Last night I was the guest chef at The Gallon Historical Art Gallery in Gettysburg, PA representing The Historic Fairfield Inn.  Many people requested my recipe for Bacon Peanut Brittle so here it is.

Ingredients:

1 cup white sugar
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup water
1 cup peanuts
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
2 tablespoons butter, softened
1 teaspoon baking soda
5 slices of Bacon

Directions

1. Bake bacon until done.

2.Grease a large cookie sheet. Set aside.

3.In a heavy 2 quart saucepan, over medium heat, bring to a boil sugar, corn syrup, salt, and water. Stir until sugar is dissolved. Set candy thermometer in place, and continue cooking. Stir frequently until temperature reaches 310 degrees F (150 degrees C).  Add bacon, peanuts, and red pepper flakes.
4.Remove from heat; immediately stir in butter and baking soda; pour at once onto cookie sheet.


Warning:  DO NOT TOUCH HOT CANDY MIXTURE UNTIL IT COOLS.  IT WILL BURN YOU. 
Also, copper pots work best with making candy.

I was recently talking some business colleagues  at a marketing company called Xente Media about some ways restaurants can spend just a little bit of money and still find success in digital advertising.

We agreed that one area that businesses should look at are the review social media sites like Yelp, Trip Advisor, Zagat, UrbanSpoon etc.  The first thing many of these sites should do is to make sure their profile information is correct and up to date, and post quality pictures on their business page to attract customers. 

When using these sites businesses should also encourage customers that have had great experiences to share them on these sites (but only request the customer to do a review on one of them or you will sound desperate). 

The hardest part of reading reviews though are going through the negative writeups and personal attacks on a business.  This is a chance for a business to shine though.  Instead of being upset that a person gave you a bad review start a conversation with them to find out what the problem was.  Maybe they came in on a day that was busy and two of your servers called out, so they wrote a review complaining about your service.  Maybe they didn't like the food they got that night, but since then you decided to hire a new chef.  Or maybe they were so upset that you sold out of a menu item that Sysco Foods didn't have in stock for your order.  If it was a mistake on your businesses part, then send the customer an apology and offer to discount or comp a future meal and make sure when they come you have what they want. 

And if the customer has their head up their ass and nothing is good enough for them or they have a request that goes against your business model use it to make the customer look like an ass, similar to this video from Alamo Drafthouse Theater.

Last night I went to the Maryland State Fair in Timonium, (no I did not go to the Brett Michaels concert.)  But I did try deep fried smores and deep fried Snickers.  As with anything deep fried it was delicious.  But there are some important things to remember when making these treats at home.  First make sure your ingredients you are frying are cold.  In the past on a drunken night me and a friend had the idea to try deep frying everything, smores, Little Debbie Cream Pies, and whatever else we could find.  For the SMores the marshmallow dissolved before the fried coating was cooked.  Also, don't be afraid to deep fry premade items, since they will hold together better. 
Some of the other things being deep fried at the fair this year included Oreos, Poptarts, 3 Musketeers, Milky Ways, Twinkees, Nutter Butters, and a generic chocolate covered peanut butter ball.

Tonight for dinner I modified a recipe from Pig King of the Southern Table by James Villas.  The recipe was for BBQ pork kabobs.  The recipe in the book calls for making a peach BBQ sauce while I chose to use Sweet Baby Rays Sweet Vidalia Onion BBQ sauce.  The dinner was delicious, and the only problem I only made 4 Kabobs for each of us.

Recipe:
Pork Tenderloin
Sweet Baby Rays Sweet Vidalia Onion BBQ Sauce
White Peaches from a local farm
Red Onion
Wooden skewers

1.  Soak wooden skewers in a water and white balsamic vinegar.
2.  Cut pork tenderloin into 1 inch cubes.  Do the same with the red onion and peaches
3.  Marinate Pork in Sweet Baby Rays BBQ sauce.
4.  Skewer pork onion and peaches.  Brush with BBQ sauce.
5.  Grill on High heat rotating and brushing skewers with BBQ sauce.

Eat and Enjoy

Last night's dinner was an eggplant and chicken Parmesan.  Delicious.

INGREDIENTS:
6 baby eggplants (3 regular/3 white) available at Scenic View Farms, Sabilasville MD
1 Purple Bell Pepper
1 Roma tomato from the Garden
1 pound of Penne
1 jar of Tuscan Inspired tomato sauce with olives (Yeah I know I cheated on the dish there)
1 pound Chicken Tenders
McCormick Grillmates Roasted Garlic and Herb
Olive Oil
Balsamic Vinegar
S & P
Mozzarella Cheese

1.  Preheat Grill
2.  Slice eggplants in half, cut pepper into large pieces cut tomato in half, put in bowl and toss in olive oil and Balsamic vinegar, dash of S&P
3.  Cut fat off chicken tenders toss in olive oil and McCormick seasoning.
4.  Grill chicken and veggies.
5.  Heat sauce on stove and cook penne.
6  To Plate:  Pasta top it with Tomato sauce, top with veggies and chicken, then cheese, Garnish with Basil sprig from garden.  Eat and enjoy.

This week I made a salad for Tiffany and me, a California Style Chicken Ranch Salad.

Ingredients:
Mesculin Greens
1 Avocado
Tomatoes
4 Slices of Bacon
1/2 lb Chicken Tenderloins
McCormick GrillMates Tomato Basil Seasoning
Olive Oil
Salt
Ranch Dressing (also good with Kraft Bacon Ranch Dressing)

1.  Marinate Chicken in Olive Oil and McCormick GrillMates Tomato Basil Seasoning
2.  Grill chicken and pan fry Bacon
3. Cut tomatoes, avocado, (lightly salt avocado)
4.  Toss Greens in ranch dressing.
5.  Plate salad, greens on bottom, topped with tomato, avocado, bacon crumbles, and chicken.  Eat and Enjoy.

This is taken from a Newspaper printing in 1902, I found it hilarious.

Jacob A. Riis, author of "How the Other Half Lives," pays glowing tribute to the culinary art as one of the most potent factors in the solution of certain problems.  "The kindergarten at one end and the cooking school at the other are two of the grandest features of our modern educational system," says Mr. Riis.  He further declares that the cooking school is doing much for the cause of temperance.

The average working girl in our large cities knows nothing of cooking.  When she marries she struggles along as best she can, says "Good Housekeeping."  For a month the couple live on love and such messes as she can serve up.  At the end of that time the man gets hungry.  He has got to have something fit to eat.

The most natural place in the world for him to turn to is the lunch counter in a barroom.  This is the beginning of the old, old tragedy.  Mr. Riis believes that with the girls in the lower parts of our cities taught what good food is and how to prepare it, a tremendous blow at the drink vice will have been struck.
July 1902