Puerto Rican Corned Beef

I grew up in a lower-middle class family in San Juan, Puerto Rico.  One of the staples of the middle and lower classes in Puerto Rico when I was growing up is a dish made with canned corned beef (think of it as the equivalent of SPAM in Hawaii).  It was an inexpensive way to feed a family, especially when served with other affordable foods like potatoes, rice, and fried plantains.  It’s a dish that, even today, can be found in almost every lunch establishment in and around San Juan.

This dish is one of those classic comfort foods that just bring back memories of my childhood.  It kind of tastes like meat out of a can, it’s quite salty, and it’s not the prettiest thing to look at, but it’s delicious nonetheless.  If you grew up eating canned corned beef, this recipe is one you should bookmark and save.  It’s quite simple and, for those days when you just don’t feel like cooking, you can have it ready in less than 30 minutes.

As an alternative, and to sweeten the dish up a bit, use 1/4 onion (diced) and 2 tbsp caramelized onions.  You can add the caramelized onions right after you stir in the water and it will add a great depth of flavor and a hint of sweetness.  I usually make fried sweet plantains (amarillos or maduros) as a side and then mash them into the corned beef because I crave a bit of sweetness in the dish and have found that the caramelized onions bring this in spades!

Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 25-30 minutes
Difficulty: Easy
Notes: As always, feel free to play with your food.  If you want to add capers or olives, feel free (I’ve seen both used in the past).  Also, you can substitute sweet potato fries for the french fries if you don’t want as much starch in your dish.

Ingredients:

1 can corned beef
1/2 medium onion, diced
1 tsp olive oil
1/2 small pack sazón seasoning
2 tbsp sofrito or recaito
4 oz tomato sauce
1/4 cup water
1/2 lb prepared french fries
1 cup prepared white rice

Procedure:

Add the olive oil and onions into a large, straight-sided skillet.  Sweat the onions over medium heat for 6-7 minutes, until they become translucent.  Stir in the sazón and sofrito or recaito, whichever you choose to use (you can find both in the international isle in any grocery store), and cook for 1 minute.  Stir in the tomato sauce and cook for another minute.

Add the can of corned beef and break it up with the back of a spoon, then stir to combine.  Let it cook until it starts to bubble, about 3 minutes, then add the water and stir to combine.  Lower the heat to medium-low and let it simmer for 15-20 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes or so, until most of the water evaporates and you’re left with a thick consistency.

After about 15-20 minutes, stir in the french fries (I prefer shoestring but feel free to add thicker fries if that’s what you like).  Serve immediately with white rice and either fried ripe plantains or avocado.

Buen Provecho!

Review: Wendy’s Classic Carolina Burger

I went down to South Carolina to see my brother last weekend and I started getting a bit hungry on my drive back home to Durham, NC.  Being that it was 3pm, and that I had not eaten anything since breakfast, I thought a quick $1 value menu fix was in order.  I debated long and hard about what fast food restaurant I really wanted and ended up pulling into a Wendy’s in Aberdeen, NC.  As I pulled into the parking lot, I noticed this sign:

I was planning on just grabbing a Jr. Bacon Cheeseburger and a 5-piece crispy chicken nuggets but I just couldn’t resist a chili burger.  I looked on the menu and found it to be priced the same as the 1/4 pound single hamburger (the combos were the same price, too) so I figured it would be too much food and that I wouldn’t be hungry for dinner if I got the combo so I just got the sandwich (and a glass of water, of course).  Total price, including tax: $3.58.

This is what it looked like when I sat down:

Wendy’s uses the same bun and patty as you would find in the 1/4 pound single, probably to save on costs.  The beef was tasty, if a bit salty, and (to my surprise and enjoyment) still a bit pink on the inside.  It held together well and wasn’t chewy at all (as you would expect a McDonald’s burger to be).  The bun tasted freshly baked but it felt like the bun-to-meat ratio was a bit too high and the taste of the burger and toppings kind of got lost.  A double burger or a bit more toppings would resolve this issue.  The toppings were very tasty, but a bit scarce.  The chili is also the same chili that they will serve you as a side, but that was expected.  I happen to like their chili, so it was actually comforting and tasty.  The burger could’ve used more mustard, too.

I expect a chili burger to be messy, so I was a bit disappointed when I was able to eat the whole burger without any of the chili spilling down onto the wrapper or having to lick my fingers after eating it (big chili-burger fail!).  The overall taste of the burger was good, but I had to take some of the bun off to really enjoy it.  The overall taste of the burger wasn’t salty, tho, as I expected when I just tried the burger patty.  The bun and slaw really mellow out the salt.

Grade:

Taste: 7/10
Value: 6/10
Would I eat it again?  Yes, but I’d ask for extra toppings.

Nutritional Information:

Here is the nutritional info, courtesy of shopandcook:

Korean (Bulgogi) Tacos

If you’ve ever tuned to the Food Network or Cooking Channel for more than 10 seconds then I’m sure you’ve seen something about the food trucks that have been taking over the country.  Of course, the most popular ones seem to be the taco and torta (sandwich) trucks that are all too common near construction sites, but there is also a big fusion movement going on in the food truck industry.  One of the most common is the mix of Korean and Mexican influences that, to my knowledge, was started in L.A. by Kogi BBQ but can be found in many other locations today.  Here in Durham, NC, we have the Bulkogi (sic) Truck (twitter: NCBulkogi) though I have not had the pleasure of trying their food yet.

