How to Cook the Perfect Hard Boiled Egg

For anyone that has read our blog over the past year, I don't post too often and focus more on the "behind the scenes" elements of the site, but lately I've learned a few basic things in the kitchen that I've noticed many people on the Internet question. A lot of people ask how many minutes to cook hard boiled eggs. So today I bring you instructions for cooking a perfect hard boiled egg.

With so much to think about with how high the stove should be, how long the eggs should cook, there are a lot of opinions out there.  There are no doubt different methods that will achieve boiling the egg, but you don't want an egg that is undercooked or overcooked. 

*The first step is to put the eggs in the pan, and fill with water so the eggs are fully submerged

*Next put the pan on the stove and set it to "high"

*Let the eggs sit on high until the water is at a "rolling boil," meaning you see large bubbled coming up and burst at the surface of the water.

*When you see the water is at a rolling boil, turn the stove down to "medium" right away, and let the eggs sit at medium for 10 minutes.

*After 10 minutes, remove the pan from the stove and run run cold water over the eggs right after draining out the hot water (this step assures that the yolk will be a nice yellow and not the green or gray color you may see on some hard boiled egg yolks.)

*Let the eggs cool off for around 20 minutes, and you're all set.

This method makes a great egg that's shell is more easily removed than eggs I've dealt with in the past, and the inside is cooked to perfection.  Try out this basic method for cooking a hard boiled egg, and let us know if you got the same great result in the comments below!

Random Villains Snack Time: Hormel Chili Cheese

So it's late at night, and you're hungry and in need of a tasty snack. Try this.

1 can of Hormel chili with no beans.
1 bag of cheddar cheese.
Crackers.
Dr. Pepper or whatever soda or drink you prefer.

Empty the entire can of chili into a big bowl. Then take TWO HANDFULS of cheddar cheese and put in the chili. Stir nice and good.

Microwave for two minutes. Take out and stir.

Boom. Dip crackers in that, and NOM NOM!

Taco Bell? More like, Taco Fail.

I don't really like Taco Bell. But when you're hungry, and in a hurry, it's a good cheap alternative to McDonalds. And I was hungry today, and in a bit of a hurry, and the only choices were Taco Bell, or McDonalds. So yeah, Taco Bell it was.

I live in Phoenix AZ. The Taco Bell I went to is by my parents house, they love Taco Bell, and I do most of my editing and writing over at their place, so I was asked to get some Taco Bell for them on my way over. Now, this Taco Bell, screws up your order at the very least 9 times out of 10 times. Not joking. Now of course when I go I usually order for a large amount of people, but still, this is your job, it's what you are paid to do, so why not do it properly? Someone tells you what they want, put it in that bag. But today, I had even more problems on top of the usual missing item.

I ordered a large Mountain Dew, a taco party pack, and 2 chalupas. I arrive home and take a drink from my Mountain Dew, which had no syrup in it, just good ol carbonated water, mmm! Fail 1. I then go to grab my chalupas out of the bag, but only find one chalupa in there, the other, is gone. Fail 2. So, I eat, and grab a couple crunchy tacos from the box, I go to pour some mild sauce on it, and when opening the taco shell, I see this....

Really? A teaspoon of the fake meat? I mean REALLY? Anyways, I eat it, and then go to pour some sauce on the next taco and get THIS!


Seriously. I have made many tacos in my lifetime, they are not that hard. What type of people do they hire at Taco Bell that can't even properly put a taco together?

Screwy Soda.

Missing Chalupa.

And disfigured tacos.

It is with this, that I am officially announcing my retirement from eating Taco Bell. Taco Bell, it's been nice, but it's time to move on to other places that don't hire complete idiots to work at their establishments.

Q-TO-U BBQ in Anthem AZ Review

I love me some good BBQ. Thankfully, living here in Arizona, there are many BBQ choices. One better than the other. But I think I have finally found a personal favorite. Q-To-U BBQ in Anthem Arizona. Great food, excellent service, and very reasonably priced. So here is what I got...

Started off with some pulled pork nachos. So many delicious toppings on top with the pulled pork. Some of the best nachos I have ever had.



For my meal, I kept it kind of simple. The Pulled Pork Sandwich. There was so much stuff on their menu it was hard for me to choose exactly what to go with, so I went with this. With a little extra BBQ sauce on it of course. And it turned out to be the very best pulled pork sandwich I have ever had. The BBQ was the perfect mix of sweet and spicy. The meat perfectly cooked. I was in BBQ heaven. And the french fries. Wow.

I plan on visiting this place again soon. And I plan on getting something I have never seen, or heard of before. The Hawg Dawg. It's a smoked sausage, stuffed with cheese, then wrapped in bacon and deep fried. Topped off with onions and their own sweet jalapenos. Yeah, amazing I know.

So if you love BBQ, and you live near or close enough to Anthem. You need to check this place out. Just walking in I was knocked over by the sweet smell of BBQ. Perfect.

