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Snack Time
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| Warm Apple Flognarde |
| Burning Pasta |
Every Wednesday, we poke around the food blog world to see what's simmering.
- Warm Apple Flognarde. Sounds weird, doesn't it? Say it with Neal of Burning Pasta: flon-YARD. The multi-ethnic baby of swingin' parents custard, caramel and pie, the flognarde could knock the eternal bread pudding off the Best Warm Winter Dessert pedestal. An overage of local apples and a cup of cream inspired Neal to fire up the oven for some dessert therapy.
- E of Foodaphilia and friends go South Philly style at Carman's Country Kitchen. E grooves on the fun, unexpected combinations for pancakes and challah French toast, but finds the complicated omelet fillings a bit "busy" for her taste. Carman's choice of ingredients may be too much for some people, and her displayed collection of penis coffee mugs should really shock those with plain breakfast tastes!
- Happy second birthday to Blogalicious, who celebrated with a fruit-frosted cake from Mayflower Bakery in Chinatown. I wonder if Blogalicious wished for lots of Diggs when it blew out the candles.
- The MenuPages blog reveals its five most-clicked restaurant pages for all Philly neighborhoods. They're not what you might expect.
-Phoodie.info reveals that not only did the entire Philebrity crew feast on the all mac-n-cheese menu at Swallow for just $44 including tip, but Swallow is now enticing diners with free beer (with purchase of mac). That's right, free beer. Shameless and brillian. That's what it takes to stay alive in this economy.
It's strange how much of a love-it or hate-it response is evoked by Carman's. I personally have never had a bad experience there, though I have friends who can't stand it. Plus the "She puts the cunt back in cuntry" on the business cards is classic.
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| Peanut Corp. of America knowingly sold peanut butter tainted with salmonella |
| usatoday.com |
Every week, Meal Ticket pokes around the food blog world to see what's simmering.
- The MenuPages blog picks up USA Today's story that the Georgia peanut processor where the latest salmonella outbreak started knew there was a bacterial contamination in the factory, but packaged and shipped the peanut butter anyway. Another great example of business policing itself without annoying government supervision — not only was the Peanut Corp. of America aware it was packaging a tainted product, it shopped around to find a lab that would provide go-ahead testing results.
- John Mims, formerly of Les Bon Temps and Carmine's Creole Café, has been booted by a judge from his new space in Wayne, Mims Food + Drink, reports Mike Klein at The Insider. Mims' former financial partner, Howard Taylor, filed the complaint against Mims, who had signed a non-compete clause that prevents him from operating a restaurant within 10 miles of Carmine's in Bryn Mawr. No word yet from the embattled restaurateur himself.
- Jason Wilson of Table Matters chronicles absinthe's descent from mythic hallucinogen to the juice of wannabes in his article Licorice Whipped. Just like fur trapper hats, vinyl leggings and pork belly, once something becomes widely available, everyone who originally lusted after it suddenly loses interest. OK, not pork belly. Wilson does note that the taste for licorice must be cultivated early, like, in the womb, if one is to truly enjoy such anise firewaters.
- How much beer is in that glass of draft beer? Lew Bryson at Seen Through a Glass raises issue with the lack of standards in draft beer sizes. News to us: The most-common "pint" glass that bars typically serve beer in isn't a pint at all — it's a "shaker glass" meant to pair with a tin to shake cocktails, and it's only 14 ounces. I've been a bartender for almost 10 years and it never occurred to me that the standard glass everyone uses was not a full 16-ounce pint. We call shenanigans!
- The Philadining blog gets happy at Sang Kee Peking Duck House with a big ol' plate of something called Spare Rib Bits. The salty, porky, sticky, juicy and sweet bones are just one more thing to make Drew cry during The Week Without Meat. Click on the link for the drool-inducing photo. Not you, Drew.
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| Found at the underground market in Chinatown. |
| Jovialism.com |
Every Wednesday, Meal Ticket pokes around the food blog world to see what's simmering.
- Jovialism confesses his vices: chocolate, macchiatos, garlicky things and Pocky. Since the many faces of that sweet, dipped biscuit stick have been on our radar lately, it seems only right to include Jovialism's new flavor of choice: Brazilian Pudding Pocky. "The coating is like a cross between dulce de leche, Nutella, and yogurt, with a hint of chocolate," deems J, "and even manages to evoke São Paulo."
