Food Stamp Use on the Rise and a Memory of The Dirty Bird

Given the current economic state I suppose it should not come as a surprise that a record number of Americans are now using food stamps... roughly 32 million of us, a number that's up 700,000 people in a month.

Thankfully, I've never had to give food stamps much thought. I've always made a fairly decent wage – enough at least to keep me in groceries, beer and trashy movies plus a roof over my head – and learned to cook from a woman who could stretch a food dollar like nobody's business.

While standing in line at Attman's Deli yesterday I noticed a sign taped to the beverage cooler that stated (and I'm paraphrasing): "Food stamps cannot be used to purchase hot food. They can only be used to purchase cold food." For whatever reason seeing that sign jogged loose one food stamp memory that always seems to stick in my head.

It happened back when I was living in Pittsburgh. The area featured a local grocery store chain called Giant Eagle which was referred to by almost everybody I knew as "The Dirty Bird," and the nickname was sadly appropriate. Stores seemed to vary wildly in cleanliness, quality, merchandise and odor depending upon where each one was located. The one in Squirrel Hill was pretty nice, fairly clean and a somewhat pleasant shopping experience. Those on the North Side or over near the college campuses? Not so much.

I'd stopped in a Dirty Bird on the North Side to pick up some things for dinner and ended up in the checkout line behind a woman whose hand-held basket was brimming with a delightful array of goodies... nice cheese, some freshly baked bread, steaks, a large container of shrimp and a couple lobster tails.

Things got interesting when it was her turn to check out and she attempted to pay for her purchases with food stamps. The clerk informed her that the stamps could only be used for certain items, and that shrimp and lobster were not on the Food Stamp Friendly list.

What followed was an intriguing exercise in love vs (food) lust. The clerk tallied the non-stampable items and let the woman know the cost. Unable to come up with the necessary cash from the money she had in her purse she decided to – wait for it – dip into the bail money she was going to use to spring her boyfriend from the clink.

Seemingly unmoved she shrugged her shoulders and as the clerk bagged her steaks, shrimp, bread, lobster and cheese lamented that he was going to miss a good dinner and would be fine to spend another night in lock-up.

So much for love.

And while we might not all be heading towards the food stamp line, it never hurts to have a few ideas on hand about how to eat well on a limited budget:

• Healthy Food on an Unhealthy Budget – Get Rich Slowly
• Cheap Recipes: Good Food on a Budget – UKTV
• Less is More: Shoestring Budget Gourmet – Food Network
• Grilled PB&J Plus Others – Accidental Epicure

If you have any other good budget gourmet recipes or sites to share please do so in the comments section!

TOP CHEF Tom on Super Bowl Pregame

Call it synergy. Call it corporate shilling. Call it whatever you like, but during the Super Bowl pregame TOP CHEF judge Tom Collichio will join Tiki Barber and Jerome Bettis in judging a "Cook-Off" between previous TOP CHEF contestants exploring the cuisines of Arizona and Pittsburgh. (Other news sources have reported it as a cook off between Barber and Bettis but I think the other scenario is more likely.)

I could sit here and make smart-ass remarks about the cuisine of Pittsburgh involving pierogies and overrated sandwiches with fries on them consumed by people pouring out of bars at 2 AM, but I'm better than that.

I can't get a handle on when exactly this segment will air, considering that NBC has announced a day-long orgy of pre-game coverage including an exclusive interview with President Obama, a snarky smugfest between Keith Olberman and Dan Patrick, Bob Costas interviewing Bruce Springsteen and more.

Battle of the (Cheap) NFL Beers

A recent post at SlashFood got me thinking about this weekend's NFL playoff games and the fact that I have ties – some tenuous, others long-standing – to each of the four remaining cities. (This is bested by my wife who has lived and worked in all four of the cities left standing in the hunt for Super Bowl supremacy.)

I grew up in South Jersey, just 20 minutes from Vet Stadium and The Spectrum, where the Phillies, Sixers, Flyers, Eagles and Stars (I loved me some USFL) plied their trades. That's where a large part of my family still resides and I shall always call home. Though it's brewed outside of the city in Pottsville, PA, the beers of the Yuengling Brewing Co. are what I'll always associate with my time spent there in college and hanging out in rock clubs and cheap bars just about every weekend until the early 1990s when I moved across state to Pittsburgh.

My time in Pittsburgh was brief, not quite three years, and I lived in a great neighborhood called Bloomfield. The great thing about Bloomfield – and this is probably true of a lot of the neighborhoods that make up the Pittsburgh region – was that I could walk to anything I wanted... video store, post office, dollar movie theater, liquor store, beer distributor, grocery store, Italian deli, multiple diners, a butcher shop called HOUSE OF MEATS, an indie record store, the incredible Bloomfield Bridge Tavern, and Tessaro's – home to the best hamburger I have probably ever had in my life.

Unfortunately, I don't have fond memories of Pittsburgh's trademark beer, Iron City (or, Ahrn City as it's frequently referred to) and generally avoided it at all costs. In fact, one of my most pleasant memories of my time in the 'Burgh was when Yuengling was finally available at the local beer distributors.

Frankly, my favorite beer-centric memory of Pittsburgh is the Church Brew Works, a former Roman Catholic church that was converted into a brew pub. Though the beer wasn't great and the food was just okay (an opinion backed up by a trip to the area about five years ago), the slightly sacrilegious kick that came from drinking a beer in view of giant tanks gracing what was once the altar was sorta fun.

