Toliver

I tried the new KFC chicken pot pie over the weekend. I actually wanted to try it two weekends ago but was told "We're out of pot pies right now. We'll have more ready in 25 minutes." Really? The bad news about the pot pies is that they are single crust. That being said, the top crust crimping is excessive so there's a lot of extra crust hanging around the edge of the pot pie for crust fans to enjoy. As for the filling...it was a mixed bag, so to speak. It did have lots of chunks of chicken (and a small bone ), but the filling was too thick and there should have been more of it. It also didn't have a lot of veggies (peas, carrots, etc). The flavor of the sauce itself was just okay. Overall, I was disappointed. You would think that if a company like KFC was going to sell a chicken pot pie that they wouldn't release it until it was the best chicken pot pie ever. This is just okay. It isn't the best chicken pot pie I've ever had, but it's not the worst, either.

Or how about "set it and use the time you save by using a crock pot doing a multitude of other things in your busy life"? It doesn't take anything away from the home cook. It's just one tool in a cook's arsenal. Like the microwave, like the chef's knife, etc. Like any cook's tool, what you can achieve with it depends on the cook's skill in using it. Time saving devices do not equal the dumbing down of the home cook.

Once upon a time there were these awesome, addictive potato chips called "Snyder's of Hanover Steak & Onion Potato Chips" (and the similarly named "Snyder of Berlin Extra Crunchy Kettle-Style Steak & Onion Potato Chips" which were a different company and different chip). The "Snyder's of Hanover Steak & Onion Potato Chips" were amazing. They tasted like steak. Yes, steak. Not "sorta like steak" or "kinda like steak". They tasted like grilled-on-your-BBQ steak. There was an onion undertone but it was the steak flavor that made them highly addictive. Sure, they were quite salty, but I was willing to forgive them for elevating my high blood pressure because they tasted just like steak, dang it. And then the day came when I couldn't find the chips in the stores any longer. Snyder's stopped manufacturing them and the chip faded into the mist of what-used-to be. When I spied the Ruffles Smokehouse Style BBQ potato chips on a rack inside my local AM/PM, I had high hopes. This is a picture of a bag I consumed myself and then scanned. I mean, look at the cover of the bag. Those are ribs. Meat! Could they be a successor to the Steak and Onion potato chips I used to enjoy? At first they tasted like your run-of-the-mill BBQ potato chips. But then I did notice a slight smokey undertone. The verbage on the bag claimed they were spicey but that had to be hype as I couldn't discern a bit of spiciness in the chips. The verbage on the bag also claimed "lip smackin' dry rub style BBQ flavor". Really? These chips seemed to be all spin and no substance. They didn't taste like the BBQ ribs pictured on the front of the bag. No meat chips! The smokiness was far too subtle and they tasted too much like regular BBQ potato chips. Alas, the search continues...

^^Speaking of copper...lemons and salt for cleaning copper pots. edited to clarify

Another product that I am very late in posting about: Trader Joe's Dark Chocolate Stars (cookies). They're simple star shaped shortbread cookies covered in dark chocolate and sprinkled with tiny white candy spheres. Imagaine Mother's Iced Circus Animals...except covered with dark chocolate. You can read more about them here (click). OMG. So good. Plus they give you a huge amount of cookies in the package. Too bad it's a seasonal item.

The Extra Crispy does not taste the same as the original recipe. They're completely different coatings which isn't very logical. Why not make the extra crispy taste like the original but just crispier? Go figure. I don't order the extra crispy because it doesn't taste like anything. It's just all crunchy texture and that's it.

Some possible ideas for you in here: Paprika - Confessions of an Addict (click)

I swear I saw a TV commercial this weekend for new KFC chicken pot pies at KFC. Has anyone tried them? Are they a regular menu item or are they a special "limited time only" item?

A previous eGullet discussion on Graham Crackers with recipes that may be helpful: Graham Cracker recipes (click)

"Cake for breakfast? Study says go for it" click Oh, really? Just another reason to vote for cake.

Lay's Sweet Southern Heat Barbecue potato chips This is a picture of a bag that I consumed myself and then scanned. Thumbs up! They started with the normal barbecue flavor as a base and then added a little bit of mustard, a la South Carolina BBQ. Then they added some spicy heat. These chips do have a little kick to them. Overall, I'd say these chips are a great addition to their lineup. I recommend this new flavor. edited for spelling

I had the McBites this weekend and was disappointed with them. They had no flavor, IMHO. At least with KFC's Popcorn Chicken, they use their secret recipe for the breading so they have a good flavor. The McBites were McBland.

No pictures but I made a batch of Dorie Greenspan's Korova Cookies (AKA World Peace Cookies) for a Super bowl party. Once again, people were fighting over them. So much for world peace!

I don't "grok" the the gravy. As you found out, you can't get crispy bits if it's all wet with gravy. I'd either 86 the gravy or add it (heated separately) just before serving/eating. I also favor the leftover baked potatoes and always bake a couple extra to be used for home fries or hash the next morning. Refrigerating them gives them a nice waxy texture which makes for easy dicing and they still hold their shape in the skillet after frying.

