I'm sure you can tell by looking at my picture, I'm a man who loves a good meal. I have pretty broad tastes, but I'm also very picky as to the quality of my food. Being so far from home, I also think as I eat at different places, if someone was visiting from California, and they said they were feeling like, whatever kind of food, would I take them there? Or would I take them somewhere else - or just say I'm not sure about places around here with that kind of food. So far we have Mexican down - Chico's. We have Italian down - Olive Garden is good for Italian food, but they have that in Cali. So I'd take them to Marabella's. It's an independent place that just opened in Washington, NC, real good food for a fair price. Or if it were my favorite cousins, it'd have to be Cici's - pizza buffet. But as for a burger... well, I haven't looked much. As far as fast food, Hardees is the clear winner with the 2/3lb. Monster Thickburger, the best burger you're like to get from a drive-thru window.
I'd always wanted to check out the Fuddrucker's in Greenville, NC, but we just never stopped there. Funny, I always thought "Fuddruckers" was an offensive slang, or a play on one (swap the F with the first R) so I kind of laughed it off as I passed. But the claim on their sign "World's Greatest Hamburgers" always intrigued me, but I'd been craving chicken for so long after I came out here that I never did. But today was different - I'd been craving burgers, so I decided to get trying Fuddrucker's out of the way, and I'm so glad that I did.
When we came in, I did not know what to expect. The place was big to start with, and we couldn't see the counter from where we came in. We could see a secondary counter, where they have drinks and treats. Looking around we saw antique cars hanging from the ceiling and up in the rafters. The walls were lined with rock and other music memorobilia, kind of like a Hard Rock, but much more casual. The antiques gave it an almost Cracker Barrel feel. Oh, and there was a Harley of some significance roped off near the front. And tables everywhere. Basically, imagine a big room with a + shaped divider in the middle - more like crosshairs, as it was open in the center.
So we come over on the right of all that, made our way up front. The cashier was very friendly, and when I mentioned that we had never been to a Fuddrucker's, she happily took the time to go over the menus, simple as they were. The first thing I noticed was in addition to them having more burger choices than most places (fast food or sit-down restaurants), you could choose the size. They were all the same price, really, it was just the choice of size that changed the price. 1/3 lb., 1/2 lb., 2/3 lb., and 1 lb. were the choices. I chose a 1 lb. Three Cheese burger, and Jen went with a 1/3 lb. Portabella Mushroom and Swiss burger. I got fries, she got "Frings" - combination fries and onion rings. They also asked us how we wanted the burgers cooked. We both asked for medium well. They gave us a device, a cross between a pager and a coaster.
This particular Fuddrucker's offers three choices for seating. First, wooden chairs at wooden tables, the most common seating. Second, regular-old booths - they had maybe half a dozen booths. Third, they had three private circular booths that could each sit about 4 or 5. One was dedicated to Elvis Presley. One I didn't get a good look at because it was occupied. We took the third one, dedicated to the Beatles. (Yes, I'd take the Fab Four over the King any day of the week.) These booths were raised up and had a fire station pole between the seat ends, which, I discovered was great for getting up after a full meal. Our booth had at least 2 dozen framed prints of Beatles photographs, mostly from their early days. I imagine the Elvis one was similarly adorned. I can identify Lennon in the more recent pictures, but when they all had those bowl cuts, if you ask me they all looked the same. Anyway, we both messed around in the arcade waiting for our food. I was just getting started on a shooter when our pager went off. I cut my game short - burgers are best hot and fresh. They don't stay edible long. And the game sucked anyway.
