Late Night eating in New York city.

Crif Dogs

• Price Range: $$$$

For me Grif dogs has always been that late night eat when you were just sick of a slice of pizza. When I first found out about this place I was so excited to eat there. Grif dogs in some ways lived up the hype but at the same time had some huge down falls. So here are my true thoughts – for 1 who really wants to pay 2.50 for a plain hot dog I mean come on it’s a hot dog!!!!! Second the place was  not clean at all I guess thats what you get from a late night place in the LES.  But on the upside the concept of Grif Dogs is great. I like the crazy style of hot dogs they put together. Such as – The Chang- Bacon Wrapped dog topped  with kimchee  or the Spice Redneck – A house dog, bacon wrapped w/chili , cole slaw, and Jalapenos.  Or if you are really in the mood maybe you can get one of their stoner packs, which is sort of a grab bag of eats – this is how the describe  it “A mistery grab bag of eats – we won’t tell you what you are getting but we guarantee it will fill the moderately stoned dude”

So my take on Grif Dogs is eat at your own risk. The dogs are right and the price is wrong. You make the choice.

  Places to eat in Brooklyn New york.

When you think Williamsburg Brooklyn you think hipsters, tight pants, big hair, and over priced fancy Thai food. But I make the claim that it is home to the best fried chicken in New York. This title is held by Williamsburg own Pies ‘n’ Thighs. A small little hard to find counter top set right under the Williamsburg bridge. Pies ‘n’ Thighs Serves up many of the back yard BBQ favorites such as pulled pork sandwich ($8) catfish ($8, served with corn bread) Hush puppies ($3) and their famous mac and cheese. But my blue ribbon hangs on their Fried Chicken. Now I love it when the chicken is crispy on the outside but so juicy on the inside that it runs down your chin. Make no mistake Pies ‘n’ Thighs and have hit this goal. Pies ‘n’ Thighs is a must stop for and one looking for a good home cooked meal.
Some shop tips:
There is only out door seating.
They are cash only.
There is never a long wait.

Pies ‘n’ Thighs

351 Kent Avenue (entrance on South Fifth Street), Williamsburg, Brooklyn; (347) 282-6005.
HOURS 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday; 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday. Closed Monday.

Got last minute Guest coming over to celebrate the Holidays! Need something to snack on fast? Then this is for you. This is also fun to make with kids.

Cinnamon Nuts

Crunchy,sweetly spiced nuts.

1/2 tsp. dry Minced Orange Peal rehydrated in 2tsp of water

1/2 tsp. Ceylon Cinnamon

1/3 Cup of water

2 Cups of walnuts or pecans Halves

3/4 Cup of sugar

Cover the dry Minced orange peel in water. Let stand for at least 10 min. to fully rehydrate. Combine the orange peal, suger,ceylon, and water in a deep sauce pan. Bring to a boil over medium high heat, stirring regularly. Add nuts and reduce heat to medium low, so the liquid is simmering. Stir constantly while the water evaporates. First, the glaze will be shinny. As the water boils off, the sugar will form brown crusty crystals on the walnuts. When the nuts are completely coated and all the liquid has evaporated, remove from heat. Male sure to stir constantly t prevent the nuts from burning. Spread nuts on a cookie sheet to cool.

makes 2 cups

After I posted the “how to for flour” I got a few e-mails about corn tortillas. Now I have never made corn before. So thought I would give it a try and this is the recipe that I am going to use Corn Tortillas And then I will let you know how it turns out. Please post your feed back on how yours turn out. Or feel free to post your own Corn tortilla recipes.

Flour Tortilla Recipe

Before we get into this I wanted to let you know that I have been making my own flour torillas for about 2 years and I would about 50% come out right. So if you don’t get it the first time please keep trying.  Ok now that I have said that lets get into it.

this is the basic

Ingredients:

3 cups unbleached flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp.  salt
4-6 Tbsp. vegetable shortening or lard
about 1 1/4 cups warm water

Mix dry ingredients in a large bowl.

Add vegetable shortening or lard.