- Foodaphilia blogger and pastry artiste E announced last week that she has been diagnosed with diabetes, and has changed her life to include finger sticks, insulin shots, increased exercise and a sharp reduction in sugar intake. Her new blog, The Sugar, explores cooking and baking for diabetics — though the recipes are appetizing enough for anyone seeking to break their addiction to the white stuff. Since E doesn't live without brownies, her recipe for Black Bean Brownies is sweetened with agave nectar and builds structure with black beans instead of flour. Fiber desserts for good health!
- Foodie at Fifteen Nick H. has to juggle academics, track practice, high-school romance drama and an apprenticeship at Lacroix. The just-turned-16-year-old is also way stoked on his new immersion circulator, man. Sous vide short ribs at the lunch table should get at least some of the girls intrigued.
- Serious Eats is the repository of all things bacon-y, burger-y and cheese-dipped. Blake Royder keeps it homey with his grandmother's method for simple, classic egg salad. Along with a few practical tips, he submits that egg salad sandwiches must be cut into quarters for maximum enjoyment. Truly serious eats.
- Mike Klein at The Insider notes the arrival of former Table 31 and Le Bec-Fin cook Justin Hoke at Fairmount gastropub The Kite & Key. He also makes a prescient prediction as to which eateries will best weather the economic storm... hint hint, beer is involved.
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| Taylor finds veggie dogs in Charleston |
| Mac And Cheese Review |
Every Wednesday, Meal Ticket pokes around the food blog world to see what's simmering.
- Charleston is the location of Taylor's first experience with a veggie dog from a cart. The Mac & Cheese blogger had to get all the way down south before she could mangle a coleslaw-covered dog! Clearly an opportunity is there to serve Philily's herds of herbivores under a cruelty-free umbrella.
-Bar Ferdinand owner Owen Kamihara can rock a space from conceptualization to punch list, swing a hammer lookin' better than Ty Pennington, and lure the lady food bloggers of Philly to his new Tex-Mex border bar El Camino Real with one tilt of his product-free bedhead. E from Foodaphilia, Jess and Jaime of Fries With That Shake, and indomitable Beer Lass Suzy Woods get all fluttery over ECR's mac and cheese in a dangerously cute cast iron mini-pot.
-Guest writer Jeff Gonick takes over the mic for Dish + Bitch, where the usual crew heads over to the irony-gone-wrong lunch choice of Uncle Jimmy Eats Philadelphia blogger/interviewee Jessica James Wilson, the Hard Rock Café. Gonick's pants-wettingly funny account of lunch at the first restaurant he has ever felt too cool for is well worth a read. Prime excerpt: "I’m pretty sure the executive chef is the only rock star that’s involved with the Hard Rock Café. It’s probably Keith Richards, who after 40 years of non-stop booze and coke and cigarettes, has the palette [sic] of a dead camel. He probably approved the menu during a blacked out stupor thinking he was signing the deed a house he was trying to trade for a slave-ship full of Bolivian Marching Powder and South American indentured servants."
- Kelly White makes a few friendly recommendations on the subject of lunch on her blog, Living on the Vedge. Paesano's on West Girard makes the cut, as well as the hushy Citadelle at 16th and Pine. Meal Ticket humbly adds on the finely crafted sandwiches at Quince on East Girard Ave., especially the eponymous quince jam, walnut and manchego combination.
-I'll Eat You blogger Lauren sheds some new lights on an old flame, Amada. Did you know Amada means "beloved"? I didn't. Lauren also proclaims her love by ignoring the "decor, location or anything like that. I would still go to Amada if it were located in an abandoned warehouse, in an angry bear's den, or under the sea." Lucky we don't have to go to such lengths to get some of our beloved teeny happy plates at this icon of Catalan cuisine.
thanks again for providing a link to our content- could you add us to your philly blogroll? Thanks! Lauren from I'll Eat You www.illeatyou.com
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| Photo l Felicia D'Ambrosio |
One night, when Israeli wunderkind Michael Solomonov ran the show at Marigold Kitchen, he turned his kitchen and staff over to fellow chef Ana Sortun for a dinner celebrating her new cookbook, Spice: Flavors of the Eastern Mediterranean. The meal started with a variety of mezze (small bites) that Sortun serves at her Boston restaurant, Oleana. Crisply layered spinach falafel with pickled ramps brought more yummy noises than was appropriate out of an adult dining table, and Turkish-style steak tartare lured with aromatic teases of spice. The most-coveted mezze, however, was a warm ball of butter-stuffed hummus wrapped in basturma, a dry-cured, thin-sliced beef.
