107 Chef Janet's Summer Hacks, Tips, and More

Your summer plans are booked, the grill is hot, and somehow the simple question “what should we bring?” ignites stress. We sit down with Janet Loughran, aka Chef Life Hacks, to share the kind of real-world grilling tips, picnic hacks, and beach-day fixes that make you feel like you planned everything on purpose, even if you didn't. 

We talk charcoal grilling and an unexpectedly effective way to clean grill grates. Janet also breaks down cooking techniques that instantly upgrade your plate, from steaks to skewers. From transporting food in the car, keeping hot dishes warm, and portion planning for cookouts, Chef Janet shares easy tips for anyone. 

For beach picnic ideas, we dig into foods that hold up in the heat, including a pressed Italian muffuletta style sandwich that gets better as it sits, plus watermelon picking tips you will never forget and a couple family-friendly beach hacks for sand and valuables.

Find Janet on Instagram and Facebook @Chef.Life.Hacks and learn more at redwagonmeals.net. If this helps your next cookout, subscribe, share the episode with a friend, and leave a review so more people can find the show.

Transcript

Doug 0:01

Welcome to the Pittsburgh Dish. I'm your host, Doug Heilman. Are you ready for your warm weather grilling and gatherings? How about that trip to the beach? This week, we're covering tips, hacks, recipes, and more with a longtime friend of the show. So whatever you have going on this season, you're set up for success. All that ahead, stay tuned. Well, thank you for coming back over.

Janet 0:31

My pleasure.

Doug 0:32

And welcome back

Meet Janet Of Chef Life Hacks

Doug 0:33

to the show. Would you introduce yourself to our listeners and what you have going on right now in the world of food?

Janet 0:38

Sure, I'm Janet Loughran. You'll know me as Chef Life Hacks on Instagram and Facebook. I am just having fun this summer. I'm kind of seeing what's going to uh happen and fall on my lap and go from there. But it's been crazy busy in a good way. It's a good problem to have.

Doug 0:54

Well, the reason we're getting together is because we are coming into the height of summer. We're recording uh just before the 4th of July. We all know it's America's 250 anniversary, and you have been putting out barbecue hacks or picnic hacks, maybe even travel hacks. So we thought it would be a great idea to get back together. We sometimes did this in like Thanksgiving holiday time, but why not do a summer edition?

Janet 1:19

Oh, I know. I have so many in my head.

Doug 1:21

Well, that's it. If anyone's following you on your socials, I mean, it is a tip hack, you know, just a smart thing to do that I've never thought of. But I thought that's where we could go.

Janet 1:33

I I I never knew that I was gonna be doing this, but it's it's so me because I'm such a I'm such a factoid person. Oh my gosh, that's so cool. It makes it easier. Let's share it with the world, you know, right? So you don't keep it to yourself. Yeah, yep, yep.

Doug 1:46

Well, we are in the height of folks barbecuing or grilling, whatever you like to call it. I mean, I just have a grill, you know. So, but folks like charcoal and smokers. I was wondering, do you have any tips for the grilling season? Like, is there anything that you've seen or that you do that you're like, oh, that is a game changer?

Janet 2:07

Oh yes. And I actually thought about it this uh past weekend. So whenever you are using a charcoal grill, I do not like whenever people use lighter fluid. I can always smell it, I can always taste it. No matter how long you think, you know, you let it burn off. I can always do that or taste that. So what I do is I'll either take a rolled up paper towel or a newspaper and I'll douse it in any sort of oil that you have and use that as your starter. Like a cooking oil. Basically, yes.

Doug 2:34

Olive oil, avocado oil.

Janet 2:36

Any oil that you have. Okay. Yes. Basically, you're just going to kind of put that in the middle of the chimney starter whenever you're, you know, getting your coals ready. You could even put it in a bed of coals. It doesn't matter. It doesn't have to be in a chimney starter. Um, I did asado cooking where you kind of cook over a it, it's very primitive primal prime, not primal. Primal? Yeah, primal. There we go. Um, and that's how I started all of it. Yeah, and then just light that and it'll slowly get all those embers going. And it works really well. It doesn't taste taste like anything.

Doug 3:03

So well, what I do love, and I don't do it enough, is charcoal grilling. If you don't add that lighter fluid, it has a great taste.

Janet 3:11

It does, definitely.

Doug 3:12

So good.

Janet 3:13

And I like to add a little bit of um wood chips in there too, just for a little bit more smoky flavor.

