Grandpa Gotta Cook—BIG BREAKFAST

Breakfast For Dinner

Here it is after 9 PM my time, and once again, I'm trying to get a post out before Friday disappears entirely.

There aren't that many inhabited time zones after me, so aside from Alaska and Hawaii, I'm among the stragglers who keep the days dragging on. What can I say.

Once again, I managed to get out of a Saturday meal preparation, only to volunteer to do it on Sunday. Go figure. I know. What was I thinking? But it was thought, the words came out, and the next thing I know, I've got to come up with something.

Easiest thing to do at that point was what we like to call around the Grandpa household—BIG BREAKFAST.

So big, it needs those capital letters. All of them. Excuse my yellin'.

Let's get this edition of Grandpa Gotta Cook rollin', shall we.

As far as I'm concerned, there's a few essential qualifications for a BIG BREAKFAST. There's got to be either pancakes or waffles, scrambled eggs, and at least two kinds of meat. Bacon always, and then either sausage or maybe ham. It's kind of loose at that point.

However, as far as my wife is concerned, there needs to be some hash browns, too. So, the BIG BREAKFAST just got BIGGER. Add some orange juice to wash it all down, and voila, Bob's your uncle's cousin twice removed on your mother's sister side.

(Don't try to figure that out. It wrote itself. Doesn't mean it's worth untangling).

So, up first, we have the pancakes. Now, I'm more of a fan of the Bisquick kind of pancakes, but because I don't do the grocery shopping, we can end up with all kinds of different mixes. This one just happened to be Krusteaz, which is actually easier, thanks to the ziplock big bag it comes in and the fact you don't need to add eggs—just mix and water (or milk, if you prefer). No stress, no mess and up'n running faster than your lickety can split.

I said it was late. I'm even annoying myself now.

I'm realizing I really don't have these photos in sequential order, but more in preference to what I like to eat. So, the pancakes are first, followed by the scrambled eggs. I usually like to throw in a bunch of different things, but we had the oldest and his wife and son over (as we do most Sunday dinners), so I decided to keep it simple and quick. I think at final count I had 18 eggs in there, with plenty of milk and some salt and pepper to taste.

Usually the eggs disappear the quickest, which is why I went for it this time. I'm not entirely sure, but I think I finally made enough of them. We've got an overabundance of eggs, though, so it didn't hurt to get rid of so many. Healthy cholesterol, right? Or wait? Did they switch that back? Again? I've lost track.

Next up, the bacon. This was a thick cut hickory infused bacon, the kind that doesn't cook down so quickly that you're left with a shriveled up piece of pork questioning it's very reason for being. I'm kind of picky when it comes to bacon. I like flavor, and I don't like burnt. My wife likes burnt, because that adds flavor. So, some of it gets burnt, and some of it gets just past raw (as in cooked, but barely).

Next up, the sausage patties. Not any sausage, mind you. This is deer sausage that my friend @bbrewer gifted to my wife a few years ago. It's been sitting in the freezer that long, and when I opened up the butcher wrapping, it wasn't looking so appetizing. Not so much red, and a lot of browning, especially on the outside. I wasn't going to use it all, but my wife decided we needed to put it all in.

I hadn't eaten deer sausage prior to this, so new taste experience for me.

And last but not... okay, for me it is the least... the hash browns. My wife made these from scratch. No peeling of the potatoes, just shredded and into the pan with oil they went. She likes them kind of crispy on the outside and kind of moist everywhere else. One of the few things she doesn't like burnt.

Taste Test

Not necessarily one of my best efforts. The pancakes were fine, the eggs needed some more seasoning, but they certainly weren't dry, so the texture was good. The bacon was tasty (though could have used more hickory) and I didn't try the hash browns. That leaves the deer sausage.

I've heard deer meat described as kind of gamey. That's kind of what I got out of it. Not overwhelmingly so, though. Everyone else seemed to like it, including the youngest son's wife, who he noted, eats squirrel meat. I guess if you like deer meat than it's only natural you'll like other forest critters, too. Or at least that was the logic I was following.

I think part of it was the fact that I'm not all that keen on how meat of any kind tastes after being in the freezer for over six months. It just tastes like the freezer, even if it doesn't have freezer burn, which this may well have. I'm not that familiar with what ground deer meat looks like, so it could be more of its natural color.

Whelp, That's It, I reckon

Not sure why I've been swerving in and out of redneck or bad puns or whatever accent I was writing with, but anyway. It's over, and you don't have to endure it any longer.

Tomorrow is the first game of the season for the Oregon Ducks football team, so I'll be calling one of the fine local pizza establishments to supply the dinner then. Sunday, I'm pretty sure my wife is going to cook. That leaves the possibility of Monday, though, since it is Labor Day here in the States and I've got the day off, because how else to celebrate labor than to avoid it for 24 hours straight. Except, too cook, I guess.

I'll probably be out on the grill, slinging burgers and dogs, so we'll see what makes it into a post for next week.

Cool. It's just past 9:40. Time to do a quick edit check and then, it's all yours to devour.

Until next time...

....Aw, you know what to do.

_{Images courtesy of Glen Anthony Albrethsen}

Grandpa Gotta Cook is published in conjunction with Food Fight Friday, a food loving, friendly, weekly competition. If you're interested in participating, follow these simples steps: Write about food, post it on a Friday (your time), use the all important #fff tag (so others will know your intentions), and then go and read some other entries, because the participants choose the winners. Cool, right? Yes it is.