History has it that Ignacio “Nacho” Anaya was the first to create the nacho in 1943. Evidently he was the maitre d’ at the El Moderno restaurant in Piedras Negras. After the kitchen staff had left for the evening, a group of army wives from the nearby US military base at Fort Duncan came in looking for a snack.
Our quick thinking hero cut some tostadas into triangles and topped them with shredded cheese and jalapenos. They were a big hit receiving the name Nacho’s Specials.
Word quickly spread and they entered the culinary lexicon as ‘Nachos’.
Imagine walking down the bustling streets of a Spanish city, enticed by the aroma of cinnamon and sugar wafting through the air. Your eyes land on a humble cart adorned with rows of golden, crispy delights. This is the world of churros, a beloved Spanish treat that has enchanted taste buds around the globe. In this exploration of churros, we delve into the history, cultural significance, and irresistible flavors that make these fried delights a universal favorite.
A Historical Journey:
The origins of churros can be traced back to Spain, where shepherds created the first version of these delectable pastries. It is believed that the Spanish shepherds, with limited access to fresh ingredients, used simple dough and fried it to a crispy golden perfection, providing a portable and satisfying snack during their long days in the fields. Over time, churros became a popular street food in Spain, gaining fame for their simplicity, affordability, and irresistible taste.
The Art of Churro-Making:
Crafting the perfect churro is an art that requires skill, precision, and a deep understanding of the delicate balance of ingredients. Traditionally made from a choux pastry dough, churros are piped through a star-shaped nozzle into hot oil, creating their iconic ridged and elongated shape. After achieving a crispy, golden exterior, they are often rolled in a tantalizing mixture of cinnamon and sugar, adding an aromatic sweetness that perfectly complements the dough’s subtle richness.
A Global Sensation:
From the streets of Spain to the bustling food markets of Mexico and the United States, Spanish churros have transcended their cultural roots to become a beloved treat around the world. Whether enjoyed as a dessert, a snack, or even a breakfast item, churros have seamlessly integrated into various culinary traditions, adapting to local tastes and preferences. This adaptability has led to the creation of innovative variations, including filled churros, churro ice cream sandwiches, and churro waffles, further cementing their status as a timeless indulgence.
Churros in Modern Gastronomy:
In contemporary culinary circles, churros have experienced a renaissance, with renowned chefs and pastry artisans infusing their own creative twists into this traditional delicacy. From experimenting with unique dipping sauces to incorporating unconventional flavors such as matcha, dulce de leche, or even savory options like cheese, the modern churro has evolved into a canvas for culinary experimentation, offering a delightful surprise with every bite.
The Joy of Churros:
More than just a dessert, churros embody a sense of joy and nostalgia, evoking memories of joyful moments shared with loved ones. Whether enjoyed at a festive celebration, a local fair, or a cozy café, the simple pleasure of biting into a warm, freshly made churro resonates with people of all ages and backgrounds, transcending cultural boundaries and fostering a universal love for this delightful pastry.
Churros, with their humble origins and irresistible flavors, have captured the hearts of food enthusiasts worldwide. As we celebrate the joy they bring, let us savor the history and craftsmanship behind each delectable bite. From the streets of Spain to the corners of the world, the legacy of churros continues to thrive, symbolizing the enduring appeal of simple, timeless treats that have the power to connect us through shared experiences and the love of good food.
Another of our national days, or indeed this time, a global day. This time it’s that fabulously healthy treat, the smoothie. A fun way to make sure you reach your target of 5 a day.
Available in a multitude of flavours from fabulous fruit berries, to super healthy green stuff. (not it has to be said our favourite).
“The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the inequities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. Blessed is he who, in the name of charity and good will, shepherds the weak through the valley of the darkness. For he is truly his brother’s keeper and the finder of lost children. And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who attempt to poison and destroy my brothers. And you will know I am the Lord when I lay my vengeance upon you.”
So begins our introduction to one of our favorite burger joints. The Big Kahuna Burger. We really like this one, thing is, it doesn’t exist. Well, it does, but only in movieland. Quentin Tarantino’s movies to be precise.
Formally known as Jake’s Wayback Burgers, the chain was launched in 1991 in Delaware. Additional locations were opened, until the beginning of franchising started in 2000. By 2013 the chain began an international expansion into 28 other countries.
By 2016 the chain counted 95 locations in the US, with international outlets bringing the total upto 133 stores.
The chain stands out amongst other similar offerings with some of its weird and even controversial offerings.
Bug Powder Milk Shakes
In 2015 the chain offered ‘protein milkshakes’ made using powder derived from crickets. Not as strange an idea as it sounds at first glance, many nutritional experts claim that insects are not only high in protein, but could provide the answer to feeding the world’s population in the future. Their Oreo Mud Pie milkshake contained 24 grams of protein from the blended cricket.
