rlibkind

Sounds like fun, but I don't think Waygu would be a fair comparison. That's practically a different animal!

Katie, give Caol Ila a try. It's an Islay malt, but of a more floral nature. The 12 y.o. is readily available. It's a major component of Johnny Walker Black. Caol Ila was my introduction to the world of single malts, and it's quite inviting.

I bought a box of these yesterday and had some tonight for the first time. They're delicious and a little taste of summer. I cut them in half, sprinkled them with a little demerara sugar, a pinch of salt and a little Grand Marnier and let them release some juices for about 15 minutes. A dollop of sour cream on top and they were a real treat. Price has gone up to $1.99/box but they're well worth it. Every single berry in the box is red and perfectly formed and they smell heavenly. ← The ones I brought home were very flavorful, but not at all sweet, as Vinnie promised. As you did, letting them swim in some sugar for a bit fixed that and then the flavor really shined.

Isn't there some sort of market downtown with a store/counter that sells pretty good fried fish?

I use that for flavoring ground meat dishes and love it. But the Mexican "squishy" chorizo is a different animal (even if they are both made from pig) from the Iberian version. Like the difference between mortadello and soppresetta.

I shudda added a . Just meant to bring attention to the fact that the hot dog traditionally served in Coney Island, first by Feltman and then by Nathan, bears no resemblance to what the rest of the country calls a Coney. I've never seen chili sauce applied to a frankfurther in Coney Island, Brooklyn, NY, USA. Detroit? Yes. ABE? Yes. But not where Surf and Stillwell meet.

Fiorella is a great store. I don't get there nearly often enough. Thanks for the reminder.

Your recollection is correct regarding the Cooks Illustrated tasting result. But the magazine's sample included only skinless franks. The natural casing franks, to my taste, are considerably different. The casing version of Boar's Head tastes just fine, although its casing is particularly tough compared to others I've had. But I hardly think it belongs in the "Not Recommended" category. (I actually wonder whether the C.I. sampling got the wrong package of Boar's Head; although they listed it as skinless, the panel said although the flavor was good one taster complained biting into the dog was like biting into a bicycle tire. Hard to imagine that tactile quality in a skinless dog.)

The thick crust exists because it was the lunch for miners. They held the pasty by the thick crust with their hands, which were dirty with tin or copper residue, then discarded the crust to avoid metal poisoning. It's all explained here: http://observer.guardian.co.uk/foodmonthly...,475394,00.html

Lately, because I like a dog with natural casing, I've been buying the Board's Head All Beef with Natural Casing. Not a bad dog at all, good snap, though the shape is not my ideal (they are long and thin). Some supermarkets carry them, but so does Harry Ochs at the RTM. If I could get the five-to-a-pound natural casing Best's in town, I'd go for them -- they're my favorite. Of course, if you're at the RTM, you should consider the German style franks carried by Dutch Country Meats and L. Halteman; of course, they are not all beef. And they also tend to be long and thin.

I believe the original Coney Island is called Nathan's. (Well, that's not really right. The original was Feltman's who sold franks for a dime; Nathan Handwerker, an employee, went out on his own and priced his dogs at a nickel.)

The Kunzler bacon did not "win", since the NY Times article really wasn't a firm ranking. The "reduced fat" peppered bacon from Kunzler, however, earned praise with tasters saying it had a rich flavor and they couldn't tell the difference. There's probably more of a risk in a deli case of other foods taking on the taste of very smokey bacon than vice versa. But in any event, I wouldn't worry about it either way in a properly refrigerated and maintained/cleaned case. Also, the bacon you find in the butcher's case isn't "fresh"; it's still smoked, and therefore not "fresh". The difference is that it is not pre-packaged.

Here's the story from Friday's Times and from Thursday's.

There is a partial exception to this rule. Some fish can be deep or pan fried, then marinated and served cold. Herring, for example. But fish served this way generally is just lightly coated with flour, not battered, so I take it back: you're right on target when you talk about "anything battered".

Fondue. Deep-fried Mars Bars. Baked Alaska. Corn dogs. Cotton candy.

