Hey there Florida Foodie friends,
It is the man who has been promising you a very special episode of Florida Foodie for several weeks now, Thomas Mates.
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Well, this week it is finally happening. We are debuting our very first episode shot on location. We went down to Universal Orlando to speak with some of the chefs behind the menus at the park’s new Minion Café and Halloween Horror Nights.
I’ll talk about it a little more in the meat of the newsletter, but I am very proud of how it turned out. Special thanks to my colleague Landon McReynolds for helping to set it up.
We have some more on-location episodes coming up next month as well, and I have high hopes for those.
Please, check out the episode and let me know what you think.
Before we get into it, I do have a little housekeeping. There will not be a new episode of Florida Foodie next week or a newsletter. I’ll be on vacation. I’ll tell you more about that when I get back, but I didn’t want you waiting around for new content that wasn’t going to show up.
We’ll be back to normal on Oct. 10, or as close as we ever get to normal here.
With that out of the way, let’s jump in.
Themed food 🎢
As I said, Lisa Bell, Candace Campos and myself, along with our amazing production crew, got to spend an early morning at Universal Studios.
The park really rolled out the red carpet for us and put a ton of food on display at the Minion Café. There, Lisa and Candace spoke with Ron Cope, who is the executive chef at Universal Studios. He walked us through the menu and the process of developing all the meals.
Then, it was off to a separate location in the park — an alley all decked out like “The Last of Us” for Halloween Horror Nights. Christopher Colon, the executive sous chef of research and development, showed off the themed treats made for the event. He also talked about working with the creators of the game to develop each dish.
You can check out the conversations with Lisa Bell and Candace Campos on the latest episode of Florida Foodie.
>You can watch the episode here<
And you can also find every episode of Florida Foodie on YouTube as well.
Small Bites🥑
National Coffee Day ☕: Friday is National Coffee Day, and cafés and coffee shops in Orlando are brewing up some deals. We have a list of some of the spots where you can get a good cup of Joe for cheap here.
‘Thank you so much’☕: You may start to detect a theme here. Downtown CREDO, a name-your-own-price coffee shop in Orlando, has recently hit a financial rough patch. The director of coffee for the business put out a plea online for help, and he was overwhelmed by the community’s support. Read all about it here.
Honoring their heritage ☕: A pair of sisters opened up a coffee bar in Apopka themed after their family coffee farm in Guatemala. You can read all about it here. Their story is part of our coverage of Hispanic Heritage Month. You can find all of our stories here.
Something to try at home 🍽️
I am told that it is currently football season. I will take other people’s word on that. I know next to nothing about sports and I would like to keep it that way.
That being said, I have had the food that people enjoy during sporting events and that is pretty good.
So, this week I figured I would give you a recipe for Buffalo chicken dip for you to enjoy during your next sportsball game.
This recipe comes from Ferideh Sadeghin, formerly of Munchies. Full disclosure, I have not made this exact recipe before, but I have made a Buffalo chicken dip in my day. This looked like a slightly elevated version of what I made, and I intend to give it a shot soon.
Ingredients
- 1 whole chicken
- kosher salt, to taste
- 2 cups canola oil
- ½ cup mayonnaise
- ⅓ cup sour cream
- 1 tablespoon minced chives
- 1 tablespoon buttermilk
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon minced dill
- ½ teaspoon white vinegar
- 8 ounces thickly grated cheddar cheese
- 4 ounces blue cheese crumbles
- ¾ cup Frank’s Red Hot Buffalo Wings Sauce
- 8 ounces cream cheese
- 1 scallion, green parts only, thinly sliced
Step 1: This recipe calls to roast your own chicken, but you can skip this altogether if you just buy a rotisserie chicken from the grocery store. If you are roasting along, then set your oven to 425 degrees. Cover your entire bird in a generous amount of salt and roast it in the oven on sheet tray with a rack for about 45 minutes to an hour. You want the thickest part of the chicken to read 165 degrees before you pull it out.
Step 2: Once the chicken is cooked, let it rest for 15 to 20 minutes. Make sure you reserve the juices from the chicken. Remove all the skin from the bird and set that aside. Pick the chicken clean and discard the bones. Cut the meat into bite-sized pieces, place it back in the juices and set aside.
Step 3: Heat a frying pan over medium-high heat. Put in enough vegetable oil to coat the bottom. Once the oil is shimmering, fry your chicken skin until it is crispy and then set aside on a piece of paper towel.
Step 4: In a large bowl, combine your chicken with mayonnaise, sour cream, chives, buttermilk, garlic powder, dill and vinegar. Stir until homogenous. Then stir in about 2/3 of your cheddar along with your hot sauce and bleu cheese. Add the mixture to a casserole dish. Add your cream cheese in chunks to the dish then coat the whole thing with your remaining cheddar. Bake at 425 until the whole thing is bubbling, about 10 minutes. Then switch to broil until your cheese is toasty and brown on top.
Step 5: When you are ready to serve, crumble your crispy chicken skin over the top along with your thinly sliced scallions.
You could serve this with some celery and carrots or the chips of your choosing. You could also make some nice garlic bread to spread it on.
That’s it for today.
Please, send me your recipes so I can share them with everyone. My email is tmates@wkmg.com.
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