Andrew Mark Veety

A Word of Thanks

As I prepare for a weeklong tryptophan induced coma, I just wanted to wish everyone a happy Thanksgiving with their friends and families. I'd also like to thank you for your readership as well. It's been great to get feedback from so many people and I am looking forward to sharing a few new ideas I have cooking for the coming months.

The planning for this site aside, I'm glad to be taking a break from cooking for a while after this past weekends Trisket Adventure. Instead I will be bringing a case of Schlafly Beer to Thanksgiving dinner with the in-laws back east, a simple and tasty example of all the great craft products St. Louis has to offer.

So as your gather around your kitchens and dinner tables, I'd like to point out that it was not I who thought of trying to make Thanksgiving stuffing using White Castle Hamburgers. 

However, I'm sure glad that I live in a world where someone actually sat down and tried.

Happy holidays,

Andrew

Trisket - A Turkey Inside a Brisket

Trisket is an idea I thought up for a friends annual Thanksgiving celebration, Fakesgiving, where we all gather and bring a dish to pass, pot luck style.

In honor of this yearly event, I took a beef brisket and stuffed it with ground turkey thighs, bread crumbs, bacon, roasted garlic, peppers, cranberries, leeks, mushrooms, shallot and flat leaf parsley. 

Turkey inside of a brisket = trisket.

I started with a 6lb grass fed organic beef brisket from Whole Foods with a pocket cut in it to hold the stuffing. The brisket held up well using this method, as it is essentially a large muscle and up to the task of having a turkey stuffing crammed into it. All told, the stuffing added another 4-5 lb to the overall cooking weight. In hindsight I'm sure I could have gotten some more stuffing in there if I really wanted to. 

For the turkey, I used ground thigh meat which had the best chance of making it though the 13 hours of cooking without drying out. To add some Thanksgiving flavor, I mixed the ground turkey with heads of roasted garlic, leeks, shallots and dried cranberries.

The key to this stuffing is to maintain moisture throughout the long cooking time. The ample fat marbling of a beef brisket did a great job keeping the meat moist, however I also added thick cut bacon to the mix to help baste the stuffing as well. I used a mixture of bread crumbs and cremini mushrooms as a binder and to absorb moisture. 

The brisket was stuffed the day before cooking and rubbed with a mixture of sea salt, black pepper, smoked paprika and onion and garlic powders. After rubbing, the brisket was wrapped tightly in plastic wrap, placed onto a cookie sheet and stored in the coldest part of the refrigerator for an overnight rest. 

At about 4am the next morning, I took the brisket out to warm up while I made coffee and started a fire for the smoker. While the idea of letting meat rise to room temperature before placing on the grill works great with steaks, 30 minutes was not enough time to do much for a 10 lb roast and the meat was still refrigerator cold when it was placed in the smoker.

This brisket was smoked over apple and hickory wood at 200 - 215 degrees for 10 hours, refilling the smoker every 45 - 60 minutes to maintain this low temperature. I used a spray bottle filled with beef stock and apple cider to baste the meat when the grill was open. 

After smoking all day, the brisket was then placed in a roasting pan with some of the basting liquid, covered tightly with foil, and placed into a 190 degree oven for another 3 hours to finish cooking.

The end result was a great beef brisket on the outside and a turkey meatloaf on the inside. The brisket turned out perfect with a great looking 1/4 inch smoke ring. The turkey was moist and had all the smells of a Thanksgiving meal.

The Trisket was served with a vinegar-based cranberry, peach and habanero barbeque sauce on the side. The use of fresh cranberry and peach added a tartness and sweetness to play against the heat of the habanero chili. While I can't see myself making a Trisket again anytime soon (it really was a two day process) I do think this barbeque sauce would match nicely with slow smoked ribs or chicken.

Thanks to Chef David Koon for his help taking this idea from idea to application.

New York vs Chicago Style Hot Dogs

Hidden a short distance off Interstate 170 in St. Louis you will find Woofie's, a Vienna Beef Hall of Fame member serving up Chicago style hot dogs. Unless you work in the area, just getting to Woofie's these days is an adventure given the current construction on Interstate 64. However, seeing the journey though to the end will find you elbow to elbow with both tradesmen and white collar workers at a slim counter, enjoying some of the finest hot dogs in the city.

For over 30 years Woofie's has been serving up an eclectic mix of hot dogs, some classic like the Woolfie Dog and some downright inventive dogs like the Chili Pie and the Coney, a Vienna dog on a seeded bun topped with a slice of American cheese, chili, onion and a pickle. 

