Waffles and Fried Chicken

Inspired by:
-hunger
-the awful buffalo chiken recipe
-the need to redeem my stomach with crispy, fried chicken
-the awsomeness of fried chicken
-The Next Foodnetwork Star recipe of fried chicken and waffles yesterday
-NYC's Le Pain Quiotden's awesome sugar waffles

I decided to make sugar waffles and fried chicken.

PS: This was not inspired by the need to be healthy :P

So the fried chicken, I've tried out a few recipes now. My modification to my last recipe was the best one I've tried. So check out the Parma Jarma recipe from The Foodnetwork for the recipe of the breading. I also tried Brad's recipe (below and pictured) and found it to be pretty good (minus the fact I didn't have blue cornmeal and fried it in olive oil instead of shortening). I think if I keep up deep frying, I would like to buy some peanut oil because olive oil is not making my deep fried breading that flaky. Maybe I should just buy a deep fryer...

http://www.waffle-recipe.com/recipes/liege-waffle-recipe/

Liege Waffle Recipe
Another waffle from Belgium. These guys really know their waffles. This Liege Waffle Recipe comes from tadaaaa – the city of Liege in Belgium. Again the Liege waffle recipe is almost the same as the ordinary Belgian waffle recipe, just sweeter. Liege waffles are also smaller, so you can hold them in your hands while Brussels waffles are eaten from a plate with a fork and knife. To make Liege waffles you have to add some extra vanilla sugar (What is vanilla sugar? – it is vanilla scented sugar. You can even make your own if you put a whole vanilla bean in a jar of white sugar for a week or so.) Liege waffles are a bit denser and also sweeter. A little piece of history before we start cooking, yeah it is always fun to learn new things – Liege waffles were invented in eighteenth century by one of the cooks of Prince-Bishop of Liege. I bet you did not know that, we sure didn't.

Liege Waffle Recipe


For a Liege Waffle recipe we will need:
2 cups flour
1 cup pearl sugar
1 cup melted butter
3 eggs
1 (1/4 ounce) package yeast
1/3 cup lukewarm water
1 1/2 tablespoons sugar (add some vanilla sugar)
1/8 teaspoon salt

How to make Liege Waffles in nine easy steps:
1. Take the lukewarm water and mix in yeast, 1 1/2 tablespoon sugar and salt. Let the yeast develop for 15 minutes. In the meanwhile you can melt the butter, but be careful - do not burn it.

2. Now take a large bowl and put in the flour, make a hole in the middle, pour in the yeast that you made in step one. Also add eggs and melted butter and knead until you get nice and even dough. Then let it rest so the yeast does it's magic and the dough doubles.

3. Now take pearl sugar and gently mix it in.

4. Again, let it rest for 15 minutes, in the meanwhile you can turn on the waffle maker so its nice and hot.

5. All there is left is to pour the waffle dough into the waffle maker and bake for 3-5 minutes. Because we mixed in the sugar late in the process it will melt and caramelize and give that special Liege waffle taste. Just be careful when you take them out of the waffle maker, caramelized sugar can make them sticky.

6. Enjoy!!


This is the end of the Liege waffle recipe. Bon appetit!

So some modifications to the waffles would be: to use a little less butter (maybe a little bit more than 3/4 cups) because 1 cup is too much. Melted butter comes out of the dough and messes up the waffle iron. I also don't have vanilla sugar or pearl sugar. So I make a sugar solution with about 1/4 cup regular sugar and add a splash of rum (kind of vanilla scented). I microwaved it a bit to get some alcohol out and to carmalize the sugar a bit. I also usually let it stand for a bit to let it harden (make it at the beginning of the recipe to give yourself time). Also, be a bit healthy and add some fresh berries. It's summer!

