"hardees" news and stories

This decade has been a Golden Age for the fast-food industry, even though the new century hasn't been kind: The Nacho Cheese/Beefy Goodness/Deep-Fry Vat Complex has been blamed for America's obesity.

The industry has been forced to display calorie counts on menus and switch to trans-fat oils. Books have been written revealing the unseemly side of the quick-eats business.

Yet the fast-food industry has thrived, heralding a Renaissance of budget-friendly cuisine engineered to be portable, comforting and tasty. It's nosh scientifically designed to please your brain's pleasure centers.

World's biggest burger. Photo: Bill Mealbach.

Gretchen Roberts writes the wine blog Vinobite, has passed the introductory course at the Court of Master Sommeliers and is studying for her sommelier certification this fall.

There are so many culinary wonders (and occasionally questionable indulgences) in the Slashfood archives, just waiting to be washed down with equally delicious wines. Here are six pairings from our September archive that will make you thirsty...or make you sick. You decide.

With fall officially in full swing, it's time to break out sweaters, hot cider and even our oven mitts after a summer avoiding the stove. Jennifer Iserloh's Ropa Vieja, a Cuban dish of shredded beef in a tomato sauce, would pair nicely with a light, fruity Italian Dolcetto or a sweet and spicy California Zinfandel.

For Southerners who haven't been blessed with a dose of crisp fall weather yet, Gena Knox's Shrimp and Mango Summer Rolls are a lovely way to wind down a warm day, preferably with an off-dry Riesling.

Photo: Hardee's.

Hardee's is having startling success with a humble Appalachian lunch meat long considered too provincial for nationwide tastes, and nobody's more surprised than the fast-food chain's top brass.

"We were concerned it would be too regional," Executive Vice-President of Marketing Brad Haley says of Hardee's new Oscar Mayer Fried Bologna Biscuit. "But sales have increased every week we've had it."

While bologna is a staple of lunch counters and school cafeterias across the South, Hardee's found inspiration for its menu item at a few roadside diners that sandwiched grilled bologna between biscuit halves for breakfast. For Hardee's, the preparation stood seductively close to the final meat frontier.

"We've done virtually every other meat you can think of on a biscuit," Haley concedes. "We've had country ham, chicken, pork chops, smoked sausage. We even had turkey."

A new Hardee's product needs a better name.

That's the premise of a risque ad campaign -- Name Our Holes -- for Hardee's Biscuit Holes, a dunkable cinnamon and sugar dough treat.

"Frosty Nuts," "Goody Balls" and "Happy Holes" are some of the tamer names floated in the commercials for the deep-fried biscuits.

It's old news that sexist stereotypes have long been used to sell everything from cigarettes to cars to chicken wings. But this new Hardee's (the fast-food chain also called Carl's Jr.) commercial, which I saw on prime time last night, is particularly sick-making.

Fort those of you who can't watch YouTube at work, I'll summarize: A bunch of 20-something dudes are sitting on a couch in a Generic Bachelor Pad (dart board on wall, football posters), watching NASCAR. Another guy, clad in flannel shirt and baseball cap, ambles up from the kitchen, looking pleased with himself and holding a tray of excellent-looking, golden biscuits. "Hey guys, who wants some fresh biscuits?" he asks.

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