I was food shopping at my local Fry’s supermarket and came across these Kroger Reuben Potato Chips…….I thought to myself I gotta try them. I glance real fast at the ingredients to make sure nothing really strange is in them.
They do have some chemicals in them……
Then I happen to notice that the chips are marked kosher and dairy.
I can be now be relieved that they aren’t made with castoreum (beaver butt juice actually from a gland by the butt) because beavers are not a kosher animal to eat. Castoreum is never listed as an ingredient because it is a flavoring. It is listed as natural flavor because that is what it is.
I get the bag home and take a whiff.
It truly DOES SMELL LIKE A REUBAN!
Incase you are not familiar with a reuben it is a sandwich made of corned beef, Swiss cheese, sauerkraut, Russian dressing on grilled rye bread or Russian pumpernickel.
The chips are slightly speckled, a little powdery, and are extra crisp.
I gobble a few down……
They are very tasty but at first they taste mostly like mild sauerkraut …….it maybe only slightly cheesy and laced slightly with a rye bread taste.
I eat one very slowly and it taste completely different.
When you eat them slowly you get the rye taste dominating the other flavors.
They are very tasty and extra crunchy.
Those were my Forking Thoughts on Kroger Reuben Potato Chips.
You can cook like a Michelin Star Chef if you find the recipes on-line or buy their cookbooks. I found Michelin Stars Chef Rohit Ghai’s recipe for Dhokla with Apple and Beetroot when I was browsing for beet recipes. I didn’t even know what a dhokla was. This is another recipe that has a lot of steps to it but none of the steps are very hard. I started by making the chutneys first.
I didn’t have the main seasoning ingredient (chana dai) for the tomato chutney so I used my recipe that I developed. I also didn’t puree my tomatoes because I used tiny sweet tomatoes of different colors that I thought looked nice to keep whole.
Then I made the mint chutney….
Mint chutney is easy. Just blend together mint, cilantro, yogurt, green chiles, ginger, lemon juice, chaat masala (I substituted gram masala (a little different but similar…less sour but made up a little with the lemon), cumin, salt.
The apple gets peeled and cut into wedges. You soak the apple in a solution of apple juice mixed with beet powder. I didn’t have apple juice so I cheated and used apple cider vinegar and added some honey…but I DID HAVE BEET POWDER! (See the pretty apple?)
You have to know how to cook beets because you need cooked beets for the recipe. You then make a tempering mix that you cook up. You heat up the seeds in a pan with the oil till you hear the seeds popping. Then that goes over the beets made of – onion seeds (I substituted poppy seeds because I didn’t have onion seeds), cumin seeds, fenugreek seeds, mustard seeds, fennel seeds, oil, salt, sugar and vinegar. This is the first thing that goes over the beets.
This dish also calls for something called ghati masala. It’s the tasty crumble topping that you see sprinkled over things in the picture. It’s really meant to be sprinkled more generously but I wanted to show what I made so you could see. (I will add more when we eat the plates).
You heat up some oil and cook garlic and just blend together a combination of sesame seeds, coconut, roasted peanuts, chili powder, coriander, tamarind paste, and salt.
Now you make the dhokla.
Chef Rohit Ghai’s recipe calls for a combination of gram flour, semolina, lemon juice, ginger, green chili, yogurt, salt and something called fruit salt that is a leavening agent. This mixture gets steamed. I didn’t have the right flour or the fruit salt so I used a combination of chickpea flour, corn meal and regular a.p. flour, baking powder, and eggs. I also baked mine because I don’t have the right dishes to steam it all. It’s kind of similar but not what the chef did………..
Your not done yet.
Now you have to make a tempering liquid to pour over the dhokla you just made. You heat up oil with mustard seeds and asafoetida. When the seeds begin to crackle add curry leaves and green chilies. After it cooks you add sugar and water. This liquid gets poured over the dhokla.
Now put it together and add some radish, pea shoots, cilantro (If you have any left) and go heavier on the ghati masala than I did.
Dhokla with Apple and Beetroot
A SPECIAL THANKS!!!!! To Michelin stars Chef Rohit Ghai for sharing such an incredible recipe with the world!
FANTABULOUS means – Top of the line, marvelously great, peachy keen, and DYNAMITE! The Gianduja Chocolate Mousse from Confluence is all that! I usually don’t pick desserts for the FANTABULOUS Dish but this one is exceptional. All the food I had that evening was truly amazing. Everything was creative and masterfully prepared like from the best restaurant anywhere but….a really FORKING FABULOUS dessert sure doesn’t happen at most places (even the most expensive of places)……. really is The Forking Truth….just saying.
