Behemoth

Aber wie!!! If this is a question (but how?) here is the answer: Peter, which of these versions do you prefer? I don't think I've ever had it with sago. I don't need a translation, but what exactly is Zwetschgen? Is it a type of plum, or a dialect word for plum?

Hey guess what. My butcher said he would slice the ribeye for me. It's about $9 per lb. though, so we will need to talk quantities once we get the total number of guests and before I put in an order. I must be a good customer, he volunteered when I told him what I was up to, no charge for labor. I may offer him a couple hoagie rolls as thanks So. tell me what you know about roast pork. I once did a whole shoulder, cubano style. It was amazing but it made a LOT of sandwiches. What would you do with a loin?

Are low carb people allowed to critique tastycake? I think not! Sorry guys, no access to slicer. No BJs, no TJs, no Costco. We're talking rural Midwest. Not like bucks country rural. Not even like york pennsylvania rural. I mean I can see the storms coming in from 5 hours away rural. Trust me, it will be fine. That's what I keep telling myself....

Katy, I think we need to invent a philadelphia cocktail. Wishniak cherry, rum and soda with rock salt (for pretzels) around the rim? Whoa, check it out. I just looked at my Mixer's Manual from 1956, and there is something called the Philadelphia Scotchman. no scotch though, this drink contains applejack, port and orange juice. Ooh, a betsey ross: brandy, port, bitters, curacao. what's with the port?

NICE!! That price is definitely doable. But if they ship on Tuesday, I wonder what shape they'll be in by Saturday...we could probably freeze them when they arrive and pop 'em in the oven on Saturday. The significance may be comepletely lost on these kids though, they were only there for a three days. OMG goldburg peanut chews. I am pretty sure they caused my last cavity.

I know ribeye is the right cut, but sawing through more than 6 pounds of frozen meat is probably not the best use of my time for this party. (Not to mention the cost!) I think if I pick heavily marbled bulgogi it will work quite well, it tends to be pretty tender and flavorful. Maybe I can do a test run, but I have made steaks before using non-ribeye and its been fine so long as the beef is thin enough. (I even have that great melt-cheese-flippy motion down from watching the food cart guys for so many years. ) I love the idea of tomato pies. I love tomato pies, period. But with having to bake all the italian rolls it might have to be a pass. Although...if I have extra dough from the italian rolls I might be able to swing something. Actually, I love pretty much every idea I've heard, but since I expect to be the only one cooking, I need to keep the menu very strictly edited. This party will already put me down in the local history books as either a hero or a complete madwoman. Nobody really cooks around here. Still, I think the menu is shaping up nicely, I doubt anyone will be going home hungry. Here are the definites: Fun bite as people come in: hard pretzel sticks with good mustard (sadly no snyders or Herr's...) sandwiches: roast pork, cheese steak with choice of wiz or provolone condiments: fried onions, hot peppers, ketchup veg: roasted red peppers, brocolli raab (hopefully they will have it that week, they were getting it then stopped for some reason. Midwest produce departments= UGH!!) If not, then escarole. If I can't find escarole, then you might see me skulking about the neighborhood stealing people's dandelions. dessert: butterscoth Krimpet cake with breyers ice cream. Sweetzls (I finally realized what you meant -- I didn't realize they were local, but I guess I haven't seen them here.) Would have been nice with water ice. Might still do the water ice as a snack for later on. Or as a palate cleanser I'll try to find some cherry soda... Any other Philly drinks you can think of? We can provide good espresso, at least that's something.

I might do that. It would go well with the cake, and save me some work. The number of guests keeps getting bigger Duh! I can't believe I forgot that. Okay, the painful thing? I have most of these things (including most of coltrane's catalogue...on vinyl. Among other things Philly has the best used record stores in the world (ask any DJ. Seriously.) But I need to get a new needle for my player...I wonder if the local Radio Shack carries them, that's where I got 'em last time, but it was in Philly. Does WPEN webcast their programming? That could be funny, though a little hard to explain. I associate theor Saturday evening show with summer stoop sitting. Philadelphia the movie might be kind of a downer, but Witness might work. I've never seen it. I have a deep and abiding love of Philadelphia Story, but it's not a Main Line party, dahling 6th Sense might work, since there is some philly scenery. Oh wait, 12 monkeys has all that great footage of the prison! I need to do some research. Definitely! I will try to remember to take some pictures.

If you look up Elie's (Foodman's) recipe for spinach pies in the Middle East forum or on eCGI...the echt Lebanese form of this dish is made with foraged spring greens, including very often dandelion. Mix it with escarole to cut the bitterness, and you can also add chard, sorrel would be nice, etc.

