rlibkind

I've written about this on the Pennsylvania Cooking board because its an essential part of a local sandwich, the Roast Pork with Rabe and Aged Provolone, but this shortage is of national impact. "SUPPLIES VERY LIGHT. DEMAND EXCEEDS SUPPLY." That's how the U.S. Department or Agriculture describes the drought-ravaged market for broccoli and broccoli rabe in the winter growing areas of Southern California and Arizona. It's hardly available at any price, and is likely to stay that way for four or five weeks, Iovine Brothers Produce at Philly's Reading Terminal Market was told by its primary supplier.

iirc, Bourdain pays homage to him in Kitchen Confidential. Mitcham's Provincetown Seafood Cookbook has an honored spot ony kitchen bookshelf...and I reread it every year!

"SUPPLIES VERY LIGHT. DEMAND EXCEEDS SUPPLY." That's how the U.S. Department or Agriculture describes the drought-ravaged market for broccoli and broccoli rabe in the winter growing areas of Southern California and Arizona. The bitter green adorns many Italian-style roast pork sandwiches in Philadelphia. It's hardly available at any price, and is likely to stay that way for four or five weeks, Iovine Brothers Produce was told by its primary supplier. And that puts purveyors of the sandwich like Joe Nicolosi who operates Tommy Dinics at the Reading Terminal Market with his father in a quandry. Should he use another green, like Swiss chard? Or perhaps Chinese greens? Or maybe just forget about it until supplies in reasonable quantities resume. With crowds expected to swamp Dinics beginning next weekend with the opening of the Philadelphia Auto Show across the street at the Convention Center, Dinics doesn't want to disappoint its cutomers. But there may be no choice.

[Moderator note: The original Reading Terminal Market topic became too large for our servers to handle efficiently, so we've divided it up; the preceding part of this discussion is here: Reading Terminal Market (Part 2)] KeVen Parker's Soul Food Café will be serving up food starting Monday in the former Delilah's space at the Reading Terminal Market. Two days later Valley Shepherd Creamery plans to begin selling cheese, cheese sandwiches and accompaniments. Parker, proprietor of Miss Tootsie's on South Street (he can't use that name at the RTM because Marion Iovine D'Ambrosio already has a claim on Tootsie's for her salad bar), built the stall in record time. There's still more work to be done, but he told RTM General Manager Paul Steinke he'd be open Monday. That should give him enough time to work out at least some of the kinks before the auto show crowds descend next weekend. Both Parker and Valley Shepherd owner Eran Wajswol received their certifications this past week from the city health department. Valley Shepherd won't begin cheese-making operations at the stall for another week or so, according to Wajswol's on-site cheese-maker, Jamie Ng. But the full range of cheeses made at the creamery in Long Valley, N.J., will be available, along with paninis.

Not tough at all since they were very fresh. Some of these had fruiting bodies of 5-6 inches, not counting the stems. The stems were only slightly tougher. Ans these had no worms, just an occasional bug (good protein!). The per pound price worked out to about $35, almost half what I'd pay at a Philadelphia farmer's market or produce stall at the Reading Terminal Market. Creamed on toast/brioche is a definite winner, as is just about any egg dish. Most memorable I've ever had was about a dozen years ago at Madison's L'Etoile where morels, other spring mushrooms and asparagus were sauced with a beurre blanc around a ring of savory flan.

Purchased last spring at Dane County Farmers Market, Madison, Wisconsin, during my annual visit to UW. For transport via the drive back to Philadelphia I sautéed in butter, then packed then in portion-sized freezer bags which I then froze and brought back East in a cooler loaded with dry ice and other Wisconsin freeze able goodies. I pull out a bag when I want, most recently to serve alongside a savory cristless quiche.

Never tried this on dried kosher salami, but for similar hard Italian salamis froma small producer I've cut off what I want then moisten the casing a bit, then it can be more easily removed.

Funny, I'm not a frozen dinner guy, since my wife is fond of Stouffers and I find what I've tried of the brand slightly better than unpalatable. But I did take one of her Saffron Road chicken tikka masalas out of the freezer last week and found it pretty much as you described the biranyi. There was actually a pleasant flavor, the texture was more than mush, and the spicing aggressive. Even the ingredient list was not off-putting.

Add a couple feet to really insure a gelatinous body. You'll probably have aspic after an overnight in the fridge to create that easily-removed schmaltz cap.

There may be no season next year: http://bangordailynews.com/2012/12/01/business/maine-shrimp-industry-in-dire-straits-prompting-call-for-fishing-moratorium/

Pumpkin ice cream. Especially if it has corn syrup as well as sugar since the former is hydroscopic and will make for a creamier ice cream.

