Big Island Big Eats

When I was a kid, for some reason, the local Pizza Hut would always let my class or my Girl Scout troop do a tour of the kitchen, and then have us top our own personal pan pizzas with as many toppings as we wanted. It was, hands down, one of the best field trips each year. It's crazy to think that was even a thing, to let a bunch of eight- or nine-year-olds into a commercial kitchen and give them free range on the prep line. What it did do, certainly, was indoctrinate me into a pretty loyal fan of their pan pizza, particularly of the Meat Lover's variety. What a pan pizza from Pizza Hut has going for it is the crust. It was always super crunchy on the bottom and had a lovely amount of oil. So last week we ordered up a Meat Lover's to remissness and plot our next "Fast Food Slow" episode. The pizza arrived sooner than expected, and was pretty decently hot right out of the box. The crust, though not quite as crunchy as I remembered, was still pretty good, but it did

"Two all beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions on a sesame seed bun." We all remember the jingle, and the iconic Big Mac. But do we really need to give into the siren song of fast food only to have it dash against the rocks. I think not! That's why we are bringing you a new series where we work to recreate classic fast food dishes after reviewing the original. We hope to elevate, but no copycat. There are other blogs for that. Let's start with the beef. Really, who needs two patties in this day and age? It's just overindulgence. A serving of beef is about three ounces, but we used a nice six-ounce patty for our recipe (we split the burger anyway). We aren't too picky about the fat content of our hamburger, but we do fry it in bacon or ham fat. We also like to season our patty. Lots of burger places let the meat speak for itself, but a little extra salt, pepper, and other seasonings never killed anybody. I like the patty smooshed thin, b