Fried Chickens:

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/brad-sorenson/blue-corn-fried-chicken-with-malt-vinegar-aioli-recipe/index.html


Ingredients
1 cup hot sauce
1/2 cup Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon smoked paprika
12 chicken legs
Vegetable shortening, for frying
4 cups all-purpose flour
3 cups fine ground blue cornmeal
1/2 cup cornstarch
2 tablespoons poultry seasoning salt
2 tablespoons freshly ground black pepper
Malt Vinegar Aioli, recipe follows
Directions
In a large bowl, combine the hot sauce, mustard, garlic powder, and paprika. Toss the chicken legs in the mixture to coat. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

When ready to cook the chicken, remove it from the refrigerator and let the chicken come to room temperature.

In a deep saute pan with tall sides, over medium-high heat, add the shortening until you have enough to fill halfway up the sides of the pan. Heat the shortening to 325 degrees F. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

In a shallow baking dish, combine the flour, cornmeal, cornstarch, poultry seasoning salt, and black pepper. Remove the chicken from the marinade, shaking off excess and dredge the chicken in the flour and let rest about 5 minutes to let the flour soak in. Dredge again in the flour and fry, in batches, in the shortening until golden brown on both sides. Be careful not to overcrowd the pan. Transfer the chicken to a rack fitted over a sheet pan and finish the chicken in the oven until internal temperature of 165 degrees F, about 10 minutes.


I didn't make the malt vinegar stuff because I didn't have malt vinegar and prefer ranch or bleu cheese sauce. Also, I used small pieces of chicken because I don't like bones.

(Uncrispy) Spicy Chicken Bites

When I cook, I try and think of stuff I would like to order out. My favourite pub food is buffalo chicken fingers made extra spicy with bleu cheese dressing. So today I looked up a recipe to make some buffalo chicken strips. This recipe (below) i tried required frying chicken in a breading mixture. I was surprised it was only one layer of breading, no eggs or other coating like breadcrumbs; but the recipe got five stars on the website, soI gave it a go. I have no idea what my desired chicken strip size is, or how to cut 4 chicken breasts into the same size of it, so I tried to make smaller chicken strip "bites" like at Wild Wings. My other modification to the recipe was using onion powder in the sauce instead of galic powder because I didn't have any. I put a little bit of minced garlic in the sauce for garlic taste though. I did put a little bit of the sauce on the chicken before baking. I also baked the chicken on tin foil on a baking sheet for a better clean up. After the frying and baking, I had a meal that resembled a Chinese food than chicken fingers. I froze some in the freezer for later meals when I'm lazy (as I do with most of the food I make).

Using just flour as a breading was not enough. I think next time I will use the flour coating suggested and then put the pieces in an egg batter and finally in a breadcrumb mixture (probably from the parma jarma recipe by the food network) before all the frying. I have done this before for larger pieces of chicken and get a much crispier outside.

Also, the abundance of worshshire sauce was good for a spicy kick, but I think more Frank's in the sauce will make a better taste and red colour.

Oh well, the bites still taste good!

http://www.grouprecipes.com/35363/buffalo-chicken-strips.html

Ingredients:

1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1 Tbsp margarine or butter
1/4 cup frank's buffalo red hot sauce
1/4 cup worcestershire sauce
1/4 tsp garlic powder
about 2 lbs chicken
vegetable oil or olive oil

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Mix the flour, paprika, salt, and pepper in a medium bowl to make the breading.
Stir the margarine or butter, hot sauce, worcestershire sauce, and garlic powder in another medium bowl to make sauce.
Cut the chicken into strips (desired size).
Preheat oil in a frying pan on the stove at medium.
Thoroughly coat the chicken strips in the flour mixture.
Fry chicken evenly on all sides until golden brown and still slightly pink in the middle.
Dip chicken in sauce and place on baking sheet (pour leftover sauce on chicken if desired).
Bake chicken for 10-15 minutes in the oven.

Harbour Restaurant a success, even without an actual harbour nearby

I'd like to take this time to just mention the new addition to the Guelph restaurant world: Harbour Restaurant has opened up where the once awesome Red Papaya and then totally awful Cherry Blossom have resided. You know, by the Short Stop and where all the fast food places are near downtown Guelph.

