BigBite is KRNBRD krazy!

We are so thankful to have KRNBRD, in the kitchen baking up that golden brown goodness to accompany the chilis of Philly Chili Bowl 6.  Crafted in West Philly, KRNBRD head, Kinshasa Hunter (Philly Chili Bowl 3 alum) got her hands on ma duke’s cornbread recipe, and tweaked the hell outta that jawn!  She added some new flavors, extra love, deleted the vowels, and BOOM! KRNBRD was born!

This isn’t a dried out, 50¢ Jiffy Corn Muffin remix either. KRNBRD has that buttery, sweet, fluffyness – and still maintains that dense grittiness you look for when you take a bite.

With loaves going for cheap, (only $6! with free local delivery!) KRNBRD is the taste you’ll want to accompany your slab of barbecue ribs this summer. Orders can be placed via email at krnbrdphl@gmail.com or phone 717-983-8690.

Make sure you snag a slice, or two, with your chili at Philly Chili Bowl this Saturday, March 14th!

Action Bronson: From His Mouth to Your Stomach

Whether you think he is a Ghostface biter, or  a rap connoisseur with good influences and a style of his own, Action Bronson is definitely good eater. Bronson, known for the vivid, often food-based imagery that he conjures in his lyrics, started rapping after a career as a well-respected gourmet chef in New York. Bronson’s food references are so clear and colorful that you can’t help but wonder how some of the culinary combinations that he references taste and what they look like. Bloggers “Pigeons and Planes” took this curiosity an incredible step further by using their “test kitchen” to prepare some of the rapper’s extravagant dishes. As people who are interested in both hip-hop and food, in healthy doses, we felt obligated to reblog such an incredible post. They literally take Bronson’s bars like

“Bone marrow roasted/Spread it on the rosemary bread lightly toasted/Drizzle with the vinaigrette”

and turn it into:

See the entire piece on Pigeons and Planes.

Also see Bronson in Action(see what I did there), in the kitchen for Vice Below.

http://pigeonsandplanes.com/2012/08/8-of-action-bronsons-food-references-in-the-pp-test-kitchen/3/

Corner Store Classics: Chifles Plantain Chips

Whether you call it the bodega, Papi store, 7-11, Wawa, Cumberland Farms, Turkey Hill, etc.,  BigBite is featuring those corner store snacks we grew up on and the ones we are growing up on now. 

Hey shawty, it must be your birthday, because you can’t buy many things for 50¢ these days.

I find it amazing that I’ve been eating Chifles plantain chips for over 30 years!  Aside from their gluten free tagline, Chifles packaging hasn’t changed much since the early 80’s ( like my baby face.)  Pronounced chief-les, this family business has been around for almost 50 years.  Potassium rich, containing vitamins A and C, these chips are a natural and healthier alternative to chemically enhanced potato chips and snacks. Chifles flavors include: salted, unsalted, garlic, spicy Caribbean, maduro (sweet,) or Mojo Mama seasonings. 

The plantain is a member of the banana family, having a similar appearance, but is much larger, and can only be eaten when cooked.  Chifles are a popular snack in Cuba, Peru and Ecuador, where street vendors offer bags of them to the passing cars. They are savory, more like potato chips than banana chips. Plantains become softer and sweeter as they ripen, and are best made while the fruit is still yellow and firm. The skin is removed, the plantain is sliced length-wise into strips, sticks or round, and fried in vegetable oil.   The end result is a crisp, salty snack that I bet will go great in some chili or guac, and make you forget all about Her(r’s.) 

For those that cannot find Chifles plantain chips in their corner store, BigBite has you covered with a recipe.

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 15 minutes

Ingredients:
2 green-yellow plantains
Vegetable oil for frying
Salt to taste

Preparation:

1.  Cut off both ends of the plantains, and remove peel/skin. You may need to slice the peel open lengthwise with a knife. Work carefully because plantains can stain skin and clothes.
2.  Slice plantains crosswise into very thin slices. about 1-2 mm. It’s fun to use a mandoline for this, but a sharp knife works great too.
3.  Heat 1-2 inches of oil in a saucepan on medium-high heat.
4.  When the oil is hot (about 360 degrees), fry several slices of plantain at a time until golden, 2-3 minutes.
5.  Remove and drain on paper towels. Season with salt to taste.
6.  Enjoy!

