In the mood for a tasty way to celebrate Valentines Day?

How about the best of all: bacon roses!

I found this on the great website “TheDailyBacon”…and they posted a recipe for how to win your lover’s heart – through the magic of bacon:

Make Your Own Bacon Roses!

Here’s the foolproof recipe!

You’ll need: bacon, fake flowers, a muffin tin, toothpicks and tinfoil.

1. Soak the toothpicks in water (this keeps them from charring in the oven). Defrost the bacon. Line the muffin tin with foil. Turn the oven up to 400 degrees.

2. Roll the bacon to look like a rosebud, then stick two toothpicks in the bottom to hold it together.

3. Place the bacon rosebuds in the muffin spaces. The toothpicks should keep them from touching the bottom — you need that space for fat drippings.

4. Put the bacon in the oven. Cook 25-30 minutes.

5. Deconstruct the fake flowers. Pull the entire thing apart, get rid of the petals and put the stem back together.

6. Let the bacon cool, remove the toothpicks and stick the bacon bud onto the plastic stem. Voilà! Salty, crunchy flowers.

Now, if you aren’t quite so romantic, skip the design part of the process and go right to the bacon:

And thanks to the website “The paper mama.copm”, you can make bacon hearts as well!

I love how simple and fun this is…not sure I can make scrambled eggs in a heart shape, but I will try anything!

Well look at that, not so difficult after all…now, what about dinner?

Done! The “Love Burger” is a great way to give a tasty V-Day treat, right?

See more of it here:

https://johnrieber.com/2015/02/09/the-loveburger-sexy-2015-valentines-day-ideas-romantic-bacon-rose-recipe/

Happy Valentines Day!

Time To Eat Your Breakfast Pancakes – On A Stick!

Don’t ever say I don’t help get your day off to a great start!

Here’s the hot new fad in Japan – and it looks like delicious food art!

Here’s how it is being reported on “RocketNews24”:

“It’s called the “Kushi Pancake” or “Skewered Pancake” from Osaka Kawaii Panbo, which recently opened its doors to customers in the western city’s Shinsaibashi district. With a focus on bringing “kawaii” or “cute” to Osaka’s popular food culture, the new creation takes pancakes to a whole new level by skewering miniature servings of them on a stick and interspersing them with slices of fruit and marshmallows along the way.”

One of the best parts is that you get to “dress” your mini-pancake skewer in any creative way you want, using sauces, sprinkles and other condiments that are sitting nearby – get as arty as you want!

Bravo RocketNews24!

As always, RocketNews24.com has the whole story.

See all of the wildest pancakes on a stick being shared on japanese social media – just click on the link to the original story on RocketNews24 here – with lots of great, creative pancake pictures:

http://en.rocketnews24.com/2017/03/15/pancakes-on-a-stick-are-japans-hottest-new-food-trend/

I share material from RocketNews24 a lot, because they are always at the forefront of cool new stuff in Asia…like these unique “Chickens on a stick!”

Now THAT’S a chicken skewer! Click here to see more about this tasty food adventure:

https://johnrieber.com/2013/07/23/the-mega-yakitori-japans-huge-chicken-on-a-stick/

Japan doesn’t have a monopoly on “food on a stick”….thanks to America’s obsession with state fairs – and our own unique foods on a stick!

How about this “garlic cheese on a stick?” Or even better, cut out everything that isn’t absolutely necessary, which leaves you with this:

Bacon On A Stick!

Now that’s a great “on a stick” taste treat…see them all here:

https://johnrieber.com/2015/06/25/bacon-explosion-pbnj-on-a-stick-deep-fried-beer-iowa-state-fairs-latest-food-mashups/

Let me know your favorite “on a stick” food!

Oh My…

Sometimes, being an intrepid Reporter has its downside…like telling you the story of this item – which you can find on any store shelf in Okinawa!

Yep, It’s Okinawan “Habu” snake wine!

OK, here’s the backstory of this very real product. The “Habu” is an incredibly poisonous Okinawan snake, and someone makes it into wine! It’s called “Habushu” – the snake’s name attached to “shu”, which means wine or sake.

