Dorine

Thank you, rlibkind, for the details on the beets and pickles. Now to try them! :-) it even sounds like the beets would do well on the charcoal grill. The truffles at Braverman's were exceptional. Extraordinary. They were even praised in _Gourmet_ a long time ago...maybe in the late 1970s? Perhaps the rest of his chocolates are not to be missed given the other chocolates available, but the truffles...I have even taken them to Europe as gifts and they have received a hugely positive respose. The only complaint I ever had with Braverman's is ancient history--do you remember when they stopped baking bread? Name calling was going too far, and I am sorry I indulged. I won't again.

You consider bream to be trash fish? Sea bream? I first encountred sea bream when I lived in Spain, where it is a very popular fish prepared in the best homes and offered in very good restaurants. You pay a pretty penny for it compared to the less expensive fishes such as the ever-popular and budget-minded hake. ← I'm referring to a fresh water fish, sometimes also called crappie or perch locally. Little bitty fish, mostly inedible bone. Maybe the size of your hand at the largest, and about 2 bites of meat per fish. And so everyone knows what I'm talking about, trash fish is the term Cajuns used to call those species that would not sell at market, so the fishermen took them home to feed the family. I forgot garfish as part of that list too. The garfish has to be broken up so much because it is so bony, it's easier to scrape all the meat from the bone you can before cooking, mix it with potato and flour, and make a kind of meatball. Tasty if done right, but a royal pain in the ass to prepare. Most people wouldn't think it was worth the effort, since flash frozen fillets of whatever you want are only a couple of dollars at the megamart. Spending 30 minutes preparing a fish for one serving is a lot of work for a fish that needs so much help. But it's a cultural touchstone. ← Not the same as sea bream, I guess! They are lovely!

Yeah Baby! I like the way you think! Welcome to the PA forum. Keep those great suggestions coming! ← Thanks. I love finding this group! I live in Center City and have been shopping the RTM since the late 1960s. I often describe it in my international culinary ezine and readers write back thqt they wish they had such a good market!

I've always boiled beets and would like to try roasting. What temp and how long? Do you peel them first? If after, do you shock them in ice water to peel as you do with boiled beets?

For us geographically challenged, how long does one boil peanuts (and is there anything else involved in the process?) Thanks! ← wash them real good and put them in a pot of water with a buncha salt. bring to a boil. cook till they are soft, like a cooked bean--you have to keep taking them out and tasting; it'll take anywhere from an hour to three or so, depending on how green and soft the peanuts are to start. these were real raw, so they cooked in just over an hour. if they're cooked but not salty enough, turn off the heat and let them cool in the brine and they'll absorb more. that's pretty much all there is to it. eat with rc cola or sweet tea. ← So you boil them in the shell and remove the shells as you eat them?

I really miss Margerum's!

Common table salt! Baking powder and baking soda.

They also sell *real* buttermilk from Maplehof dairy! The best! Pequea Valley really is the best yogurt, too. :-) Sometimes they have raw milk.

OK Lee is my preferred vendor. I go there first. That is where I get beautiful Korean kimchi made by the owner's mother. They always have tomatillos, but I've never seen them at Iovine's. You can always count on OK Lee for nice kirbies, but not Iovine. Yes, I do go to Iovine's after my OK Lee stop for things Iovine's has such as the exotic mushrooms. a larger choice of fresh herbs, etc. Buy I still really like OK Lee. Perhaps it's also because of the personal relationship; we call one another by name and they remember my late husband with affection. And they do what they can for you. A couple of years ago, in autumn, they had fresh, raw olives i small packages. I wanted an entire case so as to cure them as I learned h in Malaga, Spain in the early 1970s. They got me the case within 2 weeks. Joy!

The first time I had fresh sardines, I was a university student gone to Madrid to study and the next summer visited the Marseille home of a classmate. We took a boat out to an island near Chateau d'If for a day of swimming, first stopping by a fishing boat to buy a bagful of freshly caught sardines. When noon came, we gathered sticks and bult a fire. We rubbed the sardines' scales off in the water then speared them on sticks, otherwise uncleaned, and held them over the fire to roast. Bliss!! In subsequent years, I have bought them on the beach along Costa del Sol from vendors who roast them over their fires much the same way. More bliss! I returned to Philly to marry my sweetheart and missed fresh sardines for three decades. I even asked vendors, including the owner of Golden, and was told they were unavailable--that he liked them too and didn't understand why. It has een pure joy to find them at the RTM in recent months!!! I get them whole and just clean off the scales under running water at home. Then I broil them. You can pick your own flesh off them at the table. Not quite as good as fire-roasted right next to the Mediterranean, but still very tasty. I have a picture of some of thse lovely fresh sardines from Golden's but am unable to figure out how to insert it in this msg. Keep getting error msgs. If you want to see it, it is in my ImageGullet folder called Fish by Dorine and the sardines are at: http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?act=mo...md=si&img=60609 You can find bronzino ner it.