Cricket Milk Shake
The Royal Silencer
Everyone has an opinion about Prince Harry, you know the one, James Hewitts boy. I haven’t read his biography, but the excerpts I have seen, he seems rather bitter and sad.
Wayback burgers brought a special out to commemorate the release of his book, you know, Heir and the Spare. They sold their usual two patty burger, with an additional ‘spare’ burger added, and remarked that the Royal Family could do worse than sit down with a burger and bury the hatchett.
Wayback’s Harry Burger
Thee Mustang Burger
This one is a doozy. I have wrote before about the time a company had to stop selling its 1/3 pound burger, because people thought it was smaller than a 1/4 pounder because obviously 3 is a smaller number than 4.
This time they held a competition for their customers to get the naming rights to a burger special. This time the gentleman who won drove a Mustang car, so he called the burger a Mustang burger.
All good right? Well not exactly. Seems that any burger called Mustang, had to be made from wild mustang horses. Right, it is so obvious. It led to calls for boycotts of the Wayback stores till they mended their evil horse selling ways.
Ultimately it led to the chain withdrawing the name and issuing an apology on Facebook.
The Triple Triple Challange
Their next entry in the Wayback hall of fame, was a special one day challenge. Whoever could eat their triple triple burger the fastest would win the prize pot of $3,300. Just look at it, one commentator wondered if it was possibly a secret plan to curb world population growth.
The Triple Triple
Kim Kardashian Free Burgers
They offered the celeb free burgers and milk shakes for the duration of her pregnancy. I don’t know if she actually took them up on this, but hey, the offer was there.
Today’s hero of the burger world is one Wilber Hardee, who launched his namesake restaurant in Greenville, North Carolina on 3rd September 1960. He had viewed the first McDonald’s in the area and been impressed by the money it was taking when he clocked up $168 in an hour. As he exclaimed, at 15c a burger that was some sales. He already operated a successful restaurant called ‘Silo’, but wanted a slice of the burger market.
His first years trading was so successful that he looked into expanding. A meeting with James Gardner and Leonard Rawls led to the opening of the first ‘Company’ store in Rocky Mount.
Early Hardees Restaurant
Change Of Ownership
Wilber didn’t stay in charge of the company for long. Selling his share in Hardees Burger Chain to his other two partners in 1961. There are conflicting accounts of how this arose. Wilber claimed that he lost a controlling share of the business in a poker game to his two partners. Realising he no longer had control he sold the remaining stock.
However in a short book he self published in 2000, Wilber told a different story. The other partners evidently plied him with alcohol, getting him drunk enough to begin signing legal papers without understanding what they were, leading to him signing the rights for franchising away to the other men.
However in a later interview he claimed that he had just been basically stupid, and agreed to set up a company where each partner had equal voting rights, leading to the situation where the other two could always out vote him on decisions.
Rapid Expansion
The chain expanded rapidly, not just with the franchising operation, but they also bought two other chains, Sandy’s and Burger Chef. By 1984 it was the fourth largest chain in America, for a brief period surpassing Wendy’s to become the third largest.
New Ownership
1997 saw the chain being acquired by CKE restaurants. Standing for Carl Karcher Enterprises, owners of the famous Carl’s Jr. chain, this created a group of 3828 stores in 40 states and 10 countries.
The chain however was struggling, problems with the menu, service and quality control meant sales were declining. 2003 saw a new management team planning a turnaround, and a massive sales campaign, coupled with the reinstatement of charbroiling (Wilber Hardees secret weapon) which had been abandoned years earlier. New menu items such as the thick burger saw an upturn in the groups fortunes.
Since then the group has grown to over 5000 locations worldwide.
The current chain pretty much replicates the Carl’s Jr. menu, just with different names. Their flagship offering being the Monster Burger. With two 1/3 lb patties (though knowing Americans they might be better calling them 3/9 lb patties).
Monster Thick Burger
Wilber Rides Again
Not one to rest on his laurels, Wilber launched another burger chain, called Little Mint. The name referring to the fact that he considered burger joints should be little, and the chain was going to make him a mint. Though not reaching the heights of Hardees Burger Chain over the next seven years he grew the chain to 50 locations.
Little Mint Burger Place
When the company went public his shareholding made him worth $2 million dollars’.
Sadly by 1971 competition and other adverse factors meant the chain started to struggle and after falling out with the other board members he eventually sold out for $90,000.