Doug 3:17

Exactly right. Now, I've seen this from America's Test Kitchen, so I'll throw one more in. If you're doing something in a charcoal grill that takes a long time, have you heard of the charcoal snake method? Have you done this?

Janet 3:31

I haven't done it, but I have heard about it and it's genius.

Doug 3:33

Yeah. So you take your briquettes and you line them, like usually around the outer perimeter of one of those kettle grills, but you only light like the first one. The corner, yeah. Yeah. And so over time, if you're doing like a slow, roasty, I don't know, ribs or brisket or it's it just takes forever to make them all light, but it keeps that heat so even. So I thought that was brilliant. That's really smart. Yeah. What else in your repertoire for grilling?

Janet 4:01

Um, let's see. If you want to clean a grill, that you did you know you can use a cut onion, actually? No. Yeah, it well before what before you turn it on. Don't turn it on yet.

Doug 4:10

Okay, so don't fire the grill up. Don't get it hot.

Janet 4:12

Yeah, we're gonna rub that all over and then we're gonna light it, and then we're gonna do that again. And it if you do that every time, and actually at the end of cooking, before you know, right after you turn it off, it really helps to keep it more nonstick and not have a lot of char kind of build up on those uh on those lines, those grains.

Doug 4:30

So this is any big onion. I've just cut it in half and the raw side that's exposed, I can go out to my cold grill and rub it over. But then again, when we turn the grill on, heat it up, grab some tongs, hold the onion, do it again.

Janet 4:44

If it's really, really bad, you could also start with a watered up piece of aluminum foil. Um, and that will give a little more abrasiveness to it, and then start with the onion. Uh, I don't like to use the cleaning bristle or brush brushes because the bristles can get into the food you don't even realize. Yeah.

Doug 5:00

I've heard that same thing. And so for folks out there that might have those metal bristle brushes, not so good if they flake off. I've even heard people ingest them and then they have problems. So we stay away from all that when we clean the grill. Yep, yep, yep. Let's use an onion. Okay, Janet. So before we move away from the grill, I love when I see some of your actual cooking techniques. Can you tell us about the one for the steak to get the beautiful diamond pattern?

Janet 5:30

Yeah. Oh, yeah. That's actually much easier than you think it is. Okay. The biggest thing is you don't want to touch it too much, other than whenever you flip it. So basically, what you're going to do, if the grates are perpendicular, you're basically going to put one of the top of the stakes at if you think of a clock at where 10 o'clock is. Okay. Okay. So a little bit on a diagonal for those straight lines. After four, five, six however long you need to put it on there, just literally move it from 10 to 2. So it's going to be pointing to the left and it's going to be pointing to the right. And then don't touch it. Yes. And if you turn it over, it's going to be a beautiful diamond pattern. And honestly, I don't diamond the other side. No one's going to see it. They're just cutting through the beautiful part.

Doug 6:07

Do that first. Yeah, exactly. And beforehand, we need to get the grill nice and hot before we do that first set down, right? Because we want to get those first marks too.

Janet 6:15

Right. And the and the grill needs to be, it's not the heat, it's the actual grill, uh, the grate itself that's giving you that. Yeah. Okay. Nice and hot.

Doug 6:22

Diamond pattern on your beautiful steaks.

Janet 6:24

Ten and two, that's all you got to do. I love that.

Doug 6:27

I love that. What about? You know, I just did a cooking class and we did skewers, but we were in a classroom, so we did them in the oven. I think you have a tip on like skewered meats and things if we're grilling. What would what should we do?

Janet 6:41

If you don't have metal skewers and you have wooden ones, always want to make sure that you soak those for at least 30 minutes up to an hour. The longer you can do it, the better. Because as soon as you put them on that high heat, they're gonna disintegrate and be gone.

Doug 6:52

Yeah, they're gonna burn and they're gonna break. Right, exactly. We want really wet wooden skewers so that everything stays together. Exactly.

Janet 6:59

Yes.

Doug 7:00

I have a side question and you may not have an answer. Sometimes my skewered things, they just spin. Do you have any uh techniques for like putting things on? Like do you double pierce something so it doesn't spin? Have you ever seen that?

Janet 7:12

I know what you mean. So what I like to do whenever I put a skewer together is actually have long strips of meat, not chunks of meat. Oh. So then you can kind of weave through like you're sewing into it, basically.

Doug 7:22

I like this.

Janet 7:23

Yeah. So it keeps it on there, it keeps it more secure, and you have more surface area so it cooks faster.

