Category: Food and Beverage

What is best way to cook steak?

~ SA Otey
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Weber Grill at the Weber Grill, Chicago

I’ve been eating steak since before I had teeth. Anyway, that’s what my hope is. My thought is my parents would put a freshly grilled steak in the blender and feed it to me in baby food form. However, in my adult form, I’ve adopted the reverse sear method of cooking a steak. It’s very easy and gives you consistently delicious results. Because of this method, my spouse will remind me to never order a steak if we go out to eat.

  1. Purchase a 1″ thick steak. Ribeye or New York Strip are my favorite cuts. I tried using ButcherBox for a few years. It’s expensive, but the quality and convenience are worth it.
  2. Get yourself a quarter sheet rack pan (allows airflow)
  3. Cover the entire steak in coarse kosher salt. This is a wet aging process to pull some of the moisture out of the steak.
  4. Place steak on pan and rack and refrigerate for 8 to 10 hours. (flip it about 4 hours in)
  5. Preheat the pellet grill to 200 degrees. I’ve been using the super smoke setting on my Traeger Grill for about 15-20 mins on a cold steak. The smoke flavor is unreal
  6. Smoker until the internal temperature reaches 115-120 degrees. This is at the blue rare stage. Pull it sooner if you want a rare steak.
  7. Rest for 10 minutes, you too, you’ve been working hard
  8. Lather on a layer of avocado oil and add more seasoning if you like, I suggest just Coarse Salt and Pepper. You need something to help build a crust.
  9. Heat a cast-iron skillet as hot as you can, but don’t touch it with your index finger. To know it’s ready, drop a few beads of water in the skillet; if they disappear immediately, then it’s ready.
  10. Sear on both sides for about 45 seconds to 1 minute. While adding a few spoonfuls of ghee to give it some extra juice.
  11. Rest for 10 more minutes.
  12. Eat your steak; it should be nice and medium-rare, with a nice crust on the outside.

The ultimate deviled egg recipe.

~ SA Otey

If a menu includes deviled eggs, they will be automatically ordered. It may seem like food to pass over (not to be confused with Passover food), but there is so much goodness in food so devilish. They are simple to make as well. The best recipe I’ve found is Ron Swanson’s Deviled Eggs. I’m unsure if he made them since he’s a fictional character, but they are good with a few modifications. Swap out the mayo for Miracle Whip, the cayenne with Reaper dust, and top each with a piece of nice, crispy bacon. The Reaper dust is so you don’t have to share.

6 hard-cooked eggs, peeled and sliced in half
1/4 cup Miracle Whip
2 dashes Chipotle Tabasco
2 slices of bacon
2 large scallions, minced
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Cayenne or Reaper Dust

But are they evil? Christians, particularly those in the American South and Midwest, often call deviled eggs by alternative names like “Dressed Eggs,” “Salad Eggs,” “Mimosa Eggs,” or “Angel Eggs” to avoid the “devil” association, with some devout families, like the Duggars, even coining unique terms like “Yellow Pocket Angel Eggs” for church potlucks. The term “deviled” historically referred to spicy foods (like mustard or pepper), not evil, but many prefer gentler, faith-based names for religious gatherings

Why do hotels call it continental breakfast?

~ SA Otey

When I was a kid I heard about the continental breakfast at the hotel we were staying at. I thought this was going to be a huge breakfast of plate tectonic proportions. Rivers of sausage gravy, bacon trays falling over like waterfalls, mountains of biscuits, and piles of scrambled eggs thick like a Tempurpedic mattress.

To my dismay, I was greeted with a tray of donuts, danishes, cereal, juice, and coffee. I guess this is food that’s available on every continent and not continental in size.

We are partial to Hilton brand hotels. We enjoy the free breakfast at the Hampton Inn and Homewood Suites takes it up a notch. Although not free, Hilton Garden Inn has a great buffet and it’s what I imagined as a child. If you really want to eat like a King of a Continental, then stay at Embassy Suites.

How to get free coffee at Disney resorts

~ SA Otey


I once stayed at the Swan and Dolphin Resort inside Walt Disney World during a company retreat. It’s a really nice hotel and something I wouldn’t choose to stay at normally. The cafes and restaurants are out of this world expensive so I can see why someone would want to float the bill to another guest. I had a large purchase on my room ticket and it turned out to be $28 worth of food at the Java bar. I at first thought it was an in-room charge for using the Starbucks coffee pods.

When I checked in, their credit card machine was down. So they used one of those carbon-copy machines to do an imprint. I’m shocked those things still exist. I assumed someone found my card and went caffeine crazy. To my dismay, all someone had to do was write down a room number to charge it. You should have to at least verify the name or show some I.D. This hotel went retro with the credit and mistakes were made. The good thing is they gave me my money back, but the guy in accounting didn’t act like he believed me. I said I have a digital trail that shows I was in Hollywood Studios during the time of purchase. But their tone from him was “Yeah, sure”. Oh well, at least someone got free coffee overpriced coffee.

