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Eat This Immediately
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A few years ago I discovered Vosges' Haute Chocolat, a boutique chocolate house exacting French techniques to pair various chocolates with traditional and exotic flavors (like dark chocolate truffles spiced with ginger, wasabi, and black sesame seeds), but what you have to eat right this second is Mo's Bacon Chocolate Chip Pancackes (amazing). The dry mix comes with a pouch of shattered Vosges' Mo's Bacon + Chocolate bar (amazing). Combine these with buttermilk, egg and butter or rendered bacon fat and the result is salty, sweet, fluffy goodness with gooey pockets that also crunch. I already said it, but it's amazing. So amazing that this girl who isn't a big fan of pancakes ate 10.
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| HooksCheese.com |
| Calcium crystals for crunch |
Glamorous things to ingest that were made in 1998: single-malt Scotch, right bank Bordeaux, Champagne and now, Hook's 12-year cheddar.� DiBruno Bros. (930 South 9th St.) stocked a 40-lb. wheel of� the super-aged fromage just before the holidays; even with a� retail price of $49.99/lb, only about eight pounds remain.
Hook's Cheese Company is a family-owned business in Mineral Point, Wisconsin that produces over 35 cheeses, including America's oldest commercially-available cheddar, their rare 15-year. Though the 15-year has not yet made it into Philadelphia (the next batch is due to be released in March), I got a bite of the 12-year while braving the DiBruno Bros. Dec. 23 line.
An abundance of calcium lactate crystals pervade this cheese, adding a crunch and pleasant textural change from the smooth, rich paste.� The distinct sharp flavor of cheddar is magnified here by an earthy, almost dirty undertone that screams long-aging; it's definitely a cheese-head choice. Like Hook's other offerings, the 12-year cheddar is made� from the pasteurized milk of Wisconsin cows and curdled with a vegetarian "rennet".
A quarter-pound, enough to satisfy two cheese dorks when paired with some crusty bread, an Asian pear and a New Holland Dragon's Milk stout (or even a Victenaar, for the adventurous), is $12.50. Think of it as supporting the arts.
I appreciate the mention of pairing this cheese with beer, further adding support to the argument that beer is better for cheese than vino.
Beer, wine, whatevs! Cheese is delicious and this one sounds like a winner. Thanks, Felicia!
I tasted this cheese at DiBruno 9th Street...totally worth the price. I got a small piece, and it has lasted me for two weeks. A little bit goes a long way.
Is "dirty undertone" foodie code for tastes moldy??? I jsut want to know
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| Photo l Felicia D'Ambrosio |
Waldemar "Val" Stryjewski is a meat man.� Since he arrived at Silk City (435 Spring Garden St.) as sous chef, he's been turning out house-made charcuterie like the tender pork sausage that graces the diner's overloaded brunch plates every Saturday and Sunday.� That piggy blend is now a crucial ingredient in what Stryjewski posits is the only foie gras scrapple in existence.
"I did some research," he deadpans. "I couldn't find anything like it, anywhere."� Stryjewski makes a straightforward smoked sausage out of mostly pork butt and belly, then blends it with diced foie to form the signature scrapple loaf.� Slices are fried to create a crisp exterior, concealing the melting, delicate liver inside.
If anything called scrapple could qualify as light and ethereal, this is it.� The sweetness of the foie unfolds on your tongue, with the pomegranate seeds scattered over an accompanying root vegetable hash and a tart cranberry compote providing contrast.� The foie gras scrapple is available as a composed plate with that root veg hash and sunny-side up eggs for $11, or single ($5) or double ($10) slices available a la carte, every Saturday and Sunday at brunch, 10 a.m.-4 p.m.
Eat This Immediately.
Whoa.. sounds like a dream come true
Val is the one of the most innovative chefs in Philly. I gain 3 pounds just looking in his general direction. Still waiting for some polish sausage empanadas.. or maybe black bean piroguis..? I kid... But seriously, the man knows food.
[...] Eat this Immediately: Foie gras scrapple at Silk City [Meal Ticket] Silk City [Official Site] geopress_addEvent(window,"load", function() { geopress_makemap(126961,"Silk City Diner",39.9612315,-75.1461877,"google",Mapstraction.ROAD, { pan: true, zoom: 'small', overview: false, scale: false, map_type: false },15) }); [...] [...] usual Eat This Immediately picks veer unhealthily towards the rich and fatty (like foie gras scrapple, 12-year cheddar, this insane burger), so we were shocked– shocked– to fall in love [...]
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| Photo l Felicia D'Ambrosio |
| Three Hosui pears |
In season from late May through October, Asian pears come in a variety of cultivars.� The "Hosui" variety, pictured, grows to the size of a big apple, and shares the apple's characteristic round shape and crisp, juicy flesh.� Unlike European pears, which must be picked green and ripened at room temperature, Asian pears are picked ripe and are ready for eating immediately.� The Hosui's bronzy-yellow skin is overlaid with a lighter dot-matrix pattern, and will show black marks (see above) a day after careless handling.
