Jack Link Sweet & Spicy Thai Beef Jerky

Jack Link's beef jerky is always of excellent quality, and their new Sweet & Spicy Thai flavor is no exception: the beef is always top-notch, sliced uniformly, and flavored evenly. It's flavored with soy sauce and hot pepper - the pepper variety isn't specified, but it tastes to me more like standard cayenne than Thai birdseye pepper - and I guess this combination of heat and soy is what inspired the name.

There's a strange smell when the bag is opened; I likened it to chlorine bleach, my daughter thought it was "detergenty," and my wife simply sniffed the air suspiciously and asked, "Eww. Is that the dog?" Nevertheless, there was also the rich and beefy smell of jerky so we tried a bite or two despite the interesting aroma.

The first taste is sweet, followed by the warm pepper sensation, which was quite mild but cumulative. Only after a couple of pieces did the spice really come forward, and even then it wasn't unbearable. I'd peg it at the low end of medium. The heat was persistent, though, and carried the sensation down the hatch, giving a "deep warmth" that reminded me of taking a shot of whiskey.

Overall, a worthy jerky especially for those looking for a bit of a kick, but a few points off for the smell.

Link (no pun intended):

Jack Link's website

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Enzo's Brick Oven Pizza, East Longmeadow MA

Edit, 2 September 2011:  Enzo's Brick Oven Pizza is CLOSED and the storefront is vacant.  I have no information about what happened to them or whether the owners will be opening another restaurant elsewhere.

Enzo's Brick Oven Pizza shares a small building with a storefront KFC on the corner of Shaker Road and Chestnut in East Longmeadow MA. The KFC is widely known for it's exceptionally slow service, and it's usually empty. Enzo's is known for decent pizza and there's usually a steady stream of customers, even in a small town like East Longmeadow with five other pizza places nearby.

Inside, the atmosphere is cozy and friendly. A lighted menu board facing the door highlights some of the non-pizza offerings of the restaurant, while a huge chalkboard display behind the counter details lunch menus, grinders, and pizza varieties. The back page of the menu also features a long list of "regional" pizza toppings that can be ordered. They've got a great variety and it goes far beyond the usual peppers/onion/pepperoni/sausage House Specials of other places.

Service is quick and friendly, and there's no more than the normal 15 or 20-minute wait while an ordered pizza is assembled and baked. While we waited for our take-out, we had an order of fried mozzarella sticks which were brought out quickly. They were pretty standard frozen breaded cheese sticks deep-fried to order, but the real reason we got them was to taste the marinara sauce that came along with it. It was very good, nicely seasoned, and tasted like it had been made there rather than poured from a jar. Quite nice.

The pizza was excellent, and was indeed a reasonable "New York Style" pizza, with a thin but not crispy crust. The toppings were plentiful and well-balanced, with a great tangy sauce and the right amount of cheese. Overall, we were very pleased with it, and we'll certainly go back again.

There's just one thing: Don't go there expecting a real "brick oven" pizza. You won't find a coal-fired brick oven here like you would at a place like Frank Pepe's. Enzo's "brick oven" is a standard pizza oven with a fake brick facade around it.

Enzo's Brick Oven Pizza
CLOSED
238 Shaker Rd
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
(413) 525-8462‎

Enzo's didn't have a website at the time this post was written.

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Java Pop

About a year ago, I reviewed Caramel-flavor Java Pop, an organic coffee-based soft drink made in Vermont. At the time, I mentioned that there were five flavors, but I could only find Caramel locally, and that was at a local job lot store.

After being more or less unavailable in my area for almost a year however, Java Pop is back, and this time in all five flavors - Hazelnut, Espresso, Mocha, Vanilla, and Caramel.

The Caramel flavor is still rich and butterscotchy and delicious, and so good that as I picked up four-packs of the other flavors I hoped I wouldn't be disappointed. For the most part, I wasn't.

Vanilla is very good; the coffee background compliments the vanilla well and neither of the flavors overpowers the other. I was afraid that it would be very similar to the Caramel, but it wasn't like it at all - there are no butterscotchy or "toasted sugar" notes to the flavor, just sweet and mellow vanilla.

Espresso is the one Java Pop that really tastes like coffee, and it's my wife's favorite. It's less sweet than the others and has a distinctive bitter coffee "bite" to it that she likes (she also likes her hot coffee without sugar, so the bitterness is kind of appealing to her.) I find the dryer taste more refreshing than the sweeter flavors.

Mocha is interesting; I expected it to be more chocolaty, but the chocolate/coffee combination creates an interesting "phantom flavor" that is reminiscent of peanuts. The chocolate flavor comes later, after swallowing, as almost an aroma "left behind" in the mouth.