So we take our food back over to where you order, because they don't put any condiments or rabbit food (what I jokingly call vegetables) on it. Just the burger as described, the buns, and the fries. On mine I put mayonnaise on the top bun, ketchup on the bottom, and on the burger, 3 jalepeno peppers, two tomatoes, 3-5 onion slices (rings actually), and 2-3 pieces of iceberg lettuce. I didn't see what all Jen put on hers, but I saw her hit the Pico de Gallo up, and they also had pickles, banana peppers, diced onions, shredded lettuce, honey mustard, spicy mustard, BBQ sauce, nacho cheese (!), and various sauces - Tabasco, A1, some other stuff. The soda was all Pepsi products, the one weakness - I love me some Sprite and Sierra Mist just ain't the same. So I made my Pepsi-bar cocktail, Mountain Dew with some Tropical Punch mixed in. Kinda comes out like the Mountain Dew Code Red that Taco Bell used to have.
We get the burgers back to our booth, and mine was simply amazing. Jen liked hers, too, though I didn't ask her about it. Mine was more well than medium well. When I say medium well, I like to see a little pink in the middle. Not red, mind you - I'm afraid of eating undercooked meat - but pink. That way it's still juicy. You order something well done, the outside is burnt and it's tougher than it has any right to be. My burger was juicy enough, but could have and should have been more so. The cheese blend was good, though I think (not sure) Swiss was up there - something was giving it a sour taste. Cheddar, jack, and pepper jack is how I would do a 3-cheese burger. But again, despite a minor complaint about the cheese, the burger was good. I had a good mix of condiments as well, though I would have preferred diced onions to the full ones, down below the burger in the ketchup, McDonalds style (much as I hate Mickey D's). And diced tomatoes would have been preferrable.
I can't fairly say it was the best burger I've had. It beats Ruby Tuesday's, but Bennigan's Big Irish is pretty good. I think the Fuddrucker's burger is a little better. But I know two places out west - Cloverdale's Hamburger Ranch and Healdsburg's Bear Republic. My mother's a fan of Santa Rosa's Heavenly Hamburgers, but I thought they were kind of average. When Jen and I visit in November, I am taking her to both if we have time (Cloverdale and Healdsburg) to see if they're as good as I remember. But as far as Eastern North Carolina goes, I would have to say that Fuddrucker's impressed the hell outta me today. I got a good tasty and filling meal, the atmosphere was really nice, and we only paid like $22 for the two of us. That's about what we pay at Cracker Barrel or Chico's, so it's on par with our other favorite restaurants. For most burgers, it wouldn't be worth it to pay that for burgers, but for burgers of this class, I would say so. (We actually pay more to eat at Quizno's, now that I think on it.)
Sunday, June 10, 2007
Decadent fudge cake
Of all the scams, mailing lists, and get-rich-quick schemes that my late father's second wife (after my mother) tried, by far the best one (only good one?) was this recipe club or something like that. Every so often they'd send a bunch of recipes to go in this binder they sold, but the recipes they sent were completely random - she'd be throwing away duplicates all the time. One such duplicate was called the Decadent Fudge Cake. I've only had it three times - it's like death by chocolate.
Click the image to make it grow...
Here's how to make it, starting with what you'll need:
One 10-inch Bundt pan, one double boiler (not a steamer!!!), electric mixer
1 cup Butter, softened
4 Eggs
1 1/2 cups Sugar
1/2 teaspoon Baking soda
1 cup Buttermilk
2 1/2 cups Flour
1 1/2 cups Semisweet mini-morsels, divided
2-4oz bars Sweet baking chocolate melted/cooled
1/3 cup Chocolate syrup
2 teaspoon Vanilla extract
4 oz. White chocolate chopped (or chips)
2 tablespoons +2 teaspoons Shortening, divided
Instructions:
Cream Butter in mixing bowl. Gradually add Sugar beating well at medium speed using an electric mixer. Add eggs 1 at a time beating well after each addition. Dissolve Baking soda in Buttermilk stirring well. Add to cream mix alternatively with Flour beginning and ending with Flour. Add 1 cup of the Semisweet mini-morsels, melted, Chocolate syrup, and Vanilla string just until blended but do not overbeat.
Spoon batter into a heavily greased and floured 10" Bundt pan. Bake at 300ยบ for 1 hour 25 to 35 minutes or until cake springs back when touched. Now invert cake immediately onto plate. Let cool.
