093 Ken of Point State Fork

We sit down with Ken of Point State Fork to trace the roots of a lovingly curated feed that blends Pittsburgh eats, travel snapshots, and bakes that carry a personal legacy. From a dried sourdough starter gifted by Third Space Bakery to Earl Grey scones with rose glaze, Ken shows how documenting meals can honor a partner’s creative spirit while lifting up local businesses that make a neighborhood feel like home.

We widen the lens with Sarah of Sarah Loves Yinz, who spotlights Rocco’s Slice House hidden inside a Shop ‘n Save in Greensburg. Think high-quality olive oil, house-shredded cheese, and a 72-hour dough ferment that delivers New York-style pies.  

Then Chef Joe Peroney teaches homemade ricotta you’ll actually make. He also announces a Mother’s Day–weekend pasta class at Goat Rodeo Farm, complete with baby goats and a professional photo keepsake—because the best food memories are the ones we get to hold.

Subscribe, share with a friend who loves local food stories, and leave a review to help more listeners find the show. What dish are you making after you listen?

Transcript

Doug 0:01

Welcome to The Pittsburgh Dish. I'm your host, Doug Heilman. What do Earl Grey scones, a trip to Japan, and a few snaps at a favorite local coffee shop have in common? These are just some of the items that Ken of Point State Fork continues to document on her social feed, all while honoring a loved one. Do you love a food place within a food place? Sarah of Sarah Loves Yinz reveals Rocco's slice house in Greensburg. And later in the show, Chef Joe Peroney is back with a recipe and a new cooking class announcement that might involve baby goats. All that ahead, stay tuned. Well, thank you so much for coming over and for being on the show. Would you introduce yourself to our listeners and what you have going on in the world of food?

Ken 0:59

Yeah. So uh my name is Ken and I run Point State Fork, which on Instagram, um, I do a lot of food photography around town. Um, I also I love supporting small businesses and I also um love cooking and baking. Yes. Yeah.

Doug 1:14

I've noticed this. You're not just a going out posting person. I think I saw Earl Grey cookies and some really mean-looking sourdough bread.

Ken 1:24

Thank you. Yeah, I've recently gotten super into sourdough. Um, thanks to Beth from Third Space Bakery, honestly. She gave me some dried starter, and I've been kicking and sharing my starter with anyone who would want any.

Doug 1:37

Oh my gosh, I love that. We love Third Space Bakery and Beth Taylor. Beth's been on the show. And I think that's where you and I may have first met was at Third Space when we had another food event. Yeah.

Ken 1:49

Is that right? I think this was like um maybe a year ago. That's right.

Doug 1:53

I think so. So it's nice to see you again. Thanks for coming over.

Ken 1:56

Thanks for having me.

Doug 1:57

You've been busy on your page, and I I have to say, it's so beautiful and well thought out, so well-rounded, I would say. There's a lot of different places. I notice restaurants, dessert places, sometimes coffee places, sometimes just Phipps Conservatory, which we all love that too. So tell us a little bit about your page and and how all of that got going.

Ken 2:19

Yeah. So um the Point State Fork actually started back in 2021. I'm from New York originally, but I went to college at in CMU. And my partner, Peter and I moved back here during the pandemic because Peter was going back to school. Um, and I was fully remote because of the pandemic. So we decided to come here and immediately buy a house.

Doug 2:41

I love roots in Pittsburgh. Thank you for coming back.

Ken 2:44

Yeah, no, it's Pittsburgh has really felt like home. And um, I just love how like all the businesses that we have, it there's such a strong community. It feels yeah, it just feels very homey compared to like somewhere like New York.

Doug 2:58

Yeah, yeah. I'm sure you had incredible food though in New York growing up, and we'll talk about that in a little bit with your family. Can we talk a little bit more about Peter and and starting this page and and where it is now?

