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mrbigjas

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Everything posted by mrbigjas

  1. how about one of the taquerias in south philly? you could see if they'll sell you carnitas or al pastor--or, really, any of their taco fillings--in bulk. taqueria la veracruzana, la lupe, plaza garibaldi. come to think of it, while you're at the terminal buying tortillas, you could see if 12th st. cantina will sell you a batch of whatever pork they have that day. alternately, while the 'low and slow' thing is definitely a fact, i've found that you can make a stew of pork shoulder tender in about an hour if you cut it in cubes of less than an inch. follow one of the recipes in the carnitas thread for ingredients, but start by cubing the pork relatively small instead of leaving it in bigger chunks, and basically brown it and then braise it in the liquid before evaporating it away and frying it in its own fat. it's not going to have the great texture of great carnitas, because... well, it's just not. but in a pinch it could stand in. (edited to say that rooftop's idea is a good one--let it stew in a crockpot all day, and then when you get home transfer it to a regular pot and use that to evaporate the liquid off and fry)
  2. i've always wondered, though--that must be the case if you drink all the broth, which i don't. i usually eat the noodles and whatever vegetables i put in there, and dump most of the broth. at least that's my excuse. especially since i found a brand that's not fried, so it's also not full of saturated fat...
  3. and katie comes through in the clutch! i'll check it out this weekend, possibly. thanks!
  4. really? i looked for tarama at the new dibruno's and didn't see it. i'll check down on 9th st. i don't like the bulgarian feta i've had from dibruno's. it's got this funky smell to it that always strikes me oddly. the french feta is OK but not strongly flavored/salty enough for my tastes. thanks for the tip on bitar's--for some reason i always forget to go there...
  5. seasonal affective disorder (cooking variety)!
  6. really? i work up here, so that would be way convenient... i guess i could ask at zorba's, too.
  7. i'm talking cheeses beyond just the kasseri and feta that dibruno's carries. those little sausages that they put in the metal tray and burn up with ouzo. good phyllo. tarama. that sort of thing. any sources? a greek-american coworker of mine says she doesn't know of anywhere, and that even the old school stores out in upper darby are all gone now. said she has to get ingredients from new york nowadays. it seems to me there aren't all THAT many really specialized ingredients for general greek cooking, but the ones you might want are hard to find. i'll order from greekinternetmarket.com or somewhere if i have to, but figured i'd see if any of you know anywhere local, first.
  8. kevin, if it makes you feel any better, last night i made that pumpkin, escarole and farro soup for a family gathering and it was a big hit--my sister said that it was the kind of thing she thought she could eat for dinner every night. so even though you're having some issues at the moment, this thread of yours is still inspiring some good cooking up in here.
  9. jamaican jerk hut does indeed exist--they've been serving great jamaican food (with incredibly slow service) to the neighborhood for probably 10+ years now. a great institution.
  10. holy moly, philadining. you know, the bathroom there still has a shower in it--have you considered just taking the plunge and moving in?
  11. inny, i don't mean to start an argument or nothin, but i don't see anything wrong with that stew. the dumplings, yeah, they're a little sketchy, but that stew? looks great.
  12. i can't think of that many places on a friday right near there that are open late, either. that aren't bars, anyway. i mean, monk's is there, but it's a bar. there are various places like trattoria prima donna and ernesto's 1521, but i'm not sure how late they're open. seems to me that both happy rooster and passion are open a little later than a lot of restaurants, aren't they?
  13. i opened a bottle of 1995 campillo reserva that i'd bought at the state had sitting around for a few years just a couple of weeks ago. with all the big 'international style' wines i've been having recently, i'd forgotten how totally pleasant an old rioja is. i'ma have to jump on that and pick up a few.
  14. so today we had tommy gunn's cater us lunch for a going-away party at my office. and while i don't have any new comments on the food or anything that hasn't been said before, let me just mention that dealing with these folks is a pleasure. oh and their brownies? are just ridiculous. i'm not usually much of a dessert person but ... whoa man are they good. and i still love their greens.
  15. good news! i was wondering what was going in there. thanks for the tip.
  16. it's like a stew in that way, yes. but it's not like a stew in that it has no liquid ingredients to speak of. it's really just stuff stirred around with rice. and always with the egg. they do it with the lightly fried egg on it; some places just crack a raw egg on the hot rice. it's a great dish. i gotta get myself a dolsot one of these days. btw miran does lunch, if you don't feel like dinner. it's still new, and not perfect, but their bibimbap is good stuff.
  17. i had a very good version at miran, 21st & chestnut, just this past friday. run you about $10 or so.
  18. I'm a little leary about some of the GLAD stuff. I love them for sandwiches and stuff that doesn't leak, but I'm afraid that my soup will end up all over the inside of lunch box if it gets knocked around and turned sideways and upside down. Though a ziplock freezer bag INSIDE of a GLAD container is not a bad idea .... ← the seal is pretty solid when they're new; it's as they get older that they get leakier and weaker, which is i guess why they're disposable. but for your purposes, of freezing then taking to work frozen... i mean, they wouldn't thaw just in the commute, would they?
  19. mrbigjas

    Le Creuset

    sure you did! great pan, convenient size. i use mine all the time (it's round, not oval, but is the same capacity).
  20. those ziploc or glad disposable containers are good for this, with the caveat that you can't fill them too full or the freezing expansion will push the lid off. or, you could buy boxes of quart freezer bags, put single servings in them, and then freeze them flat. once they're frozen you can stand them up like books in a bookshelf, and they take up hardly any room.
  21. who knows? but i'm glad someone is, because i wanna know how they are! i've always liked david rosengarten, and i'm finding it hard to believe that he'd consciously rip people off, so i figure there must be something to this thing. ok, so they're organically raised birds, so you're paying more for them. and then they're rubbed with butter and prosciutto fat and whatnot, brined, etc. etc., so you're paying in part for the prep--the question to me is, do you like the prep he did? if so, what's $100 for feeding 15 people? not that big a deal. i mean, i'm not going to buy one, because i have local sources for good free range poultry*, but i admit i'm curious. *edited to say also because i'm not hosting thanksgiving and don't need a big ol' bird this year
  22. dibruno's is a great store, but its greatness is based not in its inexpensive pricing, but in its quality and selection, and the things you can buy there that you can't find other places. i've found that if i find something dibruno's carries somewhere else, it's usually cheaper at the other place. but there are so many things that can only be found (in philadelphia) at dibruno's, that to me that aspect outweighs the price differential. and with some things the difference in price is only a dollar or two, and at that point, what's my time worth going somewhere else? so i spend a little more there in order to avoid another trip.
  23. that cana de cabra is the cheese i was raving about a month or so ago. it's great in beet salad. and it runs about $12 a pound at dibruno's, so it's not even that pricey.
  24. how do you soften the dried yuba? i've bought packages of these a couple of times, and it seems that no matter how i soak them, parts of them don't soften--and the part that does soften always tears when i try to do anything with them. i don't think i'm excessively clumsy, although maybe i am. is there a trick to it?
  25. i always wuss out about that too, when i have that kind of experience. it's like, screw me over, will ya? well then you're only getting 16%, ya bastard! i guess that's not much of a statement.
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