Philadelphia Magazine writer Jason Fagone spent one year profiling some of the most divinely outsized personalities in the world of competitive eating. While Akron house painter Coondog O'Karma makes a midlife grab at glory via rapid-fire pizza consumption, Bill "El Wingador" Simmons attempts to reclaim Wong Bowl supremacy from 90lb Sonya "Black Widow" Thomas, and day trader Tim Janus dons the mantle of the mysterious Eater X, it all comes down to one shared hunger. They all want to win the Mustard Yellow Belt of International Hot Dog Eating Supremacy back from the Japanese who'd dominated the Nathan's Famous Fourth of July International Hot Dog-Eating Contest nearly every year since 1997.
Back in July of 2001, that would mean beating the record of 25 1/8 set the previous year by Kazutoyo "The Rabbit" Arai.
Behold the Whatafarm burger, which according to alanbeam.net, via about.blank is "a burger ordered from the Whataburger chain and includes chicken, egg, cheese and bacon. 2 parts cow, 2 parts chicken, 1 part pig."
I'm all for the orgiastic multi-species chow down, what with my penchant for Kentucky burgoo (2 formats of cow -- old and young, lamb, pig, and chicken) and applaud the orderers for their gastronomic gumption. If I were being all harrumphy about it, I could note that the menu offers pig in sausage form and a fish filet as well and they opted for neither, but hey - Michelangelo didn't knock out the Sistine Chapel on his first jaunt up the scaffolding.
We salute you with all hooves, claws and trotters up!
Today is all about mixing sweetness into the usual savory fare. Above, you can watch Chef Johan Jansen make fruit pizza on the grill -- scone dough, berries, a cream cheese-based fruit dip, and whipped cream. It's basically a bbq'd dough topped with dessert goodies, but I wonder about switching it up a little to make an actual cheese pizza -- dough, fruit, and maybe some brie? Still, it looks darned good.
But I'm also going to alert you to one more that has an interesting idea, even if the cooking practices leave a little to be desired. PunkAssChef has posted a how-to for "Sticky Booty Burgers," which are peanut butter and jelly burgers. I just couldn't highlight a show that lathers peanut butter on a burger with a knife, and then dips it back into the jar, so I'm just including it as an add-on. (I'm a pretty easygoing kitchen person, but that just icked me.)
Our intrepid pack of testers blind-chomped their way through fifty different franks, hot dogs and wieners in hot pursuit of the top tube steak in all the land. Not a single chicken, turkey or tofu dog made the final cut, while beef and pork reigned supreme. Did your favorite frank lead the pack?
The floods in the Mid-West are causing a nationwide increase in food prices across the board. Corn and soy prices are increasing dramatically which means other foods that depend upon them are increasing as well. Expect to see many grocery items like meats, cheese, eggs, milk, oil, etc. increase in price.
I spent summers as a child in the corn fields of Iowa, many of which have become lakes, with the gently hills small islands. Now many of these farmers are calling it quits, selling off the farms and getting out of the business. Animals are being sold off, which means a short term meat glut, but a long term shortage. Don't expect prices to go down from the quick influx of meat, because the long term shortage is so visible that prices have to start reacting now.
This is going to have such long term effects that you can expect your Holiday turkeys and hams to cost quite a bit more than last year, and possibly even more the year after that. Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
I'm posting images of sausage counters the world over each weeknight (and occasionally weekend) witching hour until I run out. Please use the comments section to post links to your Flickr or personal site faves, and perhaps you'll see 'em posted here late some evening.
I'm posting images of sausage counters the world over each weeknight (and occasionally weekend) witching hour until I run out. Please use the comments section to post links to your Flickr or personal site faves, and perhaps you'll see 'em posted here late some evening.
Breakfast Sausage in Washington State. From Flickr user ramparts54s Flickr.
I'm posting images of sausage counters the world over each weeknight (and occasionally weekend) witching hour until I run out. Please use the comments section to post links to your Flickr or personal site faves, and perhaps you'll see 'em posted here late some evening.
If you've got Luke Perry sharing his recipes, you've also got to have Jason Priestley getting in on the action. Dylan was all about the fatty, Southern cookin' with steak, biscuits, and lard, but Brandon went for a different spin. Surprisingly, Jason wasn't getting into something Canadian, but rather, something classically Tex-mex. Oh, yes. Tacos -- not just any tacos, but ones that require you to have the crispy, envelope kind. If you don't, they tell you how to make 'em!
Sausages in the case at Kramarczuk's Meat Counter in Minneapolis, MN. From Flickr user Leah Z's Flickr.
I'm posting images of sausage counters the world over each weeknight (and occasionally weekend) witching hour until I run out. Please use the comments section to post links to your Flickr or personal site faves, and perhaps you'll see 'em posted here late some evening.
If you've got Luke Perry sharing his recipes, you've also got to have Jason Priestley getting in on the action. Dylan was all about the fatty, Southern cookin' with steak, biscuits, and lard, but Brandon went for a different spin. Surprisingly, Jason wasn't getting into something Canadian, but rather, something classically Tex-mex. Oh, yes. Tacos -- not just any tacos, but ones that require you to have the crispy, envelope kind. If you don't, they tell you how to make 'em!
