Is Raising Chickens for the Birds?


Episode 020-  Paul O’Dell makes his living as a computer programmer but spends a goodly amount of his time thinking about chickens and eggs thanks to his wife, Karen, and their three daughters.

While ensconced  in the suburban ideal on Long Island, the O’Dell family has taken to the more rural pastime of raising chickens–six of them to be exact.

In this episode, you will learn the research that went into getting the chickens, keeping them healthy and safe, and getting the coop.  You’ll also learn what one does when the chickens start offering up to SIX EGGS A DAY!

My hero, Rocky Balboa, knew what to do with the extra eggs around his place.  

While there are plenty of ideas from the American Egg Board, here are some others:

  • Since we are in grilling season, how about cooking eggs on the grill?
  • Cloud eggs are the love child of a savory meringue and a sunny side up egg.
  • You don’t have to go to an old school bar to eat them, you can make pickled eggs at home.
  • Eggs in Purgatory are bathed in a spicy tomato sauce and great served with a loaf of crusty bread.  I’ve long since lost the recipe that I originally used and make my now from memory.  However, this recipe is similar.  You can used diced potatoes instead of chickpeas and goat cheese instead of feta.  Also, the sauce is given to customization.
  • The old reliable Ham and Cheese Strata!

Disclaimer:  If you have concerns about eating under-cooked or raw eggs, don’t do it.  Anything that you put in your mouth you do at your own risk.

Trivia:  Did you know that the one hundred folds in a traditional French chef’s hat (or toque as it’s called) is attributed to the one hundred different ways to cook an egg?

Resources mentioned:

My Pet Chicken and The Chicken Chick

The Guys and Food newsletter gives you delicious recipes, helpful kitchen hacks, and other things that any food guy will find useful. Some of the things in the newsletter will be exclusive, which means it won’t make it on the podcast or blog. Sign up for the newsletter, you’ll be glad that you did! (Don’t worry, your contact information will never be sold or made available to any other person or organization.)

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Please feel free to reach out with your questions or comments.  You can do that by clicking on the Contact button, email me at gabe@ guysandfood.com, or call the listener line at 716-427-GUYS (4897).

Blog Post- Raclette: The New Fondue

The set-up for Raclette.

If you listened to the Episode 019 of the Guys and Food podcast,  you heard me tell the tale of eating Raclette.

Here is a little more in-depth info for you.  First, we must differentiate between Raclette the cheese and Raclette the experience.

As a product, Raclette is merely a semi-hard cow’s milk cheese made in Switzerland.  It’s origins go back to medieval times in an area called Savoy which is now part of France.  Indeed, its name comes from the French verb,  “racler” which means “to scrape off” and once I tell you more about it, you know how scraping is involved. When heat is applied, Raclette transforms to gooey, melty goodness. One of the better characteristics of many but not all cheeses.  When melted, there’s nutty smell and taste to the cheese.

If you grew up in the 1970s or if you’ve been to The Melting Pot, you get the idea of the Raclette experience; it is fondue-like in this way. The way you eat Raclette is to melt the cheese (it can be Raclette or Munster or Swiss or any type of good melting cheese) and scrape it onto various accompanying foods.  Meats such as ham or turkey, and vegetables such as potatoes and cornichons usually accompany it.  It can also come with crepes or baguette.

In my opinion, the best part is the fun is cooking on the electric table top grill called a coupelle.  The one we used was about the size of a   9 x 13 baking dish.  On top of the coupelle is a griddle. There you can heat up your meat or your crepes.  In the middle of  this device is a mini broiler like a salamander broiler that you’d see in a restaurant, but much smaller.  You take the cheese and you stick in holders that look like shovels that kids use in a sand box.  After the cheese melts, you take a scraping tool to remove it off the shovel-like device and onto your food or plate.

Methinks to shovel the molten cheese directly into your mouth, aside from the physical danger, would be poor form given the communal nature of the meal.  As I said, the vibe is like doing fondue or Korean BBQ.  It is more social , interactive, and fun than simply being serve a plate of food at a restaurant.  It’s a nice change of pace!


The Guys and Food newsletter gives you delicious recipes, helpful kitchen hacks, and other things that any food guy will find useful. Some of the things in the newsletter will be exclusive, which means it won’t make it on the podcast or blog. Sign up for the newsletter, you’ll be glad that you did! (Don’t worry, your contact information will never be sold or made available to any other person or organization.)

Remember to subscribe to the Guys and Food podcast in Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, GooglePlay, and Tunein Radio.  In social media you can find us on Facebook and Twitter!

Please feel free to reach out with your questions or comments.  You can do that by clicking on the Contact button, email me at gabe@ guysandfood.com, or call the listener line at 716-427-GUYS (4897).

Suggestions for Cooking, Baking, Eating, Drinking, Etc. May 2017


Episode 019- In this episode, I will let you know what I am up to food-wise and drink-wise.  It’s my thinking that you might be interested or inspired to try some of these things.  Note:  I do not receive any compensation for you clicking on any of these links. They are for your knowledge, use, and enjoyment.

What I’m Cooking- Ham and Cheese Strata (You’ll recall that I discussed this in Guys and Food Episode 004

What I’m Drinking- Armagnac, The Prisoner 2015, and  Coffee Porter from 12 Gates Brewing Company and Sam Adams Coffee Stout.  

What I’m Baking- Banana Bread

What I’m Eating- Raclette

My Weekend Project- Getting the garden ready

What Cookbook I’m Reading- International Night by Mark Kurlansky, and The President’s Kitchen Cabinet by Adrian MillerThe Complete Meat Cookbook by Bruce Aidells and Denis Kelly

What I’m Doing- Spicy Shelf

Where I’m Going- Raclette’s, Sinatra’s, Happy Jack’s 

What I am Using- Vivino app,  Thermo Works Thermapen Mk4.

