rlibkind

I concur (and use) David's approach. Although you've still got to be wary of portion-control frozen and industrial commissary goods even at a small town diner or cafe, you can usually do better than chain fast foods. A resource I use on trips is to go to Google maps search for "restaurants" and/or "food" at likely locations. One example: I found an incredibly good pastry shop run by an Israeli ex-pat in Brookville PA just a few minutes off I-80. And any burg that's a county seat is likely to have a half-decent diner or cafe within a block of the court house.

Following yesterday's funeral mass and interment of Harry Ochs, friends, family, merchants and customers gathered at the Reading Terminal Market to remember the "mayor of the market". Harry's son Nick, however, said his father didn't regard himself so much as "mayor" as "dad" of the market. Indeed, Nick said in his remarks at the funeral mass, many of the merchants and employees at the market called him "dad". Everyone who worked and shopped at the market was his family, Nick said. Among those attending were two former and the current general managers of the market. David K. O'Neil led the market from 1981 to 1990, playing a key role in revitalizing it under the ownership of the Reading Company, the company which took over the non-railroad real estate assets of the former Reading railroad; he currently consults on public markets. William T. Gardiner, who works with O'Neil for much of the 1980s, returned to manage the market from 1990 to 1994 during the thankless days when it was being reconstructed in connection with the building of the Pennsylvania Convention Center. Paul Steinke, the GM since 2001, formerly ran the University City District and was finance director of the Center City District. Many of the merchants took time off to attend the funeral mass in Upper Darby, then returned to the market for the lunch, which took up half of center court. Marion D'Ambrosio, owner of Tootsie's Salad Express said the participation of merchants in providing food was exceptional. Throughout the lunch, as everyone told their favorite Harry stories, a television monitor played a DVD produced by the market earlier this year, incorporating excerpts from an oral history project. When I turned round to take a brief glimpse, there was another icon of the market on the screen, Domenic "Pop" Spataro, extolling Harry's virtues as a butcher and a market leader. You can see the video, which also features Harry, on You Tube.

With the approach of Christmas the variety of piscatorial delights at the Reading Terminal Market's fishmongers expands. New today were herring (sardines) and spearlings, both $4.99/pound at John Yi. I'll pick up some of those herrings (head-on whole, ungutted but scaled) on my next trip. They are probably fated for a quick pan-fry, with those I don't eat immediately destined to marinating in a vinegar brine with onions, then consumed with rye bread slathered with copious amounts of butter, and Aquavit.

Eleven stalwart vendors braved the cold, rainy weather to sell their wares at the Headhouse Square Farmers' Market this morning. Among them was Beechwood Orchards, which was selling Northern Spys, my favorite baking apple. Dave Garrettson, who with his family owns and operates Beechwood, got the Northern Spys from a neighbor. I'm going to make another apple pie with them. Next week, which will be the last of the 2009 season for Headhouse, Beechwood will be selling all its apples for $1 a pound. In addition to Beechwood, today's vendors were: Blooming Glen, Joe's Coffee, John & Kira Chocolates, Mountain View Poultry, Natural Meadows Farm, Queen Farm, Savoie Farm, Star Gazer Wines, Wild Flower Bakery, Young's Garden. Sharing the coffee stand with Joe is Gil Ortale, whose Market Day Canelés make an excellent accompaniment to the java. These custardy little cakes with a crispy exterior are an adult treat. One of the secrets in their baking is to mix beeswax with oil or butter, then coat the tin mold's interior with this "white oil". The treats have got history, too. Paula Wolfert tells all.

