Tulip Street Kitchen

This month’s was chosen by 📷Meg and boy did she ever tee us up with a winner for spooky season! The tiny and adorable Painted Bat of Thailand is tailor made for celebrating the Halloween season with its beautiful black and orange coloring and so are the orange painted chocolate bats decorating the top of this Halloween “cruffin” (flakey, buttery croissant dough baked in a muffin tin). In this case it’s filled with rich milk chocolate cremeaux topped with salted caramel because all the best Halloween candies have those things …and we will take no questions on that!

(BTW- Since this is the year of reinventing past favorites, the Lowland Streaked Tenrec got a cruffin in Sept ‘21.)

Fifteen years ago, I made one of the most fateful statements of my life. It was September 2009 and I was starting to get into bread baking in a serious, professional way. I’d met Kristin and Meredith only a few weeks before and I came over to their home one day with a loaf of challah that I’d made at work. It was hastily wrapped in a piece of parchment paper secured with blue tape.

We sat in the kitchen talking and the conversation turned to their newly minted “Animal of the Month Club.” The idea was that they’d choose an animal every month to honor and learn about and share fun facts and memes and such. They’d only just started in August with Elephants. September was the month of the Orca and as we talked I absentmindedly started doodling an orca on the parchment around the bread. And then we ate the bread. And the bread was good, or at least good enough for my limited skills at the time. (It wasn’t great but ‘Orca Bread’ was born.) I needed practice. I needed structure. I needed a challenge.

And then I said it. “Hey…if you guys keep up this animal thing and include me in it, I’ll make you a bread for each animal you do.” Kristin & Mer came through. And my life hasn’t been the same since. Fifteen years, 153 animals, and countless recipes later, I see every new month and every new animal as a new hill to climb. I could spend a lifetime baking breads and treats for people and always have had more to learn but this recurring challenge has been the heartbeat of my year for more than half of my career.

And I’ve learned so many useless facts about animals I’d never have heard of. (You wouldn’t believe how some of them reproduce. Just sayin’)

I’ve done a drawing on parchment each month to keep up that part of the tradition as well, though, full disclosure, it’s always a tracing. I can’t draw for s**t. (Check out the bottom of this month’s drawing to see what happens when I try to draw freehand.) We keep them taped up on the wall at home and looking at that wall gives me a really proud feeling of accomplishment.

And it’s safe to say that the taking and posting of photos and video has made this project all the more special. I owe Meg 📷 a lot for her efforts. That was all her idea.

This month: The adorable Longhorn Cowfish, aptly honored with the first bread we ever did. Vanilla Glazed Challah v2.0

Epilogue: The 🐘 never got a bread of its own and surely will never forget this insult.

Here’s to many, many more.
Justin

Summer is fading fast and we’re holding on tight with both hands! Earlier this month we went 🍑 picking at Mood's Farm Market in New Jersey and thought the bounty of that trip needed to find its way into the for August.

Waaaaay back in September 2012 we honored the Tiger with a Peach & Balsamic Vinegar Focaccia, because black and orange. (This month’s animal, the , sports no such coloring but peaches happen now and so here we have it.)

We rarely took bread photos back then so this one needed an update a decade later (now in sandwich form featuring burrata, which is a cheesy delight that we hadn’t even heard of back then.)

Coming soon: Next month is the 15th anniversary of our first animal bread!

Cookie Cutter Sharks…what can we say. They look terrifying. That’s the main takeaway on these guys. But this 🍓bread on the other hand, she’s a beauty. July’s is a throwback to 2013 when we first made it to honor the mighty, mighty capybara and 📷 Meggles has been awaiting its triumphant return ever since.

Dried strawberries, raw pine nuts, fresh basil, and semolina flour went into this toasty, savory, and sweet loaf. This time we truly went to the source. Anna Marie Ferreira took us berry picking at Rowand’s Farm back in May and we dried and saved some of our bounty just for this purpose. (Also, some of the basil in the bread came from the very plant you see in the photo. It doesn’t get more local than this.)

Strawberry, Basil, & Pinenut Bread 🍓🌿

L👀k at those pictures!!

This month’s , specially made to honor the for 🏳️‍🌈 month, is a real stunner. We first made rainbow croissants back in early 2018 to celebrate the Rainbow Mantis Shrimp, and they came out great even then. But boy howdy has our photo and video game improved since then. (Check out the bts reel we posted and scroll through for some process shots.) And how could we not bring them back to celebrate Pride Month?

