Food & Drink

[JD_]

I'm seeing lots of food related stuff on here recently: Chick-Fil-A threads, BBQ threads, Real Men thread talking about cooking, Kraut posting seafood platter, and even some discussion in chat room the other night about pawpaws.

I thought maybe we could put up a thread where we can talk all things food/drink related. I searched and saw some random threads, but nothing really ongoing. Apologies if one already exists and I overlooked.

If you have a good recipe to share, a restaurant to recommend, a certain dish at a certain place, beer recommendations, etc., throw it out there.

A place I was at before had a "What's for dinner?" thread, where everyone posted pictures or something about their dinner and it took off pretty good. So, from a good ol' fried bologna sandwich to your favorite lobster dinner, let's see what's on the menu.

[gjohnsoniv]

Well I say the half rack of ribs from Love that BBQ and a Nehi Grape from the office sounds pretty good right now.

[JD_]

Well I say the half rack of ribs from Love that BBQ and a Nehi Grape from the office sounds pretty good right now.

After reading through the BBQ thread and then your reply here, I think ribs are in order for tonight.

[gjohnsoniv]

After reading through the BBQ thread and then your reply here, I think ribs are in order for tonight.

Oh most definitely.

[Dolomite`s Breezy]

We eat usualy pretty healthy.. sometimes we slip and Joe`s crab shack was a major slip up..lol..

We love food. .we both love to cook..

We used to spend a fortune on going out to dinners..

But we decided the organic healthy way is better..( for us, at least)

we feel better now .. we are both losing weight still.. and we come up with some pretty good stuff.. from time to time..

We just discovered Tofu.. we love it..

Still.. we cant go past Chiao`s and not have a dragon roll or some really good curry..

I used to cook some german food while my son was still in the house.. now its a once year thing for us since its just us 2.

[dlm37015]

when in knoxville why eat anywhere but ye old steakhouse

[AU_88]

when in knoxville why eat anywhere but ye old steakhouse

I've eaten at ye old many a time. Good stuff.

[Mike.357]

peanut butter and jelly for me tonight, ate on the fly at work.

[hipower]

peanut butter and jelly for me tonight, ate on the fly at work.

Bacon, eggs, hash browns, and biscuits for supper tonite. Great!

[Mike.357]

I would have traded you hipower

[RichardR]

I made a massive pot of chili today, tried using ground turkey instead of ground beef and it actually turned out extremely well and was most definitely healthier.

[TMF]

Best Chimichanga Recipe.... been using this one since I was a kid. Hands down the best chimi I've had anywhere.

Ingredients:

Ground Beef (1lb-ish. Don't use ground turkey on this... tis blasphemous and makes the house stink.)

1 tbsp minced garlic

1 vidalia onion (chop it up in quater to half dollar size pieces)

1 packet Taco Seasoning (or TexMex seasoning of your own design, but don't make it too spicy or it will detract from the flavor)

1 tbsp crushed cilantro, or about half a fist of fresh cut cilantro

1/2-3/4 can of refried beans

Flour tortillas (full size; Mission Tortillas work best)

Directions:

Heat skillet to high and throw a little butter in it. Toss in a chopped up vidalia onion and your minced garlic and brown it; should take about a minute or two. Be sure to stir and toss it around so it doesn't burn and cooks evenly. Once you're happy with the doneness of the onion and garlic, reduce the heat to medium and go ahead and add the ground beef. Don't remove the onions or garlic. They trade their flavor with the meat while it cooks and will soften the onion and add more sweetness to it. Use your spatula to cut the meat up in the skillet so the ground beef is not chunked up at all. Once you've chopped up the meat a bit, add your cilantro and taco seasoning. You may want to add some pepper and even a little chili powder to give it some kick, but not too much. Keep cooking until all the pinkness is gone. Don't overcook the meat or else it'll get all rubbery. At this point, if you didn't use lean ground beef there will be a great deal of fatty grease in the pan. Use a colander to strain out all that stuff. It's bad for you and will mess up the consistency of your product when you add the beans. A little grease is okay though, just not the cup or two that usually gets strained out. Take about 30 seconds to strain out that grease, then return the contents to your skillet. Reduce your heat to low and add 1/2 to 3/4 can of refried beans. Start with the 1/2 can and use your spatula to work it into the mix. A little grease and the heat from the pan should help out with this. If once you mix in the 1/2 can of refried beans it looks as if you need more, go ahead and add another 1/4 can. I'm leery of adding too much refried beans because it makes the mix overpowered with a refried bean flavor. What you want is a good mix of both. If you've cooked over 1 1/2 lb of meat than you could add a little more. I've only used a full can of refried beans when cooking 2 lbs or more.

