Anyone had a crappy meal at a cheap joint lately?

[ice grillin you]

crappy meal + joint =

Prison Loaf

Maryland Lockup Uses Horrid Bread Dish as Disciplinary Tool

How do you handle a hungry con? If he ain't misbehavin', regular old, godawful prison food will do. But if he's been bad, and if he happens to be a resident of Baltimore's Maryland Correctional Adjustment Center, he might be stuck eating what the prison calls a "special management meal," and what the inmates call.... Well, this is a family public radio network.

Let's just say the inmates don't like "prison loaf." And that's the whole idea. It's all part of a wider effort to "discourage negative inmate behavior," Warden Thomas Corcoran tells Scott Simon on Weekend Edition Saturday.

Sort of a carrot-and stick approach to corrections, then. Except that the carrots in this case are finely grated and mixed with wheat bread, fake cheese, spinach, beans, raisins and other ingredients to create what Simon concludes "smells a little bit like the food they serve in the elephant cage at the National Zoo."

But how does it taste? "Blander than bland," declares Simon, who bravely samples the product on the air.

Inmates sentenced to loaf-consumption are served the horrible stuff three times a day for about a week (each loaf weighs a pound). If they keep their noses clean, they can then go back to the relative culinary delights of regular prison fare. If not, it's back to the loaf, which Corcoran says adheres to all nutritional guidelines, and even meets the needs of most special diets.

Does it work? Corcoran says that in the two years since the prison's behavior-modification program -- including the loaf -- was instituted, the incidence of inmate assaults on prison staff has been cut in half. "The proof is in the loaf," he says.

If you want to judge for yourself, here's the recipe:


Special Management Meal
Yield - Three Loaves

• 6 slices whole wheat bread, finely chopped
• 4 ounces imitation cheddar cheese, finely grated
• 4 ounces raw carrots, finely grated
• 12 ounces spinach, canned, drained
• 2 cups dried Great Northern Beans, soaked,
cooked and drained
• 4 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 6 ounces potato flakes, dehydrated
• 6 ounces tomato paste
• 8 ounces powdered skim milk
• 4 ounces raisins

Mix all ingredients in a 12-quart mixing bowl. Make sure all wet items are drained. Mix until stiff, just moist enough to spread. Form three loaves in glazed bread pans. Place loaf pans in the oven on a sheet pan filled with water, to keep the bottom of the loaves from burning. Bake at 325 degrees in a convection oven for approximately 45 minutes. The loaf will start to pull away from the sides of the bread pan when done.

[PhillyPhreak54]

shtein...at least they try to make the ingredients flow together.

TDCJ, when we would put an inmate on "food loaf" was whatever was on the menu, put into a blender, water added and then baked into a loaf.

The breakfast ones were the only ones that looked/sounded edible. You can mix breakfast foods.

But when they'd have some shtein for lunch, like spaghetti, broccoli, garlic bread and chocolate cake? Barf.

[ice grillin you]

can someone tell me the difference btwn lo mein and chow mein

[PoopyfaceMcGee]

Lo Mein is more of a standard "spaghetti" or "angel hair" type of oriental noodle.  Chow Mein is that crazy screwy looking thing.

Or there's always Wikipedia:

Lo mein is a Chinese dish with noodles. It often contains vegetables and some type of meat or seafood, usually beef, chicken, pork, shrimp or wontons. Traditionally this is a variation of wonton noodle soup. The soup is simply separated from the noodles and other ingredients and served on the side. However, the version sold in many places in North America is rather a hybrid of chow mein, though they are prepared differently. Chow mein is stir-fried while lo mein is not fried.

[BigEd76]

a gift for igs

[reese125]

thats farged up

[ice grillin you]

seriously....who would eat grilled over fried chicken

[MDS]

white people

[BigEd76]

and you can't treat mom on Sunday

[SunMo]

went to a chain restaurant over the weekend call Cheeburger Cheeburger.  it was pretty good.  big burgers with tons of free toppings and bangin milkshakes. 

[ice grillin you]

its half five guys half fuddruckers and not as good as either

not that either 5g or fudd are great

[Sgt PSN]

there's a local chain out here called crazy otto's.  kind of an old diner type place.  i had a $3 off coupon so i decided to give it a try.  bacon cheeseburger, fries, salad and drink.  when i paid i pulled out my coupon and she rang me up at $15.  i showed her the coupon and she said she already applied it which means that my total was actually $18.  

18 farging bucks.  food was good but not $18 good.  or even $15 good for that matter.  

[PhillyPhreak54]

went to a chain restaurant over the weekend call Cheeburger Cheeburger.  it was pretty good.  big burgers with tons of free toppings and bangin milkshakes. 

I ate at the one in the Malvern area when I lived there...pretty good.

[SD_Eagle5]

ate at on the border yesterday (g/f's treat). Aside from hbionic I doubt anyone on here has eaten as much good mexican food as me. I wanted to rip the place but it wasn't bad. Guacamole is made fresh daily. I had the mahi mahi fish tacos thinking they'd be horrible since I used to eat some really good ones when I lived in SD. They weren't the best but they were good. Overall I'd probably go back.

[ice grillin you]

you talk about on the border like its new...did they just make it up there in philly?...or had you just never been before....theyve had them down here forever

to me they are like the fridays or bennigans of mexican food....in other words awful