Pickup & Delivery Instructions:

Please remember to be mindful when choosing pickup or delivery as you’re checking out on Square. The first few weeks, we made deliveries even when the “pickup” option was chosen. Now that we’re actually offering pickup as an option, it’s really important to choose correctly. (If Square isn’t letting you choose, leave us a note in the notes section to confirm that your order is for pickup or delivery.) The online platform we are using was originally designed to sell merchandise like t-shirts and handbags at retail locations, and thus not really designed for restaurants. We are making it work the best we can, but it can be a little wonky at times. Thanks for your patience! 

We are able to deliver within a five mile radius and there’s a $75 minimum. Pickup is available on Friday at Butterjoint from 10:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. When you arrive, give us a call at 412-621-2700 and we’ll bring your order out to the table in the vestibule and call your name when it’s ready.

NEW THINGS THIS WEEK

Overwintered Sunchokes
These tubers are planted late in the season and remain in the ground all winter long to be eaten as a spring crop. Delicious raw, pickled, pureed with potatoes, or turned into soup. 

Potato Leek and Wild Leek Soup
It’s that weird time of year when you don’t know how heavy a coat to put on when you leave the house in the morning, or whether you’re going to want you soup hot or cold. This soup offers you a solution to this dilemma. 

This simple soup is just potatoes, leeks, wild leeks (ramps), celery, chicken stock and a little bit of cream. Nothing groundbreaking here, but the richness of this chicken stock makes this an immensely satisfying soup. 

This soup will need to be thinned out with milk if you’re going to eat it cold. If you’re going to eat it hot, it will thin down to perfect consistency as it warms. 

Palestinian Freekeh and Chicken Soup
Freekeh is green roasted wheat which is processed by farmers in the field when it’s still green. Afterwards it’s roasted in open fires in the field, cleaned from the husk, dried and then crushed. It’s smokey, nutty, subtle and wonderful.

Chicken thighs are cooked in chicken stock with cardamom, cinnamon, bay, and onion. The chicken is removed and the meat picked from the bone. The freekah is cooked in the remaining broth with additional spices and onion. 

This traditional soup is eaten by some to break the fast during Ramadan, which begins on Thursday.  

Calypso Beans
These come from Sam and Nettie in Somerset via Bryan Greenawalt at the East Liberty Farmers market. Sam and Nettie grow our tarbais beans each year for the cassoulet. These dried calypso beans are from last summer, which means they cook up pretty quick. Texture-wise, I  would describe them as a soft pinto bean. 

This past Sunday, I cooked up a pot with a whole onion, some bay leaves, and whole garlic cloves. Sunday was such a whirlwind, I don’t remember how long I actually cooked them for, but it was definitely less than 3 hours. When they were soft, I added salt and cooked them another ten minutes. Beans will be fine for hours on the back of the stove, and will only get better as they sit, so it’s not a bad idea to throw them on early in the day if you’re around the house anyway. 

To soak or not to soak? I have seen a lot of claims in recent years that soaking beans is not necessary, but those claims tend to come from folks selling beans who have an interest in making dried beans seem as convenient as possible.  I’m a soaker because they cook more evenly and digest more easily that way, and because it’s the way my mom did it. 

I have to admit to occasionally not soaking my beans. In my experience, the success rate of unsoaked beans boils down to how old they are. If they’re older than two or three years, chances are they’ll need a good soak. These calypso beans probably don’t really need it. But if you have the time and foresight to soak them, why not?  

(Okay, I’m done talking about beans now. I could go on forever. What do you expect from a guy who named his first restaurant Legume?)

Thoma Ground Beef, Saxonburg, PA
This is the same ground beef we use in our famous Butterjoint Burgers. Beautiful 80/20 beef from farmers in and surrounding Saxonburg, PA. 

Fair Trade Hatian Mangoes
I haven’t (knowingly) had a Hatian mango before, so I can’t offer a description. Being the lover of mangoes that I am, however, I’m excited to try these ones which are coming from the same distributor as the excellent Ataulfos we got the last two weeks. 

Sarah’s Starter
I would never discourage anyone from making fancy sourdough bread, though I myself don’t have the patience for it (the baskets, the stone, the pan of water in the oven etc.) Sarah does though, and she’s been making outstanding bread lately. Whatever end of the patience spectrum you’re on when it comes to baking, I truly believe that keeping a sourdough starter around the house is a wonderful thing for anyone who cooks/bakes regularly in their homes. It’s very easy to maintain and can give even simple batters and doughs for the less ambitious among us like pancakes, biscuits, waffles, pizza dough, and flatbreads a little more dimension. Over time, a starter begins to integrate itself into the family like a pet. It’s a lot of fun. 

Each order of Sarah’s starter comes with Hooper family recipes for starter maintenance, sourdough waffles/pancakes, naan, and pizza dough. Note: these recipes are by weight, so you’ll need a scale to make them.  

2 oz. Yeast
Maybe maintaining sourdough is not for you. No problem. We have good old fashioned dry active yeast. Each 2 oz. bag is the equivalent of 7.5 envelopes of yeast. 

Organic Whole Wheat Bread Flour
Milled locally by our friends at Frankferd Farms in Saxonburg, PA.

Toulouse Sausage Pasta Sauce
I’m taking the last of this year’s batch of Toulouse sausage we made for the cassoulet (pork, garlic, white wine, spices), browning it off, and then cooking it with tomatoes, garlic, rich chicken stock, and onion. Serve over pasta or polenta with some sauteed ramps or bitter greens, and you have yourself a good meal for two or three adults. 

Dirty Ramps
These were on the list last week, but we’re offering them in 8 oz. portions this week. As I was packing up the 1# bags of ramps last week, I realized that it was probably way more than many folks would actually want. The ramps you get on Friday will have been picked today (Tuesday). These ramps will still have a small amount of dirt on the roots. We are keeping them unwashed to maintain shelf life. 

Back By Popular Demand: Blueberry Crisp Kit
It’s almost time for rhubarb, and when that day comes, we’ll no longer be using frozen blueberries until next winter. Since so many folks reported loving the blueberry crisp we made two weeks ago, we’ve decided to do one last round to celebrate the end of the winter season.  

Wonky Bacon
Sometimes we get some wonky end pieces of bacon that are still delicious, but maybe not pretty enough for instagram. If you’re using bacon chopped up in a recipe, then you can save yourself a buck a pound and get the Wonky Bacon.