Of course, the amazing “RocketNews24” has the story – because they never fail to share the unique and WTF moments from Japan – here’s an excerpt:

“Every alcohol store has a whole section devoted to bottles of awamori (Okinawan rice wine) with snakes inside glaring back at you. It’s not something people drink often, but for special manly-man get-togethers you can bet the habushu will be making an appearance.”

This is just one of the five strangest “WTF” food/drink items in Japan, according to this great article…and if you think you could die sipping this, read THIS:

“Habushu is safe to drink though, since the alcohol dissolves away all of the venom. However, that being said, there was one case in China where the snake was still alive even after being in the bottle for three months and bit a woman….

Still, habushu is said to have a positive effect on the male sex drive (due to habu snakes mating for up to 26 hours straight), so many are willing to brave the snake face and chug some down. Be sure to drink directly from the snake-bottle for maximum badass points.”

You can read more of this story, AND see four other wacky food from Japan, by clicking on the link to RocketNews24 here:

http://en.rocketnews24.com/2017/03/02/w-t-f-japan-top-5-biggest-japanese-food-challenges【weird-top-five】/

Look, I will try anything, but sometimes my “strange alcohol” challenge is more like this:

Yes, it’s a “bagel bacon burger” with a bottle of bourbon in the middle…I’m all for that! See the recipe here!

https://johnrieber.com/2016/07/27/unbelievable-bourbon-bacon-bagel-burgers-alcohol-and-wacky-food-drink-up-and-bite-down/

Let me know if you are up for a sip of this!

Welcome To The Great Outdoors!

Imagine seeing this incredible sight one night – the moon shimmering over a tropical island…it’s one of the reasons everyone is flocking back to the great outdoors…but perhaps they misunderstood what a “moon” shot was all about:

Now THAT’s A Look At Nature!

It’s the latest social media craze: “mooning” beautiful locations around the world! A website told the story of kids around the world who are capturing nature in the most revealing way!

With shows like “Naked & Afraid” showing many a bare backside, the idea of “mooning” nature has become the new internet trend…

I guess it was the natural progression of nature – I mean, we’ve had “mooning” for decades now, and with social media, the options to share these whimsical moments are now infinite.

However, the above photo has created a controversy, as it was taken in New Zealand at a location considered sacred…here is that story:

http://globalnews.ca/news/3427185/playboy-jaylene-cook-naked-mountain-photo-new-zealand/

One website specializing in these “moonshots” is called CheekyExploits, and that’s exactly what it is: bare bottomed pictures taken all around the world – and it has over 215,000 followers on Instagram!

You can find many more – all highlighting funny pictures of bare butts against beautiful backdrops…

The Empire Strikes Back!

As with any social trend that thumbs its nose at society, there is always a response from the establishment.

There has already been pushback from social media as well as traditional law enforcement. The picture above is from a South Africa post that got a lot of attention…and an immediate response from South African police, who released this warning to anyone thinking of “mooning” in their country:

“The law forbids such displays of public indecency and individuals could also find themselves at odds with the code of conduct at hotels.

“What starts out as a little fun could end with a public or private prosecution. It is also inadvisable [to post] semi-nude images on social media as these can be used by others – out of context. “

There are shots that are taken way out in nature, and some that are done as an obvious dare – like this one: you NEVER wanted to see the Golden Gate bridge this way, did you?

Oh my, is all I can say. OH MY.

In fact, you can find a ton of “moon shots” of solo men, solo women, groups of men and women together and separate – it just never ends:

While these sites are being done by a wide variety of people – and a wide variety of quality, my friend Sara Underwood has been taking beautifully stylized photos in nature and posting them on her Instagram account for years now:

Sara currently has 7.9 MILLION followers, and these professional photo shoots enhance nature’s beauty…

Check her instagram site out here:

https://www.instagram.com/saraunderwood/

Of course, while Sara worked for me at G4, she willingly donned a bacon bikini for a comedy sketch:

This is a great picture, and I will always appreciate that Sara did that for us – and it helped me discover another funny social media trend:

Celebrities Eating Food!

