Brunch at Supper

South Street's casual but upscale, farm-to-table Supper got me in the door last year with their deviled egg happy hour (so good, they still do it), and this year they got me in the door for their brunch — specifically their Southern-themed Dixie biscuit with pimento cheese, and their red velvet waffles.

What sounded like two plates right up my alley, ended up being a wrong turn. These two dishes weren't bad, but I went in there with preconceived notions of what each dish should be, and the reality did not match.
The tender, buttery cat head biscuit (named so because it's the size of a cat's head) was perfect. The scrambled egg inside the biscuit was perfect (ham was omitted), as well as the side of grits, even though, for $13, the portion was small.

But hold up. What the hell kind of pimento cheese is that? Did Supper's chef replicate oozy, fake grocery store pimento cheese made from unnatural and un-pronounceable ingredients (not saying Supper uses those ingredients, just describing a tub of Ruth's or some other such brand), instead of making thick, visibly grated, home style pimento cheese? I'm simultaneously impressed and appalled.

I'm impressed that someone made pimento cheese from real ingredients and got it to actually taste like fake pimento cheese (I actually hanker for fake pimento cheese occasionally, but know that it is a sin).

Appalled because I'm afraid pimento cheese virgins will come to Supper and leave thinking that this is how pimento cheese is supposed to look, feel, and taste — and I'm not even taking into account Supper's pimento cheese's elevated spiciness, because spicing up pimento cheese is a personal preference that is neither here nor there.

Do you care? No, you don't. You're going to find it yummy, oozy, and cheesy.
The red velvet waffles are topped with an airy, sweet, cream cheese frosting, accentuated with pecans and god-awfully-good, bourbon-soaked cherries. (Wish life was a bowl full of these cherries!) Only waffle in shape, the red velvet waffles are doughy without crispy edges, like cake batter poured in a waffle iron. I would have preferred a tried-and-true, crispy waffle recipe made red and with a bit of cocoa powder thrown in than Supper's more literal interpretation.
Been on a hush puppy kick lately, what with the Southern restaurant revival going on all over the nation, so had to give Supper's a try. Their light, crispy, fried cornmeal nuggets topped with grated Parmesan are great, and are leading the pack of the few I've recently tried in Philly (Cooperage's are misguidedly paired with sweet jam; and Catahoula's are too gritty, especially when served undercooked). I'm still waiting for someone to make hush puppies with diced onions, though, to match my hush puppy traditionalist expectations.

Supper has the creative license to make whatever they like (and it did taste good) how ever they like (that's kind of why it's fun to eat out), and if I want pimento cheese a certain way I should just make it at home (and I do), but my only real concern with this post, since most of y'all don't run into pimento cheese often, is that you trust me when I tell you that pimento cheese normally does not taste or look like what we had for brunch at Supper. That is all.

Signed,
Pimento Cheese Traditionalist

Supper
926 South St, Philadelphia, PA 19147
215-592-8180

Vegan Red Velvet Cupcakes

Not sure if it’s because Valentine’s Day is around the corner, but this site has been getting lots of hits for vegan red velvet cupcakes this past week. There’s a recipe for red velvet cupcakes, and the word vegan floats around this blog a bit, but there is no recipe for vegan red velvet cupcakes here at the M&C…until now!

I love vegans. I love red velvet cake. I love cupcakes.And I just hate to see people land on this site, and not find what they’re searching for. I guess that means I love you!

I compared the red velvet cake recipe in Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World to my Aunt’s recipe for red velvet cake, and the two are virtually identical.In the vegan version, vegetable oil replaces the shortening and eggs, and soy milk replaces the buttermilk. For the cream cheese frosting, margarine replaces the butter, and vegan cream cheese replaces regular cream cheese.Simple!

The resulting vegan cupcakes are super moist – almost a little too moist – due to the vegetable oil, and the frosting is just as good as non-vegan cream cheese frosting. I do prefer the lacto-ovo red velvet cupcakes to the vegan cupcakes, because I think the vegetable oil in the vegan cupcakes changes the original texture of the cake, but that’s not to say I didn’t scarf three of the vegan red velvet cupcakes the second they were frosted!

Vegan Red Velvet Cupcakes
Adapted from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World and my Aunt
Makes about 22 cupcakes

Update: Because some commenters are concerned about the vegan-ness of red dye, let me clarify: some, but not all red food coloring is made from insects. Cochineal/Carmine is made from beetles (sometimes labeled E120). Red #40 is derived from coal. If you’re concerned about ingredients in red dye being vegan or not, just read the label.

Cake
2 cups soy milk
2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
2 cups sugar
4 tablespoons cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup vegetable oil
2 ounces red food coloring
4 teaspoons vanilla extract

• Add vinegar to soy milk, and set aside to curdle.
• Sift flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl.
• Add vegetable oil, food coloring, and vanilla extract to the curdled soy milk, and mix.
• Pour liquid ingredients into the dry ingredients, and mix.
• Fill cupcake liners ¾ full.
• Bake in a preheated 350° oven for 20 minutes or until done.

Frosting
½ cup margarine, room temperature
½ cup Tofutti Better Than Cream Cheese, room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
4 cups confectioners sugar

• Cream margarine, cream cheese, and vanilla extract.
• Slowly mix the confectioner’s sugar into the creamed sugar, and then beat until smooth and fluffy.
• Frost cooled cupcakes.

Red Velvet Cupcakes

My friend and business partner’s birthday is a few days away from mine. It’s sort of like having to share your birthday with a sister. Since she’s younger, does that mean I get to beat her up, too?

She told me she loved red velvet cake, so I made cupcakes last year for her birthday and this year, as well. Next year she’s getting something different. I'm ready for something new.

My Aunt Mary Elizabeth (that’s four syllables and pronounced very quickly, an-mare-lis-buth) in Georgia was famed for her red velvet cake, and it is my brother’s all-time favorite. My aunt uses an icing made from flour, milk, sugar, vanilla, and butter that is cooked, but I once tried this with disastrous results. Instead, I'm using the other common pairing of cream cheese frosting.

Almost all recipes you find for this cake are very similar. The cake is traditionally known as a Southern cake, but has unknown and fabled originsthat sound quite dubious.Wherever it originated, the red batter screams to be used at Christmas, Valentine’s and special occasions.

Red Velvet Cupcakes

½ cup shortening
1 cup buttermilk
1 ½ cup sugar
2 eggs
2 ounces red food coloring
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 ½ cups cake flour, sifted
3 tablespoons cocoa powder
1 teaspoon vinegar
pinch of salt

• Cream shortening, sugar, eggs, and vanilla in a large bowl.
  
• Make a paste of the food coloring and cocoa and add to the sugar mixture.
• Mix salt, vinegar, baking soda, and buttermilk together.
• Add the flour alternately with the buttermilk into the sugar mixture and mix until well incorporated.
• Pour into muffin liners and bake for about 20 minutes at 350 degrees.

Cream Cheese Frosting
12 ounces cream cheese
½ stick of butter
4 cups sifted powdered sugar
2 teaspoon vanilla

• Allow cream cheese and butter to reach room temperature.
• Cream together cream cheese, butter and vanilla.
• Add the sifted powdered sugar and beat until creamy. Add more sugar for a thicker and sweeter frosting.