Okay, so now you should have your mix GTG. Put it in a large mixing bowl or something that is large enough to accomodate the contents. Get a big spoon and your tortillas. Scoop the mix into your tortillas and roll them. This is the tricky part for some because not everyone has this skill. What you want here is NO SPILLAGE. You want to roll these so the entire contents of the tortilla are self-contained. This means NO OPEN ENDS! Can't stress that part enough. If you don't get this part right then the recipe is ruined and I don't take credit for the outcome. My technique is to add the mix onto my tortilla in a straight line about 2 inches wide and an inch high just right of the center of the tortilla, and extend the length of the mix about 1 1/2 inch shy on the top and bottom. I then fold the top and bottom first back onto the mix; the crease of the fold will be where the mix ends. Then, while holding the top/bottom fold in place, I wrap the tortilla giving you what looks like a long burrito with both ends encapsulated. This will keep the cooking oil out and will keep the mix from getting in the cooking oil. Both are catastrophic events. It will ruin the mix and will likely cause the oil to "pop" and will burn like hell.

This should yield you about 5 good sized chimichangas. While you're wrapping them you can go ahead and heat a few cups of vegetable oil in a saucepan and heat on medium. Use the biggest one you have so you can cook more than one chimi at a time. Make sure that the oil is well heated before you add your chimi. The oil should appear to boil on contact with the chimichanga when you put it in the pan. Once you feel it's hot enough (after about 5-10 minutes of being heated) put your chimichanga in the pan. The oil should be about 1 inch deep so that the chimi is half in the oil and half out. Use some tongs to rotate it from side to side. If your heat is too high then it will burn quick. A good way to check this is to rotate your chimi after it's been on there for 30 seconds. If it ain't medium brown yet you're good. You're going for a golden brown on both sides. Keep checking your chimi and rotate as necessary. Once both sides are golden brown, remove from the pan and put on layered papertowels. This will help to soak up the excess oil. Once all are cooked you are ready to serve. These will taste good with or without sour cream and salsa. These also make a great on-the-go breakfast if you have leftovers. I've been known to throw one down on the way to work.

A dark Mexican beer, such as Negra Modelo, is a good pair with this. Wouldn't suggest Corona, but then again, I would never suggest Corona for anything.

The wife likes me to add cheese in hers, so it is totally acceptable to do so. I don't put it in mine because change scares me. This is really easy to make, especially after the first time you do it. I hope some of you try it. You won't be sorry.

[TrickyNicky]

Damn TMF that sounds good!

I make a pretty mean sausage and pepper BBQ sandwich. I'll have to get the ingredients to make some and put numbers to my ratios as I just kind of eyeball it.

[peejman]

I made chimichangas similar to TMF's a while back and they were excellent. I added a little green, red, and yellow bell peppers to the meat mixture just for color. I'm not a big fan of bell pepper flavor so a little goes a long way for me. The best trick I found to filling and folding them was to scoop out an appropriate amount of filling for one tortilla, but only put half of it on a tortilla's. Kept me from over-filling them and making a mess. Top with some shredded cheese and fold.

I baked them instead of frying them. Pre-heat the oven to 400. Brush the tortilla's with a little olive oil and sprinkle a little shredded cheese on top. Pre-heat the pan for a minute or so before putting the chimi's on it. Switch from bake to low broil and put them in until they're nicely browned an crispy.. 10-15 mins.

And yes.... Negro Modello is an excellent choice.

[JD_]

Thanks for the chimichanga recipe. I'll have to try that soon.

I made it to Dixie Outpost in Blountville for dinner tonight. First visit there and it was good. They have about 8 sauces to choose from and are pretty standard except for one made with mountain dew. I tried a sample of it and it wasn't bad. I just went with the regular bbq sauce. Sides were a "pick 3" deal and I chose Fried taters, okra, and beans. My wife had potato salad and said that it was good. We both ate well and had some sides leftover. She got a hot dog called "The Stinky". It had lots of garlic and onions. She said it was good. They have about 15 varieties of specialty hot dogs.

All that with a cup of banana pudding each and two drinks came to $27. Not bad for all the food and extras we got and even had some leftovers.

[JD_]

Bacon, eggs, hash browns, and biscuits for supper tonite. Great!

When I eat breakfast, it is usually for dinner.

[Murgatroy]

Oatmeal.

I was feeling lazy.

[gregintenn]

We just discovered Tofu.. we love it.

Sorrry....I couldn't resist.

[BigK]

Tonight's supper was boring (turkey sandwich and broccoli cheese soup),

but yesterday for lunch I went to McNamara's Irish Pub.

You ain't lived til you've had their Caledonia Scotch Eggs.

In case you aren't "in the know", that's a mild Irish sausage patty wrapped around a boiled egg

and flash fried to cook the sausage. It's served with a rustic stone-ground mustard.

Edited August 23, 2012 by BigK

[ironsniper1]

Well I say the half rack of ribs from Love that BBQ and a Nehi Grape from the office sounds pretty good right now.

do they even still make the real nehi grape? cause i would love to try it

[LagerHead]

Next time you're in the mood for cole slaw try some apple slaw instead.

Cook 1/2 shredded cabbage, covered, in two Tbsp olive oil on medium heat for 6 minutes, stirring frequently. Uncover and add 2 chopped up gala apples, a couple of Tbsp or a little more honey, a few shakes of pepper and cook 6 more minutes, stirring occasionally.

Delicious!