Philly Eats |

Pork Bellies

October 26, 2012 By Paul Gentile 1 Comment

It all started on the night Open Air opened. I got home a little later than expected, Lori and I grabbed our cameras and headed out towards the parkway. I strategized that since the placement of Open Air was along the Benji Franklin Parkway in between Swann Memorial Fountain and the Art Museum we should place ourselves at the fountain and shoot with the Art Museum in the background. Well shit, my logic didn’t account for the amount of light pollution from the fountain area. Even though the street lights were out on the BFP we could barely see the search lights. So we pulled up our tripods and headed closer to the Art Museum. There, while waiting for the start of the installation, our stomachs told us we hadn’t eaten yet, there were several food trucks with long lines, no desire waiting for food, we noticed one on the end that had a minimal line, Local 215. We reluctantly looked at the menu: Pork Bellies and Crispy Polenta. We looked longingly at the other trucks and their growing lines, shrugged and said to each other we always wanted to try pork bellies. Within 5 minutes we were sitting on the curb eating the melt in your mouth savory pork bellies and the crispiest polenta with delicious bitter greens. We glanced at each other and mumbling agreed we must learn how to make this.

After several days of research via the Interwebs, we headed to 9th st, to snag some pork bellies. First stop Esposito’s, they had bellies but we needed to buy 15 lbs worth. After a little banter back and forth I was pulled aside and advised to check out Cannuli’s Prime Meats. They had pork bellies and much more. The bellies arrive on Fridays fresh and then are frozen, since we were in on a saturday frozen it was. They sawed off 4 pounds worth. We bought some onions and other veggies after we left and stopped at DiBruno’s for Polenta and some Reggianno.

Put the bellies in the fridge to thaw for 24 hours when we got home. We weren’t sure if this would be enough time, but all was good by sunday afternoon

Soon as the slab was thawed we made the marinade. In the processor we combined lemon zest, rosemary, olive oil, salt, garlic and thyme. Huge bush growing out front makes fresh rosemary quite convenient.

Scored the skin just enough to break the skin but not go all the way through the fat layer:

Poured boiling water over the scored skin:

“Rub the lotion on it’s skin” or apply marinade and refrigerate:

Added four cups of white wine:

Cooked at 425 for 45 min, dropped to 350 for an hour and added onions:

Roasted at 350 for another hour:

Made polenta several hours earlier:

After chilling in the fridge we cut the polenta:

Fried polenta in olive oil until desired crispness:

Made gravy from remaining pork drippings and onions, simple rue and some chicken stock:

Sliced the belly:

Enjoyed:

Filed Under: Philly Eats Tagged With: cannulis, food truck, local 215, open air, pork belly, pork belly recipe, roast pork belly

Back to the Sea in South Carolina

October 9, 2012 By Lori Foxworth Leave a Comment

The irony of having a successful blog about Philadelphia when you’re not a native of this town, doesn’t escape me. In fact, I think it helps. I look at Philly with fresh eyes every day, and am able to find joy in all of her hidden treasures and overt weirdness that the natives may be stepping over. But I’ve been here over a year now, and it was time to take advantage of some free time and head back with my mother to the state of my childhood, South Carolina.

Why is my little trip back home featured in our food section, you may ask? Because in 4 days I consumed shrimp and grits with fried flounder, crab and artichoke dip, boiled peanuts, homemade chili, freshly baked date bread, freshly baked raisin bread, blackened salmon wrap with fried green tomatoes and bacon, she-crab soup, apple pie moonshine and Piggly Wiggly fried chicken. But we’re not here to talk about Piggly Wiggly (although I gotta say, I’m now “Big on the Pig”) We’re here to talk about the real jewels of the South Carolina low country.

My family owns Crosby’s Seafood and Fish Company in Charleston, South Carolina. where the Crosby’s have been fishing and selling and serving their shrimp, crab, oysters and fish for over 30 years. We were fortunate enough to be on the dock when one of the Shrimp boats came in with hundreds of pounds of the most beautiful shrimp I’ve ever seen, and watched as they unloaded it all from the boats. Crosby’s is run by serious chick power, as twins Ellie and Joanie run all aspects of the business, from meticulously sorting through the shrimpers trawls to select only the most perfect shrimp, to packing everything up for selling, running the store (complete with the spices and grits you may need for your seafood dinner) to their famous Dock parties, where you can fill up on the delights of the sea, grilled right before your eyes. Just don’t try to fish off their dock without paying. I’ve seen it, and it ain’t pretty!

The Crosby girls were also kind enough to arrange a boat tour for us. Capt Gresham Meggett of Absolute Reel Screeming Charters took us for a tour of the Folly Beach area, overloaded with Oyster Beds, Shrimp, Crab, and bottlenose dolphin, who are famous for “strand feeding”, the world’s only dolphin population who feed by pushing their dinner up onto the shores. We were taken out to Morris Island, with it’s view of the Morris Island lighthouse, the sixth oldest in the nation. The tidal pools are not to be believed. Crabs scamper about on a deserted island where civil war soldiers fought, died and are still buried. The beach is carpeted with oyster shells, sand dollars and bones, a real walking paradise.