To make the topping:
Combine the White chocolate (chunks of solid white, or chips) with 2 tablespoons Shortening in top portion of double boiler. Bring water to boil. Reduce heat to low. Cook until it is melted and smooth. Drizzle White chocolate over cooled cake. Now melt 1/2 cup Semisweet mini-morsels with 2 teaspoons Shortening. Stir until smooth. Remove from heat. Let cool. Drizzle over White chocolate.
I've told a couple people about it, been asked about it. Well, there it is. Actually a quick Google search showed it on other sites, but what I posted is pretty much verbatim from the card. I believe I did a thing or two to it, but only in the wording; the recipe itself is unchanged. I would trust this before others.
The first and second times I've had it, I made it. The first time turned out better than the second time, where I did something wrong. The third time I had it, my wife made it for me the first time I visited back in 2004.
Click the image to make it grow...
Here's how to make it, starting with what you'll need:
One 10-inch Bundt pan, one double boiler (not a steamer!!!), electric mixer
1 cup Butter, softened
4 Eggs
1 1/2 cups Sugar
1/2 teaspoon Baking soda
1 cup Buttermilk
2 1/2 cups Flour
1 1/2 cups Semisweet mini-morsels, divided
2-4oz bars Sweet baking chocolate melted/cooled
1/3 cup Chocolate syrup
2 teaspoon Vanilla extract
4 oz. White chocolate chopped (or chips)
2 tablespoons +2 teaspoons Shortening, divided
Instructions:
Cream Butter in mixing bowl. Gradually add Sugar beating well at medium speed using an electric mixer. Add eggs 1 at a time beating well after each addition. Dissolve Baking soda in Buttermilk stirring well. Add to cream mix alternatively with Flour beginning and ending with Flour. Add 1 cup of the Semisweet mini-morsels, melted, Chocolate syrup, and Vanilla string just until blended but do not overbeat.
Spoon batter into a heavily greased and floured 10" Bundt pan. Bake at 300ยบ for 1 hour 25 to 35 minutes or until cake springs back when touched. Now invert cake immediately onto plate. Let cool.
To make the topping:
Combine the White chocolate (chunks of solid white, or chips) with 2 tablespoons Shortening in top portion of double boiler. Bring water to boil. Reduce heat to low. Cook until it is melted and smooth. Drizzle White chocolate over cooled cake. Now melt 1/2 cup Semisweet mini-morsels with 2 teaspoons Shortening. Stir until smooth. Remove from heat. Let cool. Drizzle over White chocolate.
I've told a couple people about it, been asked about it. Well, there it is. Actually a quick Google search showed it on other sites, but what I posted is pretty much verbatim from the card. I believe I did a thing or two to it, but only in the wording; the recipe itself is unchanged. I would trust this before others.
The first and second times I've had it, I made it. The first time turned out better than the second time, where I did something wrong. The third time I had it, my wife made it for me the first time I visited back in 2004.
Saturday, June 9, 2007
Washington, NC Summer Festival 2007
...is basically a chance for some local gift shops and carnival-type food stations to get their wares out, get people buying stuff, and out in the sun. We went to this last year, and it was fun, but we didn't get anything. This year was different.
Click images to make them grow...
Here's Jen in the one on the right; the one on the left shows more of the booths that were selling stuff. Note the giant ice-cream cone building in the one on the left.
Last year, two things caught Jen's eye (nothing caught mine) but again, we didn't buy anything. This year we did. The first thing Jen wanted to see were the soda can sculptures. That's the best way to describe them. Last year they just had boats and planes, but this year they had the Star Trek ship Enterprise, the one from the 1960s. I paid $14 for one made of Coke cans. I could have also got Mountain Dew, or Pepsi, which really was the best-looking one, but I chose Coke because it made an important statement. The people in Star Trek are really communists, more so than capitalists; in Star Trek: First Contact Captain Picard as much as tells a woman from the late 21st century that in his time, society has all but done away with money, and people work to better humanity. However, you just know that once space travel becomes a reality, the corporate sponsors are going to roll in. And one of the biggest corporate whores is the Coca-Cola Company. So the idea of a Coca-Cola starship isn't too far-fetched. (This idea isn't mine, it's a tweak on a similar idea brought up in Fight Club; brilliant film, see it if you haven't already.) So it's a statement as well as a decoration. And here's Jen posing with it (and her Spiderman toy).
