There is nothing better than a steak grilled outside in the summertime.  The aroma and sensation of cooking one’s own dinner over an open flame are both very primitive and satisfying feelings.  Not to mention the flavor of marbled beef cooked medium rare (my taste) along with all the appropriate sides makes for perfection incarnate.

I recently saw that The Washington Post  put together a handy chart (pdf) for doing the above activity, that is, without breaking the bank.  Instead of my cherished bone-in rib-eye or strip steak, the article makes a case for cuts such as hangar, flatiron and tri-tip.  The chart also provides basics of grilling as well the parts of the cow where all the cuts come from.  

Give it a look and enjoy the delicious results.  And report back here with results!

H/t to Consumerist for the scoop and Another Pint Please… for the pic.

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As a promotion for Cheeto’s newest product,  Giant Cheetos, Gizmodo was sent “the world’s largest Cheeto.” So what did they do with it? What else? They made a member of their team eat it over the worlds most expensive keyboard. Check out the video below:

H/T Gizmodo and Scandalist.

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Seems like a pretty adult oriented ad for a commercial that is promoting kids meals. Trying to convince parents to take their kids to Burger King? Also, what’s the message to kids? Booty is booty?

H/T to So Good commenter Youppi.

Update: SongSpeak posts video of the full song/music video as well as the full lyrics of the song.  He also asks the obvious question that still must be asked:

Is it wise to use a song that glorifies fat asses to advertise a fast food restaurant that gives people…well…fat asses?

The full music video appears below:

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1. Guy Fieri

Show and Premise: Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives.  Guy Fieri (pronounced with extra Italian emphasis) showcases awesome eateries all over the U.S.  Great premise.

My Problem: My brother loves this guy, but anyone could do his job.  Here’s an idea: Why don’t we pluck Andy Rooney off of his old person’s couch.  You know, that ancient guy who wears glasses and is SALTY AS FUCK.  Let’s bring him to awesome diners, drive-ins and dives all over the country.  This would make insanely great television.  Who doesn’t want to see an old man muttering and trying to eat giant burgers while trying to suppress his “quiet” racism when forced to eat Mexican food?

Instead, we have a Van’s Warped Tour reject wandering around eating things.  This is considered entertainment.  His food criticism is terrifying.  This is probably the part of the show that makes me want to put my skinny white fist right through screen the most.  “Awesome.”  “Wow.  Wow.”  “This is great.”  “This is awesome.”  Thanks Guy, thank you for your insight.

My Solution: Shoot Guy Fieri out of a canon into outer space.  Replace him with either Rooney or a morbidly obese 14-year-old.

2. Mario Batali

Show and premise: Molto Mario and Iron Chef America.  Alright, I know that the show was canceled in 2004.  But it was done for a reason.  I loves me some Iron Chef, but tend to gravitate towards the classic version with AWFUL voice-over work.

My Problem: Pompous, terrible sense of humor, and the real nail in the coffin: He makes me agree with Mo Rocca.  I hate Mo Rocca, but apparently we both hate the fact that Mario wears Crocs.  I dislike Crocs footwear more than Mario, so it’s a deadly combination.

Let’s not forget his descriptions of food.  When creating a simple lasagna, you get this crammed into your ear-hole: “This is no simple ricotta.  No, this is prepared in the Southern-most tip of a’Italy, where the women were without proper cheese cloths.  In order to separate the curds from the whey, they would…zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz…Look, I like to learn about regional cooking, but not by a guy so in love with his own voice.  This problem is especially evident in Iron Chef, where it takes him approximately 4/5’s of the show to present his first two dishes.  He’s essentially the David Foster Wallace of cooking with no endearing qualities.

My solution: Put him on a PBS show with the actress-wife of epic fail Coldplay singer Chris Martin.  That way no…oh, they already did.  FANTASTIC.

3. Sandra Lee/Rachael Ray

Show and Premise: Sandra Lee’s Semi-Homemade Cooking/ 30 Minute Whatevs.  Anyone can cook when they don’t have to try!

