Road Trip to Wisconsin

We arrived in Wisconsin late last night, the first stop on our road trip. I will have limited access to internet during our stay here and am not sure if I will have any at the next stop before heading home. I'll try to keep up with comments but it might be a little slow. I'll have lots of good foodie entries to make once we are back home side. Stay tuned because I am stocking up on cheeses and a few other culinary goodies!

cartoon courtesy of Jeff Bucchino, "The Wizard of Draws"

Fry Truck Fare & How to Make Home Made French Fries

A sure sign that summer has arrived are the fry trucks. They pop-up in small communities, tourist areas and parks near the water. Some of them are only open on the weekends. It a summer pleasant activity to take a drive to a fry truck then sit and watch the water sights. They tend to be quite popular not only for the food but the socializing. After Labour Day as the days begin cooling and tourism slows the fry truck begin to close for the winter leaving only pleasant memories of lazy summer days. My husband stopped at one of the many fry trucks on the way home last night.

The Meal

What makes the fry trucks so popular? My theory is the smell lures you in but it's really the fries. It's all about the fries! We sometimes stop en route to get a box of fries to share while driving.

The food is not exactly super healthy but it is good, unpretentious food. The prices are quite reasonable. The total cost for our meal was $17*. It's likely healthier than a lot of fast food restaurant foods. It's not always fast either. There's nothing special about the burgers other than they are all beef patties. Toppings include ketchup, mustard, relish and American sliced cheese. Most fry trucks serve hot dogs and some also serve sausages. Salt, white and malt vinegars are available for the fries. Onion rings are available but the fries are the main attraction. Some offer bags of potato chips but many do not. A limited variety of pop and bottled water is available usually for $1 each.

Most of the fry trucks still use the pressed cardboard trays for fries and onion rings or they use thin cardboard boxes similar to fast food restaurants except bigger. If you are eating on site the burger, hot dog or sausage come in a napkin but sometimes they serve them in the thin cardboard containers without lids. If taking the food off site some package the burgers in styrofoam take-out containers as this one did or simply wrap them in paper similar to fast food restaurants. Why am I mentioning packaging? Packaging is always a concern for me and I try very hard to avoid over packaging. What can't be recycled I try to find ways to re-use. In some communities styrofoam containers can go in the blue box but here they can't so I have to find other uses or not use it. Not using is easier. Rather than toss, I washed the containers, cut them into two and they are now serving as drip trays for four plants.

* Price breakdown: total cost was for 2 double pattie burgers - $7, onion rings - $3.00, 2 large fries $8.

Fresh Cut Fries

Ok, so what makes these fries so special? Well, just take one look at these mouthwatering fries. They aren't the pale, thin, anemic looking fries that the fast food restaurants sell. They come unsalted so the customer has a choice of whether or not they want to use the salt shaker. Most importantly these fries are fresh cut! They haven't been frozen. They are fried to a lovely golden brown, essentially the same way I would make French fries at home using fresh potatoes.

Make sure you are using clean oil. The trick when frying fresh cut potatoes is to not put them into cold oil as that will cause them to absorb the oil. To test the proper temperature of the oil, drop a fry into the oil. It should not sink and bubble should remain at the surface. If it sinks the oil is not hot enough.

Method: Wash, peel and hand cut potatoes**. Soak in cold water 10 minutes with a little citric acid to prevent darkening. Heat your oil to 350ºF. Pat the potatoes dry. Fry 3 minutes. Remove basket from fryer but leave the potatoes in the fryer. Raise the oil temperature to 365ºF. Place the basket back in the fryer and fry another 2 to 3 minutes or until golden brown.

** Russet potatoes are the best for French fries.

Enjoy!

Garden Gnome
©2006-2008

Steak Wraps

Grilled steaks are the year round family favourite here! I've made several posts with pictures showing how we like our steaks. They come from beef bought on the hoof (directly from the farmer) and are custom cut to our specifications. They are big steaks which means there are leftovers. Using the leftovers can be challenging sometimes since reheating results in the steak not being rare or medium rare. What we have been doing is cut the portion of the steak we want to eat from the steak then let the remaining steak cool and cut it from the bone if there is a bone. The bones are saved for making beef stock. Any remaining fat is cut away then the steak is either set aside for the following day to be used as an ingredient in another dish.