Nearly two years later, Solomonov is chef and owner of one of 2008's most-lauded restaurants, Zahav. A variety of hummus is served with laffa, a unparelled bread fired to order in the brick taboon oven, as a palate-warming first course. Like the country cousin of Sortun's cosmopolitan basturma-wrapped balls, Turkish buttered hummus makes an appearance as a hot dip, glistening with pale yellow pools of everyone's favorite fat. Though I wouldn't even attempt laffa — without a 750-degree brick oven and a training course in Israel, why even bother? — the Turkish hummus is just too good not to try at home.
From Spice:
This recipe was inspired by my trip to Cappadocia, in the center of Turkey... In Cappadocia, they make hummus without tahini, and they use butter instead of olive oil because of its quality and availability.
Ana's recipe uses dried and soaked chickpeas, which you cook and then pulse in the food processor while still hot. Since I am fundamentally lazy and wanted to get to the "hot buttered" part as quickly as possible, I used canned chickpeas (which were one dollar a can at the Acme, natch).
After the jump, check out my interpretation of Zahav's, and Ana Sortun's, Turkish Buttered Hummus. You're on your own for laffa-imitation.
Turkish Buttered Hummus
(adapted from Ana Sortun, p. 200 in SPICE, and Mike Solo's version at Zahav)
Go Get This:
Two 16-ounce cans chickpeas (also called garbanzos), drained and liquid reserved
Two cloves garlic, diced small or mushed through a garlic press
7 tablespoons butter, cut in small pieces
Several glugs extra-virgin olive oil
Juice of one lemon
Two teaspoons cumin
Salt and pepper to taste
Now Do This:
In a very small sauté pan, melt a tablespoon of the butter. When it foams, add the diced garlic and gently cook until soft. Remove from heat.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
In a food processor, combine the chickpeas, six tablespoons of the cut butter, the juice of one lemon and cumin. Add the olive oil a glug at a time as you begin to process the mixture. If more liquid is needed for through blending, use some of the water the chickpeas were packed in. Blend some more. Blend the hell out of it until smooth and creamy. You could leave the food processor on max and go take a shower and the hummus would be better for it.
Turn the machine off and taste the hummus. Add salt and pepper to taste, or more olive oil if it needs it. Blend!
Use a rubber spatula to pour the hummus into a small ovenproof casserole dish. Smooth into an even layer. Dot the top of the hummus with the reserved pieces of butter. Sprinkle with a bit more cumin.
Bake in the 350 degree oven until butter is melted and hummus is hot all the way through.
Serve hot with pita, raw vegetables, laffa and olives. Pretend you're at Zahav, or on a pastoral dairy farm in Cappadocia.
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| Fairmount gastropub Tied House, on UWISHUNU |
| uwishunu.com |
Every Wednesday, Meal Ticket pokes around the food blog world to see what's simmering.
- Alex Irwin of UWISHUNU checks out new-ish Fairmount gastropub Tied House, which is the only place in Philly to sip the General Lafayette Inn and Brewery's signature microbrews. Irwin gives the thumbs up to his chicken sandwich with a "classy tapenade" and raves about the tempting Chocolate Thunder Porter.
- Adam Erace of Blogalicious has packed his bags and his Tums for a 10-day trip to Thailand. Elephant trekking to hidden waterfalls and fireball Bangkok street food should give Adam plenty of material for upcoming posts, given he survives the phrik khil nuu, or tiny, totally nuclear "mouse dropping chilies."
