budrichard

Ask any qualified Fire Marshall or Fire Inspector about the wisdom of installing a commercial unit in a residence. While your at it, contact your insurance agent and explain exactly what you intend to do. I'm sure that down the road some of the individuals installing these commercial units in a residence will win the 'Darwin Award'! -Dick

Two of your requirements may be at odds. Living on Campus and off-campus from Gilman Street to Washington Av, a vehicle is not required but there are students. Remember Madison is situated on an ismus between two lakes, Monona and Mendota. One can go West of the Campus, and South. To go East you have to go to the other side of Monona. The campus is now huge, extending from about Gilman Street now to Eagle Heights. Shorewood presents an interesting area because one could easily walk to the Campus Bus and be at the Union in about 10 to 15 minutes depending on the time of day. If I was to live in Madison again. I would live in Shorewood. Shorewood is an older community with a high tax base and the streets are like a rabbits warren. The tax base and housing cost effectively precludes students. Good luck.-Dick

Having lived in Madison for nine years while attending the University of Wisconsin, I know my way around 'Mad City' very well. We last lived in Graduate Student married housing in Eagle Heights which really a part of Shorewood. Our daughter went to the Shorewood School System and we found the area very wholesome. With the short commute times, I would not base where I lived on anything other than an area that met my budget and my living space requirements. Certainly living near the Campus is cosmopolitan but can be seedy. Most of the people I know, live outside the City now.-Dick

A topic near and dear to my heart. Frozen lox, thin sliced corned beef, tasteless bagels and plastic cream cheese has taken over the Deli world. Every Deli wannabe says that thier Deli is authentic but in reality the majority of Deli owners have no idea what true authentic Deli is like. Just got a shipment from Russ & Daughters today. One of the best Deli's around today.-Dick

Food on the Internet is agreat resource as one can now have food items available from many sources. I get lots of perishable items shipped from all parts of the US. Some comes by UPS, some DHL and some FedEx. UPS invariably arrived next day but always late in the day. Many times I swore the item was not going to show up but it did, late in the evening. Sometimes DHL has arrived 3 days later and the item is waste. FedEx always arrives the next AM without fail. WE just got a shipment from Russ & Daughters out of New York City. It was picked up by FedEx at 5:05Pm which I assume is EST. It arrived at 9:07CST today. The package was in excellent external condition as were the items within still chilled. UPS packages invariably arrive with some sort of damage externally. It appears that PeriShip has partnered with FedEx http://www.periship.com . The items were cold smoked salmon, herrings and other accompanyments for Lox & Bagels on Mother's Day. Not something that withstand high temps. From now on, no DHL, UPS for only items that can withstand being tossed around and not extremely perishable and FedEx PeriShip will be the rule for perishable items.-Dick

Conch is best fresh. Anthing else is a compromise and canned is yuck! Conch doesn't travel well and that is one of the reason is it rarely seen fresh outside of the Carribean and Florida.-Dick

The only place to order from is Browne Trading http://www.brownetrading.com . They will get you 'Diver scallops' fished that day and sent to you overnight. They are so fresh and good, they can be eaten raw. Be aware that availablity is subject to weather, so order ahead. Browne Trading services the best restaurants in the US. I order a gallon can and freeze in packets. The reason that scallops are unsuitable is that they are soaked in a chemical to aid preservation rendering them tasteless and unable to be browned in butter.-Dick

Jasper white has a good recipe, but the difficult thing to acquire is the slab sided bun of which he shows how to make. Anything other than homemade aioli is heresy! I put a squeeze of lemon, aioli, and mix. Very simple. Fresh Maine lobster is also a requirement. I have never seen one served with lettuce in Maine. Sides are fries and beer although a good white burgundy is OK. -Dick

Foie gras whether cooked and served cold or hot is always the whole liver or lobe. One can also 'cure' in salt and serve cold, probably the most pure presentation. When the whole Foie is combined with other ingrediants so the liver is no longer whole, it is a Pate whether smooth or course. The addition of cream whether whipped or not to lighten the Foie would be called a mousse. -Dick