Let’s also take notice of the amazing work photographer Meg did on the doodle this month. (Chef Justin is usually just a tracer and we all know it. She really raised the bar on this one.)

Thanks also to The Restaurant School at Walnut Hill College for the use of the sheeter. It made rolling and laminating an absurd amount of kerrygold butter into this dough a real pleasure. Just. Look. At. Those. Layers!!

Lastly, to the Galaxy Frog: we still know almost nothing about you. But, you are tiny. You are beautiful. You are mysterious and we are so very glad to have learned that you exist.

. A silly name for a silly looking bird.

But there’s nothing silly about this . This is serious bread with serious flavor. We went aaaaallll the way back in the archives to 2012 to update and improve this recipe. (When we originally celebrated the , sadly we got no pictures, but trust us, this was an improvement. Dutch oven baking wasn’t a thing we’d tried yet back then and the grain mill only joined the team in 2018 or so.)

Freshly milled rye flour and soaked whole rye berries gave this bread a real earthy, hearty flavor (and we did promise last month that the duck fat from the bao bar would get put to good use!)

Duck Fat Sourdough Rye v2.0

Here’s to the mighty Dugong! And a mighty redo!

Eleven(ish) years ago, we honored the equally mighty Flamingo with Char Siu Bao, our favorite dim sum steamed bun. And it was….okkkaaayy, we guess. It was Chef Justin’s first foray into Chinese baking and it tasted great, don’t get us wrong. But it looked…a bit rough and ready (to steal a line from The Great British Bake Off.)

And so this month’s animal bread post is an installment of “how it started/how it’s going.” And it is going much better these days, if we do say so ourselves. Just look at Photographer Meg’s camera work!

This build-your-own bao bar, including roast pork, duck, & all the fixin’s was super tasty and we hope we did April’s proud.

Preview alert - tune in this month to see what happens with all the delicious rendered duck fat!

In celebration of the 15th year of , we’ll be digging back through deep storage to find and put out breads that never got released for one reason or another. The first up, the B***y, from Aug 2018.

What can we say? We’re literalists around here. The connection on this bread to the name of the creature of the month from Aug ‘18 should be fairly clear, thought the name actually means “Brioche of the Head”, this might conjure up images of parts further south than the cranial region.

Buttery and wonderful, brioche may be the richest of all the classic breads.

***y

It’s chaos over here! Anarchy! (Dogs and cats, living together! Mass hysteria!)

The program celebrated the mighty, mighty halibut this March by stepping way, way out of the box. Chef Justin didn’t even bake this beauty!

Last month, volunteered to take on the awesome responsibility of baking in service of the critter of the month and she didn’t disappoint. Right on time for St. Patty’s Day, the Guinness Cake was a welcome treat. And when asked about her thought process, the answer was pure poetry:

“F**k this fish. I dunno anything about it. I just decided to go with March.”

Four years ago was our 100th animal bread, which we celebrated by honoring the mighty, mighty Centipede (naturally) and instead of making just one bread in its name, we spent a very memorable day hanging in the kitchen with friends baking and eating multiple breads. The Dragon Tail Baguette was one (check out that post from Feb 2020 to see the full family photo), but we’ve brought it back because of its perfect resemblance to the rattle end of a rattlesnake, the animal of the month for this past February. (We also made some epi and a plain baguette you’ll see in the photo because why not.)

The homemade butter was literally because “no time to go to the store for fancy butter. I’ll just make my own” seemed like a reasonable statement early on a Sunday morning. Scroll through for behind the scenes footage.

Another Pi(e) Day is in the books! (This one was lucky #13, btw.) And this year was a total banger.

It was only a few weeks before the big day and Chef Justin was experiencing a bit of a creative block with the menu. He put on the Beatles White Album to unwind and was promptly swallowed by the couch. He was awoken a short time later by photographer Meg who had a slew of flavor suggestions with a little wink & nudge. How about Tangerine? Cherry? Honey & Almond? Coffee? Coconut Fudge?

Inspired by The Beatles “Savoy Truffle,” a track near the end of the White Album penned by George Harrison which was itself inspired by the sweets found in a box of Mackintosh’s chocolates, we translated the Fab Four’s song into our pi(e) buffet with the addition of a few classics that have become mainstays of our annual tradition.