Yes, there are websites that share pics of celebrities – not wearing food like Sara, but just eating it!

Check out my story, which includes a classic shot of Robert Plant eating a VERY MESSY ice cream cone!

https://johnrieber.com/2015/05/18/hilarious-internet-trend-celebrities-play-with-their-food-sex-bacon-bikinis-elvis-tasty-pics-of-the-stars/

Let me know what you think of this latest “butt baring” trend on social media!

A Burger With a “Meat” Bun!

Yes, another day, another amazingly unique burger from Japan!

MOS Burger has a new “Niku Niku Niku” Burger – want to know what it is? Well, it’s a burger that’s all meat, including a meat bun!

And not only did MOS come up with a burger that doesn’t have a bread bun, they also provided a nice graphic to explain exactly what you do get – check it out!

As RocketNews24 reports:

“To help visually process all that’s going on, Mos Burger has been kind enough to provide a schematic of how the sandwich is put together. Starting at the bottom, the Niku Niku Niku Burger ditches a bread or rice bun and instead starts with a straight-up hamburger patty. You know, the thing that’s usually supposed to be at the center of the burger, not it’s outermost parts.”

“Next comes a leaf of lettuce to keep the beef bun separate from the teriyaki chicken, more lettuce, a generous helping of yakiniku beef, one last lettuce layer, and, finally, yet another hamburger patty to top the whole thing off, making the Niku Niku Niku Burger actually four servings of meat.”

Well, count me in!

MOS Burger also has a burger that uses grilled rice discs as buns, called the “yakiniku rice burger” – check it out:

As always, RocketNews24 always has terrific stories from Asia – check out this tasty one here:

http://en.rocketnews24.com/2017/06/22/japanese-hamburger-chain-replaces-buns-with-beef-patties-for-awesomely-crazy-sandwich/

As some of you know, I have actually eaten at MOS Burger!

When I was in Tokyo in 2016, I forced my wife Alex to come along and try one of their “Wagyu Burgers” with me – and she did!

You can see what I ordered – and how it tasted – by clicking on my story here:

https://johnrieber.com/2016/07/09/tokyos-got-my-wagyu-beef-burger-amazing-kappabashi-plastic-food-burger-shirts-tokyo-rules/

Bravo to MOS Burger once again – bite into the “all meat and only meat” burger!

Happy July 4th!

Well, 241 years in, still a work in progress, and more than ever, we all share the same planet so here’s to mutual respect and shared goals!

Let’s not forget, the greatest July 4th film, “Independence Day”, was directed by Roland Emmerich, a German filmmaker!

July 4th is the day Americans celebrate a new way of governing – so we will see lots and lots of BBQ pictures, fireworks, and all around celebrations across the country…

As I said, lots of celebrating across the country, with lots of different food, but one kind seems to dominate:

Whether you live in the US, or just want to have a burger, here are recipes for burgers of all shapes and sizes – from all around the world, because we are all in this together:

https://johnrieber.com/2015/06/30/2015-july-4th-burger-fireworks-bonanza-the-best-bacon-cheeseburger-recipes/

Happy 4th of July!

OK everyone, you know I love love love all things Japan. Well, here we go again!

The new Instagram trend in Japan is to go to a McDonald’s and post a photo of a cheeseburger – with a soft drink straw impaling it to the lid!

Our friends at SoraNews24.com have posted a story about this wacky new Japanese food trend – no instructions on how you are supposed to eat the burger, but I guess “aggressive nibbling” would be in order – and how did this get started and more importantly, WHY?

Well, no answer to that question, but Japan is known for wacky food trends so add this one to the list!

Thanks of course to SoraNews24 – click here to see more pics and tweets about this new phenomenon!

http://en.rocketnews24.com/2017/07/24/the-latest-japanese-twitter-craze-sticking-cheeseburgers-through-soft-drink-straws-【pics】/

SoraNews24 is the new title for the classic “RocketNews24” website – a terrific source of all things Asian – and who shared this other food trend going around a couple of years ago:

French Fry Parties!

