what do vera wang and white castle have in common?

Smell my candle.

No, it’s not a wedding gown made out of those little delicious sliders which have a cult following and are even featured in a movie. If you said a bride wore one of Vera’s gowns to a wedding at White Castle, your guess gets closer, but still no cigar. (Somehow I doubt a bride who gets married in a fast food joint would be wearing Vera Wang for fear of smearing that grease all over the tulle.

It turns out the renowned designer herself was at a White Castle in NYC’s Herald Square Tuesday night. She, along with Martha Stewart, were there to promote a new slider-’n-onion scented candle made by Nest Fragrances. The candle will be sold at White Castles everywhere for $13 (equivalent to 14 sliders), and proceeds benefit Autism Speaks which promotes awareness for, obviously, autism.

Supposedly the candle smells more like sweet onions than greasy burger, but what a novel gag gift idea nonetheless. It’s funny that I read about this story today because I was just craving White Castle cheeseburgers lately and had just added them to my grocery list before stumbling across this story. Living in Texas for most of my life, I was not fortunate enough to taste a “fresh” White Castle slider, but the blue and white packages could frequently be found in my freezer throughout my childhood. I love how they’re a savory, satisfying snack and so easy to prepare–just wrap in a napkin and microwave for 60 seconds. I personally prefer frozen White Castles to fresh Krystal ones. (I’m much more a fan of grilled onions than mustard in my sliders which, if I remember correctly, is what Krystal’s adds to their sliders.)

Perhaps even more fascinating than the concept of a slider is the history of White Castle. It began in 1921–19 years before the first McDonald’s even opened– in Wichita when a dude named Walter Anderson partnered up with a cook named Edgar Waldo “Billy” Ingram to push hamburger eating on America. The country was weary of ground beef at the time due to Upton Sinclair’s novel, The Jungle, which exposed the unglamorous meatpacking industry. Anderson and Ingram tried to change America’s views by invoking a sense of cleanliness with their burger joints, using white porcelain enamel on stainless steel along with spotless employees’ uniforms to conjure a sanitary image. Anderson is credited for inventing the hamburger bun and the kitchen assembly line, a method similar to Henry Ford’s car manufacturing process, which guaranteed customers everywhere the same product every time. Almost a century later, and White Castle still exists. Amazing. I can’t wait to get my hands on some sliders ASAP.

ribs, legs, and wisconsin wieners: part 2

Continuing from the previous post on the Labor Day barbecue, here are the other two recipes that made up our grilling festivities.

Note: Again, I apologize for the lack of photos on a food post, but the food just got to’ up before John had a chance to snap some on his phone.

We grilled up about 25 chicken legs, and so to avoid monotony, I decided to use two different grilled chicken recipes. The last time I made this chicken recipe, it was a hit so why not go again for a crowd pleaser? The recipe is simple, requires few ingredients, and is easily adaptable according to how you feel like eating it. (You’ll see what I mean in the recipe below.) Now make it and eat it. Don’t you think it’s better than that crap Jack-in-the-Box version?

My next recipe is considered the soul food of Wisconsin. That’s right, beer brats. “Bratwurst” is a German compound word–brat means “chopped meat” (but is often misconstrued as originating from braten which means “fried”) and wurst means “sausage.” I had no idea bratwursts were the pride and joy of Wisconsin until the best rated bratwurst recipe I found on All Recipes had “Wisconsin” right in its name. Then I dug around online and stumbled upon this page. Boy, do those Wisconsinites love their brats. Miller Park in Milwaukee is the only baseball stadium in the U.S. to sell more brats than hotdogs. Now I can add beer brats to the very short list of things that remind me of Wisconsin: the Packers, the Bucks, the Brewers, beer, cheese, and “That ’70s Show.”

While our brats did not taste as yummy as the ones from Austin’s The Best Wurst on 6th Street, they were good in a sober Houston sort of way. And with Oktoberfest coming up, you can be sure this recipe would add just the right Munich touch to your festivities.

And that concludes our Labor Day cookout. As I always say, if the Blind can Cook, so can you.

turkey sloppy joes

With all of our fancy feasts lately, I was craving something completely on the other end of the spectrum. I brought it back old school with a variation of the school lunch favorite: sloppy joes. Everyone has memories of their elementary school experience when the hefty, hair-netted cafeteria lady would slop the meat mixture onto their open-faced bun. (Pass on the white milk…chocolate milk, please.)

To make it a little healthier, I used ground turkey instead of the usual ground beef. The original recipe came from ChoppedOnions on All Recipes. It was very simple to make and ready to eat in a jiffy. We ended up leaving the sandwich open-faced and eating it with a fork because, like its name, it was incredibly sloppy.

Also, I’m trying out this recipe plugin John installed for me. Let me know what you think. Should I continue to use the recipe template plugin, or should I stick to my rudimentary HTML skills and just list ingredients and directions the way I did in the Vietnamese chicken curry recipe?