Doug 7:28

Yeah, and more char all around. Yes, yeah.

Janet 7:30

So I would I would put them in strips and then weave the weave it through like you're sewing, basically.

Doug 7:35

And you could do that with a chicken thigh or breast or even a piece of steak.

Janet 7:39

Yeah, I'm about to do, I make um bourbon bacon chicken skewers. Oh, so good. I'm making it for a party this weekend. And uh I can't wait because it's one of my favorite things to make. It's delicious. I actually have a reel for that. I'll have to have to reshare it for you guys.

Doug 7:52

Okay, okay, yeah. Oh, so good. Okay.

Turn A Cooler Into A Thermos

Doug 7:55

Let's pretend now we have done some cooking and now we're heading to a picnic or we're hosting the party. Uh, I know you have a few things. I'm actually thinking about one from Thanksgiving maybe last year or the year before. What's the tip with the cooler when it's not a cooler?

Janet 8:15

A cooler. It's a thermos. You can turn your cooler into a thermos.

Doug 8:18

Okay.

Janet 8:18

So basically, what you do is you put the hottest tap water you can get, put that in a maybe two-inch layer on the bottom and close the lid of the cooler for about a minute or two. And what's that do that is doing is allowing the outside, the insulation to heat up, warm up for you. Yes. Um, remove that, um, either with the spigot that's on the side or just dump it out. Right. Um, and then I usually put some broken down boxes down just to be sure that you know none of that water gets into whatever you're putting in there. And then you can put hot items in there, maybe put another layer of box, put another hot item, another layer of box, and and you can basically have everything stay warm. Say you, you know, you don't have enough space in your oven. Right. This is another way to just keep these warm for a long time, as well as transport them and they're in a ther in a current cooler. They're not going to, you know, mess up your car if you make a quick turn or something.

Doug 9:09

Well, I like that for the travel. I'm even thinking, you know, if I'm hosting a party, I don't maybe want to turn on my oven in the house to keep things warm. And I'm grilling for a lot of people, so that's so great. So when you're saying the boxes, you're meaning like cardboard broken down. So hot stuff isn't necessarily touching the sides of the plastic, or you're putting layers in between the food too, just to be able to stack it up.

Janet 9:33

Exactly. Okay. That's actually a good point because someone, whenever I did share this, someone was worried that you know, the plastic would kind of leach into the food. It has to be uh 375 degrees in there for that to happen. So it's not quite that hot. No, it's not quite that hot. It's just like a warming box, basically. Right.

Doug 9:49

You know, I saw another technique. Somebody did like a long cook on a like a substantial piece of meat, maybe it was a pork butt or something. And then they put it in a warm cooler like that to continue the carryover cooking. The carryover, yeah, like the slow cooking that happens after you take it off the heat. So part of their recipe was we actually don't finish the whole thing on the grill, we transfer it, you know, in foil or whatever they did into the box and they let it sort of finish for 20 minutes.

Janet 10:16

Right. And usually butcher paper is what they'll use, they'll wrap it up. I've seen that a lot. And you can stack a bunch in there. Um when I did that asado cooking, I I cooked all the steaks and then I put them in a cooler. And then when it was time to slice them up, just pull them out of the box. Yeah, it's wonderful.

Doug 10:31

I do love the idea of the transport with it too, like genius. Yeah, yep. Well, while we're on that subject of transport, let's say we are going to a graduation party, a picnic, you know, somewhere else. So we've cooked food at home and now we got to take it in the car. What tips do you have for transporting food in the car?

Janet 10:51

So if you have some sort of liquid that you have in a container that maybe doesn't have a lid or it's not a tight fitting lid, a lot of chefs will do this. They'll put a big piece of plastic wrap over the top of the container, and then they'll take a really long piece of um plastic wrap, say maybe a foot, well, depending on how big your container is, maybe a foot to two feet foot long, and you pull that so it turns into a plastic wrap rope, basically. Okay.

Doug 11:15

So you're stretching it. You're kind of stretching it, correct?

Janet 11:17

Clinging it together, but then then stretching it out. Yep. And then that becomes your tie. So you're going to go around, make sure that the piece of plastic wrap that you've put on that, you know, it's on top of that. It's not, there's no gaps or anything. And you literally just tie it around as tightly as you can and even go one step further. If you push down the center, you'll notice that it'll go like concave into kind of like a bowl shape. And that's basically adding another layer of like a vacuum seal for you.

Doug 11:40

Yeah.

