On ICEE's and Foam Cups

I got an ICEE yesterday. Okay, it wasn't really an ICEE, but it was a "frozen drink" similar to an ICEE. Some call them slushies, some call them ICEE, I say call me when you're getting them. When I lived in Noblesville, I couldn't go more than five days without this frozen, delightful treat. The best one that I have had is the Mountain Dew one found at most Speedway gas stations. Unfortunately, the one thing that I have not liked about living in Veedersburg is the lack of Mountain Dew frozen drinks. I know, I know, it's rather trivial, that's why I haven't complained to my district superintendent yet.... yet... Anyway, all of this has gotten me on an unexpected tangent. The purpose of this post is to discuss the need for a revolution in the frozen drink world.

You see, some places feel the need to have styrofoam cups for these frozen drinks. On the surface, it makes sense. After all, who wants their frozen drink to melt all over the place. The "Polar Pop" idea works great for fountain drinks, and I am a strong advocate of it because it does make your fountain drink stay colder, longer. This is advantageous because the ice in the fountain drink does not melt and thereby water down your fountain drink. But notice the key modifying word here - fountain drink, not frozen.

When you place a frozen drink in a foam cup, it also keeps it colder longer. Again, this would seem to make sense; however, there is a very important flaw in the system. What makes ICEEs, slushies, or whatever you call these heavenly drinks so good is the fact that the slush stays in a slush-like state. Once it begins to become more frozen, all of the joy of the frozen drink gets sucked up in the syrup, and all you have is a cup full of packed ice. It's very disturbing.

Drinking a frozen drink is an art form. The slush needs to stay slush-like, not hail-like, so you can't drink it too fast (not to mention the fact that drinking it too fast causes a major freeze in my apparently huge brain; it must be huge because it extends to the roof of my mouth). However, the slush also needs to not melt too quickly so you end up with some kind of cold soda that has been left on the counter overnight, so you can't drink it too slow either. But the foam cup kills any kind of drink-timing that goes along with frozen drinks in the first place. It's very disturbing, my friends... very disturbing.

So, I want everyone to come together and raise up a single voice in support of the non-foam cup slushie, or ICEE, or whatever you call it! Stand up, my friends! Stand up against the tyranny of foam cups! Stand up against the crime of packed ice frozen drinks! FREEEEDOOOOOOMMMMmmm!!!

Grilled Beef Tenderloin

Okay, I'm not sure what the deal is with me and tenderloins for the last couple of weeks, but they so flippin' awesome! With Katie out of town this week, I got to do the grocery shopping by myself. This is good for two reasons: 1) I don't have to weigh my wallet down with a bunch of silly things... like vegetables (just kidding, I bought some fruit, salad stuff and asparagus to go along with the veggies we already had); and 2) I can get some meat that we don't usually get. This week was a beef tenderloin and a duck (yet to be made).

Now, in case you didn't know, beef tenderloin is where filet mignon comes from. I know, I know, we all thought it descended down from heaven overnight, but that was manna. Translation: it is an extremely tender and flavorful piece of meat. I decided that I would cook this in a way similar to the grilled pork tenderloin from last week - on the grill.

One thing I learn in preparing this beef tenderloin is that there are a lot of knife skills that would come in handy, which I don't have. I sliced it up pretty good trying to trim some of the excess fat and the silver skin, and then I cut it in half because I don't need to eat all five pounds of this thing at once. After the trimming and separating, there was probably about four pounds left. Two and a half of that got tied together and put in the freezer for later consumption, which left me with about a pound and a half to play with.

Last week I watched an episode of Good Eats that talked about making a dry rub mix. Here is the thing to remember (according to Alton Brown): 8+3+1+1. 8 parts brown sugar, 3 parts kosher salt, 1 part chili powder and 1 part whatever else you want. I used 1/4 cup as my primary measurement, so it amounted to:

Matt's Dry Rub Mix

2 cups of brown sugar

3/4 cup of kosher salt

1/4 cup of chili powder

1/4 cup of mixture of cumin, cinnamon, onion powder, garlic powder, cayenne pepper (and possibly a couple of other things that I can't remember right now)

Mix it all together and store it in a container.

I took the pound and a half of tenderloin and liberally spread the dry rub on both sides, and let it sit for about 15 minutes. I went to the grill, brushed it with a little EVOO (extra virgin olive oil), and cranked it to high. After a few minutes, I turned the grill to low and put the tenderloin on. I let it cook for about 7 minutes on one side and 8 on the other, then pulled it off.

The tricky thing about this particular cut was that one end was very narrow and not very thick, while the other end was wide and about an inch and a half thick. This basically meant that one end of the tenderloin was at a nice medium well, while the other end was in the medium rare range (rare at the very center). However, it was amazing! I only ate about a third of it the first night, but finished it for lunch the next day (count it - that's a pound and a half of beef in 18 hours; delicious, tender, tasty beef). I paired it with some green beans and a nice, cold Mountain Dew. Simply awesome. I'll let you know how the duck turns out later on in the week.

Here it is in the pan after adding the dry rub mix and letting it sit for 15 minutes or so. Looks kinda like salmon, doesn't it?

Here is the glorious piece of meat on the grill. After doing it once, I would suggest 9 minutes to a side on medium heat.

And the finished product. Paired with some canned green beans given to us by our friends in Noblesville.

Simply incredible...

Grilled Pork Tenderloin

I haven't put too much on here about some of the cooking that I do. I actually really like to cook. Katie is much better at it, so she's the one that does most of the cooking; however, the grill is where I do most of my magic.

Tonight's dinner was a grill adventure. I spent some time this afternoon putting together a recipe that we saw on Alton Brown's Good Eats for a grilled pork tenderloin and marinade. The idea was supposed to be that this tenderloin would cook on the grill. Unfortunately, I think I ran out of propane because even on high, the flame was really low and the grill wasn't heating above 150 degrees. So, I had to finish it on a grill pan on the stove. Regardless, the results were delicious. Below you'll find a couple of pictures of tonight's culinary adventure. Believe me, it tasted better than it looked.

The grilled pork tenderloin was coupled with fried potatoes, green beans, King's Hawaiian sweet rolls, and a salad (made with freshly picked cherry tomatoes and cucumber). Great dinner.

First picture is the tenderloin on the stove, and the second is the finished product.

Taking Vegetarianism to a New Level

My wife told me to Google "vegetable orchestra," and this is what I got.  Wow.

Anybody Hungry?

I came across an article this evening about a burger.  Not just any burger, though.  One of the world's most intricate delicacies that would make chefs around the universe wet their pants in fear and trembling.  My mouth is salivating...

It's called the Fifth Third Burger.  Named after both the stadium that created this intense culinary delight, and the five one-third pound hamburger patties that make up this delightful piece of art.

Here is a description of the burger:

- Five one-third pound hamburger patties

- 8 inch bun

- nearly a cup of chili

- five slices of American cheese

- Fritos

- dollops of salsa, nacho cheese and sour cream

- lettuce and tomato

It has enough fat to cover an average man's daily percentage for nearly two weeks.  Now that's a burger.  Yum....