Easy Super Bowl Party Snacks

Are you going to a Super Bowl party this weekend? Are you only going so that you can grub, drink and secretly be entertained by the puppy bowl (which will feature Key Board Cat and a sideline of cheer-leading penguins)? Were you asked to bring something and are stuck and in need of a quick last minute ideas?

Look no further, here are a few delicious, simple and cheap side dishes that will wow your super bowl buddies even more than those Seahawk or Bronco dudes.

BAKED BRIE, HONEY AND ALMOND DIP
I don’t know what it is about brie, but people love this creamy and salty hunk of funky cheese. You can bring brie with a side of rocks to a party, and people will still love you.

Ingredients:
1-2 large wedges of brie
Honey – I prefer  pure Vermont honey
raw sliced almonds – half cup
pomegranate, diced strawberries or diced apples  – as garnish
loaf of French bread

Instructions:
-Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.
-Cut bread into thick Round slices (for dipping). Spread a dab of butter atop of each slice and place on a baking tray.
-In a bake-friendly dish, add almonds and drizzle with olive oil.
-Bake bread and almonds together for 8-10 minutes, until almond turn a light golden brown, and bread crisps. Remove from oven.
-Remove rind from brie wedge (optional), and cut it into four slices.
-In another bake-friendly dipping dish, add a layer of brie, pressing it down to cover the whole bottom of this dish. Next, drizzle honey an top of the brie, followed by a dash of almonds. Repeat until all ingredients are used.
-Add brie dipping dish into oven for 20 minutes or until desired gooeyness.
-Garnish with small pieces of fruit. Use bread as dipping devise.
-Lastly, show off and do Da Dip dance.

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BUFFALO CHICKEN DIP
In the spirit of football season, you need wings or something that taste like wings. Save money and simply go with a spicy buffalo chicken dip!
Ingredients:
2 cans (10 oz) of shredded chicken
2 packages of cream cheese
1 bag of shredded cheese
3/4 cups of Frank’s hot sauce
1 cup of Ranch dressing 

Instructions:
-Add all of these ingredients into a crockpot and cook for 3 hours or until dip is soft and dip-able.

—-

PESTO PIZZA PIE
This is a simple recipe that can be baked before heading to your Super Bowl headquarters. Using pre-made pie crusts work, but won’t be as delicious!

Ingredients:
Raw pizza dough ( I get pre-rolled and seasoned dough from Trader Joe’s)
flour
1-2 cups of pesto
mozzarella cheese log
1 cup of cherry tomatoes
Half of a small onion, thinly sliced

Instructions:
-Pull or cut mozzarella into small pieces and set aside.
-Cut tomatoes in fours and set aside
-On a clean and flat surface, dust the flour, then add pizza dough. Roll out with a rolling pin (or with a clean baking spray bottle). Roll out to size of whatever baking dish/pan you wish to use. We use a squared cookie baking tray.
-As you are rolling out the dough, keep dusting with flour so dough is not sticky.
-Once at desired and even size, add pesto. Top with cheese, tomatoes and onions. The onions will crisp and add a nice crunch, once baked.
-Bake pie for 25-30 minutes.
-Donzo! Slice it, eat it, and share with your vegetarian friends.

—-

CHICKEN LIVER PATE
Want to really impress your friends? Make this simple and tasty pate. I mean, who brings pate’s to Super Bowl parties??? YOU DO!

Ingredients:
unsalted butter
1/3 cup minced shallot
1 pound chicken livers
Salt
1 clove garlic, minced
2 Tbsp capers
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon anchovy paste (optional)
1/4 cup brandy
1/4 cup cream
crackers or French bread

Instructions:
-Soak chicken liver in milk for an hour in order to remove some of the “livery” innards flavor
-Trim any fat or connective tissue from the livers and discard.
-Heat butter in a large sauté pan on medium heat
– Add shallots and sauté for 1 minute. Then, add the liver until browned. Add a dash of salt.
-Once livers have browned, add the capers, thyme, garlic, and anchovy paste, and sauté for a few more minute.
-Take the pan off the heat and add the brandy. (Be careful with the small flames that this combination creates) Turn the heat to high and boil down the brandy to the consistency of syrup, about 1-2 minutes. Turn off heat and allow the mixture to cool.
-Put the cooled mixture into a food processor and slowly starting combining. Add a dab of butter and the cream until it is completely puréed.
– Pack the pâté into ramekins or a small bowl, cover and refrigerate for at least an hour before eating.
-Serve spread on crackers or baguette slices.
-TOUCHDOWN

—-

TOMATILLO SAUCE
Salsa’s green-headed step-child never gets any play. This is surely one of the most underrated salsa’s ever, and super easy to make. Skip pico de gallo or salsa dips. Go Green. 

