budrichard

A recipe is not a problem, what is a problem is obtaining the correct ingrediants. You first need rice paper of good quality. Some that is being sold is not rice and hard to work with. Basil must be Thai basil which is much stronger than regular basil. You need the correct rice noodels which are like a vermicelli. A good fish sauce without MSG or sugar will make a difference. Thai bird peppers are essential for the dipping sauce. Good fresh shrimp will make all the difference as well as fresh bean sprouts. Sauce: fish sauce, rice vinegar, brown or Palm sugar, grated carrot and chopped peppers to taste. Insert skewers into shrimp and boil to kepp straight, slice in half. Take your rice paper and wet your counter or cutting board and lay the paper down. Brush water on the top side and keep adding water to both sides until pliable to roll. Arrange shrimp, sprouts, noodels, basil and roll. Dip into sauce and enjoy. Beer helps, because if you haven't rolled the rice paper before, they will invariably tear until you get the technique. Just do it!-Dick

No matter what All Clad tells you, Copper Core is not real copper cookware. I have a Falk Culinair 6 qt saute. It comes with a helper handle because it is HEAVY, 2.5mm copper lined with SS. Does your saute pan have a helper handle? The Falk is not too large in diameter but I use Viking burners. Food fries better in pans where the seperation is at maximum which is what a large saute pan allows. Crowding the pan inhibits frying. I would certainly keep your pan until you get accutomed to it. -Dick

My grandparents lived on Long Island and I vividly remember the deli's in the 1950's as a child. I cannot forget the taste of the cream cheeses and now Russ & Daughters is just a FedEx shipment away! Great cream cheese, lox, bagels, pickles and whatever.-Dick

The best I can get today http://www.russanddaughters.com/pr_creamcheese.html .-Dick

The most important thing is the quality of the octopus. It must be fresh or fresh frozen. We have had good luck with octopus sold frozen in Japanese stores. The baby octopus comes cleaned and ready for you. There are two timings for octopus as for squid, fast and short or long and slow. Otherwise it is tough. We grill the baby ones and they are great. Octopus served at Sushi bars is poached. You are then served thin slices of the arms which are then lightly scored and will yield a tasy treat. Whole fresh octopus is difficult to obtain and then must be correctly cleaned and washed with a salt and water. Cut the head into strips for stewing and use the arms anyway you like depending on the size of the octopus. -Dick

Even though oxtails are not sold graded, there is a substantial difference between those that come from lessor grade animals and those that come from choice or better animals. The 'generic' ones that are showing up cryovac wrapped are very tough whereas the ones you get from a butcher that sells choice or prime beef can be very tender. Any recipe as posted can suffice as long as you braise for a couple of hours. I like to cool and remove the meat, reheat with a thickened sauce. Makes it much easier to eat. -Dick

Smelt needs to be absolutely fresh and is best when it is cooked as soon as possible after being caught. That is the reason for the smelt cooking on the lake shore after netting. I don't know what causes it but it changes in taste. We only eat smelt when we can catch them ourselves and serve the same day. -Dick

Scott's bacon and hams are made the way they were made 300 years ago and have nothing in common with the yuppie products on the market today. They do not turn gray and do not mold. We keep slabs in the freezer for more than a year and simply use a freezer knife to cut off what we want. The hams are simply stored in a dry area. No problems.-Dick

I assume the lake perch is coming from Canada but the stuff in the restaurants could be coming from anywhere and be anything. Much that is for sale in grocery stores has been adulterated with preservatives. The only place I purchase lake perch from is Grash's in Brookfield.-Dick

http://www.scotthams.com Niether the bacon or hams use any nitrates or nitrites in the curing. Bacon the way it used to be. We order slabs and give as presents. BTW of the commercially cured bacon and hams available, Nueske's is one of the best if not the best. Try the Scott's cold smoked pork breakfast sausage in the 2# rolls. You will need the 2#'s, its that good. -Dick

