Michigan Product Review: Baffo’s ‘Meals in Bread Rolls’
Posted on 2 May 2008 under Michigan Cuisine, Reviews: Products | No Comments
Michigan-made products. For some reason I tend to gravitate toward Michigan-made products more than others. It could simply be so I can get blog posts written that are relevant, but really, having lived on the east coast for a while I missed some of the products here. So that could be part of it as well.
I found these Baffo’s sandwich rolls at the market here in Luna Pier. John told me the high school used to sell the pizza version of these sandwiches for 50 cents each, which really isn’t a bad deal for the kids. At the market they average $2 each, which is doable for a lot of folks.
The package says, “For best results, open one end of package. Heat for approx. 15 seconds.” I did this, cut the end off, felt inside … put it back in the package and heated it another 30 seconds. I’m wondering if the “15 seconds” is a typo, as 45 seconds worked fine.
I gotta tell ya, after I heated this breakfast roll and pulled it out of its package and put it on this plate for photographing, I was a little bit leary of it. You can see the outside of the roll toward the middle is still a bit doughy. (You can even see this in the upper photo through the packaging.) This is definitely a manufacturing and quality issue that should be looked into.
Inside was interesting. The egg is shaped like a miniature omelet, with chunks of bacon. I’m guessing the brownish material is the cheddar, which doesn’t appear to have faired well.
Still, the flavor was fairly good. Dissolved cheddar aside, I could taste both the egg and the bacon. The bread roll itself was like a well-made sub roll, soft and flavorful.
Mary’s told me the ham & cheese version was alright, but there were only two small pieces of ham inside the bread roll. She said the cheese was ok, but that the best part was the bread.
We both agreed, however, that we like Baffo’s better than Hot Pockets, especially for the price, and are planning to try the pizza version when we get the chance.
Now all they need is a good liverwurst and meunster version …
Review: GFS Sweet Corn Bake
Posted on 21 April 2008 under Michigan Cuisine, Reviews: Products | 1 Comment
No, you’re not having some weird feeling of deja vu.
You’re right … two days ago I blogged about Mary Jewett’s wonderful Kentucky Corn Pudding and included her recipe. It looked different than this. Scroll down a bit … see? It’s still there. Looks pretty good, doesn’t it? Lots of good kernels of corn, with just a little bit of a binder in there. Yeah, it’s pretty darn tasty, too! So much so that there wasn’t any left.
So when I spotted this Sweet Corn Bake at GFS Marketplace in Toledo this afternoon I had hopes it would be something maybe, possibly, could be close to what Mary Jewett’s Kentucky Corn Pudding is. The ingredient list was promising … corn, flour, cornmeal, some cream … sounded pretty darn good that way.
Looking at the picture on the insert on top of the tray I thought, “Well maybe it doesn’t quite look like that … maybe there’s more corn and less cornbready stuff.”
Frankly, this is one of the few times I recall where the picture on the package actually matches what comes out when you’re done.
Nope, it’s not Mary Jewett’s Kentucky Corn Pudding. Not by a long shot.
Ok so this stuff’s not bad. It’s kind of an extra-sweet cornbread with some kernels of corn in it.
But ya’ see I’m catering a Mayoral dinner in early June and the Mayor now wants Mary Jewett’s Kentucky Corn Pudding. I thought the GFS Sweet Corn Bake might fit the bill.
It doesn’t. It might fit other menus, that’s for sure.
It just won’t work for this one.
Onward and upward. Gotta get to finding that Roasted Butternut Squash Bisque she wants. Yeah, that’s next.
Review: Half-Moon Meat Ravioli from Pierino, Lincoln Park, Michigan
Posted on 6 January 2008 under Michigan Cuisine, Reviews: Products, Shopping | 3 Comments
I really like a simple, well-made pasta that’s been made from scratch. That’s not to say I won’t open a box of macaroni, cook it off and serve it with a little butter. But when it’s raw pasta that hasn’t been dried and has been made well, people seem to just like it better. The Amish-made noodles in my Traditional Chicken Noodle Soup is part of what makes the soup so darn good, and subsequently, so popular (Adam and I are gearing up to make a double batch of the stuff this morning). Over at the Frog Leg Inn, Chef Tad serves an exceptional Smoked Mozzarella Ravioli, “Homemade roasted red pepper ravioli stuffed with mozzarella cheese and tossed in a tempting roasted red pepper cream sauce.” And I’ll tell you what, even the ravioli at Olive Garden aren’t too shabby.
I know, I know, your kids like that stuff from the can. They’ll eat it by the bowlful … the canful … the snootful. If there was a restaurant that served that stuff, if someone at a family potluck were to bring a hotel pan they’ve dumped #10 cans of the stuff into and heated over water warmed by lit Sterno cans, your kids and your couch potato husband will be back for thirds or fourths.
So, what if … you were able to get restaurant-quality ravioli, and there were a bunch of different varieties to try out with your family, all without having to go to a restaurant supply store, just getting them with your regular groceries … and they were made in Michigan by a family-owned company that’s been around for decades?
That’s exactly the line of thought I was having when I spotted these Pierino Halfmoon Meat Ravioli at Kroger.
Ok, not really … I was thinking, “Dang, these look interesting … I wonder if they’re any good? Maybe if I had a sauce with, like, some wine it it, even if they’re bad nobody will really notice. Let’s see, where were they … oooo, they’re made in Lincoln Park, Michigan … Honey, it’s for the blog!”
How are the Pierino Halfmoon Meat Ravioli? Let’s put it this way; Each of the packages you see here is one pound, with about 29 ravioli in each package. Six of us ate dinner last night, Mary, my four kids and myself. When I asked Adam to put dinner away, he came back with, “Shouldn’t somebody just eat these last four ravioli instead??”