Ice to drink ratio

~ SA Otey

Do you ask for no ice, extra ice, or light ice? If you don’t ask you will get a drinking vessel filled with ice and about one gulp of fluid ounces. I ask for no ice because fountain drinks are usually cold and I like full-throttle carbonation for maximum belching power.

Super Simple Sunday Sausage Gravy

~ SA Otey

It doesn’t have to be difficult. Well, it can be if you decide to scratch make your own biscuits from flour you’ve harvested and milk you’ve pulled from the cow. You can also raise your own pigs and grow your own herbs, invest in a meat grinder and create your own sausage. That’s pretty much how the description goes for any Food Network show that creates this dish. Not worth the effort. Here’s a quick fix.

  1. Cook as many Pillsbury Grand buttermilk biscuits as you desire
  2. A roll of Jimmy Dean Sage Sausage, brown it, don’t overcook it
  3. Cover the browned sausage with 1/4 cup of flour
  4. Pour in 2 cups of whole milk over the floury sausage
  5. Add some salt and pepper
  6. Let it get thick and bubbly
  7. Cut the biscuits in half and pour over the sausage gravy.
  8. Eat it
  9. Or you can put it all in a Vitamix blender with a bit of extra milk and have a Sausage Gravy Shake.

The Irritating Guide to Chewing Gum

~ SA Otey ~ 1 Comment

Chewing gum is on my shortlist as one of the worst things ever invented. Here is a short guide to maximizing everyone’s enjoyment of your gum chewing

  • Chew with your mouth open like a cat eating peanut butter
  • Pop it against the roof of your mouth
  • Blow bubbles then suck them in to make a sound like a vacuum cleaner picking up a plastic shopping bag.
  • Place enough gum in your mouth as to hinder speech
  • When you get back in your car, roll down the window and toss out your gum so it gets nice and hot and someone will step in it as soon as they park and get out.
  • If someone asks for a piece of gum, always say you’re chewing your last piece, and refer to the first item on the list to show them how it’s done

Hope this helps

HUBBA BUBBA Bubble Gum Bulk, Chewing Gum Bulk Strawberry Watermelon Flavored, 18 Pack, 5 Pieces, Candy

How to Perfectly Fry Potatoes Every Time

~ SA Otey
Keep your freezer full of fries

My favorite diet has been the slow carb diet, potatoes have been a staple of the cheat day. In fact, I try to have them at every meal. Crispy rounds for breakfast, waffles fries for lunch, and tater tots for dinner.

I bought a small deep fryer just for potatoes. I use only peanut oil to fry them. First I fry crank up the heat to 375 degrees and I flash fry them for 30 seconds. I pull them out and let the oil reach the maximum temperature once again. I then fry them for another 1 to 2 minutes until they start to float or look golden brown. Double frying them as described produces the coveted, “crispy on the outside, tender on the inside” cliche.

I’m probably eating so many taters because my potassium gets so low because this diet sucks it out of my body. There’s probably a more healthful way to eat taters, but I only got one day to eat them, and one life to live.

Why Investing in Gold Might Be a Bad Idea

~ SA Otey

Most conservative news outlets have someone hocking gold on just about every commercial. The pitch is that gold is going to skyrocket in the future as it has done in the past. By jumping into the gold rush you will be super wealthy and you would be insane not to do so.

So why is now the perfect time to buy gold? Well, the best reason I can guess is someone got duped into buying gold and wants to unload it to you so they can get some real money. I will never buy gold as an investment because to me it’s worthless. What am I going to do with a bunch of gold in someone else’s safe? Or why would I be crazy enough to put a bunch of gold in my house? Who robs your house of all the gold? What are we in the old west?

When the feces hits the fan, no one is going to want your gold. They will want food, water, and other commodities. I can’t pay for my kids’ college with shiny metal. I can’t walk into a dealership with a brick of gold and buy a new pickup truck. If gold was so valuable why do these cash-for-gold places rip you off for your fine jewelry? Sounds like a scam to me. I’ll stick with burying my money in the ground in only places I know about.

The Truth Behind Red Dye 40 and Food Preservation

~ SA Otey

Food companies are always bragging about having no preservatives or artificial ingredients in their products. However, food waste is at an all-time high. Why, do you think this is happening? It’s because all the preservatives are gone to make it last longer. Plus, people are still dying. If we add more preservatives to our food then we can live longer as the artificial ingredients will preserve our internal organs.

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Red Dye 40!