rlibkind
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Samuelsson's tasting/cooking demo was a hit. I'm a bit biased, of course, since after cooking his meatball dish he handed me one of the four servings he cooked in the demo (which was better than what came out of the caterer's kitchen).
The open-jawed moment for me was his salmon ceviche with soy jelly. It's just what it sounds like: he prepared a gelatin flavored with soy sauce, used that as the base in the individual serving glasses, then topped it with a straightforward (and yummy) salmon ceviche adorned with little sprigs of dill.
The meatballs that came from the caterer (Samuelsson's recipe and supervision) were very good, too, but the more loosely-packed, slightly larger and misshapen balls he cooked in the demo (it was lamb-pork, no bread, just chorizo-liked seasonings) were superior. Pairing the meatballs with a salsa of acidic tomatillos and rich avocados was another stroke of genius, though he apologized for the avocado not being as ripe and creamy as he would have liked to add another texture contrast.
While he cooked Samuelsson talked about his upbringing in Gothenburg, Sweden, how the cooking of his working-mother, while good, paled besides that of his retired grandmother, his training in France and aboard cruise ships, how he uses texture contrasts, and lots more. As one woman remarked as we lined up for dessert (a spicey, liquer-laden red berry cobbler topped with a curry sabayon), she didn't realize how good a speaker he would be.
I won't offer a critique of the entire tasting menu, suffice it to say that everything was as described, the texture contrasts exciting, the quality high.
Oh, as an opener to his demo, he talked about visiting the Reading Terminal Market earlier in the day, where he picked up some of the provisions for his demo, including the salmon. He stopped by Dinic's for a pork and greens sandwich. Details about that here.
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Marcus Samuelsson (co-owner of Aquavit in NY, Tokyo and Stockholm) made a visit to the Reading Terminal Market today before his tasting menu/cooking demonstration at International House tonight.
Although a caterer made his recipes for the tasting, Samuelsson bought some of his own supplies at the RTM, including salmon for his ceviche. He also stopped by DiNic's and enjoyed a pork/greens sandwich. He urged his audience tonight to take advantage of the RTM. His only criticism of the sandwich is that he would have liked a better bread, specifically, a whole grain. But, hey, he's Scandinavian and they even like Raw Bits! What did you expect? But he backtracked a bit on the bread critique and said the sandwich worked well as an entire entity, even if he would choose another bread.
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On to round two of the Reading Terminal Market cheesesteak survey.
Today it's Carmen's, who until he added cheesesteaks to his menu earlier this year was best known for hoagies.
Carmen puts a half-pound of meat on his rolls, though with shrinkage it seemed a bit less weighty than the overflowing steak I had last week at Pizza by George. The flavor, though, was solid. You've got your standard assortment of cheeses (whiz, American, provolone). What did throw me off, however, was that Carmen's charges extra (iirc, 35 cents) for adding hot sauce: it's listed as a Buffalo Steak on the menu board. Carmen is fond of saying you can "upgrade" your steak (as in, adding hot sauce), but what (to my taste, at least) could use upgrading is the stek/hoagie roll. It's your standard Amoroso, which I find just a bit too white-bready.
Still, it's a decent sandwich that satisfies anyone's cravings for a Philly cheesesteak. At $7.55 (iirc) fair value if you don't expect a belly-buster.
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The crew at Iovine Brothers Produce brought out a cake this past week for Jim Iovine. The cake was adorned with the words “Congratulations Farmer Jim.”
The occasion was Jim’s closing on a 57-acre spread in Franklinville, New Jersey, about 10 minutes this side of Vineland, complete with farmhouse. This winter Jim and brother Vinnie will be planning what to plant there. So, late next season, you might expect to see a little truly home-grown produce at Iovine Brothers.
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Limes and grapes were among the bargains this morning at Iovine Brothers Produce. The limes were eight fror a buck. Two-pound bags of loose grapes were selling for $1.99, vs. a pound price of $1.99 for slightly larger grapes still (mostly) attached sold in tray packs.
Vinnie Iovine touted the quality and price of the mangoes this season. I didn’t check today’s price, but a week ago the large Kent mangoes were selling for two for a buck.