I have used just about everything that is readily available in grocery stores, the OutPost Coop and my local Italian grocery. I have found a line of products put out by Pastene http://www.pastene.com/ that ranged from San Marzano w/basil to Calif w/basil to Calif crushed as well as paste. The quality has been excellent and has allowed me to evaluate San Marzano against other USA products from one producer. I can say that the San Marzano makes the best sauce, whether it is worth the $2 price increase per can is up to the individual. Usually the San Marzano is used for pasta dishes with the Calif w/basil for pizza and the regular for stews etc. The cheap tomatoes I have used invariably are tart and without a lot of flavor. -Dick

What you are seeing is the tip of an iceburg. Quality Assurnace training will tell you that when you find one or two problems in an area, if you dig deeper, you will find a lot more. I have called my US Senators, my local Coop Head of Purchasing (Outpost in Milwaukee), emailed Whole Foods and informed them I expect from now on, not to purchase food stuffs that are not labeled with country of origin of the feed. I will not purchase any food stuffs from China or food raised with any products from China, period. I have seen rabbits, crayfish and other foods imported from China and have always resisted purchasing, knowing that at a minimum, the sanitary conditions are suspect. This reminds me of Rachel Carson and 'The Silent Spring'. The Chinese say they have no proof that melamine is harmful but they have no proof that it is not harmful. Well it certainly is to dogs and cats! Unfortuneatly, our pets suffered and died to give us a wake up call. If my pet was one of those, I would be very angry! Our Australian Labradoodle has always had a raw organic diet and now my daughters have switched thier animals to raw diets. From now until the Government gets a handle on this problem, its locally sourced meats from producers that certify, no feed from China used in the production. -Dick

Aluminum will dissolve in an acid as well as be attacked by a base. I assume that the dishwashing preps are basic in nature. I had some Campagnolo chainrings in my garage against the concrete(base), the chainrings powdered over the years of not using them. An expensive lesson.-Dick

I skimmed the book and to its credit, the book mentions Walter Jetton and the fact that he did the BBQ's for Lyndon Johnson. My copy of his LBJ BBQ Cookbook is over 40 years old and I would not part with it. For those just getting into Texas style 'Q, the Texas Cowboy book is a good book.-Dick

Well, I finally thawed one of the Kobe strips from Anshu. Same quality as already posted. Did three preperations. First was a tartare with shoyu with bonito extract, touch of hot seseme oil and cubed avocado. Second was just slice for sashimi with shoyu and wasabi, third was briefly seared on a very hot griddle, salt with mill. In the raw preperations, if you did not know it was kobe beef, you could easily mistake it for Toro. Easily the highest quality beef I have ever had. Where the Kobe really shined was on the grill. AS soon as it hit the grill, the umistakeable aroma of seared beef was evident and when tasted, that aroma was enhanced by the taste buds. Easily the most satisfying preperation. When top quality Toro sells for $60/#, why use Kobe beef? Save the kobe for searing. Great stuff! So ends my Kobe beef quest if you have read my previous Posts on the subject. Final conclusion: If you want a thich rare steak, purchase dry aged Prime from a source you know. If you want Kobe style, you can purchase some Grade 12 from Anshu and you will get a product that outclasses any US Prime for searing on the griddle. It will also do very nicely in raw perperations. If you must have true Kobe beef, pay the price, sear and eat.-Dick

Blue fin tuna is available in the summer unfrozen from Browne Trading in Maine. As stated these are BIG fish. A last belly section I purchased un-trimmed was tough as compared to other types of Toro or O'Toro I have purchased. The toughness may relate to the size of the fish. Toro fresh from Hawaii from another source was much more tender but I believe a smaller fish.-Dick