My problem: Let’s keep this short and sweet.  They don’t want you to try.  They do this under the guise of helping people who don’t have time to cook.  They actively promote laziness.  No, don’t learn the proper technique of cooking!  Get everything pre-made, respect no tradition.  Spit on the memory of Julia Child.  Is this the new American tradition of cooking?  Will mom’s pass these half-assed recipes down through generations?  I shudder at the thought.

My Solution: Shoot them out of canons facing each other.

4. Andrew Zimmern

Show and Premise: Bizarre Foods.  He goes all over the world eating strange food.

My Problem: This show is essentially Fear Factor with no underwater cages.  Zimmern is like a cruel American caricature, a fat, bald, jolly tourist with khaki shorts and salmon golf t-shirts.  His show is an unfortunate victim of reality show over-exposure syndrome.  How many times can I watch an American talking about how weird things are everywhere else?

Also, Andrew, speaking to foreigners isn’t the same as talking to people with hearing aids; LOUD and SLOW is patronizing.  Especially when the show is painfully half-scripted.  Honestly, it’s a less interesting version of Man Vs. Wild with Bear Grylls.  That being said, I would kill to see Andrew Zimmern jump into glacial pools and drink his own urine (less bacteria when it’s fresh, kids)!

My Solution: Never mind.  Just keep sending him out there.  It’s just so embarrassing.

5. Marc Summers

Show and Premise: Unwrapped.  Summers narrates over informative stock footage of candy factories.

My Problem: That he is completely and utterly insane.  His show is like the films you watched in Technology class in Middle School.  Clean, precise, full of boring, boring information.  Oh god.  It’s just so creepy and lifeless.  The only thing besides a Mark Summers voice-over that will make me change the channel faster is Real Housewives of Orange County.  And that should tell you something.

My Solution: Make Mark Summers take a bunch of peyote and wander around in the desert.  That should really make the show interesting.

Dishonorable Mention: Anthony Bourdain

Show and Premise: Eternally hip No Reservations

My Problem: Let’s make it clear that I have no problem with Bourdain The Writer.  He’s great at his craft, and I’ve read one and a half of his books.  However, his show is bizarrely formulaic for being anti-celebrity chef in its scabrous nature.  How his show reads:

1. Tony shows up in city or country.  Comments on how he can/can’t drink/smoke.
2. Tony voices his pre-determined opinion.  He knows it’s going to be great/doubts the locale’s greatness.
3. Tony eats a ton of food, but usually saves his more orgasmic reactions for meat.  Which is understandable (I guess?).
4. Tony gets too drunk/complains about how one of his shoots is boring
5. In the last scene, Tony eats a traditional peasants’ food, and reminds everyone that we’ve lost our way.  Talks about how he is “truly happy,” and how that is a rare thing.

Again, great writer, hilarious guy, show is getting stale like no one’s business.

Hope this sparks some debate.  I left out Bobby Flay because he’d be too easy.

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Last Saturday I had a friend in town from NYC, and wanted to give her a real taste of the Lone Star State. We went over to a friend’s house for a good old Texas smoked meat fest. By the time we got to my buddy’s house, the preparations were well underway. On the smoker was a nine pound pork shoulder and two birds.

See smoker (a salty veteran on the BBQ circuit):

My buddy cooked the shoulder (aka Boston butt) with mesquite wood between 275 to 300 degrees for close to eight hours. The birds went on for the last three. The night before they went on the smoker, he put his special rub on the meat, and put a bunch of rosemary inside the birds right before smoke-time.

When the meat came off, it smelled heavenly, and was unbelievably tender and moist – in short, delicious. Accompanying this delight was potato salad, cole slaw, plenty of sauce – hot and BBQ, along with sliced pickles, diced onion and plain white bread – all Texas traditions.

Here’s the only shot I could get of the bird and butt. The hungry crowd went after it like piranhas, even the New York folks. I only wish the picture conveyed a smell…

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I find the general obsession with celebrity chefs a bit odd. Usually once they become “celebrities” they cease all cooking and just exist. Seriously what do they do?. Other than pimp themselves out via crappy reality shows, not much. DISCLAIMER: I DO SOMETIMES ENJOY NEXT TOP CHEF.

