budrichard

In the 1960's Consumer Reports actually ran a taste test on beer. Bud was the best of the lot with Miller reported as 'light' and of course that how Miller was marketed, The 'Champagne of bottle beer'and the beer to drink with dinner. Bud was actually a good rice brew with body and hoppy taste. Since then Bud is not even close to what it once was and i have not had a Bud in 20 years maybe. Actually had a new Select or whatever its called and thought that Bud was marketing water. Miller High Life on the other hand has stayed reasonably close to what it once was and is now considered a 'heavy' American beer. That will give you a perspective on how things once were. In fact all over Wisconsin were small breweries where one could get a good solid product at reasonable cost. -Dick

My, that will be something to look forward to! Do you plan on opening another bottle soon? ← I open one bottle of the 61's we have left every Xmas time when we have lunch at Carlos in Highland Park, Illinois. Mondays are no corkage at Carlos so that's when we go. We are now working on 1970's having drunk all the 64, 66's and 69's. 1970's were $40-45/case for futures, third growths. -Dick

Unless you had cellered the wines yourself, you might as well light some cigars with your hundred dollar bills. The variability of storage will result in crappy wine. Trust me, I have had many failures of wines of that era that i had cellered and kept well. It's kind of a crap shoot.-Dick

Decanting and time of aeration depend on the individual wine and the age at the time of drinking. One needs to have at least a case of the wine to truly know what to do. In general, the younger the wine, the greater the amount of aeration is needed. Older wines need little to no aeration in some cases. In many case of 30+ or older wines, I don't decant but pour from a standing rest and let the drinker decide when to consume. We have one case of a '61 Bordeaux left and i know that it should be served immediately after decanting from prior experience. -Dick

There are two reasons that Bordeaux market share is dropping, price and quality. It is possible to get wines of good to superb quality from many sources as compared to 40-50 years ago. The wines don't taste like Bordeaux and can't but the new generation of wine drinkers have not had thier palates formed on traditional European wines. I still purchase some Bordeaux futures but mostly wines from around the globe. The only French Bugundies i have had from recent vintages was a paid tasting of top crus both red and white. Ordered a top White Burgundy that my wife liked and when we tried the first bottle of the case, it did not taste at all like what was served at the tasting. There is no reason to purchase Classified Growths if siutable wine can be had from elsewhere for less money except for the snob factor. The situation is similar to Cuban cigars. Todays Cuban cigar is not better than the top Dominican or Nicarauguan cigar. In fact due to quality control, Cubans are a bad purchase today. But you can't tell that to snobs. -Dick

"I sent an email this morning. " To where? the Mayor's Office does not list an email address? -Dick

Thanks for the Waygu pic from Zier's! I have never been able to get my hands on real Kobe beef from Japan. I have seen on some sites and on Iron Checf Kobe beef that looks like high grade Toro i.e you can only see marbling and not flesh. I have tried various suppliers of Waygu including Lobel's Autralian Waygu and Post Australian Waygu.and have found the lessor cuts to be outstanding compred to US Prime. The cuts such as Tenderloin are not as outstanding compared to US Prime. I would doubt that Waygu is dry aged from the waste/cost standpoint and none that i have had, exhibited dry aging. So for now, it's US Prime dry aged from Zier's for me. Waygu briskets on the other hand have been superb. A few years ago, an article in Vogue about real Kobe beef was very informative. the writer somehow obtained some real kobe beef and cooked it the Normal way and found it to be tough. Upon going to a Japanese restaurant, she was fed kobe that was thin sliced and lightly seared just before serving. Made sense. Superb beef was the conclusion! -Dick

I walked into my local MegaMart liquor store and saw about 10 cases of Sam Adams Double Bock sitting there. I asked the mnager to ring one up for me and he told me they were all for one person and that there was no more in the store. Well i ordered two cases and picked them up the next week. I am a fan of German DoppleBocks and Mai Bocks and didn't think that anywhere else in the world could brew such beers. We blind tasted Sam Adams Double Bock with Spaten Optimater and Capital Brewing Blonde Double Bock. The Spaten is 7.2% alcohol and the Sam Adams a whopping 8.8%. It was close between the Sam Adams and the Spaten with the Sam Adams having the smoother taste but Sam Adams was judged the best. The Blonde was very smooth but missing the roasted flavor hence the Blonde Appellation. This is the first time i have seen a non German beer taste better than a German DoppleBock or Mai Bock in a blind tasting. -Dick

"Tapas station and raw bar" ? No matter what is now done, the Burghoff is dead. I have seen a number of these 'changes' where the new owner thought that he/she could trade on the original name/owners mystique. In reality the new owner had not a clue as to what made the original a success. It was not what was on the menu but the people that made the difference. R.I.P. -Dick

The business plan for Cable Channels is to reduce expenses once the Channel has established what they consider an adequate in-elastic subscriber base. Reducing expenses means cheap programming and more commercial content. Just about every Cable Channel has done this.-Dick

Bread your cheeks (Halibut) with honey Panko flakes and fry in a neutral oil. Throw some giant salt cured capers in at the last monemt and serve with lemon wedges. -Dick