Growing up near Steveston, BC, the capital of all fish and chip restaurants (besides the obvious Maritime province places) the idea of a fish restaurant in Guelph seemed kind of sketchy. Especially when you see people fishing by the Speed River as you walk to it… This restaurant also had points against it for being so damn expensive. A two piece meal is about $18!

They have the Cod, Halibut and Pollack fishes but Edesio and I shared a two piece "Chef's Recommendation" (some weird fish I never had before) and got a small coleslaw (about $3). We were very impressed. The fish was nice and flaky with the right amount of greasy and crispiness (all important) and the atmosphere was very nice (even though it should be a little more intimate and nice and less fast food looking for the prices you pay). There were actually tons of people all at this restaurant. The turnover was pretty fast and people just kept coming in! These Harbour people definitely have a system figured out because our food came quickly with very friendly service.

It was also good that there was a bottle of tartar sauce on the table (I hate when I only get a little bit) but they could be even better by making their fries crispier and using homed tartar sauce (the Heinz type stuff just doesn't do it for me. I need to taste more pickle than mayo!).

So overall, I recommend trying this place out. I also recommend going with a friend so you can share a two piece meal (this stuff is too greasy to eat more than once piece by yourself anyways, and it's way cheaper than two one piece meals). If the crowd of people is too much for you, they also have take-out! Even wrapped in the nice newspaper-style paper.



PS: For those of you who are very sad that Red Papaya is gone and miss their awesome pho and such, follow their staff to their new(ish) very awesome restaurant Tom Yum. It's near No Frills (the one by the university). Make sure you thank these people profusely for having a healthy alternative to the university's overpriced and often sub-par food. We want these people to stay in business always!

Fancy Frozen Food (Perogie Style)

(Image of amazing perogie feast is from Halina's Catering ...and Google Images because I don't know who Halina's Catering is, but I am sure they are very good. Especially from the looks of their food!)

Perogies are where it's at. They are not that expensive, take very little time to cook and can be dressed up in many different fancy little ways. You never hear somebody say "I don't like perogies" and if you do, they are crazy. Don't hang out with crazy people like that. And for the love of God, please don't cook for crazy people who don't like perogies because they probably are so crazy they don't like anything. And cooking for crazy picky eaters who don't like anything is horrible trouble.

With the sprit of soccer and its atmosphere that makes me crave fast food (ps good try Holland!). I decided that, yes, now is the time to spread the wisdom that is the student/lazy cook (synonymous?) staple of perogies. Stand back and be amazed (sit?).

When making a perogie purchase (see below "dealers"), I usually get the cheese and potato flavour. I love bacon (again, don't hang out with people who don't), but find that the simulated bacon flavour sucks. And plus, you can put bacon on perogies or even fry them in the bacon fat for a way better bacon taste. In consecutive order, these are the place I have found that sell the best perogies in Guelph:

1. Farmer's Market (go to the Greek man who also sells amazing cinnamon buns. They're not super cheap, but extra points go to him being so happy all the time!)

2. Market Fresh (the freezer section has a wide variety. I tried the chicken ones and would not count these as regular perogies; they were more like dumplings so they don't count)

3. M&M Meat Shop (very good for a fairly low price)

4. Any Large Grocery Store (cheap no-name perrogies are still good, especially when you dress them up with the suggestions below. So if you want to save money, just buy one of the bags of 50 perrogies for about $3-7)

Perogies are easy to cook and don't take too long. You can boil, fry and even bake perogies (I do not recommend the latter; the perogies are weird and have a tough texture when baked). I usually boil them for 3 minutes in salty water and then fry them with some oilive oil. Yes, you can make periogees plain but you can impress all your student friends with your mad cooking abilities by adding a few things to this simple freezer food.

1. Bacon and Green Onions (wake up early and go get the farmers market bacon. It is most definitely worth it! It is easiest and fastest to cook the bacon by cutting the raw strips in little square size pieces and frying them on a medium heat that way. Plus then you can cook the perogies in the bacon fat!)