Sautéed Mushrooms

We eat a lot of mushrooms and I can them. I've mentioned sautéed mushrooms either as a side for grilled meats or simply by themselves times on this blog. Sautéing means the food is cooked for a relatively short period of time on high heat in a little oil with the goal of maintaining both the colour and moisture in the the food. One of my pet peeves when eating out is the mushrooms are not sautéed properly. They either come out seared almost crispy or undercooked or rubbery (overcooked) in many cases.

My Method: Brush the mushrooms with a mushroom brush. Do not wash them as they will absorb the water and not sautée properly. Hand slice using a sharp knife. Heat butter in a fry pan on medium high. Put the mushroom slices in a single layer in the pan. As they cook flip the mushrooms using the pan flip method or turn over using a flipper. Do not over cook!

Steak Filling

Last night we were a bit on the lazy side. It was just on the border of having to but the air conditioning on and we were planning on doing a little work on the kitchen in the evening. So I decided to make steak wraps using the leftover steak from the night before. Sautéing was the method of choice. It made for a quick, easy and tasty meal that used up leftovers.

Method: I sauteed mushrooms as above then added sliced red onions cooking until the onions were warmed but not translucent. Then I added in slices of sweet green and red peppers. The steak was already seasoned with Montreal Steak spice so I didn't add any further seasonings other than a splash of Worcestershire sauce.


Steak Wraps

Wraps just have to be one of the easiest meals available for summer time cooking. Not only that they are versatile. Any filling will do to make a quick and easy meal that doesn't heat up your kitchen. I keep slices of frozen meats in the freezer just for this purpose but those are simply thawed and used not reheated. Sometimes it is nice to use up leftovers on hand and so it was with the steak. No that isn't cheese on the wrap, it's MiracleWhip® but you could put cheese on it if you really wanted. I would recommend a nice sharp cheddar or Asiago to enhance the flavour of the beef.

My Method: I spread MiracleWhip® on each tortilla shell then but a spring mix of greens on the tortilla shell. I topped with the steak filling mixture and a little Catalina dressing and rolled the wraps then sliced in half on the diagonal.

Potatoes on the Grill

We have a natural gas grill which is similar to a propane grill or more commonly called a barbeque. It is used year round but more so in the summer and not just for grilling. The neat thing about this type of grill is it can essentially be used much the same as an oven because the temperature can be controlled easily. A charcoal grill can be used as an oven as well but takes a bit more tinkering.

Before & After

When the weather turns hot and muggy cooking outdoors is a wonderful way to keep the heat out of the house. Baked potatoes go nicely with so many grilled meats. There's no need to turn on the oven or resort to using a microwave oven. Potatoes prepared on the grill are oh so tasty and easy to make. Be sure to allow for the longer cooking time when pairing with meats that have shorter grilling times.

Method: Wash as many medium sized whole potatoes as desired. Place in a foil baking pan. Drizzle extra virgin olive oil over the potatoes. Sprinkle on Montreal Steak Seasoning. Lightly shake the pan to ensure the potatoes are well covered. Add one sliced onion on top. Cover tightly with tin foil. Place on indirect heat on the grill. Cooking time is about 40 minutes, medium hot.

Dinner

Spareribs cooked long and slow are a long time family favourite. Not only are the lip smacking tasty, they are a good summer budget stretcher. Pictured is spareribs served with potatoes baked on the grill, home canned Old Fashioned Vermont beans and sweet peas. The potatoes are topped with my favourite sour cream. A interesting thing about the sour cream is this has always been my favourite topping for baked potatoes usually with a bit of chives but recently I have been enjoying baked potatoes with just a little (about a tsp) butter and sea salt.

Potatoes baked on the grill are a wonderful side for spareribs. Cooked as above they come out with light and fluffy insides while the skins are lightly seasoned. In a lot of ways they are even tastier than actual baked potatoes even though the skin doesn't get slightly crispy. This is an ideal way to cook a large amount of potatoes as well.