 

Gastrointestinal challenges like the Chili Pie aside, I was wondering how the restaurant's flagship dog, the Woofie, stacked up to a Mid-west perception of a New York dog. While I'm sure this establishes my East Coast bias in hot dogs, the Chicago style is without a doubt impressive and I can fully appreciate the adoration this dog receives. 

First up is the Chicago style:

The Chicago style hot dog is built for it's city, for the people that live there and for surviving its weather systems. This is the hot dog that the Mike Ditka would eat on a Saturday Night Live sketch. This is the mid afternoon snack of futures traders at the CBOE. The Chicago dog contains all the major food groups, is here to take on your stomach, and it's brought all of its friends for the fight. The Wolfie Dog is what you would expect from a Hall of Famer, riding deep into the pocket of a seeded bun and covered in a garden including a neon green relish. 

On several occasions my Woofie Dog was served with a knife and fork. This experience reminds me of a meal I enjoyed once with a friend's family, owners of several Italian restaurants. Dining on a plate of pasta one night and perplexed by the act of twirling linguine around a fork, my host pointed at the spoon and said, "Andrew, some Italian's use the spoon...but not the good ones." This is the essence of the Chicago dog. While help is provided, reaching for it is a sign of defeat. Woofie's Dogs are indeed woof'ed sans fork in a manner that is messy but in the end, fulfilling.

The New York Dog:

The New York style dog is also a homage to its fair city. From street vendors and small shops, the New York hot dog is made for transport. Dogs are topped with combination of onion sauce, sauerkraut and mustard, wrapped in paper or a single napkin and eaten on the fly. Even loaded down, a New York dog appears to be perfectly designed for an action figure's kung-fu grip. A New York dog is not here to bullshit with you.

The New York hot dog at Woofie's is delicious. Instead of being steamed, it is cooked on a griddle like the dogs at Grey's Papaya. It comes topped with a spicy mustard and a bed of sauerkraut, sitting there in front of you like a nest on a branch. Alas a New York dog it is not. Instead it is a Mid-western nod to the original, as if Chicago looked at it and said, "there, New York...now you are finished." 

The verdict:

In the end, the Chicago style Woofie Dog wins this throw down of cities and dogs, but it was never really a competition with Chicago's near home field advantage. Either way, I can't help but think that is it the diner who wins, no matter what their cardiologist says. For all I know your doctor might be sitting next to you as you eat. Woofie's is that good.

Opinion: Highly Recommended

1919 Woodson Rd

Overland, MO 

314-426-6291

Hardee's Little Thickburger

Lunch options where I work are limited to fast food restaurants nestled in close proximity to the interstates circling the area, and over the last five years, I've tried them all save a few - Hardee's and Jack In The Box. For some reason in my mind I've always associated the two with poor food and service, especially my unfair and long held belief that Jack In The Box tried to kill people in the past.

Hardee's is a different creature though, previously known to me has Carl's Jr, and home of the Thickburger, a 1/3 lb. charbroiled 100% Black Angus beef patty, tomato, lettuce, red onion, mayonnaise, ketchup, mustard and dill pickles on a sesame seed bun. 

The Thickburger and the 2/3 lb. Monster Thickburger are famous worldwide for their gut busting prowess and the history of these burgers is well documented in the media. I've assembled my personal favorites here:

"If the old Thickburger was 'food porn', the new Monster Thickburger is the fast-food equivalent of a snuff movie," - The Telegraph UK

"Cardiac surgeons, expect a busy century. The era of the über-burger is upon us." - Conde Nast Portfolio

"There's another guy wearing Jared's old pants now," - USA Today

"Why do you hate me?" - My heart, in a recent voice-mail found on my cell phone.

Given the shear mass of the regular and Monster Thickburgers, I was happy recently when I saw the introduction of the Little Thickburger, a 1/4 lb. version of its big brothers. With a buy one get one free coupon, I not only got to try this burger for the first time, but try it at a manageable weight that rests between its 1/3 and 2/3 lb siblings.

I have to admit that this is a very good burger compared to other fast food burgers. The patty is indeed think and while I think attention was paid to its presentation, still appears to be machine made and previously frozen. The Angus beef is tasty and seasoned well. Of all the toppings I was particularly surprised at the crispness of the iceberg lettuce, which provided a great foil to the rest of the burger when bitten into. While not a premium burger by any measure, it does approach the quality you will find at most diners, which is not a bad thing at all.

I can say with confidence that this is one of the better fast food burgers I've ever had, coming in a close second to my all time favorite, the Big Bacon Classic at Wendy's. Where most fast food wares fill me with dread and look and taste like the lifeless gray masses that they are, I look forward to this occasional addition to my work day lunch options.