Janet 11:41

Yeah. And it works well. I mean, whenever I transport liquids, I do that, but I also will put it in a box and a towel around it. So you never know.

Doug 11:48

Yes.

Janet 11:48

You know, what if someone slams on the brakes in front of you? I always worry about that.

Doug 11:51

So well, there's even a lot of things that I make that aren't necessarily liquid, but they're kind of runny. And I'm even thinking, like in a nine by 13, I have a lid for it, but I would like this little extra tip of putting the plastic wrap over and around as a tie and then the lid on top.

Janet 12:08

So many people think that you need to bring the food in the whatever receptacle you're going to serve it in, maybe a platter or, you know, a bowl or something like that. You can put it in another container that's enclosed, and then just bring that other thing that you're going to serve it in to the party and the pretty dish. Yes, exactly. The pretty dish. Um so you don't have to struggle with that on the way.

Doug 12:26

Mm-hmm. I think some other things I always think about too is like when I have taken something that's maybe salad related, I don't I don't dress it until I get there. So I keep the dressing, the liquid, you know, its own container. Again, I like this idea of the plastic wrap for something like that.

Janet 12:41

Did you know you're supposed to salt and pepper the lettuce before you add the dressing to it?

Doug 12:45

Uh, did not.

Janet 12:47

Try it just a little bit. You just need a little bit goes a long way. But I mean, you kind of need to season the lettuce, right? Yes. I mean, it you have a lot of seasoning already in the dressing, but if you try that, it really elevates it.

Doug 12:58

I just saw someone salt and peppering all of the like sandwiches they were making. And I'm like, Yeah.

Janet 13:04

Oh, you know, it's just not something I think about. Well, speaking of pepper, I wasn't gonna bring this up, but uh I found out and I looked it up and it was true, you actually should not add pepper to anything that you're grilling until afterwards because the grill is actually burning that pepper. The, you know, the the peppercorns basically it shouldn't be that high of a heat. So if you want that pepper flavor, do it after it comes off the grill.

Doug 13:24

Well, I'll add to this. We'll keep going the on pepper. Well, I did just make uh steak au poivre on the grill, but I started it in a cast iron skillet to get some fond to make a pan sauce. And then I finished it. And I would say it's that is pretty peppery. So I think maybe because we did it on the grill and it maybe muted some of the pepper flavor, it was still very delicious. Right, right. So that's one thing. And the other that I just saw is you know, we think of salt and pepper are good to go right out of the containers, but I think it was one of the food magazines. They toasted their peppercorns first before putting it in the grinder.

Janet 13:59

That makes sense.

Doug 13:59

And it just gave it a much more bold flavor.

Janet 14:04

And you probably don't need as much pepper then, too, because the flavor is more enhanced. Yeah, interesting.

Doug 14:08

Like a dry pan, let it cool, then put it in your grinder.

Janet 14:11

Good to know.

Portion Math For Sides And Pasta

Doug 14:12

You know, Janet, as we're talking about like going to a party, like a potluck, a summer picnic. My family is famous for making way too much food. I mean, for eight people, we probably make enough for 24 people. And that's not gonna change. I will say that for sure. But I am thinking for someone out there that doesn't cook a lot for big crowds and it's for like a picnic or some kind of summer potluck, how do we think about portioning? Uh like if I'm making uh one of the classic sides, like a potato salad or or baked beans or coleslaw, what kind of advice do you give someone on that?

Janet 14:51

Sure, that's one of the number one questions people ask me. And like you said, you want to have enough and you don't want to run out of anything to usually overcommit. So, what I like to do is actually say an amount of ounces. So a lot of people say, oh, a half a cup a person. Well, a half a cup of coleslaw and a half a cup of potato salad weigh to make it. They weigh different things. Yeah. So I basically like to say three to four ounces of potato salad or coleslaw or baked beans per person, and that'll give you a nice roundabout number you can work with.

Doug 15:19

Okay. So if we have a kitchen scale or we bought a five-pound bag of potatoes, we know where we're starting, you know, in terms of ounces.

Janet 15:26

Exactly. If you're making pasta salad, I usually do about two ounces of pasta uncooked per person before I cook it. Yeah. All right. And then uh corn, if you have, you know, big eaters, I would say one ear per person. If it's not really going to be like the star of the show and there's a lot of other sides, maybe a half of one per person. Oh, I have a corn hack. Do you want the corn?

Doug 15:48

I was gonna say, don't you have a there's a microwave thing you can do to shuck it? Is that right?