Ken 3:11

Yeah. So Peter, uh, Peter and I met in college. So um we were together for like nine years before he passed away. And he he he's kind of like the heart and soul of this page. He came up with the name. He had so many like passions and interests. He always like said, you know, like my job in life will not fulfill me, like all of my interests and hobbies will fulfill me. So um photography was something that he really took up um because I was super interested in food photography. And like I started food blogging with my sister back in, I want to say like really legitly in like 2017. Um, we run Brunch Nut over on Instagram and it's based out of New York. But we travel everywhere and we eat everywhere. Um, and I still try to keep up with it, but like I I've just been kind of very immersed in Point State Fork.

Doug 4:01

Yeah. Yeah.

Ken 4:01

Um, but yeah, so like his love language is always like, if you're into something, I'm going to learn everything about it so that I could be into it with you. So he got really into food photography. For a while, we were such a good partnership because he understood like how to take a beautiful picture. He understood lighting, and I understood like composition. And so it we were just such a good duo.

Doug 4:24

Well, you've done such a great job, you know, to continue the page, to continue what he started with you. It's just a beautiful page. And I love that you've kept his picture on the profile picture so you see the two of you. So thank you for that.

Ken 4:36

Yeah, no, thank you.

Doug 4:38

Beyond, you know, this partnership, starting the page with Peter, you mentioned, you know, small business is one thing. Like, what are some of the other reasons that you love posting and and what do you like to say? Creating, blogging? What do you what kind of terms do you like to say on what you're doing?

Ken 4:54

I I would call it like content creation.

Doug 4:56

Yeah.

Ken 4:56

Um, and also like just documenting. I think like life really just kind of flies by and you can really easily forget like something mundane, like, oh, I made a loaf of sourdough. But like, you know, it it's it's like a way to document and like a lot of Peter and I's memories were like through food. And I think like so much of like culture and like learning about people is through food. And I think like so much of my travels too. Like, I I've been traveling a lot since Peter passed, and like so much of it is centered around food. I bring my camera with me everywhere, and um, I think that's really like how you kind of learn about a culture.

Doug 5:32

Yeah, I've noticed your travels. Let's talk about that too. Oh, yeah. Yeah. I want to just take a step back. You mentioned you grew up in New York. Can you tell us a little bit about food life from an early age? You know, like what was cooking and eating like as a youngster and and maybe gave you some of this drive now?

Ken 5:51

Yeah. So I like so we were really like my sister and I were raised by like our grandma a lot. And you know, our parents always went to work, but then our grandma was home to like watch us and take care of us. Um, and she loved making things from scratch, like all of these like recipes that she would have, like surely it it kind of makes me really sad that like they were never written down. They were just kind of in her head. Oh my goodness, yes. So, like now as an adult, I'm like trying to kind of go back and I'll be like, Oh, how do you make black sesame soup from scratch? And like, how do you make like dumplings from scratch? Like the other yesterday, I made dumpling wrappers from scratch, and I was like, This is so weird because this is something that we buy.

Doug 6:27

Yeah.

Ken 6:27

And I think like our generation and like my parents' generation, like they didn't really make things from scratch. It was always like, oh, we can buy that outside.

Doug 6:35

Right. It was like in some version, it's a step forward to be able to buy that conveniently instead of toil over it. But I think so much of what we're coming into now and realizing is keeping things alive by doing it yourself.

Ken 6:51

Yeah, like keeping the traditions, um, kind of learning like, oh wow, like this is how people make it. And it's so much better when you make it for yourself, too. It's like healthier and you realize, like, wow, there you don't need to be eating all these chemicals because black sesame soup, you just kind of grind it up, add some water, and it thickens up by itself.

Doug 7:10

There it is.

Ken 7:10

Yeah.

Doug 7:11

Did you tell me your grandma was from Hong Kong?

Ken 7:14

Uh, my parents are from Hong Kong. Okay. My grandma's actually from Toisan, which is like an area of China.

Doug 7:20

Okay.

Ken 7:20

Um, yeah, I think that they immigrated to Hong Kong and then from Hong Kong they came to Brooklyn.

