Kentucky Fried Chicken-Grilled

During the height of the Atkins craze, KFC ran a few ads that said if you took off the skin, then their chicken would be a good Atkins choice. The idea of Kentucky Fried Chicken as a diet food, even the silly Atkins Diet, was nothing but a joke.

While McDonalds and Burger King can just add a few healthy choices to their menus, KFC is pretty much stuck with fried chicken. But the marketing reps at Kentucky Fried Chicken are still trying to spin the greasy, wonderful product that made Colonel Sanders famous into a healthful fast food. Just as the Colonel was not really a Colonel, fried chicken is not really a heath food.

So how about Grilled Chicken? Today KFC was giving away a piece of Grilled Chicken, which was not too bad, but will not be pushing The Original Recipe off the menu any time soon. Kentucky Grilled Chicken is a bit on the bland side, as we have all come to expect from anything that has even a hint of healthfulness about it. I liked it, but I don't know if it is any better for you than the normal fare at KFC. The texture of the meat is very much like the regular KFC chicken and there is a hint of flavor here and there.

KFC needs to toss in the towel and embrace the fact that eating their food will kill you. Inn-N-Out Burgers doesn't apologize for making killer hamburgers and neither does Carl, Jrs. No one goes to a greasy dinner expecting it to improve their cholesterol levels or help them loose ten pounds.

KFC-be proud of being Kentucky Fried Chicken. Make some of those biscuits Colonel Sanders said were so good you'd throw out the chicken and just eat the biscuits! Add some deep fried okra to the menu! Add some cornbread! Add every Southern butter filled thing you can image! Put in dessert carousals with five inch high cream pies. Stop trying to be Whole Food Market and be what you are! And for the love of God, forget that chicken dance crap.

Just a suggestion. . .

Frito Chili Pie

Frito Chili Pie is a sort of fooide dish, I'm not sure a real foodie would sanction anything that has two main ingredients that come in packages from the store. But I like it. I used to eat Fritio Chili Pies at a local flea market, it was a high point of the week.

Frito Chili Pie is not a complicated recipe. Heat up a can of chili, I like Hormel without beans. Open up a bag of Fritos and fill a bowl halfway up with them. Chop up half an onion and half a jalapeno. Sprinkle the onions and jalapenos over the Fritios. Open up a bag of pre-shredded cheese, I like the yellow kind, and the sprinkle the cheese on top of the onions, jalapenos and Fritios. Pour in the hot chili to cover all and mix until the Fritios are coated with chili. Viola Frito Chili Pie.

Eating chili without Fritios is kind of dull. But add a few spicy ingredients, and it's more of a meal. It tastes pretty good, too.

Hell's Kitchen

I've always liked Hell's Kitchen, though it is kind of an odd show. It's the standard reality show, start with 16 or so contestants and whittle them down one by one until only two are left and pick a winner. But most reality shows don't involve sharp knives and hot stoves. Survivor and The Amazing Race offer the possibility of chance injuries, but Hell's Kitchen seems destine to hurt it's contestants.

Then there is the added element of Chef Gordon Ramsay screaming his Brit head off at everyone all the time. I thought about being a line cook at one point, but I am far too much of a jellyfish to put up with the kind of abuse these people do.

As the new season starts, again the women seem to be the better team. I have to wonder if they pick moron men on purpose, or if only moron men want to be cooks.

There are two people in this year's line up that have never worked in a professional kitchen before. That takes some nerve. So they are both totally lost, wandering around asking for help and whining when none is forthcoming. This is a pretty serious lot of chefs this time round, and it looks like it might be the best season yet.

As with all reality shows, the first episode just gets us familiar with the cast of characters. The first few people kicked off are soon forgotten, and as time goes on and the inevitable losers remain, you have to wonder if those first people out the door might have been better. But then the losers will be gone as well, and just the best will be left. By the third of forth show I will have a better idea of who I like and who I want to win. I have never picked the winner early on, and I don't always agree with the Chef that Gordon Ramsay picks.

I like Hell's Kitchen and look forward to seeing what cooking madness happens this season. Hell's Kitchen is definitely a sort of foodie kind of reality show.

The Beautiful Cookbooks

There are a series of over sized (10x14 inch) cookbooks subtitled The Beautiful Cookbook. These are great cookbooks, filled with all kinds of recipes and tons of photos. But they are a bit on the bulky side. Like many other cookbooks, these heavy tomes are more for looking at than using to cook with.

And there's nothing wrong with that. I have many cookbooks that I have never prepared a single recipe from, but I do like to pick them put and flip through them from time to time. I did use my Tuscany The Beautiful Cookbook not too long ago to find a recipe for Potatoes Gratin, which was an easy recipe to follow and tasted pretty good once completed.

While traveling several years ago I found several of the The Beautiful Cookbooks for around ten dollars each. I always think that one of these days I will get around to cooking a lot more than I do now. So I keep looking at these books and thinking about making some odd and exotic dish. So far, I have only made the Potatoes Gratin.

But I do like the looks of the Mexico The Beautiful Cookbook, there might be some fresh tamales in my not too distant future.

Artisan Tetsubin

Tetsubin are Japanese cast iron pots having pouring spout and handle crossing over the top, used for boiling and pouring hot water for drinking purposes, such as for making tea. Because iron is released into the water, the water is appreciated as a dietary source of iron.

Tetsubin traditionally are heated over a charcoal fire. In the Japanese art of chanoyu (Japanese tea ceremony), the special portable brazier for this is the binkake.

Tetsubin are often elaborately decorated with relief designs on the outside. They range widely in size, and many have unusual shapes, making them popular with collectors. A relatively small tetsubin may hold around .5 litres of water; large ones may hold around 5 litres.
Tetsubin can be found in many colors with various designs and patterns such as this red one that has symbols depicting each of the four seasons for good luck.

The historical origin of the tetsubin is not certain. At last one authoritative Japanese source states that it developed from the spouted and handled water kettle called tedorigama that was already being used in chanoyu (Japanese tea ceremony) in the era of Sen no Rikyū (1522-91). During the 19th century infused tea became more popular, and tetsubin were considered primarily status symbols, rather than functional kitchen items.


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