marinade

" Dat's tuff Natlie. " (with apologies to Vic & ____). Use to be when Cafe Nola was next to TLA on South Street you could do some respectful carrying-on Ninth Ward style. Wish I could send you and your krew to place that does it right. Closest my wife and I get is a annual costumed Mardi Gras party held the Saturday before 'Gras with some good friends who are former Tulane grads. They lace the buffet with all things N'Awlins with music to boot. Our costumes this year: We got a hold of surgical scrubs and army fatigues. We’re swapping out the tops of one for the bottoms of another. My wife is wearing the surgical top with an O.R. facemask, and camo slax, and boots. and I’m doing camo face paint, camo tunic, and camo cap, surgical scrubs slax. . We’re going as Upper and Lower GI’s. I even made orifice probes from plastic tubing and mini-flashlights. It’s dat kind of krowd. Bon Temp Roullez - anyway, Y’all.

Check out Chad's Chad's Knife Maintenance and Sharpening on the eGullet Culinary Institute. Some nice work and options there. Here's a quote from the course regarding Chef's Choice sharpeners.

Fantes in the Italian Market. Best bet is to call ahead and try to get in early on a Saturday morning and they may do them while you wait ....or shop. I get mine done about once a year and maintain them with a Chef's Choice.

Can't say that I have tried Angie Brown's. The women who took it over runs the Jamaican Restaurant around the corner from McMen's and NXNW. It's not open for lunch and I heard that the bar area has changed with the emphasis as a more formal dining room. The transition from Goat to Creole hasn't sat too well with some of the regulars. McMen's has been picking up on some of them. Is bluegrass a regular thing at the Smoke Joint?

Some of my favorite outlets for suds and sustenance: Penn Valley Pub - Penn Valley The Tavern -Bala Cynwyd Mc Nalley's -Chestnut Hill Mc Menamen's (sic) Mt Airy The late lamented Goat Hollow (Now a Creole restaurant) Monks The Standard Tap My cronies and I are out on Saturday's hitting these joints for lunch while we're telling our wives we're doing manly errands at Home Depot. Anyhow! Headed to the Smoked Joint tonight for some BBQ and live bluegrass. We'll see where I end up sitting?... ← BTW, how was the band?

That sounds real appealing. If you have an ice cream machine I'd take it a step further with a melon ball dollop of a savory heat seeking sorbet. Any simple syrup can be infused. I’ve done infused ices with jalapeño, cut with tequila and lime. I also mess with an avocado ice to top off cevice. The ices should not overpower the oysters, but you can have some real fun with this. (edited for addendum)

I'll try to get some links to cabinet styles up in the next couple of days. Does anyone know if there's a good floorplan software for Macintosh? Thanks Azlee ← I was never crazy about over-the-counter floor plan software for PC and I can't speak for MAC. I'm in the process of a galley kitchen makeover to begin in the summer. I made a floor plan in Excel but any spreadsheet software can work. I formatted similar height and the width of the cells. Scaled the cells to 6" to ¼ “ cell ratio and ran the perimeter of my kitchen with window and door breaks to scale. Next I went to into Paint and sketched some cabinet and appliance boxes. Brought them into the spreadsheet and I had a working floor plan. Simple, easy and cheap!

Aw shucks, another great oyster match. Additional congrats Katie!!! Samson Street, both the street and the restaurant,packs legacy as far back as the Restaurant Renaissance. You're going to add to it. I'm just pandering to my own shellfish interests here, but an oyster sampling with a matching flight of wines could be awesome! I'd flash some plastic for a dozen oysters and 4 or more small pours. Especially Sancerres. My cronies and I need another Saturday lunch crawl. Nice press today in the Inky, BTW. (edited for addendum)

It was my eighty-something aunt. She was trying to con you into picking up our brunch tab....

Echo that! We took my aunt yesterday and there is nothing I can add to the above. I had just about one of everything with the exception of a couple of Jamison Lamb chops. The meal will last you into the evening. The menu is really more like a combination of dinner and breakfast. We were trying to rename it as "brinner" or "deckfast". Man those oysters were fresh! We're thinking chef's table next.

And a very good sandwich it is. Probably one of the most underrated in town. The artichokes cost extra, but that has never stopped me from ordering them. And get the house dressing rather than O&V or mayo. Although their bread doesn't have quite the crust crunch I like, it works well with their sandwiches. ← The tenor in the choir has heard your preaching!!! I think we have a fair amount of work here. I work in Bensalem, with the exception of a nice Turkish restaurant, a ruff Mexican joint, and veggie Indian restaurants --- there's not much to sustain intelligent digestible life. If I walk out the door and ignore the chains I can find a generic hoagie and/or cheesteak on any menu that replicates rank and file. They're almost everywhere. Sometimes it's nice to find one of these things that works on it's own as a sandwich instead of a line item. I can deal with the salt for the sake of the difference. I just don't want t look at another Tuna Hoagie unless it's Ventresca. (From another thread ...)