My least favorite is the Hazelnut, which should come as no surprise since I can't stand hazelnuts or things made with them, and the stuff really does taste authentic.

As always, Java Pops are organic and don't use high-fructose corn syrup as a sweetener. If you live in New England, chances are you're near an Ocean State Job Lot store, where four-packs of Java Pop in all flavors are being sold right now for $1 each - that's just a quarter for each 12-ounce bottle, probably the best soft-drink deal out there.

Link:

Java Pop's website - a Flash-based site with a hideous soundtrack loop. Go to the bottom right corner of the page to turn off the sound, you'll be glad you did.

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New England Baked Beans

Baked beans were a staple at my house when we were growing up. My mother never failed to have a couple of cans of B&M Baked Beans in the cupboard. They were cheap and easy, and they were, I have to admit, pretty good. It wasn't until I was in my 20's and out on my own that I tried to make my very own homemade baked beans. I'm glad I did - making beans is easy and, while not as inexpensive as buying a can at the supermarket - a lot better tasting.

You can make baked beans in a crock pot, but they really do come out better in a genuine beanpot. The design of the pot, with the wide shoulder and narrow mouth, is designed to limit the amount of moisture that escapes as the beans cook, holding them at the perfect temperature and humidity as they bake. Luckily, it's common to find bean pots in excellent condition at yard sales, church rummage sales, and estate sales for a very reasonable price - I've never paid more than $8.00 for any of mine, and most of the time they're $5 or under - and in excellent condition (check the pot out carefully before you buy it and don't buy one with any cracks or without a lid.)

My recipe, which follows, is one I have developed over the past 20 years. It calls for maple syrup as the sweetener, which makes it easy to get the flavor just right. You can substitute brown sugar, sugar and mollasses, or -- ::shudder:: -- corn syrup if you like.

Dave's New England Baked Beans
Makes about 2 quarts.

1 pound dry Navy or white pea beans
Water
1 medium onion, coarsely chopped
2 tsp dry mustard
1 tsp powdered ginger
1 dash of salt
1 dash of HOT Hungarian paprika or cayenne pepper (optional)
1/4 pound of lean salt pork brisket
10 to 12 ounces of maple syrup

Rinse and pick through the beans; cover deeply with plenty of water and bring to a full rolling boil. Boil hard for 1 minutes, the remove from the heat to set aside for 1 hour. This "quick soak" eliminates the need to allow the beans to soak overnight in water.

While the beans are soaking, prepare the bean pot. Chop the onions and put them on the bottom of the pot. Add the mustard, ginger, dash of salt, and optional dash of hot pepper. Cut the salt pork into chunks and add that to the pot as well.

After the beans have soaked for an hour, you'll notice that they're bigger and plumper-looking than they were before. They're still not ready to bake, though. First, they must be boiled yet again. Bring them quickly to a boil over high heat, then turn the heat down to a simmer and cook them for 10 - 15 minutes. You'll know that they're ready when you can take a spoonful of them from the pot, blow on them, and the skins will split and curl away.

Preheat the oven to 300 F. Drain the beans but reserve the hot water, and put the beans into the pot on top of the other ingredients. It's not necessary to stir.
















Pour in a cup (8 ounces) of maple syrup into the pot, followed by a cup of the reserved hot water. Then, pour another 2 to 4 ounces of syrup in and follow that with enough additional reserved hot water to just cover the beans a little. The more syrup you put in, the sweeter the beans will come out. I've found that ten ounces total of syrup is "just right" to my taste, and 12 ounces total makes it noticeably sweeter.









Put the lid on the bean pot and place into your 300 F oven for 30 minutes, then turn the oven down to 250 F and bake the beans for 8 to 12 hours. I like to put them in the oven on a Saturday night around 7 or 8 PM. By the time I'm getting up on Sunday morning, the whole house smells like delicious baked beans, and I'll have a serving of them with breakfast.

Taco Bell Bacon Cheddar Gordita Crunch

There's something new at Taco Bell: The Bacon Cheddar Gordita Crunch. It's a crunchy beef taco in a pillowy gordita shell, with a layer of bacon-studded cheddar between the two shells and a generous dollop of "zesty southwest cheddar sauce" on top of the beef.

The poster art makes it look fantastic, of course. And, although in real life it's considerably less aesthetically constructed (as you can see below) this Gordita Crunch is pretty good.

The cheese-smothered bacon is boldly flavored, but not very crisp. Thanks to the hard taco shell hugging the bacon layer however, the illusion of crispy bacon is nicely realized.

