You didn’t think I’d do a deviled egg series, and not include a bacon egg, did you? Although it’s the third in my series, it was the first on my list. Even before the classic devil, there was bacon. Being the obvious choice, however, I decided to bury that lead in third.
To make this piggy egg demon, start with the classic recipe, but add a few tablespoons of melted bacon fat, crumbled crispy bacon (4-5 cooked slices) and a few dashes of your favorite hot sauce (it will add spice, but also another smokey layer). Finally, instead of garnishing with paprika, sprinkle over some crispy bacon pieces.
There you have it, Americans, more of what makes us great. Fat in fat, covered in fat and sprinkled with a little fat on top.
Do you remember Kudos granola bars? I do. They were these little, scrumptious chewy granola bars that were dipped in chocolate. I think they were studded with chocolate chips, too. We could never have them at our house when I was a kid, because I would eat the whole box at once. I’m almost certain they weren’t very good for me, and maintain that the chunkmonster I am today is directly attributable to irresistible concoctions like Kudos who wore (wear) a healthful disguise, but in fact are basically repositioned candy bars. This trail bar from Olympic Granola was the same type of yummy, but the maker maintains it is authentically good for me.
The first thing that struck me about the creation was its substantial heft. It’s a nice little brick of a treat, which is exactly what you want when your exploring the ruins at Machu Picchu and need some fuel for the task. The bar was chewy and moist, without the slightest hint that it was good for me. There was just enough chocolate to get some in every bite, but not so much that I felt guilty. This bar also falls into the “ships well” category, so buy tons. They’re worth it.
Olympic Granola’s shop on Foodzie.com
The dish you see above was served at one of our first meals in Beijing. Like every meal we had in China, there was tons of food and it was all served family-style, but our Chinese foodie experience didn’t get off to the best start.
The Chinese want to serve you the best they can when you are their guest, and their interpretation of that at mealtime is to serve was is, by their definition, the best food in China. They kept referring to it as “royal food,” or what the emperors ate, but looking around the dining rooms at each of these meals, all I saw were foreigners (Americans).
Our time in China was precious and fleeting, so we could only stomach so many mediocre meals before the foodie in me called a timeout. We were able to eventually talk our guides out of the planned, royal meals, and into taking us to places where they would normally eat. This didn’t always work as I recall a long, trafficky drive all the way across Shanghai to a very blah meal. They were reluctant to take us for simple noodles, but we wanted an authentic experience. We wanted noodles and rice and bowls of broth. We could handle a little dirt, maybe even a few bugs. We preferred being surrounded by only Chinese. In fact, that’s a good rule if you’re traveling in China, and want to know if the place you’re eating in is authentic- if you’re the only American there, chances are you’re in a good spot.
Although I didn’t love the overall experience of the royal meals, there were a few standout dishes. Pictured above is beef in a bird’s nest of potato. The beef was battered, fried and covered in a black-peppery sauce. I love food treatments like this. The food is fried, but softened by the sauce. The nest added a great crunch, and tasted like matchstick fries. Perhaps this was Beijing’s rendition of Steak Frites.
In this second installment of my deviled egg series, I’ll tell you why I chose them in the first place. Food blogging is something I love, but Blake Makes has certainly ebbed and flowed over the past few years. Before I started back up (a little over a week ago), I hadn’t blogged since May 2010. I blame it on my old day job, but my new job is all about blogging. In fact, I’m the Director of Social Media, and it doesn’t get more social than blogging.
I chose deviled eggs because I wanted to start back up simply, but also because I found myself surrounded by them. I’m really loving Mondo, Susan Spicer’s casual dining establishment in Metairie, and they serve a deviled egg trio as a starter. I recommend getting them AND something else to start [at Mondo]. They’re good, but slight. Mondo offers three varieties: Classic, Guacamole and Curry. I made a classic rendition, and have a guacamole coming later in the series. Curried didn’t make my list, but it may as a last-minute bonus after a certain boss’ bride expressed an interest (Hi, Ansley). I mentioned being surrounded, and the other egg exposure was from the Barefoot Contessa. She made these Smoked Salmon Deviled Eggs first, so to Ina goes all the credit.
I mentioned in my last post that deviled eggs are a cocktail crowd pleaser, and these certainly fit that description. They’re posh, though, so perfect for a snooty soiree. And, the ingredients may set you back a few clams. Good smoked salmon doesn’t come cheap, and see those orange balls up there? Yep. That’s salmon roe (caviar). It’s no beluga, but the tiny jar I bought still cost $20.
