DIRTY TRICK #4
As was pointed out to me; I apologize for my being remiss in my ravings on the potato conspiracy. I completely forgot the king of potato tricks--the mashed potato. It all comes back to color and texture. Don't buy this nonsense that the yellow color and the gummy consistency is caused by the cheese. Granted, the cheese will add yellow to the potatos outside but the texture the cheese gives is a creamy one that moves on the potato. Two simple rules for mashed or twice baked potatos..cheese creamy good, potato gummy bad. A great example of fresh potatos is from the Cheesecake Factory. Every twenty minutes or so a fresh batch is made on the spot in the prep kitchen. Only salt, pepper, butter and cream are added to the red potatos. In training, the mashed potatos critical points are described as creamy, lumpy and bumpy. A critical point is the corporate description of what the food should look like before being sent to a table. Critical points are great because it tells the cook exactly what specifications are required to meet company standards. In some restaurants, like TGI Friday's, there are booklets that describe every aspect of the food being prepared. They even have a bad list that tells you what you did wrong in the recipe to make your food so ugly. RICE-- Rice is a simple yet tricky dish because there are so many types of rice from converted to Basmatti. A converted rice is a white rice made from brown rice that has been soaked and pressurized to force the nutrients inside the grain of rice. It is then dried and milled, then sent to market. It's still considered a white rice for cooking purposes. A white rice that has not been washed will be gummy and hold shape well for things like molds and presentations These are the mounds of rice that look like snow rabbits with black olives for eyes and balls of rice for tails. Most places will wash the rice several times before cooking to get rid of the sticky aspect and get the fluffy thing going. How ever you like your rice is a matter of taste at the time, however, some places like to extend the shelf life of a food item for food cost issues. When you look at the end of a grain of rice, it should be rounded and firm regardless of type of rice. If the end of the rice is 'flowered', then it's too old and ready to turn into mush. That's why I don't care for some of these instant seven minute rice packages. They are only good for the first day, usually. We'll get more into rice next week as I am going to do a little more research.
THE CRACKER BARREL
Like the song says, I'm a little bit country and I'm a little bit rock 'n roll. Not too many people out there will quote Donny and Marie without flinching and I didn't even twitch. That's because I'm pretty full right now and am ready to kick back and watch some TV until I doze off into nap-land. I don't know why Nicole Kidman was so upset at Keith Urban for taking her to lunch at The Cracker Barrel. I don't know of any Cracker Barrels that got shut down for health violations like the big time places she's used to eating. Wolfgang Puck has been issued citation after citation for his violations. Emeril LaGasse just had a couple of his places get warnings posted and one of my personal favorite chefs in the world, Anthony Bourdaine, just had his doors shut at his Los Angeles eatery for too many violations including rat droppings on the bakery rack. Even Chef Ramsey from Hell's Kitchen, who is the cruelest and meanest cook I've ever seen got a few major violations these past few months. So you can go ahead and dine at those up-scale places run by the big time chefs but give me a nice, clean and food safe restaurant with a tasty menu anytime. Of course, don't get me wrong, there are quite a few major league restaurants with big time chefs that do outstanding jobs such as Bern's, Margaritaville, Shula's and even Ruth Chris's. They are all extremely clean and all have great food. I like going to fine dining establishments for special occasions, but me, I'm blue collar and I prefer a Longhorn to a Sam Seltzer anytime. Sorry, did I say Sam Seltzer's? Weren't they the restaurant in the Westfield Mall that took in all the bad managers and rotten employees from the failed Tia's Mexican Restaurant and put them in charge of the steakhouse in one of the busiest mall in the Southeast United States? In my learned opinion, they got rid of all the great waitresses and managers who were there and replaced them with morons, this one in particular, who I literally saw carry food to a table with his cell phone in his ear. Great managerial style guys! I couldn't believe it when I saw it unfold before my eyes. That's why I quit going and I've spoken to many others who agree. Who pulled that debacle off and do they still have jobs? People wonder why restaurants are going down by the handful. It's the employees that are taking down places like Bennigan's and Steak and Ale. Think about it, people are always going to go out to eat. Sometimes you get a bad meal and I know it's happened to almost each and every one of us but we will overlook it and write it off if the service is great. Of course, there are some restaurants that I wouldn't care if the service was the greatest in the world; I still wouldn't walk in their front door. Enough social analysis for the time being; I just got home from a lunch at The Cracker Barrel My experience: I went with my wife and daughter so I got to try all their food, also. First off; having you walk through the store before entering the restaurant is a genius move. A very pleasant lady, that reminded me of the woman who bakes pies and sets them on her window sill to cool down, sat us at a table right next to the store. We all know where my nine year old daughter spent her time while waiting for lunch. A really great waitress named Sarah came over to us immediately and took our drink order. She soon arrived with our drinks and quickly after that there was a basket of biscuits with all the extras (butter, honey, jam). A manager walked by and smiled at us. He got two paces behind me and stopped and backed up to ask me how everything was going. Good style points for that dismount. Like how I managed to slip the Olympic theme into a restaurant conversation? I started with the Chicken Nooodle Soup and I tell you, I've had none better in Brandon. Even the noodles were home made and it had a very rich chicken stock that I loved. Another manager came by and said hello. I had just had a discussion with a friend of mine from Philadelphia about the deli world and the difference between the sandwiches from up North as compared to the ones down South. We both agree there is no comparison. If anybody out there knows of a great deli down here; please let me know. Anyway, this Reuben seemed to jump out at me from the menu so I figured I'd give it a try. The bread was grilled perfectly and the flavor was almost there. There was plenty of cheese and sauerkraut but the meat was a little shy. I don't like those four inch high meat piles they throw on bread in some places but I'd like a little more than was there. It's probably the best Reuben I've had in Brandon but it just wasn't a Yankee Reuben. My daughter had the half pound burger steak and she liked it but it was too bland for me and someday I pray my daughter will develop taste buds. She's the only nine year old that I know of who knows how to incorporate a roux into a sauce properly but her taste buds??? The mashed potatos and gravy were great with FRESH mashed potatos. You all know by now how I feel about fresh potatos so take it from me when I tell you it's fresh; believe it. My wife had the pot roast that was very tasty along with these delicious apples that would go great over ice cream or pancakes but they serve them ala carte', which suits me fine. One of these days my wife is going to find a restaurant that serves a bowl of hot fudge all by itself and that will be a happy day in my home. Another manager came to say hi and bye as we were finishing our meal. That's what I'm talking about...people, people, people make the restaurant. The managers were great and so was the server and the hostess, even the cashier was a breath of fresh air. Even if the meal was bad; I'd give it another try. Next week, in keeping with the Olympic theme, I'm going to try a couple of local Chinese restaurants and compare them. Any suggestions?? Good Appetite, Brandon---RDCook
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