Hannaford

Where to Shop Now: Hard to Find Items like Leaf Lard, Veal, Green Peppercorns, Post Grape Nuts Cereal, Bleached Cake Flour and Other Esoterica

January 24, 2021 / / Baking & Desserts, Discoveries, Recipes

I’ve decided that Shaw’s is my least favorite supermarket of the Big Three (Whole Foods, Hannaford and Market Basket). My reasons were firmly planted after a visit to the Falmouth Route 1 Shaw’s recently where I went to buy two items: Hershey’s cocoa and Karo light syrup.   I’ve never done a complete shop at any Shaw’s. Though if you want to finish fast, the Shaw’s at Westgate Shopping Plaza in Portland is the best because hardly anyone is in there. But I was in Falmouth and it was convenient to go there.

Route 1 Shaw’s in Falmouth

 

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Where to Shop Now–At Supermarkets and Other Local Food Stores Amidst an Inventory of Errors and Omissions

May 23, 2019 / / Discoveries

My favorite potato, available during the winter at farmers’ market, has been the pinto potato–red-skinned with blushes of beige and golden flesh within.  It bakes, boils, sautés well yielding an ultra-creamy texture.  Alas they’ve disappeared as a storage potato early last month at farmers’ markets.  Locally Goranson and Dandelion farms sold the potatoes until their winter stash was depleted.  They’ll be back in the markets by mid-summer.

By the end of May winter storage crops like potatoes, onions and carrots are truly getting long in the tooth.  The famous spring dug parsnip moreover is still not available at farmers’ markets. Farmers say that the ground is still too tough to dig them up.

“New” (?) potatoes from Hannaford

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Whole Foods Markdowns After the Sale to Amazon: So Far There are Price Drops Here and There

September 3, 2017 / / Uncategorized

That it has remained the haven for the gold-bug class to the beat of inner city ennui, time will tell what  effect the Amazon purchase of Whole Foods  will have on us shoppers as it opts to change its whole paycheck image to a cut-rate store.  Will quality suffer?  And will we lose the cachet of shopping at Whole Foods where Vuitton bags on the arms of women shoppers are the norm in an otherwise diffident city?

The Portland Whole Foods Market

I visited the store on the day that the changeover occurred and was shocked to see a sign that read: “Air-chilled chickens, $1.79 per pound.”  Wow, this was big news in our community where farm chickens  run $5 to $6 per pound.  WF’s cut-rate bird is not a locally raised farm bird but respectfully natural with decent taste and texture.

As I toured the store that day and later in the week most products were priced without discount.  Take butter, both local and national brands. Kate’s is over $6 per pound at Whole Foods compared to around $4 at Hannaford (it’s since been raised to $5.25 there).

Notable price drops at WF

Hannaford, for example, was running a special on Casco Bay Butter at $3.99 per pound, compared to $7+ at Whole Foods.  I overheard the dairy guy at Hannaford say to a co-worker that they had to get rid of the CB Butter because the warehouse was overstocked. At the Forest Avenue store, it’s off the shelf.

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The Brunch Report: Transcendent at Terlingua, a Tantalizing Smoked Beef Brisket over Sweet Potato Hash

April 11, 2016 / / Restaurants

Whether brunch energizes you or creates the perfect scenario for an afternoon nap, one thing is certain:  It has to be thoroughly satisfying.  And these days what goes beyond the norm of eggs Benedict gets my vote for culinary rapture. That happened this past Sunday at Terlingua, now a mainstay   along the bustling restaurant mecca also anchored by  Roustabout across the street and  the newly opened Drifter’s Wife.

A hale and hearty scene at Terlingua's well- attended Sunday brunch

A hale and hearty scene at Terlingua’s well- attended Sunday brunch

I chose Terlingua for my brunch destination because after scanning many restaurant sites and their online menus, one dish stood out: smoked brisket hash with sweet potatoes and eggs.