Andrea Luca Rossi of Cichetteria 19 won an Iron Chef-style cookoff of radicchio dishes at the Reading Terminal Market yesterday. In photo above Andrea describes one of his winners, a scallop dish with grilled Radicchio Rosso di Treviso, to judges John Vena, Anna Florio and Franca Riccardi. Vena had more than a culinary interest in the proceedings, since he's the owner of John Vena, Inc., a wholesaler at the Philadelphia Produce Terminal who specializes in the import of Italian produce, including all the varieties of radicchio featured yesterday: the spidery Tardivo, the Rosso, and the Variegata di Castelfranco. Vena said the business was started by his grandfather in 1919 after arriving here from his native Gangchi, Sicility. The fourth generation has entered the business through his son, Daniel. (Among the other items he sells is Kiwi fruits; Italy is the world's largest producer of this item, normally associated with New Zealand. They were three for a buck yesterday at Iovine Brothers Produce.) Joining Vena at the judge's table were Florio, who operates La Cucina at the Market, the cooking school located in the former market kitchen, and Riccardi, director of the Amerian-Italy Society of Philadelphia. The winner's scallop dish was served on a bed of the Variegata and was accompanied by a radicchio polenta with beets and goat cheese. In addition to his scallop dish, Rossi also offered a risotto. His restaurant is located 267 S. 19th. The other competitors in the 30-minute cookoff (with running commentary from TV cook Christina Pirillo) were Luciana Spurio of Le Virtu, 1927 E. Passyunk, and Nunzio Patruno of Collingswood's Nunzio Ristorante Rustico, who formerly operated Philadelphia's Monte Carlo Living Room. Spurio prepared Fettucine Radicchio Trevigiano e Gorgonzola. Patruno served a scallop dish featuring radicchio and beans, and shrimp wrapped in the Variegata. The promotion was held to encourage Philadelphia chefs and home cooks to use these winter chickory-like veggies. Here's the selection of radicchio displayed at Iovine's, along with recipes. The Variegata ($11.99/pound) is the light, speckled heads in the foreground, the Treviso the Rosso di Treviso (a.k.a. "early", $7.99/pound) are the romaine-like heads on the right, the Tardivo ($17.99/pound) the spidery samples in the center. All versions come from the Veneto, the region around Venice. More photos and info about the event can be found on my blog.

It's citrus time at the Reading Terminal Market. Over at Iovine Brother's Produce Spanish clementines are the star, $4.95 for a five-pound box. The skins aren't quite as zippery as they'll get a little later in the season, but they peel easily enough and have a good sweet-tart taste, as is appropriate for this variety of mandarin orange, which some contend is a lemon-orange cross. I spied at least three varieties of navel oranges today, one selling for four for a buck, another for three for a buck. Jumanis were two for a dollar. Tangerines, grapefruits and other citrus fruits are also coming into season.

I don't recycle fruitcakes I get as gifts: I love them. I've even been known to buy them for myself. Once I went so far as to order 10 pounds worth from Georgia. Those same Georgia fruitcakes have been available in years past at the Reading Terinal Market at Iovine Brothers' Produce. These are the heavyweight cakes produced by Claxton Fruitcakes in Claxton, Georgia. They are heavily laden with a wonderful variety of dried fruits held together with a barely detectable pound cake binding. Iovine's no longer carries them, but Jonathan Best, the relatively new grocer at the market, does. Alas, Jonathans Best only carries the regular version; it's good, but I prefer the dark variety. I didn't check the price, but when you order direct via the web three one-pound cakes sell for $25.95 plus shipping (you can buy in various weight permutations). L. Halteman Family sells locally made fruitcakes, which appear to have more nuts, for $6.95 a loaf.

A beautiful, mahogany colored roasted bird makes a wonderful edible centerpiece for a holiday table. And no bird is more Christmas-y than a roast goose. At the Reading Terminal Market L. Halteman Family has locally raised geese in stock. The birds, roughly 10 pounds, sell for $5.79/pound. The Fair Food Farmstand is selling geese from Griggstown (NJ) Quail Farm for $10/pound. Geese and lots of other birds can be obtained from Godshall's Poultry. In all cases it's wise to call ahead and order. It's almost too late to order from Fair Food; orders for the Griggstown geese, as well as pheasants, must be placed with Fair Food by 9 a.m. this Monday. Fair Food has ordering deadlines for other holiday roasts, including country hams, pork loin and shoulder roasts, briskets, whole prime ribs and lamb legs and shoulders. See Fair Food's weekly newsletter for the details. All the other butchers at the market (Martin's Quality Meats & Sausage, Giunta's Prime Shop, Harry Ochs & Sons, and S&B Meats) also can accommodate special orders for the holidays. Among other items, Giunta's is selling turduckens for $39.95 apiece.