2. Cheddar Cheese (shred some, or just cut thin slices, and let it melt on top for amazingness. Possibly, also even more amazing with bacon, as most things are.)

3. Garlic (just buy a container of already chopped garlic and throw it in the frying pan with the perigees)

4. Butter and Onions (very simple, very vegetarian, very unhealthy. If I had a deep fryer, I would recommend that here, just like the perogies on res (LA Pit!).)

5. Balsamic Vinigar (I tried this once and they were pretty good. Also not exactly necessary for sour cream with these. So this is for the lactose chumps without pills.)

Obviously these should be served with sour cream (and hot sauce if you're feeling crazy). Again, for lactose intolerant people who don't believe in Lactaid pills (I hate you :P) you can also put plain yogurt on them and it's not that bad.

PS. It looks like "perogies" may or may not be the correct spelling of the word. My apologies if it is horribly wrong. Wikipedia has a very weird way to spell it...

Student Style Eggs B

When I started cooking, I tried to find simple recipes of things I ordered the most. Eggs benedict was one of the only meals that I legitimized eating out because it just seemed too hard. Hollandaise sauce seemed the most difficult. I have seen packages of hollandaise sauce mix, but that just seems expensive and will taste like the eggs benedict of bad restaurants (everybody knows good hollandaise sauce is the key ingredient in a good eggs benedict). So now I found a fabulous, fairly easy recipe from the Food Network (see below for its amazingness).

I didn't have English muffins at home, so I used Bisquick biscuits (the instructions for them are on the back of the box. I've found that adding a scoop of sour cream to the Bisquick and milk makes them more flakey. I also use a muffin tin to make sure they're a good size).

Since the Hollandaise sauce recipe uses egg yolks, I microwaved the egg whites in a glass measuring cup. (It was also way easier than poaching an egg!)

I was too lazy to put other stuff on the biscuit. But you can put bacon (chop it up before you cook it, so it will cook faster), ham, fried tomato, salmon or whatever else you want to make it even better.

Hollandaise Sauce (from the Food Network)

Ingredients
- 2 egg yolks
- 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
- Dash of hot pepper sauce
- 2 teaspoons water
- Salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 1 stick melted butter

Directions
In a stainless steel bowl set over a pot of simmering water, whisk the egg yolks with the lemon juice, hot pepper sauce, and water, until pale yellow in colour. Season with salt and pepper. Be careful not to let the bowl touch the water. Remove the bowl from the pot and whisking vigorously, add the butter, 1 teaspoon at a time, until all is incorporated.

The lemon juice is pretty strong. So be careful not to add too much! You can store the hollandaise sauce in your fridge and save it for the leftover biscuits or put it on some cooked broccoli later.

Maybe this isn't the same as eggs benedict ordered at a restaurant. But acceptable for now!

Cheap Food for Every Day in Guelph

Monday in Guelph used to be a horrible time for me when I didn't cook - I had never found a good deal on food downtown. Now, when I finally have learned to cook, I have found a fabulous Monday deal: McCabe's has half-priced pizzas! If you don't mind waiting a long time for food and (sometimes) sub-par service if it's busy, you can get a really good 12" pizza for five dollars. We ordered a Greek and Canadian pizza (to do the international thing at the Irish bar) and they were both very good - especially for the price. I learned the kitchen doesn't like this deal because it sucks to make pizzas, so my apologies to leak out this news to the lucky readers of this blog (yay for you!). But in all fairness, there is a really big sign that gives away the secret to all of Guelph already… This completes my search for weekly deals of cheap food in downtown Guelph. Here is a list of the week:

Sunday:
$5 supper at Bobby O Brien's
(or go to Sex Trivia at NV Lounge and get free appetizers at 10pm, plus a free loot bag from the Love Shop, although nothing the bag is meant to be actually edible...)

Monday:
1/2 priced pizza at McCabe's (duh)

Tuesday:
1/2 priced appetizers at Bobby O Brien's (pickle spears and poutine!)

