Buffalo Caramel Corn - Kettle Corn's Wild Older Sister

By Laurie Brekke

Browsing through the February 2015 issue of Bon Appetit I found a recipe for Buffalo wing caramel corn. It sounded like fun and the recipe/process was nearly the same as the one I had adapted for bourbon caramel corn at Christmas.

I slightly adapted this buffalo wing caramel corn version from Bon Appetit’s. It has a sweet hit with a wee touch of tang and ends with a bit of spice. You could always leave out the cayenne, but it does add another layer of flavor that elevates the taste. It got rave reviews at this year’s Superbowl party.

Buffalo Caramel Corn

8(ish) C popped popcorn (from ½ C kernels)

1 C sugar

1/3 C water

¼ C hot wing sauce (I used Frank’s)

3 Tbsp. unsalted butter, cut into pieces

1 tsp. salt

½ tsp. baking soda

¼ tsp. cayenne pepper (optional)

Oven to 325

Cooking oil spray parchment paper for baking sheet & inside of a large bowl

Lightly season corn with fine kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Bring sugar and water to boil stirring to dissolve sugar. Once boiling, swirl pan occasionally until it’s a deep amber color 10-15 minutes (watch closely).

Remove from heat, stir in butter and hot sauce and cook another few minutes.

Remove from heat, stir in salt, baking soda, cayenne

Work quickly and pour caramel mixture over popcorn and toss to coat

Spread caramel corn onto prepared baking sheet and bake for 10-15 minutes. Let cool before breaking into smaller pieces.

My Goober Burger Obsession

I love a good burger. In fact, I consider myself a bit of a connoisseur of burgers. I especially love to try different types of burgers, like the glazed doughnut bun Luther Burger, to the meaty layers of the Kong Burger (up to 4 patties!), the stuffed cheese burger, and even the Walking Ched, a burger from Zombie Burger made with buns of deep fried mac and cheese. The one type I never became a fan of was the peanut butter covered Goober Burger. At the time, I didn't know why as I loved peanut butter paired with proteins ala Peanut Butter Chicken. Every time I ordered a Goober Burger from some random joint, it just didn't do the trick.

I finally saw an episode of Bizarre Foods America and the host tried a Goober Burger that was simple, yet had a couple of twists that I had never tried before. It all made sense. I had to make one and see for myself as my inner burger nerd was craving nothing but the burger I just saw on television.

The key item for me is a foundation of a well seasoned patty. So, I hand made a patty, gave it a good pinch of salt, pepper, soy, and garlic powder. Then I heated up the cast iron skillet. Once one side was done and crusted up, I turned it over and put a hefty spoonful of creamy peanut butter. The goal was to get it soft and melted a bit. I also buttered up and toasted my Rotella's buns on a separate pan.

So the melting of the peanut butter while cooking the patty was my first twist. My second was adding a generous spoonful of mayonnaise on top of the peanut butter once I put the patty on the bun. That's it. No other ingredients. The peanut butter was melty and creamy.

The taste was better than I expected. Something magical happened with the peanut butter and mayo. The seasoned patty added a nice saltiness to the peanut butter and mayo combination. It was messy and delicious. I posted the photo and many were not having it. Something about combining peanut butter with meat had them turning up their noses. Too bad for them. I made another one the next day just to make sure it wasn't some sort of fluke. It wasn't.

If you like odd burgers, give it a try. Remember, season your patty, melt the peanut butter on the patty while it's cooking, and add the mayo. And grab a bunch of napkins, you'll need every one.

-- Wayne

Episode 36 - Cocktails, Zombie Burger, and the Protein Diet

Protein is good. In this episode, we talk about once again trying the no carb / no sugar diet. It's tough, but along with working out it seems to be working  a bit. We also talk about our recent trip to Des Moines Iowa where we discovered Zombie Burger. It was fantastic.

Check out the podcast on the site HERE. Or, if you are reading this blog from our site, click play and enjoy.

