What's cooking Jan 01, 2012

[powerplantop]

The moment you all have been waiting for. The end to Pacanis' Personal Pigskin Challenge! And what more fitting way to bid farewell to my culinary travels than to make a dish symbolizing American Capitalism (and gluttony) that was actually invented in Pittsburgh!
I give to you, the Big Mac! My style, grilled, but it's all there. And layered correctly, too

Impressive!

 

[Andy M.]

The moment you all have been waiting for. The end to Pacanis' Personal Pigskin Challenge! And what more fitting way to bid farewell to my culinary travels than to make a dish symbolizing American Capitalism (and gluttony) that was actually invented in Pittsburgh!
I give to you, the Big Mac! My style, grilled, but it's all there. And layered correctly, too

Excellent as usual! Did you have to buy and eat a lot of Big Macs for research?

 

[vitauta]

The moment you all have been waiting for. The end to Pacanis' Personal Pigskin Challenge! And what more fitting way to bid farewell to my culinary travels than to make a dish symbolizing American Capitalism (and gluttony) that was actually invented in Pittsburgh!
I give to you, the Big Mac! My style, grilled, but it's all there. And layered correctly, too

oboyoboyoboYYY!!!! what a great ppp finale, pac!!!! your big mac is a way-crazy-awesome-craveburger!!!! (what's your sauce?)

 

[Vanilla Bean]

I made sloppy joes with tater-tots

 

[Somebunny]

We were out this afternoon, we missed lunch, so decided to stop at a local eatery for an early dinner. I had some fabulous baby back ribs, I had my choice of traditional or honey rubbed, since I don't like BBQ sauce that much, I had the honey rubbed and I must tell you they were great and I will be trying to copy that glaze/rub The waitress was kind enough to warn me that there was a small amount of chili powder used (not a problem for me)she said it just gave them a little "kick"(could have kicked even more IMO)! Yum! Since this was a half rack portion under the appetizer section, I also ordered a cup of their "loaded" potato soup. DH had a smoked turkey club sandwich which he reported was equally good.

 

[Ranchwifeg]

Potato salad and club sandwiches. Not the best, but it beat cooking a big meal since no one wanted to drive 20 miles to town to eat out.

 

[vitauta]

We both enjoy a nice steak, so we had grilled steaks. Just right and almost 2-inches thick. Sauteed onions and mushrooms on top and a mixed salad of romaine, kalamata olives, feta cheese, artichoke hearts and some kind of yummy little peppers that were stuffed with mozzarella cheese wrapped in prosciutto. Washed it down with iced tea and both of us were too full to even consider one little Christmas cookie for dessert. Oh, well, the cookies will still be here tomorrow.

all throughout my growing up years, i routinely sacrificed the dessert course of meals so that i could pack in some more steak, potatoes, mushrooms, etc...even to this day, if i'm sitting down to a really tasty meal, i will pile on a second or third helping onto my plate, foregoing the most tempting of desserts, no problem....

 

[pacanis]

Thanks

Excellent as usual! Did you have to buy and eat a lot of Big Macs for research?

Just one I wanted to make sure my layers were consistent with the pics I was seeing. Otherwise it would be just another burger with two all beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions on a sesame seed bun

oboyoboyoboYYY!!!! what a great ppp finale, pac!!!! your big mac is a way-crazy-awesome-craveburger!!!! (what's your sauce?)

I used Thousand Island dressing. It seemed close enough. That first bite felt just like I was biting into a big mac, but then the grilled burgers kicked in, so it was like a big mac if BK made them

Thanks again. It was fun.

 

[vitauta]

so, if you were to add tomato then your big mac could also qualify as a bk whopper!! (the whopper was my fave fast food burger sandwich--cos it was grilled. i no longer eat either one, but i'd sure go for one of yours, pac!

got any plans for next season?

 

[pacanis]

so, if you were to add tomato then your big mac could also qualify as a bk whopper!! (the whopper was my fave fast food burger sandwich--cos it was grilled. i no longer eat either one, but i'd sure go for one of yours, pac!

got any plans for next season?

lol, I was thinking that when I was taking a shower this morning... that if I had added a slice of tomato that I erroneously bought, changed the sauce to ketchup and mayo, I'd have a Whopper

My plans for next season are to not do this again
Even I thought it got to be a bit much finding a food and cooking it on such and such a day and on a weekly basis. I did run across some nice foods that I wouldn't have otherwise though.

 

[Claire]

We went to a late buffet lunch (I'm really getting aggravated at people calling anything brunch), then all came to our house for some bubbly and conversation. I made the two of us, after everyone left, some macaroni & cheese, easy (not the baked kind) for supper.

 

[PattY1]

Thanks

I used Thousand Island dressing. It seemed close enough. That first bite felt just like I was biting into a big mac, but then the grilled burgers kicked in, so it was like a big mac if BK made them

Thanks again. It was fun.

I have a recipe for "mock" Big Mac Sauce. Let me know if you want it.

 

[forty_caliber]

Arroz con Polo at our house tonight.

.40

 

[pacanis]

I have a recipe for "mock" Big Mac Sauce. Let me know if you want it.

Sure, serve it up
It's hard to say when the next time I'll be making big macs is, but I'm sure it will work on Ruebens, too.

 

[Dawgluver]

Sure, serve it up
It's hard to say when the next time I'll be making big macs is, but I'm sure it will work on Ruebens, too.

Pac, if Big Macs looked like that here, I would weigh 300 pounds. Yummmmm!

 

[pacanis]

Thanks, Dawg!

 

[buckytom]

we spent new years day in the city shopping, seeing the tree in rockefeller center, then went out to eat.

dw and my boy by the tree. he was getting tired and crabby and didn't want to smile.

the tree over the statue of prometheus:

sorry about the blur. they're cell phone pics.


we ate at dw's favourite italian joint on 9th, www.puttanescanyc.com .

like so many things, it wasn't as good as it used to be. we started with ridiculously overpriced salads ($12 for a handful of frisee and hazelnuts, with a beet chopped up into it?), then my boy had spaghetti and meatballs, dw had the bronzino and roast spuds, and i had a special of crawfish over squid ink linguini.

my family's dinners were just ok; the portions were tiny but tasted ok. but they served me just 6 small whole crawfish with overcooked pasta, for $25!!!!

first of all, it was kind of a fancy place to expect me to eat tomato sauced crawfish by hand. but the worst part was that they didn't exactly taste very fresh, kinda fishy.

oh well, at least i was finally able to convince my wife that we can try other restaurants the next time she comes into the city. the last 4 or 5 times we ended up eating at this same place because it always was so good. i'm not sure what changed, but we won't be back.

nonetheless, it was a really good day to start the new year.