Thu Feb 27, 2020
Looking back at the first couple months of recipes in 2020, I realized everything I shared is either process heavy, ingredient heavy, or both. So I thought it was apt to change direction a bit with something really easy, but no less delicious, with these kielbasa bites. The idea for these came to me at the end of last summer when I had a strong craving for my standard order of grilled kielbasa that I got at the Beer Garden in Astoria, NY. After living in the neighborhood for over 10 years, that plate of charred sausage served alongside rye bread, mustard, and sauerkraut had become a real comfort to me, and I usually get back to the Beer Garden at least once a year to get my fix during my frequent work trips to New York, but never made it in 2019, so that required me to take matters into my own hands.
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Thu Feb 14, 2019
I had a hard time deciding what to call this recipe because this style of hot dog goes by a number of names—Danger dogs, Mexican hot dogs, Tijuana dogs, etc. The major defining trait of this hot dog is that it's bacon-wrapped, and more often than not, deep fried. It's then topped with any number of Mexican-influenced toppings, so can take many unique forms from there. My lockdown on the name and topping combination ended up being decided by an illustration by Hawk Krall that labeled a Tijuana dog with an array of add-ons that sounded perfect in my mind—pico, jalapeños, pineapple, avocado, and crema. In the end, this led me down a very delicious path.
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Thu Dec 13, 2018
When I was first telling my friends I was going to be making these Seattle Dogs, whose defining characteristic is the use of cream cheese, there was a little head scratching going on. I, for one, was super exited to try it, because let's face it, cream cheese is amazing stuff and I could only imagine it making a hot dog all the better. In the case of a Seattle-style hot dog though, it made even more sense because that cooling cheese would go on to help strike a balance with the spicy mustard and jalapeños also in play here, and after cooking these up, I can say that this was a truly a winning combination.
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Thu Oct 25, 2018
It's kind of surprising how long I lived next door to New Jersey without ever knowing about one of the state's best inventions—Taylor pork roll. I also will never forget the first time I was introduced to this seasoned processed pork product that hails from Trenton while at a camping trip with a group of NJ-native friends who brought the stuff along to make some of the tastiest breakfast sandwiches I'd ever had. I was instantly smitten, but have left pork roll consumption to my times in New Jersey, which translates to rarely ever eating it. I noticed recently though that my local grocery carries it, and while preparing a Meatwave made of up of all Mid-Atlantic specialities, it seemed fitting to pick up a couple packages and start off the event with these pork roll sandwiches.
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Thu Oct 11, 2018
This past Meatwave season has been a challenging one. It took a couple months longer than I was expecting to get it off the ground thanks to poor weather, then I had been traveling so much over the summer than I always felt like I was rushing to cram in a cookout with never enough time to prepare. In one of these instances, I only gave myself two days to get everything ready—usually shopping and prep spans twice as long—and decided that a purely hot dog affair would help ease the pressure of trying to do too much it too little time. I knew I really wanted to do Chicago Dogs, which is a favorite of mine, and these turned out being the most stress-free item on the menu because I literally just bought a kit off of the Vienna Beef website, which was the best way for me to procure all the hyper-regional ingredients, ensuring these would be as legit as possible coming off a grill in North Carolina.
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