As a regular reader, you know one of my “acid tests” for how much I like a pizza, is how it holds up to eating the next morning.  I might add a similar criteria for burgers.  Tho I seldom like “leftovers”, I do admit to putting a few extra patties in a frying pan when I am cooking burgers at home, and on occasion, eat those patties out of the frig in the morning.    But restaurant food?  Nah, not for me.  Or so I thought.

Mrs. Burgerdogboy and a her pal Tiffany, Portland’s “hair extraordinaire lady“,  were meeting for lunch yesterday, and they went to Portland’s “Killer Burger“, an odd choice for my wife, as she doesn’t really care for ground beef and might consume two burgers in a calendar year. (But yes, in spite of this, we are still together!).

She reported that the joint is small, very small, but the food more than made up for it.   Killer is known for hand-crafted burgers to the extreme, with toppings and add-ons made in house from the highest quality ingredients.  To quote her directly, “My sandwich was delishus! (Sic)  It created a party of flavors in my mouth!”

That’s awfully high-praise from a non-burger person.  She texted me at work and said she was bringing me one, I said “don’t bother, I won’t see you for three hours, and I don’t think it will hold up all that well.”

But of course, one of her missions in life is killing me with kindness over and above what any husband deserves, and when she picked me up later, she presented me with Killer’s ‘peanut butter bacon pickle’ burger.

It had come off the griddle approximately 3 hours earlier, sitting in its take out packaging, it was……..in a word……..beautiful.

I cautiously lifted it to my burger hole, took a bite……..and swooned.  This is a burger.  A hand crafted 1/3 pound patty, smeared with peanut butter, bacon strips, their in-house smokey sauce, crispy dills, mayo, grilled onions……a delicate blend of sweet and savory on a soft, delicious, over the top bun.

Even the cold fries stood out.  The little woman told me I wouldn’t believe how they tasted just out of the fryer. “When we go back,” she started to say…… and I interrupted, “Us, go to a burger place together?  Who are you and what have you done with my wife?”

But return I am sure we will.  Together.

Thank you Mrs. BDB, and that YOU, Killer Burger!  Superb!

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You’ve probably had strada – a baked, layered egg dish, for breakfast at some point in your life.   I’ve varied this recipe to produce an entree more on the (unch) side than the (br) side for brunch.

8 slices of rye or pumpernickel bread, crusts removed

1/2 pound thin sliced, lean corned beef

8 slices swiss cheese

1 small can of sauerkraut, drained

6 eggs, beaten

1 1/2 C cream or your choice of milk

Lay bread in bottom of 9×13 casserole dish

Layer meat, cheese on top of bread

Take drained sauerkraut and SQUEEZE between your hands to remove all remaining liquid, and sprinkle on top of meat and cheese.

Combine cream and eggs, mix.

Pour cream and egg mixture on top of casserole contents.

Cover with foil, and let rest in refrigerator at least overnight.

The next day, bake at 350 for 45 minutes, remove boil, broil for 3 minutes.

Remove from oven, let sit for 10 minutes before slicing into squares.

Plate with fruit cup or breakfast potatoes, serve, enjoy.

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I had an urge to roast coffee today, and so I stopped by my bean purveyor of choice, Mr. Green Beans, on N. Mississippi in Portland.

On the way out, I noticed a new next door neighbor (new to me), which is called Mac! Mac and Cheesery, and I thought to myself, “Self, you’re on your way home, and who loves mac n cheese more than Mrs. Burgerdogboy? No one!). So I ambled in and perused the menu.

Myriad of combos await the discerning m & c lover, with “original” topping the list, but you may avail yourself of numerous ingredients to blend in – whether your taste buds tingle for truffles, or you salivate for “Southwestern”, have a vice for vegan, or brag about bacon.

I went with original with bacon, noting that the “b” word at our house is spoken in hushed tones, we hold it in such high regard.

I texted Mrs. BDB (not while driving!) that I was on my way home with a yummy, and delivered it to her in her home office.

She loved it, not only because it’s great mac n cheese, and had delicious pork parts in it, but also because it resembles the “baked kind” in that the top is sprinkled with bread crumbs and slightly browned.

I was offered a morsel or two, and I believe this to be a fine product, worthy of your attention. The shop also has sandwiches, burgers, and dogs, which will require an in-house visit for a complete and thorough examination.

Did I mention they have cocktails? I did not. They do. When Mrs. BDB and I get in there for a sit down repast, I predict a long and enjoyable day.

Now I’m off to roast coffee beans.

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Fletcher’s, “proudly Canadian since 1917″, arguably makes some of the best mass-market bacon around.  And you’ll pay for it, as well.  A full line-up of their processed pork products is here.

We’re enjoyed their bacon from time to time, and last week I picked up a pack of their Louisiana style hot links smoked sausage.