-Phoodie.info eulogizes Brasserie Perrier by branding owner Georges Perrier a "Philebrity and hardcore assface" and predicting the imminent demise of Perrier's Wayne restaurant, Georges'. Can't comment on those assertions, but giving the staff a little notice that the restaurant was closing would have been considerate. Adieu, Brasserie.
-Helen Rosner of the MenuPages blog reports that Italian red sauce chain Buca di Beppo has been purchased by the group behind Planet Hollywood. Fearing for her beloved, cheese-covered Buca garlic bread, she got in touch with the head honchos, who not only assured her that the cheesy basket wouldn't change, but sent her the top-secret recipe.
-Scott and Marisa of Fork You! take viewers on a whirlwind introduction to fermenting foods at home with Scott of Zukay Live Foods. Zukay teaches us why we should mash the snot out of our daikon for the best bacterial penetration, how to prepare for the serious stink of fermentation and why live foods are better for both taste and health.
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| bacontoday.com | |
Every Wednesday, Meal Ticket pokes around the food blog world to see what's simmering.
- Mr. B of the Bacon Today blog shocks the (theoretical) pants off the Pillsbury Doughboy with his bacon cinnamon rolls. Once the tube of sugary goodness was cracked, Mr. B was delighted to discover that the flat cinnamon roll strip is exactly the dimensions of a strip of bacon. O happy harmony! Meal Ticket recommends stocking a few tubes of the cinnamon roll dough in anticipation of your Jan. 1 hangover.
- MillerCoors has caved to pressure to reformulate its Sparks alcoholic energy drink, rants Lew Bryson of Seen Through a Glass. The New Drys, well-funded and highly motivated anti-alcohol groups, leaned on state attorney generals enough that that they have issued a report warning of the danger of alcoholic energy drinks to children. (I wondered why the Sparks-swilling toddlers on in my neighborhood looked so depressed.) MillerCoors will remove the caffeine, taurine, guarana and ginseng from Sparks, effectively neutering both it and their market share.
- Lauren and hubby P of I'll Eat You blog burn up a hefty gift card at formal gateway to the sea, Oceanaire. Pyramids of crushed ice are jammed with recently alive shellfish, bibs are alligator-clipped to protect diner's pecs and black napkins appear for those wearing a dark $2000 suit. Sounds fancy and lint-free, turns out fancy and flaming Baked Alaska. Good thing for gift cards!
- Smitten Kitchen whips up a batch of gorgeous latkes with foolproof instructions for potato pancake rookies. A lightly oiled cast iron skillet is the platform from which dozens of the creme fraiche- and caviar-topped little thrillers spring. Not very peasanty or kosher, but whateva, darling, it's the holidays.
- The MenuPages blog rehashes a BBC news story about two smugglers caught in Italy with eggs on their face, in the form of $550,000 worth of stolen beluga caviar. Though worth half a mil, the booty is only 88 pounds of the deluxe fish spawn. Now that the feds have their hands on the stuff, they're going to feed it to the needy for Christmas. Crazy Italians. Why not sell it at auction and use the proceeds to buy something a bit more substantial?
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| I'll take that boy with pickles, no onion. |
| A Hamburger Today |
Every Wednesday, Meal Ticket pokes around the food blog world to see what's simmering.
- Adam Kuban of A Hamburger Today takes Burger King's new cologne, Flame, for a nose-drive. The olfactory decision? Sniffers characterized it as "truck-stop air freshener," "lincoln logs," or a junior high girlfriend's leather jacket. No trace of meat was registered, sadly. I think I'd take a second whiff of a guy who smelled like the king of sandwiches.
- Bhiladelphia wonders if Capogiro Gelato Artisans is seeking a liquor license for an upcoming location. From personal experience, I'd say that a glass of sparkling Prosecco topped with a poco scoop of clementine or pear sorbetto is one of the finest things in life. Café corretto, a shot of espresso spiked with Sambuca, also lives in that category. Give it up, LCB!
-Travelin'-son-of-a-brew Adam Erace of Blogalicious heads south to Dogfish Head Brewery in Delaware for some sweet beer sampling at the source. He gets down with the wintery Chicory Stout, winey Red & White, and the wood-aged, GABF-medaling Palo Santo brown ale, which we insisted he try and then haul back to PA for us.
