El Pato Sloppy Joe's

Before I start on this amazing recipe I have to give full credit to a very good friend and fellow chef and pilot, Ben.  He gave me this recipe and the world needs to know about it...Or as many people that get the chance to read this.

If this is your first time hearing about El Pato Sauce, good.  I knew nothing about it till Ben mentioned it. You can find it in a yellow can with a duck on it in the hispanic isle in just about every grocery store.  For this recipe, you'll use just one small can, which is just over 7oz(costs maybe 49 cents).  This recipe is cheap, quick and very easy to make.  The great thing about it is you can change and edit it as much as you want.  Every time I've made it I've done something different.  I've added different hot sauce's.  Some times I put in cumin, cayenne pepper, or chili powder in.  The recipe shown is how I start the dish.  Depending on what I have in the spice rack and pantry, I may add to it.

Ingredients:
Coconut Oil
1 Can (7oz) El Pato Sauce
1 yellow Onion
Garlic - As much as you want
2lbs Grass Fed Beef 
Butter or Romaine lettuce 

Take your beef out of the fridge and let it warm up a bit on the counter.  While that is coming to room temp, get out your cutting board and favorite knife.  Cut up the Onion and Garlic as you see fit.  Usually I leave the onions on the bigger size and cut the garlic pretty small.  Once done, grab a tablespoon or so of coconut oil and put it in the pan over medium heat.  (If you couldn't tell from the ingredients, you'll probably need a 12in fry pan.)  Once the coconut oil heats up and turns to liquid, add the beef.  Brown the beef and when there's a little pink left, start adding your other ingredients.  This is another place to play with the recipe.  Some people like to add onions in first, let them cook for a few minutes and then add the sauce and garlic.  I've tried it just about every way I can think of and haven't found any one way better than another but your tastebuds are different than mine so have fun playing.  Now that you have everything added into the pan, let it simmer away at medium heat.  Essentially after it simmers for 3-5 minutes it's done.  I usually let it simmer for 15 minutes.  The more I can let it simmer at a medium heat, the more water will evaporate and therefore thicken the "sloppy Joe".

Once the sauce is at your desired thickness, put it on a bowl or plate with your lettuce and enjoy!

WHEN you decide to make this recipe, add a picture in the comments.  I'd love to see how they all turn out.  I'll be making it within a week and will put up some updated pics for you.

The Paleo Diet

Hey everyone, 

It's been too long since I've posted anything and for that I apologize.  About a month ago I started "The Paleo Diet" or the "Caveman" diet.  I have overhauled what I eat and how.  The Paleo diet tells you to eat lean meats, fruits and veggies.  No sugar, wheat, grains, legumes or dairy.  Since I have changed my diet and eating habits the content on the site will change.  I'll still be doing the same topics on the site but it will be geared towards my diet.  I'll have a new recipe coming out shortly (chili) that I can't stop eating.  Hope to hear from everyone soon.

Jim

Restaurant Review - The Pancake Mill - Coos Bay, OR

A couple weeks ago I did up to North Bend, OR.  We stayed nearby in Coos Bay at the Mill Casino for two nights.  I'd rather stay in a regular hotel vs a casino whenever possible.  Most of the casinos still allow smoking in the casinos, which I'm not a fan of.  Unfortunately the casinos usually has better deals and our newer.  tbut we seem to stay at enough of them on the road.  It's funny how two neighboring cities totalling less than 40,000 people have a big casino in town but I guess it's something for the tourists to spend money on.

Going to a new city is usual fun and exciting.  There's always new and hopefully great restaurants to try on the road.  Then there is always the not so exciting restaurants we try too.  Before I go on a trip I try to check yelp and google maps to search for restaurants and places to eat.  On this trip there weren't a lot of recommendations by my pilot friends or on yelp.  I just kept my eyes open when driving to the hotel to see what was around.  About a block from the hotel I saw a restaurant called "The Pancake Mill".  I'm a big fan of pancakes and syrup for that matter.  I knew I'd have to try this place before I left. 

The next morning I woke up with happy thoughts of pancakes and breakfast.  I met with my copilot around 830 or so and we went over to the Pancake Mill for breakfast.  The house/building is old fashion and quaint.  The ambiance was fun and reminded me of home and being a kid.  

Ever since I was a little boy, my dad and I went to Wisconsin to meet family and deer hunt during thanksgiving.  I remember many things about that time.  I'll always remember the Babcock cafe; a small cafe outside of town that has the best food.  I'm not sure who owns it but I see the same ladies inside working every time.  The cafe is always packed so you rarely see the women standing in one place for long.  Ever since being a kid and visiting there I've loved small home-town cafe's.  Pancake Mill is exactly that.  Big portions and great fresh ingredients.  Jams and Jellies you don't find at ihop or perkins.  Better maple syrup than you find in stores and fresh fruit syrups.  The ambiance at this restaurant was exactly what I wanted for a breakfast place.  This place hit my memory bank and for that I give the ambiance nine spatulas!