OK, here's the exact quote from Fight Club, as spoken by Edward Norton, as the Narrator: When deep space exploration ramps up, it'll be the corporations that name everything, the IBM Stellar Sphere, the Microsoft Galaxy, Planet Starbucks. So that's where I got it. Gotta give credit where it's due. IBM isn't so much a major player now as opposed to 1999 when Fight Club was made, but replace IBM with Apple or Coca-Cola or even Pepsi for that matter. Or a cigarette or beer company. Now, if you want, you can read more quotes from this movie - and it's the dialogue that makes it - you can read quotes here, just be warned there's some explicit stuff - not safe for work, not appropriate for minors.
Click images to make them grow...
Here's Jen in the one on the right; the one on the left shows more of the booths that were selling stuff. Note the giant ice-cream cone building in the one on the left.
Last year, two things caught Jen's eye (nothing caught mine) but again, we didn't buy anything. This year we did. The first thing Jen wanted to see were the soda can sculptures. That's the best way to describe them. Last year they just had boats and planes, but this year they had the Star Trek ship Enterprise, the one from the 1960s. I paid $14 for one made of Coke cans. I could have also got Mountain Dew, or Pepsi, which really was the best-looking one, but I chose Coke because it made an important statement. The people in Star Trek are really communists, more so than capitalists; in Star Trek: First Contact Captain Picard as much as tells a woman from the late 21st century that in his time, society has all but done away with money, and people work to better humanity. However, you just know that once space travel becomes a reality, the corporate sponsors are going to roll in. And one of the biggest corporate whores is the Coca-Cola Company. So the idea of a Coca-Cola starship isn't too far-fetched. (This idea isn't mine, it's a tweak on a similar idea brought up in Fight Club; brilliant film, see it if you haven't already.) So it's a statement as well as a decoration. And here's Jen posing with it (and her Spiderman toy).
OK, here's the exact quote from Fight Club, as spoken by Edward Norton, as the Narrator: When deep space exploration ramps up, it'll be the corporations that name everything, the IBM Stellar Sphere, the Microsoft Galaxy, Planet Starbucks. So that's where I got it. Gotta give credit where it's due. IBM isn't so much a major player now as opposed to 1999 when Fight Club was made, but replace IBM with Apple or Coca-Cola or even Pepsi for that matter. Or a cigarette or beer company. Now, if you want, you can read more quotes from this movie - and it's the dialogue that makes it - you can read quotes here, just be warned there's some explicit stuff - not safe for work, not appropriate for minors.
Our cars
Click image to make it grow...
These are our cars: On the left, my 1987 Acura Legend; on the right, "Chuggy", Jen's 1990 or 1991 Oldsmobile Cutlas Calais. The picture is very flattering to Chuggy. You can't see the damage to the rear fender (similar to the front), or the trunk tied down, or the missing gas cap cover. Or the fact that the driver's door is missing its interior panel and the driver's window cannot be rolled down. Chuggy's name is well earned. But it has served Jen well for about five years, about as long as I've had the Acura. Mine, I bought in San Jose, CA for $3,500 from a friend of a friend. It was immaculate when I got it, but I haven't taken good care of the inside. I get my oil changes - and if you read below, I just got new tires on it. It's mechanically sound but kinda messy inside. Still, it's a nice car for being 20 years old.
Thursday, June 7, 2007
Lots'a Soda, 4 new tires
(Click the image to make it grow...)
