rlibkind

Congrats to Tom and Joe Nicolosi, Carmen, Jun, Drew, Joanne and the rest of the great cre at DiNic's for taking Best Sandwich in America honors. And to John's Roast Pork and every other great sandwich in this city, the sandwich capital of the U S of A!

Chris, Katie and Kerri Saturday at RTM As for roast poems, I live 'em all. to paraphrase Yip Harburg's lyrics in Finian's Rainbow: when I'm not near the pork sandwich I love, I live the one I'm near.

Our menu tonight: Gazpacho Pickled veggies Sausages Meatballs Salmon Quinoa Bread Beer, wine, cocktails Pork enchiladas, tortillas Corn salsa/salad Cream scones, fruit ice cream

The pot pie sales also involve the Nichols Room. But maybe we can use the far corner away from the kitchen. Good chance that will work.

Not an issue. Anna Florio, who owns the kitchen business, has more than enough to ammodate our sized group. Anna just called me to say she'll be there before 3 pm to try to shoo-fly pie the Amish out of there way before 5. She's as PO'd as I am on the market's reneging on its access commitment to us. I understand the RTM's desire to keep the Amish happy, but ...

Gazpacho, enchiladas...seems like we're taking a Latin approach. MORE SATURDAY RTM DETAILS OF IMPORT Because RTM management got scads of grief for evicting the Amish out of the kitchen at 3 pm today, they're letting them prep and sell pot pies there until 5ish. If they sell out sooner we can get access sooner. The RTM closes to the public at 6 pm tomorrow. I recommend anyone cooking get there no later than 5, or if you want to take a chance on getting earlier access stop by anytime after 3 pm, when I plan to be there. After 6 pm you can access the market via the door on Filbert Street (aka Harry Ochs Way) closest to 12th Street, right by Mueller's Chocolates. Enjoy tonite at Zahav: it's a unique restaurant that I doubt is duplicated west of Tel Aviv. Eat some salat turki for me!

SATURDAY AT THE RTM RTM confirmed that BYOB is not a problem for this after-hours event. (Not during the day when the market is open.) Here's my count on attendees and, for those who have expressed a preference, what they'd like to make. Let me know if there are any additions, deletions or errors. 2 Prasantrin 1 Tokaris 1 Kerry Beal (apps, sweets [figs? mignardises?) 2 Chris Hennesy (pork shoulder) 1 Katie Loeb 1 Me (gazpacho) 2 Nolnacs (bread) 1 Mummer (beer) 2 (+2 kids) Andrew Fenton 1 Capaneous 2 Chefmd That gives us a count of 16 adults and two little ones. We can make decisions on the rest of the menu tomorrow morning immediately after our 9 a.m. tour of the market to scope out what's available. (If you don't plan to cook, you can still come to the tour - I hope to dispense lotsa market trivia.) We'll meet at the Piano Court seating area on the Arch Street side of the market, near Pennsylvania General Store, Golden Fish and Amy's Place. There will be a farmer selling his produce (Steve Bowes) at the Piano Court; good but very expensive organic; makes Whole Foods seem like a bargain. The stone fruit I've had so far this season has been excellent. If there's anyone who can put together dessert with some with minimal kitchen time, can they do it? Perhaps a cobbler? Yes, a cobbler! We can get ice cream at Bassetts to go with it! Regarding the food list above, one glaring omission seems to be appropriate accompaniments to the pork. One possibility might be cabbage. Depending on Chris' flavorings, cabbage is a natural: Iovine's today had the loveliest local Savoy cabbage I've seen in a while, and good-looking red cabbage, too. But there are lots of other seasonal greens availble that would work,including chard. Any other pork accompaniment ideas? What would work, Chris? Here's a photo of the savoy cabbage:

Just back from Iovine Brothers Produce at RTM where I purchased ingredients for tomorrow night's gazpacho. Food cost: $12.67.