A short history of Wisconsin 'Fish Fries'! Up until the last 20 years or so, Fish Fry in Wisconsin meant Lake Perch, mostly caught in Lake Michgan. Served with buttered rye bread and cole slaw and sometimes french fires, it was invariably delicious across the state. In Neenah Wisconsin it mostly came from one place and if you happened to be at someones elses house on a Friday evening, there was a good probabalilty that the fish came from that place. As the Lake Perch died out and eventually almost disappeared, Cod began to be used with good results. With the price of cod rising and the stocks dwindling, Pollock, the major constituent of Surimi is being used. Most fish fries are now not worth sampling. A sad sign of the times. -Dick

I didn't realise that the subject of the discussion was an injected turkey! Butterball started that years ago in an effort ot make the frozen turkey palatable. ANY fresh turkey is better than one frozen and injected. PERIOD! Place your emphasis on securing a fresh turkey rather than one sold on advertising. I believe that Kosher turkeys are treated with salt in the Koshering process leading to a percieved enhanced taste. As to your wild turkey, of course it will not be as tender as a domestic turkey because the bird had to fend for itself and can actually fly. Wild game is distinctinly different than its domestic cousin. You might try, taking the wild bird apart, making soup out of the carcass, slow roast the stuffed breast and braise the leg/thighs in sour cream until tender. A 22 # wild turkey is a big bird and unless you have a lot of people, we cut them up as I mentioned. -Dick

My last wild turkey probably cost about $500 if you amortise all the expenses! For a domestic turkey, the secret is not how much the turkey costs or the breed. what is crucial is a fresh turkey slaughtered a few days before you consume it. We obtain ours either from a local farmer or a live poultry market in Chicago. No brning or depp frying needed. Just great turkey taste and tenderness. The practise of hanging game resulted from the lack of refrigeration in the past and it can be an acquired taste. It also can be unsafe. We DO NOT hang ANY type of game, PERIOD.-Dick

I certainly agree about the age factor. We take our grandaughter (7 now) every year and she enjoys herself. If you go in early September around Labor day, try the Gravenstien. They are not available after about 9/14 and are my favorite. As I said they will encourage you to try any of the many varieties and they have certainly increased my apple awareness. They truly love what they do. -Dick

Use the pieces as you would use any fat for sauteing Italian. You could render the fat and use the cracklings in a salad and use the rendered fat for whatever. -Dick

From I-94 take HWY 142 in Kenosha county West to just past Bong recreational area. Brightonwoods Orchard is to the right http://www.brightonwoodsorchard.com/ . The owners are 'Apple People' and grow many antique species of apples. All have been carefully picked and ready for you. Sample any apple you want. They also have a winery. We have been purchasing our apples exclusively from these folks for many years. They don't have the carnival atmosphere but they do have the widest selection of apples I have ever seen and the best apples.-Dick

Well I ordered 3 briskets and a tenderloin to get over $400 and no shipping container charge http://www.gamemeat.com/kobe.html . Two of the briskets were whole and one was the flat cut, all cryovac wrapped. We smoke a large and a small flat cut brisket Saturday. The large one spent 10 hours in the smoker and an additional 8 hours in the oven until we judged it done. Sunday, the party began. The brisket was cold sliced with a 32cm Wustoff slicer and then reheated . I had put a Tex-Mex rub on it. I have smoked choice brisket, Wagyu from Lobel's and this briket was the best, period! The fat content made it extremely rich and tender. Everyone loved it. One large brisket went into the freezer. I will thaw and corn the brisket in two pieces for St Pat's Day. We are going to try the tenderloin tomorrow. BTW, I was informed that the website prices will shortly be going up. The order center had the new prices but after checking, honored the web price on the tenderloin. New price of tender is $55/# and brisket $3.59/#. -Dick