The idea of using Korean (or any Asian) flavors to marinate the meat and toppings sounds like a winner to me.  I did some research as to what the most common toppings for a Korean taco would be and, through multiple sources, found that cabbage, raw onions, cilantro, sesame seeds, lettuce, and hot chili paste were the most prevalent.  Since I was trying to make something simple and that my wife would enjoy (she’s not a big fan of raw onions), I decided to use only some marinated cabbage, cilantro, and sesame seeds and leave the chili paste on the side to be added to taste.

I then set out to find the right meat and seasonings for my marinade.  I went to Trader Joe’s for some other groceries that I needed and I discovered that they carry a package of pre-marinated Bool Kogi (sic) meat.  I had set out to purchase either rib eye or boneless short ribs for the recipe but was happy to try the Trader Joe’s brand (they use rib meat).  The meat was cut thin enough (less than 1/4 of an inch thick) but I still had to do some trimming to eliminate some  excess fat in the meat and I wanted to slice it into thin strips (about 1-inch by 1/4-inch).  Here is a picture of the packaged beef:

You will also notice that we chose to use flour tortillas instead of the more traditional corn tortillas.  We don’t really care much for the corn tortillas in my house so we went with what we liked the most.  If you’re interested in being more “traditional” then, by all means, use corn tortillas.  I tried them the first time I made this recipe and didn’t much care for them.  But, it’s your taco and you should use what you like best.

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 5-6 minutes
Difficulty: Easy
Notes: If you don’t have a Trader Joe’s near you and can’t get this pre-marinated meat, just marinate it yourself.  When calculating the amount of tortillas needed, figure about 1/3-1/4 pound per taco.

Ingredients:

4-6 Flour Tortillas
2-4 lime wedges
6 oz cabbage, shredded
1-1.5 lb thinly sliced rib eye or boneless short rib, marinated
1 tsp vegetable oil
1 tbsp cilantro, chopped
1 tbsp sesame seeds
1 tbsp fermented chili paste (such as Sriracha)

For the Cabbage Marinade:

2 tbsp light sodium soy sauce
2 tsp each lime juice and rice vinegar
1 tbsp + 1 tsp toasted sesame oil
1/4 tsp each grated garlic and sugar

For the Beef Marinade:

2 tbsp light sodium soy sauce
1 tbsp toasted sesame oil
2 tsp each rice vinegar, sugar, and sesame seeds
1/2 tsp each grated garlic and chili paste (Sriracha works great)

Procedure:

If you can’t find the Trader Joe’s beef package, make it yourself by whisking the beef marinade ingredients in a bowl and pouring it over the thin strips of beef. Let it marinate for 24 hours. Make sure you remove the beef from the refrigerator at 30-45 minutes prior to cooking to allow the beef to come to room temperature (this will allow the pan to stay hotter and put a good sear on the meat). Heat a heavy skillet (cast iron works best) with about 1 tsp of vegetable oil to medium-high. While the skillet comes to temperature, mix all the cabbage marinade ingredients in a bowl and whisk to combine. Pour over the cabbage and let it marinade for 5-10 minutes, but not longer or it might get soggy.

Once the skillet begins to smoke, place the marinated beef in the skillet and let it sit for 2-3 minutes so that it browns on one side. After about 2-3 minutes, the beef will have released some of it’s juices and should now be ready to stir-fry. Just move the beef around the skillet for another 2-3 minutes until the beef is just cooked through. Remove it to a platter.

Heat 4-6 flour tortillas as you normally would (some people use the microwave, others use a gas burner, it’s your choice). Place some beef on the tortilla and put a little bit of the chili paste on it. Top it off with some cabbage, cilantro, and sesame seeds and serve.

Buen Provecho!

Sous Vide New York Steak

I have been reading article after article and blog post after blog post where everyone touts the benefits of cooking meat by vacuum-sealing it in a plastic bag and submerging it in water that has been heated to the desired finishing temperature of the food – a process known as sous vide (French for “under vacuum”).  I have also seen it used in almost every cooking competition show from Iron Chef America to Top Chef, making me even more interested in trying it at home.  Sous vide is one of those things that is so simple and logical that once you hear about it you kick yourself for not having though of it before.  I have been using water to thaw foods for over a decade and it is my preferred method due to it’s speed and efficiency yet I never thought of this.  DOH!

Most sous vide cooking is done in a very expensive immersion circulator machine, so I always thought it was out of my reach.  However, I recently read a blog post on Serious Eats where the author used a beer cooler to cook his meat (read the article here) and it convinced me that I could pull this off at home quite easily.  Armed with my steak, a Ziplock bag, and my beer cooler, I set out to try it for myself.

First I tested the insulating powers of my cooler.  I heated two gallons of water to 134 degrees and I poured them in the cooler (I inserted a probe thermometer in the pot while I heated it and in the cooler after filling it with the water).  I came back 1 hour later and found that the water temperature had only dropped by two degrees.  Now that my cooler’s insulation powers had been confirmed, I placed my marinated steak in it, closed the lid, and set my timer for 1 hour and 45 minutes.  I figured the water temperature would drop soon after inserting the steak so I came back 10 minutes later and found the temperature to be at 122 degrees.  I removed two cups of water and replaced it with two cups of boiling water and within a minute the temperature was back to 131 degrees (I was shooting for 130).  The water was still at 129 degrees when I removed the steak an hour and a half later.

I seared the steak in a screaming-hot pat for one minute per side and then sliced it against the grain.  The first thing I noticed was how perfectly even it had cooked.  It was a great medium-rare from tip to tip with no part of the steak being overcooked.  It also remained very juicy and was as tender as you could expect from a NY strip (I usually prefer rib eyes but they weren’t on sale).  I think I’ve found my favorite way of cooking steak from now on and doubt I’ll ever broil a steak ever again (the grill will remain in my repertoire, though).  After this great experience, I was left with just one question: I wonder if this would work with a prime rib roast?

Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 45 minutes minimum – 4 hours maximum
Difficulty: Easy
Notes: Feel free to add aromatics to your steak before you seal the bag.  You can put anything from shallots and garlic to herbs and spices.  Be inventive.  Also, season the steak with a bit more salt than you normally would as the water that will collect inside the bag (mostly from the steak expelling moisture) will dissolve the salt on the surface and stay in the bag when you remove the steak.

Ingredients:

1 New York steak, about 16 ounces
1 tbsp worcestershire sauce
1 tbsp A1 bold and spicy (or your favorite steak sauce)
1 tbsp red wine vinegar
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
8 sprigs thyme
2 springs rosemary
2 tbsp butter
2 gallons water heated to 130-135 degrees

Procedure:

Pour the worcestershire sauce, steak sauce, and vinegar in a bowl and mix to combine.  Season the steak on both sides with the salt and pepper then brush it with the marinade mixture.  Place 4 sprigs of thyme and 1 spring of rosemary on each side of the steak and seal it in a Ziplock bag, ensuring to remove as much air as possible (you can suck it out with a straw or submerge it in water until it’s about to flow into the bag and then seal it).  Leave the steak on your counter for 45 minutes to allow it to come to room temperature.

Ensure that the water is at the temperature you want your steak to be when cooked.  Use this chart as a guide:

120 degrees for rare
130 degrees for medium-rare
140 degrees for medium
150 degrees or above if you plan on feeding it to your dogs.

I recommend cooking a New York strip to 130 degrees as that is the temperature where the steak will be most tender and flavorful (strip steaks are a bit too chewey to eat rare).  Remove two cups of the water and bring it to a boil.  Add the steak to the water and wait 5 minutes before you add the two cups of boiling water.  The temperature should return to about 130 but, if it doesn’t, just continue to replace the cooler water with boiling water, one cup at a time, until you get to the desired temperature.  Let the steak cook in the water bath for a minimum of 45 minutes but do not exceed 4 hours (the steak will eventually dry out on you). When the steak has cooked to your desired time and temperature, remove it and pat it completely dry with paper towels (you can’t get a good sear if the surface is wet).

Heat a heavy-bottomed skillet over high heat. Once the pan is hot, add the butter and allow it to melt.  Place the steak in the pan and cook for 1 minute per side. Remove to a cutting board and allow the steak to rest for 5 minutes.  Slice on the bias (diagonally) and against the grain; serve with your favorite side (I served it with sweet potato hash).

Buen Provecho!

Ahi Tuna Sliders

I’ve seen my share of tuna burgers on restaurant menus for years now.  I’ve never ordered one because I’m not a huge fan of seared tuna steaks and I was afraid that the non-steak burgers were made from canned tuna (which I don’t really care for, either).  I’ve also seen cooking shows where they use either tuna steaks or canned tuna to make burgers but I usually change the channel as it’s something I never thought I’d be interested in.  However, I was inspired to do something different after watching an old episode of Iron Chef America where Morimoto took a large piece of tuna and chopped it up with two knives into very small pieces and than created a beautiful tuna tartar out of it.  My thought process was as follows: “Why can’t I take small pieces of tuna and mix them as I would a crab cake, then make a burger/slider out if it?”

It’s been a few weeks since I saw that episode and had almost forgot about it until I was looking through the sale items in my local Harris Teeter and saw that sashimi-grade Tuna was on sale for $7 a pound.  I usually try to stick to more sustainable fish like Basa, trout, and tilapia (US Farmed only) but we don’t have many options around North Carolina when it comes to tuna (this particular one came from the Philippines but you should look for US or Canada line/pole caught if you can find it).  If you’re interested in finding out what type of seafood you should look for and which you should avoid, I suggest you go to the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s website and download their PDF here.

I thought long and hard about what to serve it with.  Being as I was going to fry them, I didn’t want to serve it with another fried side, such as fries, and was interested in keeping to an “Asian” theme.  I decided to make some coleslaw with some Asian flavors blended into the mayonnaise and was very happy with my choice.  The sauce I created to mix in with the mayonnaise is something I came up with as a stir-fry sauce and have been planning on posting it for a few weeks but never got around to it.  Just know that if you want to make some stir-fry, you can just use the sauce I made here instead of your normal store-bought sauce.

Prep Time: 60 minutes (including a 35-40 minute wait)
Cook Time: 4 minutes
Difficulty: Medium (but almost Easy)
Notes: I pan-fried my tuna burgers and found that they cooked all the way through. If you want your tuna to be a bit on the rare-to-medium-rare side (and why spend the money on sashimi-grade tuna if you don’t), I suggest you deep-fry them for 2.5 minutes instead and you should end up with a nice medium-rare center.  Also, feel free to use canned tuna (packed in water, not oil) if you don’t want to cut up fresh tuna.

