Microwave vs Oven: Tony Luke's Cheesesteak

All the locals would tell me that the best Philly cheesesteak is actually not found in Pat's or Geno's, but in Tony Lukes. Pat's and Geno's are more popular among the tourists.

I hadn't had the chance to visit Tony Luke's, so when I went to Target I found this frozen Tony Luke's cheesesteak. Okay, we all know that frozen food is never as good as the real thing, but I'd like to give it a try.

When I got home, I expected the cheesesteak to be prepared by oven because this Tony Luke's brand makes the cheesesteak more... "premium" and thus I had the perception that it cannot be prepared using microwave. But no, I was wrong. I had two options: oven preparation ("the best method", as described on the packaging) or microwave preparation.

It's a perfect setup for an experiment: 2 frozen Italian breads and 2 packets of vacuum packed sliced beef and cheese. I tried both preparation methods at the same time.

 I was supposed to microwave the meat and cheese packet into the microwave without opening the package. At first I was a little skeptical about what will happen to the packet. It simply inflated.

I guess this way the moisture from the meat won't be lost so the meat remains juicy. On a side note, it was also written in the instruction that you can pour whatever "meat juice" left in the bag onto the cheesesteak to make it more... delicious (beef broth and beef fats? Hell yes).

The other option of reheating the meat was to submerge the meat packet into boiling water. The texture of the meat prepared in boiling water wasn't that different from the microwaved one.

As for the bread, I can either microwave it for 2 minutes, or bake it in a preheated oven for 3 minutes or so. The results were so obvious.

The left one was microwaved and the right one was oven baked. The oven baked one was more "expanded". You can't really tell from the picture but the microwaved bread was rubbery and tough. The oven baked bread was light and crispy on the outside. And a little more dried.

So you can't really tell the difference in the meat, but you definitely can tell the difference in the bread texture.

The first one you see above is microwaved. And the one below was oven-prepared.

The bread matters a lot when it comes to appearance.

My verdict? I'll go with microwave method when I only have 5 minutes for dinner. I definitely prefer the oven-prepared cheesesteak over the microwaved one.

I think the new trend nowadays is to involve consumers in some sort of food preparation to make them think like "they can cook", but in the end everything is instant if you really think about it. This kind of frozen food definitely seems more premium than instant meals on the shelves.

When I prepared the cheesesteak, I didn't feel like I was cooking. I was just re-assembling everything into one piece. Kind of like building a GUNDAM plastic model: you have the parts ready, you just have to put an extra step of putting everything into a complete piece of work.

I felt like "I didn't make the cheesesteak".

At the end of the "experiment" I felt really guilty. Look at the calories. 590? Holy crap, I ate two of them, so I had 1180 Calories that night. Boohoo.

And 80% of saturated fat intake, and 126% of sodium intake. What the hell.

Read More

Chicago, Once Again

I'm not really a city person, so when I was in college I didn't really bother going as far as Chicago for dining or shopping unless someone asked me to come along. I know I have a preference like a grandmother. I'm just looking for a quiet, peaceful place to live. The wild squirrels around the campus were more than enough for my self-entertainment.

Once again, I was back to Chicago for Thanksgiving. It was actually a very different experience. I have never been outside past midnight.

I took a pretty good photo with my 4-year-old point-and-shoot neon-green colored camera. Maybe I still don't need an SLR after all. True, it takes more effort to stand still and take a really good night photos with this camera, but when there is a will, there is a way.

I revisited The Bean. It was crowded with tourists.

I'm always amazed at whoever built The Bean. The concept was very elegant. You can actually capture Chicago scenery through The Bean, and each angle gives a different face of Chicago. When I came during the 4th of July last year, The Bean was very clean and shiny. Now it has been plastered in fingerprints.

Meanwhile, I took a little stroll towards a crowd at Millenium Park, which was just next to The Bean. It was a rare sight: boys playing tricks with soccer balls. I hate to call it "soccer" and prefer to call it "football" instead. However, when you say "football" in the US, people will immediately refer to "American football".

Honestly, I'm not a big fan of American football just because there are way too many breaks/intermissions throughout the game. Once I lost focus, I can't get back into the hype. 

I didn't mean to bitch about American football, but somehow the flow of this post leads me to talk about American football. LOL. 

I like Chicago more than I like NYC. NYC is a good place to roam but not to live. At least to me it's that way..

Read More

Milk Alternatives

Before I came to the US, my stomach used to get uncomfortable when I drink fresh milk because I was lactose intolerant. I was okay drinking UHT, powdered or condensed milk. Now I'm used to drinking fresh, unflavored milk. Apparently, there are a lot of people who still can't drink milk. In that case, they can drink Lactaid (milk with added enzyme to break down lactose). 

But I guess having other non-dairy alternatives is good for vegetarians and vegans.

I tried a bunch of different non-dairy milks:

1) Coconut milk

When I first saw it, I had a really bad impression on its taste. I grow up knowing that coconut milk is used in savory cooking and cakes. It's never meant to be consumed straight. Before I tried this I had the impression that it's going to be greasy and disgusting. My family don't buy processed coconut milk for cooking; we squeeze the milk out of fresh, grated coconut meat. That's how coconut milk is supposed to be: greasy.

Very white and opaque like expected, but maybe because it's been homogenized it doesn't taste too greasy. I mean, look at the nutrition facts. Look at how much saturated fat there is. 25% DV? That's a LOT. Drink 4 cups of this milk and you shouldn't have more fat intake.

Not to mention it has allergen warning too.

2) Hemp Milk
First I had to google what 'hemp' is. I'm not too familiar with it, but I guess they're sort of high protein seeds with omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hemp).

 It has a very grainy texture, and you can also see the brownish tiny specs dispersed in the milk. It has a slight nutty, beany taste. And it's far from being creamy.

 3) Hazelnut Milk
When I saw this, I imagined drinking a liquid Nutella.

NOPE. Nothing like Nutella. I was so disappointed LOL

The milk is a little brownish. It definitely has the hazelnut taste and smell, but not as strong as in Nutella. Maybe because it's not sweet enough. It's not too bad, though.

4) Oat Milk
I've seen rice milk before, but oat? Nope. Never imagined that you'll be DRINKING oat and not EATING oat.

Oh and by the way, speaking of packaging, green packaging seems to correlate a lot with organic food. Most organic food products I've seen on the shelves tend to have recyclable packaging, be made of recycled materials, or be degradable.

 First impression after drinking it? It truly smells like oat. It has a little off white color, slight tan. It felt the creamiest out of the other milk alternatives that I tried, but it might have been from the vanilla flavor. Adding vanilla doesn't increase the actual creaminess of the beverage, but it leaves the impression of creaminess.

Will I buy these milk alternatives in future? Maybe not, but these are definitely very interesting.

Read More