Janet 15:52

Yeah, it basically cooks it and you can shuck it much easier afterwards. Okay, tell us that one. So the key is you have to cut it to the point where the kernels are exposed. So we're not at the part where like it looks like the hair, the silk is sticking out. You're at the bottom. At the bottom. Right, where they cut it off the stock. And you're gonna notice it's a little skinny and then it's gonna start to open up into that cob and be a little bit wider. Maybe about a half an inch past where that gets a little wider. Cut there. Okay. And then you'll see on the side that the, you know, the yellow kernels will be showing up there. Yes. Put them in the microwave. You can do up to three ears of corn in the microwave, three to four minutes usually. Okay. Um, sometimes if they're a little bigger, you might have to go up to five, but usually three to four is the sweet spot. And when they come out, they're gonna be piping hot, so be careful. I usually will either use like an oven mitt or a towel, and you grab not the part that you cut, the top of it where all the um silks are sticking out. You're gonna grab that and you'll slowly be able to push that cob out and it's gonna pop right out. No silks, fully cooked, good to go. It's amazing. It's really satisfying, actually.

Doug 16:55

Well, I think I saw you do this on KDKA. So you are you're squeezing out through that bottom side that you cut, and it had no silk on it either.

Janet 17:04

That's the worst part, is getting those little pesky silk hairs off of there, and it just does the work for you. It's wonderful.

Doug 17:09

So it steams it, and it also, if you aren't going to grill your corn, it keeps more space available for all the meats that are going on the grill.

Janet 17:16

If you do want to grill it, that's fine. It doesn't throw it back on. Yeah, just throw it on the grill, get a little char on there. I loved grilled corn. Oh I make a grilled um corn and black bean salsa, and it's perfect because it's um steelers, pirates, penguins, you know, and you can always bring it.

Doug 17:29

It's our regional colors. I love that. But yeah, we can find that. You've had that on your Instagram website.

Janet 17:36

Yeah, on um Chef Life Hacks. If you go, I just recently gave you three recipes for my favorite salsas. I think I did my mango salsa and my pineapple salsa too.

Doug 17:44

And that stuff doesn't have mayo or whatever, and I think it can sit out at room temperature and gets even better.

Janet 17:49

And it's all vegan. Like you do not have to make any swaps to make those things vegan already. Not just vegetarian, vegan.

Doug 17:54

Yeah, and it's not because you tried, it just is naturally that way.

Janet 17:57

And it's delicious, everyone's gonna love it. Yeah. This is Janet Loughran of Chef Life Hacks, and you're listening to The Pittsburgh Dish.

Doug 18:05

I am thinking I want to go back to like portioning because you've mentioned a couple things uh about the sides. So, uh, what about the the burgers and dogs or things like that? Do you have just some general guidelines for the average human?

Janet 18:19

Yes. So it's not a concrete amount because I like to say there's gonna be some parties where you have a lot of kids, there's gonna be some parties where you have a lot of like high school or college athletes and the portioning for those bigger eaters, much, much different. So as a rule, I usually say if you have just you know regular eaters, I would say one hamburger or one hot dog per person. Um, not everybody's gonna have a hamburger and a hot dog, but if you know that uh we have a lot of kids, I actually like to do sliders. I feel like I'm on a slider kick recently. I love sliders. You know why? Because it allows you to, you know, have the bite, have the flavor, but you don't have to commit to a whole big burger or and it also saves you money because you don't need as much meat on those sliders to satisfy someone and they think they're getting, you know, a nice little meal.

Doug 19:05

Well, I think it's perfect for the kids, or it is also perfect for the eater that wants their torn between the hot dog or the hamburger. So having a slider makes me feel like I had a hamburger and can still eat a hot dog too.

Janet 19:16

Exactly, exactly.

Doug 19:17

The other hack that I've done, getting back to the corn, I've cut the corn cobs in half or even thirds sometimes. So you only have like the smaller nugget cob of corn. And then that goes further too, because again, people may not want to eat that whole big cob of corn in front of people or just in general. And so, again, kind of stretching the amount, stretching the dollar, and it's almost leaning into finger fooding, especially perfect if you are doing more of like a cocktail-y, not necessarily a sit-down meal kind of thing.

Janet 19:46

Oh, yeah. One thing a lot of people don't remember, you should probably have either some floss or toothpicks for your guests if you want to be the hostess for the most that is.

Doug 19:56

Uh is there anything else about portioning? Like drinks.

