budrichard

If you can get whole larger squid for stuffing, the small ones are almost impossible for my hands, then clean and prepare the body leaving the body intact for stuffing. Any grain precooked with a sharp cheese and herbs makes a nice stuffing and then you need to decide on a braising medium. A home made Italian Red sauce is good. Then slow braise with the chopped tentacles thrown in for good measure. Sometimes i add toated pine nuts to the stuffing. If not up to stuffing, just cut the body into rings and braise as above.-Dick

The tinned 'sardines' in salt pack from Italy need to be washed in water to remove the surface salt, soaking for a while is also OK. Then filleted off the bone and use like anchovies. I used to purchase the salted tins of anchovies but found them too small and the work too tedious to fillet, the 'sardines' are larger and much easier to work with.-Dick

chefadamg, thanks for your Post and pictures. Just got off the phone with Anshu and as it turns out he has the 1-800-Steak website also and it is from him that i ordered the whole strip loin last year. This beef looks even better! Put in my order this morning, so will be here tomorrow. I usually use as sashimi raw and also slice thin and briefly sear on griddle. Let us know how your preperations turn out. -Dick

We cook with cusine specific soy sauces. A Chinese Soy will not be like a Japanese, Korean or Indonesian. Remember that 'Light' means color only not salt content. 'Light' soy are used for cooking as to not color the food. They are saltier than regular. The Japanese makes a lower salt soy that Kikkoman terms 'Less Salt'. It is very good but Kikkoman also makes other soys' for sashimi use and for cooking also. You can get hand made artizen shoyu's also. Your real guide is to experiment and let your taste be your guide. We have conducted blind tastes with Kikkoman products and other shoyu's and know which we prefer for what purpose in Japanese cusine. We also have a range of Chinese soy's for cooking and dipping sauces. When you purchase, look for country of origin as soy's from other countries ar now becoming available. I purchase only from stores where there is a high turnover and the bottles don't look like they have sat on the shelf for years. -Dick

On our way into the City yesterday, stopped at Argyle @ Broadway area to pick up some Vietnamese ingrediants. Had not been to the area in about 1 year. The Tai Nam Food Market http://www.tainammarket.com/ wasn't really changed and still has an excellent supply of freah sea food and vegtables as well as condiments. We picked up some gorgeous large blue crabs right out of the shipping container, squirming and biting each other. The guy that helped me bag them, made sure that we got only females for the roe. Shrimp with heads on , snapper and large hardshell clams were also purchased. The greens are now labeled with both Vietnamese and English names which helps a lot. Woked up the crabs tai style and they were the best hardshell blues I have ever had. Large and full of roe! Around the corner on Argyle is Sea World Food Market whose claim to fame is a tank of Dungeness crabs and a tank of lobsters in the window. Crabs are $7.99/# and I got two large lively ones. They will go into crab with garlic butter ala Bob Chinn today. Did not do my usual tour down Argyle as we had to get into the City but we did stop at Ba Le http://www.balechicago.com/ and pick up some Banh Mi sandwiches. First time, and they were great as I ate driving down Lake Shore Drive. Ba Le is a franchise operation and with many locations. They are now also a wholsale supplier and many of the products used in thier sanwiches are available in the markets. If you haven't had a Vietnamese sandwich, you don't know what you are missing. They are an Asian influenced French type sandwich on a bagette with various meats and pate if you want. -Dick

Years ago, haddock is what you ate if you couldn't afford cod. It used to be one of the main constituents of Fish Sticks when they were still made in Maine. It is a beautiful fish for a chowder or fish soup, and except for the head you have all the ingrediants. Fillet out the flesh. chop up the bones and make a fume/stock with your aromatics for a fish soup. For a chowder, one can use potatoes or anything that suits your fancy. You can range from a low fat version with skim milk to a luxurious version with cream/milk mixture. The addition of a little saffron at the end will take the dish into the haute cusine realm. I don't think i have ever cooked a haddock whole, much preferring a chowder or soup. -Dick

Wusthof all SS. I use them on Canada Geese on down.-Dick

The lining is tin, SS will not wear out in your lifetime. Continued use without retinning will eventually cause a hole in the pan and this is not fixable. -Dick

One last note: I routinely purchase 'free range' chickens from local farmers for various reasons. These chickens are raised on commercial feed for the most part but are allowed free range of the barnyard except for the little ones the hawks get. The farmers process them and I get them fresh, use or freeze. The primary difference is actually in the joints. These farm chickens average 6 to 8 #'s and the joints are much tougher than the cage raised little fryers or even the 'roasters' sold by the big producers. So while the concept of 'Smart Chicken' and 'Free Range' is appealing, the average Supermarket chicken on sale at $0.79/# is a very appealing bird monetarily, it just doesn't satisfy as well as the marketed bird does! In other words, Perception is Reality.-Dick

