Monthly Archives: September 2017

My Forking Thoughts on Hershey’s NY Cherry Cheesecake Bar

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Hershey’s is one of the largest manufacturers of chocolate in North America. They’ve been manufacturing affordable chocolate since 1894. People of a certain age might remember the jingle from TV commercials that went……”Hershey’s the Great American Chocolate Bar”……..Until now I haven’t come across much in the way of unusual or weird flavored food in the Hershey’s Brand until now. Here is Flavor of New York Cherry Cheesecake bar embedded with crispy cookies. New York is famous for many foods but one of the New York Specialties is considered to be Cheesecake.

I open up the bar.

It doesn’t smell appetizing.

It smells like a combination of cough syrup laced with something I remember from my childhood……..my Mom’s cedar Closet with moth balls. (I don’t think people have cedar closets or use moth balls anymore)

It also doesn’t look appetizing.

Looks like a skin disease …….. maybe… chicken pox.

I bravely taste a pip.

It’s very sweet like canned frosting.

It doesn’t taste natural at all… It really doesn’t taste like any kind of food.

It taste like how it smells……Very Sweet…..main flavor is cough syrup…..laced with cedar closet moth balls.

feeling something gritty…..

Yuk…the lumps taste like crumbs of cough syrup.

My mouth feels very greasy now.

YUK! THIS IS FORKING AWFUL!

I don’t think any person in the whole wide world can enjoy this…….

Poor Milton Hershey would be turning in his grave if he could taste this bar with his name on it.

I have no understanding of how such an awful tasting product could have been manufactured.

NOT WORTH A FORK!

NOT WORTH A FORK!

My Forking Thoughts on the Hershey’s NY Cherry Cheesecake Bar.

Your taste and experience may or may not differ……(but I FORKING doubt it)

The Forking Truth

Korean Style Pickled Cauliflower Recipe

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Korean Style Pickled Cauliflower

I was reading a recipe about Korean Style Pickles and I thought I could do my spin on Korean Style Pickled Cauliflower. It’s very easy to prepare. Simply wash and break down the cauliflower in bite size pieces and place in a gallon zip lock bag. Then mix together the ingredients for the sauce and pour over the cauliflower. Shake the bag to coat the cauliflower, Place in the refrigerator. A few times distribute the sauce around the cauliflower let it sit over night in the refrigerator. The next day dress with a little scallion and a small amount of Korean Shredded red pepper. Overnight a lot of liquid comes out of the cauliflower and it shrinks and gets tender crisp and sucks up the flavor from the sauce. If you are a fan of Korean Food you should be a fan of this cauliflower. I thought of the cauliflower as a light but flavorful vegetable dish but my husband would prefer the Korean Style Cauliflower paired with rice, eggs and Korean style beef.

Ingredients for about 6 servings

1 medium cauliflower – cleaned up and broken down into bite size pieces

1 Tablespoons rice wine vinegar

1 Tablespoon gochujang

2 Tablespoons sugar

2 teaspoons  kosher salt

1 teaspoon sesame oil

2 garlic cloves – ground to paste

1 Tablespoon black vinegar

1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

pinch red pepper flakes

one scallion – to use next day – sliced thin

pinch Korean red pepper threads

Directions

Broken down cauliflower goes in a gallon ziplock plastic bag. Set a side.

In a small bowl combine everything remaining except for the scallions and Korean Red Pepper Threads.

Pour mixture in bowl into the bag of cauliflower and work the liquid all around.

Let it sit on the counter for a half hour to get the juices flowing.

Now place in the refrigerator. Turn the bag over every few hours during the day.

Leave in the refrigerator over night and the next day the cauliflower is ready to serve.

When ready to serve dress with some scallions and some Korean red pepper threads.

Korean Style Pickled Cauliflower

Serve with Korean Style Beef, rice and some soft eggs if you like!

Very flavorful and tasty!

Korean Style Pickled Cauliflower

The Forking Truth

Mediterranean 6 Course Dinner with Wine Pairing at Cafe Bink Carefree AZ *****UPDATE NOW CLOSED FOR BUSINESS

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“off to Cafe Bink”

****UPDATE***CAFE BINK IS NOW CLOSED FOR BUSINESS

Cafe Bink is a casual but somewhat upscale restaurant in beautiful Carefree Arizona. Cafe Bink was opened by James Beard Nominated Chef Binkly who is now giving full attention to his fine dining restaurant Binkley’s in Phoenix. Talented Chef and Partner Chef Justin Olsen is currently running things at Cafe Bink. They have been offering many specials off all sorts. The specials that brought me in were the Tomato Dinner, The Chef’s All Things Summer Date Night Dinner and the Mediterranean Date Night Dinner with Wine pairings……so far……..

For Mediterranean Night they started us off with the crispiest fluffiest falafels I ever had anywhere.

The falafels had a flavorful moist interior too and came with creamy labne filled with extra virgin olive oil and sesame seeds. It was an unexpected delicious treat! 2014 Tedeschi Soave Classico was the pairing for this and the next plate.

Next plate was Seared Halloumi with almonds, almond butter, sweet and spicy pickled peppers, arugula and seasoned pita crisp.

Delicious all together. It was light and not too heavy so we had room for the next course.

 

Third Course was some really AMAZING CRIPY Eggplant! It was the crispiest ever and also seemed free of oil. It was so good! I wish I could get this plate again sometime. The eggplant inside was so tasty and meaty. Home made pomegranate molasses, dried pomegranate. feta and za’taar were flavors that all went together just right and it only got better with 2015 Domitia  Picoul de Pinet. This course was simply pure bliss.

Fourth Course was an Imtermezzo of Lemon Granite.