Janet 20:00

Oh, yeah, drinks. Okay, so if you have, you know, water or pop or um iced tea or something, I usually do two to three per person in those, um, in that realm. If you have alcoholic drinks, I do one to two per adult per hour. Okay. Um, it just it allows you to not get too much, but also not run out. Um, I mean, you'll know your guests. If you have a lot of guests that aren't drinkers, you know, obviously scale that back. But um, I think that's kind of a good rule of thumb.

Doug 20:28

Back to like the water and pop, are you talking about like bottles and cans, like one per hour?

Janet 20:35

Oh, for for the bottles and cans, um, I just do that for the whole party. Like yeah, good question. Good question. Um, but with the alcoholic drinks, you just kind of because they they pace themselves that way usually. We hope. We hope. Um maybe every half an hour. I don't know, depending on what you're your friends with.

Doug 20:50

I think that's great advice. You know, we just talked with Laura Magone of the wedding cookie table community, and she created a calculator similar to what you're giving us here for the wedding cookies, how many should you have per adult or whatever? And uh I think it's sort of the same with a picnic or a party. We we have to do some math. And if you haven't done a lot of parties, a lot of times we we overmake, we overbuy, so we've wasted money and we don't want to waste food. Exactly. Great advice. Thank you. All right, Janet. I think we have covered, you know, hosting or going to the picnic or grad party or something too.

Beach Picnic Foods That Hold Up

Doug 21:28

Let's move to uh sort of vacation thoughts. What if we're going on like a road trip to the beach or just a little visit to the beach? Uh if we are driving by car and then we're gonna spend the day there, what are some food items that might work? I'm thinking back to the salsas that you just mentioned. Yeah, those would be great all day. Uh is there any other, you know, dish or recipe that comes to mind for like the perfect beach picnic?

Janet 21:53

Sure. I what you want to kind of stay away from are mayonnaise based items because if those aren't in a cold environment. Um, they can go bad.

Doug 22:01

Yeah, it's tougher.

Janet 22:02

Uh so I make this thing called a muffaletta. Yes. Uh actually, I made it whenever you and Aleca and I did a whole three-part series. That's right. It's basically a pressed Italian sandwich. And the longer you let it sit, even days, it just gets better and better and better. It's so good. So basically, what it is is focaccia bread, or you could use ciabatta. You need something a little more sturdy, crusty. Crusty bread. Right. You need a crusty bread. On the bottom, I will put either uh basil pesto, or sometimes I've done like a sun-dried tomato pesto. That's really good.

Doug 22:32

And again, those are mayonnaise-free.

Janet 22:34

Sure, yes, exactly. And then what I usually do is a layer of cheese. Uh, you could do provolone, Swiss, any kind of cheese you really want. Uh, and then I like to get some of the good Italian uh meats, so prosciutto and so pressata and capcola and all that good stuff. Anything that you want, salami, you know, you could just keep it simple with salami. Yes. Um, and then I make an olive toponade, which you can also buy. But it's basically a medley of olives, usually some pimento, usually some uh garlic, a little bit of acidity, maybe from a lemon juice or vinegar, uh, and parsley. And that's kind of like a paste, basically. And then you, oh my God. It just I love olives. I don't know. A lot of people don't, but I'm an olive person. And then you're gonna slather that on the top layer, sandwich it, and then the key is you got to wrap it tightly. The whole loaf, okay, you haven't cut it up yet. The whole loaf is tightly wrapped in a plastic wrap, and then put something heavy on top. You really want to press it. You really want to press it. Yeah. So, say it could be, you know, uh a Dutch oven, a cast iron skillet, or if you don't have any of that, basically a cookie sheet with a bunch of heavy cans on top. Is, you know, and then let that go at least for an hour or two. I mean, if you can't wait, you can't wait.

Doug 23:44

Put it in the bottom of the picnic basket.

Janet 23:47

Yes. And then before you go, you're just gonna slice them into your sandwiches, maybe wrap them individually. Oh. And they'll stay together too. They kind of all those flavors meld, they all soak into the bread, and it's just heavenly. I gotta make it again.

Doug 23:59

Yeah, now that you're saying that, all those cured meats keep all of those like pestos and olive top and nods are fine for a warmer day. Yep. I have seen someone even make this with a tuna, like a nice flaky uh tuna in olive oil.

Janet 24:13

Interesting.

Doug 24:14

So if you wanted a different vibe there, too.

