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Nick Tahou's Garbage Plate
1 - medium onion, chopped
1 - clove garlic, minced
1 - tbsp. oil
1 - lb. triple-ground beef
1 - cup H2O
1 - can tomato paste
1/2 - tbsp. brown sugar (optional)
1 - tsp. ground black pepper
3/4 - tsp. cayenne pepper
1 - tsp. chili powder
1 1/2 - tsp. paprika
1/2 - tsp. ground cumin
1/2 - tsp. allspice
1/4 - tsp. cinnamon
1/2 - tsp. powdered cloves
1 - tsp. salt (to taste)
Plate Ingredients: (Cheeseburger Version)
8 - frozen beef patties
8 - slices of white american cheese
4 - cups cold beans
4 - cups macaroni salad
1 - medium onion, diced
4 - cups hash browns, cubed
2 - loaves of fresh Italian bread
40 - generic butter pats
1 - case Genesee beer
Step 1 - Preparing the Special Sauce:
In large skillet, fry chopped onion and garlic in oil until soft. Add meat, stirring constantly with fork to keep its texture fine. Once the meat browns, add water and tomato paste. Simmer 10 minutes. Add sugar and spices. Simmer 30 minutes, adding water ,if necessary, to keep it moist but not soupy. Alternatively, you may use the griddle scrapings from Step 2 for the Secret Sauce (the authentic method).
Step 2 - Preparing the Plate:
First of all, you can substitute any of Nick's other main items in place of the cheeseburger. These items are hamburger, beef hot dogs (red hots, not white hots - that's Don 'n Bob's), steak, egg, veggies, and fish (plain old whitefish, I believe). And now onto the Plate.
Take beef patties straight out of freezer and lightly sear on super hot griddle. Do the same with hash brown cubes. Melt one slice of cheese on each beef pattie. Place 1 cup of beans, 1 cup of macaroni salad, and 1 cup of hash browns on a restaurant style paper plate. Place 2 beef patties on top of the heap, in the center. Spread mustard and diced onions over the beef patties. With a ladle, cover the center of the heap with Special Sauce. Garnish with bread an butter. Drink as much Genny beer as you can. Serves 4.