Want to make potato pancakes (latkes) like those served by Hershel's East Side Deli at the Reading Terminal Market? Andy Wash, co-owner of the deli, provides his recipe and secrets at the Cheftalk website. (Don't pay any attention to the writer referring to Andy as Andy "Washington". The writer mistook his notes with Andy's last name as an abbrevation.)

Beck's Cajun Café has finally started to serve beignets. More info here in the Pennsylvania Dining forum.

Who amongst us doesn't, at least occasionally, crave hot fried dough? It's even a religious tradition. Tonight being the first night of Hanukah, it's time to indulge in sufganiot, one of the traditional fried foods of this festival, basically a jelly doughnut. And we're only a little more than two months away from Fat Tuesday when the Pennsylvania Dutch enjoy their fastnachts. So, who does a good job of frying dough in the Philadelphia area? Now that he's got his heavy duty stand mixer, Bill Beck is finally making them at his eponymous Cajun Café at the Reading Terminal Market. (Photo up top.) I've never been to New Orleans so I won't presume to make comparisons to what's offered by the finer establishments of the Crescent City at 2 a.m. to local and foreign drunkards looking to put something in their stomachs to hold down the liquor. But Bill's rendition is among the lightest hot fried dough I've ever had, which seems like an oxymoron. Not that these are low-caloric! He drowns them in confectioners' sugar, as you can see in the photo. Order them with a cup of Community Coffee (with chicory) imported from New Orleans. For those fastnachts, I'll be making a trip to Haegele's up in the Northeast, just around the corner from Chickie and Pete's original location. Do you have any favs for hot fried dough?

Use with mushrooms (also high in glutamates) in pizza, pasta, omelets, casseroles, etc.

Some of the treats cited above seem to be more like hors d'oeuvre than apps, so I'll go with the former: One of my mom's fave hors d'oeuvre to serve guests were stuffed Spanish olives encased in a cheesy dough (pretty much a cheese straw dough), baked and served hot from the oven.

The Piazza at Schmidts, developer Bart Blattstein's residential complex on North Second Street in Northern Liberties, plans to start a new winter farmers' market in mid-January. Tom Culton, a regular at Headhouse Square who also supplies a number of city restaurants with his unusual produce, plans to be there to sell greens. More details when I get them.

The ranks of vendors at the Headhouse Square Farmers' Market are thinning, but there were still plenty of produce stalls yesterday offering potatoes, apples, root veggies, romanesco, greens, onions, etc. The Headhouse market will continue through Dec. 20, the last Sunday before Christmas. Produce vendors making the trip were Blooming Glen, Weaver's Way, Culton Organics, Queen Farm, Savoie Farm and Beechwood Orchards. Protein vendors were Mountain View Poultry, Natural Meadows and Otolith (a fish purveyor which only occasionally shows up at Headhouse). Other vendors today were Joe Etc. (coffee), Wildflower Bakery, Young's Garden, and John + Kira Chocolates. As I was leaving a lunch vendor (might have been Taqueria de la Pueblo) was setting up. Beechwood continued to offer a nice variety of apples. I picked up some more Newtown Pippins for storage. Today was Blooming Glen's last week at the market until spring. I purchased German butterball potatoes and a small head of radicchio.

Although most everyone who reads this probably has heard the sad news, I cannot help but note the death from cancer yesterday of Harry Ochs Jr. at age 80. I'll leave it to the obituary writers to recount his life and contributions to the Reading Terminal Market, his fellow merchants and his customers. (See today's Inquirer here.) It's a comment on how well he was loved by everyone connected with the market that last spring its merchants association used its annual shindig as a "surprise party" for Harry's 80th birthday. They knew it likely would be the last time to celebrate Harry while he was alive. So what if they couldn't keep the party a secret from Harry? When it came the Reading Terminal Market, very little escaped his notice. Few market regulars will fail to notice his absence.

