I’ve been told by coworkers who have worked at Appleby’s that pretty much everything on the menu there comes pre-cooked, pre-prepped, and pre-portioned, and that the “cook’s” job is to grab the appropriate package, nuke it, and slap it on a plate. One former Appleby’s cook said even the steaks come pre-cooked, in vacuum-sealed bags labeled “medium rare”, “medium”, etc. So maybe the wings are pre-sauced. Of course, these same people also told me that if you get a paper cut while on the clock, Appleby’s requires a drug test, so they may have been yanking my chain.
More nutritious, possibly. But that does me no good if I can’t get the stuff to my mouth because the paper-thin leaves have pasted themselves to my plate.
Dudes with mild lactose intolerance seem to be aided by Lactobacillus, aka “Live culture”. They sell “Sweet Acidolpholus” milk for those dudes. Not to mention the bacteria have already broken down par tof the lactose anyway.
I also have mild lactose intolerance, and treat it with Probiotics (aka Lactobacillus, Acidophilus, etc). Cheese and yogurt and even a single scoop of ice cream is Ok with my gut, now. I have switched to frozen yogurt (mmm, B&J Cherry Garcia FY! ) mostly anyway.
As lactic acid bacteria actively convert lactose into lactic acid, ingestion of certain active strains may help lactose intolerant individuals tolerate more lactose than what they would have otherwise.[3] In practice probiotics are not specifically targeted for this purpose, as most are relatively low in lactase activity as compared to the normal yogurt bacteria.*
Yoghurt has nutritional benefits beyond those of milk: people who are lactose-intolerant often enjoy yoghurt without ill effects, apparently because live yoghurt cultures contain enzymes which help break down lactose inside the intestine.[1]
Could be. Might be generational, too. Most of the folks I knew as servers were just some good midwest college kids in their early 20’s during the 90’s (a 50/50 mix of boys and girls). We were the night shift, and then diametrically opposite us, were the breakfast and lunch shift which consisted of a bunch of older ladies in their 40’s and 50’s …there was drama and pettieness all the time on that morning shift, and I can guarantee I’d never want to wait on some of those bitches.
Nah, Applebee’s wings are definitely prepared to order. Frozen and deepfried wings with a pretty traditional Red Pepper Sauce, Butter, and Worcestershire Buffalo sauce to dress (that is probably premixed, bottled, and propriatary, though). They’re good compared to some other menu items.
That’s just not true. I don’t work at an Applebee’s, but at least one of the other guys in the kitchen has, and while he did say it was one of the lower-quality chains, it wasn’t that bad.
I never worked at Appleby’s but I did work a sports grill and bar type place that was similar. It was privately owned, not part of chain. We did everything from scratch there, including the buffalo sauce and the blue cheese dressing. I also worked at a Perkins before that (I kind of worked my way through better and beter places) and they did do an awful lot of prefabricated stuff. Sauces, gravies, soups and the like all came in frozen bags. Steaks came in little vaccuum bags but weren’t pre-cooked. I’ve never heard of a place – even a microwave franchise like Perkins or Dennys – getting steaks pre-cooked to temperature. I don’t think it would be possible to warm them up without changing the temp. Appleby’s is a marginal step up from Perkins (if only because they have alcohol). Pre-sauced, pre-portioned chicken wings just would not accord with my long experience in a wide variety of menial cooking jobs.
Was the closed section the non-smoking section, or was it the case that the non-smoking section would be a smoking section at some other time of day? If so, that’s awful- that section would smell of smoke, even when it was the non-smoking section. P.U!
Are you anywhere within a reasonable drive of the Trader Joe’s in Cary or Charlotte? If you are, you really should check out their cheese section sometime. They have good cheeses at reasonable prices. I got a nice New Zealand grass-fed cheddar at Trader Joe’s recently for $4.99/pound. It’s not a super-premium cheddar, but it is a real aged cheese, not processed cheese food.