Slim Jim Celebrity Endorser Macho Man Savage has Died

In breaking snack food news, Macho Man Randy Savage died in a car crash.
I am going to Snap Into a Slim Jim in his honor.

Mister G's Pizzeria & More Owns My Heart

Iowa. A place of not too much going on. The American Gothic House. The Field Of Dreams Farm. And one other thing that is simply, amazing. Fried Cauliflower. I have been to Iowa twice, and since my last visit I have searched high and low in Arizona to find this tasty appetizer. Every family owned mom and pop food place I visit the first thing I always look for is fried cauliflower. Trust me, I have searched high and low to find this, and at last, I have.

It took a 45 minute drive from my house to this place, but it was well worth it. Mister G's is the only place that I know of in Arizona that has the ever elusive fried cauliflower. If you have yet to have this, you must. Its well, fried cauliflower, but also has some cheddar cheese in it. It is simply amazing. Dip it in ranch and you will fly high on clouds of yum.

Now, among having fried cauliflower. Mister G's also offers up some pretty tasty pizza. And probably the best sandwich I have had in a long, long time. As many of you loyal readers know I love me a good sandwich. Ham and cheese, lettuce mayo mustard. Simple, but it takes some special toasting of the bread and warming of the ham and melting of the cheese to get it perfect. Mister G's does everything right.

The atmosphere in this place is pretty laid back and cool, the service is fantastic. Every night it seems like there is some type of event going on there. Trivia nights, Game nights, all kinds of other nights. My only gripe with this place is that is it located just too far. If a place like this opened up here in Anthem Arizona it would make a killing. There are only a very small handful of fast food places here and one BBQ place here that I will be reviewing later.

But, if you are in Tempe AZ and want some good food, and some fried cauliflower. Then head on over to Mister G's and tell them the Hungry Jerks sent you.

Visit the Mister G's website for more information!

Mexican Hot Dogs, or, CHIHUAHUAS!

Sorry for the hiatus. But we are back to continue bringing you the treats for your taste buds. And going to start this return off with a little thing I like to call Chihuahuas. Or a Mexican Hot Dog.

It is pretty simple. You take your hot dog and grill it until it has that nice burnt crisp around the outside of it. If you don't like grilled hot dogs then you're a freak because boiled ones are gross. Fact.

After that you take your warm tortilla, and put your crispy dog in the middle. Then you add your favorite mexican food ingredients. I go with just some refried beans, lettuce, tomato, and taco sauce.

Then wrap that bad boy up, and chow down. Boom. You just ate a Chihuahua!

Thirsty Jerks: Best Soda

Sorry for the lack of posts, been away on vacation, but I'm back! And I decided to settle a great debate and name the best soda. I don't care about your arguments, because I'm the one with the blog, so my point is valid, and yours is not! Ha! Jerk City USA!

Pepsi. Is crap. I was raised on Pepsi and hated it. My parents and Grandparents are Pepsi freaks and it's insane. Sometimes we would get a special treat and have Dr. Pepper, but it was 90% Pepsi in our house, and it sucks. Still to this day now that I am a free man and out on my own, I am stuck with Pepsi as a choice, and I would rather drink moose piss!

Coke. Coke is strange. Coke in a can doesn't taste as good as it does out of the bottle, and Coke in a bottle doesn't taste as good as it does coming out of a fountain. Coke in restaurants and movie theaters is the best Coke around. Nothing is better at Red Lobster than chowing down on some cheddar bay biscuits and having a nice cold Coke to wash it down. Same goes for going to the movies.

Mountain Dew. Mountain Dew was king when I was a kid. My older brother swore by Mountain Dew so when he had some around, it was the perfect escape from Pepsi. Sadly, Mountain Dew just doesn't taste the same these days.

Dr. Pepper. This is the 2nd best soda around. Soon you will see why. Dr. Pepper isn't coke, and it isn't Pepsi, yet it is widely available everywhere, (except in Payson AZ, for some reason it's called Doc Holiday there.)

And now, this brings me to what I declare the best soda around.....

PIBB XTRA

Pibb is like Dr. Peppers cool hot sister. Dr. Pepper is a cool guy to hang out with, but you're really there to try to get a taste of the really hot older sister. And sometimes, when you can find it, you sneak in and get some action from that hot older sister. See where I live, on the west side of the USA, there is no Pibb outside of fast food places and the occasional restaurant. No Pibb in cans or bottles is available. But last year I did a road trip to Iowa, and I found Pibb in cans and bottles and it was just as good! I hit the small local market in Iowa and bought out their entire stock of Pibb, so for a couple months at home in AZ, I have Pibb in a can. Unlike Coke, Pibb tasted the same out of the can and out of the bottle. Sure it is very similar to Dr. Pepper, but it has that hint of cherry taste in it that really makes it the best. Dr. Pepper does have that new Cherry Dr. Pepper, but it's no Pibb. Pibb is awesome, Pibb is king. That is that.........