Ingredients:

8 oz tuna steak
2 tbsp scallions, chopped fine (about 3/4 of one scallion)
1 tbsp mayonnaise
1 egg, beaten
1/3 cup plain bread crumbs
1/2 cup panko
1 tsp lime zest
1/4 tsp salt
1 tbsp water
1/2 cup peanut oil
4 slider buns

For the Stir-Fry Sauce:
2 tsp toasted sesame oil
1 tbsp wine vinegar
1 tbsp low-sodium soy sauce
1 tsp fresh lime juice
1.5 tsp honey
1/4 tsp garlic (grated with microplane)
1/4 tsp ground Chinese 5 Spice
1/4 tsp sesame seeds
1/2 tsp corn starch
1/4 tsp chili paste (Sriracha), OPTIONAL

For the Coleslaw:
1 cup pre-cut coleslaw mix
2 tbsp mayonnaise
2 tsp stir-fry sauce

Procedure:

Prepare the stir-fry sauce by combining all the ingredients except the corn starch in a bowl and whisk to combine. Add the corn starch and whisk until it has been incorporated. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and microwave on high for 60 seconds, then remove and whisk it. Place it back in the microwave for an additional 30 seconds and whisk it again upon removal. Set it aside, uncovered, and let it cool and fully thicken (about 15 minutes). The reason you want to microwave it is because the corn starch won’t thicken the mixture until it has come to a simmer.  Here is what the sauce should look like:

Look at the tuna steak and identify the grain (it should be easy to find):

Slice the tuna thinly (about 1/8″) against the grain (in this case you would go horizontally). Once you’ve sliced the entire steak, take the slices and cut them into small 1/8″ cubes. Alternatively, you can do a Morimoto and take two knives and hack away but I find that to be dangerous and best left to the experts (i.e. probably not anyone reading this blog).

Once the tuna is cubed, place it in a bowl with the chopped scallion, lime zest, mayonnaise, bread crumbs, salt, and 1/2 the beaten egg and mix to combine (use your hands). Divide the mixture into 4 2-ounce portions and form them into slider patties. Place on parchment paper (to avoid sticking) and put them in your freezer for 35-40 minutes or until they begin to firm up but not long enough to freeze (this way they won’t fall apart when you bread them later on).

The stir-fry sauce should be cool enough now so combine 2 tsp of it with 2 tbsp of mayonnaise and whisk to combine. Pour it over the coleslaw mixture and toss to combine. Refrigerate until the tuna burgers are done (about 35 minutes) so that the flavors have a chance to marry.

After 35-40 minutes, remove the tuna from the freezer. Place the peanut oil in a frying pan (preferably cast iron) over medium-high heat until it reaches 375 degrees. Add 1 tbsp of water to the remaining 1/2 beaten egg and whisk to combine. Place the panko into a bowl and place it next to the egg wash (creating a dredging station). Dip the tuna burgers into the egg wash (on both sides) and then into the panko, ensuring you shake off the excess breading without breaking the burger.

Once the oil reaches the right temperature, place the tuna burgers in the skillet and cook for 2 minutes per side (or deep fry for 2 minutes and 30 seconds). Meanwhile, use the cooking time to toast your buns if that is how you like them. Remove the tuna burgers to a plate lined with paper towels to drain. Serve them plain or with your choice of lettuce, tomato, and/or avocado and a bit of mayo on the bun (feel free to use some of the mayo you made for the coleslaw).

Buen Provecho!

Las Vegas Trip (Part IV) – The South Point Hotel

My wife and I normally stay at my in-laws house when we visit Las Vegas but since the wedding reception was taking place there we figured we could use the retreat so we booked a hotel room at the South Point hotel.  I found a great rate online and paid about $50 a night, including taxes, for our room.  The room was nice and was much bigger than what we expected for the price.  There was a king size bed, a love seat, a 46″ plasma TV, and the bathroom was one of the nicest we’ve seen in a 4-star hotel.  We also got two coupon books when we checked in that included two free breakfast or lunch buffets.

We had a bit of a problem adjusting to the time zone and we kept waking up around 3:45-4am local time (around 7am back east).  We woke up around that time on our first night and decided to go eat breakfast a little later, around 6:30 local time.  When we arrived at the Coronado Cafe inside the hotel, we noticed that, had we been about 30 minutes earlier, we could have enjoyed their Cab Driver’s special (nothing over $3.95).  We did make it down for the special the second morning, tho.

South Point – Coronado Cafe – Breakfast

I didn’t post a price for their breakfast because it varies.  The first morning it was really cheap as my breakfast was comped by the casino and we only paid for Sara’s.  She ordered two scrambled eggs with bacon and hash browns and I ordered the most expensive thing on the menu (of course): eggs bennedict with filet tips, hash browns, and a side of pancakes (normally $15 not including the pancakes).

The eggs were cooked well, the meat was a perfect medium rare, and the muffins were toasted to my liking.  The hollandaise sauce, however, tasted like it was a powder mixture in a packet where they just added warm watter and whisked it together; it was definitely not made in-house.  I was a bit disappointed in the taste of the hollandaise but it was nothing that a bit of Cholula hot sauce couldn’t fix.  The hash browns were a bit on the bland side but, again, a bit of salt and Cholula fixed them right up.

Sara said her breakfast was good and she really enjoyed her pancakes (the ones I ordered).  I didn’t get to try her food, so you’ll have to take her word for it.  It’s kind of hard to mess up scrambled eggs and bacon, though, so I believe her when she says there were good.  We did get some complimentary coffee cake while we waited for our breakfast, which was nice.  I’m not a huge fan but I thought this one was pretty good, and you can’t argue with free.  Total cost for breakfast, including drinks and tip: $8.00

We awoke dark and early the next morning and headed straight for the Coronado Cafe around 5am to ensure we tried their cab driver’s special.  Sara ordered the same thing she did the day before (scrambled eggs, bacon, and hash browns) and I ordered the 7oz New York strip steak with two eggs (sunny side up), and hash browns.  The steak was not very flavorful and it required a bit of steak sauce just to add some flavor to it.  It was cooked medium rare, as I ordered it, and was not tough at all.  I had expected it to be a bit tough due to the price so I was pleasantly surprised.  The eggs and the hash browns were exactly what you would expect fried eggs and hash browns to be.  Total cost, including drinks and tip: $8.00

South Point – Buffet – Cost: free (normally $10 for lunch)

We decided to procrastinate our free buffets until our last day in Las Vegas.  Our plan was to go around 10:30am (lunch starts at 11am) and get a bit of breakfast and lunch, then leave the hotel by 11:30 so that we could return the car by noon and be at the airport by 12:30pm.  What we didn’t expect was for the buffet to close at 10:30 and not admit anybody for 30 minutes.  The line was about 100 people long when we got there around 10:40 and we had no choice but to stand in it if we wanted to use our coupons for a free buffet.  Due to this, I only had time to take one picture (of one of my plates) and wasn’t able to photograph the stations.