They are fat, juicy, and full of flavor.  Great snap.  And they are HOT.

This is one of the ‘hotter’ mass market smoked sausages I have found.  Probably the only one we regularly purchase that gives off more heat, is Fred Meyer’s house brand “Italian hot.”

I liked these.  For breakfast, dinner, in gumbo, or any other reason you have to use a smoked sausage, Fletcher’s is a good choice.

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Tucked away in one of the industrial sections of Portland, directly underneath where the 405 crosses the river, the Dockside serves the working stiffs that ply their trade in the various businesses in the port.

Open from 5AM – 8PM M-F, and with earlier closing times on the weekend, the Dockside features a lengthy breakfast and lunch menu daily food and soup specials.

I was doing some work in the area, and my client suggested we pop in for a bite. I went with a bacon/cheeseburger, which is served with your choice of a wide variety of sides, and dressed with sauce, tomato and shredded lettuce.

Ample thick-sliced bacon and gooey cheese topped the burger. While the food doesn’t particularly make the Dockside a specific destination for diners, it is ample, fast, inexpensive, and served by a really friendly staff. Full menu is online.

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Had a quick bite to eat here while meeting a friend from out of town who was doing some biz in this neighborhood. I’m pretty leery of places in Portland that have the word “Deli” in their name; here it can often mean “lottery games and hot dogs,” but such was not the case today.

Tubby’s is a casual service breakfast and lunch joint with daily specials; the serve the working stiffs in the area, it seems.

My pal went for one of the specials, prime rib French dip, and I opted for the bacon cheeseburger.

I didn’t ask about any of the origin of the ingredients, though I saw empty boxes in a back hallway from IBP, and that’s premium product.   The counter person asked me what I wanted on that, and few places do that anymore.  There was a wide variety of sides choices, fries, tots, slaw, salad, etc.  I went with fries.

It’s a good “classic” hamburger, if you’re sorting into categories these days, like the Oregonian.

And yes, I’d stop back, if I happened to find myself in that neck of the woods again.

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Back in the day, before there were national chains that offered TNB, there was a local one in my home town.  It was next door to a place that sold soda by the case, in a myriad of flavors, with their own label on it.  I don’t remember the names of either place.

Every week, I get Papa Murphy’s coupons in the mail, they come on Tuesdays with some other postal flyers.   They are usually a better deal than any of the other chains, today it was $10 for a large 5 meat stuffed pie.

This pizza has the usual cheese, sauce, and is topped with pepperoni, sausage, Canadian bacon, and the other kind of bacon, then a second crust is placed on top of that, and some more sauce, cheese, and ground beef is sprinkled atop the outer crust.

I swear this puppy weighed in at 5 pounds, making it a terrific value.  It could feed a large family, I am sure. (I was only good for two small slices, which still blew my carb allowance for the day).

Papa Murphy’s supplies their pies on a disposable baking tray, so all you have to do is follow the instructions, 425, center rack, 25-30 minutes, take it off the tray and place directly on the rack after 20 for a crispier crust.

It’s been eons since I had a Papa Murphy’s, and I have to say, for the “value chains”, this is my new bestest favorite.   The crust was crispy, there is tons of cheese, mild sauce, and it is crammed full of processed pork products.

Below are pix of the pie uncooked, cooked, and of a slice.  The side view of the slice shows the ample ingredients.

I don’t know why I haven’t picked these up more often. I will  in the future.

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Cracked open a one pound package of Hoffy Premium Bacon for breakfast this morning; like most people these days, Mrs. BDB and I are bacon crazy, and we’re constantly on the look out for bacon that suits our palate.

Hoffy gets about 18 slices to the pound, thicker than some, thinner than others.  We liked it.

It’s my own personal conclusion that Hoffy is building their reputation and product line based on creating product that caters to the widest possible audience, and that’s a good thing.

The basis for my opinion is fairly straight forward: quality products, good taste, and not burdened with extreme flavors – and by that I mean, the product tastes the way you would expect, rather than having some overpowering flavor imparted from additives.

There is an occasional conflict in the BurgerDogBoy household about how to cook bacon – my personal preference is to fry it in a skillet or on a cast iron griddle on the stove top, and the reason I like doing this is to be able to collect the residual fat left after cooking – to use it in other things I concoct in the kitchen during the week.

Mrs. Burgerdogboy prefers that we bake our pork strips in the oven, and how she does this is to put a bread rack on cookie sheet and pop it in a 350 oven for 20 minutes, and turning and watching after that milestone.

The baking method has its advantages, for sure, less shrinkage, the strips cook up flat and straight, and she insists (OK, I agree with her) that the bacon cooks more evenly.

And thus we baked our Hoffy Bacon this morning.   The first thing one notices when the baking is partially into the process, you get an overwhelming odor sensation of “OMG – there’s PORK cooking!”