That’s right. Between the six of us we finished off all four pounds.
Following the instructions on the package, I boiled the frozen ravioli in some water with a bit of Kosher salt in it. For four pounds of ravioli, there was a lot of water! But the ravioli were still done in the specified 10 minutes. To keep it simple, we topped the Pierino Halfmoon Meat Ravioli with some Bertolli Marinara with Burgundy Wine, some fresh minced garlic, shredded parmesan and some chopped chives, along with having some commercial garlic toast alongside.
Sure, I could have made a marinara sauce myself, and I probably could have put together a simple garlic bread. But we had a lot of things going on yesterday. Putting dinner together this way took very little time, and was still very good indeed.
Interestingly enough, the lady in the checkout line ahead of us yesterday had also picked up some Pierino products, a couple packages of their Cappelletti with Cheese along with some jarred pasta sauce. She was also trying them for the first time, hoping it would be good.
It probably was.
Pierino Frozen Foods are going to be regular items on our shopping list from now on. Their Tortellini with Cheese looks really good. I wonder if I can snag some of Chef Tad’s red pepper cream sauce to go with it …
Review: Dutch Brand Beef Polish Sausage
Posted on 5 January 2008 under Grilling, Michigan Cuisine, Reviews: Products | 4 Comments
Alright already! I’ll be sure to eat them today! Sheesh!
Don’t you just hate when you promise someone you’ll do something … and then, they actually expect it from you? They actually hold you to your word??
Yeah, I know, it drives me nuts, too.
Last Saturday was the first time these Dutch Brand Beef Polish Sausage were available at the Kroger in Point Place, Ohio, north of Toledo. That’s my regular shopping place, so they know me there. The guy who takes care of the lunchmeats, hot dogs, sausages and such asked me to let him know how these beasties were. I told him we’d probably have them that evening, and that I’d be sure to let him know.
Of course, last Saturday was when Mayor Mary was first starting to feel so poorly … the day 13abc’s Zack Ottenstein chewed me out for not making her any “Jewish Penicillin”, which I ended up making the following morning. So no, it didn’t happen.
How many times have I been back to that store this past week? How many times did I get, “Did you try them yet??”
Oy to the gevalt! I’m such a meshuggeneh …
Anyway …
This afternoon for lunch I took the Calphalon panini pan I’d gotten from Chef Tad, heated it over medium heat and added a couple tablespoons of little olive oil. I laid four of the Dutch Brand Beef Polish Sausages on the ridges of the pan at an angle to create pseudo-grill marks. (I also started some Koegel Viennas in a little olive oil in a separate pan for those not wanting to try the sausages.) As the sausages cooked a lot of good juices came through the casing, helping to cook them thoroughly. Once they were cooked, Adam and I tried them with some spicy brown mustard and some of my favorite chips; the green-tinged Uncle Ray’s Kosher Dill Pickle Potato Chips, making this a real Michigan lunch.
Adam and I agree the Dutch Brand Beef Polish Sausages have a strong traditional Polish sausage flavor. The spices are such that the taste is recognizable but not too strong. Adam said he could detect a bit of a flavor like hamburger, but as I pointed out he’s not used to Polish sausages that are all-beef. He’d used to those that include pork, poultry and other ingredients. The Dutch Brand Beef Polish Sausages are decidedly more authentic than what he’s had before.
Dutch Brand Beef Polish Sausages are 6 to a package for $3.99. They’re huge, about 1-1/4″ in diameter and about 6″ long, making them a pretty good deal. You can tell they’re hand-made and hand-packed; On one in our package, there was a length of empty casing still attached. Ok, so they use some pretty nice casings …
This is definitely a sausage we’ll be having again.
Hey you … Kroger doode … how’s that?? 
Review: It’s A Santoku Knife … It’s A Shear … It’s A Sheartoku!
Posted on 8 November 2007 under Kitchen Gear, Knives, Reviews: Products | No Comments
It’s not too often I see any new kind of kitchen gadget that’s actually useful. But I’d spotted this little beastie in a store the other day and instantly became curious. Made by KitchenAid, manufacturer of the venerable stand mixers, this device is called a Sheartoku. Quite simply, it’s a 4.5″ santoku knife with an additional non-sharpened section. Apart, the santoku can be used just like any other. But hooked together with its rotating appendage (which is fairly thick and cannot be sharpened at all), it becomes quite a nice pair of kitchen shears.
This morning after picking one up, I took it over to Chef Tad Cousino of the Frog Leg Inn for his opinion.
Chef Tad can sharpen a kitchen knife exceedingly well. He uses a sharpening steel for the main sharpening then finishes the edge with a diamond sharpener. He was rather impressed with the santoku section of the Sheartoku, giving it, on a scale of one to five, a “Doode, this is flippin’ sweet!” The santoku held an edge quite well, staying sharp even after cutting the bottoms off a few fresh dumpling squash.
The santoku only has the dimples/divots/whatchacallits on the right side. The left side of the blade is flat so it works correctly as a shear. If you’re left-handed, this might be a problem when using just the santoku … but we’re not sure as none of us are left-handed.
Connected with the rest of the device to create shears, the action is snug. The pivot is pressure-fitted into the other side. It also has a bit of a ball on it. Because of this, there’s smooth blade-on-”blade” action all the way down as the shear is closing.
Our one concern is whether or not the metal continues all through the handles. We really can’t tell. If not, the plastic might separate from the metal under pressure. But we did put a lot of pressure on the handle when cutting the bottoms off those squash and nothing moved.
I left the Sheartoku at the restaurant for others to use, so we’ll see what happens over the long haul. It’s looks good so far though.
For $9.99 at Meijer and Target, the Sheartoku should probably find its way into the Christmas stockings of quite a few cooks this season. They’ll get shear enjoyment out of it.
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