What about a pliable lace cookie filled with truffle chocolate? Instead of truffles in a ball shape, roll them into a thin snake shape and trim them to be as large as your lace cookie. Then roll the truffle snake in the lace cookie...a sort of chocolate-filled lace Pocky.

Why not put the onus on quick-drying concrete/cement? Concrete used to create the highways/freeways that allowed for the transportation of goods from one area of the country to another. I grew having known shopping in supermarkets all of my life. Oranges and apples were never out of season. Today I can get aspargaus year-round at my local supermarket. I may not buy it out of season and will stay away from it until the price is more reasonable, but it's there if I want it, 365 days a year. This is the same concrete poured into every foundation of fast food restaurants which seemed to have multiplied like rabbits since I was a child. My mom says fast food was never an option when we were kids. Going out to eat at a restaurant was only for a special ocassion. Today?...not so much. Today there are so many more choices that can be made when it comes to sourcing our meals. The OP is looking to throw a black hat onto the one thing that has caused the demise of home cooking but it's not that easy. I think he or she will have to buy quite a number of black hats because there isn't just one answer to the question. Regarding this previously quoted quote: When my mom retired after 25 years of working for a local hospital, she told me if she never cooked another meal it would be fine with her. She was expected to hold down a fulltime job and then come home and cook dinner for the family (as an aside, that's how my oldest brother and I became interested in cooking. For example, my mom would leave notes instructing us on how to put a roast in the oven when we got home from school so she'd have a head start on making our dinner). My dad certainly wasn't going to do what she did and there was no expectation, societal or otherwise, for him to do it, either. Making dinner was put on her shoulders. Hopefully, today it's a different story in a lot of households. So I don't blame my mother for using condensed canned this and frozen boxed that. If it helped her get the dinner on the table sooner and with less effort, the more power to her.

Yes, this. My aunt raised my mom and one day a week was baking day. You didn't buy your bread, rolls, etc, at the store. You baked it all yourself from scratch. It was a lot of work for a huge family and when Biquick debuted, my aunt embraced it eagerly. Anything that coud lessen the overall time spent on the weekly baking was seen as a blessing. So don't look down your nose at those who choose to use canned this or boxed that. It is their choice and it may be saving them precious time to spend doing something else. That being said, I believe my mom's Bisquick-topped peach cobbler will kick your peach cobbler's butt any day of the week.

I finally paid attention to the commercials promoting the McBites and heard that they are a limited time only item. So now it makes me wonder if it's a test marketing thing, or if they're trying to follow in the limited time only success of the McRib. Which doesn't make sense since KFC, I believe, offers their Popcorn Chicken year round. It's also interesting to watch their commercials which reflect who their target audience is. It seems the McBites are being marketed to 20-somethings. I guess I won't buy them then since I'm not in their target audience range (and haven't been for years).

How about that? I took one for the team myself. I ordered a Whopper combination that came with the new french fries. One of the nice features about the new fries is that quite a number of them are decent long fries. Seriously, I was impressed by the number of fries that were long. McDonald's fries seem like shoe string french fries in comparison. The BK fries are quite "meaty". They're a much thicker fry and are very potato-y to the bite. As has been mentioned in a number of online reviews, they're less salty which I considered a negative. I thought they could have used more salt. But then again, if I had been eating them with ketchup as opposed to plain out of the bag, then perhaps this wouldn't have been such a bad thing given the added saltiness of ketchup. Overall, I give the new BK fries a thumbs up. That being said, I was less than impressed by the Whopper. I got it with cheese which was a mistake. The generic slice o'cheese hadn't even melted on the burger which says something about their serving temp. It was quite disgusting actually. Next time I will order the Whopper "off the broiler" to see if that makes a difference.

I've never heard of soaking shucked corn like that. I have heard of soaking corn with the husks still on before BBQing so the husks don't burn so quickly when placed on the BBQ. Interesting. Thanks for blogging!

The local McD's has introduced McBites (click) They're basically what's known as "popcorn" chicken. The big difference between the McBites and the McNuggets is that the McBites are 100% breast meat. They're available in three different serving sizes though some have complained that they're overpriced for the quantity you get. Has anyone tried them?

I haven't slow roasted brussel sprouts but have done so with cauliflower (see the Roasted Cauliflower discussion). While the slow roasted cauliflower may not have the browned bits you get when roasting it at a higher temperature, it does turn a loverly pale amber-yellowish color and still tastes quite good. So I don't see any reason why you can't slow roast your brussel sprouts.

Sometimes I will add diced sun-dried tomatoes just to add a sweet note to the dish.

My mom has always cooked with her white Corningware on the stove or in the oven. Their Visions line was horrible on the stove, however. Everything cooked in it burned in that dish. She stopped using it and went back to her white Corningware. Pyrex...never on the stove, used only in the oven or for Jell-o in the fridge.

This morning while driving past a McDonald's I noticed one of their signs stating that they are offering their new oatmeal all day long...not just during breakfast hours. For years, Jack in the Box has been one of the few fast food joints to offer their breakfast menu, if not just the Breakfast Jack, as being served all day long. It seems as if McDonald's may be following JIB's lead (which is rare since McDonald's usually the leader in introducing new fast food tactics). Has anyone had McD's oatmeal? Will we be seeing more McD's breakfast items offered throughout the rest of the day? And will other fast food joints follow suit?