Reading Terminal Market (Part 1)

[philadining]

chard?  in wine?  why ever would we?

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Ha! My brain went exactly the same way, and I was pretty perplexed for a while. But I think i got it, chardonnay, don't marinate the cukes with chardonnay! Right?

[mrbigjas]

chard?  in wine?  why ever would we?

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Ha! My brain went exactly the same way, and I was pretty perplexed for a while. But I think i got it, chardonnay, don't marinate the cukes with chardonnay! Right?

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ooooooooooooh i get it now. i was really confused for a second there.

[rlibkind]

chard?  in wine?  why ever would we?

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Ha! My brain went exactly the same way, and I was pretty perplexed for a while. But I think i got it, chardonnay, don't marinate the cukes with chardonnay! Right?

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ooooooooooooh i get it now. i was really confused for a second there.

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Yeooow! And I wasn't even trying!

[rlibkind]

Price of avocados at Iovines has dropped dramatically, 50 cents each today vs. $1.50 last week. Why? These are from Chile, where the season is just getting underway. They are undercutting the San Diego County growers, who have a monopoloy on Haas avocados during the summer when Mexican imports are restricted. In the last year Chile has become a major exporter of the fruit.

As for quality, even though the one I bought today was perfectly ripe, it was relatively low on flavor. For slicing and eating in a salad, so-so. But they'd be fine in guac. Texture of fruit was suitably creamy.

Limes are as inexpensive at they get: a dime apiece at Iovine's. Lemons are twice that price, still a decent price.

Fair Food Project's Mirai corn was delivered Thursday morning, so I passed it by. Instead, bought some white corn at Earl Livengood's. Delicious. Earl still has blackberries, as well as second crop of raspberries.

Benuel Kaufman, as promised, had the long cylindrical beets. $2 for a box of just under a dozen. Each beet is about 1.25" in diameter, 2.5-3.5 inches long. Sweetest beets you'll ever taste. I roasted them in aluminum foil this evening while cooking chicken parts on the Weber Silver B.

(That chicken, btw, was marinated in lime juice, scallions, home grown red chili pepper, EVO, black pepper and tequila. When the chicken was done [indirect heat except for final crisping, basting with marinade] boiled the marinade with more chopped chili pepper and a tablespoon of added white sugar, turned off heat, added roughly chopped cilantro and immediately poured over chicken. Served with a salad of shredded iceberg, tomato and avocado slices in simple vinaigrette. Corn on the cob on the side. Chicken came from Harry Ochs at $1.99/pound for a whole "free range" bird, cut into parts to order. Drank a Vinho Verde.)

Halteman's Country Store had some white peaches; look and smell good, they're sitting in a paper bag on the kitchen counter for just a tad more ripening. Got a couple more plums, too. Apricots have finally disappeared.

Also picked up a small round red watermelon from Benuel Kaufman; I'll try it with some of the feta I picked up at Downtown Cheese; the feta also goes well with sliced beets when you add some walnuts and a bit of orange meat, topped with vinaigrette.

Grapes are starting to make an appearance. I think Fair Food had concords. Iovines had muscadines (which I detest), but not local. I greatly miss the wonderful grapes I used to purchase in late summer and well into the fall at the Ithaca Farmers Market.

Early apples have been available for the past couple weeks at Kaufman's and Halteman's. Haven't tried them yet -- I'm too occupied with the melons, stone fruit and berries.

Caviar Assouline is closing its Reading Terminal Market outpost; Joel decided it wasn't worth the rent. They were also stuck in an out-of-the-way location, even if they were right by Metropolitan Bakery. Today they were clearing out the stock with lots of items on sale -- Valrhona, for example, at 70% off. Alas, caviar was not included among the sale items. Sigh. One could wish.

I still don't understand why Profi's Creperie does what appears to be a good business. I tried them once and they were cardboardy. Has anyone had a better experience?

[rlibkind]

Early September is a great time to shop for produce: most summer fruits and veggies are available, and fall produce makes an appearance. To wit:

]

Peaches and pears, side-by-side, at L. Halteman's Country Store. The peaches, like all the stone fruit this season, have been superb. I've got some of these Bartlett pears ripening in a paper bag; they are pretty hard, so it will take a couple of days.

Fair Food Project Farmstand also displayed summer and fall produce side-by-side.