Doug 7:27

Okay.

Ken 7:28

Yeah.

Doug 7:28

So have you been back to Hong Kong or China yourself?

Ken 7:32

I have not been to like China proper, but I've been to Hong Kong. I went like two years ago, I think.

Doug 7:36

Yeah. What was it like?

Ken 7:38

I think it's a big culture shock. Like I I just did not realize like how dense the city is. And it kind of feels like everyone's on top of each other. It's just all skyscrapers.

Doug 7:49

Personal space is not the same.

Ken 7:50

It's not a thing. Um, and it's it's so weird being in a place where everyone speaks the same language, and it's yeah, it's kind of it's kind of cool actually. But I I think it's a big culture shock, and like I think the culture there is like fast, fast, fast. So I was telling my friend this like the escalators feel like they move faster. Funny, yeah. Yeah.

Doug 8:11

What was uh what was the food experience like for you?

Ken 8:14

Food is huge in Hong Kong. You can get anything anywhere at any time. And it's it's super weird um how you can get dim sum like from a gigantic, like literally the size of like half this table, like a bamboo steamer full of dim sum. Oh wow. And it was like midnight that there huge, yeah.

Doug 8:32

Wow. And like I grew up in New York, so it's just well that's what I'm thinking as we're talking. You grew up in one of the busiest, fast moving, you know, alive cities in the country. And you go to Hong Kong and you're like, no, no, this place is is way different.

Ken 8:46

Yeah, yeah. And it's it it's definitely cool, and I would love to visit again just because like I don't think you can truly eat all the things you want to eat. Absolutely not.

Doug 8:54

Yeah, you'll have to get back.

Ken 8:56

Yeah, yeah.

Doug 8:57

So now you're here in Pittsburgh. Are there some uh food cultural things here that you're just in love with? You're like, I love Pittsburgh because I love this type of food.

Ken 9:06

I think like pierogies. So like I love how Pittsburgh loves their pierogies so much that like you have like the baseball team. Like whenever there's like a pirates game, you see all the little pierogies running.

Doug 9:18

Yeah, the little, yeah, the jalapeno hanna and all of the other folks dressed up racing around.

Ken 9:23

Yeah.

Doug 9:23

Yeah. I mean, everyone has a dumpling in their culture in some way, too, right?

Ken 9:27

That's fair. Yeah, that's true. Yeah, I love like the dumpling. I mean, the the not the dumpling, the pierogi culture and um like the fries and in things, fries and salads, fries and sandwiches, like that's it's so funny.

Doug 9:39

We think it's so normal. We're just so like, well, yeah, of course I'm gonna have fries on my salad, duh. And it's really such an oddity, and people don't realize that.

Ken 9:48

Yeah.

Doug 9:49

Do you have a couple of favorite spots in Pittsburgh right now?

Ken 9:53

So there are some places that I go to like on a regular basis, and it's like it it might be kind of common that some of you may have heard about, like Mola. Oh yeah, Mola's great. So good. I feel like I need to have my weekly Mola all the time.

Doug 10:04

It's over in East Liberty.

Ken 10:06

Yes, and then they also have one in Novo.

Doug 10:08

Oh, yes, the Novo Asian food hall. Am I saying that right? Yes. Yeah.

Ken 10:12

Yeah, there's a lot of food in there. Every time I go, I go for Mola.

Doug 10:16

Oh, of course. I think Karen, Karen Hoang, and I talked about Mola last time she was on the show. It's a good place. What else comes to mind?

Ken 10:23

Recently, um, I checked out pre-amp in Squirrel Hill.

Doug 10:26

Oh, I don't know Pre-amp.

Ken 10:28

It's a coffee place, and I think they're also an NA bar. Oh, yeah. And they have Florentine sandwiches.

Doug 10:34

Do they have like records, like vinyl?

Ken 10:36

Yes.

Doug 10:37

Then yes, I do know of this place. Haven't been there yet.