By the time ITT acquired Continental Baking (Hostess) the former had become the pluperfect example of a conglomerate owning a wide variety of unrelated businesses. Telephony was by thus time a small, tho still important, part of the multinational put together by Harold Geneen. Sheraton Ed another of its properties.

Twinkies likely won't disappear, nor other big Hostess Brands products. (I hope Snowballs are among these, but I doubt it.) Why: The company will auction off these products, and the big sellers will be snapped up by its more solvent competitors, including Flowers Foods (Tastycakes new owner), Bimbo Bakeries, and McKee Foods (Little Debbie), among others.

It's definitely starting to be choucroute weather. Saw some bacon-inflected knocks year at the Reading Terminal Market today that would make a nice addition to one. It's an infinitely malleable dish!

Didn't mean to offend anyone with my appy crack. But, alas, few people understand the difference (eGulleters excepted), especially now that there are so few true appetizing stores. Of course, a kosher deli could, theoretically, sell whitefish and lox, since they're parve. Just no cream cheese! Today a good deli is rare enough, but a kosher one even rarer.

Hooray! Someone else recognizes the dif between a deli and an "appy". Katz's is a no-brainer, though I disagree with calling the Carnegie terrible. Just not quite as good. When I worked in Midtown Berger's on 47th was my go-to deli, but I understand it's been gone for a few years. Also too bad Pastrami King has departed Queens for Long Island. As long as I'm talking suburbs, if you find yourself on the NJ Turnpike, Harold's is only a couple minutes off Exit 10. The quantity of food is outrageous, and the quality is pretty good. But Katz's is the only spot I know for hand-carved pastrami, corned beef, etc., other than Herschel's at Philadelphia's Reading Terminal Market. .

It's my understanding dried za'ataar herb mix can vary with the maker, though thyme and oregano are usual, along with sumac, which is what makes the mix unique.

Today at Headhouse The forms and colors of mushrooms are diverse, but few approach the attractiveness of chicken of the woods mushroom, Laetiporus sulphureus. This beauty represents about one-quarter of the two-and-a-half-pound specimen offered by Happy Cat at the Headhouse Square Farmers' Market today, which was being sold for $17/pound, a fair price for a delectable fungus. I plan to simply sauteé it with some shallot tonight (finishing with a bit of wine, since this variety does tend to dry out). Chicken of the woods is a shelf mushroom found growing on the trunks of hardwood trees in the Northeast U.S. When young, like this one, the top is a neon orange, the underside a bright, clean yellow. It's perfectly edible for most folks, although the rare person may find it causes a mild reaction (perhaps swollen lips, nausea, dizziness, etc.), so try a little first before digging into a larger portion. The variety is a polypore, i.e., it doesn't have gills but instead features pores on the underside. Don't confuse it with hen of the woods, a.k.a. maitake, a completely different mushroom. African horned melon, a.k.a. kiwano, a.k.a. jelly melon, attracted lots of questions at Tom Culton's stall today. What is it? How do you eat it? Do you cook it? It's a member of the cucumber melon family, and it's usually eaten raw. The taste, so I'm told, is cucumber-ish, perhaps with a slight amount of tartness and, as it ripens, tastes slightly more fruitier. And as the jelly melon moniker implies, the edible portion is a tad gelatinous. Yet, as one food professional remarked to me today: "It's one of those foods you think you should like, until you taste it." With those words, I decided to pass these fruits by.

If you're a regular at the Reading Terminal Market this is probably a familiar face. Alan Segal has greeted visitors to the market from the information stand at the 12th and Filbert entrance for 17 years, dispensing information and market wisdom to tourists and city denizens alike. He was honored this morning at a meeting of the Reading Terminal Market Merchants Association for his years of helpful service. The retired Navy man was honored along with Sgt. Anthony Rappone of the Philadelphia Police Department. Sgt. Rappone, assigned to the convention center, helps market merchants in cutting down on thefts and other security matters. I first met Alan when he was among the regulars of the Saturday Morning Breakfast Club, an informal group organized by Pennsylvania General Store co-owner Michael Holahan (who is current president of the merchants' association). The SMBC met every Saturday to discuss food topics, including hearing from guest speakers like Harold McGee, Fritz Blanc and others. [Moderator note: This topic continues in Reading Terminal Market (Part 3, 2013–)]