The staff was nice, attentive and polite.  They were all local women born and raised in the area.  They all had a small town niceness to them.  That niceness is something people from big cities never experience or when they do, they're too stuck up to notice.  Very eager to help and suggest menu items.  They'll talk to you about anything just to talk and be nice.  They treat you like you've been a regular at the restaurant for years.  That niceness is something you don't find often.  I give them nine spatulas on hospitality.

Onto to the meat of the review, the food.  Like I've said before, I love breakfast food.  Nothing better than some good pancakes, maple syrup, sausage and maybe some potatoes.  Well this place had everything and anything I could want.  I had an omellete the first day and pancakes the next.  They were both very good.  The pancakes were very big and the portion size was more than big enough for one person.  I ordered a side with the pancakes but could barely eat it since the pancakes were so big.  I have no complaints about anything I ordered.  My copilot also loved the food that he had.  The first day I saw they had these huge cinnamon rolls in there bakery window.  The second day I had to grab one to go just to try it.  I have a weakness for cinnamon rolls and seeing that huge roll two days in a row was too much.  It was all I hoped for in a cinnamon roll.  Just the right amount of frosting, the bread is nice and soft and a good amount of cinnamon.  The breakfast food was worth nine spatulas which brings the overall rating to nine out of ten spatulas.  I can't say anything bad about this place.  If you are ever in Coos Bay you have to try this restaurant and enjoy! 

Restaurant Review - The Landings - Carlsbad, CA

I've been to Carlsbad (or CRQ in aviation acronym world) a few times since I've been flying in Los Angeles.  It's one of my favorite places to visit.  The ocean is close, the temps are usually cool, the scenery is beautiful, plenty of planes and plenty of great places to eat.  On one of my previous flights the FBO told us about a new restaurant that opened at the airport called "The Landings".  My copilot and I went there for breakfast and it was very good.  We had a trip this past week with a stop in CRQ to pickup some passengers.  When we pick up passengers we arrive at least an hour ahead of time, usually earlier.  We usually don't have much time to eat when picking up passengers and don't even think about it.  We got word soon after we arrived in Carlsbad that our passenger would be about an hour late.  It was good and bad news since we now added an extra hour to our day but that meant we were able to get some lunch.  I knew exactly where I wanted to go.

Scott, my copilot, and I walked over to "The Landings" from Western Flight Services, our FBO at CRQ today.  The walk was a short couple of minutes and we had landed at a table with a beautiful view of the runway.  The restaurant was quiet, maybe three tables were occupied.  It was 4pm so I wasn't expecting a huge crowd.  The restaurant has indoor, outdoor seating and a bar.  We chose to sit outside under the umbrella and enjoy the nice weather.  It has been in the upper 90s lately in LA so it was nice to get to CRQ where the temps were in the 70s.  

If you tell someone that you're eating at a restaurant at an airport their initial thought is that it's probably nothing special.  People think, it'll be loud with planes and people.  Either a lot of travelers or pilots hanging around and the food probably won't be that good.  This place was far from that experience.  The ambience here is very nice, in fact I rate it eight spatulas.  The inside and outside is simple and a clean design.  Wooden tables outside with umbrellas and nice tables inside with a nice color scheme.  There were tall glass barriers outside to separate the airport movement area and the restaurant, which also acted like a sound barrier.  The ambience was 7 spatulas.

The staff was very nice and helpful.  Our waitress was a nice lady with what I believe was a British accent.  We sat ourselves and she basically followed us to our table to get our drink order.  She was very happy, easy-going, polite and knowledgable.  She gave us a few minutes to look over the menu and came back almost at the perfect time to take our order.  There is a delicate balance for waiting staff between bothering me and ignoring me.  I don't need to be checked on every two minutes, but maybe every ten minutes depending on the meal.  I don't want to come off as a snob.  I'm very tolerable and don't get vocally upset if a waiter takes 15 minutes before they even say hi.  I'm more interested and curious about how they act and treat customers.  It's interesting to see what kind of staff a restaurant has, tells a lot about the manager and the restaurant.  Although I only met one person of the staff, I rate her nine spatulas. 

The food was delicious!  Everything at the restaurant sounded good.  After looking over the menu, I found myself debating between a couple of items.  A burger always sounds good, a salad or maybe some fish.  But I wanted something a little healthy so decided on the chicken caesar lettuce wraps.  The wraps were very good.  They were nicely packed and the lettuce and chicken tasted fresh.  The tortilla was very soft and there was no overwhelming flavor from any one ingredient.  There wasn't a lot of dressing/sauce, so the wraps weren't soggy and did not have juice flying out as I ate them.  The fries were not as hot as I would've preferred but their flavor was still good.  I give the overall food seven spatulas.