Ken 10:40

I think you'll love it. The vibes are great. It's it's very cute in there. Um, they do really good coffee.

Doug 10:45

I like so important.

Ken 10:47

So important. I think they serve passenger coffee and they brew it out in or they roast it out in Lancaster.

Doug 10:54

Oh, yeah. So it's still like local to the state, not too far away. Do you find that you go back to some of your haunts from college days too? Are those some special places that you'll hit up?

Ken 11:04

Yes. I always love going back to Crapes Parisienne.

Doug 11:08

Oh, where is this? This is in Oakland. It's in Oakland. Okay.

Ken 11:12

Um, it's on Craig Street. Yes. So um, it was I lived on that street for four four years, I guess.

Doug 11:18

And they're still doing it.

Ken 11:20

They're still doing it. I think it's run by a couple. And um, the thing that always stands out to me about Crapes Parisienne is like, I think Peter used to go every day while we were in college. And three years after we had left, and we came back for like a wedding one year, and um, we went there for breakfast. And the guy looked at Peter and was like, Welcome back. So he like remembered him after three years. So I was like, wow, that's really cute.

Doug 11:44

I love that.

Ken 11:45

Yeah, and they do amazing breakfast crepes. Truly, like I think my favorite breakfast crepe, like anywhere.

Doug 11:51

So good. All right. Well, we need to like, you know, dust off. Like, if you haven't been there, get to crepe's parisian. Can I say that right? Get to crepe's parisian.

Ken 12:00

Yeah, I think you are. Hi, this is Ken of Point State Fork, and you're listening to The Pittsburgh Dish.

Doug 12:07

All right. Well, I love that you're here and I love that you're doing what you're doing. You're supporting small business. We see a lot of uh of your posts for that. But you're also, uh, as we mentioned, you do a lot of baking and cooking yourself. Has that always been a passion? Did you kind of grow up learning from your grandma or other family members? Or is this something you're like, no, I'm going to like New York Times cooking and I'm trying to follow a recipe?

Ken 12:30

So I think like my passion for cooking came from like my roommate in college, actually. Okay. Yeah. So we had um, we actually lived right on Fifth and Craig, like I was saying earlier. And um, we baked all the time. So I think baked all the time in college. In college.

Doug 12:47

I don't think I ever baked in college.

Ken 12:49

We we were always like the coziest little apartment. There was always like a banana bread or cookies in the oven, and it was a great time.

Doug 12:56

I wish I was your friend back then. It sounds so good.

Ken 13:01

Yeah, no, it was great. And then I think like that passion just kind of continued after college, and it was even better because like cooking was one of Peter's passions, and like that's how I was like, okay, cooking is fun, and then he was always the cook and I was always the baker.

Doug 13:15

Oh yeah. It's a great compliment.

Ken 13:18

Yeah.

Doug 13:18

And was this sort of a creative outlet as well? Maybe the baking and the cooking, because you don't do that as your profession, right? You've got a different job.

Ken 13:26

Yes. I and I think like cooking and baking is so fun because like you get to you get to like feed people. And I think like feeding people is one of my love languages. But yeah, during the day I feel like I am in a more creative position. Um, I I'm a UX designer by day.

Doug 13:43

Yeah, user experience for apps and things or software. Yes. Yes, yeah.

Ken 13:47

I design um app experiences and I I call that like creative problem solving. Um most degrees are, but I I think like for my day-to-day, I creatively problem solve, but it's not quite the same. It doesn't like quite scratch the same brain itch. Yeah.

Doug 14:05

As baking or cooking.

Ken 14:06

Yeah.

Doug 14:07

And it's different problem solving. I will say you've been using that starter from Third Space Bakery and your sourdough looks beautiful.

Ken 14:14

Thank you. Oh my God.

Doug 14:16

Yeah. They might want to hire you on the side, by the way.

Ken 14:19

I would love that, honestly.

