KatieLoeb

About 1.5 oz. vodka. And about two measured teaspoons of Orange Flower water (Cortas brand) in the whole batch which would now equal somewhere around 24-28 ounces once combined. Or to taste if you like it a little more floral.

If I had access to fresh squeezed pomegranate juice (that someone else had squeezed for me) I'd most certainly use that. I haven't tried the Knudsen juice, but I think I'll stick with my finds at the ethnic markets from you're saying. Erik - are there any Russian or Middle Eastern markets near you? You might have better luck there. HERE are photos of the big Russian supermarket in Northeast Philly where my head about exploded in the juice aisle. Look down the pictures for the pomegranate section and you'll see why.

Ooooooh Chris! That pizza looks good! :drool: I'd pop it back under the broiler or onto the pizza stone if it still isn't cooked enough. Once the smoke cleared, of course.

My wife cringes whenever I break out the pomegranates: they stain everything! ← Exactly my point. It's a mess, it takes extra hours for cleanup and the differential in flavor in negligable if even detectable. I'm over it. Surprise! Grenadine is a pomegranate based syrup. Most folks wouldn't know that because you really can substitute maraschino cherry juice for the commercial versions. Or at least in a Shirley Temple. But good homemade grenadine makes even a Shirley Temple taste better.

YAY Chris! Now I'll see what you were talking about. I have to agree that having a Wegman's keeps it a bit above "wasteland" level, but I'm hoping the recent forays to Philly have convinced you that this is the move to make. There are so many places we haven't taken you yet... Blog on, bro'. Looking forward to seeing the meat smoking shenanigans.

Thanks Bob. For some reason I had it in my head that it was 10-5. I was wrong. I still got to have Capogiro.

Note to all: Sunday closing time at RTM is 4PM, not 5PM as I had envisioned. This revelation comes after parking my car in the lot and facing locked doors at 4:05PM today. I couldn't get my ticket stamped so it cost me $5.50 to park for 5 minutes for nothing. I was supposed to pick up dessert to bring with me to dinner at friends so I did the next best thing. Two half pints of Capogiro - one Pear & Wild Turkey and the other Pistachio. I was still welcomed.

Chris: There are some things that are better left for the trained professionals. Pomegranate juicing is one of those. The brands from the Russian market taste pretty close to fresh pomegranate seeds I've tasted in the past. Even the POM Wonderful is fine. Seeding and juicing pomegranates is time consuming and incredibly messy. I'm over it. For the purposes of grenadine, which will undoubtedly be mixed with other strongly flavored ingredients it seems like a lot of effort for no detectable flavor differential. This is the same reason I use a good commercial raspberry syrup. The Routin 1883 raspberry syrup is delicious, consistent, shelf stable and most importantly available year around. Some things are better left to the pros, others I feel I can improve upon I will most certainly attempt myself.

I make one batch of the cold method (16 oz. juice to 2.5 cups sugar) shaken the hell out of it, and one batch cooked (cook 16 oz. pomegranate juice down to half volume and add 2 cups sugar) then I combine them. I get the best of both worlds - fresh pomegranate flavor with the richer flavor and better viscosity of the cooked. A small amount of orange flower water and wee bit of vodka for shelf stability and it's done. Keeps well at room temperature and tastes worlds better than any other I've ever had. Pom Wonderful is easiest to find and works fine, but I've been finding different brands of pomegrante juice at the Russian market that have also worked equally well.

Yow! Fried Pork Bellies? I am so there. And it's closer to home than Tierra Colombiana. Most excellent. A good empanada is a thing of great beauty...

Particularly because of the exclusion of the poodle film... 'Tis true that the standards for food news, nay news in general in this metro area are pretty skewed and bizarre. But I suppose that shows what a town full of foodies and eaters we really are. You can say a lot about Philadelphians, but we take our eatin' pretty damned seriously.

Did everyone see this in today's Inky? After 45 Cheesesteaks the Best Were.... John's Roast Pork topped their list, in agreement with Craig Laban. Steve's Prince of Steaks was #2. Steve's is most defintely one of my favorites. And the Grey Lodge Pub was #5!!! Congrats to Scoats and the hardworking staff over there. It's the only place I can think of you can have a beer with your steak too. A damned fine beer from a very large selection. That's an amenity no one else can claim. edited because I dunt spel so gud.

My money is on retirement or publicity stunt. I can't imagine why he'd close LBF. I believe he owns the building.

philadining is correct. The pork is most certainly roasted, just like a roast beef, then sliced thinly and placed into the porkylicious gravy in the steam table. It's ROASTED pork. It didn't go from its raw state to cooked in the jus. That would be braised or boiled pork and wouldn't be nearly as tasty. Just because it wasn't what you expected, I hope it didn't detract from the deliciousness. You were clearly expecting something different because of a pre-conceived notion about what you believed it would be like. If you want crispy roast pork in Philadelphia like that which you imagined, you need to head over to Restaurante & Lechonera Principe in North Philly. That's the crispy pork right there.