The number of different varieties of apples is widening as we approach the autumnal equinox, at Iovine’s, Fair Food, L. Halteman, O.K. Lee and Kauffman’s Lancaster County produce. Winter squashes of all sorts are plentiful. In addition to buttercup, butternuts and acorns, I spied gooseneck pumpkins (they’ve got coloration like a watermelon) at Iovine’s. Another good deal at Iovine’s were 10-pound bags of New Jersey all-purpose white potatoes for $3.99; that will make a lot of kugel.
Summer hangs on, though. Expect to see local corn, peaches, tomatoes and summer squashes through the end of the month.
Kauffman had some late summer strawberries this week. While not quite as flavorful as those we get in late May and early June, the $3.95 a half-pint local hothouse fruits were a lot more flavorful than winter berries. Ben’s also been selling blackberries for $4.95/pint (vs. $7.50 at Fair Food), but the season for these is just about done. Apple prices ranged from $1.99 (Galas) to $2.49 (Honey Crisps). Bartlett pears were $1.49. His pound price for peaches are $1.99 (yellow) and $2.99 (white).
Over at Fair Food, peaches were $1.75. They’ve also got a profusion of beets, with Red, Golden and Chioggas at $2/pound. Pluots and plums ranged from $2.50-$2.75, depending upon variety.
S&B meats is long on sausages and wursts, but short on fresh pork. Only the jost common cuts are available, including baby back ribs, tenderloins, sirloin roasts, filets, chops and stuffed chops.
A new variety of tomatoes has cropped up over the past couple weeks at both Fair Food and Headhouse: Golden Peach. They do look like small peaches. Livengood’s was selling them for $3.50/pint. Livengood’s also has Cape Gooseberries, also known as ground cherries. This relative of the tomatillo has the delightful taste of a combination of tomatoe and pineaple. (Useless fact: Cape Goosberries’ scientific name is physalis peruvianna; tomatillos are physalais philadelphica. Both, like tomatoes, are members of the nightshade family.)
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The walls have started to rise at Beck’s Cajun Cafe in the Reading Terminal Market. The stall, which will feature Louisiana specialties from beignets to jambalaya, is located across from Tootsie’s Salad Express.
Refrigerators and freezers were delivered to the new Fair Food Farmstand along the market’s 12th Street windows. They’re at least a couple weeks away from moving into the new space. In the meantime, the Fair Food stall is working out of one chest freezer and one reach-in refrigerator.
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For the past few weeks, Dinic’s has added roasted long hot peppers to their offerings, in addition to the sweet roasted bell peppers. Joe Nicolosi says as long as the hot peppers are inexpensive, they’ll have them. But, given the pepper’s seasonal nature, don’t expect them when the wholesale case price escalates this winter.
When Dinic’s roasts their peppers every morning, they add oil, garlic, salt and some hot pepper flakes. They omit the flakes for the mildly-firery long hots.
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Bob,
Since you are doing a cheesesteak taste test at Reading Terminal, I nominate you to be the one to try the bacon fries (thick-cut fries served with cheese, bacon pieces and sour cream) at Barb and Suzy's Kitchen while you are at it!
I have. You can find my observations here. In a nutshell, though the toppings were fine, the fries were limp.
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There are now three vendors of cheesesteaks at the Reading Terminal Market, so I thought it was time to begin a taste test. First up: Pizza By George.
As you can see from the photo, lots of meat. The meat was nicely beefy tasting, though I don't know what cut it's from. You've got lots of choices for cheese. I opted for their house-made cheese sauce, an obvious take on Whiz, and onions. Given the huge portion of meat, there wasn't enough sauce, which was added to the meat on the grill just before constructing the sandwich. (Other cheese options included American and either mild or sharp provolone.) The steak roll was bready, though not too much so; the sesame seeds on the long roll were a nice touch. The basic cheese steak is $7.50, though either provolne will cost you 75-cents extra. They also offer pizza, mushroom rabe, spinach-garlic, blt, and wild mushroom and Italian (peppers, rabe, sharp provolone) variations for $8,50-$8.95. They've also got chicken steaks.
As part of their expansion to handle cheesesteaks, George's added deep fryers, so you can get fries, rings, fried ravioli (an import from St. Louis?) and chicken strips. The french fries looked good, and made from fresh cut potatoes, skin on. Thought they looked appetizing, I was disappointed. The size of the fries was perfect, almost Belgian style, but the frying was where they went off-track: single fried, and the final product was limp.