Plane fare round trip from Philly is about $200.00. Or take a road trip. But see where your food really comes from, while we still have oceans and beaches teaming with life. And when you get home, make shrimp grits. You won’t regret it.

Video of Dolphins beaching fish: Dolphins Strand Feeding on Folly Beach

SHRIMP GRITS

Grits:

1 cup yellow grits (not instant)
1 cup grated sharp white cheddar
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 jalapeño, seeded, diced
1/4 cup heavy cream
Kosher salt
freshly ground pepper

Shrimp:

1/2 cup 1/3″ cubes tasso, andouille sausage, or bacon
1 tablespoon vegetable oil (optional)
3 garlic cloves, sliced
2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) butter, divided
16 large shrimp (about 1 pound), peeled, deveined
1/4 cup (or more) beer
1/4 cup low-salt chicken stock
4 large eggs
1 tablespoon chopped fresh tarragon

For grits:
Bring 3 cups water to a simmer in a large saucepan. Gradually whisk in grits. Turn heat to low; gently simmer until grits begin to thicken. Continue cooking, stirring often and adding water by 1/4 cupfuls if too thick, until tender, about 1 hour. Stir in cheese, butter, and jalapeño, then cream. Season with salt and pepper. Keep warm.

For shrimp:
Meanwhile, heat a large heavy skillet over medium heat. Add tasso; sauté until fat begins to render, about 5 minutes (if tasso is very lean, add 1 tablespoon oil to skillet). Add garlic and 1 tablespoon butter; stir until butter melts. Add shrimp. When garlic begins to brown, add beer and chicken stock. Simmer until shrimp is cooked through, about 2 minutes. Remove skillet from heat; set aside.

Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add remaining 1 tablespoom butter to skillet; swirl to melt and cover bottom of pan. Crack eggs into pan and cook until whites are just set but yolks are still runny, about 3 minutes.

Divide grits among bowls, forming a well in center. Spoon shrimp mixture into center of grits. Top with egg. Sprinkle tarragon over.

Filed Under: Features, Philly Eats Tagged With: boat tours, charleston south carolina, folly beach, fresh seafood, reel screaming charters, shrimp boats, south carolina, travel, vacations

Pure Tacos- Pure Awesome

September 18, 2012 By Lori Foxworth Leave a Comment

That title is probably the nicest thing I’ve ever said on this blog.

I’m an active Yelper and will review this place accordingly, however I felt that Pure Tacos deserved a special sort of shout out to highlight that there are still good places after my previous post about places who lie about food.

People compare Pure Tacos to the many other fast casual places floating around Center City, but I beg to differ.

The thing I like so much about Pure Tacos is that they don’t make any outrageous claims about their food. Sure, they say it is gluten free (which makes sense because they only use corn tortillas). But aside from that, all they’re saying is “this food taste good and is better for you than most fast food chains”.

And those things are true. Although I agree that the prices are not “cheap” ($8 for two tacos and tortilla chips) it isn’t expensive either.

I went with the boyfriend and we both got the flank steak tacos. When our food arrived, at first we both looked at the contents of our boxes like “what? why was this $8?” But after biting into the tacos and tasting the delicious medium cooked steak our minds were changed. I have never gone to a cheap Mexican themed place before and received beef cook any other way except overcooked.

The meat actually reminded me a lot of a dish a had once at El Rey (which I’m sure I paid more than $8 for).

This place is surely not going to be everyone’s cup of tea, but it is mine. Food that tastes good, isn’t killing me as fast a 5 Guys or Wendy’s (or even Qdoba with their queso sauce). It’s no Jar Bar (vegan, raw food place in Market East), but then again if it was, I wouldn’t eat it.

Pretty much all I’m saying is like it or not (I do), think it is worth the price or not (I do), you have to respect their honesty. The worst honest swindling (restaurants are all swindlers) is better than the best dishonest swindling any day in my book.

You can read more from our Philly food vixen “sheepgo2heaven” at http://caponshavemorefun.wordpress.com/

Orange Chili Fish Taco. Photos by YDC

Filed Under: Center City, Philly Eats Tagged With: capons have more fun, Center City Food, philadelphia culinary, philly food, Philly Food Review, Philly Mexican Food, Pure Taco, Sheepgo2heaven

Culinary Cojones

August 31, 2012 By Lori Foxworth Leave a Comment

So here at Your Daily Cheesesteak, we do our best to bring you all that wonderfully weird Philly has to offer. Subcultures. Events that fall under the radar. Cutting edge artists, performers and the tattooed freaks that give Philly it’s swag. But we’re foodies at heart. With over 30 years in the food industry between us, we’re suddenly realizing how little love we’ve given the “Philly Eats” section of YDC.