In fact, I found it quite delicious, because the sum of all these ingredients make the Bacon Cheddar Gordita Crunch taste like my favorite fast-food sandwich: a bacon cheeseburger.

Definitely a thumbs up. If you're a Taco Bell regular, give it a try for variety's sake. And if you only stop by there occasionally, the Bacon Cheddar Gordita Crunch will give you a good excuse to visit.

Links:

Taco Bell's Bacon Cheddar Gordita Crunch web page, complete with nutritional information. You might not want to actually know how many calories and grams of sodium are in this massive handful of bacon, cheese, and beef, so click at your own risk.

Marianne at the Royal Bacon Society recently reviewed the Bacon Cheddar Gordita Crunch. See what she has to say by clicking here.

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Dave's Kitchen Nightmares

Four delicious-looking Australian lamb shanks. A Manager's Special at Stop & Shop Friday, two per package, and just $1.99 a pound. Seemed like just the thing to quell a lamb jones that'd been nagging me for the past couple of weeks.

I got the shanks home and pulled them out of the cryovac packaging. They looked good and smelled okay when I gave 'em a whiff, so I rinsed them off, patted them dry, and started them off in a Dutch oven, on their way to being braised lamb shanks.

A few hours later and the family was sitting down to braised shanks, garlic mashed potatoes, and fresh green beans, with a tureen of gravy made from the braising liquid and veggies, forced through a sieve and thickened by reducing over a low fire.

My daughter took a bite of hers and wrinkled her nose. "Very lamby," she noted. She doesn't really like lamb a lot, but she'll eat it as long as we don't have it very often. Usually I make grilled lamb loin chops, or some other mildly-flavored cut.

My shank was kind of, well, strong-smelling. Not in a real pleasant way, either. I cut off a bite and there was no question as I tasted it - this shank was rank. Spoiled. Since they'd all cooked together in the Dutch oven, I didn't want to take any chances, so all four of them went into the bin and the gravy went down the drain. My daughter remembered how many times Gordon Ramsey has been served spoiled food by restauranteurs on Kitchen Nightmares and got a big kick out of yelling in an English accent, "How did you not smell that? Are you trying to f---ing kill me?"

Luckily, we still had plenty of mashed potatoes and green beans. I took some genoa salami out of the fridge and used it to roll up some ridiculous faux sushi, which were reasonably fun to make and cool to look at, but which came up kind of short in the "tastes good" category. (The dog seemed to like them, though.)

Thank goodness for Kraft Macaroni and Cheese.

Goodies from China!

Wow! Look what came in the mail on Friday! A big box of mysterious and esoteric goodies from China, courtesy of Stephanie! There are all sorts of strange and delicious delights here...let's see...some duck tongues, and duck feet. And here's something called "Spicy Chicken Feet String." Cool candies, and Fishsnacks, and little cakes. ...There are many interesting flavors and blog posts in the days to come.

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Tiger Beer by Asia Pacific Breweries

While at a party last week, I was looking for a beer and Tiger caught my eye - must have been the cool 1930's-style font on the label and embossed above the shoulder of the bottle, I'm a sucker for prewar graphic design.

Tiger is a fairly middle-of-the-road American-style lager (despite it's Asia-Pacific origins.) It pours yellow with a pure-white head that settles down to a thin foam layer. Not too hoppy - I'd describe the taste as grainy with a touch of corn. The malt really comes through, and overall I'd say the taste is pretty similar to Miller High Life (but not as sweet.)

It would probably be a decent ice-cold quaff on a hot summer day, but to be honest, I'll probably never know: The package store charges import-beer prices for Tiger, but Tiger is definitely domestic-suds quality. I can get beer that's just as good or better for a lot less coin.

Red Star Erguotou - Chinese Firewater

Several years ago, my brother-in-law Bob and I were selling at a flea market in early November. Like many of the vendors, we had set up a small camp behind our sales area; we would be there for three days and two nights, so we had a camper van, a canopy and a small cooking area.

On the first night, after the gates had closed, we decided to walk around the market grounds and see what some of the other guys were selling. The market was at a local racetrack and was kind of an automotive swap meet, and we thought we might find some tool or parts sellers, or maybe some who were selling stuff like ours: car-related toys and collectibles.