That’s right, in S. Korea, the kids take over an entire table at McDonalds and fill it with fries – for the ultimo french fry party!

See more pics of that madness here:

https://johnrieber.com/2013/03/02/mountains-of-fries-potato-parties-a-super-matomeruko-easy-fast-food-follies-from-asia/

Since I love to share food trends from Japan, remember this one?

Pancakes On A Stick!

What a great way to fix breakfast for th kids – or the kid in all of us! Silver Dollar Pancakes on a stick, with fresh fruit and toppings – see more pics here:

https://johnrieber.com/2017/03/16/breakfast-pancakes-on-a-stick-the-hottest-new-japanese-food-trend-puts-breakfast-in-your-hand/

Let me know if you plan to eat your next cheeseburger this way!

Get Ready To Turn Your Cheeseburger “Inside Out?”

I need a break from bad news…here is some breaking food news from Japan!

J.S. Burgers Cafe in Tokyo’s Shinjuku district offers up a wild wild take on a cheeseburger – by turning it inside out!

Bite Down On “The Super Cheese Burger!”

As always, “RocketNews24.com” has the delicious story – a burger that uses cheese as a bun, with more cheese and meat inside – and it’s a very unique type of cheese as well!

The Camembert Burger!

Here’s how RocketNews24 describes this unique “inside out” burger:

“The Super Cheese Burger uses two types of cheese, cheddar and camembert. But rather than slather both of those on the patty, where they’d mix together into a single hybrid cheese, the restaurant’s chefs came up with a revolutionary way to let both types of cheese keep their distinct flavors: by putting two thick wedges of camembert on the absolute top and bottom of the sandwich, where the halves of the bun would ordinarily be.”

Looks good to me!

As you can see, when RocketNews24 did a taste test, they got a juicy, delicious cheeseburger served in a wrapper, so your hands stay clean as you dig in to what they called a great tasty cheeseburger!

As always, the entire story can be found here, along with so many other great stories about Japan –

http://en.rocketnews24.com/2017/08/19/crazy-tokyo-cheeseburger-turns-concept-inside-out-with-cheese-on-the-outside-bread-on-the-inside/

There are many reasons to love RocketNews24, which officially calls itself SoraNews24 – either way, they continually break stories like this one:

Behold the “Impaled Quarter Pounder!”

That’s right, they had the latest food fada mong those wacky kids in Japan – eating their McDonald’s burger impaled on they drink straws!

Check out more pics here:

https://johnrieber.com/2017/07/25/impaled-cheeseburgers-on-a-straw-see-pics-of-japans-new-food-mania/

Let me know if you’d eat an “inside out” cheeseburger!

How About This Great Christmas “Tinner!”

Yes, this holiday season you can have your entire Christmas meal in a can!

Look at the way they “stack” the entire holiday meal – making it easy to slice off a nice piece of Christmas dinner!

Look at the ingredients:

Scrambled Egg and Bacon
Two Mince Pies
Turkey And Potatoes
Gravy
Bread Sauce
Cranberry Sauce
Brussel Sprouts With Stuffing – Or Broccoli With Stuffing!
Roast Carrots And Parsnips
Christmas Pudding

What a meal!

Can you imagine the look on your family’s face when they dig into a slice of this on Christmas day!

This may be one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen – and I can tell you one thing: I would eat it!

UPDATE: It’s probably a gag, not real, but if it was, count me in!

If this inspires you to try something new or different this holiday season, perhaps going retro like this is the way to go!

Yes, a holiday “pickle” tree! It’s just one wacky concoction I came across – you can see more here:

https://johnrieber.com/2016/12/23/hilarious-holiday-food-concoctions-tuna-trees-hot-dog-mistletoe-cocaine-drops-disastrous-food-mistakes/

Back to the holiday meal in a can, you know that “canned food” is nothing new to me:

I’ve eaten a “cheeseburger in a can” and lived to talk about it! See my taste test here:

https://johnrieber.com/2017/05/07/my-cheeseburger-in-a-can-taste-test-i-cooked-one-i-ate-it-too-heres-my-review/

Let me know if you are up for a Christmas Day feast from a can!