Gianduja Chocolate Mousse from Confluence in Carefree AZ
Gosh it’s tragic that you can’t taste it because it’s more FORKING FANTABULOUS than I can describe…..They don’t have a pastry chef here……The chef here does it all (bakes delicious breads, prepares all the dishes….probably washes all the dishes and pans)…and creates the desserts too! ………….and It’s like this Gianduju chocolate mousse came from the finest restaurant…..anywhere.
We got Gianduja Chocolate (that’s a sweet chocolate spread with 30% hazelnut) mousse. On top of the mousse is something that looks like a cheese curl but it taste just like orange zest!!!! I don’t know WTFork it is but it’s crunchy and orange zest-e. Maybe it’s some sort of concentrated dehydrated orange segment?…….The yellow sauce on thee plate is caracara orange curd that has the perfect amount of sweet and tartness to it with a lot of orange flavor it’s so YUM! To the right is caramelized white chocolate ganache that’s also is wonderfully flavorful with a rich mouth feel. The the left is a chocolatey Florentine cookie and there are other crunchy yumminess that make things more interesting. It’s just FANTABULOUS! It’s a very rare that you get desserts this jaw dropping astonishingly delicious!
The Gianduja Chocolate Mousse from Confluence in Carefree is a FANTABULOUS Dish!
Worth a Fork!
Worth A Fork!
The menus at Confluence do change often. You might have already missed it? (but they are sure to have something else that is also amazing)
www.RestaurantConfluence.com
36889 Tom Darington Dr Carefree AZ
480-488-9796
Everything is subject to change. Remember thee menus do often change!
These are the most memorable dishes from metro Phoenix Restaurants from 2021 (in no particular order) I do note that I haven’t been everywhere and certainly can’t taste everything…But I have tried a lot! It’s also possible that I have missed some good ones because it is hard for me to see the postage sized photos that I have to pick from on my computer. I picked what I remember that stood out.
The Wagyu Beef Cheek from Confluence in Carefree They also made another dish with beef cheeks and miso that was just as FANTABULOUS pictured below. OMG both these beef cheeks dishes were maybe the #1 best beef dishes that I have ever tasted anywhere. Get any beef cheek plate that Confluence offersStrawberry gelato from Fabio on Fire in Peoria Probably the BEST Strawberry gelato in the whole country!
These were most of the most memorable dishes from Metro Phoenix Restaurants from 2021. It’s always a joy to eat eat something so well made and delicious.
These are not all but some of the 2021 recipes that you can find on The Forking Truth. Enjoy! No calories just looking. Up above is Butternut squash fondue pie with pickled peppers.
Game Day Potato String Wrapped HOT DOG Chile Relleno Butternut Squash with Orange Vinaigrette Pistachios Pomegranate and Herbs Chili CrispWine Braised Beets Mushroom Leek Duxelles in PastryFat Free Indian Inspired Cucumber Salad Roasted Grey Squash with Hazelnuts, Urfa Peppered Feta, Harissa and Charred Squash Anchovy Tahini Sauce Eggplant Caponata Brussels sprouts with cashews, tarragon and lemon miso vinaigrette Smoked Beets with Goat Cheese Musse, Orange, Almonds, Mint, and Orange Champagne Vinaigrette Butternut Squash Apricots, Walnuts with Lemon Anchovy Pesto Jamaican Jerk Inspired Parsley Salad Beet Chutney Tabbouleh Style Rice Parsley Pesto Chipotle Lime Chimichurri Shallot Anise Turmeric Marinated White Fish with Mango Nam Prik Hasselback Beets with Lime Leaf Butter and Crispy Fried Beet Leaves Cabbage and Chilli Crisp Dumplings Roasted Carrots with Apricot Harissa Feta Cheese and Pistachios Low Fat Za’atar Potato Salad with Pickled Red Onions, Artichokes, Olives and Feta Cheese Bok Choy in Black Bean Sauce with Ginger Soy Meringue Sunflower Seed Crusted Zucchini with Roasted Tomatillo SalsaButter Honey Mustard Horseradish Braised Bok Choy and Radishes with Crispy Radishes and Pickled Mustard Seeds Brussels Sprouts with Black Garlic Date BBQ Sauce and Seasoned Feta Cheese Giardiniera