DudeFoods.com Food Blog and Reviews

BacoBurger

Written on November 27, 2012 by Nick in Food I Made

Last week I got a package in the mail from my buddies over at FoodBeast. Its contents? Eight half-pound burger patties from BacoBurger. I wasn’t familiar at all with what a BacoBurger even was, and all that was included along with my burgers was a packing slip, so I headed over to their website to read up on them.

As it turns out, their burgers are a blend of ground bacon and meat. They offer a few different varieties, but what I got were their Angus BacoBurgers, which consist of 50% ground bacon and 50% Angus beef. They also offer patties that have an 80/20 meat to bacon ratio, but after trying the 50/50 blend I can’t imagine any other mix tasting much better.

Since the burgers themselves are half bacon I just didn’t feel quite right frying one up and putting it on a regular bun, so I put together a couple bacon weaves and used those instead. Now, this might seem like more than enough bacon to most of you, but me, I can’t get enough of the stuff, so in keeping with the whole theme of the meal I also spread some bacon flavored Cheddar cheese that I got from WisconsinMade.com on top of my burger.

I’m just gonna cut straight to the chase on this one — these burgers are phenomenal! The patties were nice and juicy and the 50/50 mix of bacon and Angus beef was perfect. I have plenty of friends out in California who talk about how great the half ground bacon / half ground beef burgers at Slater’s 50/50 are, but I’ve never gotten a chance to eat there, so it’s nice to have finally been able to enjoy a similar burger.

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The Mon Amour Benedict

Written on November 19, 2012 by Nick in Food I Paid For

I’m always a fan of any restaurant that serves breakfast all day long, so when I heard that a new place named Cafe Agora opened near my work and that they just happened to serve my favorite meal of the day from open to close I decided to stop in and check them out.

The cafe refers to themselves as a “pancake house,” which is sort of weird to me because their menu only includes five different varieties of pancakes, yet they offer six different types of crepes, eight different omelets and six different takes on one of my favorite breakfast dishes — Eggs Benedict. They even have just as many waffle and French toast offerings as they do pancakes.

I wasn’t planning on ordering pancakes anyway, so it really doesn’t matter to me how many, or how few, they offer, but it just seems like if you’re going to call yourselves a “pancake house” that you should have a LOT more than five different types of pancakes.

When it came time to order I decided to try the Mon Amour Benedict, which the menu described as two croissant halves, layered with grilled portabella mushrooms, sliced tomatoes and melted Swiss cheese and topped with poached eggs and Hollandaise sauce.

When the waitress returned fifteen minutes later with my food food the first thing I could think of was that it’s a good thing I love Hollandaise sauce as much as I do because my food was absolutely drenched in it! It looked like the cook just took two giant soup ladles of sauce and covered my entire plate with it.

To be fair, the dill flavored, housemade Hollandaise sauce that they use is really good, it’s just that I actually like to be able to taste all the different food on my plate. With the Mon Amour Benedict all I could really taste was sauce.

By the time I was done eating, and I’m a really quick eater, everything was just completely soggy because all it had been doing the entire time it was on my plate was soaking up sauce.

Don’t get me wrong, I still enjoyed my meal, but if Cafe Agora would just go a little easier on the Hollandaise sauce my food would have been perfect. Actually, who am I kidding? They need to go a LOT easier on the sauce….

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Beer and Bacon Battered Deep Fried Bacon

Written on November 15, 2012 by Nick in Food I Made

If you’re a regular reader of DudeFoods you might find this hard to believe, but out of all the things I’ve tried deep frying — mashed potatoes, nacho cheese, deviled eggs, lasagna and a ton more — I’ve still never made deep fried bacon. Pretty crazy huh? Seeing as how I just got an entire gift basket full of it from WisconsinMade.com though I figured that now was as good a time as any to finally make some!

I also decided that when it came to the batter that I was going to use I had to go all out, so I mixed some beer and flour and then threw in some diced pieces of bacon for good measure. Yep, I battered my bacon strips with a beer batter that had even more bacon in it! It was actually the same batter I used when I made my deep fried White Castle sliders.

In the end my deep fried bacon turned out to be one of my favorite things that I’ve ever used my deep fryer for. When it came to the taste, the crispy bacon matched up absolutely perfectly with the crunchy beer and bacon breading. After trying it I really have no idea why I’ve never seen this item on the menu at any restaurants. You know, aside from the fact that it’s probably one of the most unhealthy things ever….

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I’m Sponsoring a Charity Chili Cook Off!

Written on November 12, 2012 by Nick in Everything Else

Do you love cooking and/or eating chili? Do you like winning things and helping the less fortunate? Great, because you can do all of those things and more on Sunday, November 25th at a chili cook off that I’m sponsoring at Leff’s Lucky Town!

Here’s how it’s going to work:
If you like making chili just stop by anytime before 4pm with a crock pot containing your best recipe and enter the contest. It’s totally free to enter and whoever makes the best chili will win a $100 Visa gift card, a $100 Leff’s Lucky Town gift certificate and a prize package from Brown-Forman, who make delicious liquors like Jack Daniel’s and Southern Comfort.

How are we picking a winner? I’m glad you asked because this is also where the charity aspect of the cook off comes into play! For only $5 you can sample all the chili you want and then vote on your favorite, with all the proceeds going to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation and Love, Inc.

Alright, onto the rules! The only real rule for the chili cook off is that each chili submitted must contain one Brown-Forman product, which you can view a full list of right here.

There will also be food and drink specials, a 50/50 raffle and oh yeah, the Packers will be taking on the New York Giants that night, so even if you don’t like chili I wanna see you guys there supporting the cause anyway!

If you plan on entering all I ask is that you give me a heads up within the next week or so, just so we know how much space we need. If you want you can RSVP on Facebook by clicking here. Also, when you show up on the day of the cook off if you could just fill out this printout and bring it along with you that would be awesome. Any questions? Let me know! Otherwise I look forward to hanging out with you guys on Sunday, November 25th!

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Selling Out: Part Three

Written on November 8, 2012 by Nick in Everything Else

I’ve mentioned a few times now how Verizon Wireless hooked me up with some money, a Motorola Droid Xyboard and six months of free, unlimited data access. All I have to do in exchange? Share my experiences when it comes to using the tablet. In case you missed the previous posts you can read them by clicking here.

This past weekend I had some friends over for a cookout and for the first couple hours it seemed like all I was doing was running back and forth between my patio and kitchen grabbing drinks for everyone. Sure, it’s only about a 20 foot walk, but who wants to spend all afternoon running back and forth? I need to be outside socializing and chowing down on spinach dip! Luckily, my Xyboard once again saved the day!

Being the clumsy guy that I am there’s no way I could carry six beers at a time without dropping one. I couldn’t until I noticed my Motorola Xyboard sitting there that is! As it turns out, the tablet’s 10.1″ screen and lightweight yet durable body make it the perfect serving tray!

Now I know you’re probably all thinking “But Nick, what if you would have spilled beer on your shiny new tablet?” As a matter of fact, I DID spill beer on my Xyboard, but luckily for me the tablet’s glass is equipped with a special nano-coating that prevents liquids from harming it.

I have no idea what the nano-coating consists of, but I’m pretty sure that it was most likely developed by NASA since they always seem to be the ones behind cool stuff like this. You still probably shouldn’t take the tablet scuba diving or white water rafting with you, but I can attest to the fact that beer spillage is no match for it!

Disclosure: I am participating in the Verizon Wireless Midwest Savvy Gourmets program and have been provided with a wireless device and six months of service in exchange for my honest opinions about the product.

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