Chili

So, I've been making chili for a while, but I use Wick Fowlers seasoning mix.  All three of us in my family like it.  I make it a little differently, after a suggestion my wife made, and I put canned corn in it.  The recipe calls for beans and beef, but the corn gives an interesting texture and both my son and I love corn. 

When I was younger I always ate chili with Saltines.  I don't know if that was just a California thing, or just something I picked up along the way, but it's good.  Later, I got introduced to Frito Pie, and I have never been the same.  I used to go to an annual gathering and someone started a tradition of making chili one night of the weeklong event.  At first, he would buy Fritos, but after a few years, the Chili Night grew so large that he needed to try to save money...since it was done gratis, with donations accepted.  So, one year he bought Tortilla Chips, because they were cheaper in bulk.  I made do with Tortilla Chips that year, and the next year I brought my own Fritos.  Recently, we got a deal on Mexican Cornbread mix and we tried that with Chili, and that is excellent as well.  Of course, I love cornbread so much that I think I could enjoy it with almost anything. 

I have been living in Texas for more than three decades, and Texans feel like they own Chili.  While driving through Cincinnati I noticed billboards for restaurants touting their Chili, and showing it served over Spaghetti.  Now, to a Texan that would similar to heresy...well, both Cincinnati Chili and Chili over Spaghetti would seem like heresy to most Texans.  After seeing it on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives, I want to try it, but I have my doubts.  Of course, I don't want to make my own and try over Spaghetti, I want to try Cincinnati Chili. 

Today, I spent some time looking at Chili recipes.  I think I am going to give Wick Fowlers a miss and try making my own chili from scratch.  Of course, it will be Chili my way, so I will Hold the Onions and use Onion Powder in it, but I am sure that I will like it even better without fresh onions.

Comfort Food

What is comfort food? 

Mac and Cheese?  A good hamburger?  Spaghetti with meat sauce? 

How much of comfort food is cultural, and how much is personal.  On TV, you often hear chefs and presenters talk about comfort food as if it was cultural.  They talk about comfort food as if we all thought that a pot roast with potatoes and gravy was comfort food, but is that really true? 

One part of comfort food seems to be the memories that it evokes.  The roast may be a comfort food because so many of us, at least in my generation (end of the baby boom) had a big roast with potatoes and gravy almost every Sunday.  We saw that on TV and it became a shared cultural icon.  Like a good turkey dinner on Thanksgiving. 

But, I think that many of you are like me, you have comfort foods that aren't part of the larger cultural definition.  It might be something your mother made when you were sick, or the breakfast she made you every morning.  It could be that food that you celebrated big occasions with...now, I don't suppose that beer can really be a comfort food, but that is what many Americans celebrate with. 

Personally, I have some rather strange comfort foods, but they all have one thing in common.  They remind me of a certain time in my life, and were a special treat that I bought for myself.  Fritos and bean dip is one of my comfort foods.  When I get depressed, it is one of a small group of food that I turn to, because once upon a time it made me feel better.  Pizza is another comfort food, at least for me.  It was the food that my friends and I often went out for, sometimes for celebration, sometimes as a reward for moving a friend, and sometimes just because, and when I eat pizza it reminds me of all those good times. 

And, I think those good times are a key ingredient of comfort food.  Sometimes it is the thing we eat when we are flush, and others the thing we eat when we are broke, but in each case, that food becomes connected with a good memory, a comforting memory, and the memory is just as important as the food.

The Great Austin Burger Hunt - Cain and Abel's

Cain & Abel's
2313 Rio Grande
Austin, TX 78705

(512) 476-3201

Cain & Abel's is one of the better known watering holes and eateries in the West Campus area.  I decided to try it and see if the burgers are any good.

I ordered a Bacon Cheeseburger and immediately, they sort of let me down, by not asking me how I wanted it.  Of course, some of the best burger joints don't, and I guess I should have expected it from a place that is as much a bar as it is an eatery.

Another warning should have been how long it took us to get out food.  Now, we were a party of eight, but the service was pretty slow.  Unfortunately, it did not get better when the food arrived.  The burger came with a leaf of lettuce, but was brown and unappetizing, so I left it off.  The burger was dry, and I don't just mean that it wasn't juicy, there were no condiments on the burger and no mayo on the table.  The meat was overcooked, which accounts for the dryness, but beyond that, it was burned, there was the distinct taste of....soot?  I don't know how to describe it, but it was less than ideal.

The fries were okay, but they were really greasy.

Overall, I was quite disappointed and I cannot recommend Cain & Abel's for those looking for a Great Burger.