It's all about the floaters. Sinkers were a joke in my family. My uncles and cousins would laugh about taking them out to play golf with... THIS recent recipe in Food and Wine Magazine looked quite intriguing to me. Matzoh Ball soup with Dill-Horseradish Pistou. Yum! I heartily agree that the secret to floaters is to use club soda in the matzoh ball batter. Some of you old timers here on eGullet might recognize the name of the author of the main article. Nice job JJ!!

Hey, I asked for a Harvey Wallbanger on Saturday and you mocked me! Mercilessly! OK, maybe you knew I really wanted a Bourbon Crusta... And I did really want one of those. I mean two of those. ← Clairvoyance is part of my arsenal of tools as your Spiritual Advisor. ← Good to know! So what does MY future hold, oh Great Bartendrix? ← Your future will always be focused on the taps and the funky bottles of beer. I know you too well. However, if you were feeling adventurous I could certainly deviate from your usual and mix you up something with the spirit of your choosing. Just tell me what base spirit sounds good and I'll go from there...

Pennsylvania is going to have to go with a Club Soda. Nothing in it unless it's basic vodka or gin. With a state controlled monopoly, I can't get a fraction of what I need here to run a decent beverage program.

Whilst George's isn't a temple of hygiene, I think it is up to Heallth Department codes enough to stay in business and serve up those yummy sammies. It's really fine and quite good. As tino27 mentioned, the roast pork is pretty damned good also. I've not tried the tripe sandwich (I prefer my tripe in smaller less noticeable doses like in Pho), but I'm of the understanding that it's outstanding for those that enjoy that sort of thing. I can vouch for the sausage and pepper sandwiches too. I haven't had one in a while, but they're really good. George's is a nice change from Lorenzo's pizza on the corner when I'm shopping 9th Street.

I should mention that the lychee syrup doesn't keep very well unless it's constantly refrigerated/placed on ice, and has a little lemon juice or a tiny bit of citric acid put in to give it some (refrigerated) shelf stability. But it's easy enough to make up a batch twice a week or so on an as needed basis. I just buzzed up a batch tonight that I'm playing with. Works pretty well with gin and lemon or lime so far...

Exactly!

For the coffers of the restaurant, no. For the poor prep chimp that's squeezing the grilled limes, perhaps not. I just Googled this and found that the drink is made with Herradura Suprema tequila, the grilled lime juice and agave syrup. I wouldn't drink a shot of tequila from a $400 bottle mixed with anything. That's ludicrous and a waste of fine tequila. Neat and in an expensive snifter is the way to go. And putting agave nectar into it is akin to putting a squeeze of honey into your best single malt. It's just silly. But some fool will undoubtedly pay for it. I hope they enjoy it, but they really won't get what the tequila tastes like. And at those prices they ought to.

This sounds like a colossal pain in the ass for little return. Wanna bet there's a few dashes of Liquid Smoke in the fresh lime juice?

No pics, but I ran into an old coworker in the Italian Market today and we both ended up at George's Sandwich Shop, 900 South 9th Street for a bite. I decided to have what she was having, which was the BBQd Veal with Long Hot Peppers. Oh Baby. What a truly delcious sandwich. Tender chunks of veal in a spicy thin gravy falling apart, piled on a crusty long roll with pan juices and some hot peppers. Damn! I'd have never ordered that had I not seen hers, but it is worth a trip by itself.

Bluecoat Gin, here in Philadelphia uses a copper pot still for small batch distillation. Click the link and follow the process. There are some fractional pictures of the actual still in there as well.

Here's the final version of the drink I submitted for the contest. I doubt I'll do well, it being so rushed at the end and all. I actually cobbled this together on faith after making several other preliminary variations with either the bonded Applejack or rum. I can imagine how it will taste, so I'm not too worried about that. But I have a local Bluecoat Bartender Battle coming up in a couple of weeks, so I'm concentrating on that, since it's a lot likelier to have an impact on the business in my bar than the Averna contest would. Much as I'd love a trip to Sicily, I think driving more business into the door at my present place of employ takes precedent. But hey. If they like my drink I'll be happy to mix it up for them with a change of scenery thrown in the mix! I like the Averna mixed with Applejack. This drink is reminiscent of a Long Island Iced Tea without the big bang or big hangover. Palermo Chiller Nickel sized slice of fresh peeled ginger .5 oz. Cointreau .25 oz. Fee Brothers Orgeat Cordial Syrup 2 oz. Laird’s Bonded Applejack (100 proof) .75 oz. Averna 2 dashes Fee Brothers Whiskey Barrel Aged bitters 2 oz. Ginger ale 1 oz. Club soda Wedge of lemon Muddle ginger in bottom of shaker in Cointreau and orgeat syrup. Fill shaker with ice. Add Applejack, Averna and bitters. Shake and strain over fresh ice in a tall Collins glass. Add ginger ale and soda and stir. Garnish with lemon wedge. Squeeze lemon wedge, drop into drink and stir before first sip.