Last week I spent a couple days preparing Garbage Plate courses. It turned out great as always and I imagine it shortened my life expectancy by another day or two.
You DO know about the Garbage Plate, I hope. If not, refer to: Post of September, 20, 2006 ... or hop over to Nick Tahou's menu.
While their hot sauce is sacred and not to be messed with, the other components are fairly flexible ... mundane. We're talkin'
- Base Layer: macaroni salad, home fries, french fries, beans.
- Layer two: Two red hots -or- white hots, hamburgers, cheeseburgers, Italian sausages, chicken tenders, or haddock.
- Layer three: chopped onions, prepared mustard, hot sauce and Tabasco.
The basic premise is that the ingredients are all safe to eat (mas o menos) but, shall we say, generic. For example, using Kraft Singles or Velveeta instead of generic cheese food for the cheeseburgs would be overkill. The Plate makes no claims as being health food and one should feel no shame in having a few Alka Seltzer, Gaviscom or other antacids for dessert.
But what I'd love to create (with your help) is a Gourmet Garbage Plate. Please submit your bestest recipes for macaroni salad (homemade mayo, shallots, etc.), baked beans, burgers (best fat %) or hot dogs (brand?), etc. Of course the Italian bread on the side would be artisan or homemade, along with butter (flavored) instead of oleo!
So join right in and send in comments and sources.
PS - You'll notice I took a bit of a break (16 months).