Please feel free to reach out and let me what you’re doing in these categories.  You can do that by clicking on the Contact button, email me at gabe@ guysandfood.com, or call the listener line at 716-427-GUYS (4897).

The Guys and Food newsletter gives you delicious recipes, helpful kitchen hacks, and other things that any food guy will find useful. Some of the things in the newsletter will be exclusive, which means it won’t make it on the podcast or blog. Sign up for the newsletter, you’ll be glad that you did! (Don’t worry, your contact information will never be sold or made available to any other person or organization.)

Remember to subscribe to the Guys and Food podcast in Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, GooglePlay, and Tunein Radio.  In social media you can find us on Facebook and Twitter!

 

Mezcal and Tequila: Learning the Basics of Mexico’s Best Exports!


Episode 018-  Ed Draves didn’t know much of anything about tequila or mezcal when he went to Oaxaca, Mexico on a trip with his church. Over the years, he has become an expert on the subject and has gone back to Mexico several times to witness the production of this spirit.

In this episode, you’ll learn the difference between tequila and mezcal.  You’ll get the basics on what to look for if you are a newbie. After listening, you’ll also understand why Ed keeps going back!

During the interview, Ed discussed Wahaka MezcalRey Campero Mezcal,  and the blog Dave Miller’s Mexico.  If you want to learn more about mezcal, the books that Ed mentioned are “Holy Smoke, It’s Mezcal by John McEvoy” and “Mezcalaria, The Cult of Mezcal, by Ulises Torrentera”.  Recently, liquor.com did a slideshow called The Essential Places for Drinking Mezcal in Oaxaca. There you can see a photo of Torrentera’s bar that Ed described and, if you ever find yourself there, now you have recommendations on where to go!

During the interview, Ed mentioned gusano salt which is made with worms and some use it to accompany their mezcal drinking.  If you’d like to dig into more on that, here is more information.

The Guys and Food newsletter gives you delicious recipes, helpful kitchen hacks, and other things that any food guy will find useful. Some of the things in the newsletter will be exclusive, which means it won’t make it on the podcast or blog. Sign up for the newsletter, you’ll be glad that you did! (Don’t worry, your contact information will never be sold or made available to any other person or organization.)

Remember to subscribe to the Guys and Food podcast in Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, GooglePlay, and Tunein Radio.  In social media you can find us on Facebook and Twitter!  Please feel free to reach out with your questions or comments.  You can do that by clicking on the Contact button, email me at gabe@ guysandfood.com, or call the listener line at 716-427-GUYS (4897).

Trucking Across America as a Food Guy


Episode 017- If your only knowledge of what big rig truckers do is informed by Smokey and the Bandit and Convoy, you’ll find that the stereotype of hard living, hell raisers is largely inaccurate.

In Tom Kyrk’s blog, Road Tested Living, he shares his life living as a trucker.  Those adventures include being part of the trucker’s food culture, and, yes, there is a trucker’s food culture. This includes not only eating at diners and truck stops.  It also means cooking in the close quarters of the back of one’s rig.  In this episode you’ll learn how that happens. You’ll also get Tom’s recommendations of excellent places around the country to grab some grub.  He also talks about a cookbook for truckers that he coauthored called The Rolling Kitchen Cookbook. Since they are working on the website, if that link doesn’t work, try this link to get recipes.

If you’d like to reach out directly to Tom Kyrk, you can email him at roadtestedliving@gmail.com or go to his Facebook page.

Some of the locations that Tom mentioned:

Uncle Pete’s (Lebanon, Tennessee)

Clinton Station Diner (Clinton, New Jersey)

Iowa 80 Truckstop. (Walcott, Iowa)

TA, Harrisburg (Harrisburg, Pennsylvania) 

Dixie’s (McLean, Illinois)

Mo Griddlers (Bronx, New York) (Closed)

Frattelli’s Pizza (Bronx, New York)

Peto’s (Louisiana)

Tiger Truck Stop (Louisiana)

Jubitz (Portland, Oregon)

Red’s Tavern (Massachusetts) 

Resources for truckers:  Truckers Haven and Cooking on the Truck

The Guys and Food newsletter gives you delicious recipes, helpful kitchen hacks, and other things that any food guy will find useful. Some of the things in the newsletter will be exclusive, which means it won’t make it on the podcast or blog. Sign up for the newsletter, you’ll be glad that you did! (Don’t worry, your contact information will never be sold or made available to any other person or organization.)

Remember to subscribe to the Guys and Food podcast in Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, GooglePlay, and Tunein Radio.  In social media you can find us on Facebook and Twitter!

Please feel free to reach out with your questions or comments.  You can do that by clicking on the Contact button, email me at gabe@ guysandfood.com, or call the listener line at 716-427-GUYS (4897).

One Dozen Kitchen Hacks To Make Your Life Easier


Episode 016-  We could all use some tricks to make things a little easier in the kitchen.  In this show we will give you more than a few. If you have some, feel free to share them by clicking on the Contact button, email me at gabe@ guysandfood.com, or call the listener line at 716-427-GUYS (4897).

The Guys and Food newsletter gives you delicious recipes, helpful kitchen hacks, and other things that any food guy will find useful. Some of the things in the newsletter will be exclusive, which means it won’t make it on the podcast or blog. Sign up for the newsletter, you’ll be glad that you did! (Don’t worry, your contact information will never be sold or made available to any other person or organization.)

Remember to subscribe to the Guys and Food podcast in Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, GooglePlay, and Tunein Radio.  In social media you can find us on Facebook and Twitter!