Time To Bite Down On This!

You are looking at one of the most unique and delicious snack items – from Japan of course – thanks to LA’s Fujiya market!

On LA’s west side, in a neighborhood known as “Little Osaka”, there is a great grocery store called Fujiya – they sell all sorts of unique products from Japan, including these corn puff snacks!

Aside from having a very colorful wrapper, they also have a wide variety of flavors – yes, you can buy a corn puff snack that is Teriyaki Burger flavored!

They are sold in packs of 30 – very colorful packs as you can see – and they come in a variety of flavors, but since it’s all in Japanese, good luck trying to guess – so a taste test is in order!

I bought my son Jeff two different flavors – one was Teriyaki Burger, and one was fried chicken – they also had a dozen other flavors, so your options are endless!

The only english on the package is the nutritional information, and you can see they aren’t bad for you – just a delicious snack!

I had to try one of each – first, if you’ve had Pirate’s Booty, you know the mouth feel of this corn puff – light as air, a bit crunchy but with no “there there”, and in this case dusted with a mildly sweet and savory teriyaki meat flavor!

A few bites and you are finished, they are light as air, so they are not filling – which is a good thing – and they aren’t heavily dusted with seasoning, like some flavored potato chips are…all in all a tasty, inexpensive treat, since a bag of 30 costs under $4!

I give these flavored corn puff logs a thumbs up!

Fujiya used to have an incredible collection of another candy as well – until that candy’s US distributor complained!

Check Out These Wild Kit Kat Flavors!

Yes, Fujiya used to have green tea kit kats among many others, but apparently the US distributor of Kit Kats complained about foreign versions, so they are no longer for sale at the store!

Of course, Japan is legendary for making something taste like something else – for example, how about Kit Kats that are shrimp-flavored? Or baked potato? Creamed Corn perhaps?

They all exist! Click here to see them all:

https://johnrieber.com/2014/03/05/shrimp-flavored-kit-kats-baked-potato-too-the-wildest-kit-kat-flavors-ever-plus-canned-pancake-soda/

Japan has a way to making every food unique – even their burgers tower above the rest of the world – just in terms of creativity!

Build Your Own Burger!

Yes, in Tokyo you can make your own burger an stack it as high as you want, some folks did just that! See it here:

https://johnrieber.com/2014/05/06/tokyos-build-a-burger-wacky-japanese-burger-ads-wildest-food-for-sale/

Let me know if you’ve tried one of these corn snacks!

Welcome To Bob’s Big Boy In Burbank California!

This 70-foot sign welcomes you to Burbank’s most iconic landmark – the classic Bob’s Big Boy!

I had the chance to cruise the San Fernando Valley, just north of Hollywood, and there are several iconic locations you come across, including this one:

This classic sign welcomes you to a great vintage diner, which serves up a “big boy” burger! As their website states:

“Bob’s Big Boy, Burbank is a magnificent example of the emerging California coffee shop style that exploded in Los Angeles in the 1950’s. Built in 1949, the structure is dramatically related to World Fair pavilions of the pre-war period by its long, low, horizontal roof line and wide canopies.”

Indeed!

This diner, with the vintage sign and of course iconic statue, was honored in 1993, receiving the designation as a “STATE POINT OF HISTORICAL INTEREST” by the state of California.

Inside, you can see that the 50’s style decor is still there – in fact, enhanced to remind you of just how cool and retro this place is:

Time To Bite Into The Big Boy!

It was at this counter that I took a seat and ordered the Bob’s Big Boy Burger.

As the menu states, it’s a double-deck hamburger with two “never frozen” patties, lettuce, cheese, may and their special red relish – the price? $10.99.

I got mine with a side of fries, because how can you not? Here’s what showed up:

Everything is made to order, so it took about ten minutes – and because of that, it shows up juicy, with the cheese perfectly melted, and nice thick slices of tomato, onion and very green lettuce…a great look, but as they say, it may look good, but how does it taste?