In honor of Pi(e) Day, we’re taking a look back at some of our favorites from irrational days past.

Motherf*ckin’ Chicken Pot Pie
2021 Family Photo
2020 Passionfruit Grapefruit
2019 Tart Au Citron
2023 Pistachio Sour Cherry
2019 Ratatouille Pie
2020 Loko Quiche
2022 Chocolate Cremeux Raspberry
2023 Bango (Banana Mango)
2020 Tart Arlette

Its 2024 and during this year we will mark the 15th(!) anniversary of the animal/bread of the month program. We could have had no idea when this started that we’d still be doing it and sharing it with all of you each month.

For this whole year, our monthly will be reaching back into the archives (yes, we have a spread sheet) to redo, reimagine, reinterpret, or just remake favorites from the early days, before we thought to take pics or share them with anyone.

The story on this one comes from Kristin Harkins, who’s been right there along with this whole shebang since day 1:

“Fun fact: This month’s bread is also a blast from the past. The previous iteration (celebrating the peaceful, chlamydia-prone non-bear, the koala) was baked and devoured in December of 2009, when this monthly odyssey was still in its infancy. I’ve always ranked it among the top of our monthly treats, and have harbored a not-so-secret desire for another taste. It’s been an open question, however, as to whether the magic came from the onion braid itself, or the circumstances of its consumption — a whole loaf gobbled in one sitting, in a dimly lit coffee shop basement on a cold winter’s night.

Well, the verdict is in. Cheddar onion braid 2.0 (bonobo bread) maintained the savory, salty, cheesy goodness of the original, with the addition of a soupçon of nostalgia, and a bit of awe at how long this little project has lasted and how lucky I am to continue to reap its delicious rewards - originals and remixes alike.”

Making this year’s anniversary cake, as we have been honored to do every December for the last 13 years, was bittersweet (and not just because of the absurd amount of chocolate that went into this one. Details on the cake below with illustration by the great )

Just under a week before the event, we learned that David April, the founder of the , had lost his years long battle with cancer. We at Tulip Street Kitchen have been proud members of FBR for more than a decade and we owe a great debt to David. Our whole group mourns his loss as we celebrate his legacy, including completing another trip around the sun with the Beer Runners.

It’s said that many people have two families. There’s your “biological” family, the one you’re born into. And then there’s your “logical” family, the people you choose to surround yourself. FBR is more than just a running group. It has been our logical family for a very long time and the loss of a family member dealt us a real blow. It will hopefully draw us that much closer to each other moving forward as we continue to run and drink and laugh and give and love together.

To that end:
Holiday Yule Log, Vanilla Whipped Ganache, Chocolate Covered Cherry Filling with Rough Puff Stout, Puffed Rice & Milk Chocolate Crispy Base, Whipped Dark Chocolate Ganache Icing, Many Chocolate Garnishes.

but we’re celebrating the Maned Wolf, November’s , with this Cranberry Curd Tartlet with Toasted Almond & White Chocolate Decoration.

As November marks the transition from the turkey/cranberry-related holiday into the Xmas holiday, this month’s is living in both worlds as well.

Cranberries are turned into a tart and delicious curd filling for a buttery, slightly salted tart shell. The toasted almond-white chocolate decoration has enough sweetness to cut through the cranberry’s bite.

Also Maned Wolves are adorable, yet stinky and they’re surprisingly into apples. Who knew?

The Magnificent Frigatebird. What can we say about this crimson pouched critter that hasn’t already been said?

Not much actually. It’s beautiful, but we’d prefer to talk about The Caramel Apple Taco. It’s fall now. Everything is shades of brown and we’re leaning into it with this autumnal version of a creation first made famous by the great Amaury Guichon.

Caramel Apple Filling & Vanilla Crème Brûlée Custard sit on a Brown Butter Blondie base wedged between Maldon Salt Sable Cookies and a Dulcey Florentine Crunch. This delicious business is topped with a layer of Apple Cider Pudding and Torched Cinnamon Meringue. The literal feather on top (this is honoring the Frigatebird after all) is made from tempered Dulcey Chocolate.