Once upon a time you could buy dried Italian porcini mushrooms at Iovine's. All they've had recently are Chilean porcinis, which aren't bad but not as good to my taste. You can find the Italian ones over at the Spice Terminal; while I don't recall the price, it's considerably north of $30 a pound. I was lazy Saturday so I passed up buying ingredients for soup. But it's definitely the right weather for it. I ran into one acquaintence who was planning to make a mushroom soup with maitakes (a.k.a. hen of the woods). For a mushroom barley or cream of mushroom soup, I like the dried porcinis, but also plain old fashioned white button mushrooms. Plain domestic mushrooms tend to be a forgotten food among foodies, but they represent excellent value and depth of flavor, particularly if they're a bit shriveled (but not slimy), which intensifies their flavor. We're an an interregnum of sorts for grapes: the domestic harvest is over, and the Chilean harvest won't begin until late winter. Most grapes at Iovine's are $2.99/pound, though seedless greens were $3.99 this past Saturday. Bell peppers are about as expensive as they ever get: even the frying peppers were $1.99/pound today. The long English cucumbers (nearly seedless) are a good deal at Iovine's, however. Two for a buck. I made a quick Scandinavian style pickle from one to accompany fried fish for dinner Saturay. As we near the holidays, the variety and price of fish seems to increase, especially those staples enjoyed for Night of the Seven Fishes. I picked up some cod filet from John Yi at $9.99/pound, which is pretty much the normal price in retail markets. Good-looking whole wild striped bass was available at Yi and Golden Fish for about $6/pound. What the Reading Terminal fishmongers don't carry is one of my favorite clam varieties: the soft "steamer" clams, which when prepared for frying are often called "Ipswich" clams. You can get them at Wegman's for $5/pound. The RTM fish stalls also don't offer much variety in the way of oysters. Chesapeake, Virginia and, occasionally, Long Island shell oysters are available for about a buck apiece, as are shucked oysters for stewing and frying, but I've yet to see this bivalve from more the northern waters of Maine, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island. Still no beignets at Beck's Cajun Café. Joe Nicolosi does more than make great roast pork sandwiches at Tommy DiNic's. He's an accomplished musician. Although his main thing these days is classical piano (he's hard at work on his Chopin), he's going to be playing bass with his old band in a reunion of sorts Wednesday at Johnny Brenda's. It's always fun to people-watch at the Reading Terminal. Saturday I squinted rudely to read the badges of one group of visitors attending a convention: the American Anthropology Association. They must have been there to study participants in a cheer-leading competition at the convention center, who were also gawking at the food and sandwich stalls. Last February I wrote about Tardivo, a variant of Radicchio di Treviso that I found at Iovine Brother's Produce at $22/pound. This year the Reading Terminal Market and Iovine's are dedicating an entire festival to Radicchio di Treviso. Or at least 45 minutes worth of festival. The program, to be held this Friday in Center Court beginning at 11 a.m., will include a brief Iron Chef-like cookoff among local chefs. Christina Pirello of Christina Cooks (a national PBS show produced by WHYY) will serve as emcee of the event. Among the judges will be Anna Maria Florio, owner and operator of La Cucina at the Market. Samples of the radicchio will be available at Iovine Brothers Produce. How to use this bitter veggie, a descendant of chicory? You could wilt it in sautéed onions and use it in pasta or, without the onions, fold it into a risotto at the end of cooking; blanch it in a water-vinegar mix spiked with bay leaf, salt and peppercorns, then marinate it overnight in olive oil and serve as a salad, garnished with chopped hard boiled egg; prepare a fritto in a thin beer batter; or, do as McDonald's does, and add a few pieces to a mixed salad. A month or so ago, Chilean avocados appeared at Iovine Brothers Produce at the Reading Terminal Market. Recently the $1 apiece fruits hailed from the Dominican Republican, which I had not seen before. I picked up some nice, heavy-for-their-size navel oranges recently, three for a buck. Not a bad price, but they should come down a bit as we get into winter. I bought some sour cream at Fair Food a few weeks ago. Tastes just fine. But although labelled "all natural" it was full of vegetable gums, for no apparent reason. The Dairylead brand, available at some supermarkets, is made from nothing but cream. It may not be organic, but it's good.