In retrospect, we probably should’ve left and had McDonald’s (or, better yet, In-N-Out Burger!).  The food was no better than you would find at Golden Corral and you know what you’re getting.  Being a 4-star Las Vegas hotel, I expected much better quality food than what was offered on that particular day.  My first plate was a BBQ beef rib from the carving station, some cheese tortellini with pesto sauce, and some lasagna.  The lasagna was the best part of the entire meal but you could get the same quality from the frozen section in your grocer’s freezer.  The tortellini were overcooked and watery and the pesto was low-grade at best.  The beef rib was extremely tough and inedible.  I tried my best to extract some meat from the rib but it was just impossible.

My second plate (as seen below) was mostly Asian fare.  The fried shrimp were just OK but tasted more of the batter and breading than shrimp.  I did like the lo mein; it was well-seasoned and I enjoyed the crunch from the cabbage but it was a bit too salty for my wife.  The pot sticker was a disaster.  The bottom was thick and was a bit burnt while the rest of the pot sticker was soggy and tasted like water-logged pasta.  The filling might have been the best filling in the world, for all I know, but I was so distracted by the texture that I didn’t pay attention to anything else.  One bite was enough for me to put it back on the plate and walk away.

Overall, I was very disappointed in this buffet and would give it a score of 4/10 for taste and value.  I know it was free but I will try to avoid it at all costs next time I’m in town.  If we do stay at this hotel again and are given free coupons, we’ll more than likely use them at breakfast time (it’s hard to screw up bacon and eggs).   The one good thing I can say about it is that the service was prompt and courteous.  The wait staff was very attentive even in the midst of the lunch rush.

Las Vegas Trip (Part III) – The M Resort

The hotel is located south of the Las Vegas Strip and it takes about 20 minutes to get here from any of the strip hotels.  Some people might consider it being out in the boonies, but it’s worth the drive.  There are rumors of the M Resort not doing so well and that they are either considering filing for bankruptcy or selling the hotel to a different corporation, but those are just rumors right now (heard mostly from dealers at the casinos where I played during my stay).  If it’s true, it probably has something to do with the location, since most travelers to Las Vegas are looking to stay “on the strip” and be able to roam, from hotel to hotel and from club to club, looking for the “Vegas experience” that they have heard is supposed to be so great and that stays in Vegas after they leave.  The M resort does have just about everything you would ever need on vacation, though, and I can see them catering to a more adult and mature crowd who come to town to gamble and be pampered rather than to run around drunk their entire trip.

The M definitely had the best lunch buffet of our trip, by far.  We headed out on Sunday around 10am hoping to catch the breakfast and stick around for the lunch part.  We arrived early but it was 10:40am by the time we paid so we were charged the lunch price instead of the breakfast price (a $5 per-person difference).  We also missed out on the slab bacon that I had heard so much about.  I asked the person at the carving station when they had removed it and she told me we missed it by about 15 minutes.  If you plan on going on Sunday, I recommend arriving around 10am so that you get to try the slab bacon and are still around at 10:30 when they bring out the crab legs and the prime rib.

M Resort – Studio B Buffet – Cost: $15 for lunch

The buffet wasn’t very crowded and I expected to see more people there, especially on a Sunday Brunch buffet.  The good thing was that we didn’t have to wait in a long line to get in. The Studio B Buffet is nicely decorated and has a bit of an upscale feel to it.  I don’t know if it was the spaciousness of the room, which felt open and inviting, or the layout of the buffet itself, which was expansive and designed to prevent the gathering of crowds that sometimes congregate by one item, but I felt comfortable and relaxed and that probably contributed to my overall dining experience that morning.

The Studio B Buffet:

My first plate was two clusters of snow crab and a side of melted butter.  The crab seemed to be boiled, rather than steamed, and some of the meat had shrunk inside the legs to where you only had crab meat on one side after breaking the leg open.  The buffet staff had prepared the legs with a slit in the shell so that all you had to do was snap them in half, dip it in the butter, and suck it out of the shell.  It worked perfectly on those legs that had crab meat from end to end, but not that great when I had to get the opener and pry my way into the shell (which got a bit messy after a while).  The flavor was exactly what you would expect but, after working so hard to get the meat out of the legs, I felt like the reward wasn’t really worth it.

Crab Legs:

Sea Food Bar:

My second plate consisted of a few Mediterranean cold dishes: hummus, stuffed grape leaves (dolma), a cold antipasto salad, and some marinated vegetables (mostly mushrooms and zucchini with a few peppers and some red onion slices).  The hummus tasted very fresh and had some toasted pine nuts on top that added a some nice texture.  The dolmas were excellent and I would highly recommend them to anyone.  If you’ve never tried them, these are the ones you want to eat.  The antipasto was descent but had more cheese than meats and the marinated vegetables had a bit too much olive oil, though they tasted good.