This is another vendor I simply donot understand their not renewing! For yers it has been a regular stop for me.

have you tried these? i considered buying one last week but when i picked it up it had a super floral almost papaya-ish smell to it, and sometimes papaya smells like cat pee to me, so i put it back down. what do you do with those spearling? i saw them last week and was intrigued--any idea? just flour and fry, like smelt but snackier? do they need cleaning or do you just eat them as is? ← I love Galia melons! Try them the way they are eaten in Portugal. Halve, remove seeds and fill the cavity with port wine.

Thanks for the pictures. I *really* miss Braverman's and do not understand why they were not renewed. Several pases by the replacement have failed to interest me in buying anything. I do not understand why the snot-nosed young MBA who now runs the place saw fit to deprive us of Braverman's--who was there before he was born! I hadn't bought sushi at Tokyo's for years after a bad experience with some that wasn't very fresh. However, they sold canned *not sweetened* green tea, which I adore--loathe the sweetened form, so I miss buying that from them. And they were nice people.

All the fish vendors will pack your purchase in ice for the homeward trip upon reuest, and at no extra charge. Golden's is quite wownderul and thorough about it.

oh! that explains why their slices cost the same... Hmmmmm . . . sounds like a definite Pizza Club outing. Perhaps coupled with a quick trip to or from Fairmount for Rembrandts and Illuminare, perhaps. ← Ooooh! There's a pizza club??? How do I join??!!

Absolutely. And at Och's, what they don't have they are bery good about getting--and telling you exactly when you can expect it. I like to use real suet for certain recipes, especially traditional British ones. Very hard to find! But Och's will always save i for you--and priced very cheaply--if you ask. You buy the whle ppiece from him and then it keeps very well in the fridge.

I am devastated that Braverman's was one of the targeted stands. I spoke up about it last November. I have since checked out the replacement vendor and think the action was a net loss. The replacement has failed to even interest me in trying anythig. His offerings are a total yawn.

You and me both! This wimpy white corn just doesn't have the flavor I remember!

Can you explain in more detail please? I'd like to try this.

I blanch for 10 seconds and place in cold water. Then I sautee with garlic and oil. Before all that, I also defrizz them in cold water to get rid of the brown little leaves. You can probably find more recipes on google Evan ← Steam and serve with a bit of lemon butter or hollandaise sauce--not too much or you will overwhelm the delicacy of the fiddleheads.

If you can get to a Chinatown, you will like nearly everything that's black tea. You may find Lung Ching and Pu Erh to be nice choices. If anybody can tell me how to upload a picture here, I'll upload one of some nice Chinesse tea tins from China that I can buy here in Philadelphia (eastern USA).

i can't believe someone beat me to the punch! that was the first thing that came to mind when i read the title of the thread. Salo is not smoked but it is cured in some way and is basically just the fatty part of bacon...sliced thicker and very delicious with some fresh bread, salt, and green onion! ← Yes! A kind of buterbrot. Are you Ukrainian and a lifelong eater of salo or a later-in-life fan like me?

I love that salad, too. My japanese neighbor says she always buys it ready-made at the Japanese market. A good many years ago she taught me how to make another delicious salad using wakame. You need to soak a very small amount of wakame in very cold water; it expands amazingly. Slice up and toss with thinly sliced cucumber, then toss with white vinegar, sugar and salt.

<grin> My daddy was born in Bayonne, NJ and raised in NYC. His daddy came from Scotland. Croaker is sold all the time in Philadelphia, PA fish markets. I've never thought of it as trash fish, either.

You consider bream to be trash fish? Sea bream? I first encountred sea bream when I lived in Spain, where it is a very popular fish prepared in the best homes and offered in very good restaurants. You pay a pretty penny for it compared to the less expensive fishes such as the ever-popular and budget-minded hake.