In 1962 Lowenbrau Light(not in the context of 'Light' today) and Dark were just about the only German beers available in Wisconsin. First had both at Paisan's in Madison Wisconsin as a Freshman. We could only have 3.2 beer in the dorms at the time and Lowenbrau was certainly a change. I really don't remember much of the 1960's and early '70's as i had my nose to the grindstone and 16 days were not uncommonin Graduate school doing research and studies. Then came the real world and for another 15 years I worked hellish hours engineering, building and managing Nuclear Power Plants. somewhere along the line Lowenbrau dissapeared and a Miller product appeared. It was junk. It really didn't make too much difference to me where it was brewed. I actually found Spaten and Haufbrau which have an excellent range of beers. When German Lownebrau appeared at my local MegaMarket I tried a 6 pack. It was not the product I knew. As for sales data, I can only report what was emailed back to me, 'The Dark didn't sell', so whatever data was used, the real problem is that data for a non-German version was used. Thanks for the detailed information but it really doesn't matter. Anything attached to the Miller name is verboten and so is Lowenbrau whereever it continues to be brewed! -Dick

The shoyu from Fundokin that we purchased was used for sashimi for two seperate times. The conclusion from my son and i is that it is actually too strong. We had to dip just little of a piece of fish or otherwise it overwhelmed even Maguro. No email back from Marushima so I don't know a US importer for thier shoyu. -Dick

It really doesn't burn unless a flame but melts.-Dick

First ask the hunter when this particular venison was processed, who cleaned it and who processed it to get a sense of whether the venison was prepared properly. Boiled in vinegar sounds like an attempt to mask an unpleasant flavor. Properly harvested vension should not smell objectionable. What it will have depending on origin and what the animal has been feeding on is a taste from the browse(deer do not graze like cattle). Some refer to that taste as 'gamey' but much vensison is 'gamey' due to inadequate care in processing. For a shoulder, I would marinate for a day or two and then slowly braise. Good luck!-Dick

Miller has ruined more labels than I can count. Purchase a small label and then exploit it and tack on $4/case for advertising. Miller ruined Lowenbrau by having it made in Canada. Now that German Lowenbrau is again available in the US, I asked why no dark? Answer, it didn't sell. Well of course it didn't sell, it was crap brewed in Canada. If Miller has ANYTHING to do with it, I won't touch it.-Dick

90% of the time I make my own crust and everything but for those pizza emergencies we keep Tombstone cheese which I purchase on sale at 5 for $10. I then ad toppings and pop in the oven. Actually not too bad but i have never found a frozen pizza to come close to my thin crust pizza. -Dick

I rarely cook a whole domestic duck anymore preferring to break it down, skin and render the skin into duck fat! Duck fat makes great fries! We have a quart of goose fat from Xmas that i have made fries from and it is good but not as good as duck. -Dick

I purchase 5# wheels of Stella and then age. At at least 3 months it starts to acquire a very nice smooth flavor. Beats the price of Maytag and any other good blue that i know.-Dick

I thought it was ginger shoot but could not find my original reference. Thanks to everyone for their help! -Dick

Thanks for the prompt reply and assistance! We had a little of the first shoyu left and did a blind tasting comparison. Three of three individuals picked the first shoyu over the one I just posted about. The flavor is more intense. If you get a chance to try that shoyu, please do. -Dick

Purchased this today but can't find my previous reference to what this is. I think it is ginger shoot and it does have to be prepared. Any assistance is appreciated! Thanks-Dick

Could not purchase the same shoyu. This one is supposed to be made by the same company but due to the price, I don't think that it is aged in cedar vats like the other. Any commnets from the label? -Dick

The above has all been good advice. I use Hudson Valley Grade C Foie and its really so simple that you don't have to worry at all. Just slice, season, sear and eat. The only thing that can go wrong is a possible flame up but I have only seen that happen on a commercial burner and letting it sear too long. You want the foie very rare and this will go against your instincts, but the longer you sear the more fat you render. Have a good time!-Dick

"Underneath, I'm installing an American Range 60" stove: 6x32k btu burners, 24" raised griddle (40k btu), and 2x35k btu ovens. Also an American Range 35/50 Deep Fryer (120k btu), and a jet wok burner (125k btu). I expect birds flying over the exhaust fan to drop from the sky, fully roasted. " This Model appears to be a Commercial Unit. Is the unit rated for NFPA Residential use or have you taken steps to upgrade your home to Fire Code requirements for this range? Have you consulted your Insurance Carrier about the installation? If not, you may do more than roast flying birds.-Dick

I use a Wusthof Chinese Chef's Knife # 4688. It is NOT a cleaver but for delicate work it is the best I have found. It is also NOT cheap but will last a lifetime. For chopping I use dedicated Wusthof Cleavers of different blade thickness depending on how heavy the bones are that i am cleaving. I have a Falk copper wok that works great except for very large amounts i have to turn to a Chinese wok. -Dick

Our Viking sits beneath a Viking hood, fancy that! It has two huge fans and sounds like a Tomcat Spooling up for takeoff. But what it does is to remove the heat along with any smoke or odors that are generated in a 20" duct to the outside with a simple draft type damper. These hoods are not just for odor or smoke removal. The installation cost more than the average person spends on a gas stove. Why would you purchase an appliance and then be wary of the makers recommendation? Install what Wolf recommends for your Wolf range.-Dick