Next add warm water a little at a time until your dough is soft and not sticky. You do
not need very hot water.

Knead the dough for a few minutes.

Now you will pull off pieces of dough to form 12 small balls Let them
rest for at least 10 minutes, longer if you like.

now you can heat up your pan

You will want to set it at medium to high
heat. If it is too hot the tortillas will cook too fast.

Now you can roll out the dough with your rolling pin. It is a good
idea to dust each ball with a little flour just before you roll them out. Lay the rolling pin
in the center of the dough ball and roll up, center and roll down. It is good to lift the
dough and turn it. Roll them out fairly thin.

Once rolled out lay them on  your pan but remember not for to long. Here is a little tip – heat one side for about 3 seconds and then flip now you can start the normal cooking of the tortilla. You know that you have made a good tortilla when you start to see air bubbles rise from the tortilla. When your done toss them between 2 towels to keep warm and soft. Now you can serve. Good luck and have a ton of fun with it.

Summer is a great time to cook for the kids. Even though I don’t have any kids I still like to eat kids foods. And Corn Dogs are still high on my list. No nothing beats corn dogs at the state fair but we can sure try. At first i tried to make up my own recipe and failed to no end. Then I came across this recipe on www.hillbillyhousewife.com and it finally worked for me. This is a fun thing to make with your kids this summer. Be prepared it makes a huge mess. Let me know how they turn out.

1 cup milk

2 medium eggs

1/4 cup oil

2 tablespoons sugar

1 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 1/3 cups corn meal

2/3 cup flour

1 to 1-1/2 pounds hot dogs

flour for dusting (about 1/2 cup)

Hot Fat for Deep Frying

Popscicle sticks

In a large bowl combine the milk, eggs, oil, sugar and salt. Mix it very well. Sprinkle in the baking powder, corn meal and flour. Stir it all up to make a slightly thick batter.

Take your hot dogs and dry them off on paper towels. Dust the hot dogs with flour, coating them completely. The cornmeal batter won’t stick to the hot dogs unless they are coated in flour. The batter just slides right off of the wieners naturally slick outsides. Shove popscicle sticks into the flour coated hot dogs. Set the hot dogs aside.

While all of this is going on, it’s a good idea to get your hot fat to heating up. You want the temperature to be about 375°. Allow the fat to preheat so it is almost smoking by the time you are ready to add the corn dogs.

Now, to coat the floured hot dogs with batter you have two choices. You can swirl the hot dogs in the bowl of batter until they are coated, and then drop them into the hot fat. If this is a little difficult I know of an easier way. Scoop some of your corn meal batter into a narrow jar or cup which is as tall as your hot dogs are long. Fill the jar or cup about 3/4 of the way full. Dip your hot dog into the batter while you hold onto the stick. Swirl the hot dog to coat it evenly. Be careful or the batter will overflow. Raise the wiener above the cup and let any excess batter drip off. Quickly place the battered dog into the hot fat. The fat will bubble up and cook the outside of the batter, making the corndogs the exact same shape as the ones you buy at the store.

Only fry a few corn dogs at a time. If the corn dogs crowd each other they don’t fry very well. I only fry 2 or 3 at a time. Turn the corn dogs when the bottom side is well browned. Use tongs to remove the cooked corn dogs from the fat. Allow them to drain on paper towels. Repeat the process, coating and frying a few at a time, until all of the corn dogs are cooked. Refill the narrow jar or cup with batter from your bowl as necessary. Continue until all the hot dogs are coated or until you no longer have enough batter to coat the hot dogs efficiently.

If you don’t want to waste any unused batter, it can be dropped by small spoonfuls into the hot fat, and fried until brown. Serve these along side the corn dogs.

If desired, you can make small corn dogs by cutting hot dogs into thirds, or quarters. Poke a toothpick up into the end of the hot dogs. Coat and fry them as described above. These are nice for fancy days, and for kids parties. Provide plenty of ketchup and mustard for dipping.

This recipe makes about 12 to 14 corn dogs.