The cooking style for the steak uses thin slices which are they chopped on the griddle. Although the fries were sub-par, the sandwich itself is a winner. Maybe not the best in town, but up there.
Next on the taste test will be either Carmen's or Spataro's.
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The Philadelphia chapter of the Swedish-American Chamber of Commerce is sponsoring a tasting menu with Marcus Samuelsson and a crayfish festival next week.
The Samuelsson event will be held Tuesday at International House. It's a promotion for his forthcoming cookbook, "The New American Table" (he'll give a cooking demonstration of some items from it); copies of "The Soul of a New Cuisine" will be available for purchase and signing. The bill of fare, from the new book:
Hors D’oeuvresSpicy Dill Popcorn, Salmon Ceviche with Soy Jelly, Vegetable Fritters with Chili Mayo, Boiled New Potatoes with Salmon Roe Vinaigrette, Chorizo-Style Meatballs with Tomatilla-Avocado SalsaAppetizerCorn Pancakes with Chili-Covered GravlaxEntreeLemon-Poached Venison Loin with Caramelized Salsify + CarrotsDessertRed Berry Cobbler with Curry SabayonTickets for the general public are $80 for singles, $150 for a ducat, plus ticketing fee. Friday, Sept. 11, is the last day to purchase via the Chamber's website. Although the website doesn't make mention of imbibables, Absolut is one of the sponsors. Akavit, however, would be more appropriate.
The crayfish fest will be held Friday at Ikea on Columbus Boulevard. (It's about two-months later than when Swedes normally hold their crayfish bashes, but that's of no consequence since these critters are the farm-raised Chinese variety you can buy frozen at Ikea. The $20 fee includes beer and vodka. If you don't like crayfish, there are Ikea's meatballs. Cheeses, breads and dessert, too. Cash bar if you want wine. More info here.
HOST'S NOTE: This is an member-organized event and not an official eGullet Society event. Click here for the terms under which this event is listed in eG Forums. CA
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Just in time for the holy days!
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We wanted to stop for lunch at Paesano's to try their pork sandwich (even Tommy says it's good!) but they were inexplicably closed, even though the signage said they're open beginning at 11 a.m., closed Mondays. So we looked elsewhere and wound up at the Piaza at Schmidt's and parked just about in front of Darling's Diner.
Darling's cheesecake place has been near the Franklin Institute for at least a few years, though I hadn't tried it. This is a full-scale diner, with some old favs (meat loaf) as well as less retro fare. The room, at least at lunch, is bright and cheery, and there's a counter with maybe 8-10 stools, as well as booths and tables. All that was missing was the waitress calling me "Hon". (The servers were cheery and efficient.)
She Who Must Be Obeyed went for this:
This quesadilla, served on an elongated rectangular plate, featured chicken, chorizo, and cheese inside, with lots of garnishes, including black beans, roasted peppers, a fresh tomato salsa, sour cream, etc. SWMBO thought it was the best quesadilla she's ever had. The tortillas themselves were very different, not Mexican at all, though still very good; they were basically toasted sandwich wraps (though what's a wrap but a variation on the tortilla).
I had the poor man's choucroute garni:
In this case the menu called it "Polska! Polska!" -- a split, grilled kielbasa served with cooked kraut, four potato pierogi and sauteed onions. The kielbasa and kraut were good, the pierogies with the fried onions scrumptious.
For dessert we shared the Belgian Chocolate Ganache cheesecake. What I liked about it was that it wasn't a chocolate cheesecake. Atop the chocolate wafer crust was a classic cheesecake (if just a tad lighter than my homemade version) with just a barely detectable lemony bite, topped with a thin layer of excellent chocolate ganache. In some ways it tasted like a superior ice cream sandwich! Or an exceedingly rich Good Humor bar.
We will definitely return to work our way through the menu. Breakfast is served all the time, and on Friday and Saturday nights (actually, Saturday and Sunday mornings), they're open until 5 a.m. for those who need some food to sober up.