On a much more modest scale, tried the chocolate sorbet this week. texture was amazing, but having used scharfenburger 70%, it was a little too intense. Will definitely make again with a milder chocolate. I really need to do some of the more serious baking, but not without dinner guests who will help us eat it all... That concorde cake looks really good.

Creampuffs are easy when you are a talented Ludja. Cream puffs are hard when you are an idiot baker Behemoth. Lemon ice is still under strong consideration.

A $98 porkroll! They are good students but they are not that good Maybe I can get my folks to mail me a carton of soft pretzels. I lived on those things in college. $0.50, a slice of cheese, a microwave and some french's mustard = dinner. I am definitely making a Butterscotch Krimpet cake, it's easy, a sheet pan makes lots of servings, and I can do it a day in advance. If I am feeling generous they might even get some Wishniak Cherry action. Ah, it's hard to give them the full experience. The full experience is wandering out of Franks or Doobies or god help us Oscars Tavern after last call, heading to chinatown for some snails in black bean sauce at 3 AM, then deciding it would be an AWESOME idea to drive to atlantic city RIGHT NOW then either totally regretting it or changing your mind once everyone agrees and you locate someone with an actual working car, instead sitting at someones house drinking yuengling and watching Nosferatu for the 14th time. But we try, you know? I think you've talked me into the roast pork. I'm already making the greens after all. The students were in Philly for a conference last week, but one of them couldn't go because he was under 21. He just had his 21st birthday this week, and we thought it would be funny, plus a way to say goodbye to graduating seniors.

Alright. I am looking for a bunch of recipes to make for next Friday. We have some people coming over who are way into Weight Watchers or something, so let's make it healthy. But before I start. Read his comments re the dish on page 699. Elie, any idea what the other name for this dish is? I am dying to know.

You're not from Philly, are you edit: from the Kraft website My dinner will be Philadelphia quality, but will only involve real Philly foods.

I'm almost ashamed to ask, but what is a sweetzle wafer. Oh wait, the candy? I think there is one place I can get Frank's soda, but it is expensive. I definitely can't find tastycakes around here, but I was thinking of trying to make a Butterscotch Krimpet-style cake. If anyone has an idea how that works, let me know. (Maybe I should check the pastry & baking forum.)

So we're inviting 12-20 of my husband's students to a Philadelphia theme party a week from Saturday. Obviously cheese steaks are planned. I am making the italian rolls myself, as you just can't get those here. For the beef, I am thinking of buying bulgogi to get something thinly pre-sliced, save myself a little work. (Do you think that would work?) Fried onions are planned, natch, as well as provolone and Cheese Whiz. We can't get those proper hot peppers here, but I guess I can try slicing Chicago sport peppers...unless someone has a good recipe that can be ready in time. I'd like to have something green on the table, even though I doubt there are any vegetarians in the group. I thought roasted red peppers and sauteed brocolli rabe would be nice choices (to go with the south philly italian theme.) I could add salami and prosciutto (pro-joot, in local parlance) olive oil and oregano for people to make their own WAWA italian hoagies. But then I'd have to insist on being mildly abrasive while calling people "Hon". We can't get any local beers here, sadly, though we have a case of Flying Fish porter in the basement. What else could be a good beverage? We were thinking of getting a bottle of Beam and a case of PBR cans as a Bob and Barbara's salute. You can get that Nate Wiley CD online, you know What about dessert? I thought of shoo-fly pie, but that is PA Dutch more than specifically Philly. Water, er, wooder ice is the obvious choice, though I could use a recipe. If I get my little ice cream maker started a few days early I should be able to crank out enough. Cannolis would be awesome but I think that's way too much work. Philly-style ice cream is also a possible... Soft pretzels with mustard? Can't get scrapple around here. Was actualy thinking of roasting a pork sholder in tribute to Tony Luke's, but I will only do that if we have a LARGE crowd coming. Music: the Roots, Jill Scott, Bahamadia, Sun Ra, Dead Milkmen, Spinners & O'Jays yes, Hall and Oats & Tommy Conwell, um, no. Springsteen and Patti Smith maybe (Hey, South Jersey is almost Philly. But then I'd have to include Bon Jovi.) I think the album Bowie recorded at Sigma sound is also fair game... On the TV in the background with the sound off: Rocky, Trading Places, other ideas?

Depends on what you're presuming Love the Kansas doorman story.

Yummo?