Opinion: Recommended With Reservations (It is after all fast food)

Multiple Locations in the Mid-West.

Megadeath Burger: World's Hottest Hamburger in Australia

From a favorite read of mine over at  "A Hamburger Today":

"It's like Satan's in my stomach."

In order to eat the Megadeath Burger at Off the Wall Diner in Wellington Point, Australia, you have to be over 18 and you can't have heart problems, anxiety, or asthma. Why? The burger contains chili jam, chili powder, jalapenos, and habanero sauce in quantities that go way beyond what any sane person would voluntarily eat. Thankfully, a lot of people aren't sane and participate in eating competitions for the chance to be labeled as a "Death Burger Immortal" and to amuse/horrify the rest of us who would pass out at the burger's hands.

"This is a food item that should not be actually on the market," says a dietitian in the video. If the prospect of vomiting and heart palpitations doesn't stop people, I don't think anything will. 

Watch the video.

Newstead Tower Public House

Nestled among the treasure trove of new restaurants in The Grove section of St. Louis you can find the Newstead Tower Public House. The owners use the term gastropub and public house to describe their eatery, but in the end the meaning is the same - kicked up pub food paired with great beers and wines. 

Among my favorites on the menu is the burger, locally raised grass fed beef topped with field greens, whole cap mushrooms, caramelized onions, house made quick pickles, ketchup and mayo. Burgers are served with super thin house made chips that play off the meal nicely, without weighing you down like a basket of fries can.

Burgers are skillfully cooked to order, in my case medium rare with a good sear and juices that mix with the toppings and run gloriously down your chin and hands. The bun also appears to be house made and performs admirably to the task of holding this burger together from start to finish.

Opinion: Recommended

4353 Manchester Ave.

St. Louis, Missouri 63110

314-535-7771

Carl's Drive-In

In the 1930's, the small building that is the home of Car's Drive-In was a gas station that did a side business selling hot dogs and root beer. In 1959 the gas station was bought by Carl Meyer, who turned it first into a traditional drive-in, and then by 1962 a diner, enjoying a prime location on historic Route 66 outside of St. Louis. 

In 1987 Carl's changed ownership again, this time into the skilled hands of Frank Cunetto, who can still be found behind the counter daily meeting the demand for his amazing hamburgers and house made root beer.

Carl's is a small sixteen-seat building, with the staff working in the space between two eight seat counters. Diners have a view of the flat top griddle, where hockey puck sized hamburger patties are spatula-smashed until they are thin and begin to caramelize on the edges. Folks who are unlucky enough to miss grabbing a stool wait patiently behind people at the counter, or can take their burgers outside to eat at nearby picnic tables.

Each burger is made fresh and topped right on the griddle while buns get a quick warm up to one side. While I was watching Frank work, I began to wonder if this was what it was like to visit one of the original McDonald's in the 1940's, before process "improvements", accountants and billions upon billions served turned a pristine product into a grey and lifeless burger, overshadowed by its toppings and devoid of soul.

And soul is what Carl's is all about. The grill-man works fast in four to eight burger salvos that eventually become single, double and triple burgers, served on small paper plates. Turnover is quick and the diners are for the most part silent, with the exception of brief comments to neighbors regarding this amazing communion of authentic American classic, born of The Mother Road, and its hamburgers that seem to disappear faster than they are made.

Opinion: Highly Recommended

9033 Manchester Rd

St Louis, MO 63144

314-961-9652

Election Night 2008 Recap

Tuesday night's election gave me an excuse to embrace decadence in multiple forms as long as I could tie it into the theme of the day - the election of Barack Obama.

My first stop was a post work happy hour with friends at The Three Monkey's, where lots of election day food and drink items were on the menu. That is, except this, which I named the Obamargarita. True, it was just a blue margarita, but it was tasty nonetheless.

For dinner I tried my hand at making a Chicago style deep dish pizza in a cast iron skillet. You'll have to excuse the lack of detail and instruction as I try my hand at documenting the trials and errors of turning out a onion, mushroom, garlic and spinach pie from scratch on a work day. 

 

An olive oiled cast iron skillet, brushed on both the bottom and sides. I've read that some pizzerias in Chicago do this to help the dough release after cooking. While I didn't think I would try to turn this pie out, I did want to be able to cut and serve it.

This is a version of the Neo-Neapolitan dough that I discussed back in August, with corn meal cut into the dough. Once baked I thought the dough came out more like a hybrid pizza/cornbread crust, which was tasty, but not what I was looking for. Room for improvement here for sure.