Doug 14:21

We love Third Space. I did see you bake up some Earl Grey cookies. And so when you are doing your baking, are there moments where you're like, I'm looking for a different flavor or just something I haven't experienced before?

Ken 14:37

I really love bringing back like spices and ingredients from all of my travels. Yes. And I bring it back and cook with it. So, like, I was in Korea last year and I brought back some black sesame seeds that I started making like black sesame soup from. And I wanted to make like a black sesame creme brulee. I haven't gotten to that yet, but um, and like people will bring me stuff. Like my friend brought me back some Thai tea when she went to Thailand. So I made like a Thai tea creme brulee, and I love this. I know. I love like just making flavors that you can't like just buy anywhere because like it's like maybe you can create something that has not been created before and that would be fun. Yes.

Doug 15:15

I uh a friend of mine, Sophia, made gochu jang cookies maybe a year ago now, but I'm like, oh my gosh, I would never have thought of it, and they were delicious.

Ken 15:24

And you would never find that in a store too, or like a restaurant.

Doug 15:27

No, yeah. And if I'm gonna make a cookie at home, I'm probably gonna default to like chocolate chip or sugar cookie. So, like, thank you for being somebody that explores different things and just goes for that challenge.

Ken 15:38

Yeah, I I I always want to like try something new, and if it becomes a staple, it it does. Like with Earl Grey, like one of my signature things is an Earl Gray scone with a rose glaze. Oh that is I should have brought you some. I know you didn't want us to bring anything, but well, I eat too much, that's the only problem.

Doug 15:56

I'll never say no, but that's that's like a killer sounding combination. Like, just like I wouldn't think to put those flavors together.

Ken 16:03

And you go for it, yeah. And like I love like scones are my big thing. I love kind of taking that base recipe. And I I think two summers ago, I made a lavender scone with um lemon glaze, yeah.

Doug 16:18

So good.

Ken 16:19

Yeah, so it's just fun to play with like all these like different flavors and see how they go together.

Doug 16:25

Well, I've noticed on your point state fork on your feed, you've really incorporated not just the places that you're going out to eat, but the places that you've traveled to and then these things that you've baked. Is that a a place you want to go on your documenting and on your page? You know, is this a goal is to to do more of your own creation?

Ken 16:45

I would love to do more of my own creation. And I think it almost feels like research sometimes, like to do all these travels. Like what is out there, right? Because I think like I get so inspired when I travel to places like like I was in um Korea and like in two weeks we're going to Japan.

Doug 17:04

So I love that. I I got to go to Japan in 2019, so it's been a minute. So I hope you have an amazing time and bring back something to bake for us again, right?

Ken 17:14

Yes. Oh my God. I'm so excited because I I feel like there's always something new that you find, something unexpected, and also like just eating constantly. Like whenever I travel with my family, we're just eating constantly. Like there's always something that we discover and we're like, oh, this was really unexpected, and I loved it.

Doug 17:31

I I love that it not only builds the memory, that food sort of centric memory, but I I also appreciate that you bring back something that helps to bring that back again. So, like you mentioned the black sesame or or a lotus paste or or whatever the case might be. You're remembering that trip through your bakings.

Ken 17:48

Thanks. Yeah.

Doug 17:50

Do you have any that you just mentioned Japan? Do you have any other future trips or goals or or things that you want to make sure that you're accomplishing or documenting in the coming year or the next few months?

Ken 18:03

Yeah. So we're doing Japan in um two weeks. And I would love to, I've always had Mexico City on my list. Oh yeah. Because Mexico City is a great food city. And I I would just love to just be out, you know, casually eating tacos.

Doug 18:18

You've got to get the tacos on the street. I've heard this. They're always gonna give you like two taco shells, you know, one just for insurance.

Ken 18:24

Yeah, yeah, I love that. And um, of course, like I really want to go back to Hong Kong. Oh, I would love to like kind of take some friends to Hong Kong just because Hong Kong's an interesting city. Like, I think like knowing the language helps so much. Yeah.

