budrichard

There are a few brands of box wine now on the market at very reasonable prices. Has anyone used this type of wine for cooking and what has your actual experience been? I am interested in what you used the wine for, results and the brand and variety. If you have an opinion and don't have actual experience, I would prefer not to hear your opinion on whether these wines are suitable. Thanks for any responses.-Dick

I have never heard or read of spleen being used for human consumption. I use just about every part of an animal but not spleen.-Dick

Well, now you've got me wondering. This was a pheasant shot at Tejon Ranch through some Central CA hunt club (we are in Paso Robles). Wild or a plant? Hmmmmmm............. ← Most likely a plant but give them a call. If a plant, you can roast it whole with butter for basting, just make sure the breast is slightly rare, i.e. pink juices unlike clear juices like chicken.-Dick

DO NOT brine your bird whether wild shot or not. I have been hunting pheseant for 30+ years both wild and game farm and they do not need brining. The difference is that a true wild pheseant, not a plant, if an old wild bird will be tough and devoid of most fat unless it has been sitting in a corn field with grain on the ground. In that case, braising whether with liquid or sour cream(my favorite) will suffice. Many think they are shooting a wild bird but there is a lot of planting going on. -The reason only using the breast or commonly called breasting the bird is that the hunter is too lazy to properly clean the pheseant. I clean and skin, bone out the breasts and cook the leg/thighs in sour cream. The carcass is used to make a stock and eventually a sauce. The breasts can be barded if wild, if farm raised, a little butter is all that's needed. The game farm birds are almost like chicken these days!Dick

If true wild game and not a farm raised species of wild game, it will be very lean. For roasting, barding with leaf lard is the way to go. Roast and then let rest, you will have to judge by the total weight of the roast and the ratio of bone to meat. Any other type of preperation that involves moist heat can benefit from a marinade. For wild game we always include Juniper Berries. If farm raised it will be like a cross between wild and domestic, milder in flavot but still relatively lean but will still benefit from the any of the above. I have worked with farm raised venison and it is much milder than wild venison. -Dick

In the '60s and '70s Beaujolais was a good light wine. Somewhere along the way the US started to get water for Nouveau Beaujolais. The Chicago area market is one of the best in the country and I have given up on NB and B because of what is available.-Dick

Randall is like William Henry, semi-custom. $2900USD for six steak knives is pretty steep! A set of 12 from Corbet sigman would have been about $1200USD. I suspect that one could a set from a number of custom knifemakers for about that. The Randall Carving set is $380 catalog price but more on the aftermarket. I have ordered one custom carving set from a top custom maker, was not satisfied about the fit, finish and design. The Randall designs are just classic. Note:Dull finish is due to Renaissance Wax, a preservative.-Dick BTW, if anyone knows where any Randall steak knives are for sale, please PM me!

Book ordered in English, discount worked, thank you, Hudson Valley foie gras in the freezer, more on the way! I don't think I can duplicate the meal Tony had but at least I will try some of recipes.-Dick

I've collected custom knives for 30+ years. At one time I toyed with the idea of having Corbet Sigman make me a set of 12 of his Utility hunters as a steak knife set. Sadly Corbet has passed on before that idea came to fruition. One thing I have learned is that many of the custom knives are actually too sharp for the average person to use. Some of them will 'bite' you if you even look at them and certainly the average person at your table if the knife contacts them does not want a cut. I settled on a set of Wusthof Classic. Sharp enough for easy usage, fairly easy to sharpen and they won't cut the user if used like a normal knife most individuals are used to. In terms of aesthetics, I am looking for a couple of Randall Steak Knives to match my Randall Carving Set, but can't locate any at all except for truly outrageous prices on eBay! -Dick

Most Sushi retaurants are not owned by Japanese and most chefs are not clasically trained. My first question is always, " Are you Japanese and where are you trained?". Second question is, "Who owns the restaurant?" If both answers are not Japanese, then you are eating the McDonalds equivalent. -Dick