Let's see what we have here... 10 cases of Sprite (+2 cans), 2 cases of Sprite Zero, 3 cases of Coke Zero, 4 of Cherry Coke Zero, 1 of Dr. Pepper, an 8-pack of Powerade Option, Grape (20 oz. bottles), a 6-pack of half-liter bottles of Sprite Zero and a similar 6-pack of Coke Zero. Oh and a 24-pack of half-liter Deer Park water. And you can catch the edge of some Kingsford charcoal over on the right, I think.
All Coke products, except the Dr. Pepper which is made by 7-Up, and I don't know who makes Deer Park - Daisani is Coke's water. The funny thing is, I used to like Pepsi products. Well, Pepsi and Mountain Dew. But then I went to clear soda almost exclusively - 7-Up and Sprite. Our local Harris-Teeter has some killer deals on the Coke products - this week it's 3/$8.88; it's been $1.89, BOGO (basically 2/$5.49), 4/$10 w/free 6-pack... whenever the deals come around, we stock up. I only drink the Sprite, the water, and the Powerade. The rest is Jen's. She actually has more than I do if you don't count the water, which we share. We both have 10 cases, but she has those two 6-packs, and I just have an 8-pack - which only has 7 - 6 after I leave for work tonight.
Tires... I'd had one tire go bad a month or so ago, so I swapped it for the spare. We have a full-size spare, and it's made a slacker of me. I should have replaced it weeks ago, but we'd been wanting to get new ones. Well, my front driver's side tire almost blew with my wife and her sister in the car. Jen brought it back all tore up. I was afraid driving it to the Washington Wal-Mart (a good 8-10 miles away). Couple hours and $400 later, and Nathan's got 5 brand-new Goodyear Viva2 tires (even replaced the spare) with a 60,000 mile warranty and some roadside thing Wal-Mart offered. Also got a spare key for my wallet should I be a bonehead and lock my keys in the car. I had a spare, but gave it to Jen when I moved out here. Oh and one of those nifty pull-apart rings, so if I start my car and realize I'd forgotten something inside, I can separate the car key and go in and get it without cutting the engine back off.
Oh yeah, while I was waiting, I went over to Taco Bell and tried the new Extreme Beef & Cheese Quesadilla (I think that's the name). $1.29 and it's got their seasoned ground beef and three-cheese blend. It's a little better than I expected, but seems to need something. Maybe see if they'll put their green sauce in it, or ask for a side of sour cream to dip it in. Don't get it to go though, it's kinda messy.
Headlights aren't rocket science
Really, they aren't. But try telling that to folks around here.
Just the other day, I was pulling out from my road onto the main road. It was raining pretty hard, and I know I looked both ways, but when I pulled out, all of a sudden some SUV was on my left side, and the driver's looking at me like I'm an idiot. And I felt like one - until I noticed they had their headlights turned off. There's a good reason some (all?) states passed a law over the last couple years requiring headlights to be on when your wipers are - you can't see as far in the rain, and that's what happened. Some SUV driver thought he was Batman sneaking around in the rain liable to hit somebody.
I don't know if too many people are aware of this, but as I heard it, when the police determine fault in an accident, they don't just look at right-of-way. If one vehicle is obeying all traffic laws and the other is breaking some, or one is breaking more - such as speeding, such as driving while intoxicated... such as not having your lights on when you're supposed to. If you hit someone sneaking around in the middle of the night, in the middle of nowhere, with their lights cut off, it's their fault even if they had right-of-way, because they were committing a terrible traffic violation - reckless endangerment, and that's about what it amounts to.
I speed. I admit it. But I really try to play by the rules on the road. I love to drive, but it doesn't work as a competition, it has to be cooperation. NASCAR and professionally organized races with safety precautions aside, I'm just talking about day to day driving.
And there's no reason to drive with the lights out. I don't think there's anything saying you can't have the headlights on all day. In fact a lot of GM drivers (and others that have this, I don't know which all do) leave the setting on auto - the lights are on when the car's on, off when the car's off. Pretty simple. High-beams on the other hand - that's different.
So hey. Be safe out there. Especially in bad weather. You never know who's in the other car. Could be there's a kid in the back, you just never know.
