Chris Hennes

Naturally we hit Fante's as well, and look what we found on the shelf: So of course we had an impromptu book signing: If you haven't been to Fante's it's almost reason enough to visit Philly, it's aisle after aisle of kitchenware:

I'm going to use the pork to make enchiladas: a cabbage slaw of some kind would be an excellent accompaniment. Kerry and I also discussed a bunch of other dishes, so tomorrow morning we'll all meet and decide what needs to be filled in where.

Since we had clearly not eaten enough at Paesano's, we also hit Isgro for cannoli... But first, some other shots of Isgro: At long last, the cannoli is filled (fresh of course, so it stays crisp): And finally, the gang, basking in the glow of the cannoli:

A group of out-of-towners were led (by Katie Loeb) through the Italian Market. Of course I've got a zillion photos, but I'll start with the important ones... what we ate at Paesano's: We had the Paesano, the Arista, the Panelle, and the Gustaio. And some potatoes.

The report topic for this year's gathering can be found here.

The annual Heartland Gathering is upon us, as people started arriving in Philadelphia today. My first stop was the Fair Foods Farmstand in the Reading Terminal Market to pick up a pork shoulder for the Saturday Feast: it's in the sous vide rig now....

I hope you can, because that's my plan as well. As far as I can tell, that's the only payment method as of now. I'm sure it will be fine: if it turns out Katie's debit card won't work I can use credit and take the cash. We'll work something out.

Hey Katie, I understand, it just involves two trips to the ATM for me (exceeds daily withdrawal limit), and my bank's fees. One alternative is that I could put the whole Zahav bill on my card and people could pay me instead of you. Zahav is the expensive one, and I can take cash, check, PayPal, whatever people want. Then I only have to go to the ATM once, for the rest of the stuff.

Shouldn't be a problem at all, considering the incredible selection at RTM. My plus one and I will join you for your tour at 9am (though obviously to do a 36h pork shoulder I'll buy that when I get into town... conveniently I'm just down the block from RTM so picking it up there is easy enough). Katie, I'm already on the East Coast: can you take a check? No local no-fee ATMs...

I'm bringing my sous vide kit: I'm thinking of a 36hr pork shoulder. Haven't decided how to plate it yet: depends on what options present themselves at the market.

I'm game for the 2-hour tour. Turns out my plus one will be having lunch that day with her mother, so it will just be me.

Aw, maybe everyone's afraid of my cooking! You don't have to cook to attend, and I won't feel (too) bad if you won't eat whatever it is I decide to make.

I think we'd attend if others were going, but I'm not a big fan of formal tours. I figured I'd stand in Fante's drooling for an hour or two...

eBay is a great source for towels, I've found. I got a case of those white flour sack-type for way under retail.

I've made a number of cakes with almond meal: I think Friberg's books (1, 2) must have quite a few recipes, I think that's where I got mine.

The second change we are making to the Member Agreement is to expand the scope of what constitutes "research": previously, the agreement said We are changing this to ensure that anyone who wants to do research on the forums knows that they are allowed to do so, including academics, journalists, software developers, etc.:

One of the things we've undertaken as part of our recent change in leadership is a review of the current Society Member Agreement: the agreement was originally codified in 2006, and a lot has changed since then! The first change we are making is to our copyright guidelines. In particular, recent US caselaw has given us much better direction as to what constitutes "fair use" of copyrighted material. In light of that guidance, we are modifying our fair use policy to expand and clarify it. In particular, we wanted to ensure that you can use some types of copyrighted images in your posts as long as they are allowed under the Fair Use doctrine. The new guidelines are (new text in bold): If you have any comments or concerns please contact me directly via pm or e-mail.

It's getting on the end of tomato season here, but I got enough today to make tomato sauce for dinner: it doesn't look like much, because it's not... Fresh tomatoes, cooked long enough to start breaking down, pureed in a food mill. Salt, pepper, olive oil. The pasta was pulled out about two minutes early and finished cooking in the sauce, thickening it a bit and helping it adhere.

I'd have expected the compressor to kick in immediately after power restoration: can you usually hear yours? Then again, if it's getting colder, I guess it's working!

Agreed, no worries there.

For myself, texture. I find the texture of an over-bound burger quite unpleasant.

It's going to depend on thickness (not weight directly), whether the patty is frozen or thawed, and how you are cooking it (grill, griddle, sous vide, etc.).

Interesting, why did you choose to bind it? Most of us are actually trying very carefully NOT to arrive at a sausage-like texture with our burgers.

I haven't had any problems freezing them, actually: cook directly from frozen, and I think they turn out very well.

It's probably not available outside the US, but the SideKIC sous vide device has been working very well for me, and is in that price neighborhood.