The trick to sliders in my opinion is presenting the patty as a traditional meat ball rather than a flattened burger patty. The more spherical shape allows the center to stay more rare, so when you put the top bun on and give it that initial “squish”, the juices just come flowing out. You can have a lot of fun with toppings and sauces, but I find the best rule of thumb is to keep it simple. this is marinara sauce (from scratch), shaved grana padano and a few baby basil leaves.
Squish and enjoy as the sauce runs down your hands… you might want to have quite a few napkins on hand.
I used to buy cheaper cuts of steak in larger portions until the last few years. Now I specifically buy smaller steaks and almost exclusively tenderloin. I have a guy down the street (George the Butcher) who cuts them fresh for me every time I’m in the mood. On this particular night, I was lured into the thickness of these sirloins that were on special, so I picked them up as well as a small filet.
They looked great, but they were no match for the filet mignon in flavour or tenderness. So I am back on a strict tenderloin-only policy! I think my taste for cooking time is changing a little too. I used to be a rare to blue rare person, but I think I’m leaning a little more toward medium rare theses days. Something undeniable wonderful happens to the fats when you cook just a little longer than rare. The sides here are my garlic-yogurt new potatoes and candied carrot bunches. The garnish is actually some split flower stems. Getting hungry?
I used to work in a catering shop after mornings at high school, where I learned how to make a kick ass caesar dressing. It’s all about room temp egg yolks and the slow drizzle of EVOO. Balance the anchovies, parm cheese, salt, pepper, lemon juice to taste with a dash of cayenne. The rest is pretty straight forward – romaine (gotta dry it in paper towel rolls), homemade bacon bits and shaved red onion. Grill the chicken breasts until the juices flow clear, let sit on a foil wrapped plate for a few minutes, slice and toss in the same bowl you just mixed the salad in. Sprinkle with more Grana Padano, fresh cracked pepper and the squeeze of a lemon wedge. Classic.
Bring on some oaky Chardonnay!
I’ve always had a weakness for french toast! This is my silverware-less version pre-cut and served with a dipping bowl full of syrup straight from a maple tree somewhere in Quebec. I actually heard that this has been a tough year for syrup makers in la Belle Province as it’s been an uncharacteristically warm winter and spring. The maple sap need the cold like ice wine grapes do.
So stock up while you can. A little dab of butter on top and bon apetit!
I had such a nice response to my cheese burger sliders that I thought I’d share my salmon sliders as well.
Fresh pacific salmon BBQed with a caper yogurt mayo dolloped on top.
Such an awesome way to enjoy local fish!
More culinary creations from my tour break!
I usually save this one for sunny mornings with black coffee.
Fresh fruit, oatmeal, nuts, yogurt, honey and cinnamon.
Mmmmm
When I’m not on the road I love to cook. We head out on your next week, so I’m going to share some of my culinary creations that I’ve been whipping up while on break from tour.
Here’s my homemade maple bacon cheddar sliders! How good does that look?
I don’t own a TV. Sure I catch up on some of my favorite shows on my lap top from time to time, but I said goodbye to the traditional clunky TV set years ago. I remember a party I threw a few years back with my room mates – we thought we were “oh so cool” by stacking 3 TVs from the 70s and 80s that we had collected from the Vancouver alleys (all which worked BTW) in a corner, which were tuned into different channels of static, snow and emergency broadcast test meters from as far back on the dial as we could twist. The TV sculpture was a perfect compliment to cranked Nine Inch Nails and cheap local beer.
But much has changed. As technology continues to rear it’s wonderful head, the TV has developed into a sleek flat screen unit that sits above your fireplace or hovers near the top shelf liquor at your local pub. The flat screen is a “must have” item. It takes up less space, mimics a theatre screen and embraces HD quality programming. It seems they are everywhere. The gym, the pub, the elevator, hell, you can even have a flat screen in the can! Marvelous!
I’ve been reading the Ozzy Osbourne biography, entitled “I Am Ozzy“. It’s a great “rags to riches” memoir of music, drugs and touring, which I’ve had fun with as I’m going through similar situations in the world of Art of Dying. In the later chapters of the book, Ozzy realizes that he has never smashed a TV. What? Never smashed a TV? All those years with Black Sabbath and never smashed a Telley? Ozzy has done it all – he’s pissed on the Alamo, snorted a line of ants, bitten the heads off of multiple winged creatures… I mean this man has set the bar for all rock n rollers behind him… but never smashed a TV? Well, he realizes this and shortly after drinking an entire mini bar with Zakk Wylde, they hurl the TV out their hotel window to the pool area below. Ozzy can sleep well now knowing that the bottom of his rock n roll to do list now contains a check mark.
