Tag: brooklynfood

  • The BKswappers Food Swap at the Brooklyn Kitchen

    The BKswappers Food Swap at the Brooklyn Kitchen

    This weekend I went down to New York City to go to Brooklyn to be part of Megan’s BKswappers event which was held at the Brooklyn Kitchen in Williamsburg Brooklyn or perhaps it’s Greenpoint – the border there is a bit fuzzy – but it was really fun as you can see from these pictures.

    From the potluck snack table

    The Brooklyn kitchen has a really nice large space that they use for classes and demonstrations and they were nice enough to allow Megan and Jane to host the BKswappers there. They opened the store a little bit early for us on a Sunday morning and we all just moved in. I forgot one detail but the food swap is also potluck and I forgot to bring anything – not surprising – but there was a ton of food there as you can see from these pictures.

    some of the foods offered for trade
    Hard Cider being bottled on premise for the swap

    How does a food swap work? We talked about how to have a food swap on GardenFork Radio with Megan, one of the hosts of BKswappers. To start you can email a group of friends and have everyone meet at someone’s house. Invite your friends to bring foods that they have made that they would like to trade for foods that other people have made. ( As your food swap gets larger, you can  use meetup.com for or eventbrite.com to organize your group )

    I brought honey, applesauce, pickles

    Everyone gets together at the appointed time and place ( name tags are suggested ) and they set out the foods they have brought on a table. Each food item, be it an apple pie or a jar of applesauce has a piece of paper ( an ‘offer slip’ ) in front of it describing what the item is and perhaps a brief note about how it was made, or what foods go well with, like hot dogs go well with ketchup. Underneath the description are  five numbered lines for swap offers.

    An offer to swap is made by writing on the slips

    Perusing the table of food that is to be swapped, people decide what they would like to trade for and jot down on the ‘offer slip’ next to the food item they are interested in what they want to offer that person in trade.
    There’s also a lot of socializing that goes on while everyone is checking out the table, and people are eating all the fun food brought for the potluck. People brought apple pie, donuts with bacon, egg salad, duck rillet, several cheese plates, a citrus salad. All really great stuff.

    Bacon Donuts. wow.
    Food-a-rama at the potluck table

    So while you’re looking at the foods that you want to swap for, you’re getting to eat food as well. nice.
    Some people put on the potluck table a sample of what they’re offering to trade. For example, someone brings bags of cookies they want to trade; they might put out one bag of the cookies on the potluck table to give people a taste of the cookies that they are offering up for trade. Which is pretty cool.
    There is a lot of socializing the goes on the whole time while everyone’s eating all the snacks from the potluck.
    At a given time Megan and Jane announce:  okay it’s time to do the swaps. People then look at slips of paper ( the offer slips ) next to the food items that they have offered up and see what people are offering. It is usually five or six people that offer to trade. You pick which one you like to trade for you go find the person and “say sure I’d like to trade my pickles for your applesauce”. Then your trade is done.

    An action photo of the swapping of food

    The BK swappers event is is really well-established now, they were written up in the New York Times recently ( article link here ) and that made the turnout even higher. I think there were about 40 people, from the pictures you can see it’s jam packed with super nice people.
    While at the food swap I learned about making sauerkraut from a fellow food swap attendee. I spoke with another guy that made hard cider – there is a picture of him drawing off a little mini keg here. The best item from the potluck table were some little mini doughnut pillows with the icing and bacon on them , yum.

    Megan, aka Brooklyn Homesteader, is one of the hosts of BKswappers

    So a big thank you to Megan and Jane and thank you to the Brooklyn kitchen for hosting as well. you can find out more about BK swappers here.
    FYI We interviewed Megan about how to start or host your own food swap and here is a link to that GardenFork Radio episode.

  • Robert Newton of Seersucker Restaurant & Mike’s Pork Sandwich : GardenFork Radio

    Robert Newton of Seersucker Restaurant & Mike’s Pork Sandwich : GardenFork Radio

    GardenFork Radio goes on the road in this show. First we hear firsthand of Mike’s quest for the Pork Tenderlion Sandwich in Indiana. [ one of our favorite states ]

    THEN:

    This place made me want to kiss my deliciously perfect grits…and chicken and dumplings….and deviled eggs, and oh, if only I could make out with that pimento cheese. NY Mag review of Seersucker

    Eric got to meet up with Chef Robert Newton, who has just opened Seersucker, a new restaurant in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn, NY . Chef Roberts serves updated Southern comfort foods; what will make this place well known are its Chicken and Dumplings. Eric visited Chef Newton early one afternoon to talk about what is it like to open a restaurant, and how we can make all sorts of great food with a pork shoulder.

    photo by CarolineJG

  • Must-have Meatball Sandwich

    Must-have Meatball Sandwich

    Brancaccio's Food Shop

    Last Thursday I tagged along with Eric on a food expedition in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Kennsington. Just a hop over to the Fort Hamilton Pkwy and there we were at Brancaccio’s Food Shop in search of their meatball sandwich. Lunch time! As we walked in, Chef Joe was just putting today’s specials into the tall fridge… as a rack of ribs came came out of the oven.

    Joe Brancaccio
    Chef and proprietor Joseph Brancaccio gave us a taste of everything. That was quite a list.

    The shop is cozy and unassuming, no indoor seating but they do have two benches outside. The regulars shuffled past us as we looked at all the fresh salads in the case. One might ask “Really? Just for a meatball sandwich?” The correct answer would be “Yes, for that meatballs sandwich.” Meet Chef Joe, he offered us samples from the daily menu while we waited — caponata, baked ziti with truffle oil, roasted Brussels sprouts, roasted beet and farro salad… all of it made that morning…

    Now back to that sandwich, the portion is of a generous size, the bread is fresh with just enough marinara to moisten. But those meatballs! Moist and savory with pine nuts and raisins, seasoned with fennel and garlic. There’s an old world flavor in every bite.

    Eric! Lift with your knees! Can something this big really be that good?
    You can taste the home-cooking in every bits. Brancaccio's meatball sammy is carefully stuffed and sauced into fresh Italian bread that just melts in your mouth.
    The meatballs are made with pine nuts and raisins, an old-world flavor that I love.

    Eric saved half for later, mine vanished. I think I actually ate the wrapper. I was going to save the Broccoli Rabe for later, but it never made it into the fridge.

    Broccoli Rabe, the trusty Italian side-kick… look how green this is.

    Chef Joe gave us to a little after meal treat: “Snack a Latte” coffee cakes. Chef Joe carries some food provisions. I bought some pasta, farro, and Italian Nutella. You have to check this sweet little shop out, Brancaccio’sFood Shop 3011 Ft. Hamilton Pkwy, Brooklyn NY, 11218.

    Snack a Latte

    Like Brancaccio’s Facebook page here