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Dorine

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Posts posted by Dorine

  1. 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.

  2. 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!

  3. I love Galia melons! Try them the way they are eaten in Portugal. Halve, remove seeds and fill the cavity with port wine.

    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!

    :biggrin:

  4. boiled peanuts and sweet tea for an afternoon snack.  aaaaw yeah.

    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?

  5. Margerum is a familiar name to anyone whose memory of the Reading Terminal Market goes back more than four years. From the day the market opened in 1892 until 2001, a member of the Margerum family sold foodstuffs there. That tradition continues at some of the city's farmers markets through Noelle Margerum and her sister Carole.

    The Margerums have been at the Clark Park Farmers Market for the past few years, and this summer added the Fairmount & 22nd Street market. Carole was there today with fresh produce (beets, greens, bing cherries, etc.) as well as the Margerums flavored vinegars, which take on a colorful glint in the afternoon sun.

    gallery_7493_1206_12533.jpg

    Noelle comes in from South Jersey, Carole, in photo with the sisters' infused vinegars, hails from near York.

    At today's Fairmount market Earl Livengood and his neighbor Sam Consylman urged buyers to take advantage of any cherries they see, because the recent rains have played havoc with the crop. The torrential downpours have caused many cherries to split, which ruins them for the fresh market. The bing cherries I found at Margerums were in fine shape, though, as were Earl's pie cherries.

    Earl doesn't expect the rains have caused damage to the other stone fruits. As long as they get some sun as they ripe the apricots and peaches should be just fine. I finally tasted the apricots I bought Wednesday from Benuel Kaufman at the RTM, and although they were juicy they lacked flavor: the rains have diluted the fruit's subtle flavor. Sam Consylman thinks that will be cured with a few days of sun.

    I really miss Margerum's!

  6. Lancaster County Dairy (along Arch Street side behind Golden Seafood) carries excellent heavy cream -- pasteurized, not ultra-pasteurized. They also carry the Pequea Valley Dairy Farm yogurt line, as does Fair Food Project.

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

  7. But OK Lee frequently offers what Iovine's doesn't, or offers it in a more acceptable way. Today, for example, you could get fresh Poblano peppers at OKL ($1.99/pound), but not at Iovine's. Where Iovine's offered bell peppers at 99-cents for green, red and orange varieties, OK Lee was 79-cents for green, $1.49 for red and $2.99 for orange (and $2.99 for yellow, which were $1.99 at Iovine's).

    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!

  8. The freshest sardines I've seen this side of Portugal were on display Friday at Golden Seafood at $2.99 ($3.99 if the fishmonger guts them). At John Yi's white tuna (sometimes called butterfish, though there are at least two other species that also go by that name) was back in stock at $9.99. Not the best time of year to buy salmon. All the fillets, both the formerly frozen wild king and the farmed product from Scotland, Norway and North America, were on the thin side (I prefer a thicker cut), though they were all of acceptable quality. Same with the $14.99 halibut: if a halibut filet is less than an inch and a half thick, I don't want it. Spearling still available at Wan's, which also featured baby octopus.

    gallery_7493_1206_15710.jpg

    Citrus and pineapples

    gallery_7493_1206_112639.jpg

    Fungi delecti

    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.

  9. New this year are Galia melons from Brazil. This variety was first popularized by Israeli growers and later brought to the New World. $1.49 per melon.

    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.

    John Yi's still had sardines at either $2.99 or $3.99, depending on the size; spearling are also still in stock.

    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.

  10. For posterity's sake, here are photos take today of Braverman's, the Sandwich Stand and Tokyo Sushi Bar:

    gallery_7493_1206_2962.jpg

    gallery_7493_1206_147873.jpg

    gallery_7493_1206_204010.jpg

    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.

  11. We visited RTM this morning, and just like Bob, we were at the candy stand to get chocolate covered pretzels.  I was eyeing up the wild striped bass as well, did not make the purchase as we were not heading right home and did not want to keep the fish too long.

    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.

  12. sometimes it pays to ask about less common ingredients

    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.

  13. Did anyone else read Rick Nichols piece yesterday? He said what I couldn't, because I only had it second hand: at least a few of the merchants whose leases won't be renewed were behind in their rent..

    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.

  14. today at the terminal: mirai corn at the farmstand.  it's bred to be as sweet as the supersweet varieties, but as tender as the old stuff.  and it's bright yellow instead of white.  damn good.

    i'm still looking for the old school yellow corn though.  someday.

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

  15. What does one do with fiddleheads, anyway? I saw them yesterday in Whole Foods. They were intriguing, but I've never come across any recipes or recommendations on how to consume them.

    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.

  16. After a brief flirtation with coffee in my youth, I have returned to the home of my grandmothers and am now, once again a tea drinker with a minor flirtation with decent coffee.

    Upon my return I realised that I much preferred China tea to Indian and Ceylon teas. Well, that wasn't a problem really, lazy human that I am, I could buy Twinings China Black in tea bags and be happy. In the summer I drank Lapsang with a little lemon or maybe a nice cup of Earl Grey, and all was well. For a little while.

    But the sudden influx of flavoured teas and ten varieties of green tea and whatnot invaded the supermarket shelves and suddenly China Black was no more. Oh well. For a little while I drank Russian Caravan, which wasn't quite it, but better than nothing. And then by accident I discovered Twinings Yunnan Tea and I was back in business. For a little while. I was even makiing special trips to the only supermarket I knew which carried the Yunnan.

    But then the Yunnan went the way of China Black and even Russian Caravan is losing ground to three hundred varieties of tea flavoured with white chocolate and toenails or used bandaids and rosewater, or whatever.

    So the question is now, what am I going to drink? I'm obviously going to have to  break out my teapot and visit speciality stores, but I'm a little lost by the varieties of loose China tea available. I've visited Grey and Seddon online, and they look promising (I'm in Australia), but I don't know what to buy.

    I do drink White Tea and Chai tea, Yerba Mate sometimes and some herbal teas, but what I really want is a decent black tea as my every day tea, so that I can come home, put on the kettle and make myself a nice cup of tea.

    Any suggestions would be very welcome.

    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).

  17. How about Ukrainian salo?  Ukrainians believe nobody who is not Ukrainian can like it.  Salo is like bacon, but not smoked.  it is sliced thicker and not cooked before eating.  I first visited Ukraine and tasted salo after age 50.  Ukrainians were surprised and pleased that I liked it.

    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?

  18. 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.

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  19. I guess I'm lucky. Cajun has caught on so much in the last couple of decades, that the gross-out factor has all but gone away. Crawfish and boudin may be the two biggest "offenders" left, unless you count some of the game (nutria, squirrel) or trash fish (Gaspergou, bream, croaker) many Cajuns still cook.

    I'm a fairly adventerous eater, but I've never gotten into uni. I've had it a time or two, I know it is well loved, but still... shudder. I guess you could lump sushi and sashimi into the category, since the vast majority of Americans haven't had good or even decent sushi in the states. I like the stuff, but many don't.

    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.

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