Doug 18:39

Something that you just sparked as an idea. You could probably put together like a food tour or a travel that's like food based. I think people would follow you based on all of the things that you've been putting out there on Point State Fork.

Ken 18:51

Oh, that'd be really cool.

Doug 18:53

For the page itself, anything else you want to achieve with that?

Ken 18:57

I I think like being able to like kind of create like unique recipes and be able to share them like that would be super cool.

Doug 19:03

Yeah.

Ken 19:04

I would love to kind of have the time and the headspace for it, but I think like that is something I'm slowly working towards. And when it happens, it happens. Um, I would love to one day maybe like write a cookbook. I don't know if that's like something that I could do, but it's a dream.

Doug 19:20

Ken, I'm there with you. And I keep thinking, like for you, because of some of the great flavor creations and the ingredients you're using, I think that you should be thinking about pitching a recipe and like a little article to BuzzFeed or New York Times cooking or something like that. You should do that.

Ken 19:36

Oh, that would be really cool.

Doug 19:38

Yeah, right. Get published.

Ken 19:39

That's a really great idea.

Doug 19:40

You're creating some great stuff. Thank you. All right, well, let's do this. Um, if folks are not following you right now, where can they find you in the social media space? Can you remind us the handles and the platforms you're on?

Ken 19:54

Yeah, so you can find me on Instagram now, and um, I am on Point State Fork and Brunch Nut.

Doug 20:01

Brunchnut. And brunchnut can be not always Pittsburgh, right? It's often like more like Northeast New York, yeah.

Ken 20:08

It's usually New York, and I haven't run it as much. My sister, Ellery, runs it now mostly because I'm just not in New York.

Doug 20:15

I'm waving because Ellery is here. She's been patiently like listening to us record. She's sitting down in the living room.

Ken 20:21

Super patient.

Doug 20:22

Oh, so patient. Thank you. All right. Well, Ken, it's been so great to get to know you and talk with you. I always end with uh a customary question for our guests. And so I'll ask you this question. The name of the show is the Pittsburgh Dish. What's the best dish you've had to eat this past week?

Ken 20:45

This past week. So I yesterday my sister and I went to Nan Xiang. Oh, where is this? This is Southside. Okay. And I think one of my favorite things um there is the truffle soup dumplings.

Doug 21:00

Oh my.

Ken 21:00

So I think that was the best thing I've had.

Doug 21:03

I love truffle anything. So so truffle soup dumplings. Were there like chunks of mushroom inside, or was it just pretty brothy?

Ken 21:11

It was pretty brothy. Um, and it's like it's like it comes out like piping hot. You have to eat it with a spoon. And it was it was delicious, and I really recommend it because I I don't think you can really find truffle soup dumplings anywhere else.

Doug 21:23

That is not a common flavor I see offered in a dumpling.

Ken 21:27

No, and and they also do like plenty of like other flavors too. Like you can get scallop, you can get crab and pork and chicken.

Doug 21:34

Delicious. Remind us again.

Ken 21:35

This is Nan Xiang Soup Dumplings.

Doug 21:38

In the South Side.

Ken 21:39

Yes.

Doug 21:40

Ken of Point State Fork. It sounds like the best bite. Thank you so much for spending time with us. And thanks for being on The Pittsburgh Dish.

Ken 21:48

Thank you for having me.

Sarah Loves Yinz Reveals Rocco's Slice House

Doug 21:51

Up next, Sarah of Sarah Loves Yinz shares one of my favorite concepts a great food place within another food place. Let's have a listen. Sarah, when we talked in the past, we were discussing some of our holiday traditions and you told me about a dish that your grandma made. What was the dish called again? Bobikey. Yes. And you also mentioned during that conversation that you got the dough to make the little bread balls from the Slice House, which is a pizza joint out in Greensburg. It's kind of in a unique place. So I was wondering if you could tell us a little bit more about Slice House.

