The day started out dismally, with a cold breeze and even colder termperatures. I had previously had plans of making a light, grilled meal comprised of spring vegetables and grilled chicken, but as the day moved forward I couldn’t shake the cold feeling in my bones and in search of comfort food I went.

Enter Carbonara.

I’ve written about Carbonara before. It’s a rich, filling pasta treatment which will never be mistaken for health food, but, you know, sometimes you just need it - even if you have to behave yourself for a week to make up for it. I had gone to our local Italian deli, Fraboni’s, this weekend and as usual had spent an ungodly amount of money there, so I had much of what I needed on hand to make this. I had picked up a nice orecchiette pasta, some spicy imported pancetta (sliced into thick slabs, pefect for dicing), and a grated blend of romano and parmesan cheeses (a staple in my fridge). I combined it with some frozen peas (still no peas in my CSA box) and with fresh ramps.

Pasta Carbonara with Pancetta, Peas and Ramps:

1/2 pound pancetta, diced (substitute bacon if you wish)
Olive Oil
1 bunch ramps, bulbs sliced (substitute onion and garlic if no ramps are on hand)
Red Pepper flakes - to taste
3 eggs
3 egg yolks
1/4 cup heavy cream
1 cup grated parmesan/romano cheese
Grated pepper to taste
1 lb pasta
1 cup frozen peas
1 bunch scallions, bulbs and greens sliced

Warm a tablespoon of olive oil to a deep sautee pan. Add diced pancetta and sautee until crisp. Add ramps and red pepper flakes to taste, turn heat to low, stir occasionally, as needed.

In a large bowl, whisk eggs and egg yolks together well. Add cream, grated cheese and pepper. Whisk again. Set aside (this can be done ahead of all other steps, leaving egg mixture to come close to room temperature).

Cook pasta per instructions. As pasta completes, add peas to the boiling water and cook with the pasta for 2 - 3 minutes. Drain cooked pasta, reserving some water. Add pasta and peas to bacon mixture. Stir until incorporated through.

Add hot pasta and bacon into bowl with egg mixture. The heat should cook the eggs through. If sauce becomes too thick or gummy, add some of the reserved pasta water to thin it out. Toss scallions into mixture.

Pour into pasta serving bowl.

Popularity: 20% [?]

Ok, so it’s spring break for my kids and my wife (bless her soul) has taken
the kids to a water park in Wisconsin Dells. I am home alone with my dog and
three cats. Feeling sorry for myself I stop by the local butcher shop to pick up
a steak for dinner. As I scan the array of meat displayed before me a towering
temple of animal flesh catches my eye. “Can that be two steaks stacked on
top of each other” I wonder. I ask the butcher and he says “No that is
one steak”. I told him that a steak that big was disgusting… and then I
had him wrap it up. Oh the guilt, Oh the self flagellation, Oh the the need to
buy some mushrooms to go with it <g>. What followed was one glorious
seduction of 3 lbs of sensuous meat and man. Needless to say, I am not as young
as I use to be…there were leftovers for lunch tomorrow.

Popularity: 13% [?]

With a pending trip to Las Vegas coming in April I took it upon myself to research locations of my favorite fast food, hot dogs. I came across an article in the Las Vegas Weekly that caught my eye “The Best of the Wurst“. Since I was in Vegas on business, my time to explore all of the places listed in this article was limited. So I searched out a few I knew I could get to and planned my week accordingly. What follows is a brief tour of Las Vegas Hot Dogs.

Mr. Hotdog

An old favorite of mine, Mr. Hotdog has expanded from its Flamingo location to a couple of more places on the strip. Mr. Hotdog serves Sabrett brand dogs with an eastern flair. Their menu offers topping combinations that cover New York, Chicago and Los Angeles. Pictured are a pair of New York Dogs with Onion Sauce, a Kraut Dog and Mexican Dog.

Chicago Tasty Dogs

Located on the east side of town, this place took us a while to locate. It is hidden behind blue awnings in a little food court area of a large shopping mall. I would have to say that this place was the best of the bunch. Great dogs (Vienna), fresh toppings and great fries. On the left we have a Jumbo Fire Dog Chicago Style and on the right a Polish Sausage with
onions & hot peppers.

Taste of Chicago

This place has a real Chicago feel. The dogs selection was classic and the toppings varied. Featuring Vienna brand all beef dogs of course. Housed in an old drive in restaurant the walls are festooned with Chicago memorabilia. My co-worker and I tried a wide selection. Starting at 12 o’clock and going around the table; Chili Dog with cheese, Jordan Dog (hot and spicy)
with Chicago toppings, Kraut Dog and Chicago Dog.

Jodi Maroni’s Sausage Kingdom

I KNEW that I was going to be able to try this place because it is located in the D concourse of the Vegas airport and my
Northwest flight home was in that concourse. What makes Jodi Maroni’s unique is its variety of tubular meat. Not just Hot Dogs but a nice selection of sausages as well. Pictured at the top is their Breakfast Sandwich, a combination of egg, Andouille sausage, salsa and cheddar cheese. To the left a Louisiana Boudin Hot Link with onions and peppers and the bottom a Chicken Andouille with peppers and onions. All on onion rolls.

Popularity: 25% [?]

Last summer I had the occasion to travel to Milwaukee to take my son to the airport for a trip to see his cousin. Since my wife and I were going to make a day of it I decided to do some research on hot dog places in the city by the lake. My online search brought me to an article in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Among the listings in this article was a place called “Sammy’s Taste of Chicago”. Sammy’s just happened to be close to where we were traveling so it became our target for the day. Unfortunately on that trip, I didn’t have my camera with me. So when I had to make a run to Milwaukee last week I knew where I was stopping for lunch, and this time, with my camera.