Ingredients:
1 1/2 – 2 pounds of tomatillos (with husks)
4 garlic cloves
1/2 of a medium onion, minced
1 -2 jalapeños (depending on how spicy you want it), seeded and roughly chopped
1/2 of a fresh lime (juice)
2 tablespoon minced cilantro
sea salt

Instructions:
-Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
-Remove husks from tomatillos and rinse to remove sticky residue.
-Cut tomatillos in half and place them face-down on roasting pan. Add garlic cloves, onion and jalepeno to the pan and place in the oven.
-Roast for 15 to 20 minutes, until they release a goodly amount of liquid and the tops of the tomatillos begin to burn. Remove pan from the oven.
– Add all roasted ingredients and juices to a blender with the cilantro and lime juice. Blend well until it turns into a watery sauce.
-Let cool and serve with almost anything.

Sound Bite: Pho Raps

Even though your family’s culinary traditions take center stage around the holidays and many of us may still have leftovers in our fridges, let this fine piece of rap music remind us that…It is Pho season:)

The Ultimate Marshmallow Roast Cone

With bonfire season in full effect, we decided to get a little creative as temperatures continue to drop. When one is in charge of bringing s’mores to a bonfire party – one must play it proper. When BigBite is in charge of things like this – we go big.

And big we did. We brought a s’mores buffet to the party so that guest could create their very own s’mores sensations.

S’more Buffet

On the menu:
-Traditional marshmallows
–Jumbo marshmallows – they are massive
-Traditional honey gram crackers
-Chocolate gram crackers
-Traditional milk chocolate bars
-Dark chocolate bars
-Hersey’s cookie’s and cream bars
-Chocolate syrup
-Nutella
-Strawberries
-Banana
-Coconut chips
-Waffle cones

BAM! Options galore.

Our most favorite and prized concoction was our very own creation:

The Ultimate Marshmallow Roast Cone

The Ultimate Marshmallow Roast Cone. Not this wimpy artificial goop that most of us grew up on, but a legit jumbo marshmallow roasted to perfection, stuffed with a sliver of milk chocolate, then affixed to a waffle cone  – which is slightly roasted again. Before adding the marshmallow to the cone, add Nutella, strawberries and Cookie’s and Cream chocolate bars into the cone. Stuff the jumbo marshmallow into the cone – and then top it off with more strawberries and Nutella, coconut chips, and bananas. NOTE: For an even better sugar high, also add chocolate syrup at the bottom of the cone, before adding the marshmallow and other fixings.

BOOM! Bonfire explosion in your mouth! It’s like a Summer and Fall mashup on a cone!

Be the talk of your next bonfire gathering – and bring The Ultimate Marshmallow Roast Cone as your gift offering. They won’t be disappointed.

Enjoy and stay warm.

-Ryllis

12 Days of Wing King: Day 12: Cafe Soho

Cafe Soho
468 W Cheltenham Ave
Philadelphia, PA 19126
(215) 224-6800
$12/small order, $20/large order

In the middle of the Olney section of Philly, on a quiet, random street, you will stumble upon a very bubbly, bright and extremely odd Korean-Japanese fusion spot called Café Soho.

Upon your entrance, you are greeted by a giant red monk statue (weird) in a room covered in red leather booths and walls (weird). One of the first things you notice as you enter is the giant HDTV – playing Kpop (modern South Korean pop) and Korean Hip Hop videos. When seated, you can summon your waiter via a calling button (weird). After you get over the sensory overload, focus your full attention on why you are even there – the dang Korean Fried Chicken!

Soho has been the leader of the Korean fried chicken movement in Philly, and we totally understand why. These plump, succulent wings are perfectly double-fried to ensure that each wing is crispy and holding all of the moisture inside. Each wing is then hand brush with one of their signature sauces allowing for each wing to have a balanced and evenly distributed amount of sauce.