Okra makes an apperance, alongside cherry tomatoes, limas, blackberries and raspberries at Fair Food. This is pretty much the last gasp for blackberries. Earl Livengood didn't have any Thursday afternoon at the Fairmount market. The blackberries are tending to develop that common thread-like mold or fungus quickly right now, so if you buy them, use them immediately.

With the exception of the onions, this photo shows some fruits we treat as vegetables: peppers, cucumber, eggplant, tomatoes. This produce was on display at Benuel Kauffman's stand, where I picked up corn, tomatoes and watermelon. He still has those luscious cylindrical red beets at $2 a box.

Other observations from my visit today:

Iovine's still has those Chilean avocados at 2 for $1, but not many; perhaps they'll put out more at that price for Saturday shoppers. I passed them by, but Iovine's had incredibly good looking Hen-of-the-Woods mushrooms; If I was in a deep-frying mood, I'd batter those babies and feast.

I picked up the rib eye steaks at Fair Food that are offered at 20% off (still not cheap at $10 a pound. They look good and decently marbled; I'll report back. Also on the menu for this weekend: spare ribs, courtesy of Harry Ochs; I'll put 'em on the Weber kettle with chips and slow smoke.

Happy Labor Day weekend to all, and to Katie, Mummer, Herb and the rest of the crew heading south for Varmint's Pig Pickin', drive safely, and don't forget to rob a bank for gas money.

[KatieLoeb]

Thanks for the good wishes!! We'll be thinking of the rest of you PhilleGuleteers that couldn't join us and we'll represent the best we can.

Charlie is bringing his portable keyboard and I think I have some large dark sunglasses somewhere and an empty coffee can. We could always set up at a rest stop and have Charlie do his very best Ray Charles impersonation while Herb and I sing backup and pretend to be the Raylettes if we run out of money to gas up.

[mrbigjas]

I still don't understand why Profi's Creperie does what appears to be a good business. I tried them once and they were cardboardy. Has anyone had a better experience?

i haven't had any experience with profi's, because every time i think about going there, i get something else instead. i just don't find the concept attractive to me outside of france, where it feels right.

holy crap the fair food people have a lot of stuff if you get there before saturday at like 1:30 or 2, when i usually do.

[mrbigjas]

this week at iovine's: raw peanuts. i always find it interesting when they have kinda unusual things like this--green olives, raw peanuts, cardoons and the like--they just show up one week and then they're gone, so i took advantage of it this time. i boiled them up this morning, and just had a big ol plate of boiled peanuts with a glass of sweet tea. and damns, that's a good lunchtime snack.

(ok not REAL sweet tea, but gimme a break)

as a side note--this month's saveur has a big article about peanuts, and if it's to be believed these are valencia peanuts, which account for less than 1% of US peanut production, and are notable because they have 3-5 nuts per shell instead of the usual two. and i didn't realize this when i bought them, but the article says 'unusually sweet, they are excellent boiled when fresh.' who knew?

[rlibkind]

mrbigjas, those peanuts certainly sound good. Nothing like fresh boiled legumes, even if I'm not from Georgia.

Blackberries: My prediction of their annual demise was slightly premature. At today's South Street market, Earl Livengood had them ($4.95/pint) and they are delicious. Very high fruit to pit ratio, since these are late summer berries that have been growing most of the season. But as I cautioned before, don't wait to eat them; they must be consumed the same day you bring them home, or mix them in yogurt, where they will safely keep for a few days, for a quick and easy breakfast or midday snack.

Tomorrow there will be guest lecturer at Swarthmore: Sam Consylman, pictured here at today's South Street Market working Earl Livengood's stand:

You might have read Rick Nichols piece about Sam a few weeks ago, and that led to a Swarthmore prof inviting Sam to talk about foraging for food. Sam says the paws paws should be available in a couple of weeks.

Young celeriac can be had at Livengood's. I also found some decent celeriac last Saturday at Iovine's. If I did have a taste for okra, I'd certainly try those offered by Livengood, as seen in the photo above.

[rlibkind]

At Iovine's the price of avocados has finally crept up to $1 each from 50 cents. Still, it's a bargain compared to the price at Whole Foods.

Fair Food still has those ribeye steaks at less than $10/pound. They were delish, so I bought some more today. Ann Karlen, who manges the Fair Food Farmstand, hints she may be carrying Jamison lamb in the future.