Here's a link to Iovine Brothers' Produce latest newsletter with availability and pricing: http://bit.ly/O7dgwp And here's a link to the latest Fair Food availability newsletter: http://bit.ly/O7XHYn For those planning to eat their way through the Reading Terminal Market, I've got a guide to munching there on my blog: http://robertsmarketreport.blogspot.com/p/munching-at-rtm.html

They use Sabrett natural casing all-beef dogs, a classic. Ir's my second favorite after North Jersey's Best Provisions five- to-a-pound dog, which is what's served at the Memphis Taproom's hot dog cart.

G-damn spell check! That's LOX, not Liz.

And for those who come from where good Jewish deli is hard to find: Hershel's at the RTM for house-cured, hand cut pastrami and corned beef. Nova and salty belly Liz, too. Schlesingers on Locust near 16th , better for platters than pastrami and CB; super good and cheap kosher style rib steak, highly recommended. The Famous on 4th and Bainbridge, great platters (stuffed cabbage, etc) as well as good pastrami, CB, chopped liver, etc. Superlative smoked/cured fish selection.

I'm trying to think what I should bring to the potluck dinner. I was thinking I could make some bread, but would that be considered rude to make my own bread vs. buying from Metropolitan/Le Bus? can you buy you flour at the market ? ;-)

I'm referring to ATM's at market which do have fees.

I do 't believe that's accurate...I'm pretty sure they have fees. Howe RR, half a block away is a Wawa convenience store, and it is free (I use it regularly).

Yum. There are other great produce vendors besides FF. Kauffman's LAncaster County Produce, steve Bowes (a local farmer who sells direct), and, especially, Iovine Brothers.

SATURDAY AT THE RTM: To take advantage of seasonality for our dinner, and menu planning, anyone who plans to cook for Saturday's dinner should plan on attending the 9 am Saturday tour. That will allow us to scope out what's best among the market's vendors and our food costs. I can't emphasize enough that the reason we're getting at-cost and after-hours access and use of market facilities is because we'll be purchasing virtually all our ingredients from market merchants. It would be ungracious and ungrateful to our hosts to bring meat, fish, produce, etc. from the outside if it is available at the RTM. (No one's going to complain about a spice packet you bring, but there's great choice of fresh herbs at the market, cheeses, etc.) Meeting point for tour will be Piano Court on aisle nearest Arch Street, across from Metropolitan Bakery (great artisinal breads), Amy's Place, and Pennsylvania store. Food for thought, or thought for food: Tomatoes Corn Stone fruits Local cheeses One of the market's produce vendors is Fair Food, a non-profit that connects to the region's best small growers and producers. Here's a link to what they offered this past weekend: http://www.fairfoodphilly.org/2012/08/02/farmstand-product-list-august-1-7-2012/

Re: RTM tours I'll be leading tours, for free! (Just remember, you get what you pay for). Because of the crowds due to Saturday's Pennsylvania Dutch Festival, I'd propose a 9 am tour, and I'll be glad to augment that with a 3:30 pm tour if there's interest. Since Center Court seating will not be available due to PA Dutch fest, we'd meet in Piano Court, close by Amy's Place, Metropolitan bakery, and Pennsylvania General Store, near Arch Street entrances to the market. Let me know who's interested at which time.

