Shake It Up Baby

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SHAKES 768 BLOG

With the heat upon us, I couldn’t help but think back to my younger days and a Kowalski summer treat – creamy milkshakes. I always liked mine with a simple traditional hamburger and salty fries. My favorite memories were stopping on the way home from work at a small little ice cream shop and having a strawberry banana milk shake – real strawberries and very chunky!

Milkshakes began way back in the late 1800’s and actually started out as an eggnog type alcoholic drink. Many years later, the use of malted milk powder was popularized by Ivar “Pop” Coulson of the Walgreens drugstore chain, who made a milkshake by adding two scoops of vanilla ice cream to the standard malted milk drink recipe, making Walgreen’s in-store counter the place to be. Metal shake containers and high speed blenders made shakes a staple in the 50’s and 60’s. Since then, dozens and dozens of variations, and improvements, have been made, including adding fresh fruit to make popular “milkshake/ice” smoothies.

Like most things, ask around to find out who has “the best” milkshake, and you get many opinions. Along with the chain restaurants (e.g. Steak N Shake) my friends and staff have their favorite Cleveland locations – here’s my “Top 5” list to visit and some shakes to try:

  • Town Hall (W 25th) – traditional vanilla/chocolate shakes (try adult Nuts, Bourbon & Bacon)
  • Tommy’s (on Coventry) – milkshakes, malts and smoothies (try black raspberry chip)
  • B Spot (Cleveland, Columbus, Detroit, Indianapolis) – traditional and seasonal shakes (try chocolate banana marshmallow)
  • Mitchell’s Ice Cream (seven locations) – shakes, malts and smoothies (try strawberry with mango or cookies & cream)
  • Potbelly Sandwich Shop (on Euclid) – shakes, malts and smoothies (try Oreo or Coffee)

Stay cool!

 

 

BRING ON THEM DOGS!

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TOP ROW LEFT TO RIGHT: Tiki Dog, the Frito Pie Dog, the French Onion dog, the Monte Cristo Dog, BOTTOM ROW LEFT TO RIGHT: the Nacho Dog, the Bacon-Jack Dog, the Onion Dip Dog and the Vietnamese Dog

TOP ROW LEFT TO RIGHT: Tiki Dog, the Frito Pie Dog, the French Onion dog, the Monte Cristo Dog, BOTTOM ROW LEFT TO RIGHT: the Nacho Dog, the Bacon-Jack Dog, the Onion Dip Dog and the Vietnamese Dog

“With summer upon us, I thought it’s a good time to visit a Kowalski Heat Treating favorite – good old fashioned grilled hot dogs. Whether you like them lightly toasted or “black and crispy”, hot dogs rock. My “go-to” favorite, especially when I’m golfing, is spicy mustard, onions, chili and a pickle, but I must admit, I love to experiment and try other toppings. Sauerkraut, ketchup, hot sauce, peppers, cheese – you name it and I’ll give it a try. My wife and daughters love that about me.

For inspiration, I went surfing, and found these awesomely dressed dogs, compliments of Joshua Bousel at seriouseats.com. His top picks include the Tiki Dog, the Frito Pie Dog, the French Onion dog, the Monte Cristo Dog, the Nacho Dog, the Bacon-Jack Dog, the Onion Dip Dog and the Vietnamese Dog. Visit HERE for the recipes. My goal is to try them all.

So next time you’re in the supermarket, skip the pre-packaged franks and pick up a dozen from the deli case. Add in fresh buns, potato chips (ripple cut of course)—don’t forget the French onion dip and some lemonade. Fire up the grill and think of your pals at KHT working on your PIA (pain in the @#$) Jobs.

Bonus – if you have a favorite recipe topping, or one you think I need to try, shoot me an email or give me a call – I’ve got the lemonade chilling’ and the grill ready for grillin’.

 

 

Dad, Church and Our Sunday Morning Breakfast Table

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Honoring All Dads on Father’s Day

For me, Father’s Day is a special day, not only was I lucky enough to work alongside my Dad and learn the ins and outs of the business, I also got to experience a very special tradition growing up, Sunday Morning Breakfast. In our house, Sundays were all about family time. We rose early, all went to church (a topic for another post…18 in our family), and then returned home for a big breakfast. Dad would run the stove and cook all our favorites: eggs, bacon, pancakes, sausage gravy, pierogis, crepes, and my personal favorite, ground meat on toast. Breakfast seemed like it lasted for hours, as my brothers and sisters and I could eat and eat! We laughed, poked and joked together, telling our tales and events of the week, as my Dad held court watching over us. I remember how proud he would be watching us all spend time together just being one big crazy family and I have been blessed to be able to carry on this tradition with my daughters as well.

This Father’s Day, enjoy time with your family, and if the kids are around, cook ‘em breakfast and let the magic of being Dad, and family, happen in your house.

 

 

KHT Heat Style Slow Cooked Ribs

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A job worth doing is worth doing well. Especially if it’s a PIA (Pain in the @%$) Job!

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At Kowalski Heat Treating, there’s two things we love –  thermal processing and great food.  And for me there’s simply nothing as tasty two step char-grilled ribs.  The secret, like many of the jobs we have here, is slow cookin’.  Here’s a recipe we love.  It’s a bit of work – what you may consider a PIA (Pain in the @%$) Job – but believe me, well worth it.  Serve with potato salad and a cold beverage like lemonade or your favorite Cleveland-based Great Lakes beer.