Can anyone tell me what to do with fresh turmeric? Iovine's had packages of the root (it is a root, isn't it?) priced at $7.99/pound. Other than shaking it out of a spice tin or bottle to add color to Indian dishes and other fare, is the root itself good for anything? (I did find a rather involved recipe for slow roasted salmon from Susannah Foo which called for fresh grated tumeric, along with a number of other similarly exotic herbs and spices.)

As of today Iovines still had those fresh green peanuts mrbigjas boiled. I bought and boiled a handful today and enjoyed them, although She Who Must Be Obeyed (who spent a few years in Georgia) was disappointed they didn't turn the water purple.

The Bartlett pears I purchased last weekend at Haltemans ripened nicely; sweet and just enough juice. Haltemans also had Italian purple plums this week. Apples found at Haltemans, Fair Food and Kauffman's included Ginger Gold and Sansa.

Melons are starting to fade. Although watermelons can still be found, I saw no local canteloupes or honeydews today. Maybe Earl Livengood still has them.

[rlibkind]

Earl Livengood offered paw paws this week. I got them Thursday at the Fairmount market, but he also had them today at the RTM. The season is very short, so whether or not he'll have them this coming week may be iffy, though perhaps he will on Tuesday at South Street. If you find them, pick out a soft one, preferably with at least some browning on the skin. Inside you'll find maybe a dozen and a half very large pits in the midst of the flesh. You can simply scoop out the flesh and eat it, or strain it to create pies, custards, puddings, ice cream, sorbet, muffins, cake, etc. Google paw paw and you'll find the recipes. This weekend, btw, is the annual Paw Paw Festival in Albany, Ohio, near Athens.

You know the season is changing when local radishes reappear at some of the stands (Livengood's, Kaufman's) and others (Haltemans) no longer offer peaches. Earl's radish was what he called an "Italian" variety; it was red, but long and vaguely in the shape of a svelte parsnip; he didn't know what it tasted like because it came from Sam Consylman's garden. Benuel Kaufman had Macoun apples today!

Green Valley Dairy is back at the RTM directly selling to customers (you can also get their cheeses at the Fair Food Farmstand). The proprietor is now offering "Christiana Brie" which he says is the only artisinal made raw milk brie in the country. I have difficulty believing that, but I believe his cheese: I tasted it and it's quite good. (Note: Brie doesn't have to be runny to be good.) To go with the apples, though, I brought back his Noble, a full-flavored but not intensely sharp cheddar.

Lots of limas at Livengoods . . . perfect for succotash with late season corn.

Speaking of succotash, last week I picked up the green peanuts at Iovines and boiled them, per mrbigjas's suggestion. Well, I wasn't enamored with the soft mushy peanuts by themselves (my wife says they're best when you buy them by the roadside from two guys named Billy), but I had some corn that had sat around the fridge for two days uncooked. So I grilled the corn, then took the kernels off the cob (placing the cob on top of the middle part of a bundt pan, thereby keeping most of the kernels contained rather than all over the kitchen). I added some chopped hot pepper from our container garden, a plain vinaigrette, chopped coridander, lime juice and the cooked peanuts. Vóila! Spicy Thai-style Nut-a-Tash!

The brandywine tomatoes from Livengood's are great! Only another week or two to go.

Plums at Haltemans (satsuma? and some other small reddish variety) and Kaufman's (prune plums).

[mrbigjas]

Earl Livengood offered paw paws this week. I got them Thursday at the Fairmount market, but he also had them today at the RTM. The season is very short, so whether or not he'll have them this coming week may be iffy, though perhaps he will on Tuesday at South Street.

oh MAN, i totally looked for these this week and they were already out.

You know the season is changing when local radishes reappear at some of the stands (Livengood's, Kaufman's) and others (Haltemans) no longer offer peaches. Earl's radish was what he called an "Italian" variety; it was red, but long and vaguely in the shape of a svelte parsnip; he didn't know what it tasted like because it came from Sam Consylman's garden.

i thought about buying some of these but i couldn't justify the price. i bought a pile of radishes last week from the farm market at rittenhouse square, and ate them per fergus henderson's recipe this week.

Benuel Kaufman had Macoun apples today!

let us give thanks. my favorites.