Sliced mozzarella cheese builds the base of a Chicago style pizza. All told this was about 6 or 7 slices.

The next layer was a mixture of spinach, onions, garlic and mushrooms that I sauteed on the stove before adding to the pizza. My goal was to cook most of the water out so it didn't end up pooling in the pizza during cooking. 

The next two layers were a chunky tomato sauce and Parmesan cheese. Next time I think I'll try adding the cheese layer about half way into cooking, if only for aesthetics when the pie is pulled from the oven.

I made a quick foil rim to cover the crust for the first 30 minutes of the 400 degree / 50 minute cooking time. I also let the pizza cool and set up for about 15 minutes before cutting.

I'll have to give several aspects of this recipe some thought before attempting again, especially the dough, which was sturdy enough to hold up to the mass of this pie, but not really what I was looking for. However, for all the things this pie was not, it was a welcome change from our normal pizza night pies. It was also a great night of celebration with friends stopping by all night to watch the results come in and partake of this Chicago masterpiece.

Finishing Our Work - Tom Friedman

You may enjoy Tom Friedman's November 5th, 2008 op-ed from the New York Times.

Election Day

Sara and I were on line this morning at 6AM to vote, and it still took us almost an hour and a half. It was amazing to see our friends and neighbors lined up on a warm fall morning, everyone was in good spirits, we moved along at a decent clip, and in short order we were on our way to work.

Today I have hope for the future and a return to normalcy after the last 8 years. I wish our new President well and the best of luck, but really, I just want him to get to work fixing our country. January can't come quick enough.

The Salt Lick Barbeque

Since 1967, the Robert's family have owned and operated The Salt Lick Barbeque on their family ranch in Driftwood, Texas, using a recipe handed down from generation to generation since the Civil War. I recently got a chance to enjoy a family style dinner at The Salt Lick as we celebrated the rehearsal dinner for friends getting married in Austin. 

Very good barbeque is both an art and science; skill in the application of heat and smoke, showmanship in how your wares are displayed to waiting guests. After all, we do eat with our eyes as much as anything else. From buildings built of limestone quarried from the family ranch, long wooden tables and benches to accommodate family style meals and the stone holding pit within eyeshot of a framed picture of the owners daughters and Bobby Flay, the atmosphere of the restaurant is well executed and welcoming. 

The staff was very friendly and allowed me to check out the holding pit, which is the centerpiece of the restaurant, and the smokers which are hidden from view and the dining areas. Both were impressive in their design and evidence of day in and day out usage, but it was the holding pit that captured my attention. The limestone theme is continued with the pits construction, which is laid out in a horseshoe shape. The pit was a source of great pride folks tending to its fire, and they welcomed all my questions with a smile. Flanked by stacks of seasoned hickory wood, the fire in the pit is fed slowly all day, adding a last dose of flavor to the beef brisket, pork ribs, chicken and smoked sausage hung from above. 

Where the pit is the art and showmanship, the science and skill is evident in the outstanding meats The Salt Lick prepares. Slow cooked to perfection with ample evidence of smoke ring, the Salt Lick is a perfect example of what is commonly thought of as Texas barbeque - dry rubbed and slow cooked. This is not to do a disservice to the different barbeque styles found across Texas, which actually consist of at least four main regional styles, all with different flavors, cooking methods, ingredients, and cultural origins. It is only to say that when people discuss the barbeque of the United States, The Salt Lick is what people are referencing when they compare Texas to Memphis, St. Louis, Kansas City or North Carolina. 

Whole chickens, racks of ribs and beef brisket are rubbed with house seasoning and cooked slow and low to perfection, leaving the aforementioned smoke ring and interiors that are among the most moist I've ever had the chance to sample. Meats are mopped with a version of The Salt Lick's barbeque sauce as they smoke, but for the most part are left to reflect the unadulterated balance of spice and smoke that can only come after hours and hours over slow and low heat. 

The family style dinner at The Salt Lick includes cornbread, a platter or smoked beef brisket, pork ribs, chicken and smoked sausage, baked beans, potatoes, cole slaw, sweet tea, and a cobbler for desert. All the sides were tasty, but did not steal the spotlight from the barbeque. A sauce that has a hint of Hawaiian flare in the background is provided on the table for those wishing to smother their barbeque. While the house barbeque sauce complements everything well, I found it unnecessary. 

The Salt Lick does not serve alcohol, but our hosts provided coolers filled to the brim with ice and Shiner Bock, which is available here in St. Louis, but for me has never tasted as good as it did that night, with its intended pairing - Texas barbeque.

Opinion: Recommended

18001 FM 1826

Driftwood, Texas 78619

512-858-4959