2 Queens On Casino Night
The Four Queens Hotel and Casino is located in downtown Las Vegas on the Fremont Street Experience.The 690-room hotel and 27,269 sq ft (2,533.4 m 2) casino is owned and operated by TLC Casino Enterprises, which acquired the property from the Elsinore Corporation in 2003. A great memorable quote from the The Office movie on Quotes.net - Michael Scott: Two queens on Casino Night. I am going to drop a deuce on everybody.
Hotel and Casino has been in operation since 1966. We have consistently concentrated on delivering high quality, traditional Las Vegas gaming and entertainment. The property is across from our sister property, Binion's Gambling Hall in the heart of Fremont Street in downtown Las Vegas. Both properties are owned by TLC Casino Enterprises. Queens Casino & Hotel, located on the N6 in the friendly city of Queenstown, offers an escape to a world where glamour, extravagance, fun, and relaxation combine - to make everyone feel like royalty. The magnificence and grandeur of the Victorian Architecture and chic interiors are reminiscent of a bygone era, and make you long for the romance. Four Queens Hotel and Casino features a variety of card games including blackjack, roulette and three card poker. On-site dining options include Magnolia’s Veranda, a 24-hour eatery with an assortment of American dishes. Chicago Brewing Company and Cigar Lounge, also on site, offers a selection of beer, snacks and entrees. Hugo's Cellar is.
So I’ve been doing a lot of research on making my own meads and beers. I have made beer a few times at home and it has always come out awesome. Anyway, I was doing some reading about meads (the drink of the Gods) and I stumbled upon a book titled “Wild Fermentation” written by a dude named Sandor Ellix Katz. One of his favorite things in the world is sauerkraut. As I write this, I think it’s odd that a Jewish dude from New York LOVES Krauts (see what I did there, or is it still too early for a WW2 joke). However, the book is awesome and very informative. There are a ton of great recipes and a lot of great information on all types of fermented foods and practices.
For real now, kraut is a serious business and there is no room for jacking around. As a descendent of the mother land, eastern block of Europe, Ukraine/Poland you can imagine, the Kraut section hit home with me. Growing up, and similar to Frank’s, we ate that shit with everything (or some derivation of cabbage). My grandparents basically had it at every meal we ate at their houses. I always ate it but never really thought what it was or how it’s made….other than it was tasty and in some cases a real powerful laxative. This book got me thinking….my grandmothers made it and it was the best stuff out there. WAY better than this shit you buy at the store in a jar or a bag, so why can’t I? Reading this book, I was thinking it can’t be THAT easy. Sure as shit, it is. In the legendary words of the Iron Sheik I’m about to give it to you the “old country way”.
Casino Queen Casino Il
Casino Queen Il
The ingredients for this glorious food are as follows: Cabbage and Salt…..yup, that’s it, 2 ingredients. Although, I added some caraway seeds to give it that extra European (dobra) flavor. You also need some type of crock or wide mouth container, a plate or something similar to put over the kraut and a weight. That’s literally all you need, I was amazed. I used two heads of cabbage, some Morton’s kosher salt, caraway, a glass pickle crock (I also make fantastic pickles…I have for years), a lid from one of my wife’s pyrex bowls and her 2 5lb weights (in a ziplock bag).So step one, make sure everything is clean. I cannot stress that enough. What you are trying to accomplish with fermentation is basically controlled rotting. If you have a lot of different bacteria’s present, it won’t get you the desired outcome and most likely, sick. So, when in doubt, don’t whip it out (it’s not a free for all), WASH IT. Step numero dos, cut up the cabbage into your desired size. All I did was quarter the heads then cut into about 1/4 inch strips. As you go, layer in a big bowl the cut up cabbage, about a tablespoon of salt and a teaspoon or so of caraway. Keep layering like this until all the cabbage is cut. However, don’t use too much salt….you wanna shoot for about 3 – 31/2 T for about 5 pounds of cabbage. Once its all in the bowl, mix it all together. Now, you wanna take your clean crock and put a little bit in. Take like 3 handfuls or so and pack it in real good (push it, push it real good). Layer more in and repeat until it’s all packed tightly into the crock. Now, put the lid on top of the kraut itself (not the crock, you need air circulation)then put the weight on it. What you are doing here is creating a brine by osmosis. The salt is going to draw the natural water out of the cabbage and mix with the caraway and salt and create the said brine. Natural occurring lactobacilli will find it’s way in and cause the cabbage to ferment. I find this really cool and the transformative process of making something out of something else while doing nothing blows my mind. Once the lid or plate is in the crock and the weight is in, cover it with a clean towel so no dust, bugs or debris can get in. I had to wrap the glass crock with a paper bag…..light promotes the growth of bad bacteria (mold etc…).Speaking of bacteria, the purpose of the brine is to keep the bad bacteria out. The brine must cover the cabbage by at least 1/2 inch at all times. For the first day or so, you will need to push down on the weight (multiple times per day) in order to the help the osmosis process kick in. What the brine does is creates an anaerobic environment where the cabbage rots (by way of the lactobacilli bacteria) but the salt inhibits bad bacteria from growing hence, FERMENTATION. Lactobacilli is a natural occurring micro-organism that is found in many places including the new “fad food”, Greek yogurt (which has been around for a million years). This bacteria has been proven to help aid in digestion as it is found in the gut flora. It’s main purpose is to break lactose and sugars down into lactic acid which inhibits many types of bad bacteria. That’s why folks with butt issues are supposed to eat foods that contain the natural probiotic. Lacto helps with Crohn’s, IBS and diarrhea to name a few. Sorry if that grossed you out but I had to drop some science on that ass (pardon the pun).
Now comes the hard part, doing nothing. Just let it sit in the corner and ferment away. Check on it twice a day and push the weight down as often as you want, this helps compact the kraut and squeeze out more brine. It also makes sure the kraut is below the brine as contact with air promotes oxidation and the kraut will spoil. I left mine sit for about a week and a half because I got antsy and couldn’t wait to eat it.It came out AMAZING! Sour, salty and very European. Next time however, I’m gonna have to let it sit longer. It wasn’t quite as sour as I’d like it and it was very crunchy (the salt kills the bacteria that makes cabbage soggy).
I have to say though, I learned a shit ton doing this and doing the research……science is sweet, well in this case, sour. I’m 100% sure my grandparents would’ve approved of this. I’m now on a fermenting kick and next up is probably cheese then some type of alcoholic beverage….MEAD or a beer. We shall see.
“Only the pure of heart can make a good kraut” – Ludwig Van Beethoven (I think that’s a real quote…)
-Ro