If you can stomach the sticker shock (I’m being dramatic), the recipe yields a very special product. The egg filling is smooth and nuanced. Smoked salmon adds a few layers of flavor. First, salmon brininess, followed by moody-gray smoke and then salmon-colored freshness. The chives are a nice, subtle onion bite, and the roe is a universe of orange fishy goodness in a perfect little pearl. It’s Ina, so there’s a little sour cream, a little cream cheese, a little mayo and the yolks. So basically, fat, fat, fat and fat. We’ve got a winner!
Was it worth it? Yes. Would I make them again? Yes. Would I make them for company? Yes. Beez loved them. I loved them.
This is a food blog after all, and dinner with the President of the United States surely qualifies as food content. Obama is one thing, but look at who attended. Mark Zuckerberg, Steve Jobs, Larry Ellison (Oracle), Eric Schmidt (Google), Twitter, Yahoo, Netflix, Cisco and a few other biggies.
Ton’s of people are wondering what they talked about. I just want to know what they ate.
When you visit China for the first time, you expect to encounter a lot of firsts. That’s the main reason we decided to go. I ate a scorpion on the street in Beijing, but not all my meals were as Zimmern. The lotus roots pictured above tasted like a cross between a potato and a water chestnut. They were mildly sweet, but that could have been due to the preparation. I don’t have enough experience with the starch, but I’d eat it again. I love all the holes.
Michael, @ChickenFriedGourmet, recently sent me a link to a New York Times article about Grant Achatz’s forthcoming Next Restaurant in Chicago. Go read the article, and view the slide show. This post is the first in what I hope will be a series leading up to my own dining experience at Next. Stay tuned!
Pictured above: Fried tarragon and fried onion rings encircling a tower of roast lamb with duchesse potatoes and sauce choron.
Website: Next Restaurant Chicago
I’ve never met a cookie I didn’t like. Of course, there are those cookie occasions when like turns to love, and a dozen or so cookies just vanish in a matter of minutes. The florentines (Clarine’s Florentines) included in the February Foodzie Box were sublime; definitely love at first bite.
Florentines aren’t cookies in the traditional sense. They are made of sliced almonds, butter, honey, sugar and cream. Then, they are baked until they form a brown brittle. Clarine’s takes it a luscious step further by coating the bottom of the rounds in bittersweet chocolate.
Mail-order food can be tricky, especially baked goods, which is why I’m so glad these aren’t your average cookies. I guess that’s why they’re not cookies after all. They’re florentines, cookies’ cousins who’ve been to college, traveled abroad and landed a dream job in their twenties. Oh, to be a florentine. Oh, to be Clarine.
I love the X-Men franchise. It’s had some missteps, but First Class looks good and strong. I’ve got an idea for a batch of cookies inspired by X-Men. Let’s see if I can pull it off.
What is it about deviled eggs that always seem to please a crowd? You see them a lot at cocktails parties, but we eat them at Thanksgiving. I’m not really sure why. I’ve always found them to be, well, a little redundant; especially in their preparation. You boil the egg, remove the yolk and then put it back again. Regardless, I love them. I’ve made six preparations of them, and I’ve started with the traditional one.
Ingredients
Serves 8.
8 large eggs
1/3 c. Mayo
1 tbl. Dijon mustard
1 tsp. white-wine vinegar
1 tbl. minced shallot
1/4 tsp. hot sauce
S&P
Paprika, for garnish
Directions
1. Place eggs in a pot, and cover with cold water. Bring to a boil, then immediately remove from the heat, and let stand for 15 minutes. Drain and rinse eggs under cold water to cool them.
2. Mix all the ingredients together including the cooked yolks you’ve retrieved from slicing the peeled eggs in half lengthwise.
3. Spoon the mixture into the egg whites, and sprinkle with paprika just before you serve them. I prefer Hungarian paprika, it’s spicy and adds flavor as well as color.
Five More Coming Up
I got a little creative, and thought of a few off the wall and out of the box deviled egg recipes. They all turned out to be delicious, and just as easy as this classic take. I’m posting a new one every Monday through the end of March. And, looking a little further down the road, my April series will be all about pudding.
Recipe adapted from Martha Stewart’s Creamy Deviled Eggs.