Speaking of succotash, last week I picked up the green peanuts at Iovines and boiled them, per mrbigjas's suggestion. Well, I wasn't enamored with the soft mushy peanuts by themselves (my wife says they're best when you buy them by the roadside from two guys named Billy),

i've heard they're not for everyone. i get the impression boiled peanuts are more about the principle of the thing than the dish itself. i love them, but i am a man of catholic tastes--some would say undiscriminating, but i believe that i just discriminate towards anything good.

[rlibkind]

Couldn't find peaches today, but it's clealy apple season. Five or six different varieties at Halteman's. Benuel Kaufmanm still has Macouns as well as a couple other varieties. Red Bartletts can be found also.

(I also know it's autumn when Iovine's has a huge pumpkin display.)

APPLE CIDER! I hesitate to announce this, because he sells out often enough as it is, but Benuel Kaufman has unpasteurized apple cider he keeps in the fridge. Mrbigjas, you're gong to have to get up earlier to get it; last year if I got to the stand much latter than 11 a.m. on a Saturday he had already sold out.

Local grapes at Kaufman's and the Fair Food Project -- Concord and Niagara. Yes, you have to put up with pits, and the skin tends to be, shall we say, resilient, but these grapes haven't made trans-continental or trans-oceanic voyages to reach you. Where those grapes from Chile and California are one dimensional (sweet) these grapes taste like they actually grew out of the earth.

Iovine's today had salicornia (a.k.a. samphire, sea beans). Toss some on a salad for salty crunch, or lightly steam/par-boil as accompanying vegetable to scallops or other seafood. Ideal for stuffing into a whole fish or using as a cooking bed. This vegetable (it's not a seaweed and the tide never reaches it) does grow next to the sea and is very salt tolerant, so it will taste a bit salty, especially when cooked.

Haas avocados at Iovine's $1 each, still a lot better than Whole Paychek. New crop Florida lemons in stock at 5/$1. Limes at the same price, so mix and match.

Brandywine and other heirlooms can still be found, as well as just plain great field and plum tomatoes. But the season is coming to a close. Today I saw very little in the way of cherry tomatoes of any color.

Corn is still available, but as happens every year, the late season corn is a little long in the tooth. Tasty, but more prone to malformed and infested ears.

Benuel still has those cylindral beets I rave about, as well as kirby cucumbers. This is also the time of year when summer and winter squashes overlap. Benuel has lots of the former, Fair Food the latter.

The Reading Terminal Market will have a rare Sunday opening on Oct. 9. That's because 30,000 dentists descend on Center City beginning that weekend for the annual convention of the American Dental Association. Merchants are not required to be open, so I would expect just eat-in/takeaway vendors to be open, though Iovine's may be open since Jimmy and Vinnie would love to see the RTM regularly open on Sundays. The Pennsylvania Dutch section, I can assure you, will be buttoned-up tighter than a Sunday collar.

[mrbigjas]

paw paws! freaking delicious. and so weird.

you were right about the cider being sold out. dammit. that's the best cider i think i've ever had--i can't wait. i may get up early next friday and head over before work to get some.

[nhconner]

Ok so this is not a market find, but it is inspired by one.

I was really craving a Dinics roast pork sandwich, and I am in Greensboro, NC, so what do I do?

Well I got a good piece of pork, brined it with an herb and garlic brine, roasted it, tossed some baby spinach with garlic and good EVOO in a pan and put it in a good bun with some age provalone.

Result. O my, this is it. For all you Dinics fans, try this it is well worth it. Ingredients are the key here, and the satisfaction rate is high.

Nate

[rlibkind]

Back from a week in Maine (lotsa hardshell lobster and steamers) so when I got to the Reading Terminal today after a neary three-week hiatus, the change of season was clear. Still, there were plenty of tomatoes to found:

Like these proudly arranged by Benuel Kauffman.

Or these field and cherry tomatoes at Livengoods.

Livengood's chard is among the more colorful veggies at the market.

Those little green fruits at the Fair Food Farmstand aren't olives -- they're mini kiwis. Is this just a fancy marketing approach for gooseberries? And don't the radishes and pear tomatoes look tasty? Ann Karlen says she expects the Jamison lamb to start next week.

