! And those goddamn whiny crybaby minorities, you can keep them all!
[Rand realizes that Droz had a microphone close by and that the sign lady has been signing everything he said]
Droz: [to the students] Rand McPherson, everybody. And don’t forget the 9:30 show is completely different than the 7:30 show. Enjoy the veal!
[the students then go after Rand]

Rand: I scheme and plan for MONTHS and it gets screwed up because YOU can’t control the students! NEVER send a woman to do a man’s job!

President Garcia-Thompson: You cocky, pointy-nosed little Reaganite! If you hadn’t provoked them, we wouldn’t BE in this mess!

Rand: Whoa! Reality check here! Earth to TALL BITCH! What is your fault? THIS IS!

[turns on Droz]

Rand: Hey, poor boy! Go and have all your parties with all your new friends! I can see it now, Andrews. You and all the knee-jerk, bleeding-heart liberals, sipping tea and playing patty-cake. And those useless hippie pot-heads, those commie-pinko leftists. The bunny huggers, the pillow biters…

Droz: Whoa! Whoa! Which ones are the pillow biters again?

Rand: The BUTT-PIRATES! And those beastly man-haters, tell those chicks to shave their pits then call me! And those goddamn whiny crybaby minorities, you can keep them all!

[Rand realizes that Droz had a microphone close by and that the sign lady has been signing everything he said]

Droz: [to the students] Rand McPherson, everybody. And don’t forget the 9:30 show is completely different than the 7:30 show. Enjoy the veal!

[the students then go after Rand]

To celebrate this pirate madness, Pirate’s Booty is giving away a chest of goodies to one of our readers.

We’ll pick a commenter by random, but just leave a comment in this post about anything, hopefully about pirates, but Eagles football will work too. Oh, or about food.

Here are some pirate-speak definitions to inspire your comments.

Comments are due midnight EST, Monday, September 20th.

Scallywag – Mild insult similar to rapscallion or rouge.

Scurvy Dog – The pirate talking directly to you with mild insult.

Shiver me timbers! – Comparable to “Holy crap!”

Son of a biscuit eater – Insult directed towards someone you don’t like.

Three sheets to the wind – Someone who is very drunk.

And of course

Pirate’s Booty! –  Pirate’s treasure and also a favorite snack that’s’ good anytime!  Pirate’s Booty is a deliciously baked rice and corn puff that’s baked, all-natural trans-fat and gluten-free.

in Contests 3 comments
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Feed Us Back: Comments of the Week

dessert

– I’m a little surprised that blondee47‘s thoughts on Top Chef: Just Desserts didn’t stir up more controversy here at ES:

This show is a big gamble for these reasons:
…all I can say to Gail is that she had better not put one pound on because if it isn’t written in her contract then it should be (for her sake). All woman have a much higher tendency to gain weight quicker than her male counterparts.
… if she does unfortunately begin to gain weight this will, singlehandedly, be the beginning of the end for pastry chefs and bakers everywhere; not to mention her own self-esteem
…finally, depending on the pros and cons of Top Chef Desserts, it could very well be an added bonus to the Obama campaign for healthy eating and the cutting out of high gylcemix indexed foods of which Desserts rank the highest, fruit included or it can raise the awareness of portion control with every aspect of each challenge.

Gail there is a lot riding on this for the average viewer and these are just my thoughts on it as a non-industry person but nevertheless a lover of food.

– Much less controversial are chilaquiles. But Don adds a new spin:

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in Desserts / TV 1 comments
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Top Chef Exit Interview: And The Winner Is…

NUP_141094_0687

We say farewell to yet another season of Top Chef, and can I for one moment say I’m thankful for that — perhaps not the most exhilarating season in its history. Sadly, the most thrilling part of the final episode was not who won but who returned, oh Michael of the Voltaggio brothers. Small mercies!

For their final challenge, Angelo, Ed and Kevin were tasked with making the best four-course meal of their life — what else were they going to make, pea puree?

Continue reading to see who won and what he has to say about his time on Top Chef.

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in TV 3 comments
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