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Philadelphia style ice cream doesn't require eggs, but adding a raw egg (or pasteurized reconstituted dry whole egg or egg yolk) is a good thing. I've been experimenting with Philadelphia style all summer, and found that by adding the egg I get a much smoother, creamier mouth-feel. Again, I'm not making a custard base; I'm just using heavy cream (not ultra-pasteurized), maybe with a little whole milk added, with sugar and whatever flavor/fruit I'm working with. I figure it's the yolk's lecithin that does the trick, so I guess you could just add lecithin if you can find it.
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Hartmann's can be ordered direct from the wurstgeshaft:
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This allows the water to take on all the flavors of the garlic and scallions. Let the water cool to room temp and then use that as your thinning agent. This method will also add more garlic and scallion flavor to your noodles without having the pieces in your dish.
Sounds a whole lot more flavorful than tea! Like David, I gotta try it next time, too.
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These cowpeas, a.k.a. black eyed peas, are destined for a corn-bean salad for dinner tonight, maybe with some tomatoes and some basil from the garden. Yoder’s Heirlooms has been selling these beans, along with limas, for $5 a half-pint, pricey for peasant-food but still attractive. The fresh (not dried) beans took less than five minutes to cook in boiling, salted water. In flavor and texture, very much akin to fresh boiled peanuts, though I prefer the cowpeas to the peanuts.
I’ll be using some more of Tom Culton’s Mirai corn in this dish. In this case, however, no need to cook, since I’ll just strip the kernels and toss them with the beans, seasonings and a vinaigrette. This week the mirai was six ears for $4 vs the $3 a dozen last week, when Tom had to dispose of large quanitities of windblown, grounded ears. I used the last of those last night in a chile rellenos, with a filling of corn, fresh Mexican cheese, a little bit of chopped leftover chicken thigh, and a tiny bit of Mexican chorizo for flavoring. A pain to prep and fry in the whipped egg batter, but very tasty with the mild heat of the large poblanos I purchased at Fair Food.
Tom had lots of other interesting produce today, including:
Heads of broccoli ($3) and cauliflower ($4) accented by an artichoke flower . . .
Haricots verte, red onions, white eggplant and pattypan squash . . .
. . . and concord grapes and his usual assortmen of heirloom tomatoes, including one variety, Peche Blanche that looked more like a yellow plum than a tomato.
Over at North Star Orchards, Asian pears were non-existent (though Beechwood Orchards did have some). Ike of North Star explained that they don’t have too many early-bearing trees, so none were available this week. There should be some next week, but not many. After that the regular crop will come in. In addition to apples, North Star featured these colorful carrots and pale flat beans:
In addition to the Asian pears, Beechwood offered Barletts ($5/quart). Quarts of peaches were $4, nectarines $4.50, plums and pluots $6.50, apples $2 (except Honey Crisps, $2.50). Raspberries and blackberries were $4 for a half-pint, while over at Three Springs Fruit Farm the blackberries were $5 for a nearly-full pint.
Blooming Glen Farm had a nice selection of peppers. Green bells were $2/pound, mixed coloreds were $3. Smallish poblanos were a quarter apiece. Leeks were $1 each, heirloom tomatoes $3, field and yellow tomatoes $2. At Weaver’s Way cherry tomatoes were $4/pint, heirloom tomatoes $3.50/pound.
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I've been using the recipe for this from "The Chinese Cookbook" by Craig Claiborne and Virginia Lee (New York: J.B. Lippincott, 1972), for more than 30 years. The recipe calls for Asian sesame paste, though in a pinch I've used peanut butter, which isn't quite the same but still good. The recipe calls for the sesame paste to be thinned with tea or water. By time you add the other liquid ingedients (light soy, vinegar, hot oil, peanut oil), the sauce is plenty thin. Just takes a bit of elbow grease to get the thinning process started.
I think a lot of recipes call for peanut butter because they originated before the explosion of Asian groceries beyond the bounds of traditional Chinatowns.
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Stopped by for lunch Wednesday. It's a good deli, but not in the top tier.
The best item that I tried was the hand-sliced pastrami. Not quite as tasty as Hershel's at Philadelphia's Reading Terminal Market or Katz's, but better than most.
I ordered the "Three Tenders," which is what used to called a Sloppy Joe in my part of New Jersey (Elizabeth) when I was growing up: a combo with corned beef, pastrami and tongue adorned with slaw and russian dressing. The pastrami was fine, the smoked tongue a bit on the dry side and the corned beef, well, the corned beef is what I'd expect to be served in a smaller Midwest city. It tasted more like ham than corned beef thanks to the predominance of clove (a little clove goes a long way; this had much too much). To top it all off the corned beef, unlike the pastrami, was sliced with the grain instead of against.