I live between Milwaukee and Chicago. For fine dining we go to Carlos as the closest venue. For ethnic dining we go to Chicago spots as the Milwaukee ethnic restaurants dumb down their food for cost control and generally have higher prices. Example: Dancing Ganesha's has excellent Indian food but each entre is pricey and normal condiments that come gratis with a meal on Devon st cost extra at Dancing Ganesh's. Milwaukee is also much smaller than Chicago and does not support fine dining due to both cost restraint, population and culinary education. -Dick

How we bulit a collection over 30+ years. We always purchase in case lots for a price break and in good years we purchased the French in 3rd to 5 th growths and some lessor wines as futures. We purchase cases of French Burgundy, German whites, Sauternes and once in while Champagne in good years also. Memorable was a case of 1962 Dom Perignon, sadly all gone. We also purchase cases of US, Spanish and what have you to have as everyday drinking wines. If you purchase a case and don't like the first bottle, any decent wine merchant will allow you to return the wine. When the expensive wines are in cases that are still intact and you have other wines in your residence, then you are less likely to drink wines that should age. We currently have a few 1961 Bordeaux's left along with 61' and '64 Brugundy. We are just starting to drink the 1970's because all the '64', 66's and '69's are gone. I wouldn't worry about storage until you get past 20 years. We have lost a few bottles along the way but that is just normal. Now our TBA's, BA's and Auslese are stored in a Kitchenaid wine cooler and the rest in our basement which stays fairly cool all year round. Don't think about where you are today but concentrate on the futuer and before you know it, you will have a nice celler. Then it is a treat to have friends over and uncork an older vintage that is truly ready to drink or take it to a restaurant with you. One caveat, wines vinified to day, will not drink and age like wines of 30+ yeard ago. They are vinified in a lighter style and are ready to drink earlier.-Dick

Fresh Wasabi root is fundamentally different than European horseradish in taste, heat and texture. It is sweeter, and genereally has less heat. It does not need salt and vinegar to bring out the heat. The heat can vary in the root with the outer parts having more heat. We purchase fresh root at Mitsuwa in Arlington Heights Illinois on a regular basis. A ceramic grater works fine. The root product of course varies being a fresh commodity. Some have little heat and taste, some are extremely flavorful with mild almost crunchy texture and some have good taste and real good heat. It just depends on the root and freshness, I presume. There is no substitute. the green power is just that, horseradish powder colored green. The best non fresh product comes in little packets at Mitsuwa which can be frozen. It is kept refrigerated and is very good and is my choice if fresh is not available. -Dick

I usually corn my own brisket, drain off the liquid and spices and simmer in water for at least 6 hours. The potatoes and cabbage are thrown in for about 30 minutes. It is the best I or anyone that has eaten it has ever tasted. This year we had a Vienna corned brisket from the company store. (BTW you can get huge 1/3# dogs at the store) and I steamed it for 6 hours and made Reuben sandwiches without the thousand Island dressing. I used Cahills Porter for the cheese, fresh Frank's kraut, and brown horseradish mustard. The eaters said it was the best Rueben. Note the Vienna sells at least two types of corned beef product. One is corned and not cooked, the other is corned and fully cooked. Be careful which one you purchase. Serving the corned product without cooking is very embarrasing! -Dick

Chicken Feet!-Dick

Blue, green or pink, i can guarantee that fresh mussles are far superior to frozen. Browne Trading sells a cultured blue mussel that is exquisite. Wild has more flavor but the wild mussel can be variable in freshness from different sources and if there is anything that can ruin in your dinner, it is a bad mussel. We use Browne Trading exclusively. -Dick

I have eaten just about every commercially available variety of crab and I can unequivocably tell you that FRESH KING CRAB RULES!.-Dick

I agree! It will need to rest at least 45 minutes so don't overcook. -Dick

I highly endorse the Niman product it comes frozen in I beleive 1 pound units. As of late I have been playing with wrapping a semi-cooked steak in potatoes and then caul and then quickly pan searing the steak. ← How do you work with a 2.5# frozen block of caul fat? Mine comes fresh in sheets which we pack in folded flat sheets and freeze so we just have to thaw one large sheet each time we want to use it. -Dick

Your 'fresh' King Crab is not much different than flash frozen. I have had them fresh cooked even flown in from Japan at Mitsuwa in Chicago. Live King Crab is available for a price and it is definately better than 'fresh' or frozen. Last one I got was $160. -Dick

Caul fat is the unrendered membrane surrounding the abdominal cavity. It looks like lace and is transparent with globs of lacy fat. It is useful for terrines but thin fatback or bacon can be substituted. When used to wrap a mousse around a chop or other wrap, it provides a bit of pork fat , great flavor and keeps the package together. Nothing can really be substituted for caul fat once you use it. Find another butcher. -Dick

I have one of these and it is not adequate i.e. long enough for a baby anything. I had to cut the head off a 20 # suckling pig to get it to fit and out last 25# pig would not fit even with the head off. Too bad Weber doesn't make one of these for thier Ranch Kettle. -Dick

"Commercial Ranges @ Home, I KNOW I'm crazy, but......" You haven't done your research. Installation of a commercial range without the proper installation to commercial standards and building code approval is a violation of NFPA standards and will void your homeowners insurance as well as probably burn down your home. As other have already posted, there is a LOT more to installing a commercial range than one might think. I am a Nuclear Engineer and was both a Fire Captain and later Fire Marshal for Nuclear Power Plants. I installed a Viking. -Dick