Serious Eats recently wrote about the lack of celebrity chefs who actually stay in the kitchen, and I totally agree with almost everything they say. Someone needs to tell these people that a key part of being a “celebrity chef,” is actually cooking.

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Well a week and a half ago, at a BBQ for my friends birthday, I finally got to try making them myself. First I delved into a huge pot of pulled pork, deliciously prepared by my friend Dave:

Next step, throw the pork on a griddle along with some sliced onions and red peppers.

As the pork, peppers and onions were cooking, I spread some olive oil on each of our rolls and threw them on the griddle to give the rolls a little toasty crisp.

(Your humble So Good writer and creator manning the griddle)

Once it’s been cooked for a few minutes and the peppers and onions have been cooked, throw some cheese on top. We tried using both cheddar and provolone, ultimately deciding that provolone worked the best:

As the cheese begins to melt, place your rolls on top so that when it comes time to take the pork off the griddle you can scoop under the pork, flip it over and stuff it into the roll.

After trying several variations (all delicious) we decided the sandwich went best with provolone cheese and some creamy horseradish spread. When the final sandwiches were complete, it was time to dig in and enjoy:

If anyone at home decides to try this themselves, either the same way I did it, or with a different approach, be sure to let me know how it turns out!

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And yeah, I know the photo sucks. I don’t know what happened. I darkened it on my computer and made it look good, then everytime I posted the picture it would revert back to looking too bright from the flash.  I’m terrible at photography btw, which is why I could never have “that kind” of food blog.

Italian Pasta Salad

Ingredients

1 pound rotini pasta
1/2 pound grape or cherry tomatos, sliced length wise
8 oz. mozzarella cheese, cubed
3 oz genoa salami
3 oz pepperoni
1 2.25 oz can of sliced black olives
2 bell peppers (I used one orange, one green, but pick your favorite)
1 medium red onion
1 can artichoke hearts

Dressing

1/2 cup olive oil
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1 Tbsp Italian seasoning (marjoram, thyme, rosemary, savory, sage, oregano, basil)
2 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
several dashes of Tabasco sauce

Directions:

1. Cook pasta for 10-11 minutes. Pasta should be firm but not al dente
2. Slice mozzarella cheese into cubes
3. Slice pepperoni & salami into small strips
4. Slice red onion and bell peppers into inch long strips
5. Cut artichokes into small pieces
6. Combine all ingredients in large bowl
7. In small bowl, mix together ingredients for dressing.
8. Add dressing to salad, mix/toss thoroughly

Enjoy!

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Believe it or not, Cindy McCain has been caught AGAIN doing the EXACT SAME THING! For the last 4 elections, Parents.com and their publications have asked the candidates wives to submit their favorite cookie recipes.

This year, Michelle Obama submitted a recipe for shortbread cookies which utilize amaretto and have a lemon orange zest. Michelle credits the recipe to Mama Kaye, who is the Godmother of her two daughters.

Cindy McCain submitted a recipe for Oatmeal-Butterscotch cookies. Cindy says of the cookies, “originally for special occasions only, these butterscotch-chip-studded cookies are now ‘an absolute must’ whenever the whole family gets together.”

So who does Cindy McCain credit for the recipe? She says it came from “a good friend.” It turns out that like many Republicans, one of Cindy’s “good friends” is not an actual person, but a corporation. In this case, it’s the Hershey’s corporation, who have an identical recipe posted on their website.

Just like the previous recipe plagiarizing incident, the problem is not that Cindy McCain used someone else’s recipe, it’s that just like before, she gave zero credit to the original source of the recipe, and tried to pass it off as her own. And seriously, even if you aren’t going to give credit where credit is due, throw in some walnuts and a 5 minute longer baking time…it’s like she isn’t even TRYING to fool people who know how to use Google.

For shame Cindy, for shame.

Albert Einstein says the definition of insanity is “doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”

Stop the recipe stealing insanity Cindy!!!!!!

Click below the fold to see actual screenshots of the “Cindy McCain recipe” and the original Hershey’s recipe. Spoiler warning: you aren’t going to find any differences.

“Cindy’s Recipe“:

Hershey’s Recipe:

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