Wednesday:
1/2 priced appetizers at The Albion (spring the extra 50 cents for guacamole with your $3.50 antijitos)

Thursday, Friday and Saturday:
This is the time to get the cheap fries and deep fried food at MacDonnell village after drinking cheap beer and high balls at all the bars downtown. If you want actual food beforehand, go to McCabe's between 3pm and 6pm or Bobby's between 3pm and 7pm for cheap wings (31 cents at McCabe's and 29 cents at Bobby's) but FYI these deals are on all week.

Just remember to tip well because most of these poor servers need to pay their tuition too!

The Unofficial Bilingual Search for Ottawan Poutine

This was my first Ontarion Canada Day, so it seemed most appropriate to go to my nation's capital and do it right. Naturally, being in a new city meant there were new food opportunities along with the Ottawan celebrations. Edesio and I made it our mission to find the best poutine in our trip. Yes, we did sacrifice our poor trans fat deposited arteries for the good of the minimal amount of mankind (you, the reader, you fellow nerd :P) could learn where to get kick ass poutine in and around Ottawa city. We may also love the combination of cheese, gravy and French fries to sacrifice our health anyways…

So it turns out that Ottawa is a huge city that has a lot of outskirt towns that do not open on Canada Day or most Sundays for that matter. We were pretty hungry on Canada Day morning and went on a mission for mucky Canadian food. In all the strip malls, Gabriel Pizza was one of the only one open. Assuming all places thisclose to Quebec have amazing poutine, we tried it out. About six dollars later, we were fairly unimpressed with the shredded cheese over crispy, but definitely not fresh cut, fries and super salty gravy. For the only place in Kanata, we were happy the friendly staff suffered the time-and-a-half wages to bring us some food.

Downtown Ottawa was a different story on Canada Day. It was so busy with so many people at the actual poutine stands (try at least 15 minutes to wait EVERYWHERE) we decided to jump a short Beaver Tails line and grab a snack before the fireworks (so on a side note, we tried Maple Butter and Lemon Sugar; Maple Butter was basically amazing and Lemon Sugar was pretty good; both totally worth it). Warning to other tourists during Canada Day: make sure you bring some colourful Canadian money to your food adventures downtown, most places were "cash only" to ensure quick transactions. After the fireworks, we had the 4 Cheese Poutine at Zak's Diner (by suggestion of some true Ottawites(?)). Usually an American size portion of this Canadian treat is $9.49, it was about $12 for the festivities. We definitely approved of the food, but definitely not the price! It was also super busy leaving the restaurant and we needed to get stamps on our hands to show the bouncer (for a diner!) that we paid before we could leave.

Our final mission was to go to an actual chip wagon. The locals of Richmond, Ottawa swear by Tony's, the local chip wagon. Sadly, July 2nd we went to Richmond and Tony was hit by a car. So in the end, we hit up Richmond Bakery and loaded up on fudge ($4.50), jelly and Boston Cream donuts ($1.50 each), which were all amazing. On a serious note, our positive thoughts are with Tony and we hope he gets better for our next chip wagon mission. I'll believe Tony's has the best poutine for now.

Unable to find the best poutine of our lives (we are convinced Vancouver, New York Fries or Pierre's maybe have the best poutine of our lives), we drove back to Guelph. The final stop we made for poutine was Golden Boat Fish and Chips (if it was successfully done, a Street View photo is attached). For four dollars, it was very impressive we got a huge portion and that the fries were hand cut and very crispy. However, they used shredded marble cheese and sub-par gravy. I recommend getting just their fries (super cheap!) and cross to McDonalds to get a large pop for a dollar. Or try their fish and let me know how it is (they seem to have pretty good deals).

So all in all I learned a few things: 1) Ottawa may have the best poutine in the world, but I was unable to try some; 2) It is necessary to not do the Drive Thru when on a road trip because drivers and passengers need to walk to regain circulation; and 3) I just wanted to reiterate what and confirm what everybody (should) already know: cheese curds on poutine are way better than shredded cheese!