Biting into the Hosui pear is an all-sensory experience: the crunch of the super-crisp flesh and the shock of honeyed floral sweetness that follows makes for as memorable a moment as one could hope for from produce.� Best eaten raw, the Hosui paired beautifully with a chunk of double-cream Gouda; a salty blue would also make a happy partner.
I bought mine for $2.50/lb. at the Sunday Headhouse Farmers' Market -- I believe from North Star Orchards, who also had fresh Asian pear cider on offer.
This bright taste of fall is also a stellar storage fruit.� Asian pears stored dry, at around 32 degrees Fahrenheit, will retain their juicy crunch for a month; but don't stall -- you should definitely Eat This Immediately.
totally bought those exact asian pears sunday at headhouse. awesome.
Asian pears are near the very top of my favorite produce list. And man, do I love produce.
Produce, Produce, Produce. Every day I wake up and I'm like, MAN I LOVE PRODUCE!!!! Totally hear where you're coming from, Ben. PRODUCE!
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| Photo | Drew Lazor |
Quite a few people have been raving about Honeycrisp apples lately, as the ultra-short season (they're typically harvested in the last week of September) is upon us. If you've never had a Honeycrisp before, holy crap they're the best apple of all time! Developed in the '60s by University of Minnesota researchers who cross-pollinated the Macoun and Honeygold apple varieties and first released commercially in the early '90s, these things are nearly a meal in and of themselves. The refreshing snap of the skin and flesh is unparalleled (sorry McIntosh, you suck!), and they're the perfect balance of tart and sweet in the taste department.� They're also super pretty and look like apples from cartoons.
Got this one from Maxx's Produce (225 S. 20th St.) yesterday. Where else in the city might we cop some delicious Honeycrisps before they're all gone, Meal Ticketers?
Eat them immediately.
When the Honeycrisp apples are gone, you can eat honeycrisp applesauce all year long. The applesauce is really delicious, thick and chunky, like homemade and no added sugars or sweeteners, tastes like the delicious HC apple! You can order and have jars shipped to you from the apple grower's website: www.HighJOrchards.com
seriously, greensgrow farms has them at the thursday and saturday market. so worth the trip to kenzo for how tasty and fresh they are!
Beechwood Orchards at the farmer's markets on Tuesday on South at Passyunk and on Sun at Headhouse Square has them (he was also at Rittenhouse on Saturdays last year, but I haven't been to that one this year). And they are indeed the best.
if you act fast and hustle your rump to the farmers' market at 36th and walnut they have them...
Honeycrisp apples are the best apples in the whole world!!!!!
I got a pair of honeycrisps as big as my FACE at Linvilla Orchard this Sunday. One eaten with a nice thick hunk of extra sharp cheddar cheese is the perfect meal.
Sue's Produce on 18th Street typically has honeycrisp apples as well. It is truly an amazing apple!
Polianarchy: The honeycrisp cheddar combo is exactly what I'm eating as my lunch right this second!
they have 'em at linvilla orchards, and they're huge, it took me two days to eat one
weird, i had a honeycrisp/cheddar lunch today as well ... and i get my HCs at headhouse on sundays -- at least two vendors sell them weekly.
Marini's Produce on Veale Road in Wilmington DE (across from St. Edmunds Academy) has had them and they are by far the BEST apple! Get them while you can!!!
Also available at Fair Food Farmstand in Reading Terminal.
Wegman's in Cherry Hill has them a lot! They are amazing, although I don't know how anyone is full from an apple and piece of cheese for lunch!
i got some at the lansdowne farmers market a couple weeks ago but don't know if they still have them. the varieties change alot. but oh they are good...had a sample and had to buy a bunch.
You can also find them at Jin's produce on 20th between Market and Chestnut. I made a pie with them this past weekend-ridiculously good.
[...] up some honeycrisp apples � The King of Apples! � to munch on during the hike, and sliced them up using a great pocket knife borrowed from Adsum [...]
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| Photo | Drew Lazor |
Serendipitous timing last night at Zahav (237 St. James Place): We dropped in for a quick pre-movie bite at the bar, only to find out that chef Michael Solomonov has been rolling out a handful of new menu items for the fall. Here's one bad-ass plate we tried � little duck confit-stuffed peppers topped with sliced grapes, served atop a broad stroke of almond-garlic pur�e. There was a tremendous sweet/salty interplay between meat and fruit here, with the earthy, savory pur�e tempering each forkful ever so gently.
Eat this immediately.
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| Photo | Drew Lazor |
Stumbled across a most excellent deal in Old City last week: At Fork:etc (308 Market St.), you can cop two thick wedges of housemade country p�t�, toast, cornichons, a dried fruit mostarda and mustard for a mere $7.50.
What goes into the p�t�? "Pork, pork and pork," jokes Fork owner Ellen Yin, but she's not actually joking � head chef Terence Feury and sous chef Andrew Wood combine meat and liver from a whole hog with eggs, a bit of cream, thyme, shallots, garlic, brandy/cognac and breadcrumbs, and season it with coriander, clove, cinnamon and allspice before wrapping it all up in bacon. It's perfect for an unconventional lunch � and you can also take a pound of the stuff home for $22.