Ever a tryer Wilber opened three ‘Hot Dog Cities’ and a seafood restaurant over the next couple of years. None lasted more than a couple of years, and eventually he was forced to sell his house, eventually filing for bankruptcy.
His low point came when he planned to kill himself by driving his car into a tree. happily his nerve failed and he never carried the plan through.
Beef & Shakes Burger Chain
1978 saw him raising the capital to start ‘Beef & Shakes’ expanding to three outlets, before selling two and rebranding the remaining one Biscuit & Chicken, before eventually settling on the name Biscuit Town.
This was to be his final success, he franchised a couple of stores, before his wife died suddenly. Despondent he sold the chain to his old outfit of Little Mint.
you would have thought that was the end of his story, but he used the money to open three Burger Castle stores. Sadly these failed, and though he opened another five ventures over the next few years, his final one at the age of 75, none of them were successful.
It was reported that Wilber was always bitter about the lack of recognition in the group. Though it carried his name, the company recognised Rawls as its founder. And the second store was considered the start of the brand, not Wilber’s original.
This changed when Carl Karcher took over. He honoured Wilber as the founder of the hardees Burger Chain, naming it’s most prestigious franchising award after him.
Sadly he died in 2008 from a heart attack, just short of his 90th birthday.
When the Diamond Reo truck manufacturer went into liquidation. Four young engineers left and set up a business of their own. Mortgaging their houses and borrowing what they could they formed Spartan Chassis to manufacture specialist vehicles such as fire pump trucks and military vehicles.
Within thirty years the fledgling company had become a leading builder of custom chassis.
Custom Fire Apparatus
On the fire truck front they tend to build incomplete chassis for other manufacturers to add the body and equipment. Companies such as Kovatch Mobile Equipment take the Spartan chassis, cab and driveline, and add all the extra parts to produce the finished product.
They ted to leave the Spartan works looking like the truc above.
And come out of the second works looking more like the above.
One thing about the American fire trucks is that they look sexy. Acres of diamond plate decoration, big air horns, air raid type sirens and V6 or V8 engines, whats not to like?
New Food Truck
Why, you might ask are we waffling on about American fire trucks sexy or otherwise? Simples, we have just acquired a 1982 Spartan Monarch pumper to turn into a fire engine food truck. Watch this space for more details of John W. Sanders II. (That’s the name of the truck, named after a sadly deceased young firefighter.)
Here is a little look at the new truck. A full post will be up shortly.
We are continually tinkering with services and ingredients. That’s the reason that where we once offered doughnuts in sugar, we now do a full range of toppings such as Biscoff, Orea, melted chocolate etc.
Since lockdown, burgers have become a big part of our workload. We tried a number of different options before settling on a range of pre made patties. These have had great reviews everywhere we have been, and for some of the larger jobs where we have served upto 4000 guests they have been the only option realistically.
Enter The Smash
We have however always hankered at adding smash burgers to our lineup. For smaller events such as weddings or private parties these would be fine. Instead of pre formed patties we would be using loosely packed minced beef. To take it to the ultimate we could use a mincing machine and use joints of beef, can’t get much fresher than that.
But what, I hear you ask is a smash burger. Well, it is quite simple to make. You take a loose ball of minced beef. Not packed too tight or it doesn’t work the same. You plop it down on a super hot heating surface. Then smash it flat with a weighted iron. Oh, and you need beef with a pretty high fat content, around 20%.
What happens is that the heat and the pressure combine causing the amino acids and sugars in proteins to react. This forms a deep, caramelised, rich crust, which takes the taste to new heights. The higher fat content melts in the burger stopping in from drying out and adding to the taste.
The Holy Grail, Deep, Caramalised, And Tasty
you can generally tell a smash burger from the uneven shape and height of the burger. Pre processed patties tend to be a uniform size and shape.
The second Friday (or Frie Day) in July is national French Fries Day. Where? you might ask, good old America, where no doubt they think they invented them despite the name.
French Fries Cart Hire
Introduced into Ireland in 1589 by Sir Walter Raleigh, the humble potato spread to become a staple crop in many lands. Hopefully in the great cosmic distribution of Karma, this may alleviate the deaths caused by his other introduction ‘tobacco’. Perhaps we might have been better smoking potatoes and eating tobacco!
French Fries Aren’t Just Potatoes
Fries can also be made with ;
Sweet potatoes
Jicama Fries
Parsnips sliver fries
Baked carrot fries
Parmesan-Crusted Asparagus fries
so even without Sir Walter we would still have had fries of some sort.
The good ole Americans consume 4.5 Billion pounds of fries, that works out at about 30 lb each. That’s a helluva lot of fries per person.
Whichever way you like your French fries, add some condiments and there is something for everyone.