I haven’t bit the head off of anything (except a Guinness or two), or pissed on any monuments (that I know of), or snorted any bugs (on purpose), but I have had the wonderful pleasure of smashing a TV with my partner in crime, Mr. Tavis Stanley.
It was a late night, a very late night, and a poker hand gone terribly wrong that lead to some debauchery that only the kinship of band members can fully create or understand that lead to the short but direct flight of a 42″ Sylvainia from the 3rd floor to the tarmac below. It was not the proudest of moments, but there was a sense of freedom that came with this smash that I embrace to this day.
This got me thinking. Smashing a TV is an art form. It’s a stroke of the rock n roll paint brush. It’s a way of unloading your frustrations and “stickin’ it to the man”, all while hearing the loudest distorted D chord in your head. In one foul swoop it smashes the “programming”, the commercials, the infomercials, the day time dramas, the talk shows, the game shows, the news from the left, the news from the right, reality tv, PBS, the weather network, and yes, even MTV. It smashes the idea that we need these boxes in the corners of every room telling us how to live our lives. It smashes “The Joneses”, the suburbs and the two car garage. It smashes the 50,s the 60′s the 70,s the 80′s and part of the 90s. I think SCTV had it right all along… I remember my parents ‘tuning in’ to watch this great Canadian comedic brain drain phenom of a series and I was always captivated by the intro of TVs simultaneously smashing on the pavement below… (is that Mississauga?)
But this art form is threatened. It is coming to a permanent end. The flat screen TV just can’t carry the baton – the torch cannot be passed. Throwing a flat screen out of a window is simply awkward and holds none of the charm, character or rebellion of smashing it’s predecessor. And if you did manage to get it out the window, what would it sound like? A small, “crack” or perhaps an unintimidating folding noise? Hell, if it landed properly, you could probably go retrieve it and it might even still work. Without the earth shattering “BOOM” of the traditional box TV, the tube exploding, the screen shattering, dials bouncing from the scene, all with a dusty brown power cable in tow, you have nothing! The experience is lost. The art is dead. As Jerry Seinfeld so poignantly jokes, you just can’t slam down a cordless phone. There’s no joy in it.
So, enjoy your flat screens people. Put them in your homes. Proudly display them on the very same stand that your old ‘cube TV’ used to sit on (saving you absolutely zero space BTW) and kick back for another episode of your favorite HD show knowing that you are killing the art of smashing TVs. Thankfully we will always have the electric guitar to destroy in the defiance of all and the ever lasting name of rock and roll.
It’s been so amazing seeing the “Sorry” profile pics pop up all over the place! It’s obvious that we have a ton of support, and it’s also obvious that people not only need to say they’re sorry, but it feels good to get it off our chests. Keep sending in and tagging Art of Dying in your profile pics as we’re featuring them in our gallery and putting together a group collage of all of them.
The Twitter “Sorry Contest” is in full swing too. I’m really looking forward to picking a winner and hopefully reuniting 2 special people over a personalized apology call. I’m thinking we should do it via a “Google+ video hangout” and invite the world onto the call as well… could be very cool. What do you think?
The word “Sorry” is in my life everyday. In spirit, in my relationships, and since the release of our single I’m actually seeing the word physically EVERYWHERE! Check these pics out from Vancouver:
Is it popping up in your world too? I’d love to see your pics from your neighbourhood and your travels!
My propane BBQ is on the way out so I’ve started dreaming up what to replace it with.
On our last tour, we bought a $20 classic charcoal mini cue and we fired it up next to the tour bus before our set, and I gotta say, a few chicken breasts and a chunk of filet later I was reminded of how good it tastes to cook over briquettes, coals and a little kindling.
I need your advice. What’s worked for you? What hasn’t fared well? Am I just feeling nostalgic about a charcoal BBQ or will it be a good way to go over time? Check out these designs I found on line. They range from simple to amazing. The one you can sit around would be gold! And the little silver guy on wheels is where I was leaning before I noticed the price… $2499.00!