My overall rating of "The Landings" was an 8 out of 10 spatulas.  In my opinion, airport food as a whole doesn't have a great reputation.  Airports attract a lot of different clientele.  A lot depends on where the airport is located.  Carlsbad is definitely a unique, higher end airport.  Therefore the better the clientele, the more appeal a nice restaurant/chef would have in being at the airport.  When visiting a small airport with no commercial airline flying in and out the clientele is a lot different.  Less foot traffic, probably less money coming into the airport and less appeal.  When you spend most of your job at airports you will find that some small airports hide some amazing cooks.  Finding a hole in the wall cafe or diner is some of my happiest moments as a pilot and food enthusiast.  After you've visited a few airport restaurants, you begin to understand that there are some amazing airport restaurants out there.  It seems there are two kinds: one, where you realize after the meal that you are in fact at an airport restaurant and that's the caliber of meal you expected, or two, where you finish a wonderful meal and feel surprised to be sitting at an airport.  

Tri-Tip Marinade

I never had tri-tip until I moved to California.  Not really sure why I didn't have it in MN, just didn't.  My friends introduced it to me at a barbeque one day and I've been in love ever since.  The way they prepared it on the BBQ was amazing.  So tender and juicy - how could you not like it?  It's a relatively cheap meat that you can use in a bunch of different ways.  I usually like to cut it up for a salad or a sandwich.  It's a great option to make as a side or main dish when you have a lot of people over.  There are a lot of different things you can do with tri-tip when preparing it.  I make a couple of different styles of marinade when I cook tri-tip.  Sometimes I'll make a dry rub, but for this time I chose a marinade in which I used orange juice.

Every cut of meat is different in shape and weight.  Therefore, your grilling technique will need to adapt to the cut of meat you get (keep that in mind when buying the meat).  Tri-tip usualy has "tips", hence the name.  The center is thick and the ends are thin, this leads to the ends cooking faster than the center.  You may want to adjust your temperature/doneness depending on the thickness between center and ends.

I went to Henry's to get all the ingredients for the marinade and wanted to check the meat.  My initial instinct was to get the tri-tip at Whole Foods.  I saw the tri-tip at Henry's for $6/lb which is a good price.  I thought I'd call WF to see how much theirs was.  The tri-tip at Whole Foods was six dollars a pound more than the tri-tip at Henry's.  I was quite shocked at the difference and was glad I checked.

Ingredients:
- 7 Garlic cloves
- 1/2 Yellow onion
- 1 Cup Cilantro
- Mix of Von Hanson's seasoning, cumin and salt
- 2 cups of Simply Orange juice (high pulp)
- 2 lbs of Tri-Tip

**This if the first or second of many times I will mention Von Hanson's seasoning.  Von Hanson's is a meat market in MN (one in AZ) and a damn good one.  I can't get their meat and jerkey out here but I do get their "Von Hanson Seasoning" shipped out via my grandma or parents whenever I need a new supply.  It has a lot of the normal rub ingredients.  It has everything you would want to in an all-in-one spice.  I use it 90% of the time when cooking meat.**

If you have a bag big enough to fit everything in, I recommend using a bag to marinate the meat.  Otherwise, a tupperware container will work.  Cut up all the ingredients, except the meat, of course.  When cutting up the ingredients I like to leave them in bigger pieces.  I don't know if there is any truth to it but if you leave the garlic and onions bigger it will have more flavor to give off longer.  I rub the meat with the spices first, then I put all the veggies in the bag or tupperware before adding the meat.  I pour the OJ in last over the meat.  Put the bag or tupperware in the refrigerator to soak up the goodness.  I let the meat marinate for about 30 hours before I threw it on the grill, so you'll want to be thinking about a meal at least a day in advance.  You can let it marinate the meat per your schedule but length of time directly affects flavor and tenderness.  I would recommend letting it marinate for at least one hour at the minimum and a max of 48 hours.

About six months ago I was lucky enought to get a new grill.  I now have the pleasure of using a Weber Spirit Gas Barbeque (or grill, depending on your preference).  In my opinion Weber makes the best grills around.  Although they're usually on the spendy side, they have a remarkable product with excellent customer service.  The grills also seem to last forever.  So when you're ready to start grilling, begin by preheating the grill to 300 degrees.  I heat the grill up hotter than that initially to clean it and then turn the grill down.  I spray a little weber grilling spray on before I put the meat on.  When cooking a meat for this long it's best to use indirect heating.  Indirect heating is exactly what it sounds like.  There is no real searing or direct heat on the meat because the meat goes in the middle of the grill where the burner is turned off, and the heat basically circulates around the grill and cooks the meat slower and evenly.  Plan to cook the tri-tip for 45 minutes to an hour depending on the weight of the meat (more or less than 2lbs).  I have a nice Maverick digital thermometer that I used to keep an eye on the meat.  It's a pretty nice thermometer for the price ($40).  You preset the type of meat and the doneness you want.  It beeps once it hits the target temperature.  I wanted to cook my tri-tip to medium, medium-well, which is about 160 degrees.  I only turned the meat once, after 30 minutes, and the meat was around 140 degrees.  I took the meat off at 154 degrees and brought it inside to sit for another five to ten minutes.  While it was sitting I made a quick Asian salad.  Just some lettuce, cabbage, carrot slices, chow mein noodles and a little onion.  It's a nice contrast to have the warm meat and a nice cool salad on a hot day.  Here is the end result...

Now nicely cut up

Little Salad and Tri-Tip