More Saturday Foodstuffs

From the good folks at Burnt Orange Nation (a Texas Longhorns joint) comes a "Brisket Treatise" followed by a comments sections that adds more than it detracts -- the internet equivalent of a unicorn sighting (if you can get over the authenticity fetishism that nearly any discussion about barbecue seems to lure).

Saturday Foodstuffs

Three words for your weekend:

Great Bacon Odyssey.

You’re welcome.

[Crossposted at Ephblog.]

Off to DC, Defending Ben's Chili Bowl, and Assorted Self Indulgence

I am off to Washington, DC tomorrow for this year's Organization of American Historians annual meeting where I'll be giving a paper on a panel (1:45 Wednesday if you're in the area) with a couple of names familiar to my regular readers. I'm going to try to hit a lot of my favorite haunts in the city where I wrote my dissertation in a state of pretty much absolute poverty. One of those haunts is Ben's Chili Bowl, which is featured in a recent Guardian (UK) blog post.

But listen, my limey friend, you watch yourself when you write: "Sadly, the only problem with Ben's Chili Bowl is that while the atmosphere is great, the food is mediocre, even by fast food standards." I will find you and I will beat your arse.

BBQ, Northern Style!

Think you can only find great barbecue in the South, Texas (begin anew the debate: Is Texas Southern?) and Kansas City? Not true! The Boston Globe has combed New England and has come up with ten great places for meat meaty meat meat done right.

Commercial Break

Sunsweet Philippine-grown dried mango is excellent. I do not know if it is actually good for you, but if it's just a charade, it's a yummy one.

Git Yer Hot Dogs Here!

MSN has one man's opinions on the seven best hot dog places in the country. I cannot vouch for any of them, but any time we can talk about hot dogs is a good time here at dcat. Indeed, we had a great conversation on this topic when I raised a similar issue, listing some of my own favorites, at the late great Rebunk.

I Don't Care: Give Me a Steak

This tragic, sad, poignant, disturbing story may well be true. But a world of less red meat is a world where the living envy the dead. Plus, every time they find something that is yummy that kills you, someone eventually discovers that no, in fact, that consumable is actually good for you. I am ready for the inevitable egg-like comeback of red meat. Though for me, red meat never left.

Cheesy Pasta Goodness

Mmmmmmmm, mac and cheese! (With recipes!)

Goodness

I loathe the fact that one holiday segues directly into another. Christmas sales begin before Thanksgiving, sometimes weeks before. Soon after New Years the Valentine's Day candy and profligate pink festoons all available store space. Halloween costumes and their pumpkin and witch, ghost and ghoulie brethren hit the shelves before Columbus Day. Enough is too much, and was long ago.

But let me tell you one thing -- seeing (and, of course, buying, in bulk) my first Cadbury Eggs the day after Valentine's Day? Hell. And. Yes.

Not For Vegetarians: Friday Goodness Alert

Take loads of bacon and as much pork and what do you get, other than yummy awesomeness? A glorious new epicurial phenomenon known simply as The Bacon Explosion. Go. Make it now.

Airport Eatin'

In today's Sunday New York Times travel section "The Frugal Traveler," Matt Gross, has a feature on eating at airports. Fortunately despite what it sometimes seems out there in the sterile world of airports it's not all Chili's Too and limited-menu McDonalds franchises. I'd also recommend the Oscar Mayer Weiner Hot Dog Construction Company in Atlanta's madhouse of an airport, which is operated by my friend and college teammate, Boogie. If you go and ask for Boogie, tell him that Vinnie sent you. (Ahhh, college nicknames. Though no one there will know who the hell you're talking about if you ask for Boogie. Ask for Stu.)

Friday Advice

When the nice lady who owns the Thai restaurant warns you that the hot version of the meal you are ordering is "very, very hot," you should probably trust her.

That's some friendly Friday advice from dcat, who is weeping openly as his tongue blisters.

Food Service Memories

If you have ever worked in a restaurant, you have horror stories. Rude customers (let's just give them numbers one through five on this list), imperious prima donna bosses, the revelation that food can be pretty gross, and, if you've worked in the kitchen (which is my background) you know just how much manual labor is involved when it is your shift to wash the dishes. And then there is the heat, good God, the heat.

Despite all of the complaints, I owe a debt of gratitude to the time I spent in the kitchen at the Backside Inn in Goshen, New Hampshire. (Goshen represent!) While there I learned how to cook. I spent one summer doing nothing but baking and making salads, and that gave me a solid foundation and passion for cooking that never subsided. And that summer I got out of the nighttime kitchen drudgework. I was the equivalent of a white-collar worker that last summer.

Memories of that time came back to me when I read this interview in The Boston Globe with someone known only as "The Waiter," who is the keeper of Waiter Rant, a blog based on his table-jackeying in New York City. He is also the author of a new book, Waiter Rant: Thanks For the Tip -- Confessions of a Cynical Waiter. I'm sure most of you have done your time in the food service industry. This may either bring back deeply repressed memories or stir that bittersweet blend of nostalgia and revulsion that so many incidents from our past do.

Take Me Out to the . . . Concession Stands

If you've been looking for a culinary assessment of the offerings at every Major League ballpark (and you know you have) look no further. The New York Times has yor back, with an interactive map with pics. Mmmm, hot dogs . . .

Mmmmmmm, Donuts!

MSN has America's top 10 donut shops (via Bret Stetka, a donut- obsessive who serves his country by maintaining The Blognut, which devotes coverage to "all donuts, all the time."). Mmmmm, donuts! Texas gets an entry but on the whole I find that the Lone Star State does not get the art of the pastry with the hole in it. Let us know your favorite donut stops. (Or weigh in on the eternal Krispy Kreme v. Dunkin' Donuts debate. I love fresh Krispy Kreme glazed, but pound for pound, donut for donut, this native New Englander is going to keep with his regional loyalties and back Dunkin' Donuts.)