1. Still waiting to hear back from RTM on ouside alcohol. 2. If unloading is required, arrangements can be made for using the RTM loading area .. but for unloading only. Unlike the Atlantic City on the Monopoly board, there is no free parking in Philadelphia! However, a slightly less expensive garage is operated by the Philadelphia Parking Authority (PPA), which charges $18 for 3 to 12 hours; it's located at between 9th and 10th Street, along Filbert St., two blocks from the RTM. The private garages adjacent to the RTM would charge $24 for 2 hours, $29 for 2-to-12 hours. MOST IMPORTANT REGARDING THE POTLUCK We're getting use of the RTM facilities at cost (i.e., direct security and maintenance costs) because we'll be buying as many ingredients as possible within the Market. (Except perhaps for the rarest of spices or an incredibly esoteric ingredient, there's hardly anything that can't be found at the RTM.) As Katie said a year ago upthead: "having it right at Reading Terminal would be like having the world's best pantry laid out at our feet." Chris Hennes, way upthread, had asked if there's space for about a dozen people to simultaneously cook. Contrary to the info I had before the kitchen was constructed, it can't accommoate a dozen cooks simultaneous. It's a demonstration kitchen, not a production kitchen. I've seen three or four professional chefs work on one dish each there, but that's pretty much the limit. In addition, we won't have access to the kitchen until after 3 p.m. when the Pennsylvania Dutch Festival ends. To quote Katie from upthread again: "It occurs to me that we might have to cook in shifts and time this out with military precision, and it being the hell fire of a Philly August, we might want to go for more cold and room temperature dishes that don't require burner and/or oven space". Sounds like a fine idea to me. I also recommend that the active kitchen space be devoted to use by those traveling-from-afar rather than locals. I, for one, plan to make a dish from RTM ingredients at home the day before that would, at most, just require plating at the potluck. Say, gapacho, which benefits from an overnight in the fridge anyway. Of course, I may be worrying a bit unnecessarily about how to accommodate a dozen cooks and three dozen diners. To update Prasantrin's count, at the current time I see only 9 firm attendees Saturday evening: Chris Hennes + 1 Tokaris Prasantrin +1 Kerry Beal Katie Noinacs Me If there are others who plan to attend the Saturday "pot luck", please post post-haste.

My attendance: Friday dinner (1) Saturday RTM day event (1) Saturday night potluck (1)

Regarding costs, the RTM will charge $100 to $200 for after-hours use of the Nichols Room. Anna Florio hasn't got back to me on costs ( she's in Italy til Aug 2) for use of La Cucina kitchen facilities. But I think we should be prepared for $200 minimum (just a guess on my part), making it a total of about $400 for pot luck rental costs. That means if we get 20 people cost could be $20 pp. As info Aug. 11 (day of pot luck) is same day as Pa. Dutch Festival at market. Nice in some ways, but that means the market will be extra crowded during the day and seating will be at a premium for lunch. Also, Paul Steinke of RTM said he'd probably need Nichols Room for that event, which runs until 4 pm -- tho by 3 pm it's pretty much run down. That said, Paul will make sure to have up to two dozen seats reserved for us from 12 noon to 1:30, tho it will probably be in piano court rather than Nichols Room. We'd still have Nichols Room for the pot luck. PA Dutch fest will be using La Cuchina til about 2 or 3 pm, so kitchen access won't be available until late afternoon.

And since you appear into fruits, consider sorbets. Just remember to add a little corn syrup in addition to the sugar (regular Karo, for example, which is NOT a high fructose corn syrup) for its hydroscopic quality, I.e., helps to prevent big ice crystals. A tablespoon of alcohol (I like a complementary eau de vie, but vidka works) keeps it softer if you put it in the deep freeze because it lowers the freezing point. Running your fruit purées thru a chinoise or other fine mesh strainer helps, I think, make a more elegant sorbet; that's essential with fruits like blackberries. A gelateria here in Philadelphia regularly makes a grapefruit-Campari sorbet that's popular. I'd use a couple extra tablespoons both because of its lower proof and because you like the flavor. And a couple tablespoons of sour cream might turn it into an unusual sherbet.