That’s right, Hoffy Bacon actually smells and tastes like a bonafide pork product.  It’s relatively lean, and it tastes (in our opinion) like bacon is supposed to taste.

Maybe Hoffy could adopt that tag line you see lately for other products? “Bacon, the way it was meant to be!”

It’s so easy to be disappointed in bacon these days, we’ve purchased on of the largest national brands lately and watched it virtually “melt” into nothingness in the skillet.  Not to mention sticker shock, lately.  I’ve seen a pound package of another brand for $15.  What?  We do like Hoffy comes in a 1 lb package, a lot of bacon these days is packed in 12 oz units.

Congrats on a great product, Hoffy people!  We’ll be regulars.

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This week we begin a spotlight series on regional brands.

Hoffy is a brand name known to Los Angelenos for over 75 years. Chances are, if you’ve eaten a natural casing hot dog at a restaurant in L.A., it came from Hoffy.

The world-famous Pink’s uses a specially formulated dog from Hoffy, for example, and Hoffy sells a “Hollywood Original” hot dog in a grocery pack.

The Hollywood Original is the first Hoffy product we tried this week.  An all-beef, oversized dog ( 5 in a 12oz package), the dog comes in a natural lamb casing.

Hot dogs in natural casing, tho making up only about 5% of the US grocery store sales, are a favorite among true hot dog lovers.  Being packed in a casing, (as opposed to the regular mass consumption hot dogs in the US, which are referred to as “skinless”), the natural casing offers resistance when you bite into the sausage.  Consumers call this “snap”, which is derived in the sausage trade from the rough translation of the German work “knack”.

(The German noun Knackwurst—which, in English is sometimes corrupted as knockwurst—comes from the German words knacken (“to crack”) or knackig (“crisp”). This refers to the swelling of the sausage during cooking, so that the skin becomes pressurized and balloon-like, and tends to “pop,” often exploding the juices, when bitten into.)

In addition to beef and water, the Hoffy Hollywood original has a bit of corn syrup, flavorings, and paprika, and comes in at a very low 2 carbs per dog, if you’re prone to watching carbs.  This is a fairly traditional “hot dog” recipe.

Today, of course, “hot dogs” (franks, wieners) can be found with a myriad of ingredients and/or meats.  Turkey dogs, chicken dogs, all pork, all beef, vegetarian.  At home, on a rare occasion, we cram casings full of a variety of seafood and herbs, great for summer grilling.

Having consumed 10,634,127 hot dogs in my life (est.), I think the Hoffy Hollywood Original is a superb dog, which will appeal to most consumers.

I’m a hot dog “purist” and keep my condiments to a minimum, on last nite’s pups, I went for yellow mustard, diced onion, and dill pickle chips.

A peculiarity in the Burgerdogboy household, while I insist on premium hot dogs, my taste in buns runs to the least expensive in the store at any one time.  So rarely am I paying more than a buck for a pack of buns.

The oversized Hoffy fills the standard bun (and more) as seen below.

With an all beef recipe, mild flavor, and great “snap”,  Hoffy Hollywood Original will become a dog of choice at our household, and they should be in yours, as well.

(Ed. note:  Hoffy products sampled were furnished by the manufacturer).

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The Hoffman Brothers Packing Company was founded in  Southern California in the 1930s by three siblings and thrived for decades.  Hoffman produced sausages and other processed meats from their factory in Vernon, CA, and were well-regarded suppliers to grocers and restaurants around SoCal.

By the late 1970s, the industry had changed significantly, and larger concerns were dominating the industry, producing a great deal of pressure on the mom and pop operations.  In another lifetime, I personally poked my nose in dozens and dozens of small sausage manufacturing facilities in Louisiana, many of whom started in a kitchen or garage, and grew into multi-million dollar operations.  I saw the effect of the large corporate squeeze on operators of this size.

In an attempt to vertically integrate before the phrase was even coined, Hoffman invested in a hog slaughtering facility in Nebraska.  The deal went south, and coupled with the death of the company patriarch, Hoffman piled up a mound of debt and filed for bankruptcy protection in 1993; they filed under Chapter 11, which allows a company to keep operating while reorganizing or attempting to find a buyer.

Hoffman chose the second option, and in 1995 found a savior in  in Square H Brands, Inc., a company formed by the principals of a number of other successful food companies, including the founder of Kal Kan, Stagg Foods (canned chili) and Palisades Foods.  The principals of the companies were all members of the Hirsch family.  The were joined by Henry Haskell, who still serves as President of Square H Brands.

The quartet was determined to bring the meat processor back to its former glory days, and to date, it sure seems like they are on target to do so.

(Here’s a sidebar on how to cook a hot dog at home).

(Information for this post was compiled from a variety of sources, on and offline).

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