Janet 24:16

Oh, yeah. Like a oh, I should do like a pressed sandwich series or something.

Doug 24:20

I love that.

Janet 24:21

Um, that sounds good. Like a French dip. Oh my god, my wheels are going.

Doug 24:25

This is what happens when we get talking about food. So, Janet, beyond the muffletta and the salsas we talk about, uh, are there any other, you know, foods that you've taken to a beach and you know you like to say, oh, this is good for all day?

Janet 24:38

Yeah, it's easy. Um, watermelon is my go-to. I love watermelon. That was actually one of my pregnancy cravings.

Doug 24:44

So refreshing. I mean, it could go to all the things we talked about so far: grilling at home, going to a picnic or going to the beach.

Janet 24:51

This past weekend I was at my in-law's house for Father's Day and they asked me, how do you pick a good melon watermelon? And I blurted out and I said, a yellow belly and a small bum holio. And they're like, What? And I said, Well, you're gonna remember that, aren't you?

Doug 25:03

And uh certainly.

Janet 25:04

What I meant by that is a yellow belly means you're trying to find the biggest yellow spot on the watermelon because that means it was left on the vine to ripen on the ground for as long as possible.

Doug 25:14

Okay.

Janet 25:14

And that means for a sweeter, you know, result.

Doug 25:17

That's the pale side that was underneath. It didn't get all the chlorophyll out of it. Exactly, exactly.

Janet 25:21

And small bum hole, bum hole yo. Um, okay, so the part, there's gonna be two different ends of the watermelon. One has been removed, is a little bit bigger because it was removed from the vine.

Doug 25:31

From the vine.

Janet 25:31

The other side is gonna be a circle.

Doug 25:34

Um we're talking about the other side. This is the other side we're talking about, the the non-stem end.

Janet 25:39

Exactly. And the smaller that circle, believe it or not, the sweeter it is.

Doug 25:43

Interesting.

Janet 25:44

All those juices have concentrated over time, and uh, it hasn't failed me. I've as soon as someone told me that and I started looking for that darn thing.

Doug 25:52

Goodness, what a hack. I now know more about watermelon than I ever have before.

Janet 25:57

I can't believe I just said that on a podcast.

Doug 25:59

It's okay. I didn't have to bleep you out. We have this button, just in case. All right. So we've been talking about the food and the picnic. Let's just take the wheels off. You know, we don't have to talk about food. Are there any other tips that you have uh discovered? I know you have some younger kids, and when you go to the beach, what are some things that you have uh implemented to make a better day of it?

Janet 26:21

So I have a good one with sand. Um, you know how the kids you're trying to get them to get all that sand off and not get back in the water before they walk to the car and their feet are just caked in it. Yes. If you bring either uh baby powder or baking powder to the beach and just kind of put that on their skin, it dries it out completely and it sloths right off. Wow. It's crazy. I mean, it's like a magic trick. And uh yeah, and you know, the kids smell like baby powder and makes you think, you know, nostalgic whenever they're little and stuff. So yeah, that's the number one hack. Because I don't like sand. I would rather go to a pool than a beach. Isn't that weird?

Doug 26:54

No. Isn't that I get I don't want sand in the car? Yeah, right. So I like this hack.

Janet 26:58

Cool.

Doug 26:59

Any other travel hacks?

Janet 27:01

Um, one that just came to mind. If you want to hide your valuables on the beach, put them in a clean diaper, but wrap it up like it looks like a dirty diaper that you've just changed. Because if no one's gonna take that if they're brummishing through your stuff, you know?

Doug 27:15

That's genius. So take a clean diaper.

Janet 27:17

Yes.

Doug 27:18

Uh you're you're gonna all go in the water. You've got a phone or a wallet or something, put it inside the diaper. Yeah, wrap it up like it's wrap it up as if it's been used.

Janet 27:26

Exactly. Yep.

Doug 27:28

Genius.

Janet 27:29

Thanks.

Doug 27:31

Janet, I think we're so prepared for the summer. We've talked about all the things on a watermelon to a baby's diaper. I I don't know, but it's all good. Thank you so much. I really did love the portioning stuff we just went through because I'm thinking about that for myself. You haven't been on in a while, so I would love to just reintroduce you to some of the listeners that are out there. Can you tell us, do you have anything coming up uh in the near future? Any events, anything happening, any goals this summer?

Janet 27:59

Well, I have uh an event this weekend. Do you know Celina Pompeani? She's a KDKA alum. Yes. Um, and her dad, Bob Pompeani, I would recognize that voice anywhere.