Peruvian Inspired Purple Potato Salad with Onion Salsa and Cilantro Sauce Asparagus with Hazelnuts, Dijon Vinaigrette and breaded fried egg Textures Of Corn – Corn Chalaquita, charred corn parfait, corn crisps with peanut pestoFiddlehead Ferns & Black Trumpet Mushrooms with Tahini Verde & Miso Aioli Kashmiri Masala Spiced Butternut Squash,Walnuts, Pomegranate, stuffed Peppers with Green Coconut Chutney and Yogurt-Miso-Mayo Asian Style Tuna Patties with Yuzu Kosho and Quick Kimchi style Slaw Vegetarian Eggplant Pibil with Habanero Salsa and Citrus Pickled Onions Chocolaty Beet Brownies with Beet Caramel, Beet Meringues and Chocolate Drizzle Broccoli Three Ways with Confit Egg, Onion Jam, Blue Cheese, Crispy Cabbage and Tempura RadishSazon Spiced Acorn Squash with Cilantro Chimichurri Spiced Cabbage with Ginger Crisp and Chili Oil Anaheim Romesco Sauce Gochugaru Cauliflower with Chive Cauliflower Core and Pickles Anaheim Romesco Sauce Chipotle Cilantro Lime Beef & Rice Stuffed Peppers with Avocado Cream Spanish Style Stewed Turkey Leg Quarters Boneless, Skinless, Chicken Thighs with Yuzu and Sesame Taco with home made blue tortilla, lime pickled onions, creamy jalapeño salsa, habanero salsa and dried chili salsaTea-Brined and Double Fried Hot Chicken Yotam Ottolenghi Style Oven Fries with Tahini Yogurt and Smoky Sweet Nuts Paccheri Pie Forking Amazing Smoked Pastrami with my Easy Rye Rolls and my Spicy Beer MustardBok Choy Garlic Stems & Chestnuts in Asian Sauce Not Robuchon Beet/Apple with herbs, jalapeño cream. and mustard seed pink peppercorn tuilleSmoky Aleppo Pepper Cauliflower Vegetable Bowl or Side DishYuzu Honey Ginger Beets with Melon, Sweet Basil, and Pistachios Carrot Parsnip Lime Soup with Cilantro Roast Cauliflower with Smoked Cheddar Sauce, Pickled Leeks, Nuts and Seeds radish, blue cheese, sriracha, bonito flakes Picked and Roasted Cauliflower & Cabbage with Tarragon Oil and Onion Jam Puree Easy Mackerel Pate with Pickled Cucumber and Mustard Seed Pink Peppercorn Tuile Cucumber Gazpacho with Parmesan Custard and Cilantro Chive Oil Marinated Mushrooms with Walnuts and Tahini Yogurt turkey breast teriyaki Watermelon Salad with Miso Honey Dressing Cauliflower SformatoJodhpuri Tawa Chicken with Tomato Chutney and Cumin Cabbage Ramen Egg Ramen Tostadas with Gochujang Vinaigrette beef osso bucoTarragon & Artichoke Tuna Salad with Chopped Lemon and Capers Korean Inspired Butternut Squash eye roasteye roast with braised cabbage, carrot puree, gremolata,and orange pickled turmeric onionsRoasted Carrots with Yaji Spice Relish Cauliflower Piccata Sichuan Style Cucumber & Noodle Salad Roasted Parsnips, Sprout Leaves, Olives, Sage, Bonito Flakes, LemonFORKING DELICIOUS Kimchi Slaw, milk buns, pickled beets, horseradish miso hollandaise and parsnips with sprout leaves and bonito flakes Seasoned mackerel sandwich on Milk Bun with horseradish miso hollandaise, kimchi slaw, pickled beetsSmoky Carrots with Mole Dust and Sour Cream with Lime Chicken Rollatini with peppers, onions, hazelnut anchovy pesto Braised Leeks with Stracchino Parmesan Pine Nuts Lemon and Crispy Leeks Chorizo Hash Stuffed Spaghetti Squash Cucumber Salad with Butter Beans and Tarragon Five-Spice Butternut Squash in Cheesy Custard Dhokla with Apple and Beetroot Apple Remoulade with Sous Vide Chicken Breast and Fennel Seed Pickled Cucumbers
Some of the 2021 recipes on www.TheForkingTruth.com
A long time ago in a land far far away someone invented candy sticks to make kids shut the FORK up for when they were in church. It was also written that someone from Germany got the idea to put a little religion into the candy sticks by adding on a Shepard’s hook shape to the candy.
Some time has passed….and someone got the idea to add hyssop flavoring to the candy because hyssop was used in the Old Testament for purification and sacrifice. Maybe nobody wanted child sacrifice on their hands so they stopped adding hyssop flavor. But maybe the real reason that they stopped adding hyssop is because they found that mint flavoring was cheaper (and tasted better).
