Monday Funday: Ground vs. Mechanically Separated Turkey

I keep getting the search phrase “is ground turkey mechanically separated” so I figure I would address this issue. The easy answer is no. If meat has been mechanically separated, I am pretty sure that has to be disclosed on the label. Ground turkey that you buy at the supermarket – the type you might use to make turkey burgers – is not mechanically separated, but simply ground. They take the meat and run it through a grinder, just as they do with beef to make hamburger. If it were mechanically separated, it would not look similar to ground beef. It would look like a smooth, sticky pink paste that had been extruded through a pipe. If you want to see a video about mechanically separated poultry, you can watch this one, but it is not for people who are squeamish. However, it is probably good to know where your food comes from, so check it out.

Brasa: All You Can Meat

My friend Don refers to this type of place as “all you can meat.” That is pretty accurate. I had never been to this type of place, so my brother suggested Brasa in Raleigh when I saw him a couple weeks ago. It was like an orgy of meat. Guys with long skewers of meat kept coming by and giving us whatever we wanted. For $20 each we got the full breakfast buffet and the meat service. We had a bit from the buffet almost as a courtesy because we were really there to eat delicious skewered meat.

First was the pork sausage and bacon-wrapped chicken. I was not a big fan of either, but they were meat so I ate them. In general, if you have to wrap something with bacon, probably you did not season it well enough. That was the case here. The chicken was not bad, but was not too good either. The bacon wrapping made it a little better but was a bit of a cheap trick.

Next was the steak, which was slathered with butter and garlic. This was nice and juicy, and delicious as the day was long. After the meal, I kept belching up garlic the rest of the day. It didn’t bother me at all, but I am sure Beautiful Girlfriend was not a huge fan of it.

And then I ate more:

Finally we got bacon-wrapped medallions of filet mignon. I had never had such a thing before, but found it very tasty and thought the bacon was a nice accompaniment to the rich taste of the filet. The bacon was subtle but definitely noticeable and the filet was about as tender as I could imagine it being.

All in all, I highly recommend this place, and hope I can take BG to a Brazilian type steakhouse soon so she can also enjoy the excess.

A Trifecta of Meats: The Real Christmas Miracle

My friend Bill (yes, Bill the Slim Jim guy) invited me to go to lunch with him last week. When I met him at his office, a nearby department was setting up for a holiday luncheon catered by Dave’s Famous Dave’s BBQ, a chain restaurant, albeit a good one. We quickly scrapped our plans of leaving and stood around long enough that someone invited us to join them.

It was a beautiful display of meat, a veritable smorgasbord of meaty goodness. Three kinds of meat, some sides, corn bread, and sweet tea. It was an excellent meal. Beef brisket, pork ribs, and baked chicken, every bite as delicious as it looked.

Matzoh Ball Soup

I went to dinner with Beautiful Girlfriend at the Metro 29 Diner in Arlington. It was a great place and had a little of everything, so it was sure to fit any appetite and was a good standby when we weren’t quite sure what we wanted. Her dinner one night included a bowl of matzoh ball soup that she did not want, so I got to take it. This is basically a chicken soup with matzoh balls in it, which are similar to large dumplings. The broth was rich and almost buttery with shmaltz, and the ball was soft but held together nicely. The whole soup was a win in my book. I would definitely have it again.

Where is your favorite place to get matzoh ball soup?

Monday Funday: Festive Mechanically Separated Ground Turkey

Somebody reached this site by searching for this string:

festive “ground turkey” “mechanically separated”

Um.

Is mechanically separated meat ever festive? Is there a holiday for that? Let’s ask this guy how festive it is.

Tilted Turkey by Hopefoote, Ambassador of the Wow

Three-Meat Chili

I made chili last Friday for when Beautiful Girlfriend came by for dinner. She loves it when I cook and I love cooking for her. We have silently adopted the tradition that the host person for the weekend cooks the meals. It works out great and allows us to share a chore and give and take more or less equally. It’s a great balance and something I always look forward to on both ends.

When I decided to make the chili I looked in the freezer to check the meat situation. I had some chicken, ground beef, and Italian sausage, and not enough of any of them to really make a full pot of chili. I figured a three-meat chili was in the cards and threw it all together. The result? A delicious mixture of flavors, and possibly the best hat trick meal I have ever made. Plus BG liked it, which made it all worthwhile. And it made for great leftovers for a few days this week.

Red Hot Sausage from 7-11

7-11 is a godsend. That’s why, when I saw this pickled sausage, right next to a Big Mama, I figured I would give it a shot. When I got back to work I was about to open it and dig in when I remembered to lok and see if this one qualifies as a hat trick – three meats in one meal. It sort of does. Beef, mechanically separated chicken, and beef hearts. Yes, BEEF HEARTS. I was a little taken aback.

When I was in college, a roommate and I decided to buy a box of preformed hamburgers. We bought the cheapest box we could find because we needed to reserve some funds for beer and other things students need. They tasted funny so I looked at the label and sure enough they were made with beef hearts. My roommate gladly took my uneaten share of the burgers and I decided to look more closely next time I bought processed meats. Until today, apparently.

Thus, beef hearts are forever off my menu. I don’t eat innards and don’t mind admitting that I am closed minded about this. It’s one of the benefits of being all adulty and stuff. I eat what I want. Sorry, 7-11. No beef hearts for me.

Homemade Chicken Sandwich

 

I recently made a good old-fashioned chicken sandwich. Last year Beautiful Girlfriend turned me on to buying those whole cooked chickens at the market. they are easy – they come to you warmed up and keep well. No need to turn on the oven to bake a chicken in the heat of the summer. I don’t know where you are, but here in the DC area it is frickin’ hot and if it weren’t for the risk of asphyxiation I would even blow out my pilot lights just to stay a little cooler.

The leftover chicken looked wimpy after I had picked at it for a few days, so I took the scraps and threw them on some mayonnaise-soaked bread. It was spectacular. Simple, easy, and delicious, just like Mom used to make. The only thing that could have made it better would have been a little dab of gravy.

For those of you looking for one of those chickens, I have found that the cheapest ones are from Shoppers, for $5.99. Giant and Safeway are both $6.99-7.99 and Whole Foods and Harris Teeter are always way too expensive, so I didn’t even bother checking there.

Portuguese Chicken at Nando’s Peri Peri

Nando’s Peri Peri in Silver spring, MD is a Portuguese style chicken place. I am not a big fan of places that seem to like putting lots of sauce on meat and try to pass it off as something really good. Don’t get me wrong – the chicken was okay, but the sauce is a cheap trick. Restaurants should aspire to more than this or simply just be another Punk’s. nobody should aspire to that level of mediocrity.

Plus, Nando’s Peri Peri has a weird set-up. You get seated, then have to get up to stand in line to place an order. Then you are given a number and a waiter brings your drinks and food. I was not impressed at all by this design. It seemed inefficient for the patrons and servers alike. Beautiful Girlfriend and I will not be back until we forget what it was like, so maybe sometime next year, if ever.

Subway’s Cold Cut Combo

Bologna, salami and ham. All turkey-based. That is pretty messed up, disguising turkey as pork, but it is also delicious.

Here it is, naked in its pure and natural state, cavorting with cheese and about to engage in a three-way with some veggies.