I have two 22,000, one 15,000 and one 12,000 (simmer) BTU burner. BlueStar does not provide you with a high output burner, a wimpy simmer burner (this one goes from 350 to 12,000) and mediocre secondary burners. I can cook full blast on all of them. I also use the griddle to keep sauces warm and maintain temp or simmer. It's my compromise for not getting a flattop. ← My Viking has all 15K burners. The BlueStar burners are not all the same, the 12K burner is not full power so I stand by my statement. I do wish the Viking burners were higher output but I don't have to worry about which burner I am using. -Dick

Pics are from the #12 Strip loin purchased from 1-800 Steak. #12 is not always available, I don't know what a pound or so will cost you because I only dealt with the purchase of about 18#'s of it. Still have some packaged in the freezer. I expect that for most of my beef needs from now on, Zier's dry aged Prime will get my business. If Dave can order me some fresh briskets when I run out, i will be happy! If you know of anyone coming from Japan and is willing to carry a cooler on JAL to O'Hare, count me in. That is the only way I can think of to get real Kobe beef. #12 Grade Waygu is available in the US but the price is HIGH! How does it compare to Kobe, I still honestly don't know. I suspect, it is close but that's not like horseshoes, it doesn't count. -Dick

Continuing: The reports were unanamous(sp?), at least those that not had coronaries, the best they had ever had. As a short aside on beef preperation. High grade Waygu should not be cooked like conventional USDA Prime beef i.e the steaks of USDA are thick cut, seared, cooked and then allowed to rest for a nice internal rare. It is like Foie gras where if Grade 12 or so, you will cook the fat out of the Waygu. Slice then and seared briefly it is a treat, raw with seasonings ala Toro, sublime. Never in my search did I find any vendor with actual Kobe beef or any other Japanese beef. I realize that i am comparing tenderloin to strip but I finally realized that I needed the strip cut to get what I wanted. Well that's it. I am firmly convinced that we are not able to get Top #12 Kobe or any other beef from any other Japanese Prefecture. We can get some very very good Waygu beef at some very very high prices. Most Waygu marketed in the US is not as good as USDA true dry aged beef. It certainly is not any higher than #4 if that from some markets where i took one look and declined to purchase any. Cost is another factor, If you paying $20- $30/#, it aint like Kobe beef. If cooking steaks by US conventional methods, Zier's Prime dry aged is as good as it gets! Now I will learn how to upload some pictures!-Dick

Well I finally stopped in again at Zier's to get some Waygu. All Dave had was frozen from Snake River Farms, no sale. I did take home a whole Prime Tenderloin, dry aged, it was sublime. I really believe Zier's aged Prime beef is better than any other Waygu i have had except for one. I guess it's about time to tell my quest for Kobe beef tale! First tasted was Lobel's when it was fresh from Australia. Ordered Tenderloin and briskets, again, a lot when they had a two for one sale. The tenderloin was dry aged and excellent. The briskets made great corned beef and BBQ. Went back to order and source was now US, not a bad thing but not as dry aged. Next source was Mitsuwa. Tried to purchase whole rib section but could only get about 4#'s as the butcher needed the rest for customers for the weekend. About $20/#. In conversation with butcher who was not Japanese (does Cook County still have restrictions that require a Union butcher on site?), the Waygu available to him ranged from $20 to $50/#. He chose to only order the lower price because that was what he could sell best. Not any better than any other beef and certainly not as good a Zier Prime. Next source was http://www.gamemeat.com/kobe.html. Purchased Tenderloins and Briskets, free shipping if over a few $$, so big orders. Briskets were great and the Tenderloins very good. May still have a Brisket somewhere in the freezer. But not any better than Zier's. The more i watched Japanese cooking shows and the more read, I was convinced that i was not getting anywhere near Kobe quality especially when no seller I used mentioned the difference bewteen the Japanese and USDA grading systems. I needed Grade 12 Waygu beef! I also had not oberved any Waygu beef with the fat content I saw on Japanese shows. The Kobe or other Japanese beef looked like Toro it was so fatty! My Internet search yielded only vendors selling Waygu or Kobe style beef with no Japanese grading applied except for one Finally 1-800 Steak http://www.brentwoodtradinggroup.com/index.html and someone who knew what i was talking about. Anyway to get the price lower, i ordered a whole strip loin. They don't take AMEXO but I sure could have got a LOT of Rewards points for what the strip cost! Strip was graded #12 and when it arrived it looked great, not as marbeled as what I have seen on TV but certainly the best I had obtained. Cut strip loin into 1.5# sections and parceled it out to 4 sets of relative/friends for opinions. The admonishment was to thinly slice and sear, searving rare. As for me and my son, we began by treating it as Sashimi, very much like hgih quality toro, we were onto something. sliced thin and seared, it was excellent, the best we had had!

