Well it’s been a rough go getting all my blog content switched over to AWS, but I think we are at a place now where I can get back to more frequent posting. I have officially binge-watched the entire “Ugly Delicious” series on Netflix…and I loved it! I do think the term “ugly” to describe tacos, pizza, and soup dumplings is weird…it’s not fine dining plating but I think regional cuisines have a certain style and technique that is truly stunning. Simplicity is the height of fashionable right now, from my perspective, and I would like to tell Kanye to get on making a bulletproof hoodie….as I think it could fit his branding well and I also think I want them for my kids! So Ye if you are reading this….send the royalties to mama!
After watching “Ugly delicious”, I found a lot of connection for me to the taco episode, Dave Chang was kinda being a hater about them, until he went to L.A. where his tune quickly changed after a few regional tastings. Where I grew up in Ogden, UT we always had a vibrant Hispanic community and growing up in my parents restaurants, I had many early caregivers and mentors of Mexican heritage. Today I work with some amazingly, talented, hardworking, and dedicated Mexican immigrants and I feel that they have a beautiful cultural heritage and it shows in their native cuisine. I felt really inspired to make my interpretation of Mexican cooking (gringo Mex with a dash of Tex, suck on that Bobby Flay!), it was also perfect because February’s Degustabox contained Mrs. Renfro’s Texas red beer salsa, and goya refried beans I wanted to test out. I instapotted (yeah, I have one, and I kinda, not totally, love it!) some pork sirloin roasts, super easy:
- Get 2 pork sirloin roasts: cover with aleppo pepper, salt, pepper, granulated garlic.
- Set instapot to saute mode and add 1 T. Peanut oil, add roasts and sear on all sides.
- Add 1 Cup of stock or beer, and set to slow cook for 3 hours and 30 minutes
- Shred!
I fried corn tortillas to a nice and crispy place, topped them with the Goya refried black beans, topped with pork, cheese, lettuce, and the Refro’s Salsa! The dish was a hit and super easy to get on the table on a weeknight. I would buy both those products again….the one thing about the salsa is it is a little on the sweet side, which is common with Tex Mex style jarred salsa, but the heat level gave a nice balance.
I made heart shaped pepperoni pizza for Valentine’s day with the Boboli thin crust, and boboli sauce. I wasn’t crazy about the sauce (here again the added sugar dull the tomato flavor for me), but my family didn’t seem to mind at all and the whole thing was consumed happily. I have always been a fan of Boboli’s crusts, they are convenient and tasty, I think my favorite way to use them is to make BBQ chicken pizzas.
The Tiger Tail mustard was a winner at our house, and at the price point it’s at I would choose this over the run of the mill supermarket yellow mustards.
I used the Thai inspired Spice Hunter rub in cooking liquid to steam large shrimp to serve in cocktails, the spice rub gave the shrimp a nice aromatic quality, and citrus kick. The cocktail sauce was made using the Sir Kensigtons Spicy ketchup, this ketchup made it easy to just stir in a little horseradish and make perfectly seasoned cocktail sauce. I liked both these products, and I am excited to use the rub on pork or chicken to grill.
I put the Luna bars in my kids lunches for school, and they loved them and wanted more when they got home! So in the future when I need a quick snack that they love and actually has nutritional value I would get them these.
The Lundberg family farms aged Cheddar chips were tasty with a “dorito-like” quality that everyone wants in a cheese flavored tortilla chip, so if you want a “healthyish” version of dortitos these could be a good replacement.
Well that’s all for today folks! Happy cooking.