A Day at Brooklyn Flea

I went to Brooklyn Flea last month, and though the Saturday (and Sunday) afternoon event is for shopping, the Flea offers a dreamy smorgasbord. A person go for food alone and leave satisfied.

My intention that Saturday was to try a lobster roll from Red Hook Lobster Pound (they also have a truck in DC), but faced with so many options, I ended up vowing to eat my clandestine lobster roll on another day.





My first treat was a chocolate egg cream from Brooklyn Farmacy and Soda Fountain. I had planned to get an egg cream before my lobster roll anyway, so at this point, I was still on track. The egg cream was $4. It was probably the best egg cream I've ever had (and I've had my share of egg creams).  The set up at the booth a little awkward—there were four people behind the counter (three were employees), but only one person capable of serving beverages. Everyone was pleasant, however, so a few minutes of awkward waiting was worth it.






Serving the drink with a pretzel rod is the traditional way of serving the drink. You're supposed to stir the soda with the pretzel, but I was too busy slurping to follow protocol.

You can visit Farmacy in Brooklyn at 513 Henry St. If Red Hook Lobster Pound wasn't already in an ice cream factory on Thursdays, I'd go there after I got my roll. Oh, New York, why do you present these difficult decisions?






It was in line for the lobster roll that I jumped ship on my plan. (I hadn't remember an ice pack for leftovers, so this wasn't the worst thing that could happen.) I turned and saw Porchetta behind me and realized it was time for a new plan.

I've wanted to try porchetta for more than a year, ever since the pork's introduction from The Amateur Gourmet. (Getting my mom to let me make it has been a bit of a struggle.)






The sandwich was an affordable $5. The sandwich was moist and delicious, and just perfect for my needs. (Peckish but otherwise not hungry.) There was plenty of meat:





I'd happily go back for more. Eaters with a larger appetite might need more than one sandwich, and getting a larger portion at the restaurant doesn't look like a problem.

Porchetta is located at 110 E. 7th St. A sandwich there is $10.





I finished my gastro tour with a bittersweet chocolate milkshake from Milk Truck. I was unaware of Milk Truck's reputation before the market. I was drawn only because I heard another young woman murmur, "Ooh, milkshakes!"

Yes, I thought, a milkshake is always a great idea.

It totally was. It was an expensive milkshake at $6.50, but it's also the best milkshake I've ever had, and I'm a certified expert.

Milk Truck offered a berry shake, a vanilla shake, and a bittersweet chocolate shake. I opted for chocolate. It was a long wait, because Milk Truck is wildly popular. (The booth also serves gourmet grilled cheese sandwiches.)

Many customers waited behind the booth, in an eating area, to get their food. I waited in the back too, because it gave me a view of the behind-the-scenes:





When my milkshake was ready, I popped up, grabbed my shake, and left. I slurped it all the way to Target, and now that I'm writing about it, I'd like some more.

You can only visit Milk Truck at the flea markets, every Saturday and Sunday. You can read more about that here.

250 Classic Cake Recipes

In addition to going home with the marachino cake recipe featured last week, our family friend lent us a booklet titled 250 Classic Cake Recipes. Published in 1954 by the Culinary Arts Institute, and edited by Ruth Berolzheimer (then director of the Institute), the booklet features "Successful Cakes", spongecakes, budget cakes, chocolate cakes, white cakes, party cake, angel food cakes, "cakes with fruit", "cakes in general", upside-down cakes, fruit cakes, and fillings and frostings.

I scanned a few pages for my archives, and again look forward to sharing those pages with you.

First, advice and general information from the booklet:

I scanned these pages for the Lady Baltimore cake. Look at the fantastic photograph on the right!

And I made sure to get the rolled cakes. Our friend seems to have referenced these pages often, so I think this was probably a good decision.

The reason we borrower 250 Classic Cake Recipes was so my mom could have a copy of the burnt sugar cake. My grandmother made a great burnt sugar cake (she had to burn the sugar twice before she could make the cake), and we thought this recipe might be similar. (If it sounds like we don't have any of my grandmother's recipes, that's not the case! We do.)

I thought it might be a good idea to snag the caramel icing recipe.

Same thought for the divinity icing recipe. I don't like seven minute icing (too tacky) but my family likes it.

 The book provides very little commentary, so I think the caption above (These funny little figures will be welcome at any party) is fairly pleasant.

Marachino Cherry Cake

My mom's tenth birthday cake was a maraschino cherry cake. She made the cake for my birthday one year, in a time where everyone saved his or her files on floppy disks. The recipe has been lost, and there has been much to-do and hand ringing as a result.

We visited a family friend in late August. Mom asked if she remembered the cake from her tenth birthday, and our friend stood up, walked to her kitchen, and procured the recipe above. We made the cake, and my mom thinks this is the recipe. We used Crisco instead of Spry, and my mom thinks she'll use butter next time. (There's a difference between butter and vegetable shortening, but my mom thinks her mother used butter.)




Spry, by the way, was a vegetable shortening introduced in the mid-1930s and phased out by the 1960s. (Wikipedia says 1950s, but that would make this recipe ineligible for my mom's birthday, and she's certain Spry was used.) I stray from recipes requiring shortening (or lard and sometimes even vegetable oil), so I'm not sure what to do here.

Alternatively, I could buy Spry from Cyprus, where it is available. (Manufactured for Unilever!) Surely the Internet could come through for that.