A Guide to In-N-Out's Secret Menu

Here's a quick reference to In-N-Out's Secret Menu. It's basically a list of custom orders that customers have ordered enough times to warrant being keyed into their ordering system (most other chains don't have such items in their system so it can be hit or miss if you ask for "secret menu" items. Not so at In-N-Out).

Review: In-N-Out - Secret Menu - French Fries Well Done

In-N-Out French fries are made in house from fresh Kennebec potatoes and only come in one size for $1.29.  What some customers don't know is that In-N-Out will cook their fries to whatever doneness you like.  I like to get mine "well" or "well done."

Review: In-N-Out - Secret Menu - Protein Style

Another "secret" menu item at In N Out, "Protein Style" means to get a burger without carbs (i.e. the bun), instead you get a shell of iceburg lettuce around your burger.  So a Double Double "Protein Style" is two all-beef hamburger patties, two slices of American cheese, onions, tomatoes, and "spread" (In N Out's version of Thousand Island) wrapped in hand-leafed lettuce.  It will run you the same as a regular Double Double at $2.99.

Recipes from Taco Bell's 2014 Friendsgiving Feast

Here are some of the recipes from this year's Taco Bell 2014 Friendsgiving Feast. They had a number of recipe cards that they gave out and I've transcribed them here for you guys (with some edits for clarity and my own notes in parentheses). The Turkey Roulade wasn't on any recipe cards but I managed to get it anyway because it was awesome and my favorite dish there (I might try making it for Christmas). In case you want more, I also have the recipes from last year's event.

Without further ado:

Burger King France Gave Out Sacks of Potatoes at the Drive-Thru in Early February

In an interesting promotion, Burger King was giving out 1-kg bags of potatoes at the drive-thru at select locations in France starting in early February 2021.

Review: Kraft - Homebake 425/30 Chicken Parmesan, Loaded Scalloped Potatoes, and Italian Style Cauliflower

Kraft's Homebake 425°/:30 is a line of frozen dishes that are meant to feed about four people (it's aimed at families). The concept is that you can purchase an main entree, a side, and a veggie dish and bake all three in the oven at the same temperature (425° F) and for the same amount of time (30 minutes).

Neat! Fast Food Workers Tell You What Not to Eat

One Reddit user, 4ScienceandReason, asked the Reddit community at large: "Fast food workers of Reddit, what is the one menu option at your employment that you would recommend people never eat? (Because of cooking safety, cleanliness, unhealthy, etc)"

The response he/she got was overwhelming and yielded quite a few gems of knowledge, some general guidelines, and some interesting stories (please note that workers at the same chains still had different experiences at different locations and these are anecdotal accounts):

Inside Little Caesars Test Kitchen: Making a Deep! Deep! Dish Pizza

Along with trying a few exclusive one-of-a-kind pizzas during a visit to Little Caesars headquarters in Detroit, I also got to try my hand at making my own Deep! Deep! Dish Pizza.

Neat! McDonald's Employee Tells All!

A McDonald's restaurant employee (user name GameMisconduct63) posted on the "IAmA" section of Reddit offering to answer any questions regarding his experience working at McDonald's restaurant. Specifically he titles the thread "IAmA McDonald's employee, who has seen the worst of the worst customer incidents, altercations, and overall rudeness of human beings. AMA." "AMA" stands for "Ask Me Anything."

Interesting, he actually enjoys working at McDonald's which he attributes to great co-workers and managers, which is typically true of any workplace. While he maintains that he can only answer as to his own experiences at a single McDonald's restaurant, his replies tend to be enlightening and, as with any customer service job, he has had to deal with irate and sometime bizarre customers experiences.

CaliBurger Plans to Add Robot Burger Cook

CaliBurger, the California-style burger chain that more than a little resembles In-N-Out, plans to roll out a "robotic kitchen assistant" that can flip burgers and place them on buns starting in early 2018.

Review: Panera - Chicken Cordon Bleu Melt Stacked Toasted Baguette

Panera's Chicken Cordon Bleu Melt Stacked Toasted Baguette offers smoked pulled chicken, Black Forest ham, smoked gouda, mixed greens, and country mustard on a toasted French baguette.

Review: Jack in the Box - Tiny Tacos

Jack in the Box Tiny Tacos are mini versions of their regular tacos but without the lettuce, taco sauce, and cheese that they normally throw in after frying.

Frozen Friday: Trader Joe's - Beef Taquitos

Trader Joe's (or Jose's on the package) Beef Taquitos features 10 corn tortillas hand-rolled around a filling of shredded beef.

For $3.99, you get 18 ounces (a little over a pound) of frozen Mexican food.

SpaghettiOs Celebrates 50 Years with SpaghettiOs Velvet Cupcake Recipe

SpaghettiOs celebrates their 50th anniversary this year with the release of a red velvet cupcake recipe incorporating SpaghettiOs.

Review: Raya Puff Paratha

I saw this at my a local Asian grocer while looking for Chinese scallion pancakes. It's kind of the same thing but a little different. Puff Paratha is, according to Wikipedia, an Indian flatbread with a texture reminiscent of puff pastry. This particular brand is from Malaysia where I guess that Chinese and Indian culture intermingle as I don't think that "spring onion" is usually found in Puff Paratha but feel free correct me if I'm wrong.

Frozen Friday - Michael Angelo's - Baked Ziti and Meatballs

Michael Angelo's Baked Ziti and Meatballs frozen meal features ziti pasta, tomato sauce, meatballs and mozzarello cheese topped with Pecorini Romano. An 11-ounce box retails for $3.99 but I picked this one up for $1.50 on sale with a coupon.

Frozen Friday: Foster Farms - Kettlecorn Chicken

Foster Farms' Kettlecorn Chicken feature small cuts of chicken breast coated in breading and seasoned for a combination of sweet and salty. Basically, it's popcorn chicken with a bit of sweetness.

Review: Applebee's - Cedar Salmon With Maple Mustard Glaze

Applebee's Cedar Salmon With Maple Mustard Glaze is one of the entrees in the chain's new Wood Fired Grill selection and features cedar-seasoned salmon, sauteed spinach, and maple mustard glaze.

Homemade Recipe: Texas Toast

Texas Toast is basically buttered thick-sliced toast made in a pan or grill. According to Wikipedia, Texas Toast was first served at the Pig Stand (a now defunct fast food chain) on Calder Avenue in Beaumont, Texas in the 1940s. As the story has it, Royce Hailey, Pig Stand president, requested that the bread from the Rainbo bakery be sliced thicker, but the bread was too thick for the toaster, so a cook buttered both sides of the bread and placed it on the griddle, toasting it medium brown.
Since I had extra thick-sliced bread from making French Toast, I decided to make Texas Toast as a quick snack. All you need is:

• Thick-sliced Bread (sometimes sold as "Texas Toast" even though it's not toasted)
• Butter
• Garlic Salt if you like (Other ideas would be to mix cinnamon and sugar with the butter to make Cinnamon Texas Toast.  If you want fresher flavors, mince garlic and parsley and mix it with the butter before spreading.)

All you need to do is butter both sides of the bread, sprinkle whatever seasoning you like, plop it on a pan on medium heat, and cook to your desired color.  

Grilling

You can also cook it on the grill if you're having a barbecue out back.  Just butter the bread and place it right on the grill.  Just be mindful of burning the bread since the heat is higher.

Frozen Friday: Healthy Choice - Pumpkin Squash Ravioli

An all-natural, vegetarian option for the health-minded frozen food types, Healthy Choice's Pumpkin Squash Ravioli frozen meal features pumpkin-filled ravioli with butter-sage sauce, asparagus and butternut squash.