Sarah 22:34

Yes. Kind of. It's in the old pharmacy inside of Shop and Save on East Pittsburgh Street. Now we have two shop and save, the Charlie family shop and save. We have one on 66. Okay. And we have one on East Pittsburgh Street. Rocco's Slice House is inside the shop and save on East Pittsburgh Street.

Doug 22:53

Okay. Rocco's Slice House in the space that would have been that was the pharmacy. Correct. How amazing.

Sarah 23:00

It is actually. And from what I hear, it's amazing pizza, right? It is. And you know, they're using well, and I know this because I got to do like a behind-the-scenes record kind of thing, you know, and they're just truly some of the nicest dudes running that place. Rocco has a pizza joint in Youngwood as well. Okay. Which is just Rocco's. And it's, I don't even know if I've had that pizza, but you'll get there.

Doug 23:33

You'll get there.

Sarah 23:33

Yes, but it's a totally different style of pizza than what they're doing inside of Shop and Safe. So Josh and Rocco, I got to go in while they were making the dough. Okay. And I recorded the process. It was cool though, because they're shredding their own cheese. They use really high quality olive oil, King Arthur flour. What's the ferment on the dough? 72 hours. Wow. So I tell everybody have you seen that viral lady that's like, and it's gut healthy. Have you seen that? No, I don't think so. Oh my gosh, she has now I will. You will it's gonna show up in your because it's gut healthy. It's like sultry about what she makes, and she's always making like croissants or ice cream sandwiches. She's like, and it's gut healthy because everything's sourdough.

Doug 24:17

Yeah. But I that's kind of what these guys are doing.

Sarah 24:20

That's what I tell everybody. I'm like, it's not even bad for you, pizza. It's gut healthy. 72-hour format.

Doug 24:25

What what does the pizza look like? I you know, it's New York style. New York style. So it's uh it's a round pie in huge. Yes. And do they serve slices?

Sarah 24:34

Two for six on Tuesdays. Get out. So yes, which is honestly like a great way to, you know, I'll take my kids there and everybody can get exactly what they want without having to order three pies. They have garlic knots some days, pepperoni rolls some days, breadsticks. The breadsticks are ridiculous. Like you would never have to worry about vampires.

Doug 25:01

Oh, there's a there's a good amount of garlic knots. Oh, yes.

Sarah 25:04

It is so they're so good. I know they're just a variation of the knots, but I like the breadsticks more than the knots.

Doug 25:11

Sometimes shape, texture, there's just something around food, the mystery of food, as to why we gravitate towards something versus the other thing.

Sarah 25:19

The breadsticks are it. Yeah. And they're now doing Sicilian pies. It is thicker. And it is good. I I had that one not long ago because of course I had to try it. But of course. Their OG pies are the way to go. I I'm truly like pizza obsession. I love them.

Doug 25:38

Okay, Sarah. So we're talking about Rocco's Slice House, which is in the shop and save in the old pharmacy in Greensburg on East Pittsburgh Street. Thank you.

Sarah 25:49

You're welcome. Yeah, because we do have two.

Doug 25:51

All right.

Sarah 25:51

Josh and Rocco are doing it right.

Doug 25:53

Sarah of Sarah Loves Yinz. Thanks so much for being on The Pittsburgh Dish.

Sarah 25:58

Thanks so much for having me.

Chef Joe Peroney's Ricotta and New Cooking Class

Doug 26:00

You can follow Sarah on Instagram at Sarah Loves Yinz. Chef Joe Peroney sits down at the table with us again for a recipe and an announcement of a new cooking class. And let's just say cheese is the theme. Joe, when you were here last, we talked all about your career and you were having some classes at the beginning of 2026. It's been a couple months, and uh I'm getting hungry again for some of your food. I was wondering if you could share a recipe for our listeners today.

Joe 26:31

Sure, Doug. So for a lot of my classes, you know, I hand make so much of the food. Yes. And ricotta cheese sounds like it's intimidating to make, but it's really so simple.

Doug 26:42

Oh, making it home yourself?