She Who Must Be Obeyed enjoyed the rather large hamburger. The slaw and pickles placed on the table were first-rate and the portions large (thankfully shy of Harold's ridiculous sandwiches), as they should be for the price. But it's not the quality of deli I'd make a detour to visit in the future. Still, if I lived in the immediately neighborhood it satisfies the deli joneses.
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So, you say you don’t give a fig for a fig. Think again. Especially when a box of 27 sells for $5.99 at Iovine Brothers Produce at the Reading Terminal Market. At less than a quarter apiece, that’s a bargain price, unless you can grab them for free of a neighbor’s tree, as I can.
The variety of the Iovine’s boxes weren’t marked, but they looked like Brown Turkeys. While lacking the richness of some other fresh figs, Brown Turkeys are pleasantly sweet and make good eating, either out of hand or in cooking. They’d be great in Moshe Basson’s recipe for stuffed figs, onions and eggplant, which I first tried at his original Jerusalem retaurant, Eucalyptus. (It’s a time-consuming dish to make, what with hollowing out the three main components, cooking and mincing chicken to be stuffed into the fruits/veggies with some of their pulp, preparing the tamarind sauce and steaming everything, but if you’re game you can find the recipe in Joan Nathan’s The Foods of Israel Today.)
If you’d rather eat in América del Norte style, it’s guacamole time. Iovine’s had perfectly ripe Hass avocadoes for 89-cents apiece, limes for 20 cents each, Jersey tomatoes for 50 cents a pound. On the bell pepper survey, suntans were two pounds for a buck, Reds, yellows and oranges $1.49. Frying peppers were 79-cents, long hots 50 cents. Nice South Jersey string beans were 99-cents.
Kauffman’s Lancaster County Produce had pricey but very nice red sweet frying peppers for $2.99/pound, green bell peppers for $1.99, red for $2.99. Benuel’s kirby cukes were $2.49 a pound, raspberries $3.95 a half-pint, blackberries $4.95/pint. Fair Food;’s raspberries were $4 for a half-pint, blackberries $7.50 for a pint. In another sign of the change of seasons, white cranberries are back, $2.25/pint.
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As noted by Holly and Sandy, the combined S&B Meats/Barb & Suzy’s Kitchen opened Wednesday.
The butcher shop side of the stall specializes in fresh pork, sausages and some German sausage and cold cut specialties from Illg’s of Chalfont, Bucks County. (Unlike Rieker’s Meats in the Northeast, the area’s other premier German wurstgeshaft, Illg’s is willing to sell wholesale.)
I was particularly impressed by the beef jerky selection in five varities: Sweet ‘n Spicy, BBQ, Teriyaki, Hot ‘n spicy, and Old Fashioned. I mixed a quarter pound of the Sweet ‘n Spicy and Old Fashioned: they make a great chew!
The sausages from Illg’s included Knockwurst ($6,59), Bockwurst ($7.49), Nurnburger ($6.99) and Krakauer ($9.49). German-style wieners were $7.99, and a meaty Beef Tongue Loaf $12.99. It’s nice to see the Germany wurst selection, though some are also offered by L. Halteman. Still, neither store offers the variety that Siegfried’s boasted before they left the market. S&B also sells variously flavored “grillers,” which are basic fresh sausage links, for $3.99, a penny more than Martin’s Quality Meats & Sausage charges.
The food business is a new one for S&B’s proprietor, Moses Smucker. Previously he owned a harness manufacturing business; he shipped his product to equestrians around the world, and even supplied gear for the Busch family’s Clydesdales.
I didn’t try the sausage sandwich on the Barb & Suzy side of the stall, though they looked tasty. There’s room for improvement, however, in the french fries, which were pretty limp. The Deluxe Bacon Fries are the same fries topped with cheese sauce, scallions, sour cream and bacon bits. The fried mushroom I sampled was nice, and I’m told they cut and batter their own onion rings, which I’ll have to sample on a future visit.