Benuel Kauffman also still has my favor commercial eating apple, Macoun. He also had unpasteurized cider this morning. While in Maine I picked up a bag of Northern Spy apples, which are great for pie (my other favorite pie apple is Rhode Island Greening); I'llcut in a quince picked up today at Fair Food for the extra pectin to add to the pie.

Avocados (Haas variety) back down to $1 apiece at Iovines. Today's bin was filled with both ripe-enough-to-eat-today and give-it-a-couple-more-days fruits. And the grab bags looked pretty good. I picked up a 3/4-pound bag of domestic white mushrooms, which works out to $1.33/pound vs. the normal $1.99 price, and not a single blemished 'shroom in the entire bag. Sautee them with dried and reconsituted porcinis and maybe a couple of fresh shitakes, and you 've got a deliciious dish. The seedless green grapes are of very good quality for long-distance fruit (California, I assume). Limes are a dime apiece, which is pretty much as cheap as they get, and they appear to be heavy with juice. Small pomegranites are three/$1.

I noticed Harry Ochs now carries Boar's Head beef franks with natural casing (sheep). It's a pretty good hot dog; I happened to find it at the Cherry Hill Shop Rite this past week. Not as good as Usingers or Best's, but still pretty good.

Today was "Harvest Festival," which meant no parking on the streets around the market and one, presumes, lots of crowds as they day goes on. Since I was there about 8:30 and left at 10 (after a breakfast of freshly fried donuts from Fisher's Harvest Festival outdoor stand) the crowds were still thin.

This past Thursday Earl had some small, black paw paws at Fairmount. Not today.

[rlibkind]

Brussels Sprouts, both on and off the stalk, are making an appearance. And so are local cauliflower and broccoli:

That's purple broccli on the left, white and yellow/orange cauliflower on the right, and Benuel Kaufman in the middle. He expects to have purple cauliflower, too, next week. As of this afternoon he also had plenty of unpasteurized cider. As evidence from the photos, tomatoes can still be obtained -- field, plum and yellow at Benuel's, heirloom at Fair Food Project, field at L. Halteman. Earl Livengood should have some Saturday, based on what he had yesterday afternoon at the Fairmount market.

At Iovine's, price of lemons up to 25 cents apiece, limes still 5/$1. Two sizes and prices of Florida juice (Valencia) oranges either 3 or 4 for $1. Colored bell peppers (red, yellow, orange) still 99-cents/pound. These are the greenhouse peppers from Canada; L. Halteman and Benuel Kaufman offering late season loal colored bell peppers at reasonable prices.

Benuel Kaufman still has the longer, cylindrical beets. I roasted some the other night, and they are as sweet as can be. Very yummy.

Local cabbage also in season at the local produce vendors. Benuel was selling his for 39-cents/pound whole, 49-cents for halved. Fair Food and L. Halteman also have it. If you don't want to cook it, consider either cole slaw or a quick pickled cabbage. Make the slaw or quick pickle with some of Benuel's small kirby cucumbers and slices of those local colored peppers and you've got a great veggie to accompany sandwiches, burgers and other grilled meats. (For a quick pickle, toss the shredded veggies with salt [for half a whole head of cabbage, figure about 2-3 tablespoons] and press and weight them in a colander, allowing to stand for 30-60 minutes; then quickly rinse off the excess salt and press excess water out. Toss with 2 tablespoons white or cider vinegar [using balsamic or sherry vinegar is counter-productive in this dish], 2 teaspoons of sugar and, if you like, a light sprinkling of carraway seeds.)

[wkl]

can someone direct me to the perfered purveyors of chicken? i don't get to rm as much as i would like, but am planning a trip this friday. i need to buy quite a bit of chicken for a party this w/e. thanx.

[I_call_the_duck]

I like Godshall's Poultry.

[rlibkind]

You'll have your largest selection and variety at Godshalls: regular commercial whole or in parts (they'll also cut up whole chickens to your specs), fryers, broilers, roasters, stewers, so-called free range birds, capons, etc.

Among the better packaged chickens is Eberly's which you can get at A.A. Halteman (not L. Halteman, though they're across the aisle from each other). Harry Ochs also sells chicken of excellent quality at competitive prices.

How much is "quite a bit"? If you're planning on buying more than the equivalent of a half dozen whole birds, I suggest calling in your order in advance, that way it can be ready when you arrive. You can call Godshalls during business hours at (215) 922-7589.

