Good Pretzel; Bad Pretzel

"The Deen Bros. Cookbook - Recipes from the Road" by Jamie and Bobby Deen Meredith Books $24.95 223 pages

Jamie and Bobby are the sons of Paula Deen, "The Bag Lady" who got her culinary start selling box lunches to office workers. She eventually made it to the Food Network and her boys followed her into television.

This book is kind of a bait and switch in that the boys drive across our country, sampling roadside food and praising it to the skies (usually with the sycophantic murmur "Almost as good as Mamma's") but then giving us their version of the dish described. Very few chef's/cafe owners would give them their recipes.

Super Bowl Sunday will be here soon and here are two recipes that amused me --

GOOD PRETZEL!
Package of six frozen pretzels, thawed, split in half and toasted
Slices of deli turkey and lettuce with this dressing:
1/3 cup mayonnaise
1/8 cup chopped cilantro
1/4 cup whole berries cranberry sauce

Bad Pretzel (shame!)
1/2 cup of milk
2 T sweet butter
8 oz. sharp cheddar cheese
4 oz. cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup sosur cream
1 teas. deli-style mustard
splash of hot sauce

Bring the milk and butter to a boil, reduce the heat and add the cheddar cheese and whisk until smooth. Add the cream cheese, sour cream, mustard and hot sauce and whisk again. Serve the dip warm with pretzel sticks (fat or thin) for dipping.