Hol', Ive eaten more than one sandwich with a "dressing trowel" . I use to think form-follows-function so it would keep the meat and cheese from sliding out of the roll. We're talking slick surfaces here. I'm just wondering if this goes against the popular or mainstream definition of what a hoagie can have or to have not. Sandwich shops make what sells. Take a round Amoroso roll, now tripple the size of it and stuff it with muffaletta ingredients. Would it work locally? How wide of an ingredient range or different shape would be acceptable? A question for discussion. Does the idea of having a hoagie and a cheesesteak hamper other types of sandwich growth. Granted the "Schmitter" broke down part of that barrier....

The saltiness didn’t blow be back against the wall. Although I’ve spent the past year messing with brines and cures so I have to take some of that palate anesthetization into account. Lot a times I’ve found prosciutto meat closer to the ends to be saltier, they’re also using two kinds of cured meat (salami’s), and while it doesn’t have a lot of salt - dry provolone. Combine with the condiments and you could have an accumulative salt effect. I’ve made muffs in the past and usually do about a gallon of olive salad that I use throughout the year on more muffs, pizza, pasta and Wheaties (great way to start the day). The stuff is inherently salty. But there are some liquid antidotes available. One of the other places that I know that adds a salad to there sandwich mix is Salumaria in Reading Terminal with marinated chopped artichokes. I imagine there are some other variations out there. While there are great regional differences in the shape, taste, and texture of the rolls, the “antipasto” type or style of sandwich seems to me to form part of the baseline in muffaletas, hoagies, heroes, subs etc… I have some good friends in N’Awlins. I’m wondering if they ever came across a “muffaletta po’boy” with muff innards on a po’ boy roll and “dressed”.

South Philly is a lot like that. There's dozens of nondescript corner hoagie joints peppering the geography. They have the mandatory autographrd B&W pics on the wall, racks of chips, and refrigerated coffins of coca-cola and such. Check Holly's web site. I just finished the second half of that puppy for breakfast this morning. Aside from a bit of sandwich sog, it beat's the hell out of Wheaties. Thanks for the spell check, Andrew. Consider that one of my zins of ommission.

Like Sam mentioned, it's the grated stuff. Go for the hunk and shave it yourself. I'm going to play with it next weekend. My first pass on this was at Vetri's. Really intense flavor when it's freshly shaved.

Good Service. Placed an order on Wed. They confirmed it on Thursday, got it on my doorstep today.

Me figures it’s a perfect sandwich equation. I’ve had running arguments about the symbiotic relationship between the two sandwiches and the two cities. Especially after many glasses of Zin and I start to “spur my sleech”. Philly and N’Awlins. Look at the stats. Both cities have men dressing up in feathers and parading twice a year, and they both cities have signature sandwiches. I was out on an early morning shop at the Italian Market with a crony and I asked him what should I snag for lunch? He pointed me towards Ricci Bros. on 11th & Aninan (near Ellsworth). “Ask for the Antipasto Hoagie.” On a long roll came prosciutto, salami, crumbled hard provolone, dressed with shredded lettuce, tomato, roasted pepper, hot pepper flakes, and … and… and… OLIVE SALAD!! The green Central Grocery type. Pure Sandwich Fusion.

Thanks for the heads up. Just flipped them an order for bottarga di muggine, can of ventresca, and a jar of Sicilian capers (in salt). I'll think of way to use them in pasta as soon as I taste them. Film @ 11. (ed. for spelling)

Nice web site. Sam, have you ever tried their canned tuna?

I’ve seen it in mail order at Dean & De Luca and various other high-end sites. The closest local source I’ve found is Assouline at $72 per pound. Di Bruno's doesen't have it listed on line, but I'm sure they can order it. If it turns out that you can only get it in bulk and the pricing is steep, PM me off line and I'll be happy to go in with you on this. But you've got my gears grinding. I'd like to explore making it. Scratch that idea about making it. Sometimes I get too cocky with my dehydrator and want to dry anything in sight. (edited by marinade when he came to his senses)

Food Source in Bryn Mawr usually has a set of sauces and rubs on the shelf. Call first, could be seasonal thing, though not for me. I have a line on 8 venison tonight that will be great for my smoker. Only problem is figuring a way to get them off my roof. Rumor has it they're a part of a once-a-year-delivery service run by a fat guy in a red suit. Happy Holidays and enjoy the sachre tortes.

For Lebanese I'd point you to Cedars in Bella Vista. Go with a group, tell them you're coming and want to go Meze with blast of different kibbies.

Sicilian cuisine combines elements of Greek, Spanish and North Africa as well as the “boot”. Now that description is pretty simplistic. Think seafood, game, and grains tossed around anchovies, citrus, olives, capers, mint, saffron, chilies, garlic, dried fruits, chocolate, wine and honey. I had stumbled on a recipe a while back that called for boar with a savory chocolate-sour cherry sauce, which I think I tried it with wild turkey (not the whiskey). There are cuisines from the Italian islands like Sicily, Sardinia, Capri and Ischia, and the Aolians that I’d love to taste in the area.

Sicilian!

Nothing creepy about it. I started storing that way (old medicine bottles)before I gentrified the cabinet. If you wanna raise an eyebrow or two at your next dinner party - store them in your medicine cabinet. Theirs always someone who's nosey. I'd even go as far as store a pair of chicken feet tied in a ribbon along with them. Wait for the guest who returns looking sort of pale and whisper "They're for medicinal purposes".