There are two types of Oyster Sauce available. One with oyster extractives and one without. The label will clearly say whether oyster extractives are used. I prefer one with oyster extractive and my favorite is a Japanese brand, 'Nouvelle Chinoise' , while expensive, it is clearly the best flavored and strongest I have used. -Dick

You can kill hamrful organisms by the correct temperature, what You CAN NOT DO is to render the byproducts of those organisms safe if they have produced toxins. -Dick

Saute some bread cubes in butter/oilve oil that has been used to lightly saute garlic. Use the watercress in a salad dressed with olive oil and vinegar or lemon. Add the garlic bread cubes and salt to taste. HEAVEN! -Dick

I certainly agree about the burgers at Kopp's. The Bear are doing pretty good and the Packers are not doing good!-Dick

Growing up on the east coast, butter was not added to hamburgers. Moving to Wisconsin at 13 years of age, I encountered my first butter burgers in Menasha Wisconsin at Rudy's Steak Place. I call it a Place because it was just a little place with about 8 seats and an indoor charcoal grill. The hamburgers, steak sandwiches always came witha generous dollop of Wisconsin butter. The brats were cooked and then soaked in butter. GREAT! The place had a line out the door on Friday and Saturday nights. BTW if the fish were biting Rudy may have gone fishing, you just never knew. Later, I found Krolls in GreenBay with hard crusty buns and butter on the burger. when coming back from Up North, we almost never fail to stop at Krolls. If you haven't had a good Wisconsin butter burger, then you must come to Wisconsin and try one. It is not the same anywhere else in the country. -Dick

Did you eat a Double Cheese burger at Kopp's? If you did, how did you eat at Solly's and then have room for Mazos? The doubles at Kopp's are HUGE. Kopp's Cheeseburger are OK and after XC Skiing at Lapham Peak my buddy and I stop at Kopp's for the ice cream but are so hungry that we inevatably end up with double Cheeseburgers! Filling but not great. The custard is GREAT! I will have to try Mazos when in the mood for a burger. If you are in GreenBay then Kroll's is the place. http://www.krollswest.com Hard crust buns and BUTTER. There is one downtown and one directly on the west side of Lambeau Field, where the Packers beat the Bears! -Dick

Old adage: "When in doubt, throw it out." We are very scrupulous in our food prep and sanitation and I cannot remember when anyone has gotton ill. So if your nose tells you there is something wrong, then believe your nose. I just purchased a boneless leg of New Zealand lamb at Sam's marked use by 9/23 or freeze. I opened it yesterday to marinate for Leg of Lamb ala Robert from Pepin. The lamb smelled mild and pleasant. I did remove the fell and fat which will help grass fed lamb. We will grill today. If your lamb came all the way from New Zealand, the oportunities for mishandling certainly exist. What were the dates on the package? If it was on the expiration date on the day your purchased it, then sitting a week in the fridge would not help it. Use or freeze within the date.-Dick

It really is remarkable that a few hundred years ago, one would never have asked your question. We have become so insualted from the real world that we have lost sight of what survival really entails. If you look at pictures of people from the 1930's and earlier, they ll have a drawn look (except for Diamond Jim Brady!) because of the lack of calories in thier diet. They simply did not get enough to eat and your question would not even be academic to them. Doing in the family chicken for Sunday dinner was common. No problem, kill it, clean it and we eat. It is only very recently that we have the production of food and goods to allow people to choose what to eat and develop philosophies about what is correct and what is not. The problem is that the people who believe in these philosophies want the rest of us to do as they do. They have contrived all sorts of reasons and arguements about why we souldn't eat animals and in your case kill mice. Frankly, I wouldn't lose a minutes time worrying about the death of a mouse. Unfortuneatly for the mouse he is low down on the chain and fortuneatly for use, we are at the top. I hunt, fish, process my own animals and eat meat, fish and fowl. I am as humane as possible but realise that the animals still feel some pain. I do not lose sleep over it. There are many more important things to worry about on this earth. -Dick