By its very nature, it is fully cooked and pasturized. Use and spread. -Dick

Passivation has nothing to do with the original question! It is basically a process to be performed after manufacture. The ability of stainless steels to withstand corrosion is due to the alloying elements dispersed throughout the matrix. Bringing up the subject has only clouded the issue for other readers. Stainless steels in use don't have to be re-passivated and the use of salt or most corrosive agents will not cause a short term effect. Certainly, one could line the bottom of a stainless steel pot/pan with salt and there would be no effects for a long time. The use of salt in cooking has NO effect on the stainless lining. The introduction of this procedure in this thread is an example of my previous statement whcih was apprently taken exception with and a procedure was mentioned in an attempt to show a knowledge level. I would have no problem lining the bottom of one of my Falk pots with sodium chloride for a couple of days. Salt and the way it is used is a non-issue in the use of stainless steel lined pots/pans.EOT-Dick

"I can tell you the exact procedure for making a stainless surface passivated. I have passivated thousands of stainless objects, and have seen hundreds which had their passive surface damaged through neglect or misuse." I for one would be very interested in how one 'passivates' a stainless steel pan or one lined with stainless steel? -Dick

Stainless Steel is what the name implies, it doesn't stain because of the alloying elements. Some stainless will rust but this is under the conditions of high humidity like if you put an item away damp and wait a long time. Personally, I don't worry at all about the stainless coatings on all my Falk cookware and have never found a pit. Certainly you can salt your food before putting your pans in the oven. Most of what you read about metalurgy on these Forums is from non-degreed individuals. -Dick

For the record, Copper Core is not copper cookware. True professional weight copper has 2.5mm of copper with either tin or SS lining. All Clad is a SS/Copper/aluminum sandwich and I'm not talking about thier other Copper-Chef product. When I asked for the thickneses, I was told that was proprietary information! In any event, we use Falk and NEVER polish. The larger pieces are very heavy so i purchased a medium frying Copper Core for my daughter. I used equal volumes of water in the All Clad and the matching Falk and guess which one heated water faster? All Clad has great marketing but does not sell copper cookware.-Dick

I had Kitchenaid built in. Holds about 60+ bottles and has worked without a problem for 4 years. You can leave the internal light on or off if you want to impress people with your selection.-Dick

We have absolutely no problems with food sticking to the SS lining of our Falk copper. Non-stick coatings were used to sell aluminum pots and pans because without non-stick or some sort of anodising, Al is terrible. A whole generation of cooks has grown up believing the hype put out by aluminum cookware manufacturers. We have NO aluminum cookware period! -Dick

Best to find a local pig farmer and tell him the specfic size. The animal must be kept off antibiotics for about two weeks before slaughter. The farmer will then transport your pig to your local processor and all you have to do is to tell them how you want the pig. -Dick

Just a skip North of the City but should be included is Carlos http://www.carlos-restaurant.com/ . The added benefit is there is no corkage fee on Monday. Needless to say, I usually dine there on Monday.-Dick

A flexible Fillet knife allows one to accomplish two things: 1. The handle can be raised above the cutting plane of the blade because the blade bends allowing your hand not to contact/interfere with the cutting surface. 2. Large fish rib cages are not flat but have a contour that a flexible blade can follow allowing one maximum utilization of the fish. I use an 8" Wusthof 'Flexibel' knife for most applications. I do have Japanese Yanagibi knives for sashimi/sushi fish prep but the fish is already in either block or thin fillet configuration. The video technique is classic Japanese, I assume developed because historically, they didn't have flexible blades. With a flexible blade all that is needed is two vertical cuts at the rear of the gill plates and one cut along each side of the backbone and then follow the rib cage, seperate the fillet and remove the skin, the remaining fish is in one piece and can be discarded or used however. Much simpler and faster but not traditional Japanese. Of more interest is this video showing the dismanteling of a large Yellowtail tuna. Note the large deba and the long tako biki type knives. It is in this realm where these knives come into thier own. The longer tako biki is blunt in case one accidently spears someone with it! -Dick