I double checked Thursday and Harry Ochs does sell a chorizo. How authentic is is I cannot vouch. It was labeled as smoked.

have you tried these? i considered buying one last week but when i picked it up it had a super floral almost papaya-ish smell to it, and sometimes papaya smells like cat pee to me, so i put it back down. what do you do with those spearling? i saw them last week and was intrigued--any idea? just flour and fry, like smelt but snackier? do they need cleaning or do you just eat them as is? ← Galia melons: I didn't try these. I have had them in the past and enjoyed them. Your basic canteloupe/honeydew type melon; like many melons, it doesn't have a knock your socks off flavor, but it's pleasant enough. And the price was a good one. Used to be when they first appeared on these shores that a similar sized Israeli melon would cost as much as $5. Of course, the best one I ever ate was on a sunny afternoon at a shorefront café in Tel Aviv. Spearling: Never worked up the guts to eat them, since they are consumed guts, eyes and all. I think you just try 'em up as is after tossing in flour. Treat them like the British treat whitebait. (Useless information: In October, seacoast communities throughout Britain celebrate traditional Trafalgar Night Dinners of whitebait and roast beef and toasts to 'The Immortal Memory' of Nelson.) Hmmm? Maybe the key is to accompany them with plenty of grog. Or whisky. Or beer.

I don't presume to know how Harry and Nick handle their stock, i.e., what grade/aging variety gets placed where. Your best bet is, simply, to ask.

Dug into those $1.49/pint Florida strawberries tonight. The flavor was there. Not particularly sweet, but you can always add sugar. And some of the stem ends were a bit white. But still, for winter berries, very good at a very good price. If Vinnie and Jimmie can knock the price down to 99 cents this weekend they'll be an even bigger bargain. Tim, do let us know your opinion of that porterhouse. I will tell you that the sub-primal hunk of porterhouse I spied in Ochs side case this afternoon was stamped Choice, not Prime. Which should not be taken to mean yours won't be delicious. If you got a 3-pound plus steak for $38, odds are it was choice. If the steak was closer to 2 pounds, then it was most likely the extra-aged prime.

Winter strawberries? Yes. Every year Iovine brings in Florida berries at a bargain price. And what's surprising is that they have good flavor. Vinnie promises that the two pints I bought today will not only have flavor, but be sweet. They sure smell good. I bought them for $1.49 apiece, but if his brother Jimmy can cut the right deal with their supplier, you might find these berries for 99-cents this weekend. But even at $1.49 they appear worth it. Also at Iovines, those 50-cent avocados are gone, as expected. Still, the Haas avocados in today looked good at a buck apiece. No more bargains in any bell pepper, not even green which, iirc, were either $1.49 or $1.99 today. New this year are Galia melons from Brazil. This variety was first popularized by Israeli growers and later brought to the New World. $1.49 per melon. Good looking navel oranges at 3/$1; I picked up half a dozen. Nice variety of grapefruit, some at excellent prices. Vinnie Iovine said they've been real happy with the quality of the California Clementines this year; they were out of them today but should have them in stock for the weekend. It's definitely citrus season. Frozen langoustines were available at Golden Seafood (near Arch). They are a farmed freshwater variety from India, which accounts for the relative bargain price of $9.99/pound. Golden still had branzino. John Yi's still had sardines at either $2.99 or $3.99, depending on the size; spearling are also still in stock. Pacific King salmon back at Yi's: $11.99/pound. Kaufman's Produce closed this week. Will reopen next week. I was going to try one of those hoagies at Carmen's today, but they were closed because of "refrigerator trouble" according to the sign. Fair Food Project kept some fresh Country Time pork on hand today rather than immediately putting it in the freezer. (Just in time for Rick Nichols' column in today's Inquirer.) Expect the vendors who lost their leases to vacate the premises by Jan. 31. Braverman's may shut down sooner. That spot will be occupied by the new pastry shop. The Sandwich Stand will become Spataro's new home, and the latter's prime venue along Center Court will become the new Jewish deli, with counters on both center court and the opposite aisle. For posterity's sake, here are photos take today of Braverman's, the Sandwich Stand and Tokyo Sushi Bar:

