budrichard

I was born in Boston and lived in Norwood Mass until I was 13 spending vacations in Maine and New Hampshire. I never heard of apple pie and chedder cheese. At 13 we moved to Wisconsin and I was dumbfounded when I was asked if I wanted chedder cheese with my apple pie. Now its seems quite natural. Of course in Wisconsin they put LARGE pats of butter on your burger or steak sandwich! -Dick

The limit for most fermentation is 18%. http://www.answers.com/topic/alcoholic-beverage-1 I have had German beers where the brew was frozen and the alcohol content raised and did not like them. Sam Adams is hype and manufactured scarcity. I certainly will not go out of my way to drink these -Uber-beers. Hofbrau Mai-Bock is good enough for me. -Dick

You are probably correct and that the species being sold is non poisonous. I eat a lot of things but draw the line at potentially poisonous food which is why I don't eat Fugu and now I don't eat Tsubugai. The probability of being poisoned is very small but the probability still exists. Thanks for the information and replys!-Dick

The different colors are the various stages of ripening. These small pointed chiles are available in many Asian as well as Mexican market in the Midwest. In the Midwest they are the same whether labeled 'Bird' or 'de Arbol' and they suffice for either cusine. Serranos are NOT a substitute in taste or heat. You will have to purchase what is grown and available in your region. The chiles will not be exactly the same as the ones grown in Thailand. From what i have been told TAM's are a product of Texas A&M and now it is almost impossible to get Pablanos and jalapenoes with heat. Next comes the serranoes and I am sure they will cross with the Chile de Arbol and the heat will be gone. Sad state of affairs. -Dick

I have never seen a brisket labeled Prime for sale in the US and the butchers tell me it doesn't come graded. I have seen some labeled choice and they smoked very well. In terms of Kobe beef, I don't care what anyone tells you, you can't obtain real beef from the prefecture of Kobe, Japan in the US, PERIOD. The Waygu we can obtain while very good is in no way marbeled like true Kobe beef. If you are familiar with O-Toro and the way it is marbeled, then that's how Kobe beef should be marbeled. Lobels used to sell Waygu ffrom Australia that was not frozen and we used it a lot, both whole tenderloins and briskets. Now they source thier Waygu from someplace else. The way the Waygu from the US is shipped to Japan is live for finishing in the prefecture of Kobe so it can be called Kobe beef. I suspect that is the same with the beef shipped from Australia to Japan. I have smoked Waygu briskets from Lobels and they were excellent! We have a party comeing up and the price quoted @ $2.95/# is interesting. Another thing to remember is that within the prime grading in the US there is a range of Prime. Last Friday I discussed this subject with the butcher at Mitsuwa in Illinois. I purchased a Waygu Prime Rib Roast at $19.95/#. That was the bottom Prime which is what Mitsuwa orders. The top Prime would have cost $40/#. No matter where or what grade your brisket is, the important thing is to obtain the brisket as a Primal cut cryovac wrapped with the Fat Cap left on. No fat, no good for smoking, better to corn and serve as corned beef. -Dick

Thank you for the information. This is the first I have heard about poison sources so until I can find definitive information on whether to prepare, the Tsubugai stays on ice! I am not confident that I can remove any poisonous parts without an expert teaching me. -Dick

I have some live tsubugai (whelk?) from Japan. I think that they need to be simmered in a liquid and then removed like snails, chilled and the serve as nigri sushi lightly scored. I don't believe they are served raw as sashimi. Does anyone have any actual experience in preparing this univalve? If it is to be cooked, what type of broth should I use? Thanks for your reply.-Dick

I have been ordering from Russ & Daughters for years and have personally spoken to them on this exact issue! You can call them if you wish for verification but lox can be either way, smoked or unsmoked or whatever, what it is NOT is hot smoked which is the #$%@#% point I was trying to make!-Dick

Woodman's Grocery Stores, Wisconsin. Organic $2.89#, regular $1.79#. Purchased two regular and cut them up for buttermilk, lard fried old fashiioned chicken. Heaven! Tasted like chickens used to taste. The Outpost Coop in Milwaukee has the Organic at $3.99#! I passed. -Dick

Gravlax is a cured salmon. Lox is salmon that is cured then cold smoked.-Dick

The allure of the truffle is the odor or gas that it gives off over time. The amount of odor or gas is fixed by the size of the truffle. There are no free rides. If you put your truffle in rice, what you will do is dry out the truffle and its odor will decrease transferring some to the rice. Eventually the odor will be completely gone. Far better to make risotto and add the truffle to the risotto than using truffled rice. We keep ours in a plastic bag and use as soon as possible. BTW, there is some evidence to suggest that truffle flavored items are really flavored with an artificial ester. I am having a difficult time determining if this is common practise. Until I do, we use only fresh or quality canned truffles. -Dick

Sushi/sashimi has become as prolific as McDonald's. Me, I like to converse with the chef about what is good and how to prepare it ata sushi bar. I won't eat at a place that hands me a piece of paper and asks me to make check marks about what i want or restaurants with conveyor belts. Sushi is not just about eating fish and rice but is a cultural tradition that requires knowledge of the cusine and its protocol. It also helps if the chef has had classical training in Japan. -Dick

Specific Conductivity in the formula above should in fact be Specific Heat. The teflon coating should not have much effect because it is so thin but I don't know what the Specific Heat of Teflon is?