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Firm Family Favorite: Country-Style Ribs

February 17, 2016 / / Uncategorized

The success rate of recipes from newspaper food sections, magazines and the internet don’t have a high success rate of enjoyment or deliciousness. Still, I clip many from the New York Times, which are generally reliable and occasionally keepers. Though I’m rarely seduced by recipes in our Portland Press Herald food page, which is more of a food section containing wire copy recipes than those that are home grown.  But I do look forward to the Saturday food section of the Wall Street Journal in the section called “Off-Duty,”which features articles on food, lifestyle, travel, cars and fashion.  It’s the food features especially that tantalize–and one recipe in particular that I have made was so good it’s become a firm family favorite.  (The overall section, however, is more like a fantasy sheet advising where to buy six-figure cars to items of clothing and accessories that cost thousands.)

The adapted recipe  is a robust preparation for country style pork ribs that are marinated in a spice rub overnight and slow-roasted in the oven for several hours.  It hails from chef Damon Menapace of the Philadelphia restaurant Kensington Quarters.  The restaurant is part of a butcher shop that practices whole animal butchery from local farms.  The adjacent restaurant is highly regarded by Philadelphians.  Click here for the link to the food feature.

Slow roasted spice rubbed ribs served with a puree of celery root and potato and sauteed spinach

Slow roasted spice rubbed ribs served with a puree of celery root and potato and sauteed spinach

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Biddeford Bound: To The Market Basket, the only store in Maine to sell the product that I wanted

January 25, 2016 / / Discoveries

What prompted my Sunday morning excursion to the Market Basket in Biddeford was that all of Hannaford’s stores stopped carrying a product that I’ve purchased there for years.  I immediately researched all of the likely stores that could conceivably carry it.  No luck at Shaw’s, Walmart (even the supercenter), IGA Pond Cove Market in Cape Elizabeth and Smaha’s in South Portland.

Sunday morning at The Market Basket in Biddeford

Sunday morning at Market Basket in Biddeford

The Market Basket is the only store in Maine to carry the almighty, if not elusive, Benecol.   It’s in the dairy case next to the butter and butter substitutes like Earth Balance and I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter and other locums of limited appeal. When I would do Google searches to find the product all that would come up was Beneful, the dog food!

Two types of Benecol at Biddeford

Two types of Benecol at Biddeford Market Basket

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Pork Cheeks, bourbon, ham and veal stock: navigating the territory of new cuts of meat made into a glorious dish

December 16, 2015 / / Baking & Desserts, Mains, Recipes

Pork cheeks are one of those cuts of meats gaining popularity with the growth of nose-to-tail butchery.  We have some excellent sources locally at such butcher shops as Rosemont, The Farm Stand, Maine MEat and Bleecker and Flam who get in whole animals that are carved onsite.

You’ll find recipes for these novel cuts in the new crop of cookbooks being written mostly by innovative restaurant chefs who either slaughter the animals for use in their kitchens or rely on local farms and producers who offer these esoteric finds.

For a Saturday night dinner party at home last weekend I labored through a fairly complicated menu that revolved around my stash of pork cheeks based on recipes from John Currence in his book “Pickles, Pigs and Whisky.”  He’s a James Beard award winner and has a group of restaurants in Oxford, Mississippi (see review).

Braised pork cheeks in bourbon veal and ham stock reduction over Anson Mills grits bourbon

Braised pork cheeks in bourbon, veal and ham stock reduction over Anson Mills grits

I say “stash” because they’re not in plentiful supply at the shops because a pig, after all, has only two cheeks.  And unless the butcher is cutting up several animals in the same week you need to order in advance.  For 6 people I needed 12 checks (about two pounds), which meant that the butcher needed to work on 6 carcasses.

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Where to shop now in Portland: What’s new at Hannaford, Shaw’s, Whole Foods, Portland Food Co-op, etcetera?

December 14, 2015 / / Discoveries

I wouldn’t give up your holiday dinner reservations at Fore Street, Back Bay Grill or any of our other great Portland restaurants.  Nor should you cancel your holiday catering orders from Aurora Provisions.  But for perfectly good basic prepared food,  take a look at the new Hannaford Kitchen at the Forest Avenue store where everything from full dinners, sandwiches, pizzas, pastries, sushi, stir fry and more are cooked onsite.

The various food stations at Forest Avenue Hannaford

The various food stations at Forest Avenue Hannaford

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