I don't mean to pick on Martin's at the Reading Terminal Market (see my previous post about the shop's ground meat labelling), but where's the "eye" in this ribeye steak? It's there, but hardly more than two or three bites. All the rest is bone and "deckle". Now it happens that this would be perfect steak for me. The deckle is the fattier meat surrounding the ribeye, and it's more frequently known as ribeye cap. I love it: flavorful and tender because of all that fat marbled through it. But that high a proportion of deckle to ribeye is not what most people expect when buying a ribeye steak, a.k.a. Delmonico. In case the steak was cut from one of the ends of the rib primal (I'm guessing the chuck end rather than the short loin, from whence strip steaks and porterhouses reside). By the way, deckle is not a specific cut of meat, rather, it's a term to describe any piece of fattier meat normally cut along with leaner meat. Get a whole brisket (as opposed to the "first cut" you usually see) and it will have a huge, fatty, flavorful adjunct of deckle. The best tasting brisket you'll ever have will be one cooked whole with the deckle.

KeVen Parker's plans to expand his Ms. Tootsie's restaurant brand through franchising, disclosed in the Philadelphia Daily News a few weeks ago, won't earn him any points in the competition to succeed Delilah's at the Reading Terminal Market. Parker's South Street soul food operation is among the four contenders to fill the space Delilah was forced to vacate last spring when her business went bankrupt. In late August the four took shifts in the market kitchen at La Cucina to serve their food to RTM board members and staff. The board is expected to make a decision at its late September regular meeting. Although the market tolerates the few vendors who have operated a limited number of other outside venues (the owner of Downtown cheese used to operate a shop at the Ardmore Farmers' Market, and Delilah at one time had three or four operations going at the same time), it doesn't condone franchising. Though Parker's proposed RTM stall would be his own, rather than franchised, if the brand is franchised that might put his chances to gain space at the RTM at risk. Right now, though, it's only conjecture, since Parker's plan to franchise Ms. Tootsie's is only that, a plan. According to PDN columnist Jenice Armstrong's article, Parker is "looking to franchise the Ms. Tootsie's restaurant and KDP Lifestyle store and Luxury Suites brand next year in Los Angeles, Atlanta and Washington."

It's been a while since I visited my neighborhood farmers' market in Fairmount, so it was nice to see a new vendor earlier this month, even though it's for a product I buy infrequently: jams and jellies. The vendor is Fifth of a Farm Creations, which uses the community kitchen sponsored by Greensgrow to produce fruit-in-a-jar named after Philadelphia neighborhoods. Some examples: Strawberry Mansion Jam, Parkside Prickly Pear Jelly, Fairmount Cherry Jam, etc. The stall also had some citrus marmalades. It doesn't exactly replace Noelle Margerum and her preserves, who used to frequent Fairmount, but it's a welcome addition. Among the regulars at Fairmount yesterday was Earl Livengood, who had the largest paw paws I've ever seen. They all come from a huge tree in his front yard just outside Lancaster. I picked up a field tomato and small basket of orange pear tomatos from Earl, then stopped by Beechwood Orchards' stall for Jonathan apples, a Bartlett pear and a Crenshaw melon, another cultivar of the huge muskmelon family (honeydews, cantalopes, persian, etc.).

With poultry you might want to consider a sweet approach. Just add some dried fruit (raisins, currents, cherries, diced apricots, etc.) to it with your cooking liquid. Pine nuts or chopped walnuts nice addition to this slightly sweet version.