About a hundred yards down from us, some Chinese vendors had set up a "dollar store" with rows and rows of boxes filled with hardware, inexpensive tools, tarps, bungees, and just dozens of small, indispensable things that everyone likes to pick through and buy. There were six or seven of them sitting in a circle around a big campfire, and they were passing around big half-gallon bottles of some kind of clear liquor. We smiled and waved at them as we walked by, and they all smiled back and waved us over to the fire. We sat down with them and shared the bottles as they passed along - none of our new friends spoke very much English, and Bob and I didn't speak any Chinese, but that didn't matter. We all spoke the universal language of Drink, and within an hour or so we were all half-popped, telling jokes (Bob and I in English, and our hosts in Chinese) and laughing like idiots. I don't remember much else that night. In the morning I woke up and found myself warm and toasty in my van with my propane heater running, so I must have had enough on the ball to find my way back and get ready for bed. I got the camp stove going and put on a huge pot of coffee, and while Bob rummaged around the cooler in search of bacon and eggs I went over and invited the Chinese crew to breakfast. Breakfast was alcohol-free, but we still had a great time, laughing it up as we managed to communicate in broken English and hand signals.

Bob and I never ran into those guys again, but we've never forgotten them, either.

I never knew just what we were drinking that night, only that it was strong and a little harsh and reminded me of very strong, very cheap vodka. It wasn't until years later, when my friend's daughter Stephanie brought me back a bottle from China, that I found out what it was: Erguotou ( 二锅头) an inexpensive 112-proof firewater distilled from sorghum and popular with blue-collar workers in northern China.

These days, Steph speaks fluent Mandarin and has a degree in Chinese Studies and lives in Shanghai teaching English in a Chinese school. She recently came home for a visit during the school's Spring Break, and brought me a small 100ml bottle of Red Star erguotou, bless her.

Red Star Erguotou is extremely popular in Beijing. It's cheap and strong. Stephanie likens the aroma to gasoline, but I don't think it's all that bad. It is indeed quite vaporous, but it reminds me more of the purple-printed mimeographed sheets we used to get in grade school than it does of petrol. Despite the aroma, it has little or no flavor, but it does have quite a burn! 112 proof would be strong enough on its own, but erguotou is harsh and raw-edged, too, and a big swallow burns all the way down. I enjoy the hell out of it, and when I have a bottle of it handy I always have the first drink from it to the health of the anonymous Chinese flea market vendors Bob and I met those years ago.

Links:

Red Star Company's website (English language version) - uses Flash and loads kind of slowly, even with a broadband connection.

Stephanie In Shanghai is Steph's blog about living in China. Stop in and enjoy her perpective as an American ex-pat in China as she recounts her adventures (and her mundane everyday life, too.)

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Bacon-Chocolate Truffles

We were going to a party last weekend and wanted to bring along a batch of munchies that everyone could enjoy. My daughter, an experienced hand at making candy, suggested chocolate truffles, so that's what we did...with a twist: we added crispy bacon bits to the truffle filling. Not only did the smoky, salty bacon and smooth creamy chocolate flavors compliment one another, but the contrast in textures added another layer of interest. The other partygoers were delighted by our creation - a 24-inch platter filled with truffles was empty in no time.

Bacon-Chocolate Truffles

1 3/4 to 2 pounds slab bacon
1 1/2 pounds milk or dark chocolate
1/4 cup butter
2/3 cup evaporated milk
dipping chocolate

Try to get unsliced slab bacon if you can and cut it into 1/4-inch dice. Brown the bacon very crispy in a skillet and watch it carefully! Tiny dice can go from "brown" to "burnt" in a heartbeat, and they do get tiny as they cook. When the bacon is done, remove it from the skillet with a slotted spoon to absorbent paper and allow it to cool. It will get crispy and crunchy as it cools.

Meanwhile, prepare the truffle mixture. In a double boiler, melt the chocolate, butter, and evaporated milk together, stirring until the warm mixture is completely combined. Use as good a chocolate as you can afford, because the quality of the truffle is directly related to the quality of the chocolate you use.

When the truffle mixture is smoothly blended, fold in the bacon bits until they are evenly distributed in the chocolate.

Spread the bacony truffle mixture on a heavy ceramic plate and refrigerate for a few hours until well-chilled. The mixture is soft even when cold, but at room temperature it will be almost unworkable. When completely chilled remove the plate from the fridge and use a small melon baller to scoop out small amounts of truffle mixture and roll them quickly into balls. Set the balls aside on a lined baking sheet as you go. Work quickly - the mixture can only be rolled when it is very cold, and heavy ceramic plate will help keep it cold while you work. After all the mixture is rolled, put the baking sheet full of truffle balls back into the fridge and chill thoroughly again.

Melt the dipping chocolate, then allow it to cool until blood warm - too hot, and the truffle centers will melt as you try to coat them. Dip the chilled truffle centers into the chocolate to coat, and set them aside in paper candy cups to cool and harden. Keep refrigerated until an hour or so before serving. At room temp, the coating will be hard but when bitten into will release the luxuriously creamy centers filled with crunchy bacon bits.

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