When it comes to swill beer I actually think is swell, my current home state of Maryland definitely takes the prize. I've been drinking National Bohemian (aka Natty Boh) since long before I ever made the move from Bucks County, PA (where I settled after Pittsburgh) to the confines of Baltimore County. As a poor college student, I remember scraping up change and taking donations so we could afford the $6.99 case of Natty Boh cans we'd get from the Springfield Beer Distributor located not far from the radio station where I spent much of my college daze.

Touted as originating in "The Land of Pleasant Living", Natty Boh hasn't been made in the Baltimore area in years and is currently brewed by Miller and distributed by Pabst. Though old-timers wax nostalgic about how great Natty Boh once was, I'll just have to take their word for it.

The current recipe is much like what I remember from my college years, a thin and watery brew with an appearance that one reviewer wrote "totally looks like urine". While it's not something I rush to drink on a day like today when the temperature outside is struggling to get into double digits, the Boh is hard to beat when summer heat and humidty has the area in its grip and you know you should drink water but what you really want is beer.

As for Phoenix, well, I almost moved there when Chris was working there in the 90s and my brother lives there now so I'll consider that my tenuous connection. I also visited the city once a couple years ago and saw Kurt Warner in a Rubio's but I have no firsthand knowledge of whatever regional cheap beer is favored by the city's population of college students, cowpokes, and artists. I even checked a poll on something called ArizonaSportsFans.com and found respondents singing the praises of such national labels as Keystone, Miller High Life, Schlitz, Bud Lite and Michelob.

Keystone?! No wonder the Eagles are going to beat them tomorrow.

Great New Source for Area Reviews

I like to get a lot of opinions on a restaurant before I decide whether or not to give it a try. Typical "research" might include inquiring on area food groups, tracking down blog posts, and perusing the critical thoughts of critics from the local daily and weekly papers.

In other words, that's a lot of time spent deciding if I want to hit one burger joint over another or selecting a place in the city to meet with a friend for lunch.

Enter Urbanspoon. This new site does a great deal of the legwork for me (and you!) by collecting reviews from pros (like the Baltimore Sun and City Paper) as well as bloggers and the casual eater.

Right now the site has 31 local sections – including LA, NY, Philly, Pittsburgh, Seattle and DC in addition to Charm City – and features an array of widgets and social networking features like Friends, Wishlist, Newsletters and Voting.

I really like Urbanspoon's clean design as well as its user-friendly interface. I've already bookmarked the site and started linking some THG blog posts to its restaurant pages. Check it out, I think you'll dig it.

Cooking Light Has Never Been to Wing Bowl

Smile Hon editor WP Tandy sent a communique this morning alerting me to the fact that Cooking Light magazine has announced their list of the Top 20 Healthiest US Cities. Based on 15 criteria, the magazine – which is celebrating its 20th anniversary – named Seattle, Washington (an upcoming THG travel destination) tops in the country followed by Portland, Oregon and Washington, DC.

Interestingly, three places where I've lived all made the list: Philly (#9), Baltimore (#11) and Pittsburgh (#13). I haven't spent a lot of time in Philly of late (Wing Bowl and Flyers games probably don't count and would surely skew CL's thoughts on the City of Brotherly Lunch), so I can't comment too much. As for Baltimore, I'm just glad one of the criteria wasn't "Number of Fairs and Festivals with an Emphasis on Fried Food & Funnel Cake".

As for the 'Burgh, I haven't lived there since the late 90s but I stand by my belief that it was the single fattest city I've ever seen or driven through. Almost daily, I'd sit at traffic lights in the city's downtown and stare at the bulging waistbands and crimes against fashion and fabric. Maybe a lot has changed in the last decade, but I'm more than a little skeptical.

Hope He's a Better Restauranteur Than Commentator

Jerome Bettis has opened "Grille 36" (what was wrong with "The Bus Stop"?!) across from the street from the former site of Three Rivers Stadium where Bettis became a star with the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Fish Sandwich Recipe

All this talk about Filet-O-Fish got me thinking about the great fish sandwiches I used to have on an almost weekly basis when I lived in Pittsburgh. In a town jam packed with Catholics, every bar and restaurant in the 'Burgh offered a fish sandwich (or fish sammich as the local pronunciation seemed to go) that was the biggest or best around. I tried a bunch but the ones at The Original Oyster House (seen in John Landis' INNOCENT BLOOD) were my favorite.

After I moved from the 'Burgh I featured a wrap up of my years there in THG #4 (still available from our store). This was one of the recipes that accompanied the piece. Enjoy with an ice cold Ahrn City Pahnder...

- Fillets of cod, flounder, sole, haddock or other fish suitable for deep frying
- Plate of flour seasoned with oregano, pepper or spices of your choice
- Egg was comprised of 1 slightly beaten egg plus 2 tbsp. water
- Bread crumbs or cracker meal
- Hamburger buns

Dry fillets with a paper towel. Dredge with flour and shake off excess. Dip in egg wash and roll in bread crumb mixture. Arrange a few pieces in a frying basket and deep fry in 370 degree vegetable oil until golden brown. (You can also deep fry in a cast iron skillet if you don't have a deep fryer.) Drain and place one piece on each bun. Serve with malt vinegar and tartar sauce.