Give ’em a try, and then send me a note or call me on Monday and let me know how they turned out. And if you have a favorite barbecue sauce, please pass it along.

Ingredients

Servings: 8

  • 2 1/2 tablespoons kosher salt
  • 1 tablespoon dry mustard
  • 1 tablespoon paprika
  • 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
  • 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
  • 8 pounds baby back pork ribs (8 racks) or St. Louis-style spareribs (4 racks)
  • Low-salt chicken broth (optional)
  • 1 1/2 cups homemade barbecue sauce (try ketchup, few tablespoons of honey, Franks Hot Sauce and a good splash of Italian Salad Dressing

Preparation

Prep: 20 min total: 2½ – 3½ hrs

  • Preheat oven to 350°. Combine first 5 ingredients in a small bowl. Place each rack of ribs on a double layer of foil; generously sprinkle rub all over ribs. Wrap each racks individually and place on baking sheets – ok to use more than one sheet.
  • Bake the ribs until very tender but not falling apart, about 2 hours for baby backs and 3 hours for spareribs. Carefully unwrap ribs; pour any juices from foil into a 4-cup heatproof measuring cup; reserve juices. Let ribs cool completely. DO AHEAD: Ribs can be baked up to 3 days ahead (the flavor will be more developed, and the cold ribs will hold together better on the grill as they heat through). Cover and chill juices. Rewrap ribs in foil and chill.
  • Build a medium-hot fire in a charcoal grill, or heat a gas grill to high. Add broth or water to rib juices, if needed, to measure 1 1/2 cups. Whisk in barbecue sauce to blend.
  • Grill ribs, basting with barbecue sauce mixture and turning frequently, until lacquered and charred in places and heated through, 7-10 minutes. Transfer to a cutting board; cut between ribs to separate. Transfer to a platter and serve with additional barbecue sauce.

 

 

A Toast to Charles Strite!

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As you know, heat treating is near and dear to our hearts here at KHT. Everyday we strive to “make history” with our efficiency, consistency, performance and reliability, never taking for granted any one of our customers or customer’s jobs.

Well, nearly 100 years ago, a gentleman named Charles Strite also contributed to heat treating history, by patenting something we’ve come to rely on each morning – the pop-up toaster. (Filed for U.S. patent on May 29, 1919. Patent #1,394,450 was granted on October 18, 1921 for the pop-up bread toaster)

He hated that the toast in the cafeteria of the plant where he worked was always burned because it required a busy human to keep an eye on it. So he took on this PIA (Pain in the @%$) Job and figured out a way to automate the toasting process so it wouldn’t burn.

Before the electric toaster, sliced bread was toasted by placing it in a metal frame or on a toasting fork and held over a fire or kitchen grill. The first electric toaster was actually invented in Scotland in 1893. It was a crude device known as the Eclipse. It still relied on users to end the toasting process and was not very fire safe.

So, while some tried to flip the bread, it was Mr. Strite who invented the automatic pop-up toaster. History shows many innovations since – dual sided toasting, wider slots, auto-drop feeds, and numerous interior and exterior material innovations.

This weekend, make yourself some toast and thank crafty Mr. Strite for tackeling this PIA (Pain in the @%$) Job. Oh, and try one of my favorite toppings – honey. Yum!

—Steve

 

 

We All “Deserve A Break Today”

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Big_Mac 768 blog

McDonald’s. Still one of my favorite places to eat.

It’s hard to image “micky dees” started 75 years ago today as a single restaurant and has grown to become the world’s largest chain of hamburger fast food restaurants (70 million customers a day in 119 countries across more than 35,000 outlets) – WOW. Coming from a family of 18 (I’ll save that for another post), as a kid, going to McDonald’s was a big deal – my own burger, fries and a drink.

Founded by the McDonald brothers Richard and Maurice, McDonals’s started out selling hotdogs, and then converted to a simple barbecue restaurant in San Bernardino, CA. It became “McDonaldized” in 1948, and then franchised by the famous Ray Kroc. Ray had a simple vision applying production line thinking to the business – quality materials in – quality finished products (and happy customers) out.

As a businessman, I really appreciate the core of their business – consistency (something very near and dear to us here at KHT) and their guiding principles (QSC – Quality, Service and Cleanliness). When I get the urge for a Big Mac and fries, no matter where I am, I can almost taste the food, and know it’s going to be good – (I’m still hooked on the fries).

At Kowalski Heat Treating, we strive every day to meet your requirements and to delight our customers – and we love it when you return again and allow us to apply our knowledge and skill to your never ending PIA (pain in the @%$) jobs. My guys take great pride in delivering for you, load after load.

40 years ago, my dad, Robert Kowalski, had a vision – to provide top quality heat treating to area customers and help them grow their businesses. His principles are still with us today – honesty, family, hard work, integrity, quality, and faith. And as we celebrate our anniversary this year, we in a way salute the McDonald brothers in their vision.

So next time you are in the area, swing by, and we’ll go treat ourselves at McDonald’s – as I’m sure you deserve a break too. And just for fun, call my voicemail at (216-641-4411) and sing me your best rendition of the Big Mac jingle – I’ll pick my favorites and send you one of our brand spankin’ new KHT coffee mugs.