I am the first to admit that a burger, when done right, should taste like a burger – unless there is special seasoning, I expect the meat to taste like good ground beef, and this does – and not overcooked! The toppings should be balanced, so you can taste each one – and I got that as well…the secret sauce was somewhat of a thousand island taste, but very subtle – in fact, what I really enjoyed about this burger was the fact that I could taste all of the elements without anything overpowering the taste of meat!

It’s very filling, the fries were straightforward but flavorful, the service was great, and the atmosphere, well, it was classic diner and what could be better?

Bring Out The Vintage Cars!

Well, Bob’s ups the ante on atmosphere in a great way! Every Friday night, the parking lot at Bob’s is filled with vintage cars – and is filled with collectors who like to drive in and showcase their classic automobiles – the best part is it’s open to everyone to see and enjoy!

Bob’s Big Boy is a classic slice of San Fernando Valley charm, really worth a visit! When you are there, don’t forget about this iconic location nearby:

Burbank’s Safari Inn is another classic location to visit when in the valley, check out my story here:

https://johnrieber.com/2018/01/13/check-into-the-safari-inn-burbanks-iconic-motel-my-movie-close-encounter-unique-hollywood-movie-locations/

If you like burgers as I do, then you are always on the lookout for classic diners and new classics as well:

The “Plan Check” Burger With Ketchup Leather!

LA has a new burger king in town, Plan Check burger – with their cool “ketchup leather!” Read all about my review here:

https://johnrieber.com/2015/05/02/incredible-plan-check-burgers-ketchup-leather-bite-into-national-burger-month/

Let me know if you’ve enjoyed Bob’s and I will make sure to come back soon!

In the mood for a tasty way to celebrate Valentines Day?

How about the best of all: bacon roses!

I found this on the great website “TheDailyBacon”…and they posted a recipe for how to win your lover’s heart – through the magic of bacon:

Make Your Own Bacon Roses!

Here’s the foolproof recipe!

You’ll need: bacon, fake flowers, a muffin tin, toothpicks and tinfoil.

1. Soak the toothpicks in water (this keeps them from charring in the oven). Defrost the bacon. Line the muffin tin with foil. Turn the oven up to 400 degrees.

2. Roll the bacon to look like a rosebud, then stick two toothpicks in the bottom to hold it together.

3. Place the bacon rosebuds in the muffin spaces. The toothpicks should keep them from touching the bottom — you need that space for fat drippings.

4. Put the bacon in the oven. Cook 25-30 minutes.

5. Deconstruct the fake flowers. Pull the entire thing apart, get rid of the petals and put the stem back together.

6. Let the bacon cool, remove the toothpicks and stick the bacon bud onto the plastic stem. Voilà! Salty, crunchy flowers.

Now, if you aren’t quite so romantic, skip the design part of the process and go right to the bacon:

And thanks to the website “The paper mama.copm”, you can make bacon hearts as well!

I love how simple and fun this is…not sure I can make scrambled eggs in a heart shape, but I will try anything!

Well look at that, not so difficult after all…now, what about dinner?

Done! The “Love Burger” is a great way to give a tasty V-Day treat, right?

See more of it here:

https://johnrieber.com/2015/02/09/the-loveburger-sexy-2015-valentines-day-ideas-romantic-bacon-rose-recipe/

Happy Valentines Day!

Happy July 4th!

July 4th is the biggest celebration in the US – and millions of us are on vacation for the entire week – so there is a LOT of great food being devoured!

240+ years in, America is still a work in progress, and more than ever, we all share the same planet so here’s to mutual respect and shared goals – and of course, burgers!

I love this holiday! We declared independence and fought for the right to govern ourselves. For an All-American celebration like this – what beats a burger?

This post is going to celebrate burgers of all shapes and sizes, and share some great recipes for your grilling pleasure – with no shortage of BACON!

Yes, it’s one of America’s most popular burgers – the Shake Shack bacon cheeseburger!

Shake Shacks are opening everywhere now it seems, and here is the reason why:

The burgers are big and beautiful – you can ready my entire review right here:

https://johnrieber.com/2015/02/04/bite-into-shake-shack-cheese-stuffed-burgers-my-shack-stack-review/

And there’s no better time than to try and replicate America’s greatest burgers!