Just the other day, I was pulling out from my road onto the main road. It was raining pretty hard, and I know I looked both ways, but when I pulled out, all of a sudden some SUV was on my left side, and the driver's looking at me like I'm an idiot. And I felt like one - until I noticed they had their headlights turned off. There's a good reason some (all?) states passed a law over the last couple years requiring headlights to be on when your wipers are - you can't see as far in the rain, and that's what happened. Some SUV driver thought he was Batman sneaking around in the rain liable to hit somebody.
I don't know if too many people are aware of this, but as I heard it, when the police determine fault in an accident, they don't just look at right-of-way. If one vehicle is obeying all traffic laws and the other is breaking some, or one is breaking more - such as speeding, such as driving while intoxicated... such as not having your lights on when you're supposed to. If you hit someone sneaking around in the middle of the night, in the middle of nowhere, with their lights cut off, it's their fault even if they had right-of-way, because they were committing a terrible traffic violation - reckless endangerment, and that's about what it amounts to.
I speed. I admit it. But I really try to play by the rules on the road. I love to drive, but it doesn't work as a competition, it has to be cooperation. NASCAR and professionally organized races with safety precautions aside, I'm just talking about day to day driving.
And there's no reason to drive with the lights out. I don't think there's anything saying you can't have the headlights on all day. In fact a lot of GM drivers (and others that have this, I don't know which all do) leave the setting on auto - the lights are on when the car's on, off when the car's off. Pretty simple. High-beams on the other hand - that's different.
So hey. Be safe out there. Especially in bad weather. You never know who's in the other car. Could be there's a kid in the back, you just never know.
Wednesday, June 6, 2007
Our favorite meal: Jambalaya
I had never even heard of Jambalaya, at least not that I was aware of, until I visited Jen out here, back when I still called California home. One night Jen had to work, and called me on a break, and told me to make her Chicken Jambalaya. I had seen the Chicken Helper box up there and was reluctant, because I had had many bad experiences with Hamburger Helper. It's OK for kids who don't know any better, but if you ask me, the stuff's nasty as anything you can get.
So I made it, followed the instructions to the letter, a point I feel I should make to compare to my current procedure. And it wasn't bad. It was actually pretty good. Jambalaya's a Cajun dish, something you're going to find in New Orleans, but it's not something I've ever seen at any restaurant. And over the last two and a half years, I've developed my own procedure for making it. I still use the box (2 of them, actually) but I ignore their directions and follow my own.
You will need, as far as food goes: 2 boxes Chicken Helper Jambalaya dinner mix, 1.5 pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts, 1.25 pounds Johnsonville Hot Italian sausage, 5.5 cups water, 1/4 cup olive oil, crushed red pepper, Tabasco sauce. As far as kitchen hardware, you should have a big skillet and a good-fitting lid, a cutting board, and a couple decent-sized bowls - and 1/4 cup and 1-5 cup measuring cups.
Start by opening both Chicken Helper boxes, discarding cardboard. In one bowl mix both rice packets and the packets marked Sauce Mix. Well, they don't have to be mixed, but it's nice if they're all in the same bowl. In the other bowl, mix the olive oil (vegetable oil works OK too) with the packets marked Seasoning Mix. (If you're the kind of person who cooks with alcohol, this is probably the place to put it. I've tried 2 shots of Captain Morgan's Spiced Rum, and I think we used some cheap tequila (Toro) once, and as far as I can tell it does nothing. You got something fancy, something with a special flavor, try it on your second time and get back to me if it changes the taste. I do believe it all cooks out.)
Put the first half-cup of water and spices (crushed red pepper and Tabasco to taste) on medium-high in the skillet. Add sausage and cover, simmer for 10 minutes. While waiting, cut the chicken up best you can into 1" cube chunks. More or less, make it interesting. Put the chopped chicken into the oil mix, and stir well. After the 10 minutes, turn the sausage. After 10 more minutes, cut one sausage link at least to the center, to ensure it is cooked thoroughly. If not, cook on each side for a few minutes until you can cut a link and it be cooked all the way through. Set sausage aside when done.