Super Bowl Ad Party

I didn’t get invited to any big Super Bowl Parties this weekend. At first I was a little hurt because I’m all for a raucous house party and am a huge fan of football food; my chili and guacamole (see recipe below) are pretty great. When I thought back to the last few game day parties though I knew the reason was my husband and I don’t have football fever. Every year we end up sitting in the corner away from the game chatting with a handful of others and only turning our eyes to the TV when the commercials come on. That’s our team.

Last year our little corner of the room waited on the edge of our seats to see the Doritos commercial that was created by a guy who graduated from UNL. It was Snack Attack Samurai, which still cracks me up when I see it. For me, that winning commercial was the one time I felt true Husker pride.

It’s not that we hate football. Both of us have lived in Nebraska for 20 years, where people bleed Husker red. We are just way more excited about the commercials. We’ve both pitched ads in the past and a lot of our friends are marketing mavens, graphics arts gurus, or modern day ad men.

We kept up on football, mostly because we’re hip-deep into pop culture. Also, it doesn’t take a genius to understand that the cryptic one-liner Sunday Facebook updates everyone but us posted were football related: Nooooo! And Ruuuun! And my favorite: Where is God now?! Which was answered perfectly in December by SNL’s hilarious skit where Jesus visits the Denver Bronco’s locker room.

I was totally willing to spend another Super Bowl game day quietly chatting while the game went on around me and watching like a hawk for the ads.  Until I found out that another couple didn’t have a party date for the big game and I saw my opening.

You see, this football season as we Netflixed past episodes of Mad Men and got caught up on Archer I was thinking how great it would be to host our own Super Bowl Ad Party where the commercials were center focus and the game was when you chatted, grabbed another beer, and went back for a second bowl of chili.

I know everyone loves the ads. They spend $3 - $4 Million per commercial to be sure of that. I just wasn’t sure if anyone else would be willing to sacrifice football for the ads. As I scrolled through my Facebook friends to compile a guest list I asked one big question: which would they be more excited about, the new Best Man e-trade talking baby commercial or a touch down?

So this Sunday a riotous group of about a dozen of us will be sipping cold brews and eating as much Velveeta dip as the rest of America, we’ll just be shushing each other when the Ferris Beuller CR-V commercial runs and judging how this year’s Volkswagen ad with its twist ending compares to last year’s Darth Vader kid. Go team!

Holy Guacamole Recipe:

The 3 to 1 ratio of 3 avocados to 1 lime/1 jalapeno makes it easy to increase this zingy guac recipe

3 avocados

1 fresh lime (zest and juice)
1 fresh jalapeno, diced
½ C fresh tomatoes, diced
Salt and pepper to taste

Slice avocados length-wise, scoop out flesh with a spoon, mash with fork until smooth but leaving some chunks. Zest 1 teaspoon of the lime and squeeze lime juice into avocado mixture. Add diced jalapeno and tomatoes, add salt and pepper and then stir until just combined.

 Tips: 

1) Buy avocados a few days in advance and store in a brown paper bag to ripen fully. They should give slightly under your thumb.

2) After avocados are sliced in half the pit can be easily removed by carefully tapping your knife blade into the pit and rotating the knife so the pit pop out cleanly from the avocado.

3) Looking for a low calorie/low carb “carrier” other than tortilla chips? Try celery or thick slices of cucumber.

Episode 19

On this episode we welcome Michael Campbell and Eduardo Milan. It's another group show that involved some interesting conversation and quite a bit of booze. We did learn that it would probably be better to hold off on the cocktails until we are just about ready to record. As you will hear, we were a few drinks in before we even pressed record. We had a great time regardless and we hope to have more friends over for clever conversations on future episodes.

Use the player on the right sidebar to listen to the episode.

Homemade Coffee Liqueur

Here is our first video for our podcast. It was shot, edited, and published completely on Wayne's iphone using iMovie. We had a great time making it and we hope you use it to make your own amazing Coffee Liqueur. We call it homemade Kahlua, but only so people can relate to what it is. It is Wayne's mom's recipe and she has been making it for years. We hope it helps you make your own amazing cocktail!

Grape Smash

So a few months ago we visited Brian at Myth here in Omaha and he took me behind the bar and taught me how to make this amazing little cocktail. Look for more videos coming soon!