My third plate was a slice of the standing rib roast with creamy horseradish sauce, a side of Au Jus, some pork spare ribs, and a rotisserie chicken thigh.  The beef was perfectly rare with a great bark on the outside and I couldn’t have expected a greater cut of meat.  The marbling was also excellent and the roast had many small veins running through it rather than the thick chunk of fat that is sometimes present in other rib roasts.  This helped the meat to stay very moist and lead to being able to enjoy the entire slice rather than leaving a big glop of fat on the plate after I finished eating all the meat around it (as is typical).  The horseradish sauce was OK but it lacked the kick I hoped for (I expect my horseradish sauce to be a bit spicy); the Au Jus was nothing special, but the meat was so flavorful that it didn’t need it.

Carving Stations:

The pork spare ribs were cooked correctly (though they tasted like they were braised in an oven rather than smoked) and would separate from the bone with a slight tug of the teeth without falling completely off.  The meat just melted in your mouth and didn’t shred as you would expect from a lesser quality pork rib.  They were also a bit oversauced but that problem is easily solved with a knife and/or a napkin.  The chicken thigh was moist but it lacked flavor and, frankly, was somewhat forgettable.  No, really, I almost forgot I even had it on my plate until I saw it in a picture (which I didn’t post because it was too blurry).

My fourth plate was mostly Asian cuisine.  I thought about grabbing some oysters but they looked dry and unappetizing.  I walked down the line and settled for some sushi (spicy tuna roll and one each tuna and salmon nigiri), kalbi short ribs, butter and crumb-topped mussels, and lo mein noodles.  The first thing I tried upon return to the table was the mussels and was very disappointed.  They were chewy, rubbery, and I felt like I was trying to eat the eraser off of one of my No. 2 pencils.  I’d avoid them at all costs when I return.  The kalbi short ribs were flavorful (think teriyaki) but the meat was overcooked and felt stringy (probably due to sitting under the heat lamp too long).  The lo mein was good and had plenty of vegetables (it actually reminded me of the lo mein at P.F. Chang’s) and the sushi was very good.  The one complaint I have (and I have it no matter where I eat sushi) is that they use farmed salmon rather than wild caught (for financial reasons, obviously).  I’m yet to find a sushi place that uses wild caught salmon so if any reader out there knows of a place please let me know.

Asian Section:

We didn’t really get to enjoy desert that day, so I can’t really comment much about it.  I saw that they had about 15 flavors of gelato and a big assortment of cookies, cakes, and pies, but we had to run and didn’t get to try them.  I did grab one chocolate chip cookie right before I walked out but I wasn’t able to finish it.  It had come out of the oven quite recently and was still very ooey and gooey, and the chocolate chips hadn’t solidified yet.  While I know that many people enjoy their cookies this way, I get a stomach ache if I don’t let a cookie rest for a few hours after pulling it from the oven so I took two bites and threw it out (I’m weird, I know).

Overall, I would give this buffet a very good score, probably an 8.5/10 for food and a 10/10 for value.  It’s not the Bellagio or the Wynn buffet (both 10s for food), but it has it’s fair share of excellent food so long as you stick to the carving station and cold food section (and the seafood section if you’re a fan of snow crabs).  They also include all the beer and wine you want with your lunch (though we didn’t drink any) which makes the $15 price tag a huge bargain.  The buffet also offers root beer on tap, which I did try and found to be excellent.  The service is also very good with our used/empty plates being removed almost immediately and our drinks being replenished when we still had about half a glass left.

Las Vegas Trip (Part II) – The Mandalay Bay

As I stated in my previous post, we were in Las Vegas this past weekend for my sister-in-law’s wedding.  She got married at the Chapel in the Mandalay Bay hotel on Saturday morning and most of those present at the wedding were invited to have lunch at the Bayside Buffet inside the hotel.  I might’ve been a bit biased about the food because I was starving (lunch was at 12:45 and we had breakfast around 5am) and due to the halo effect from such a beautiful ceremony, so I’ll try to keep that in mind when reviewing the buffet.  Hunger makes for the best sauce but I think that my review here is pretty accurate.

Please excuse the quality of the pictures but I used my iPhone 4 to take them as I didn’t have our Nikon DSLR with us on the trip.

Mandalay Bay – Bayside Buffet – Cost: $16.50 for lunch

As nice as the Mandalay Bay hotel is, the Bayside Buffet looked like any other Vegas buffet; the tables, chairs, and place settings are exactly what you would expect from any one of the dozens of buffets in town.  The room itself was expansive and made you feel like you were in a tropical cabana with the beach being just a few steps away (personally, I love that feeling).  I think I was a bit surprised at not seeing more people waring Hawaiian print shirts.

The food was slightly above average for a buffet and exactly what I would expect from the Mandalay Bay.  My first plate included some small bites and served kind of like an appetizer.  I grabbed my plate and piled on some sushi (spicy tuna and salmon with cream cheese), butterflied fried shrimp, sweet chili sauce, seafood salad, and some paella and headed to my seat.  The spicy tuna was very good and I would highly recommend it but the salmon had too much cream cheese and it overpowered the rice and fish.  The butterflied shrimp with sweet chili sauce (there was cocktail sauce but no tartar sauce to be found) was easily the best thing on my first plate and I inhaled the 5-6 shrimp I grabbed as if it were my last meal on earth.  The Paella was a bit too moist for my taste.  It had a bit of spice to it, which I like, but not enough to overpower the subtle seafood flavors.  The pieces of sausage in the rice were a bit too big and I had to cut them with a knife in order to be able to eat them but the shrimp and calamari were the perfect size and added a nice flavor to the dish.  The cold seafood salad (mostly squid) was just OK and I found the squid and octopus to be a bit chewy, if not rubbery.  A shorter blanch for these two items and it could’ve been a killer dish.