Most domestic lamb is finished on corn and has a higher fat content. Domestic lamb is graded Choice or Prime. Lamb that i am familiar with from Australia or New Zealand is grass fed and is not as rich. Either is a good product but there is nothing like USDA Prime domestic lamb!-Dick

Put in a Viking unit and Viking dual fan hood about 15 years ago. The thing is a TANK! Yes the burners are ALL 15K but most other ranges if they have a higher burner rating, then the other burners are lower to keep the same total heat load. You MUST have an adequate ventialtion system to the outside not only for smoke and odors but for heat removal. Once a year if lucky it gets cleaned. The most important thing is to clean the grease traps on the hood by removing the housing around the fans, very simple. I also pull the fan units out and inspect the ducting for grease and oil, so far the grease traps have done thier job.-Dick

A boneless stuffed saddle of lamb is one of the most sublime dishes that one can make and eat. The saddle is stuffed with the lamb tenderloin and a lamb mousse. It must be browned in the correct sequence to assure that the tenderloin is still rare. -Dick

Kidneys from a young animal need to be seared and served rare. A mustard sauce or similar to go with. Most lamb is already very young and true 'baby' lamb is very rare(no pun). Typically lamb or veal kidneys are served along with sausage of the same meat and a chop as a 'mixed grill'. -Dick

Mitsuwa brings in cooked Hairy crab from Hokkaido every September.-Dick

Once you have a CC Classic hot off the line, there will be no question. -Dick

I sent the supplier of 'Himalyan' pink salt slabs an email asking if the salt had been analysed for harmful chemicals and heavy metals. Never received a reply. I would not use any salt that did not have this type of analysis available. BTW when they tell you that the salt tablets are 100's of millions of years old, don't be impressed. All salt sold is that old unless made in a lab from sodium and chlorine. -Dick

Better yet, has anyone tried to eat a stuffed habenero pepper! Bet you can only eat just one! (probably not even one.)-Dick

If your Sirocco pan has the InductoSeal bottom than it has 2 mm of copper. Professional copper cookware has 2.5mm of copper. A 1/2mm may not seem like a lot but it is a cost savings for the manufacturer and a 2.5mm pan is 25% thicker than 2mm and results in faster heating. The website is rather obtuse and I found it difficult to determine which pan had what bottom. BTW, I never do anything other than wash the outside of our Falk.-Dick

I meant potassium nitrate. -Dick

Sodium nitrate (saltpeter) is mined. It was in the ground for millions of years before it was mined so a few years in a container won't matter, unless wet, it won't decompose. I actually purchased the bottle (6 oz) from a pharmacist. In my growing up years, I had purchased some in this way because it is a constituent of gunpowder(The Statute of Limitations has passed on that one). The bottle is actually marked 'For Technical Use Only' and is a McKesson product. It may or may not be Reagent Grade but it certainly is pure enough for human consumption (It hasn't killed me yet!). We used to use 97% alcohol (Not denatured) for cleaning purposes in labs and along the way some eventually made its way into the food chain. It's just a matter of what your technical background is. Before pharmacies became little more than sellers of notions and magazines, Pharmacies and pharmacists were sources of chemicals. Just try to purchase any type of chemical these days. I needed some silver nitrite recently. I finally found a supplier for 30 grams and the Hazardous Shipping costs were double the product cost! Many sources of recipes and methods for curing, use sodium nitrate for color preservation but it also has been shown to supress lethal organisms. -Dick