Time To Be Inspired!

Why are burgers America’s greatest food? Well, a great burger picture answers that question, but also, remember the words of one of our country’s most beloved Chefs:

“The only time to eat diet food is while you’re waiting for the steak to cook.”

Julia Child.

That’s right, this is the kind of food that says “I LOVE AMERICA!”

A cheeseburger, when done right, is a thing of beauty. When done with doughnut buns, as you see above, it’s a thing of PERFECT BEAUTY. And what do you do when something is perfect? You double it!

Now THAT is a thing of beauty! And since the Memorial Day weekend is a time for families and friends to gather, I call on all Artists to rise up and create a masterpiece or two – like this!

So, to celebrate the 4th, here are 4 great burgers!

To begin, here is my ALL-TIME FAVORITE SLIDER!

I am happy to get this celebration started by showing you what, to me, is the greatest taste imaginable…

MY “FRENCH FRY ‘N’ TARTAR” BACON CHEESEBURGER!

I love burgers. And bacon. AND TARTAR TOO. So why not take care of all of my vices in one big bite?

It’s so easy to be so happy: cook up a burger (i add diced onion and garlic to mine) and just before you finish cooking it, lay a few cooked french fries on top, then top with tartar sauce…finally, lay down a piece of cheese….i use both sharp cheddar AND Mozzarella….once it melts you are ready to bite down hard!

Don’t knock it until you’ve tried it – and you will never knock it again! OK, I understand that some of you don’t want to mix your burgers with spuds, so if that’s the case, here are some other fun recipes to try!

SLIDERS, SLIDERS, SLIDERS!

I like sliders because you can try more variations due to their smaller size. The key to a great slider is what holds it all together. That’s why I use sweet Hawaiian dinner rolls…they are the perfect size AND they add a nice bit of flavor, which you need when you are piling your mini-bun high like this:

The Ingredients For A Perfect Patty!

Now, time to get down to basics. A great hamburger uses good quality ground beef with at least 15% fat content, to ensure lots of juicy flavor. I put minced onion and garlic in mine, to provide a bit of sassy crunch. Other than that, I like to use a fun salt – like pink hawaiian sea salt, and a fair amount of pepper.

Let’s get cooking!

The All-American Bacon-Cheeseburger!

What can you say? Here is the all-american classic! Build it this way and you are golden – your ingredients are easy:

Sweet Hawaiian bun, Cheese – melted and dripping
Bacon! Bacon! Bacon!
Hamburger patty
Tomato, Pickle, then Mayonaise, Mayonaise, Mayonaise!
Ketchup and mustard if you MUST

If you do it right, it will look like THIS (you can shift things around in terms of order, but it needs to end up like this):

See that? DO NOT DEVIATE – this is perfection.

But what if you have a “spicy tooth?” Well, we have an answer for you as well:

The Sriracha Burger!

This is a GREAT idea…the recipe is from the terrific “Serious Eats” website, and it takes advantage of one of America’s most popular new condiments!

3 pounds ground beef (preferably chuck, 80/20)
1/4 cup soy sauce
10 tablespoons Sriracha
4 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
4 slices thick-cut bacon
2 large sweet onions
3/4 cup blue cheese dressing
8 sesame seed buns
8 thick slices Swiss cheese
1 large beefsteak tomato, sliced
Arugula or romaine lettuce

This great looking Sriracha burger pic came from “cookingwithcristen.com” which is also a great site for recipes!

This is easy and fun: just combine the ground beef, soy sauce, 5 tablespoons of the Sriracha, and the pepper – make your patties.

Preheat a charcoal or gas grill to medium high heat.

Cook your bacon – once the bacon is cooked, remove the slices and drain onto paper towels, reserving the remaining bacon fat in the pan. Cook sliced onions in the bacon fat over medium-low heat until they caramelize, 20 to 25 minutes.

Grill the burgers, turning once, 4 to 41/2 minutes on each side or until a meat thermometer registers 130° to 135°F for medium-rare.