Bayside Buffet Carving Station:

My second plate consisted of a slice of standing rib roast (I doubt it was graded prime, but most people would still call it prime rib), pork spare ribs, roasted potatoes, a small side of salad (a few romaine hearts with some dressing over them), some creamy horseradish sauce, and a ramekin of Au Jus and one of Mint Demi Glace.  The rib roast was cooked well but a bit overdone for my taste.  I requested that my slice be as rare as possible and it was cooked medium at best.  It was still tender and had a great flavor (especially the outer crust) but the texture wasn’t exactly what I was looking for.  There wasn’t anything wrong with it and was perfect if you actually like your meat cooked medium, but I was looking for rare and I didn’t get it.  The horseradish sauce was very good, probably the best I’ve had in a long time, and the demi glace could be drank by the gallon.  Seriously, the best thing I ate on my whole trip to Las Vegas was that demi glace.  It had the slightest hint of mint but it was a background flavor and not the star (the veal taste was the star).  You could pour it on a shoe and never have a better meal than that.  After trying the demi, I completely ignored the Au Jus and finished off the ramekin (about 2-3 oz) and used my finger to extract the last little drops from it.  I brought a ramekin to my father-in-law when he sat down with his slice of prime rib and he also wiped the ramekin clean.

The pork ribs had a good flavor, but where undercooked and a bit oversauced for my taste.  I didn’t mind the oversaucing as I wiped some sauce off with my napkin and solved that issue.  The meat was a bit tough and stringy and should have cooked an additional 30-60 minutes.  They had just placed them out on the line so maybe they thought they would finish cooking under the heat lamps.  I found the potatoes to be very tough with a hard-to-chew exterior that felt like they had been sitting under the heat lamps for an extended period of time and wouldn’t recommend them.  The salad was nothing special so I won’t say much else about it.

Bayside Buffet Desert Bar:

Bayside Buffet Cookies:

I was impressed with the desert section and noticed that they had plenty of choices.  I saw a few types of cookies, a lemon-meringue mini pie, several cheesecakes, chocolate cake, cannolis, red velvet cake, fruit tarts, and brownies.  There is also a fruit section near the salad bar that had a huge bowl of strawberries just tempting me to carry it to my table (they are my favorite fruit).  After being told by my in-laws that the strawberries in Las Vegas usually taste bland, I wasn’t very excited about sinking my teeth into them.  I was pleasantly surprised to taste the strawberries and find that they were very flavorful and not “watered down” as I had been expecting.  They were firm and just to the point where the sweetness overcomes the slight bitterness that comes from picking the berries before they are fully ripe.  The pineapple, though, was average and the slices still had the core in them (very disappointed in that).

Bayside Buffet Strawberries:

Bayside Buffet Strawberries:

I also got to try the chocolate fruit tart but was not impressed with either the quality of the fruit nor the taste of the blueberry yogurt that held everything together.  The blueberries, blackberry, raspberry, and strawberry all tasted watered down and really didn’t bring enough flavor or sweetness.  The yogurt was a bit bitter and could’ve really used some sweetness (even if it were from the berries).  I have no complaints about the chocolate, though, as it tasted as it should have.

Bayside Buffet Fruit Tart:

Overall, I would give this buffet a descent score: a solid 7.5/10.  There are some good selections to be found and the wait staff was prompt and courteous, even though we had a large group of people (about 45).  There are some better options on the strip and I would rather go to the Paris or Caesar’s Palace buffets for roughly the same price, but they are further north on the strip and the trip isn’t really worth it if you’re staying at the Mandalay Bay (or on the south end of the Strip).  It’s worth stopping by the Bayside Buffet for lunch if you’re ever on the south side of the Las Vegas Strip.

Las Vegas Trip (Part I) – In-N-Out Burger

My wife and I were in Las Vegas over the weekend for her sister’s wedding.  She arrived on Tuesday afternoon in order to help prepare for all the festivities while I arrived Thursday evening, just in time to make it to my in-laws house for dinner.  I won’t be reviewing a home-cooked meal so you’ll have to take my word for it when I say it was tasty.  I did get to go out for lunch with my wife on Friday afternoon and so I went to the place that I had been planning on returning to ever since the first minute I found out I was going back to Las Vegas: In-N-Out.

If you’ve never lived/visited the west coast, In-N-Out Burger is a family-owned, non-franchised restaurant chain that is famous for their burgers, shakes, and fries (and they don’t really do much else); it’s a California institution but they can be found in AZ, NV, and UT.  Their expansion has been slow due to their philosophy of never freezing the meat and, as such, each location must be within a day’s drive of their commissary in Los Angeles, CA.  It’s bad for us consumers who don’t live on the west coast, but their never frozen and cooked-to-order burgers are what set them apart from other burger chains and what makes me want to stop by anytime I’m on the Left Coast.

We walked in around noon on a Friday but there wasn’t much of a line.  We ordered our two double-doubles (double meat and double cheese), one of them Animal Style, and waited for the attendants to call our number.  The Animal Style burger is similar to the regular burger with only a few differences: the meat is brushed with mustard prior to cooking, the onions are grilled rather than raw, and it has pickle slices rather than relish.  My wife didn’t think she’d like a burger that was coated in mustard prior to cooking (even though I assured her that you couldn’t taste the mustard) so she ordered the regular double-double but decided she liked the Animal Style better after she had a bite of mine (mostly due to the pickle slices).