Stopped by for lunch the other -- the first time I've tasted pho. And it was very good, indeed. I got the beef version with rare beef and fatty brisket. As noted, well-balanced broth. Plenty of beef for the price.

Look, I realize this show is about good television, with cooking skills and creativity taking second place. Still, the television failings tick me off the most. In particular, the editing. Sometimes the decisions of the judges seem to come out of left field. If you are listening to what they say during the tastings, discussions with the chefs, and among themselves, it doesn't seem to jibe with who they send off and/or deem the round's winner. I suspect that's entirely due to the editing process, i.e., the desire to get the interesting sound bites and facial expressions rather than disclose the judges' logic to the viewers -- and the goal to "surprise" the viewer after the commercial break. Has anyone else noticed this, or am I hallucinating?

The rúllupylsa from Iceland is pretty much the same as Danish rolepølse. All the recipes I've seen require the brining step (though the one you linked to said that was optional). What the recipe did not specify is that it's best to sew it shut before brining and simmering; that way the herbs/spices stay put. Lamb is traditional, but it is also made with pork or beef flanks, or veal, sometimes a combination of meats. The Danish style of seasoning, however, is considerably less exotic than that shown in the Iceland recipe: simply salt, pepper, allspice, and onion. And saltpeter or other curing salt in both the brine and mixed in with the spices. I've yet to undertake making rolepølse, since I indulge in it when I visit Racine, Wisconsin (at one point in time, Racine had more Danes than any other city in the world save Copenhagen), or Brooklyn. In Racine I buy it at O&H/Danish Uncle, and in Brooklyn at Nordic Delicacies in Bay Ridge. Make sure to slice it very thinly.

Re: servings from duck. OliverB, your experience was not a aberration: a Long Island (Peking) duck will only serve two diners. You'd get four to six from a Muscovy duck (which is an entirely different animal, really).

Capon would be my first choice, especially if you want to bring to the table a big, whole, impressive bird. They usually weigh-in at about 8-12 pounds, so serving six will be no problem. If your crowd likes white meat, it's the way to go: these castrated roosters are breast-heavy, so they have a higher proportion of white meat, yet they remain considerably more juicy. Roast it like you would chicken. Note that there are two methods for creating a capon from a rooster: with chemicals or the knife. Check with your butcher. If you're located in the Mid-Atlantic, Eberly, a producer from Amish-Mennonite country about halfway between Reading and Lancaster, produces a great all-natural (though not pastured), surgically-altered bird, but in any larger metropolitan area you should be able to find surgical birds which, on gee-pees, I prefer to chemically neutered specimens. If you don't want to mess with a whole duck with all the fat (and to feed six you'd need three Peking, a.k.a. Long Island, ducklings) consider boneless duck breasts. It's both elegant and easy to cook (just sauté) and you can sauce them as you'd like (fruit sauces, green peppercorn, lots of others work). To serve and impress, slice into fans before plating: one cutlet per person works when you've got adequate accompaniments. (Winter veggies are ideal with duck: turnips or brussels sprouts in mustard sauce, oven-roasted root veggies, etc.). Whole duck and goose take a bit more work to deal with the fat, and I find pheasant and similar domesticated game birds usually lacking, and you have to be careful to prevent many from drying out. Although it's a highly industrialized bird, rock cornish game hens (which are really nothing more than exceedingly young chickens) can be impressive when served, since each diner gets a whole bird.

Don't worry about it; you'll be happy with the results.

I've been using the Zyliss "gourmet mandoline" for about five or six years and have been quite pleased. Nice job on julienne, but it doesn't do waffle cuts. Not infinitely adjustable: different inserts for different depths of cut, plus two julienne sizes. Haven't cut myself yet. Easy to clean. Not professional level but does the job. If I've got a lot to shred, I usually turn to the shredder disk of my 35-year-old food processor, a home kitchen model from Regal.

Didn't do Moe's and Supper on the same days, rather, Moe's on one day, Supper the next. The only time I was that hot dog crazy was about four years ago when I went on one of John's tours of North Jersey: we hit Galloping Hill Inn, Charlie's, Syd's and Rutts in a single afternoon.