Homemade Potsticker, Pulled Pork With Fried Egg, And Unstuffed Pork Chops [This Week’s Weekend Eats]

Posted Jan 23, 2012 by Jeff Houck

Updated Jan 23, 2012 at 03:47 PM

It’s hard to beat a good lobster roll. All that creamy, rich, seafoody goodness on a fresh-baked roll… makes me drool just thinking about it.

Which, as you might know is the criteria for winning the best photo prize during each week’s edition of Weekend Eats. It must, and I repeat, MUST be droolworthy.

The one above was enjoyed by Annette Baesel, who on Twitter goes by the handle @abaesel2. She enjoyed this particular roll with hush puppies & coleslaw at Monstah Lobstah in Tampa.

For ex-pat New Englanders who miss their Bay State eats - and for anyone who just loves good food - Monstah is a great place to get their chowdah on. And Anette’s photo made me wish I was there.

Other contributions this week include:

@karenmcallister - Great Chicken Pesto Pizza at Sally O’Neal’s w/fab view of #Gasparilla fireworks Saturday nite.

@Nel_Bringsjord - Big fluffy, creamy French toast made w/Challah from Sweet Caroline’s on Tampa Rd, made only on Fridays.

@RobinRipley - Fresh spinach, lettuce, arugula and parsley salad from my garden coldframe covered with ice and snow.

For Annette’s efforts, she takes this week’s top prize (and, truthfully, only prize):

...“Extraordinary; How To make Meals Your Friends Will Never Forget,” by Stefan Gates. Think bone marrow on toast and apple caviar. Extraordinary indeed.

Here’s a gallery of the week’s other great contributions. It’s enough to make your belt buckle explode:

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13 Hilarious, Childish, Rude And Sometimes Irrational Reactions To Paula Deen’s Diabetes [Play Nice]

Posted Jan 17, 2012 by Jeff Houck

Updated Jan 17, 2012 at 02:50 PM

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And Now The Least-Shocking News In The History Of Non-Shocking News [Paula Deen Has Type 2 Diabetes]

Posted Jan 17, 2012 by Jeff Houck

Updated Jan 17, 2012 at 01:56 PM

Minutes after butter-lover Paula Deen confessed her belated diabetes-related sins Tuesday morning to the Today show’s Al Roker, the judgment online came swift and merciless.

“Paula Deen has known about her Type II Diabetes since 2008, yet kept pushing her poisonous recipes,” tweeted comedian Peter-john Byrnes. “She’s the Joe Paterno of chefs.”

“Paula Deen didn’t keep diabetes a secret for three years,” comic Dan Telfer wrote. “Like everything she’s created, the diagnosis just took her three years to digest.”

BuzzFeed, which acts as a pop-culture clearinghouse, posted its list of the “25 Reasons We’re Not Surprised,” using Deen’s most cholesterol-choked recipes as Exhibit A. The top 5: 1. The Krispy Kreme Burger; 2. Three Meat Pasta; 3. Southern Fried Chicken; 4. Cheeseburger Meatloaf and Sauce; 5. Deep-Fried Lasagana. Finishing the list at No. 25 was “Paula’s Fried Butter Balls.”

Others swiped at Deen for agreeing to work as a paid spokesperson for the drug company Novo Nordisk, which manufactures an injectable, non-insulin drug used to treat type 2 diabetes.

In her interview with Roker, when he mentioned the endorsement, Deen replied, “Absolutely, I have been compensated just as you are for your work,” Deen said.

Twitter personality Ruth Bourdain – a fictional merging of food writers Ruth Reichl and Anthony Bourdain—snarked, “Paula Deen’s diabetes can be a powerful teachable moment about how to turn a diagnosis into a multimillion dollar drug endorsement deal.”

And though Deen told Roker she always has encouraged moderation, actor John Fugelsang quipped, “Paula Deen is like a heroin dealer who gets you so addicted she decides to do the right thing & sell you methadone.”

From @WarrenHolstein: “Paula Deen will start promoting a Novo Nordisk diabetes drug. And with her personally recommending it, it’s gotta be healthy, right?”

The I-told-you-so glee among food bloggers also showed in their repeating of the real-life Bourdain’s quote about the diagnosis and how Deen continued to showcase dishes on her Food Network show that were of an artery-clogging nature.

Bourdain and Deen got into a media food fight last year after he declared her “the worst, most dangerous person to America,” saying her food contributed to the country’s obesity problems.

“When your signature dish is hamburger in between a doughnut, and you’ve been cheerfully selling this stuff knowing all along that you’ve got type 2 diabetes,” Bourdain was quoted saying Tuesday. “… it is in bad taste if nothing else”

Still, others mixed defiance with their sarcasm.