Sammy’s has three locations in the Milwaukee area, Slinger, West Allis and Highway 100 & Silver Spring in Milwaukee. The later is the place I went to this time. Tucked away on the end of a small strip Mall, Sammy’s doesn’t have an imposing facade. But the mustard yellow awning hints at things inside. When you walk in the place you are greeted by an interior painted in mustard yellow and ketchup red. The counter is to the left and ample seating with tables and booths. Sammy’s offers 13 different tubular meat combinations including Hot Dogs, Polish, Brats and Corn Dogs. Now I will admit I enjoy eating, but a dozen dogs is more then I can handle. I decided to try three different ones on this trip. I will save the others for another time. I ordered a Double Chicago Dog, a Cheese Dog with onions and a Corn Dog. Each comes wrapped in was paper whether your eating in or carrying out. The nice part of this whole experience was that it was Sunday. On Sunday dogs are only 99 cents! Including a soda this whole feast only cost a little over $5, how can you beat that!

The Double Chicago Dog was almost too much for the bun, containing TWO dogs with all the usual additions certainly made it a mouthful. The Vienna Red Hots were tasty and the condiments met the usual standard for a good Chicago Dog, Pickle, Florescent Green relish, Sport Peppers, Onions and Mustard. There is a simple quiz I run at every hot dog joint I visit that serves “Chicago Style” dogs. I always ask “Does that come with Ketchup?” I was very please to see the guys behind the counter give me that look of “Are you nuts” and then tell me that Chicago Dogs never come with Ketchup. I knew this was a place that knows their dogs.

The Cheese Dog was my next victim. Mine included raw onions along with the cheese sauce. Because it is all wrapped in wax paper the Cheese Dog can become a bit messy. The cheese sauce was luscious and the onions provided a nice contrast to the smoothness of the sauce. My Last item was the Corn Dog. I must say I am not a big Corn Dog fan but this dog-on-a-stick impressed me. The batter was cooked perfectly with a slightly sweet flavor that balanced nicely with the meat. In this case dipping it either mustard or ketchup didn’t seem to take away from its flavor.

With three dog options down and many more to be tried, I will certainly be heading back to Sammy’s again. Along with the dogs, Sammy’s service Subs, Italian Beef, Burgers and kids meals. The staff at Sammy’s was very friendly and clearly enjoyed their work. The locals were streaming into the place while I ate taking advantage of the Sunday Special. One guy came in and ordered 18 dogs to go.

If your travels take you to the west side of Milwaukee I recommend making a stop at Sammy’s.

Popularity: 6% [?]

Our local paper yesterday carried the news that because Hurricane Frances was swirling away off the coast of Florida, the ozone layer was causing haze and pollutants all the way up here, in Wisconsin. The reporter should have done his research. That wasn’t hurricane-induced haze on the horizon. What the reporter was catching drift of was the aromatic, thick, smoky haze of…. ready for this?….

BRAT FEST 2004: The Labor Day Edition!

Don’t believe me? See for yourself:

And what, pray tell, is Brat Fest, the unfortunate may ask? No, it’s not an event where one drops of their nasty children before fleeing. It’s a bratwurst fundraising event that is held twice a year in Madison, on Memorial Day and on Labor Day weekends. It has become a tradition that heralds in the summer, then escorts it right back out. The feeding frenzy over Memorial Day broke a World Record with 189,432 Bratwurst consumed. Sauerkraut is also a hot commodity at this event, with over 4,000 pounds consumed! That’s a lot of kraut!

We headed to Brat Fest on Saturday at around 9:30 AM, on our way to the first UW Badger Football game. Realizing that I had left my camera at home, it was determined that we’d just have to go back again the next morning for breakfast so that we could take photos. Mmmmm, brats for breakfast.

While at the Badger game, I mentioned to the guy to my right (who just happens to be my Cuisine Capers Cohort, Vic), that we needed pictures of Brat Fest. So he also made the ultimate sacrifice and forced himself to take his family there for dinner on Saturday night.

Between all of the Cuisine Capers entourage, we did our Madisonian duty and consumed about 20 tubular meats (so far, anyway - the tally may rise. After all there’s 1 1/2 days left!). The fest goal this weekend: 200,000 brats! We may need to step up to the plate (heh, heh, heh) and give additional assistance towards meeting that goal before the weekend is done.

Finally, here’s Brat Fest, in all its glory!

The Grill
On hand was the Johnsonville Brat Grilling Truck. For those of you that have never seen this wonder of the modern world, the Johsonville Brat Grilling Truck is the world’s largest grill. (I can see some of my fellow foodie bloggers drooling already!). It’s a semi truck which hauls around a trailer that converts into a grill for major bratwurst events, like UW Badger football games, Packer games, and, of course Brat Fest. This truck has a top speed of 9,000 BPH (brats per hour). Take a look at this, guys, and imagine it at your next backyard barbecue:

The Oscar Meyer Weinermobile
Oscar Meyers is headquartered in Madison, and they show up in full force to deliver hot dogs and to give kids a closeup of the Weinermobile. Growing up in Madison, this was a common sight as a kid:

The Tents
There are a number of tents. The main tent serves up the brats, of course. There’s also a condiment tent (run by people in “Condiment Commander” t-shirts… don’t mess with them!), and a Brat Gear tent, featuring shirts to dress your brat (as in, child) in, as well as jars of the official Brat Fest Mustards.

And speaking of condiments…

And finally, THE HAUL:

Two brats and two hot dogs, with 4 sodas, costing a total of $3.00.

For entertaining Brat Fest statistics, click below:

Read More

Popularity: 13% [?]