It was intensely lemon with another small hint of a note of flavor…………I guessed it correctly…Sambucca. It was not too sweet but great flavor that was refreshing.

Fifth Course was Local Chicken with onions, olives, raisins, herbs wine and cous cous.

The chicken was flavorful and very tender and was carefully SoueVide at 135 degrees F and then seared. The Chewy Cous Cous was tasty and I really liked the sweet pops of flavor from the golden raisins. Paired with 2014 McMurray Pinot Noir

Sixth Course – The Dessert – was surprisingly delicious ………It was Yogurt Mousse with local honey, pistachios, dates and phyllo paired with Cave Brut Spanish Sparkling.

I don’t know how but some sort of chef wizardry happened here. Somehow they made yogurt taste good. Magically it became Whipped goodness and when you hit the bottom you got citrusy dates and up top were the nutty pistachios with honey. The phyllo was turned to almost something like a toffee crisp. It was pretty darn impressive.

Another Amazing Dinner at Cafe Bink with friendly informative service and great wine parings too!

Cafe Bink is Certainly Worth a Fork!

Worth a Fork! It’s worth the drive across town to dine here.

On the way home from Cafe Bink

The Forking Truth

Newly Opened – The Covenant Restaurant Phoenix AZ -****UPDATE Now Closed for Business

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******UPDATE NOW CLOSED FOR BUSINESS****The Covenant recently opened in Phoenix. This is a bold, Gorgeous, Glamorous but casual restaurant. There are chandeliers, artsy mirrors, a great BIG beautiful wine tower that channels the look of Charlie Palmer’s Fine Dining Restaurant Aureole in Las Vegas NV. There is also open shelving of fine whiskeys and bourbons on display to wet your whistle. The restaurant has an open kitchen. Dinners can view the 900 degree wood oven.

The Covenant also offers a large bar.

The restaurant seems very large but once inside I counted a few booths and not so many high top deuce banquets for couples. The atmosphere is energetic, a bit loud. the air is slightly humid.

We started out by sharing a Melon and Feta Salad.

The Salad was very generous in size. They graciously split the salad in two large bowls for us. We received a variety of fresh cut melon, tangy feta, a little creamy avocado, peppery arugula and some Korean Red Pepper Threads. The salad was free of dressing and was nice and light but sort of dull. I did speak to the manager about the salad and he agreed with me and informed me that the kitchen is working on a delicious sounding dressing for this salad. So you might not have the experience I had if you order this salad ……….. (?)

For Dinner I wanted to order the Fish of the Day. It sounded so good En Papillote in citrus butter, teardrop peppers, potatoes, lemon preserves, haricot verts and fresh herbs. I was told they were all sold out of them before dinner……

So I went with my 2nd choice The Chicken Dinner.

The Chicken Dinner was a Stunner! Mouthwatering tender flavorful succulent chicken thigh to die for……and also a tender delicious breast. Bathed in flavorful, yummy chicken essence. Extra Fancy baby vegetables and smashed and crisped creamy fingerling potatoes. It was a really good chicken dinner.

My husband had what they called The Chef’s Cheddar Mac.

It’s a big bowl of macaroni and cheese with three shrimp and some andouille sausage. My husband said the andouille sausage was really delicious but there was very little of it in this dish and the shrimp were over cooked. But it was a little different with the tasty relish in the middle an when you mixed it up the macaroni wasn’t dry anymore.

The Covenant is a beautiful nice gorgeous restaurant but since it’s newly opened it might be slightly hit and miss as most any new restaurant usually is. ****UPDATE NOW CLOSED FOR BUSINESS

www.TheCovenantAZ.com

EVERYTHING is subject to change and your experience may or may NOT differ.

The Forking Truth

7 lbs Eye Roast at 500 degrees 18 minutes cooking time Recipe

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Eye Roast

Eye Roast is one of the easiest cuts of beef to prepare delicious, tender and moist. It also was on sale this past week at Safeway for $2.77 a lb for Angus Choice. I like the method that’s been around forever to cook the eye roast at 500 degrees. The beef must be in 3-4 pound pieces and then you oil and season the beef. After 15-20 minutes in the 500 degree F oven you shut it off and just leave the beef sit there for 2- 21/2 hours and wa la you got some easy tasty juicy tender beef. My trick is that I make a rack of vegetables under the beef and I use a great blend of delicious seasoning.  This isn’t the kind of recipe were you need to measure. Just wing it and it will come out great!

ingredients for about 20 servings

7 pound eye roast cut in half

1/3 cup (about) canola oil

1/4 cup kosher salt (about)

2 Tablespoons black pepper (about)

2 Tablespoons granulated garlic (about)

2 Tablespoons smoked paprika (about)

pinch ground cloves

1 large onion – cut in thick slices

12 large cloves garlic – smashed

2 celery ribs – cut in sticks

2 large carrots – cut in sticks

Directions

Set oven to 500 degrees F

Split the vegetables in two 1/2 pans

Cut a 7 lb eye roast in half and blot it dry and then rub with oil.

Put all the spices in a bowl and mix.

Sprinkle the spices all over the eye roasts and place each eye roast in a pan.

Place in the oven for 18-20 minutes. If you have a 4 lb piece you need about 20 minutes. After 20 minutes just shut the oven off and DO NOT OPEN THE DOOR. You need to leave in the oven till the meat is about 140 degrees F. Mine took 2 1/2 hours.

“OH MY!” “That smells FORKING GREAT!” “I FORKING need some!”

“He has no Forking manners.” “Yes, it does smell great but it needs to rest so I will rest too and then ME and the eye roast will be ready for each other!.”

Eye Roast

Let the meat rest about a half hour after you remove it from the oven.

Easy and maybe the best beef you ever roasted.

The Forking Truth