I think the grocer has started focusing more on American products because of the exchange rate, but to my taste the Salumi stuff is better than what he was importing from Italy. Less travel time, maybe. Anyway, I felt like a total geek for knowing what it was, but I remembered it from your blog

Do you have an empty wine bottle lying around?

Thanks for doing a Q&A Mr. Newman! I am a longtime Philadelphia resident who recently (for career reasons) moved to Urbana, IL. I really appreciated the new Sunday hours (alas right as I was leaving!) and the pricing advantage you can get as a large buyer. But my experience with wine stores in my new state has highlighted one serious disadvantage you guys have. My favorite area wine store around here is small and owned by one person. I think they have two branches, the other one in Springfield. They have youngish, adorably wine geeky buyers who specialize in certain regions -- travel to those regions and pick up small stuff they think is interesting. If you go to the store, you just tell them what you like and how much you would like to spend, and chances are they will be able to give you a precise description of several difference bottles, and eventually help you find the perfect match. They often take you in directions you would never have thought of. I have rarely seen any of their bottles at a local supermarket, and some have become all-time favorites that I will definitely miss when I eventually move away from here. Granted there are good mass market wines out there -- and I buy those too -- but a big part of the charm of wine is finding something new and relatively undiscovered, and I think you miss that when every store in the state is carrying the same thing. In Philly I always felt like I got stuck buying the same 5 or 6 things all the time, never any great surprises, and the staff just wasn't that dedicated or deeply familiar with the product. Again, I really appreciate all you've done for us Philadelphia wine lovers, (I will always consider myself a Philly person) but I don't think we will be a world class wine-drinking city until wine merchants are made completely independent of the state. Would love to hear your thoughts on this.

Hi Nora. Since Elie hasn't responded yet maybe I can help a little: Low fat laban works fine, I've used it many times. You can buy cheesecloth in some better supermarkets (ask the staff) and definitely at any Bed Bath and Beyond. It is a very thin muslin-like fabric -- using a couple of layers it will allow you to drain most of the water out of your yogurt while keeping the solids in. You can also find cheesecloth by the yard at some fabric shops. It should be relatively cheap as you can't reuse it too many times. (If I buy the packaged ones I just cut as large a piece as I need, makes it go farther.) I find you really have to play it by ear a little. It depends on whether you are using canned or dried hummus to start with. I find that cans are easiest. With the dried stuff I really have to make sure I cook it for a long time. You may also add extra water, olive oil or lemon to the blender to smooth it out. I like to taste as I go along. You can use either tiles or a big pizza stone. It makes for crustier breads, and it also evens out the temperature in the oven. Also, when you open the oven door, it keeps you from losing too much heat. Every serious baker on eGullet probably has one of these at this point -- it is like a cult here Hope that takes care of at least a couple! Edit: I should add, these are unglazed quarry tiles that you can get at home depot.

Those were the ones I was talking about! Lucky you!

Wow, Moby, that looks amazing. The weekend started out really cold and unpleasant. Braised for 4 hours Italian-style pot roast: Warm red onion, radiccio and goat cheese salad: We drank Ravenswood Zinfandel 2002: cheap but very nice! Saturday still cold. We had leftover pot roast along with haricots vert quickly blanched then tossed with red wine vinegar, olive oil, salt and cracked black pepper. Finished the wine. Today we had a late lunch/early dinner. Fresh ciabatta: Leek & parmesan frittata and Salumi lomo which my favorite grocery imports from Seattle. It would have been a great meal for a Riesling, but we both have some work to catch up on.

As far as unlikely straight-run places that have become gay friendly, there is the crazy scene after hours at that diner near (I think?) 11th and Chestnut. It gets LOUD in there after 2 am! I've been living in a conservative midwestern town for nearly two years now. There are gay people, but they definitely operate well below the radar. I really miss the culture. And having good places to go dancing

sorry to quote such an old message, but just thought it was worth mentioning that they actually have a word for it: "Spargelessen". Some German friends were asking if we had this custom in the States. Had to answer that the stuff is pretty much the same price and quality the whole year round in many parts of the country. (Which is to say, neither too expensive nor too overwhelming in terms of quality at any time.) I love those fat white spears, but I rarely get them here. We also used to get verry skinny wild ones in Lebanon when I was growing up. Those were so delicate you could just toss them in a frying pan for a minute and then scramble (bright yellow home raised!) eggs over them. Man... These days I like the wrap blanched spears in ham with a slice of Fontina and bake method, and roasting is of course great. Then I like to serve homemade mayo or alioli on the side for dipping.