When it comes to hamburgers, I ask the butcher to grind meat to order for me. It's not that I don't think the pre-ground meat at a good butcher shop isn't good -- it usually is. (I'm always a bit more suspect of the pre-ground meats I find at supermarkets, especially if it's ground off-site by a larger processor.) I ask for grinding to order because I prefer chuck rather than round and/or sirloin, or the less desirable cuts found in "hamburger". I think the flavor of meat ground from the chuck far superior to others. And since I prefer my burgers cooked very rare, I don't want the meat sitting around, even for less than a day, after grinding, giving any bacteria a chance to multiply. Usually I ask Charles Giunta to grind up chuck for me at the Reading Terminal Market. But earlier this week when I stopped by Charles was busy and said I'd have to wait about an hour until he had a chance. Since my meter was just about expired, I thanked him and went to his brother's shop, Martin's Quality Meats. When I asked the counterman for chuck, he tried to steer me (pun intentional) to the "ground sirloin" on display, priced at $2.99 a pound vs. the $4.59 I'd pay for chuck. "It's chuck, too," he said. I suggested he look at his butcher's chart: sirloin comes from the back end of the animal, chuck from the shoulder. Either the ground meat was chuck and it was wrongly labelled, or he was fibbing. And I doubted it was chuck because if it was, he wouldn't be selling it for $1.60 less a pound that unground chuck, even accounting for the extra fat that's usually thrown into ground meat. "I'm just trying to save you money," he said. I thanked him for the consideration, but said I preferred chuck and am willing to pay for it. He finally relented and ground a hunk of chuck roast to order -- I asked him to de-bone a piece of short rib and throw that into the grinder as well to provide a bit more fat as well as flavor. I wound up with a bit over two pounds of ground meat for a bit over $11, enough for seven five-ounce burgers (I don't like behemoth burgers, like the half-pounders you tend to find at too many pubs). They were tasty and good. But I still had a bad taste in my mouth from the buying experience. I don't know why the counterman tried to get me to buy the ground sirloin, other than his stated reason of trying to save me a buck or two. Maybe he simply didn't want to take the time to run it through the grinder, though there weren't many customers and his co-workers could easily handle others while he was tied up serving me. This is hardly the only example of unclear or downright untruthful labeling to be found. I've written before about the loosey-goosey nomenclature for salmon. John Yi at the Reading Terminal continues to sell "Wild Organic King Salmon". What that really means is that it's farm-raised king which had been fed "organic" feed. Since it's Alaskan salmon season I had a hankering today for king (also known as chinook) salmon. Over at John Yi's they had "Wild King Salmon" at $17.99/pound, a relative bargain. But when I asked where it was from I was told it was New Zealand. There's no such thing as a commercial king salmon fishery in New Zealand. There is, however, a substantial farm-raised king industry; indeed, New Zealand is the world's largest producer of this product. I don't have any qualm about the quality of the product; my issue is misleading labelling by retailers. (There is some "wild" sea-run king salmon in New Zealand, but it's not fished commercially. It was brought to Kiwiland in the late 19th century in form of eggs from California kings in an attempt to establish the species there as a sport fishery.) At the Reading Terminal Market Yi's and Golden Fish do have truly wild Alaskan salmon right now: sockeye priced at about $14 a pound; it's also an excellent fish like truly wild king, but it has a slightly different flavor profile and the filets are considerably thinner.

They cherries may be done for the year, but the procession of stone fruits marches on at local farmers' markets. Sunday at the Headhouse Square market Three Springs Fruit Farm and Beechwood Orchards presented both white and yellow peaches, and rosy, appetizing apricots. Beechwood also had some nectarines, which Ben Wenk of Three Springs plans to harvest this week. Blueberries, raspberries and blackberries also filled farmers' tables. Definitely time for some cobblers! Last week, with tomatoes now tasting real, I made some gazpacho to bring to our Fourth of July block party. I got my recipe from behind the pay wall at Cooks Illustrated, but there are similar recipes you can find on-line. What made this version striking was that it was creamy -- without the addition of any cream. That's accomplished by whizzing about two thirds of the tomatoes (along with green pepper, cucumber, red onion, garlic and crust-less white bread) in a blender, then dribbling in olive oil to emulsify the soup. This makes all the other versions I've tried look like watery salsa.

Tom Culton reduced the price of the chickpeas he was selling Sunday at the Headhouse Square farmers' from the previous week by two bucks, so a light pint cost me $5 rather than $7. Still, they were rather pricey considering that once shelled they produced only half a cup of legumes. They were extraordinarily good. I cooked them simply: a two or three minute douse in gently boiling water, followed by a quick sauté in olive oil, garlic and a couple twists of black pepper. But considering the cost, yield, and nearly 40 minutes spent shelling the peas, it's a pricey delicacy I'll probably pass on in the future. In the process of shelling the chickpeas, about 10 percent turned out to be black. I cooked both the black peas and the greener ones together, and both tasted fine. Tom says he has a lot of black chickpeas growing, but doesn't have the time to harvest the crop. Instead, he'll dry them on the vines, then bring the harvest to a local mill to turn into flour later this season.