-Phoodie.info announces Tiffin's strikeback against the hordes flocking to Girard Ave.'s latest Indian darling, Ekta. They have made their move, and it is brunch. $8.50 buys you all-you-can-eat specialty entreés, apps, breads, rice, tandoori grilled kebabs and dessert. And it ain't no buffet! We anxiously await Ekta's next move in this fabulously fragrant curried chess game.
- Michael Klein of The Insider reports that the Triangle Tavern at 10th and Reed has closed. The bar served a five-day liquor license suspension in September, a consequence of serving intoxicated individuals and minors in 2007. They were the scene of an alleged hate crime over the summer. With their liquor license unrenewed, it is unlikely the Triangle will open under current management anytime soon.
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| Red-onion confit with golden raisins |
| Burning Pasta |
Every Wednesday, Meal Ticket pokes around the food blog world to see what's simmering.
- Before disappearing into the ether of studying for finals, grad student and budding cook Neal of Burning Pasta sets us up with a condiment for all occasions: red onion confit. The sweet and crunchy topper takes a bath in red wine before a date with a harem of plump golden raisins. Scandalicious!
- The debate rages on over the new all-mac 'n' cheese menu at Liberties Walk bistro Swallow. E of Foodaphila visits and mixes up her own custom macs. Results, much like the voracious quantity of opinions on this subject, are split.
- Ten courses of airs, foams and savory cotton candies add up to a barely digestible cannonball by the third dessert of a fine-dining tasting menu. The MenuPages blog provides Your Guide to Getting Out of a Tasting Menu Alive for the fortunate few dining with serial killers Achatz, Keller, Trotter and Garces.
- Adam at Blogalicious gets nostalgic for his Ivy-covered years across the Schuylkill. A sweet potato burrito from the MexiPhilly truck at 36th and Spruce, followed by a dip in the sugar waterfall of Naked Chocolate Café fixes him right up. Proof positive that food writers eat better than everyone else, even while destitute in college.
-Intrepid Living on the Vedge-er Kelly White enjoys the "confidence radiating from the kitchen" at South Philly brunch spot Carman's Kitchen, along with just-right French toast and homey breakfast potatoes. Those $12 plates speak to every serious eater, and the owner/hostess/chef/pickup-truck drivin'/raconteur Carman is worth a visit all by herself.
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| A litter of baby fritattas, born into captivity. Their fate: the lunchbox. |
| via FamilyFriendsandFood |
Every week, Meal Ticket pokes around the food blog world to see what's simmering.
- Mom-of-two Patsy K of Family, Friends and Food isn't the sort who relies on the same old bologna sandwich thrust into a paper bag every day, even though her kids would probably eat it. Instead she whips up a batch of petite fritattas, baked in mini muffin tins, to send to school. I wish my mom had been so motivated. She totally leaned on cheese sandwiches...cue violins.
- Burger King's new advermentary, "Whopper Virgins," by Miami-based Crispin Porter + Bogusky ad agency, has drawn criticism from all corners, reports Robyn Lee for Serious Eats. The concept, which has been derided as "insensitive" and "embarrassing," shows people in burger-less regions of the world (Thailand, Romania, Greenland) having their first bite of both a Whopper and a Big Mac in a quest to determine which is the better crap burger.
- Pot and brownies go together like stoners and senseless giggling, and now Anna of Cookie Madness is mixing things up and throwing mashed pot into the ... pot. Her leftover Thanksgiving smashed spuds lend a fudgy texture and strapping heft to a recipe for Double Chocolate Mashed Potato Brownies. Yeah dude, it's like soooo ... sweeeet. Wait, what's in here?
- Collin Flatt of Phoodie.info has the deets on The Institute's (12th & Green) newest venture: acquiring a microdistillery license and boiling up batches of homemade bourbon. Now, not only will the Spring Garden 'hood have a enviable beer selection, they'll have access to an uber-local quaff perfect for winter 2009 nightcaps.
- Longtime vegetarian Taylor of Mac and Cheese ventures deep into South Philly to experience the charms of Café con Chocolate, and leaves delighted with their wide vegetarian selection of Mexican and Japanese choices, especially their chili-and-spice spiked Chocolate Oaxaca and the perfectly balanced mole.
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