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pepperman
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Hey Guy's,
Here's a article that was posted in our local news paper, they did say humor was the best medicine.
A patently perfect pepper preparer
By J. Randolph Murray
So how does a 51-year-old Bonaire general construction contractor wind up engineering a cast iron griddle designed specifically for jalapeno peppers?
And get to show off his invention on television?
For Kenny Orr, the path to pepper prominence led from Georgia to Texas and even Alaska before it all came together in Houston County.
"I've always loved to cook," says the Air Force veteran who worked in civil engineering at Robins. "My children for years have urged me to open a restaurant."
But the amateur chef has pretty much kept to his own kitchen until recently.
Some of his favorite dishes involve roasting and stuffing jalapeno–o peppers with all sorts of goodies, from cheeses to seafood and just about everything in between.
"Jalapeno– are greatly misunderstood. A lot of people just know the hot pickled variety tossed onto tacos," Orr says with undisguised passion. "A fresh jalapeno, cooked just right, is sweet and delicious."
One of the challenges, though, as he experimented with the jalapeno, was finding a way to cook them properly.
"When I would cook peppers on the grill, they would tend to roll over, the stuffing would fall out, they would get burned easily," he said. "I needed something to hold the pepper upright and let the heat blister the skin just right, leaving the inside tender."
When he couldn't find anything on the market to meet his needs, Orr the engineer decided to devise his own.
Thus was born the Sizzling Pepper Griddle, his patented answer to unruly peppers popping on the grill.
It's basically a shallow cast iron griddle, with indentations specifically crafted to cradle medium to large jalapenos.
The inventor and entrepreneur grew up just south of Atlanta, in Forest Park and Stockbridge, and entered the Air Force, coming to Robins in 1973 straight from Lackland in Texas.
His Air Force career also took him to the extremely remote Alaskan outpost of Shemya, where Orr met a cook who fed his developing interest in culinary arts. And believe me, there's not much else to do at Shemya in your spare time.
When Orr separated from the service in 1985, he and his family settled in Houston County where he has been pursuing his construction career, but keeping his mitts in the kitchen.
He'll be demonstrating his Sizzling Pepper Griddle on two scheduled segments on WMAZ-TV's Sunday morning show with Suzanne Lawler.
And you can learn more about his invention and where to purchase it on his Web site, Sizzling Pepper Griddle.
J. Randolph Murray is the editor of the Houston Peach.
Here's a article that was posted in our local news paper, they did say humor was the best medicine.
A patently perfect pepper preparer
By J. Randolph Murray
So how does a 51-year-old Bonaire general construction contractor wind up engineering a cast iron griddle designed specifically for jalapeno peppers?
And get to show off his invention on television?
For Kenny Orr, the path to pepper prominence led from Georgia to Texas and even Alaska before it all came together in Houston County.
"I've always loved to cook," says the Air Force veteran who worked in civil engineering at Robins. "My children for years have urged me to open a restaurant."
But the amateur chef has pretty much kept to his own kitchen until recently.
Some of his favorite dishes involve roasting and stuffing jalapeno–o peppers with all sorts of goodies, from cheeses to seafood and just about everything in between.
"Jalapeno– are greatly misunderstood. A lot of people just know the hot pickled variety tossed onto tacos," Orr says with undisguised passion. "A fresh jalapeno, cooked just right, is sweet and delicious."
One of the challenges, though, as he experimented with the jalapeno, was finding a way to cook them properly.
"When I would cook peppers on the grill, they would tend to roll over, the stuffing would fall out, they would get burned easily," he said. "I needed something to hold the pepper upright and let the heat blister the skin just right, leaving the inside tender."
When he couldn't find anything on the market to meet his needs, Orr the engineer decided to devise his own.
Thus was born the Sizzling Pepper Griddle, his patented answer to unruly peppers popping on the grill.
It's basically a shallow cast iron griddle, with indentations specifically crafted to cradle medium to large jalapenos.
The inventor and entrepreneur grew up just south of Atlanta, in Forest Park and Stockbridge, and entered the Air Force, coming to Robins in 1973 straight from Lackland in Texas.
His Air Force career also took him to the extremely remote Alaskan outpost of Shemya, where Orr met a cook who fed his developing interest in culinary arts. And believe me, there's not much else to do at Shemya in your spare time.
When Orr separated from the service in 1985, he and his family settled in Houston County where he has been pursuing his construction career, but keeping his mitts in the kitchen.
He'll be demonstrating his Sizzling Pepper Griddle on two scheduled segments on WMAZ-TV's Sunday morning show with Suzanne Lawler.
And you can learn more about his invention and where to purchase it on his Web site, Sizzling Pepper Griddle.
J. Randolph Murray is the editor of the Houston Peach.
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