If there is one thing I’d change is that I’d order it without lettuce and tomato the next time because they really don’t bring anything but girth to the hamburger and make it so it’s hard to fit it in your mouth.  They tasted fine (the lettuce was crisp and the tomato was ripe), but they added an element of water that diluted the taste of the beef and are really not necessary to enjoy an In-N-Out burger.  The grilled onions were finely diced and tasted more like caramelized onions than grilled onions.  They were soft and sweet and not crunchy as you would expect normal grilled onions to be and added a great depth of flavor to the burger that regular onions just can’t stack up to.  It’s worth ordering the Animal Style just for the onions.

The fries are excellent and are cut just prior to frying and still have the skin on.  You just can’t get a fresher-tasting french fry than one that was cut just a few seconds before it hit the oil.  They are only fried once, though, as far as I can tell, and aren’t blanched first in hot oil before re-frying in hotter oil prior to serving.  Because of this, the fries are lightly golden instead of being a darker shade of gold.  They’re still very good but they’re not as crispy as a McDonald’s french fry, where they do double fry their potatoes.

Here is a picture of both burgers, side by side, as they were served to us.  The Animal Style is on the right and you can see the small caramelized onions in between both patties:

Home Baked Pizza

Tell me this picture doesn’t make your mouth water:

Now that I’ve got your attention, I can continue with my narrative 🙂  I was going to title this post “Home Made Pizza” but decided not to since none of the ingredients are homemade.  This recipe is more of a home-assembled pizza using all store-bought ingredients.  Why would you do it this way instead of just getting a take-and-bake or ordering a pie from one of you local delivery joints?  For starters, it’s cheaper.  You also get to control the quality of the ingredients that go on your pizza, as well as the thickness of the dough and the crunchiness of the crust.

I like making pizza this way because it reminds me of the days when I worked at Domino’s Pizza.  I only worked there for about 9 months during my sophomore year in college, but it was a good learning experience as far as tossing dough and making pizza is concerned.  To this day, the smell of a pepperoni pizza from Domino’s makes my knees weak and my mouth water.

I purchased all of these ingredients at Harris Teeter, right down the street from my house.  The mushrooms, olives, and roasted peppers were canned or jarred; you can use whichever you choose (or you can upgrade the ingredients to fresh or home-made).  As for the pizza dough, most supermarkets carry it in their deli section (usually with the potato salads and sandwiches, if available), so it should be easy to find.  Some grocery stores even carry them in the freezer section.  Either way, expect to pay anywhere from $1-2 for a 16-20 oz ball of dough.  As for the pizza sauce, feel free to use whatever brand tickles your fancy.  If you want, you can use the same tomato sauce you would normally use on pasta (Ragu, Prego, Classico).  I’ve done this more than a few times.

The whole idea of this recipe is to inspire you to make a pizza one day after work.  It’s a great, comforting meal after a hard day at the office.  If you can make this in 20-25 minutes, what is the purpose of ordering one and paying 3x as much?  If you find that you don’t have two hours to let the dough rise, that’s fine.  Just place it in a lubricated bowl in a warm place for 15 minutes, while you gather the rest of the ingredients, and proceed normally.  The only difference is that you won’t get a chewy crust (not very many air bubbles in the dough while it cooks).

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 10-12 minutes
Total Time: 2.5 hours
Difficulty: Easy
Notes: You’re going to want to let the dough rise twice in order to get a nice consistency.  That is where the high total time comes from since you have to let it rise for one hour, twice.

Here is what it should look like when you pull it out of the oven:

Ingredients:

1 16-20 oz ball of pizza dough (thawed)
1/2 cup pizza sauce
15-20 pepperoni slices
2 oz each sliced mushrooms and sliced black olives (from a can is fine)
1 roasted red pepper, sliced into long strips (from a jar is fine, too)
1 tsp dry oregano
4-6 oz shredded mozzarella cheese
1 tbsp corn meal
2 tbsp flour

Procedure:

Lubricate a clean glass bowl with some cooking spray or olive oil.  Place the pizza dough in the bowl, cover with a clean, dry kitchen towel, and leave it to rise on the counter for one hour.  Push the dough down with your fingers (you will hear the sound of the air escaping), cover with the kitchen towel and let it rise for one more hour.  About halfway through the second rise, place a pizza stone on the bottom rack of your oven and heat it to 500 degrees.  Allow the oven to heat up while the dough rises for the second time and while you prepare the pizza for the oven.  Sprinkle half the flour on the counter and dump the dough out over it.  Sprinkle some on top of the dough as well.

Using a rolling pin (or you can stretch it by hand, if you’d like), roll the dough out to about 1/4 inch thick (or to about 16-18 inches in diameter). After the dough is the appropriate size, use your fingers to press down on the dough about 1/4-1/2 inch in from the edges (this will allow it to rise higher than the center of the pizza).  Sprinkle your pizza peel with half the corn meal and place the dough on the peel.  Pour the sauce in the center and, using a ladle, spread it out with a circular motion, all the way up to about 1/4-1/2 inch from the edge.  Shake the pizza on the peel to ensure it doesn’t stick.  Sprinkle the cheese over the pizza, making sure to cover it equally.  Again, shake the pizza on the peel to prevent sticking.  Spread the rest of the ingredients over the pizza and, you guessed it, shake the peel to ensure the pie doesn’t stick.

Sprinkle the pizza stone with the other half of the other half of the corn meal and then lay the pizza on the stone.  Cook for 10-12 minutes, depending on how crispy you want the crust to be.  Remove it from the oven and sprinkle with the oregano.  Let it sit for 1 minute before you slice it.

If you’re only cooking for two people or less, you can cut the dough in half before allowing it to rise and just use half of the ingredients mentioned.  Don’t overload your pizza or you will have a very difficult time getting it to slide on the pizza peel, even if you use a lot of corn meal.

Buen Provecho!