The Narrow Nosed Planigale is an adorable little marsupial from Australia. It’s an awful lot like the Common Planigale except, guess what, it’s nose is more narrow. And so, for the second month in a row, we have coincidentally an with a long, thin snout and so a long, thin pastry to celebrate it.

Caramel Mousse Bar, Pecan Rocher Glaze, Vanilla Bean Panna Cotta, Salted Butter Cookie, Chocolate Cake, Caramelized White Chocolate

We’re pretty sure the vicious looking doesn’t love anyone. We think you should love everyone. (Also their snouts are long and thin like eclairs)

Rainbow Eclair. Vanilla Filling. All the fruits.
🌈🍒🥭🥝🌊🍇🏳️‍🌈

Here we go round the mulberry bulls**t with our local tree. We honestly thought we might lose this local treasure to development on American St this year, so we’re overjoyed to be able to make use of its delightful berries once again this year.

This tart, made solidly in the British tradition, is also a doff of the cap to the Bearded Reedling, common throughout Northern Europe, including the British Isles.

Ramadan began yesterday evening and today we’re throwing back to last April’s honoring the water buck. Qatayef, a yeasted pancake filled with sweetened cheese filling and garnished with chopped pistachios, is a traditional pastry served during Ramadan. The whole affair is scented with orange blossom and rose water (we were celebrating the “water buck” after all.)

Yippie Pi(e) Day! We couldn’t let March 14th go by without a little celebration. Here is the family photo from this year’s 12th Annual Pi(e) Day; more detailed posts about this year’s flavors to follow.

Where’s bread? Bread’s dead, baby. Bread’s dead…

We’ve been doing for over 13 years now and have made nearly 140 different breads, depending on how you count. And it’s time for a change (hence the paraphrased Pulp Fiction quote above). We’re putting the yeast and the sourdough starter away for a while.

Here at TSK, we love to bake and we love to pastry and there are so many products and techniques that don’t get used often enough around here because they just don’t fit into a bread. So, for a while, we’re gonna concentrate on the other stuff, at least when it comes to honoring our .

Last month on Epiphany (Jan 6), we celebrated the beautiful Twelve-Wired Bird of Paradise with a Galette des Rois with Toasted Almond Frangipane Filling. This puff pastry beauty which translates to “King Cake,” but not the King Cake you might be enjoying during Mardi Gras (Laissez les bon temps rouler!), is how they roll, literally, in France on Epiphany.

It’s made with “inverted” puff pastry, which is where you wrap butter around your dough and roll and fold and roll and fold until your arms hurt. The layers it creates are magical and flakey and fantastic and leavened entirely by steam, not yeast.

Instead of one day of breads, this month we have eight crazy….nevermind. We just made one. This month we honor the mighty viscacha with Sufganiyot, yeasts donuts traditionally served at Hanukkah.

(Read this in the voice of Eddie Izard: It’s a jelly donut…)

The filling for these beauties is a jam made of wineberries that we foraged waaaay back in July. A great way to wrap up the year if we do say so ourselves.

Sometimes new surroundings bring new inspirations and this past month has been a whirlwind, to say the least.

First off, let’s talk about the adorable Golden Lion Tamarin and be thankful that its name is so close to the word tamarind, giving us a chance to knock Tamarind Butter off its long standing place on our “why haven’t we tried making this yet” list. So simple. So delicious.

This month’s flavor was inspired by new surroundings. Specifically, TSK Chef Justin’s new gig teaching at . This bread is inspired by a specialty bread item they sold recently in the pastry shop (you should really visit, if you can) and happily shared the recipe. A couple of tweaks were made to the original formula and this Chocolate Cashew Bread was the result. Did we mention how good it was with the tamarind butter? It was so good with the tamarind butter.

Thanks again to Walnut Hill College for the recipe and long live the Golden Lion Tamarin!

This month’s , which honored the mighty marmot, was a bit of a crossover event for us.

Master TSK photographer Meg is in a decade-old book club and hosted this month’s discussion on Animal Bread Day. The book, My Broken Language written by Quiara Alegría Hudes, is this year’s Free Library of Philadelphia’s One Book, One Philadelphia selection. It’s a memoir with meaningful passages that take place in our very neighborhood and so we are recognizing it with the continuing bounty coming from our local mulberry tree…this time in the form of a flakey Danish pastry. Sorry to the marmot which got a little sidelined this month.