I’m just wondering how they fed grass to the cheddar, and whether cheese food is what they feed to the non-grass-fed cheeses
And this thread inspired me to get some spring mix in a bag at Trader Joe’s, and have a bowl of it with my dinner. Yummy. Spring mix- it’s what’s for dinner.
I hated salads until I moved to California at the age of 23, btw. That’s when I first tried one of the dark-green no-crunchy-veggies salads, and, much to my surprise, found myself missing them when I went back to visit my parents.
I’m in the Raleigh/Durham area, and I don’t drive, so Trader Joe’s is out of the question (unfortunately, since I’ve heard a lot of good things about it). I just moved down here from Chicago a year ago, and I’m still learning about the good places to shop.
I’ll have to check that out…I don’t buy much milk because it usually goes bad before I finish it, but occasionally I like to use it when I’m cooking.
Oh, that’s one of my pet peeves as well. The vegetable selection is usually some horrid zucchini/squash/cooked carrot medley. I love pretty much all vegetables with the exception of those three. Similarly, the fruit cup is always 90% melon with two grapes and one strawberry. Bleh, melon…
I love all vegetables except celery - guess which veggie is usually prominently featured in dinners around these parts? And I’ll add my gripe to the overcooked veggies - al dente, dammit!
Our standard veg mixture is broccoli, carrots, zucchini, pea pods, and yellow/summer squash. So yeah, nothing too exciting. But we also have an option of broccoli only, or asparagus (though that’s a $1 upcharge, IIRC.) If it’s REALLY slow, and you ask real nice, you might be able to get the veg without one or more of the things. But if it’s busy, there’s just no time for the cook to pick out the pieces of what you don’t want from the portioned bag before they get nuked (yes, we microwave our veggies.) However, don’t take “portioned bag” to mean that they are pre-portioned and/or frozen, though. We get fresh produce deliveries at least every other day, if not more. In the morning, the prep chefs cut up and portion all the veggies. At worst, you would be eating vegetables that were cut up and portioned out maybe a day and a half ago.
I saw Jaques Pepin do a nice little gratin’ of Broccoli- some breadcrumbs, garlic, and lots of butter baked around 375 (Blanched of course). Dairy and broccoli are like peas in the pod.
No, not just you. Butter is great on broccoli. I think that steaming brings out the best flavor in most vegetables. I love steamed green beans with dill.
You’ve just reminded me why I hate going to Red Lobster-- everything is drowned in butter to the point that it ruins the experience of eating seafood. Hey executives up at the top: seafood is supposed to be healthy, fresh, and lower in fat than a plate of onion rings. Quit drowning them in butter because you think everyone likes it that way! You put butter on the side, so the butter fiends can ask for more on the side instead of the non-fiends having to wonder what to do with all the excess butter the seafood’s been drowned in.
Red Lobster’s only redeeming value are those evil yet delicious cheesy bread thingies that come while you’re waiting for your entree.
Actually, I love butter. Really and truly do, I even put it on lots of veggies but I don’t put it on broccoli as a matter of course (carrots, green beans, squash, lots of other things but not broccoli). I wouldn’t have minded if it hadn’t been drowning in butter, I probably would’ve enjoyed it even. But it tasted as if someone had taken it and just dunked it into a vat of butter, butter had seeped into the top part it wasn’t just a bit on the surface to add flavour, my plate had a puddle of butter beneath it and more oozed out when I cut it (it was a big single piece of broccoli).
Seriously though, I love Red Lobster - and I don’t mind the butter - I usually get the scampi anyway. And I love butter on broccoli. I love butter on just about EVERYTHING. I use two of the prepackaged pats per biscuit for example - one on each side. I use one pat per Saltine if I am eating Saltines - I’m just a butter nut I suppose. But I can see how other people might not like it. Lately, though, I’ve stopped even eating out - I just haven’t felt like it’s worth the money. It’s kid of sad.
ETA - Flutterby - we should go out to eat one day! It’s nice to find someone like minded!!!
) mostly anyway.