Doug 28:09

Sports icon on CBS Pittsburgh.

Janet 28:11

King. King Pittsburgh's King. Um, she has hired me to cater some of her um appetizers for her event this Saturday. That's where the the chicken skewers are going. And yeah, it's gonna be really fun. Oh my gosh.

Doug 28:24

And are you doing a little bit more? Do you have more clients now?

Janet 28:28

I do. I have a meal delivery service. Yeah. Um, I'll send out a menu on Sunday, and then um follow the following Monday is when I'll deliver. And it everything is heat and eat. Um so it's fully cooked, fully prepared for you. And my clients love it because even I hate the question, what's for dinner? And I'm a chef. You know what I mean? Yes. You come home from a long day, everybody's just hungry, and it's nice because they have all the uh heating instructions for me for them. So yeah, that's been really fun. And what else? I have a baby shower this summer coming up. I'm just kind of seeing what comes my way. And oh, I have um there's gonna be uh a seafood boil company uh got in contact with me and they're sending me 120 quart seafood boil apparatus, even with the flame underneath. So my goodness. We should do, do you want to do a seafood boil? Me and you and a bunch of the foodie friends. Sure. Let's do it. I've got to figure out where to where to have it.

Doug 29:20

But that's a great summertime thing.

Janet 29:22

Oh, I love that.

Doug 29:23

I know I love boils.

Best Bite Of The Week

Doug 29:24

Janet, just in case people are not finding and following you right now, could you remind us of your social handles and the places that people can go to even contact you?

Janet 29:34

Sure. It's Chef Life Hacks. That's on Instagram and Facebook, as well as my website, which is called redwagonmeals.net. Redwagon Meals came before Chef Life Hacks. Yes. And I kind of wanted to keep it separate. It's just two different parts of my personality and of my world. Um, but yeah, I have a website now. Look at me.

Doug 29:56

I love it. Congratulations on everything. All right. You know the show format, so I am gonna ask you this final question. The name of the show is The Pittsburgh Dish. Janet, what's the best dish you've had to eat this past week?

Janet 30:12

This past week. I would have to say those lobster sliders. I don't know if we talked about that. We didn't talk about it, but I think I saw it on your feed.

Doug 30:19

Did you make them for your dad and your husband?

Janet 30:22

Yes. So it all coincided. Lobster boys reached out to me, they sent me an email, and I had to check if it was a scam because I was like, wait, they want to send me four live lobsters in the mail. Yeah. And I was like, of course. I mean, why how could I say no? Um, I set up the date for it to be delivered for Father's Day because I knew that I could, you know, do something special. My father-in-law loves lobster and it was really fun to make it for them. And it was a lot of lobster. Oh my gosh, yeah.

Doug 30:45

You showed how to like crack it out of the shell and the claw. I saw that was it's like neatly done if somebody wants to see that. But then you chopped it up and you made a really yummy like lobster salad on grilled toasted rolls, right? Yeah. Looked so good.

Janet 31:00

I just used toasted rolls and then it's really simple. Just a little bit of mayonnaise, a little bit of lemon juice. I did some actually the leaves of the celery, not the celery itself. I I'm weird about celery. I don't like that little crunch. And if I actually do have celery in it, I'll blanch it for like 30 seconds and then shock it before I put it into the um item. But yes, this the leaves taste like celery. Yes. Um, and uh without that that weird crunch for me. Because I don't even like water chestnuts. I'm weird about texture.

Doug 31:26

It's your texture.

Janet 31:27

Isn't that weird? No, no.

Doug 31:28

Um But you're a chef and you know yourself.

Janet 31:30

Right. And then chives. I had some chives in my garden and then just mixed it all up and you're good to go.

Doug 31:34

It looked so good. Well, Janet, it has been such a pleasure to catch up with you and to get all of these tips, hacks, techniques for the summer. Thank you so much for coming over and thanks again for being on The Pittsburgh Dish.

Janet 31:47

My pleasure. It's always fun time with you.

Doug 31:51

If you enjoyed the show, we would love for you to become a monthly monetary supporter. Just click the link at the bottom of this show's description or visit our website at Pittsburghdish.com and tap the support button. And if you want to follow my own food adventures, you can find me on social media at Doug Cooking. That's our show for this week. Thanks again to all of our guests and contributors, and to Kevin Solecki of Carnegie Accordion Company for providing the music to our show. We'll be back again next week with another fresh episode. Stay tuned.