China Palace - Take 2

6605 Airport Blvd.

Austin, TX  78752

(512) 451-0918

Recently I reviewed a take out lunch from China Palace.  It was pretty good and I was hungry for Chinese, and I wanted to do the buffet thing, and so I decided to try China Palace again...I wish I hadn't.

It wasn't terrible, but it was much worse than the take out lunch.  I tried Pork Dumplings, Sesame Chicken, General Tso's Chicken, Egg Rolls, Hot and Sour Soup, and both white and fried rice.

Let me start with the good parts.  The Pork Dumplings were good.  I call them Pot Stickers and they were well cooked and tasty.  The Sesame Chicken was tasty, and so was the Egg Roll.  Nothing really wrong with them, but only the Pot Stickers seemed to pop.

But, there were some definitely a few bad things.  The Sesame Chicken pieces were still huge, but they were also a bit chewy.  There was hardly any sauce in the pan on the steam table.  Mixing the sauce with rice is part of the draw of Sesame Chicken, and it was missing.  The Egg Rolls were tiny, but that is okay on a buffet, because you just grab one or more extras.  The Hot and Sour Soup....wasn't....it wasn't hot in either definition of the word.  It was tepid, and it was dull, almost tasteless.  This was a big disappointment.  The fried rice was okay, but the white rice was hard...well, at least there was a crust on top.

In addition to some of the things just not being very good, there was a general problem with details.  The Soy Sauce was in a bowl with a spoon on the side of the buffet.  I prefer to use Soy Sauce almost as a dip, for dumplings and Egg Rolls, but I couldn't...well, I finally grabbed a soup bowl and spooned a bit into that, but it only worked so well.

The lunch buffet runs from 11:00 to 2:00, and I arrived about 12:45.  Why do I mention this?  Because I think this was the cause of the problem.  It really looked as if most of that food had been put out at 11:00 and left under the lights on the steam table for more than 90 minutes.  The sauce that was plentiful in my take out lunch was non-existent.  The soup that was hot and tasty was no longer, if it ever was.

The whole experience left me with the feeling that getting rid of all the food was more important than ensuring a good eating experience for late comers to the buffet.  I have seen this elsewhere, but never quite this egregious.  I was quite disappointed and I am reconsidering my earlier review.

The Great Austin Burger Hunt - Mighty Fine Burgers

Mighty Fine Burgers

10515 N. Mo Pac Expy Ste. 205

Austin, TX 78759

512-524-2400

I went to Mighty Fine Burgers a few years ago, before I started looking for Austin’s best burger. I remember it as a good burger, but I never got around to coming back so that I could review it…until now. 

I ordered the half pound regular burger, with bacon and cheese along with fries and a Diet IBC Root Beer. Mighty Fine actually serves Beer, which is an advantage for those who like beer with their burgers. I don’t really care, but it is something to remember.

The burger was good, but not spectacular. The bun was well toasted, but it was just a bun, not really much better than anyone else’s. The cheese was plentiful and well melted, but again, nothing special, just plain old American Cheese. It is a little disappointing considering the build up of this premium burger.

Just a quick word about the fries. They are over cooked, but still tasty. They are a bit greasy as well and they are plentiful enough that two people can easily share one order.

Well, it doesn’t seem like I have a lot good to say about Mighty Fine Burgers. It was a good burger, but after eating at Hat Creek Burger Company, I expect more, and I just didn’t get it from Mighty Fine.

China Palace

6605 Airport Blvd.

Austin, TX 78752

(512) 451-0918

I went out for lunch on a Monday and found one chinese restaurant either closed forever, or just for the day.  Fortunately, China Palace was only about two miles away.  China Palace is a small place, and it certainly isn't fancy, but that isn't always needed.  Look at BBQ places, generally, the shabbier they look, the better the BBQ.

I ordered my usual, Sesame Chicken, and it wasn't long in coming.  As I always do, I got it to go, but I sampled everything while it was still hot.  Eating Sesame Chicken while driving is a bit difficult, but I didn't want to be late getting back, and I wanted to taste everything while hot.

First, the serving was very large.  Lots of big pieces of chicken, and lots of sauce.  A large amount of sauce can make eating in a moving car and adventure while you move the tray around trying to keep the sauce off the seats.  My wife won't be happy when she reads this.  I like the extra sauce though because then I can mix it with the rice.

A point to China Palace for not putting the egg roll in with the hot steamy food.  Nothing worse than opening up your to go meal and finding that the lovely crispy fried egg roll has been steamed into a soggy mess.  A point against China Palace for putting broccoli in with the Sesame Chicken.  It's not Sesame Chicken with Broccoli, and I have only once been served Sesame Chicken with Broccoli when sitting down in a Chinese Restaurant and yet they feel obliged to add it to the take out lunch.