Eat this immediately.
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| PhilaDining via eGullet |
| Shola and Alex in action at the May dinner |
Three of Philadelphia's bold adventurers into the possibilities of modern cooking techniques are Shola Olunloyo, chef behind the lauded private dinners of StudioKitchen, and husband-and-wife chef team H. Alexander Talbot and Aki Kamozawa of Ideas in Food, consultants and caterers who built their business on the success of their blog.
Now the chefs, who have been friends and collaborators for years, are hosting multi-course meals that invite guests to rethink familiar ingredients.
This is not a supper club, stresses Talbot. "The dinners we are doing are a gathering of people interested in food and ideas, an extension of our workshops with chefs and enthusiasts," he tells Meal Ticket. "It's more like a learning experience, an edible consultation. Guests are able to watch as we finish dishes. Imagine going to a dinner party where you have three professional chefs as your host, and you can ask them questions about the food, the evolution of the dish ... it's a full-on interactive experience."
Guests bring their own wines to pair with the 10 or so courses � for their May meal, for example, they served mozzarella pudding with frozen rhubarb and olive oil. View the complete menu for the July dinner on Olunloyo's blog. Prices vary for each meal with the average around $150. The next event is scheduled for October 2 and 3.
You can reserve your place at the table (tickets go on sale today) by emailing Talbot and Kamozawa at ideasinfood@earthlink.net or Olunloyo at studiokitchen@gmail.com
Photo by PhilaDining, posted to eGullet's StudioKitchen thread on May 4, 2009.
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| Photo l Felicia D'Ambrosio |
| Slices of summer |
Sticking your entire face in a sticky wedge of icy-cool watermelon and competing with siblings to spit seeds the farthest is the essence of childhood in summer. Now that you have your own kitchen and a sharp knife to play with, you can enjoy all of the juicy flavor of watermelon with none of the mess and subsequent hosing-down.
Watermelon is rich in phyto-nutrients � naturally occurring compounds that trigger healthy reactions in the body � including lycopene, beta-carotene and citrulline. Dr. Bhimu Patil, director of Texas A&M�s Fruit and Vegetable Improvement Center, has studied watermelon extensively. His research indicates that enzymes in the body convert citrulline into the amino acid arginine, which has a relaxing effect on blood vessels � the same effect as drugs like Viagra.
So not only is watermelon fun to eat, it could make the after-watermelon hosing off more fun than it was when you were seven.
To butcher a melon, lay a kitchen towel down on the counter, and place your cutting board on it to limit drips.� Stand the watermelon up and slice it in half down its length. It's fine if one half is bigger than the other. Then place one half, cut side down, on the board, and slice it one-half to 1 inch thick. Lay each slice flat and cut the white rind away. Discard the rind, or remove the skin and make watermelon rind pickles � try Fork owner Ellen Yin's recipe, here at Philly Mag.
Cube the flesh of the melon and chill in the fridge. To serve, toss with freshly torn or chiffonade basil; sprinkle with good sea salt, like Maldon.
YES. I will buying a watermelon today at Passyunk Sq farmer's market.
Thank you for posting this, it is my new favorite dish.
Mmmmm! Mmmmmm! Most refreshing lunch I've had in quite some time.
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| Photo l Michael Perisco |
| Getting piggy in the RTM. |
Whether you're a sucker for spare ribs or a lover of St. Louis-style, you can find your fix at a dozen barbecue spots, new and old, around Philly.� The trend blossomed early this summer, when the appeal of house-smoked meat converged with the sad trombone state of the economy and diners' cravings for inexpensive, satisfying food in generous portions.
The Rib Stand (12th and Arch streets, 215-925-3155) in the Pennsylvania Dutch section of the Reading Terminal Market is only part of this so-called "trend" if you expect white hair coverings paired with athletic sneakers to come back in fashion.
Owner Phares Glick offers baby back ($8.79/lb.), spare ribs ($7.79/lb.) and boneless rib sandwiches ($5.39), along with classic roasted potato wedges, springy green beans and homey macaroni and cheese.� The ribs themselves are coated in a lip-tingling rub that will satisfy no-sauce purists, but you don't want to miss Glick's sauces.
Served on the side in ramekins, the mild sauce is just barely sweet, with an authentically vinegary tang. Cayenne pepper enlivens the hot version, which is spicy enough to keep you reaching for your beer (Yards Brawler, a medium-bodied session ale, pairs nicely). The ribs have been smoked to baby-pinkness inside their spice-rubbed crust, and are pull-apart tender and not overly fatty.
Like all merchants in the Pennsylvania Dutch section of RTM, The Rib Stand only dishes their pig Wednesday through Saturday.� A new "Meal Deal" features a boneless rib sandwich, potato wedges and a beverage for $7 plus tax;� or pick up Combo #2: Three spare ribs, two sides and a drink for the best $7.79 you've spent all summer.
Eat this immediately.
[...] Felicia D’Ambrosio encourages all of us to immediately eat at the Rib Stand in the Reading Terminal Market. [Meal Ticket] [...]
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