Joe 26:44

Yep.

Doug 26:44

I have never done that.

Joe 26:46

Oh my gosh, I got the perfect recipe for it. Okay. So a lot of times too, like I'll buy a gallon of milk and I just never finish it. Right. I don't eat cereal a whole lot. So super hard for me to finish an entire gallon of milk. So if I have milk in the fridge also, I'll just turn that into ricotta. Okay. So my ricotta cheese, uh I do a mixture of whole milk and heavy cream for all that flavor. And then instead of using just vinegar, what I do also is I will microplane some lemon zest. Oh. Mince it up very finely, and then I'll squeeze the juice of that lemon in there with a little vinegar. With the vinegar. And that's the acid that kind of reacts and creates that curdling effect. And then you cook it on the stove for just a little bit and it separates out? Yep. So I will bring the milk up um just off the boil. Okay. About 185 degrees. I would add my vinegar and my lemon juice, stir it up, and I'll just let it hang out for like 10, 15 minutes. Okay. And you'll see that separation happen immediately. And then what do we need? Just like cheesecloth and a sieve? Cheesecloth and a sieve, or sometimes like you can use like a an old kitchen towel that doesn't have like a lot of uh terry cloth material. Something that would flow through. Yep. And then I let that sit either for like three or four hours. Okay. Or if you want it very dry, if you want to fold it into a pasta dish without adding a ton of moisture, yes. I'll let it sit overnight in that towel and drain out all that liquid. Is that is that called ricotta salada? Ricotta salada is a little bit more dried out than that.

Doug 28:12

Okay.

Joe 28:12

And you can actually like microplane that kind of stuff. Okay, yeah.

Doug 28:17

Yeah.

Joe 28:17

Any salt? Uh I do add a little bit of salt in there, yeah. And maybe a touch of sugar. Okay.

Doug 28:22

I love this. So homemade ricotta. I love to just dollop a ricotta like on a finished, like red sauce pasta dish. Oh, yeah. That's such the best thing. Yep. So speaking of this, do you have any other classes or events coming up while I have you with me? I do, Doug.

Joe 28:38

So this is this is a Pittsburgh Dish exclusive. Oh, excellent. So on May 10th, I'm partnering with Goat Rodeo Farm, just outside of Pittsburgh. It's the working goat farm. They make amazing cheeses. Amazing cheeses. And we're going to be holding a uh a one-of-a-kind pasta class there. This is close to Mother's Day, then, right? Yeah, it's Mother's Day weekend. Okay, yeah. So bring mom out, bring anybody out. It's just uh, you know, we're gonna have the the pasta making and also cuddling baby goats. I don't know of anything that could be better. And we're gonna have a professional photographer there. So with your ticket price, you'll be able to get a you know, a nice commemorative keepsake of a really high quality photo of you, your guests, maybe a goat or two.

Doug 29:22

Holding a baby goat.

Joe 29:23

Holding a baby goat, yeah.

Doug 29:24

Okay. Oh, I love this. Joe, where do people find more information on this class? Is this your website or goat rodeo's website?

Joe 29:32

So Goat Rodeo will be collaborating with me on distributing some information. Yeah, you can go to pittsburgchef.com or check my Instagram, and we'll have links there for tickets once they're available.

Doug 29:43

Sounds perfect. And Joe, thanks so much for this ricotta recipe. I will be trying to make it myself. You gotta let me know how it turns out. All right, we'll post a recipe for this on our website at PittsburghDish.com. Thanks again, Joe. Thank you. You can follow Joe on Instagram at Joe.peroney. If you enjoyed the show, consider buying us a coffee for this episode or supporting the show monthly. You can find links to those options at the bottom of our show description. And if you want to follow my own food adventures, you can find me on social media at Doug Cooking. That's our show for this week. Thanks again to all of our guests and contributors, and to Kevin Solecki of Carnegie Accordion Company for providing the music to our show. We'll be back again next week with another fresh episode. Stay tuned.