I put the question raised by Mottmott directly to Nick Ochs today. First, antibiotics and hormones. All the beef they sell comes from a single supplier in Berwyn who slaughters only local steers. No growth hormones are used. Antibiotics are used only for therapy, not on the sub-therapeutic level, i.e., in the feed. (Sub-therapeutic use of antibiotics is where the danger resides.) Hey, if a cattleman has an investment in an animal and it gets a bacterial infection, he wants to protect that investment by giving the animal the proper medicine, and I have no problem with that, just as I'll ingest antibiotics when medically appropriate. But the beef Harry Ochs sells do not get antibiotics in their regular feed. Now onto tenderness and flavor. Harry Ochs carries both choice and prime beef. And even within the category of prime, he has two levels of aging. The pre-cut strip steaks you see in the front case are not the best available at Harry's. Most of the prime beef is dry aged for two weeks. However, a smaller quantity is aged for six weeks or more. It is cut to order, not pre-cut for display. Ask for it. You'll pay for all that water loss, but your tongue won't regret it. Harry Ochs does all his own hanging (at his supplier's facility, I believe). The cattle are fed on both grass and corn (the latter to encourage fattiness). As for the marbling issue, Nick opined that because they trim it very closely, it appears to be leaner than it actually is. Some personal observations. Marbling is an important component of what makes a good steak or roast, but it is hardly the sole determinant. Some experts contend marbling and fat content are responsible for only one-quarter of a piece of beef's flavor and tenderness. The breed, age and feed of the animal are also important. An older steer will be tastier, but it will be less tender than a young animal. An animal that's strictly grass fed will be considerably leaner. And all other things being equal, there's still natural variety between individual animals: some just taste better than others, even if they're from the same herd, fed the same food, slaughtered the same way. Nor can you entirely rely on the USDA grading system. I've had pieces of Choice that were was tender as Prime and more flavorful, and I've had Prime that should have been graded Choice. As for Whole Foods, I concur that they offer some excellent beef, and I frequently buy my meat there. Unlike their exorbitant prices on fish, WF is competitive on beef. And their lamb can be exceptional. But I also buy from Harry Ochs and Martins. What I particularly like about Harry Ochs is the service: if you want a beef navel, he'll get it for you. If you want 20 pounds of beef cheek (as someone asked for recenlty -- was it you, Shacke?), he'll get that, too. You want your meat cut a certain way? No problem! So, Mottmott, I'd recommend giving it another try, but this time asking for the super-aged beef. And I'd be happy to join you in a taste test!

There's aquaculture and then there's aquaculture. In other words, like everything else in life, it can be good, bad or somewhere inbetween. Certainly some forms of aquaculture, but especially farming saltwater fish in pens, raises serious issues. How you come out on that depends upon your thoughts regarding damage to estuarine environments vs. production of cheap protein. There are a lot of shades of gray there, and the particular hue depends an awful lot on the practices of the aquaculturist. But what about shellfish aquaculture, specifically oysters. Is there an oyster available anywhere that isn't a product of aquaculture these days? Although I'm sure someone somewhere can come up with something negative about oyster aquaculture, overall its impact on the environment is benign but the results of the science and industry are outstanding. And freshwater aquaculture has been particularly successful. Not without problems that need to be monitored and addressed, but by and large freshwater aquaculture has helped not merely bring fish to our tables but continues to make a significant contribution in feeding the hungry and/or putting cash in their handa. So, what I'm saying (to repeat it for about the zillionth time) is that aquaculture, per se, is not a bad thing. Some aquaculture is good, some is bad, and some is inbetween.

I'm the "lingua" perpetrator. I like it, but you're right, it's not sausage (though I had a cold plate of tongue at a Mexican restaurant this fall that I swear tasted like paté. I meant "linguica" which is what I use in caldo verde.

At the RTM, IIRC, you might want to check Martin's. Also, (and this came as a surprise) I seem to recall Harry Ochs carrying it (or was that lingua?), which a friend who regularly travels to and cooks in Iberia deemed quite nice. Also, Downtown Cheese might have some, given that they sell Spanish ham.

I've been eating and enjoying sea bream for years, ever since I first tasted it grilled at a local inexpensive Greek restaurant. In Philadelphia, however, it's called Porgy. Bream is the European nomenclature for this fish. It's relatively inexpensive, abundant and, most important, delicious with a delicate, sweet flavor. Can be grilled, pan fried, broiled (and probably baked, though I haven't tried it that way). As for what I've added "lately", about a year ago I tried fresh herring (sardines) for the first time. That's another good one which I've kept buying and consuming. And after not having tilapia for years, I've reintroduced it to my home menus. I'm always on the lookout for new fish to cook at home, particularly local and/or seasonal varieties which can be (1) less expensive and (2) fresher and tastier than out-of-season and/or long-distance fish (except for some frozen varieties). Sable (a.k.a. "black cod") is another fish I got to try this past year during a visit to Alaska; however, fresh sable is only occasionally available in Philadelphia and expensive.