Today, myself and some of the boys from work took a little excursion to picturesque Parsells Ave. in Rochester for some of what the Germans call "die yummy-yum Nahrung" at the Swan Market.  Swan Market is a German meat market that serves lunches on several days a week (I think Wednesday-Saturday).  The stunning view out the large front window is worth the trip alone.

Ok, so it's not in the world's nicest neighborhood.  But it's not that bad.  And navigating this type of terrain is the reason you bought that new Hummer anyway, right?  So get up off your suburban butt and come on down for a little culinary adventure.  It'll make the food seem all the better.  But remember, leave the crack pipe and lackadaisical attitude back in Webster, because as the sign says, there's No Drugs and No Loitering.

The selection of German Sausages here is remarkable, and every one I've tried has been great.  They've even got the old world favorite, Blood and Tongue sausage!  I had never heard of it either, until I enquired about the rather unusual looking delight in the back of the case.  Pork tongues and suet suspended in coagulated blood, yum!  After asking about the sausage, the kind woman offered to slice me off a piece to sample.  I could hardly say no, especially with my self proclaimed Jeffrey Steingarten approach to training myself to enjoy every type of food.  This, (and maybe a couple particularly large raw oysters) was the only thing in recent memory that I've had any real psychological difficulty getting through. 

Part of the problem is that, unlike most pictures of this sausage that I've seen, Swan tends to orient the long axis of the tongue along the diameter of the sausage.  This amounts to basically eating a prepared slide of the cross section of and entire pig's tongue.  I honestly don't remember what it actually tasted like.

On a much less icky note the rest of the food is, if not always right on the mark, always satisfying!  Newbies bring your appetite and go for the sampler platter.  You'll definitely find something you love, a few things you like, and one or two things that just don't do it for you.  But it's just such an indulgent treat that you've got to love it. 

The meal on the right includes Rouladen, Pork Roast with Filling (we still haven't quite figured out what the filling is), Schnitzel, Goulash, Red Cabbage, Sauerkraut, and Potato Salad.  My personal faves are the Rouladen, Schnitzel, and red cabbage.  You'll find your own.

Today I tried the smoked pork chop.  Which ends up being something that looks like a pork chop, but tastes like ham.  Aint nothin' wrong with that.

Swan market is cheap, friendly, quirky, and a great change of pace.  It's also a super place to buy all your favorite wursts and some pretty fine bacon.  And if the blood tongue sausage isn't quite your bag, and for some unknown reason, you don't find the food satifying, there's still the one thing that you know is going to be good in a place like this:

Last night I roasted a chicken, which I guess you could say is one of my specialties, at least it's the only thing I roast in the oven on a regular basis.  The unusual thing was that we actually had some left over.  This was a direct result of my recent half-assed commitment to eating smaller portions.  Perhaps it's a little closer three-quarter-assed.

The upside of this is that I had the chance to experiment with some very flavorful chicken in a chicken salad tonight.  This was really simple and lovely.  I pulled apart the rest of last night's chicken (skin and all) into good hearty chunks.  (I'm not sure if "good hearty chunks" sounds really yummy or rather disgusting).  I added some chopped scallions and red bell pepper.  Then, I tossed this with a vinaigrette of lime juice, rice wine vinegar, chopped mint, minced garlic, and olive oil.  I really think putting a vinaigrette like this in the microwave for a few seconds is a great way to bring out the flavor of the garlic and herbs.

I served this with some caramelized onions that had some ground coriander seeds thrown in at the last minute. 

I can't call this a complete success because I was a little lazy and pulled off some unpalatable parts of the chicken carcass.  The onions were also just slightly too sweet to go well with the whole plate.  But having leftovers like this really takes the sting out of not eating the whole chicken the first night.