[wkl]

i need enough to feed about 20 people.probably a mix of boneless breasts and boneless thighs. do i need to call this in?

[rlibkind]

i need enough to feed about 20 people.probably a mix of boneless breasts and boneless thighs. do i need to call this in?

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You don't have to call it in. Godshalls can easily handle it. But if you're going there on Friday or Saturday you will have to wait for service (they have a number system; on Saturdays it can take 10-15 minutes to be served during peak hours). Odds are they can pull the necessary number of boneless breasts and thighs without having to butcher, but if they do have to get out the knives it will take another 5 or 6 minutes. If you know precisely what you want, it's simply quicker to call in advance.

For 12-15 pounds of boneless chicken (assumes serving size of 9-12 oz. uncooked chicken per person; depending on your guests and the rest of the menu you may well be able to get by with less) I would think they'd appreciate the call in advance.

PS: On Saturdays the RTM starts to get very crowded by 11 a.m., and Godshalls is likely to have the number queue going within an hour after the market opens at 8 a.m.

[shacke]

I like Godshall's Poultry.

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I got my turkey neck fix from them this weekend along with a few squab....

They did not have turkey backs though -

Evan

[rlibkind]

Raspberries! In November! Yes! Here's the proof:

Hard to believe, but Earl Livengood had them today at the Fairmount Market. His cohort in crime, Sam Consleyman, was surprised to find them. As of 4 p.m. there were two half-pints left at $4.25 each. I bought one, and the other swiftly disappeared, too. Unlikely they'll have any Saturday, but if you're lucky...

Sam spent more time talking about Jerusalem artichokes than raspberries with a visiting Englishman at the Fairmount market this afternoon. Those are the chokes in the lowermost box in the photo below with Farmer Dwayne.

Farmer Dwayne has been been bringing his own organically raised beef (frozen) to the market lately.

On Saturday at the Reading Terminal you should expect to find Earl's usual variety of potatoes and greens, squashes, eggplant, as well as heirloom, organic field tomatoes and a few varities of pear/cherry/grape tomatoes. There should also be both gala and winesap apples. Concord grapes and Asian pears, too, and mighty fine chestnuts.

As he promised, Benuel Kaufman had the purple cauliflower today . . .

. . . as well as the white and yellow/orange varieties. The purple was priced at about $2.49 vs. $2.99 for the white. Benuel had gala as well as other apples today, but no more Macouns. (L. Halteman did, however, have Macouns along with about half a dozen other varieties.) Benuel also still had those lovely cylindrical beets, as well as Kirby cucumbers (though no more really small ones). And as of this morning there was plenty of unpasteurized cider. For tomatoes he had yellow, red field, plum and green.

At Iovine's, the avocados are still $1 apiece, and the colored bell peppers remain at 99-cents/pound. Good looking mushrooms, both domestic and exotic, though I didn't see porcinis today. The hedgehogs looked particularly good, though. And making its appearance just iin time for the holidays, as it has for two or three years now: Claxton's fruit cake. It's a Georgia tradition, even if it is hardly all natural. But it is tasty. Alas, Iovines doesn't have the dark version (I have two remaining that my wife brought north with her from Georgia 21 years ago, and it's still edible), but you can take the light one home, wrap it in cheesecloth, stick it in the 'fridge and soak it in dark rum 'til Christmas. $3.99 per cake.

On the fish front, John Yi offered Coho salmon at $9.99; the king (the latter undoubtedly frozen, though that doesn't mean the quality isn't good) was a few bucks more. IIRC, Yi's whole black bass (small) was going for $4.99. Closer to Arch Street at Golden Seafood, the price of dry scallops has topped $13, but it's still two or three bucks less than Whole Paycheck. The other fish stores at the RTM only carry the "wet" sea scallop. Overall seafood prices will start creeping up soon, as they always do as we near the holidays, but the variety seems to get better, too.

For any Total yogurt fans out there, Andreas sells it.

Picked up some onion-flecked leberkasa (veal loaf) at Dutch Country Meats today, $4.99/pound. Makes a nice sandwich on some rye with mustard.

[Mottmott]

Oh the lovely pics!

Where and when is the Fairmount market? I've been going across town to Clark Park on Thursdays. Fairmount would be half the distance. Of course, it's late for this season.