So we’re kicking it off this weekend with our newest contributor, a hot up and comer on Philly’s food scene. Someone who works in the trenches, and isn’t afraid to write about it. This little blurb, “If There’s One Thing I Hate About Restaurants”, punches to the gut with what’s really going on in some of those “higher end” restaurants. Rumors are that this may just be part of a larger expose to come…very exciting!

IF THERE’S ONE THING I HATE ABOUT RESTAURANTS

It Is When They Lie.

Two recent events have prompted this post, so I will focus on them.

Lie #1: Probably one of the most offensive lies I have seen (based sheerly on the fact that it is so easy to disprove) is when a local CC juke joint showed me this:

SO instantly I thought “I’m pretttttyyyyyy fucking sure that only beef is graded on a “prime,choice,select” scale. So I whipped out my smart phone and went straight to the source. THE USDA WEBSITE.

Pork is not graded with USDA quality grades as it is generally produced from young animals that have been bred and fed to produce more uniformly tender meat. Appearance is an important guide in buying fresh pork.

Anyway, I can imagine the droves of people lined up to get there porterhouse pork steak, and I’m here to tell you you’re pretty much just getting an expensive pork chop. Does it really matter or hurt anyone, as long as you like it? No. But it’s just presumptuous and rude and weird.

Lie #2: This is the one that gets me, the one that REALLY gets me. It’s the whole “we’re all natural and organic and free-range” lie. Yes, it is a lie. No, not always. But I’m willing to bet based on the evidence I am about to present you with that this is not the only case of a restaurant doing this.

I know this restaurant in CC. It’s a really popular lunch spot. It isn’t the cheapest, but it’s cheap enough for people to justify the price because they’re getting high quality stuff.

Here is a quote from the owner:

we’re using only natural ingredients, minimal salt and sugar (honey when possible actually), meats are hormone and antibiotic free, and we work with vendors and farms that meet our standards of high quality in terms of taste, color, best practices, and yield. Dressings and sauces are made in-house daily.

Or this quote from their twitter:

no frozen veggies, processed meats, and non homemade sauces

A sign right in their store claims that they:

take care in selecting meat and dairy products originating from animals not exposed to unnecessary antibiotics or hormones

I can tell you for 100% fact (yes 100%) that as of right now (10:02 a.m. on Friday the 24th of August 2012) many of those claims are false. This restaurant has signs hanging in it that proclaim all of these things to be true, but if you were to mosey on into the kitchen you would find some disturbing things.

Things like: Pre-cut vacuum sealed carrots from Sysco (I don’t know about you, but that doesn’t seem very natural to me).

Buttermilk from Sysco (which says no where on its container that it is free of anything).

In the freezer: Frozen peas, frozen edamame.

On the shelves: Canned corn, canned bamboo shoots, canned hearts of palm, canned chick peas, and gallon containers of a certain sauce. (They cut the sauce with other things but the pre made sauce comprises at least 1/2 of the finished sauce product).

Also in the freezer (or the walk in) you will find boxed of chicken, shrimp, beef, pork, and bacon none of which claim to be hormone or antibiotic free.

Dressings made in mass quantities that last at least a few days (certainly not made fresh daily).

croutons that are bought in from Sysco.

The list of atrocities could go on almost indefinitely. Unfortunately, the more I write about this, the more fucked I become. People in the business don’t like people who talk about the business. But I can’t shut up and take it anymore because it’s bullshit. A place that claims to be allergy friendly where cross contamination is occurring more than any other place I’ve seen to date is not something I can stay hush hush about. People can die from that.

If this place and other places like it didn’t claim such high standards, it would be fine. The food tastes pretty good and probably is better for you that lots of places (certainly Wendys or 5 guys). It’s just the (false) claims of such morality in a time where people CLING to any scrap of hope that they might be getting real food that piss me off.

All I’m saying is that buyer beware. Ask questions. Demand to know what you’re eating, especially if you’re forking over a pretty penny for it.

And remember: “If you see me rollin’ by (yeah), remember that you don’t know me”

Always,

Sheepgo2heaven

you can read more by our Philly food vixen at http://caponshavemorefun.wordpress.com/

Enjoy and remember, if you’re out and about with your camera, shoot us some eats!

Filed Under: Center City, Events, Philly Eats Tagged With: all natural food, food, food lies, food myths, healthy quick service, locally grown, organic food, organic food lies, philly culinary scene, philly food, philly food blog, philly heath food, philly locally grown, sustainable food, whole foods concept

Pasta and Beyond

March 30, 2011 By Paul Gentile Leave a Comment

A walk through Philly’s 9th street Italian Market is like a journey into the culinary delights of the past. The oldest and largest working outdoor market in the United States, the market is currently host to over 100 merchants. A stroll through vendors with tables overloaded with fresh fruits and vegetables punctuated with meat shops, fishmongers, and old world cheese shops. Have some fresh pasta made before your eyes at Talluto’s, pick up some good aged Parmesan at Di Bruno’s and dinner is done. We left with a week’s worth of food for $70.00.