Next change was that they added The White Stripes.
Or was it the Red Stripes symbolizing the blood of Christ?
Maybe you have noticed that many candy canes still have stripes but are no longer are mint flavored?
Pizza FlavoredKale FlavoredMac & Cheese flavoredWarhead, Swedish Fish, Smarties flavored Life Savers, OREO, Dum Dum flavored Bacon flavoredRotisserie Chicken flavoredPickle flavored Coal flavored “It doesn’t FORKING matter how the candy cane is flavored. When the kid eats it they will shut the FORK up”.
That was Some FORKING Thoughts on The Christmas Candy Cane.
Wishing you and yours a Merry and Safe Holiday Season and a Happy New Year!
Chada Thai AZ is a Thai Restaurant located in Scottsdale Arizona. They were well known for many years as Cha Da Thai at their original location about ten minutes away in Scottsdale. They advertise that they serve authentic Thai Food. You can find dishes here that aren’t on many menus in Thai restaurants like boat noodle soups and the miang kham (tasty leaf wrap salad bites).
The FANTABULOUS Dish means – top of the line, marvelously good, peachy keen and DYNAMITE!
The miang kham from Chada Thai AZ is a FANTABULOUS Dish!
one of six miang kham
I read on the menu that the miang kham is the original snack in Thailand. It starts with a leaf that is either a green butter leaf or a wild pepper leaf depending on the time of year. The leaf is stuffed with roasted shredded coconut, peanuts, unpeeled lime cubes, fresh ginger cubes, onions, oranges and a sauce made with tamarind and bird’s eye chilies. It’s a combination of sweet, spicy, savory, tart and tangy. This sets off all kinds of delicious sensations in your mouth. It’s just delicious and is a must get dish.
The Miang Kham from Chada Thai AZ in Scottsdale is a FANTABULOUS Dish!
Fantabulous means – Top of the line, marvelously good, peachy keen and dynamite.
Daily Donuts & Wings recently opened in a strip mall on Bell Road in North Phoenix Arizona and the donuts on every visit have been FANTABULOUS! I read that they also have other locations in Mesa, Tempe and in Glendale (*****UPDATE haven’t been able to find the other locations…..maybe they plan to expand?). Besides FANTABULOUS Donuts they also offer breakfast, wings, chicken tenders, fries, smoothies and a few snacks.
They have some indoor seating across the front and a table to the side.
OOOOOOOOH! It’s that sweet doughnut aroma………….Doughnuts!
Oh my what will we try?
Today I tried a blueberry filled donut and my husband tried a chocolate iced. I was so excited that I forgot to photo them. But WOW!!!! were they FANTABULOUS! The blueberry filled donut was one of the best donuts that I have ever had in my life. The donut really just melted in my mouth. It had the perfect sweetness and was so tender and seemed light as air. I didn’t get to try any of the chocolate iced doughnut but my husband said that it was better than other chocolate doughnuts that he has tried.
Then we went back the next week and tried two more donuts.
Today I got a lemon filled doughnut. (the blueberry looked identical) It’s this just right lightly iced doughnut that seems light are air and it just melts in my mouth. I don’t get lemon in the first few bites because the filling is squeezed into the center. BUT WOW! It’s the best lemon filling that I ever had in a doughnut. It’s very lemony and tart but not too tart….It’s just right.
My husband picked one of the cinnamon doughnuts (they make a few different kinds).
Went back the following week and tried a Boston Cream.
I think this is the best Boston Cream doughnut that I ever had. The cream is so smooth and delicious. The doughnut is so fresh and so light as air. The chocolate icing is has the right amount of chocolate and sweetness. (my husband had the same cinnamon doughnut again)
On my most recent trip back I got a doughnut with sprinkles and my husband got the cinnamon doughnut again.
This is the FORKING BEST doughnut with sprinkles that I have ever had. Even the frosting is better than from other places. It’s not too sweet and actually taste good. The doughnut is so light and so fresh….It’s FANTABULOUS!
FANTABULOUS Doughnuts from Daily Donuts and Wings. So light and so fresh….these doughnuts are easy to inhale.
Worth a Fork!
Worth A Fork!
You can find Daily Donuts & Wings on Facebook and the North Phoenix location has a website and lists the other locations.
Here is the SKINNY on the thinnest dough pizzas and such in Metro Phoenix Arizona. If you are a fan of the extra thin doughs and are around Phoenix this might be of interest to you.
