by Emily

Food Porn Bonanza: Franklin BBQ Edition

If you’re a BBQ lover, you’ve probably heard of Aaron Franklin, owner of Franklin Barbecue and the dude who makes brisket so delicious that all the food magazines/TV shows rave about it and people will wait 3+ hours in line to get their hands on some. Franklin Barbecue has only been open since 2009, originally a little trailer, but it’s already become an Austin legend.

Last week I attended LiveFire, a big BBQ event out in Texas Hill Country, and of course Franklin was there serving up his meat to a long, long line of people. The dish? “Beef plate with ribs and smoked pimiento cheese.” The meat was tender and fatty (in a good way) and the pimiento cheese was straight-up crazy good.

So, now that you have the backstory, here’s just a few up close and personal moments with Franklin’s meat.

by Emily

Getting Tropical with Coconut Water Vodka

I”ve been a fan of coconut water for years. It”s basically nature”s Gatorade: super hydrating and full of electrolytes. So, what better way to improve upon it than by turning it into something hella dehydrating that saps you of your energy? That”s right, I”m talking about sweet, sweet alcohol. There have been some coconut water cocktail recipes popping up around the Internet, and now Three Olives has taken it one step further by introducing a Coconut Water flavored vodka. Three Olives clearly knows I am a connoisseur of both coconut water and booze, so they sent me this huge sample pack to review.

Yes, Three Olives Coconut Water vodka is Elvis-themed. Why? According to the press pack:

Three Olives Vodka honors Elvis Presley with this refreshing Coconut Water Flavored Vodka to celebrate his long standing love affair with Hawaii and his legendary style and groundbreaking performances that have transcended time.

Hm. Okay, I”ll take it.

They”re not kidding about the COCONUT smell and taste here. If you”re not a coconut lover, this might not be the vodka for you. But! If you love sweet, tropical drinks, this could be your new magic ingredient. To be 100% honest, I”m not sure what the difference between coconut vodka and coconut water vodka is, but oh well. I”m guessing casino online they”re just riding the wave of the trend, and that”s fine. Anyway, here”s a cocktail two ways: the Three Olives version and my personal version. This is very sweet and coconutty, so cut it with some unflavored vodka and/or more soda water if you want it milder.

The Elvis

Gro Something Greater This Spring

Can winter pleeease be over already? Don’t know about ya’ll, but we are VERY ready for some warm weather….and to start growing some food that is not Brussels sprouts or potatoes (no offense Brussels sprouts or potatoes, but enough is enough). Endless Simmer is stoked to be part of Miracle Gro’s Grow Something Greater campaign, where we joined bloggers and others to gab about what we love to grow, from pesto to wonder, and of course, in our case, sandwiches.

We also know that for some of you, growing food can be as intimidating as baking. Don’t worry, we’ve got your back.

New to growing? Share your own story about what you’re planning to grow this spring and we’ve got a Grow Kit from Miracle-Gro with a bunch of great gardening gizmos to help one lucky grower get started.

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by BS

Salt Block Root Beer Steak

You’re probably wondering what a salt block root beer steak is, and you’d be right to, because well..until now, that has definitely not been a thing.

Here’s what happened: I had two exciting new products burning a whole in my kitchen, waiting to be used.

1) My still unused Christmas present: a Himalayan pink salt block from the Meadow. Salt blocks allow you to cook foods at 600-degree temperatures, while the salt rapidly sears proteins, caramelizes sugar, and yes, adds a wee bit of salty deliciousness. By the way, this is how beautiful it looks before you get into the nitty gritty of grilling on it:

2) A bottle of McCormick Root Beer Concentrate that came my way as part of McCormick’s Flavor of Together program, a yearlong initiative to share 1.25 million stories about how flavor both unites and defines people across the globe.

So, what exactly is root beer concentrate? Well, it’s kind of like vanilla extract, except instead of vanilla it adds a dash of root beer flavor to whatever you’re cooking.

In 1889, Willoughby M. McCormick went door to door selling one of McCormick & Company’s first products, Root Beer Extract. From there, the product quickly rose in popularity and led to a trending sensation of root beer floats and root beer home brewing in the early 1900s. In 2014, McCormick marks its 125^th anniversary by celebrating the role flavor plays in all of our lives, inspiring flavorful conversation, and giving back to communities around the world. They asked me to come up with my own Root Beer Concentrate recipe…and clearly I was not going to make a plain old root beer float.

I’ve glazed meat in coke before, so I figured, why not root beer meat?

Burns My Bacon: Dessert Gimmicks

So the food porn-obsessed Internet is going crazy this week with news that Dominique Ansel, he of the great cronut craze of 2013, is back with his latest trademark creation: a chocolate chip cookie shot “glass” with a shot of milk. It’s beautiful. It’s mouthwatering. It’s waste-free.

It’s also stupid.

Why? Because, um…who wants to drink a shot of milk and THEN eat a cookie? It’s cute, yes. But the order is just all wrong. Sorry to be a Debbie Downer here but there are some things I just have to take seriously and this concoction is NOT practical. I feel like I would end up with milk and crumbs drizzling down my face as I tried to get the perfect last bite.

This gimmick is just not an improvement on the traditional milk and cookie. Cookie first, then milk. It doesn’t work the other way. Design me a shot glass made of milk with a cookie contained inside it, and then I might be impressed, Dominique.

in Desserts / Rants & Raves / Trends 1 comments

by Emily

Screw Ramen Burger, it’s Time for Ramen TACO

The title of this post really tells you everything you need to know. The Ramen Burger craze of Fall 2013 was only the tip of the iceberg. Now we have the RAMEN TACO. That creation above was brought to you by Nash Ruin of the Vulgar Chef, presented to the world in a succinct yet effective blog post. Shine on, you crazy diamond.

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by snebbu

Battle of the Corkscrew…Part I

VS.

Since we’re now grown up, we took a different route for New Year’s Eve. Fancy-shmancy dinner out, then drinking at home with some friends. Of the elite, mature, grown-up group was ML and her main squeeze. Fiancée and I have gotten to know them pretty well, and lucky for them we now live closer together. We even popped his Brazilian steakhouse cherry. But I digress. The most you need to know is that he likes to talk smack. And THIS is where it begins.

As we were all getting ready to leave, he says “OH, look at you—an electric wine opener, you must think you’re effing fantastic.” (of course I may/may not/may be exaggerating here) The electric wine opener was a gift from the future sister-in-law and we were looking forward to trying it. Our feelings were demolished, the solid relationship we’ve created with ML’s squeeze was emotionally damaged and we were highly offended. How dare he. Words were thrown across the room and finally, we realized—this calls for a battle.

Which wine tool would work better? The classic wine key that they use at the restaurants and has taken most of us years of college to realize how to actually use? Or is the electric opener that literally requires you to push one button? I’ll let you decide before I explain the “part I” piece. Judges…see below:

Yes…it looks like the hand-cranked wine key won. However what you don’t see is my foil cutter owning it. Also, ML’s squeeze has had years of practice when he was a waiter in a restaurant. This was my first time. See, the problem was that I repeatedly hit the “down” button and then the “up” button. I thought once the cork went down, you hit the up button. Turns out you hold the down button until the cork comes out. The up button is only to get rid of the cork. Therefore, we need another battle…now that we both know how to use our weapons. There WILL be another battle. And I WILL win. Get your favorite wine key…I’m comin’ at you, brah.

in Contests / Trends 2 comments