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Old City Coffee opened its renovated second stand at the Reading Terminal Market this past week, next to the Arch Street entryway by Blue Mountain and the Pennsylvania General Store. It replaced a temporary stand that’s been there for about a year and a half.
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Parc is really stepping up its charcuterie game since I last had it many months ago.
Definitely so, as noted in my previous post of a Bastille Day visit. The fat-topped chicken liver mousse was particularly good.
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We're heading up to North Adams for a few days in early October. Anything new to add or updates to previous posts?
I'm also interested in learning about any provisioners of interest in the area of meat, deli, produce, breads and baked goods, etc., whether as a source for picnic items or for "export" back home to Philadelphia.
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Here are those Asian pears, and lots more, at North Star Orchards yesterday at the Headhouse Farmers' Market. The Ichiban variety was selling for $2.50/pound.
North Star’s carrots, peppers and heirloom tomatoes were also $2.50/pound. Selling for $2/pound were two varieties of apples (Summer Blaze and Chehalis), peaches and nectarines.
High winds late last week did a number on Tom Culton’s corn crop, with multitudinous stalks blown down to the ground. (Corn has notoriously shallow roots given the height of the stalks.) So, Tom picked up the ears from the ground and put them on sale at the Headhouse Square Farmers Market for $3 a dozen.
I shucked half a dozen, striped off the kernels and put them in the freezer, then nuked some ears for dinner (they could be eaten raw, they are so sweet, but I wanted to put butter on them and have it melt). About half of the ears I shucked had just a tiny bit of deterioration at the very end, easily trimmed. The remaining three ears will go into a chicken and corn chowder for dinner tonight.
Microwaving, btw, is an easy, effective and tasty way to prepare corn on the cob. After shucking and trimming, just run each ear briefly under running water, shake off the excess and wrap each ear in wax paper, twisting the ends to retain the moisture. Timing varies depending on your microwave and number of ears, but in my 22-year-old low power machine it takes just 4-6 minutes for four ears at high. Unwrap as soon as they’re done, otherwise they’ll continue to cook a bit and you tempt mushiness.
Culton’s variety of tomatoes, which last week he proclaimed as 120, is now up to 150! He was charging $3/pound.
New this week at the Silver Spring farmers’ stall was cauliflower, $4 a head, and carrots, $3.25/pound. His large variety of sweet peppers were $3/pound.
Leeks, $3 apiece, and fresh shelled beans (cowpeas and limas, $5 for a half-pint) were featured at Yoder Heirlooms.
Blackberries were still available at both Beechwood Orchards and Three Springs Fruit Farm. The latter was selling them for $5 a full pint.
Over at Weaver’s Way it was salsa time, if you wanted to make your own. Tomatillos were $3/pint and hot peppers $4/pound. They also had cilantro. Cherry tomatoes were $4 pint. There was also a big variety of hot peppers at A.T. Buzby, 10 for a buck.
2009 Phila. Farmers Markets
in Pennsylvania: Cooking & Baking
Posted
Ace gatherer Sam Consylman called to report that the paw paw season is underway, and the crop looks healthy.
The trees are laden with these custard apple-like fruits, and the rain predicted for tomorrow should put a lot on the ground. Sam forages for the paw paws by local creeks and aims to beat little critters to the fruit, who also enjoy its tropical flavor, even though it's native to North America's temperate climes. The fruits he gathered today are ripe, but he expects even more over the next few weeks.
(The photo, by the way, comes from the U.S. Department of Agriculture; photo by Scott Bauer.)
They'll be available tomorrow at Earl Livengood's stall at the Fairmount Farmers' Market, 22nd and Fairmount. Livengood's will also sell them Saturday at the Reading Terminal Market and the Bryn Mawr Farmers' Market, and again Tuesday afternoonn at the South & Passyunk venue. They'll also be available at the Fair Food Farmstand at the Reading Terminal Market, according to Sam.
If you need any recipes, Sam has them. He's usually at the South & Passyunk market on Tuesdays; just ask him and he'll pull out his book.
It's no coincidence that this weekend marks the annual Ohio Paw Paw Festival held outside of Athens. In addition to the usual paw paw puddings, pies, cakes and ice creams, expect to sample more savory dishes. There's also a paw paw beverage competition, including alcoholic beverages. Anyone for some Paw Paw Beer?