HEAT FLOW (BTU/HR) = Specific Conductivity (Cp) * Temp Differential (DELTA T) i.e the higher the Cp or the Delta T, the greater the heat flow and the faster things will defrost. Ceramics are in a class called Insulators and as your experiment showed are not as effective as Al which is a Conductor. The movement of the outer electrons causes heat transfer and in some materials with weaker bonds between the outer electrons and the nucleus, electrons move easier. -Dick

Break the eggs into a bowl and wisk gently and season with salt & pepper. Cube your truffle(black) and mix into the eggs leaving some truffle for garnish. Refrigerate over night, scramble with butter adding some creme fraishe at the end, garnish with remaining truffles pieces. Ref, Paul Bocuse. White truffles are shaved fresh over cooked eggs and served immediately. -Dick

A large BBQ with rotesserie may work if you cut of the head. I had a 20# and that't what i had to do with a Weber kettle grill and rotesserie. -Dick

If cooking the whole cut, sear on the grill and cook until an internal temp of about 100F and let REST at least 15 minutes to get a nice rare. If cooked to medium rare, by the time you get it to the table and slice you will have an over done cut of meat. -Dick

What is entertaining and interesting about Tony is the passion he shows for his subject. He will do just about anything to try something he has heard of such as Absinthe. Anyone that would take a small boat up the river into Cambodia searching for food, is passionette. The bistro that he ate in shows how discrminintaing we(USA) have become about our fellow man. Dogs in restaurants, smoking, fat, alcohol, how simple from our eating establishments and culture where is you even say the word cigar, your are ostracised not to mention attempt to bring a dog to dinner. Tony's comments are a breath of fresh air to our sanitised programming where the sponsors and censors are afraid to offend any group ethinic or not. Tony on TV, is Tony in person, he looks, talks and acts exactly the same in person. I suspect that he only has one of those leather jackets and i have never seen him without it. -Dick

Zier's is on Ridge in Wilmette. Coming from I94(Edens) take Lake East until Ridge, turn right(south) onto Ridge and Zier's in on the right in the first block. He cuts every steak to order from the Primal cut. -Dick

Purchased a prime Tri-tip and sliced it about 3/8" against the grain, threw the slices directly on the coals (Dirty Steak). Very good quality, certainly looked like Prime due to the marbling. I have purchased 'Choice' from Sendik's in Mequon WI that certainly was the equal of this prime. My favorite place is still Zier's in Wilmette. His Prime Rib is dry aged about 14 days by him and is still the favorite of any we have made by just a little. -Dick

Query your 'Asian Butcher' about the precise source of his 'Farmed' rabbit and whether he purchased it frozen or unfrozen. Much of the commercial rabbit sold today comes frozen from China. I obtain mine form John's Live Poultry in Chicago and I know it is fresh because i pick them out of the cage while they are still hopping around. They are excellent tasting. I do shoot wild rabbits and the younger ones are great tasting but the old 'Bucks' and 'Does' must be braised or used in rillets. -Duck

Chef's knives are not meant for chopping bones, period. A good Chinese cook's knife is more properly used for cutting and the thin edge is again not useful for chopping bones. Most of the ones sold are so cheap that you can chop bones and just throw the knife away if you damage it. A good Chinese chef's knife such as a Wustof is such a delgiht to use with its very thin edge and is ceratainly not for bones. Poultry is best cut with a 'Poultry Shears'. Chopping is best done with a proper cleaver which comes in different sizes and edge thicknesses. For bone splitting, Wustof makes a 13" 'Bone Splitter which looks like a BIG chef's knife but will cleave a beef marrow bone with no problem. Use the proper knife for the job. The reason I use Wustof is that they make all the above in various sizes. -Dick

1960's , Madison Wisconsin, Leine's $2/case, good beer for being out in a boat fishing in Graduate school in the summer. 1990, Leine's about $6/case, still good beer compared to the water now marketed as beer. Miller purchases Leine's, price jumps to $9/case and continues upwards to pay for Miller's overhead. Miller introduces Leine's that Leine's never made such as 'Honey Weiss'. Real Leine's fades into the distance. 1960's , same town, Loewenbrau or however you spell it, light and dark on draft, my FAVORITE beers ever. Miller's purchases brand name and makes own beer. COMPLETELY kills the brand in the USA. Even tries to sell it as an import brewed in Canada. 2004, only Light (not Light as in Miller Light but Light as opposite to Dark) is now available on the market again from Germany, no Dark and no draft, brand still dead in the USA. Miller brewing has destroyed more beer than anyone else. about the only thing they have not managed to screw up is orignal 'High Life'. BTW during the 50's and 60's, High Life was touted as a'Light' beer that you drank with meals. Now that the other products are water, it is now a 'heavy' beer. Me, I drink Hofbrau Mai-Bock from Germany now. -Dick

What I suspect has happened is that the Jalapeno has gone the way of the commercial tomatoe, bred for mechanical picking and to look good for sales but devoid of any redeeming features. Most of the Jalapenos found in even the midwest SuperMercardos have no heat. We don't use them anymore and have substituted Serrano, Habeneros and others. I have even found Poblanos with no heat and only mild habeneros which have not been mistaken for other varieties like Peron. -Dick

We have the Kitchenaid which is the 'Audi' of Frozen Dessert Makers since Ferrari does not win at Le Mans anymore! http://proline.kitchenaid.com/counter_top/...aker_detail.asp This is actually a pro machine and is equivalent to the machines used in many restaurants and cooking shows. No pre-freezing is needed and one can regulate the 'over run' as with commercials ice creams. I find no way to do this with the PacoJet. It makes a lot of ice cream and it makes it fast. The ice cream can either be dispensed like soft serve or the whole front comes off to allow the frozen mixture and blades to be removed and the mixture transfered into a vessel for further hardening. -Dick