More Musical Chairs: Downtown Cheese, Nanee's to move Downtown Cheese will take over much of the Piano Court and Nanee's Kitchen will switch to the vacant Coastal Cave spot this fall. RTM General Manager Paul Steinke eventually hopes to lure a Latin American (but not Mexican) merchant to Nanee's spot. Farmer Steve Bowes, who occupies day tables in the Piano Court, will also be shifted as part of the shuffle. All this means there will be a few less seats for lunchers in peak hours. But since Nanee's move to a larger space also requires them to add South Asian groceries in addition to their lunch items, it reinforces the market's mission to sell foods to be cooked and consumed at home. The product line will include spices and chutneys; let's also hope they include dried legumes and items like chick pea flour. Jack Morgan, proprietor of Downtown Cheese, has had additional refrigerated display cases in storage since he had to close his second shop at the Ardmore Farmers' Market, where DiBruno's takes up his former space and a whole lot more, probably about a quarter of that venue's square footage. When Morgan moves, probably in November if all goes well, Downtown Cheese will have an L-shaped layout. He also believes being located across the aisle from Metropolitan Bakery and Blue Mountain Vineyards will be beneficial. Taste of Norway Takes Day Stall Although Coastal Cave has been closed since April, you can still buy seafood at that spot in the Reading Terminal Market. At least until Nanee's moves in. Taste of Norway, started by Norway's Honorary Consul in Philadelphia, Erik Torp, and Swedish entrepreneur Jonas Vesterberg, is importing smoked salmon and steelhead and selling them at a day stall in the former Coastal Cave stall. They'll be there at least a couple of months, Thursday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to closing. If it works out well they'll try to be there at least through Christmas and New Year's, though probably at a different location depending on Nanee's schedule. Right now their product offerings are limited to cold smoked Atlantic salmon and steelhead salmon; the latter is actually the farm-raised version of sea-run rainbow trout. Erik and Jonas also plan to sell salmon burgers at the stall. The cold smoked fishes were being sold at a relative bargain: $10 for an eight-ounce package. That's no more (and even a little bit less in many instances) than you'd pay at supermarkets for pre-sliced, packaged smoked salmon. (And much of what's labelled "Norwegian" in the supermarkets is actually Norwegian salmon that's been shipped to Poland for smoking and packaging, where processing costs are cheaper.) While I prefer hand-sliced belly lox or nova to pre-sliced, packaged product, Taste of Norway's offerings are sure to please. I tried the steelhead on a buttered baguette and found it well-satisfied my cold smoked fish craving. The steelhead is a tad milder, I'm told, than the Atlantic salmon. I'm not averse to purchasing farm-raised salmon when I know it's been produced in a safe and reasonably environmentally-benign manner. That's the case with Norwegian salmon, whose pens are scattered in the deep cold-water fiords all along the nation's west coast. For example, the Norwegian aquaculture industry ensures the fish is raised in a low-density environment, at least 97.5 percent of open water volume per pen to allow the salmon the freedom to grow to full size in a clean and natural environment. (Sounds a lot nicer to be an industrial salmon in Norway than industrial chicken in Delmarva.) In addition, Taste of Norway's producers raise fish that are hormone-free, not genetically modified and free of artificial ingredients. Jámon Ibérico de Bellota Downtown Cheese has Jámon Ibérico de Bellota back in stock at a necessarily pricey $159/pound. I treated myself to an ounce for my birthday last January and the only worthwhile description of its taste I can offer is this: Ham butter. The free-roaming pigs rely on fallen acorns for their diet. In addition to a broad and deep selection of cheeses, Downtown offers some tasty cold cuts, primarily Italian style. Some are imported, but some are locally made, like the soppressata from Claudio's, which also supplies the RTM stall with fresh mozzarella and riccota. Tubby Olive, Head Nut open Two new vendors raced to open their new stores at the Reading Terminal Market, and both opened over Labor Day weekend. The Tubby Olive had its full stock of bulk olive oils and vinegars in place for opening day. It's located along the back wall of Avenue D, next to the Rick Nichols Room across the aisle from Molly Malloy's. The Head Nut still has plenty of shelves to fill, but you can find spices and herbs for just about any cooking need. One I found that, if I recall correctly the old Spice Terminal didn't stock, is Za'atar, the Middle Eastern blend of sumac, roasted sesame seeds, and a variety of dried herbs (which vary depending on who's doing the blending, though thyme and marjoram are frequent components). Wursthaus Schmitz is still under construction, with little more than the framing in place last time I looked. Still, if the pace picks up they could be open by the end of the month. Valley Shepherd Creamery finally has all its permits in line, so construction could start soon. The market has four additional spaces to fill. Late last month it held a "cook-off" for four soul-food outfits contending to fill the former Delilah's space. Members of the market staff and board were among the tasters. No decision yet. The market also will need to fill the spaces now occupied by Downtown Cheeser and Nanee's Kitchen. A fourth space yet to be filled is a sort of "end cap" wedged inbetween Wursthaus Schmitz and the Avenue D aisle. The market hasn't even begun to fill that tiny space yet. Winter Produce, Tropical Fruit Pumpkins and winter squash filled a market cart at Iovine Brother's Produce by one of their Reading Terminal Market checkout lanes. The cart is alongside the Filbert Street (Harry Ochs Way) windows until Tuesday, when new refrigeration units for mushrooms and other items are installed. Produce from warmer climes made its way to Iovine's shelves this week, too. It's the end of the season for citrus fruits in South Africa, so the Iovine's are selling large, juice-laden Mineola oranges at three for a buck. Dragonfruit from tropical lattitudes and prickly pear (cactus pear) from the arid deserts of the southwest U.S. and Mexico also made their appearance this week, as in photo below.

Nothing wrong with just eating it straight, as a pickle on your sandwich plate. And isn't it one of the standard fixings on a Chicago Italian beef sandwich?