Now it's the chicken's turn. Pour the oil-seasoning-chicken mix into the pan. Bring the temperature up, not to high but just below. Cook the chicken - you can telll when the chicken is cooked, it'll be white and firmer all over, although it is harder to tell with the sauce. Cook it till you think you're sure, then turn the heat down around medium and let it cook some more. But keep on stirring it, since that oil-seasoning mix can burn your pan quick if you let it. While the chicken is cooking, slice the sausage links at least 1/2" thick.
Toss the sausage in with the chicken, and stir. You may have some oil-seasoning mix left over - let the sausage soak it up, let that cook in. But before long, you have to move fast for a little bit. Next add the rice and sauce mix. I like to let the rice soak up the sauces and seasonings before adding the 5 cups of water, so stir the rice in good. Then add the water and stir well. I like to put the first 2 cups in, stir well, then the next cup, stir once or twice, then the remaining 2 cups in. Now turn the heat up to High, and bring it to a boil, stirring occasionally. Give it a good stir, cover it, and cut it down to low-medium. Well, just under medium, like a third of the way to high.
It's gonna have to cook down for at least an hour now. Well, plus or minus 10 minutes depending on some things, so check it every so often, it won't hurt it. You actually want to cut the heat off when there's still some water/sauce in it. Stir it up, it'll soak up, and as it sits there, it'll still cook a little in its own heat, especially if you uncover it only to serve it.
Notes
I cook it with only sausage and chicken, but traditionally it's a surf-and-turf dish, with shrimp and one or both of the other two. It could probably even be done with beef, but that's too tough. I don't personally care for shrimp, though, but Jen loves it. To this day I haven't made Jambalaya with shrimp, but one day I will. For Jen - I won't eat it.
We have a huge skillet. One that's small won't cut it. Our skillet is a little over 12" across (though it looks bigger...) and 3" deep, but the sides are squared off - it's 12" on the bottom, too. As opposed to one of those ones that's only 2/3 as wide on the bottom as the top is. Get a big skillet if you want to do 2 boxes. For a smaller skillet, stick with one box and eliminate either the chicken or sausage, or half both, and refer to the back of the box for simmer time.
The box calls for the 5 cups of water to be hot. Every time but the last time I've done that. I'd put the water in the microwave on like 15 minutes when I prepared everything, and when I needed it, it was still hot. Last time though, the water was at room temperature and it came out just fine. So don't worry about heating the water, it's an unnecessary step.
A friend of mine at work said that he didn't like spicy stuff, so I recommended he use the Johnsonville Mild Italian sausage, but he went with the Sweet Italian sausage. I grilled that one weekend (well, Jen grilled it - I ate some) and I didn't like it. So I didn't think to try it in Jambalaya - and I like it hot - but he said it was good, and it was the best meal out of a box, ever. I love some Kraft Mac & Cheese, but I've found me a new favorite box meal.
Just a warning, though: It's addictive.
So I made it, followed the instructions to the letter, a point I feel I should make to compare to my current procedure. And it wasn't bad. It was actually pretty good. Jambalaya's a Cajun dish, something you're going to find in New Orleans, but it's not something I've ever seen at any restaurant. And over the last two and a half years, I've developed my own procedure for making it. I still use the box (2 of them, actually) but I ignore their directions and follow my own.
You will need, as far as food goes: 2 boxes Chicken Helper Jambalaya dinner mix, 1.5 pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts, 1.25 pounds Johnsonville Hot Italian sausage, 5.5 cups water, 1/4 cup olive oil, crushed red pepper, Tabasco sauce. As far as kitchen hardware, you should have a big skillet and a good-fitting lid, a cutting board, and a couple decent-sized bowls - and 1/4 cup and 1-5 cup measuring cups.