On Tumblr, user ryanlintelman posted a link to a competing food personality’s recipe for Slow-Cooker Bacon Jam, writing, “In light of Paula Deen’s diabetes confession, I turn to you, Martha Stewart, to help me continue on my journey toward obesity.”

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Mayor’s Food Truck Fiesta Completes A Culinary Hat-Trick [Mayor Bob Eats A Wiener]

Posted Jan 4, 2012 by Jeff Houck

Updated Jan 4, 2012 at 05:53 PM

The city of Tampa held another Mayor’s Food Truck Fiesta today, returning to Gaslight Park in downtown after a brief detour a few weeks ago at Joe Chillura Park.

The last time it was at Gaslight, it was somewhat of a hot mess, with too many people, too little sidewalk space and trucks that weren’t entirely ready for the onslaught.

This time, the obstacle was the temperature. A cold front that danced across central Florida last night lived up to its name. By the time the fiesta opened (truthfully, it was more of a shindig or a klatch, but who am I to quibble?), temps were in the mid-40s. In other words, beach weather in Chicago, ice age in Tampa. Bollywood Cafe was the only no-show (at least they hadn’t arrived by the time I left at 12:15 p.m.) Perhaps they got cold feet?

Still, hundreds braved the elements to sample the new trucks.

Tampans. We’re tough that way.

Among the highlights:

The Asian hot dog by Americanweiner. It had grilled onions, teriyaki Japanese mayo, nori seaweed strips, norukaki and pickled ginger.

I proposed marriage after the first bite. I’ve yet to hear its reply.

Deviled eggs filled with hummus and kalamata olives by Maggie on the Move. I could have eaten a truckload of them.

Sesame Ginger meatballs by Jimmy Meatball.

One disturbing yet delicious new item: The Buckhorn hot dog sold by Americanweiner. I’m assuming it was named after our very own mayor, Bob Buckhorn.

My indicator that it is indeed named in his honor? Hizzoner himself ate his eponymous wiener today, according a photo posted to the City of Tampa Twitter feed

I don’t know if I would have as much gusto about eating a meat torpedo named after me. Something about that makes me queasy. But then a Houck Dog sounds more like a nickname than an entree.

Is it me or does that photo resemble Francisco Goya’s classic painting of “Saturn Devouring His Son”?

Nah. It’s just me.

What I wouldn’t give, though, if the mayor converted one of the city’s recreational vehicles into a food truck during off-hours.

Say, maybe this one?

Would that not be an intense mobile cupcake assault vehicle?

Call it Buck’s Cup Truck. You could shoot pastries out the turret. Even during police tactical raids.

I get 5 percent if it ever happens.

Here’s a gallery of pics I shot at the event:

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Banana Fudge Milkshake, Gorilla Balls & Significant Quantities of Eggnog [This Week’s Weekend Eats]

Posted Dec 19, 2011 by Jeff Houck

Updated Dec 19, 2011 at 01:35 PM

I don’t know how you make a peanut butter cup with bourbon.

Frankly, I don’t care.

But it makes me think this world is a better place for the sheer fact it exists.

I don’t have to taste it.

I don’t have to make it.

Just seeing a beautiful photo of - and having prior knowledge of the taste of both things - makes it my favorite Weekend Eats for this week.

And for that, I thank Pamela Braun, author of the blog My Man’s Belly. Pamela, whose Twitter logon is @MyMansBelly, wins this week’s first prize:

A copy of “Serious Eats - A Comprehensive Guide to Making & Eating Delicious Food Wherever You Are” by Ed Levine.

Other scrumptious entries this week:

@Brewkkake- The thick-as-concrete banana fudge shake at @EatCookout in Raleigh, NC. #diabeetus

@MrsARodriguez - I ate my first (and probably last) corn dog! I can’t believe it took me this long.

@karenmcallister - Mushroom Brie Cups. Delish and, most importantly, easy to make:)

@TampaTapRoom - St. Bernardus Christmas Ale paired with some delicious fish and chips at the Tampa Tap Room. Absolutely hit the spot

@SuwanneeRefugee – Had a great blackened swordfish and asparagus. Key lime pie and 20 year old port for dessert. #oystercatchers

@gereon_DL - What a treat, over there. Tonight porc meat a la Brabanconne over here with cabbage an mashed potatoes

@otmdish - Had brunch hosted by the Casserole Queen. At home: suave swordfish belly.

Yvette Hammett – Since I didn’t have many leftovers for Thanksgiving, I roasted a turkey, made homemade gravy, got the leftover dressing and cranberry sauce out of the freezer and pretended like it was the holidays. ALL YUMMY!

Nanette Tuason Hardee - The burratta and kale salad at Kiitchnbar. Almost illegal.

Illegal burratta. I love the idea of that.

Here’s this week’s gallery of fantastic eats for the week. It’s okay to commence the eye-drooling:

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