While the burgers are cooking, in a small bowl, combine the blue cheese dressing with the remaining 5 tablespoons Sriracha. Lightly toast the buns on the grill during the last minute of cooking time.

To assemble, spread the blue cheese mixture on both halves of each hamburger bun. Stack a burger patty, Swiss cheese slice, bacon, caramelized onions, tomato slice, and a small handful of arugula between each hamburger bun.

Bam! Spicy good times for all!

Our next stop on this burger journey take you to a very unique and gooey place:

The “Bacon Mac’n’ Cheeseburger!”

That’s right, make a bacon cheeseburger and load it up with mac’n’cheese as your topping!

As you can see, simple and so so delicious – especially when served with tater tots on the side!

If you don’t want to make sliders, and are around some of the America’s greatest burger joints, just pop in and grab already made…

This is from Plan Check in Los Angeles, and yes, that is “ketchup leather” on that burger…see the whole recipe here:

https://johnrieber.com/2015/05/02/incredible-plan-check-burgers-ketchup-leather-bite-into-national-burger-month/

July 4th is the day Americans celebrate a new way of governing – so we will see lots and lots of BBQ pictures, fireworks, and all around celebrations across the country…

Happy 4th of July!

Don’t You Love Chinese Food?

Look at all of that deliciousness! Ramen noodles, potstickers – even tenshindon, a rice omelette with crab topped with a thick sauce!

Oh, just one thing: THESE ARE ALL SWEET DESSERTS!

Cue The Secret Desserts!

While it may look like this young woman is digging into a platter of great chinese food, they are all sweets!

The terrific website SoraNews24.com shared this hilariously secret way to have your cake and eat it too – just pretend it’s something else!

There is a sweets shop in Tokyo’s Shinjuku district called “Maplise”, where the specialty of the house is a decadent dessert that looks like a hot bowl of noodles! Yes, THIS is a dessert!

This amazingly creative bakery has mastered the art of designing desserts to look like regular chinese food, so you can indulge without being discovered! Not only that, they serve the desserts to you in chinese food containers!

So much espionage!

However, the real spy games begin when you take your delicious desserts out!

“Salt Ramen” For Dessert!

Here is how SoraNews24 described what they ordered – the “salt ramen”:

“Even looking at them up close, they look like the real deal. They’ve recreated every detail, including a transparent soup for the noodles and the crunchy fried skin of the dumplings. The tenshindon was especially well done, from the looks of the egg, to the shininess of the sauce, and even the handful of green peas normally used as a garnish wasn’t forgotten.”

Imagine sitting at your desk, eating a bowl of ramen noodles like this…friends and co-workers stop by, glance over, and move on…but you know what you are biting into: CAKE!

More “Tenshindon” Please!

And remember that tenshindon, the rice omelette with crab topped with a thick sauce?

Well, an amazing thing happens as you take your fork and cut into it – this beautifully created dish is actually a CHOCOLATE CAKE:

Yep, a chocolate cake! And these realistic pot stickers are also…that’s right, dessert!

Pass The Soy Sauce, Please!

That’s right, they even have “soy sauce” for you to make the deception complete, but don’t worry about it spoiling your sweet tooth – it’s really maple syrup!

Now you know why I love Tokyo so much – so when I took my wife and son there, we had to go to the “fake food” district!

Yes, we were in a store filled with fake food – and of course, I had to buy a plasticized cheeseburger!

My son and wife got plastic food as well – now why do they make this? Only one way to find out, check out the reason here:

https://johnrieber.com/2016/07/09/tokyos-got-my-wagyu-beef-burger-amazing-kappabashi-plastic-food-burger-shirts-tokyo-rules/

Plastic food is all the rage in Japan – to the point that the school girls are even WEARING IT!

Yes indeed, it’s wearable plastic food! See who is doing it and why by clicking here:

https://johnrieber.com/2016/11/26/wearable-bacon-for-your-head-japans-newest-plastic-wearable-food-fad/

Let me know if you are up for some “secret desserts” or plastic food!