Start by opening both Chicken Helper boxes, discarding cardboard. In one bowl mix both rice packets and the packets marked Sauce Mix. Well, they don't have to be mixed, but it's nice if they're all in the same bowl. In the other bowl, mix the olive oil (vegetable oil works OK too) with the packets marked Seasoning Mix. (If you're the kind of person who cooks with alcohol, this is probably the place to put it. I've tried 2 shots of Captain Morgan's Spiced Rum, and I think we used some cheap tequila (Toro) once, and as far as I can tell it does nothing. You got something fancy, something with a special flavor, try it on your second time and get back to me if it changes the taste. I do believe it all cooks out.)
Put the first half-cup of water and spices (crushed red pepper and Tabasco to taste) on medium-high in the skillet. Add sausage and cover, simmer for 10 minutes. While waiting, cut the chicken up best you can into 1" cube chunks. More or less, make it interesting. Put the chopped chicken into the oil mix, and stir well. After the 10 minutes, turn the sausage. After 10 more minutes, cut one sausage link at least to the center, to ensure it is cooked thoroughly. If not, cook on each side for a few minutes until you can cut a link and it be cooked all the way through. Set sausage aside when done.
Now it's the chicken's turn. Pour the oil-seasoning-chicken mix into the pan. Bring the temperature up, not to high but just below. Cook the chicken - you can telll when the chicken is cooked, it'll be white and firmer all over, although it is harder to tell with the sauce. Cook it till you think you're sure, then turn the heat down around medium and let it cook some more. But keep on stirring it, since that oil-seasoning mix can burn your pan quick if you let it. While the chicken is cooking, slice the sausage links at least 1/2" thick.
Toss the sausage in with the chicken, and stir. You may have some oil-seasoning mix left over - let the sausage soak it up, let that cook in. But before long, you have to move fast for a little bit. Next add the rice and sauce mix. I like to let the rice soak up the sauces and seasonings before adding the 5 cups of water, so stir the rice in good. Then add the water and stir well. I like to put the first 2 cups in, stir well, then the next cup, stir once or twice, then the remaining 2 cups in. Now turn the heat up to High, and bring it to a boil, stirring occasionally. Give it a good stir, cover it, and cut it down to low-medium. Well, just under medium, like a third of the way to high.
It's gonna have to cook down for at least an hour now. Well, plus or minus 10 minutes depending on some things, so check it every so often, it won't hurt it. You actually want to cut the heat off when there's still some water/sauce in it. Stir it up, it'll soak up, and as it sits there, it'll still cook a little in its own heat, especially if you uncover it only to serve it.
Notes
I cook it with only sausage and chicken, but traditionally it's a surf-and-turf dish, with shrimp and one or both of the other two. It could probably even be done with beef, but that's too tough. I don't personally care for shrimp, though, but Jen loves it. To this day I haven't made Jambalaya with shrimp, but one day I will. For Jen - I won't eat it.
We have a huge skillet. One that's small won't cut it. Our skillet is a little over 12" across (though it looks bigger...) and 3" deep, but the sides are squared off - it's 12" on the bottom, too. As opposed to one of those ones that's only 2/3 as wide on the bottom as the top is. Get a big skillet if you want to do 2 boxes. For a smaller skillet, stick with one box and eliminate either the chicken or sausage, or half both, and refer to the back of the box for simmer time.
The box calls for the 5 cups of water to be hot. Every time but the last time I've done that. I'd put the water in the microwave on like 15 minutes when I prepared everything, and when I needed it, it was still hot. Last time though, the water was at room temperature and it came out just fine. So don't worry about heating the water, it's an unnecessary step.
A friend of mine at work said that he didn't like spicy stuff, so I recommended he use the Johnsonville Mild Italian sausage, but he went with the Sweet Italian sausage. I grilled that one weekend (well, Jen grilled it - I ate some) and I didn't like it. So I didn't think to try it in Jambalaya - and I like it hot - but he said it was good, and it was the best meal out of a box, ever. I love some Kraft Mac & Cheese, but I've found me a new favorite box meal.
Just a warning, though: It's addictive.
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