Hot Doug's

Hot Doug's is a hot dog joint. I've heard of a place with various gourmet hot dogs and on weekends they have duck fat fries. Friends that told me about the place couldn't produce the name of the place or the exact address. I kind of forgot about it.

Last week on No Reservation, Anthony Bourdain visited Chicago. One of the places on the episode was Hot Doug's. Now I know what the place is called, I can look it up and go check it out.

When I got there at 11:30 am on a Friday there was a line out the door. I've been warned about this so no problem. The line was kind of quick, took about 15 minutes to get to the front to order. I got the foie gras and duck sausage hot dog and an order of the duck fat fries.

The duck sausage hotdog was absolutely awesome! I don't even know how to describe it. The duck fat fries was good. It's may be the best fries I ever had. The thing is though, duck fat fries sound so out of this world that I was expecting a life changing experience. In that sense I was disappointed. At the end of the day, it is just fries. Compare to other fries, the crisp is perfect and there is a certain richness to the taste.

There are so many other very good sounding sausages and hot dogs there that I will be going back there. The duck fat fries is worth trying once. Will I go wait in line just to have it? I don't know. Maybe if I'm bringing someone else there to try it I will. The real star of the restaurant are hot dogs. I will go back probably on a weekday to avoid the line.

-a

Bacon Explosion

Haha. This recipe have exploded on the internet in the last month. Here is the original recipe: Bacon Explosion

I made one for the Superbowl party I went to. Mine is a bit different. I didn't use barbeque sauce, and my rub is only cumin, paprika, and ground pepper. I also added sharp cheddar on the inside. I don't have a smoker, so I baked mine like a meatloaf, 2 hours at 375.

I'm not gonna repost someone's recipe on here but here are a couple pictures of my version of the bacon explosion. It was delicious but no one wanted to eat more than a slice of it. Everyone values their health and livelihood a bit too much.





-a

Lamb chops - Holiday Party

This is a late post. Been busy (read lazy) lately and didn't have a chance to write much. I made lamb chops for the holiday party for the family. This is a recipe from the Meat 101 class I took a long time ago at the Chopping Block.

2 racks of lamb
sea salt
fresh rosemary
olive oil
garlic



First I chop up some rosemary and mix it with the salt.
I cut the racks of lamb into chops and brush with olive oil and rub the rosemary salt on the chops.



I seared the chops on a cast iron skillet until it is a nice brown on both sides.
This should leave the chops at a nice rare/medium rare. Very easy, very good from what I remember from the class.

Well, mine turned out a bit too salty. Too much salt, otherwise very good.

Here's the rest of the holiday dinner. It was awesome.



-a