You can choose from soy-garlic glazed, or spicy sauce. We went simple and went for the spicy wing. Holy crap. Biting into a perfectly cooked, juicy, beautifully crispy wing is amazing, but when it has an equally amazing sauce, it’s a win. Take note though – this sauce is not for wimps. It has a spicy finish and intensifies over time. It’s spicy enough to make you two-step to that Korean pop song playing in the background. Phew!

Keeping wings crispy and juicy all at once is something many places can’t seem to get right. You know it’s hard out here for a wing, but Soho makes it look so easy. For that, we give them 5 BigBite Bites = “Mind BloWing” in the 12th and final day of 12 DAYS OF WING KING!

12 Days of Wing King: Day 8: Varga Bar

Varga Bar
941 Spruce St.
(215) 627-5200
$11.50/order

BigBite has been a fan of duck confit since our resident judge Drew Lazor brought his fancy-pants cassoulet to our potluck bean swap a couple years ago. So when we heard of Varga Bar’s Duck Confit Wings, we were there immediately!

The texture of these wings was soft and tender – like the looks of those pinup girls on their walls – with that FOB (falling off the bone) factor that we like. Not much tearing of the meat was necessary as soon as you put a wing in your mouth. The meat removes itself and all that is left is a clean chicken bone. With its juicy, FOB succulence, you could tell that Varga slow cooks these bad boys girls for hours –unless they simply use magic.

The pomegranate molasses-bourbon-chili sauce had a sweet yet subtle vinegary taste, and complemented well with the house-made bleu cheese dip. We, however, wish that the sauce was a tad thicker – like the pinup girls on their walls – to adhere itself to the super tender meat.

We gave these wings 4 BigBite Bites = “Simply Wing-tastic” on the 12 DAYS OF WING KING rating system.

before

after all the meat fell off the bone

12 Days of Wing King: Day 7: The Industry

The Industry
1401 Moyamessing Ave.
(215) 271-9500
$12/pound

Tso on the 7th day of Wing King, we ended up at The Industry – a fairly new South Philly bar that caters to the servers, cooks, and libation makers that keep us all happy.  I was first introduced to the sweet, slightly spicy, deep-fried  General Tso’s chicken in college by my roommate who used to pronounce the “T” in his favorite take-out dish (I’m a beef and broccoli dude.)  Named after Zuo Zongtang, or Tso Tsung-t’ang – China’s silkworm farmer turned military strategist – General Tso’s chicken has been a staple in American street corners, strip malls and college campuses. It however, is not as common to find at a bar. Hats off to the Industry for not only serving this sticky sweet sauce as part of their menu, but serving it over nice plump, and crispy chicken wings!

They created their own version of this complex sauce but it was more cap gun than cannon. The wings were fried to a nice “crispicity” and the meat almost had a FOTB (falling off the bone) factor.  The chicken was cooked well and was on point, however, I was looking for that bullet-proof glass, corner Chinese store POW!! This dish needed more ammo and ended up shooting blanks.  For this we give the Industry’s  General’s Wing 3 BigBites =  “It just needs a little more something, something” on the 12 DAYS OF WING KING rating system.

*Bonus: Skip the wings and try the crispy pig ear wraps, tartar and the buffalo sweetbreads!

12 Days of Wing King: Day 6: East Girard Gastropub

East Girard Gastropub (aka E.G.G.)

200 E. Girard Ave.

(267) 761-9343

$9.00/order

In the historic town of fish – fabled to be where the largest shad fish had been caught in the world – and now known as Fishtown, on a small corner street of the newly rejuvenated East Girard Avenue, lays a small and very quaint pub that holds a neighborhood secret – good wings.

The East Girard Gastropub or simply known as the “E.G.G.”, has consistently crafted a tasty Hot & Honey wing since its doors opened in 2011. Beyond the plump, nicely crisped and sauced wings, a highlight for us is that they come double-jointed, and not cut. If you are a true chicken wing eater, you know the value of keeping the full three-piece wing in-tack. The more bone, the more flavor, and the more skeleton to suck on. E.G.G. allows you to appreciate that value. It’s a beautiful thing.

These juicy wings are well balanced with the right amount of spice and a touch of sweetness in its sauce; it’s tender in the inside, but crispy on the outside; and pair nicely when dipped into their cheesy bleu cheese sauce. For this we give the E.G.G.’s Hot & Honey wing 4 BigBites =  “Simply Wing-tastic” on the 12 DAYS OF WING KING rating system.