Bottega Pizzeria Ristorante in north Glendale offers all of their pizzas (around 16 varieties Milano Style……….. that means EXTRA thin…much thinner than their normal thin Neapolitan pizzas. Thin pizzas never weigh you down. You can enjoy more pizza when you go for the extra thin. Up above is the vegetariana pizza made of D.O.P. tomato sauce, flor di latte, red bell pepper, zucchini, eggplant, basil, and extra virgin olive oil.
Next is a spinach calzone from Pane Bianco in Phoenix.
It looks like a normal doughy calzone.
But look!
This dough is paper thin…This is super thin calzone dough….gives you more belly room for that rich creamy cheesus filling. BTW- The cheeses are incredible here. For my taste it is a little light on the spinach but it does taste great.
Pomo Pizzeria offers quite a few extra thins. One is the Pizza Rimini in 4 varieties.
It gets baked for a very short time at around 900 degrees in a certified Italian wood oven.
Pomo also offers the Focaccia di Recco in three varieties. (below is the formaggio)
This focaccia gets rolled even thinner than the Rimini pizza because it gets stuffed with stracchino cheese and you can add on local honey to enjoy it even more.
Focaccia di Recco from Pomo Pizzeria
Here is the focaccia di recco in the pesto variety from Pomo.
focaccia di recco pesto
LOOK how paper thin it really is.
I loved the Focaccia di Recco so much from Pomo Pizzeria that I had to try it when I saw it on the menu at Mora Italian in Phoenix.
The Mora Italian Focaccia di Recco was very different from the Pomo Pizzeria. Mora’s wasn’t as crisp and the cheese didn’t come out all melty.
I was told by the manager that Mora Italian uses a different oven so the results do differ.
The thinnest non-extra thin pizza that we have received was the mushroom with mozzarella and salamette picante from PA’LA Downtown.
It was a very chewy very thin pizza.
This was the SKINNY on the thinnest dough pizzas and such in Metro Phoenix AZ.
I recently went to one restaurant in Phoenix Arizona and had a most unpleasant experience. I doubt whoever just opened this restaurant knows anything about the hospitality business. My gut told me that I should leave as soon as I got here….It was my bad for staying…….Note to self listen to your gut. This is the only restaurant (so far) that I am not mentioning by name. This restaurant has so many problems I doubt they will be around for long anyway unless they bring someone in to help. The only reason I wanted to eat here is because I was BAMBOOZLED on Yelp. I read mostly all 5 star reviews and looked at mouth watering photos of food……I can only figure that the reviews must have been done by friends and family…..I have no idea where they got the photos from……….I sure didn’t get anything that resembled the food I looked at…….This is the only way that I can write about this restaurant.
We walked in early just twenty minutes after they opened. Every table in the restaurant was left dirty from the night before with crumbs and smudges.
crumbs and smudges on every table “actual table”
I thought our waitress was dressed like a slut.
not actual waitress but similar
Since every table was filthy I thought our server would wipe the table off that she sat us at…. but she didn’t…. so we wiped off the table ourselves………………….. They obviously don’t even concern themselves about sanitation.
Then she introduces another slut…I mean waitress that she is training who is even sluttier.
Not actual waitress …ours had even more cut outs
We order and soon complimentary chips and salsa come out.
actual complimentary chips and salsa
Oh my they don’t know how to make chips and salsa. These chips taste like the ones that Costco sells (that aren’t good). They tried to heat the chips up but didn’t do that right because they taste burnt….. The sauce taste just like crushed canned tomatoes with too much added dry oregano and doctored up slightly with a little hot sauce. Wow it’s like a child made the salsa.
We needed silverware for our meals that arrived. We were the only table on the restaurant and our server was unaware that we needed silverware…….So we asked for silverware……Then we got some and I unrolled my silverware and they were covered in soap residue. I used my glass of water to soak off the soap from the silverware.
All the food that we received was mediocre….meats were like dry stringy pot roast. Flavors weren’t so good. I ordered a grilled fish taco and the cook made me a breaded fish taco that seemed like it was already reheated a few times. It was similar to bad buffet food.
Finally we asked for the bill. They have some sort of new electronic paying system where you don’t see the bill until you see it in your email on the computer.
They added on without telling us an extra 3% called processing tech charge.
Dirty Tables, Bad Chips and Bad Salsa, Soupy Silverware, Dry stingy meats, Undisclosed 3% processing tech fees, and some peoples daughters dressed like sluts from some restaurant in Metro Phoenix Arizona.
Everything is subject to change….This restaurant will probably close and re-open soon as another restaurant.
I only went here because of the glowing reviews and amazing looking pictures of food from a certain review site. It turns out that I was bamboozled by a review site.