Five Guys All The Way: Bacon Cheeseburger All Toppings

Last night was one of those nights. I had planned to make dinner at home, but we forgot an ingredient at the store. Instead of spending all the time going back and buying it and preparing dinner, we decided to get fast food.

My go-to fast food place is definitely Five Guys Burgers and Fries. I am really trying not to eat out much these days, to save dollars and pounds. If I eat out at a "real restaurant," it needs to be someplace good. So this leaves fast food as the likely option when I don't have the time and money. Right now I don't even think about any other places, especially when it comes to burgers.

There is a Culver's right next to the Five Guys, and they send many coupons in the mail, but I just don't know if they are any good. I posted about the Culvers Burgers in the Culvers vs. Smashburger review piece, but I didn't get any feedback about them.

Here's what I order from Five Guys: The Bacon Cheeseburger All The Way. Five Guys has a simple menu, but they offer many many burger toppings. All the toppings are clearly listed on the menu and the top row of toppings - lettuce, pickles, tomatoes, grilled onions, mayo, mustard, grilled mushrooms, and ketchup - is in black. "All the way" means all the toppings in black. At my local Five Guys, a bacon cheeseburger is 5.99 with whatever toppings you want. Hold the bacon, and get a "regular" cheeseburger for $5.49. One thing to know about Five Guys is a regular burger is a double burger, I believe it is 1/2 pound of beef. A "Little" Hamburger is $3.59 here and is larger than the premium burgers at most fast food places.

A regular order of french fries runs around $2.99, which seems expensive until you consider that you get around 3 orders worth of fries. They fry up a bunch of fresh potatoes and, after filling the cup and putting it in your bag, they throw a whole bunch of fries in the bag. The loose fries could easily fill another cup, and a whole family could split a regular order of fries.

In my area, when it comes to burger and fries options, I have McDonalds, BK, Wendy's, Steak n Shake, White Castle, and Big Boy. There are also casual dining options like TGI Friday's and Ruby Tuesday, but those places don't really do anything special with burgers to justify the prices onse you factor in tipping.

Five Guys is the only place that does anything resembling a quality burger, and really isn't any more expensive than Wendy's when it comes to prices for premium/special burgers in the same weightclass. It's also the only place that does anything resembling "real" fries. Maybe I'm picky because I grew up with Thrashers French Fries, but I think french fries should be potatoes that are sliced and deep fried. They should be crisp on the outside and have hot soft potato in the inside. They should not be limp and skinny, and the insides should not be hollow. I think McDonalds fries are tasty, but they are lacking. They are McFries. Wendy's is at least trying to so something with their new Sea Salt Fries, but they are going to end up flopping.

So for me it's Five Guys All the Way, All The Way.

Is Culver's Better than Smashburger? Are Burgers from Either Place Any Good?

I was just reading our Phoenix Smashburger Review, and I was curious about what other people had to say. I don't have a Smashburger in my area. I think the best fast food burger I've had was at Five Guys Burgers and Fries. Five Guys is a little more expensive than most places, but the food is really good and the portions are huge. I like how they dump a bunch of fries in the bag after filling the container to overflowing. Plus, I have cut back on eating out. I try to avoid fast food in general, but if I do I go for quality. The same goes for my steaks- I would rather have a really good expensive steak every once in awhile than have low quality beef on a regular basis.

I was looking into Smashburger a little more when I came across this Phoenix New Times article comparing Smashburger to Culver's. Really? I DO have Culvers burgers in my area, but I have never ordered there. The reason? The food doesn't look too great in their ads/mailers. I figure if the food doesn't even look like much in a picture I'm probably not going to be delighted in person. Their marketing materials make Culver's look like a sort of Dairy Queen or maybe Sonic type joint. Those places have their roles in the fast food market, but I don't exactly think of gourmet burgers.

In fact, in the New Times article the Culver's burger looks underwhelming. The patty looks somewhat like a Steak 'n Shake patty. I know Roger Ebert loves the place, and he seems like a nice guy, but Steak 'n Shake has lousy burgers and decent shakes. The Culver's picture also shows cheese that is not even close to being melted. Good burgers are big and juicy. They use quality meat and fresh toppings. The cheese on burgers should be gooey or at least somewhat melted. It should not resemble anything from a school cafeteria or hospital.

The bad news for Smashburger? The Smashburger Lost to the completely unappetizing Culver's burger, at least according to the Phoenix New Times reviewer. Though, the fact that his article is ostensibly about gourmet burgers and the "new burger kings", yet the best he could come up with was Culver's vs. Smashburger, makes one question his credentials.

So, Smashburger seems to get some bad reviews. Is their burger really lousy? Is Culver's any good? Or are they just good in comparison to Smashburger? Should I try out one the dozens of Culver's coupons I get in the mail or stick to my $11 Five Guys meal?