But, back to the Egg Roll, which was quite good.  It was done with the light crispy wrapper, rather than the heavier crispy wrapper and the vegetables were still crisp.  I can recommend them.  The fried rice had virtually no vegetables, but it was tasty.  The Sesame Chicken was sweet and not very spicy.  I only mention this because I have had Sesame Chicken that is quite spicy, so I feel the need to mention it.

One bite of Hot and Sour soup and I said not hot enough, and it isn't hot, but it started to come on after several bites.  The soup was very thick, with that sheen that speaks of a little too much cornstarch to thicken it.  I make my own Sesame Chicken, and it is easy to do.  It did not really hurt the soup, which was tasty and turned out at the end to be just about hot enough for my taste.

The last bit of my meal was mixing the left over sauce with the rice, which was delicious.  It wasn't fancy, and it wasn't perfect, but it was definitely good enough to give it a second try.

Alton Brown's Cheese Soup

Alton Brown's Cheese Soup

 

I watch Alton Brown's show, Good Eats, on Hulu, and not long ago, they showed his second show on Cheese.  After spending two years in France as a young man, I have a great love of all things cheese, so I was particularly interested to see what Alton would do with the subject.

I came away from the show with two recipes, one for a cheese spread made from leftover bits of cheese, which is a funny idea in my house, where cheese disappears at light speed, and the cheese soup that I have linked to above.  I was at the grocery store thinking about dinner when I decided that I would try Alton's Cheese Soup.

I keep recipes in OneNote on SkyDrive.  I can highly recommend this to anyone.  It allows me to call up a recipe on my phone.  Of course, it helps that I have Windows Phone 7, and Windows Live is integrated into the OS.  I can input recipes on any computer with an internet connection, and then call it up on my phone.  Evernote would probably do the same thing.

Now, if you will take a moment to look at the recipe, you will see that it starts with a pretty standard mirepoix (celery, carrots, onions).  Normally I am not a fan of mirepoix.  I am not a big fan of onions (hence the title of this blog) and I really hate cooked celery.  This recipe caught my eye because you puree the vegetables after cooking.  I figured I might be able to handle the mirepoix if they were reduced to an almost unrecognizable mash before I ate it.  That "almost" will turn out to be quite important.

The recipe is pretty simple.  Sweat the vegetables, toss in a little flour, add chicken broth and simmer for half an hour.  One suggestion is to do your mise en place, at least for everything used in this first stage of the recipe.  After starting the simmer, you have 30 minutes to grate your cheese, and get your cream and finishing elements ready, but you need everything else ready when you start, so that you can watch your vegetables sweat.

I made only one major change to the recipe.  I used 8 oz. of Tillamook Smoked Cheddar, and a bit extra of HEB Artisan Cheddar.  One other thing of note.  I used HEB Garlic Chicken Broth, in a carton.  It was 32 oz. by weight, which turned out to be just a little short of the quart mentioned in the recipe.  My soup didn't notice the difference.

Everything worked out just the way Alton said it would.  I took it off the heat, removed the bay leaf, added the cream and blitzed it with my stick blender.  I wasn't sure that I got it as blitzed as I wanted, and to be honest, I didn't.  I am not sure that I could have any better with any other sort of blender, but what I do know, is that the vegetables ended up in very small bits, too small to need chewing.  Unfortunately, the fibrous celery left behind a few long strands which were less than ideal.

But, the cheese melted easily, just from the residual heat from the simmering, and I ended up with a tasty cheese soup.  After tasting, I added a little more salt, and a little more Worcestershire Sauce.  As mentioned in the recipe, I did need to reheat it a little after that to bring it back to hot.

I liked it, but I ladled myself up a rather large bowl, and didn't completely finish it.  By the end I found the onion to be a little overpowering.  Onions do that to me.  They seem to build up as I eat something with a lot of onion flavor in it.

This recipe makes a lot of soup, and being a cream soup, you shouldn't leave it out too long.  Get it into the refrigerator as soon as it cools.

Update:  Night One, I did not finish the bowl of soup that I started.  It was good, but my opinion didn't last until the end of the bowl.  I tried more the next day, reheated in a microwave, and didn't really care for it.  When I got home, I tried reheating it in a pan.  I find this hard to say, but I couldn't take more than a bite or two.

By the second night, it tasted more like a vegetable soup with some cheese in it, and I ended up throwing out about a third of it, because no one in the house wanted to eat it.  Maybe the type of cheese made the difference, but as a recipe for a cheddar cheese soup, I have to mark this one as a failure.