budrichard

First, there is no perfect knife or knives. I use Wustoff for two reasons. First, I believe that the knives should all have a common feel and cut to avoid injury. I have custom knives that are sharper than the Wustoff that I use for certain things but carefully. I would not let anyone else use them because they are so sharp. Second, Wustoff has the largest selection of ANY manufacturer. I'm not talking about what you see in on-line or print catalogs. They show only a small number of the available knives and the smaller knives suitable for smaller hands. You need to acquire the full set of Wustoff catalogs to get an appreciation for the variety. Try finding a 13" bone splitting knife from any other manufacturer!-Dick

The hog farmers I do business with in Wisconsin regard a 'suckling pig' as starting at 40 to 60 pounds. To get a pig of 15 pounds, a special order is needed because the pigs are fed an antibiotic that must be stopped about 2 weeks before slaughter. Anything smaller than 15 #'s as stated previously does not really have a lot of meat. 25 #'s is about the ideal start weight and I certainly recammend cooking outside in a smoker or some sort of controllable grill. Good Luck! -Dick

Falk Culinair is the best that I have. The only problem is that they have not made a bigger one yet! Great for searing in the pan and the makeing of a reduction after roasting. A whole tenderloin went into the pan on Xmas and turned out excellent. Only problem is that I had to cut the head and roast along side the body of the tenderloin because of the lenght.-Dick

"schmaltz (that you rendered yourself)" -This lady knows how to cook! -Dick

With the quality decreasing and the pricing going up on luxury cuvee's, I now purchase a good Brut at a reasonable price or a domestic. Right now in the Chicago area, Pol Roger can be had for $20/bottle. I picked up two cases for the price of four bottles of DP.-Dick

Like a lot of things to eat, the exact recipe is not so important but what is important is the ingrediants. Canned crab, cold packed soaked in preservative from Thailand is OUT! We use Peekytoe fresh from Maine from Browne Trading. The mayo MUST be homemade, commercial preps just don't make it. After that, add whatever you want and fry lightly in peanut oil. SUBLIME!-Dick

I follow a traditional recipe that marinades the feet and then slow cooks them. The toes are removed first though! "The Chinese Kitchen" by Yin-Fei Lo. -Dick

http://www.replacements.com/webquote/BERMET.htm We have service for 12. The unique thing about this Bernadaud Metropoles pattern is that each of the 12 dinner plates is a different city of the world. Add the soupl terrine, serving plates and various other items and it is quite a collection. -Dick

If the clams were salty as described then there was something worng with them and for $10. I wouldn't risk my life. There are chemicals that could have contaminated the clams or maybe a preservative like they do for wet pack scallops to soak up water and lengthen shelf life. All bivalves in the US harvested in legal waters have a sticker attached with the date of harvest, place and who obtained them. This must be kept with the bivalve and exhibited on demand to the purchaser. Ask to see this from Costco. -Dick

As you have correctly surmised, cooking Waygu can be self defeating. Cook it well done and you will have junk. As others have mentioned, a good sear and then serve or sashimi style is the best. I have had Australian Waygu when Lobels was importing it and it was very good. We had tenderloain, Rib roasts and Brisket. The brisket was corned or BBq'd and was the best I have ever had! The roasts were also cut into thick 3" steaks. seared, rested and eaten. Tenderloin also seared and eaten. -Dick

Lunch Monday at Carlos was as usual, excellent. There is something to be said for waitstaff that you know for years and have become very comfortable in thier knowledge of food, wine and people. Couple that with excellent preperation and service and dining is most enjoyable. What I dislike most about new restaurants is the level of disapointment. Rarely do you find gems like Carlos. Lunch is Prix Fixe and less than $50, only during December. -Dick

The problem is the length of the edge. A proper new blade has a long grind from the side of the blade to the edge. I bet if you look at your knife now, it has very wide almost blunt edge. Since thier is no edge to wear back, it dulls very quickly. you need to reform the edge or have it professionaly done for you. With a stone it is a lot of work to almost impossible. Steels do not age unless subjected to high temps or other caustic elements. -Dick

Carlos will again be open for lunch starting 12/9 for the month of December. We will again be having lunch on 12/13 there. Tomorrow i will be dropping off a split of Champagne and a bottle of 1964 Chambertin. What a way to start the Holidays. -Dick

Your problem is not in your cooking methods but in your source of oxtails. I frequently make oxtail soup and have found that oxtails from a market or butcher that sells choice to prime grade meat are invariably tender. Oxtails from a source that deals in range beef are invairably tough. Change your supplier and assure yourself the tails come from choice or better grade anmals. Oxtails that come cryovac packed are the lowest commercial grade and should be shunned. -Dick

I have just about every piece of Falk Culinair that Harp sells and it is flat out the best copper out there. Be aware that some of the larger pieces are very heavy so if you have a slim build, go smaller. Tin versas stainless lined is meaningless. The SS in Falk cleans so easily, actually better than non-stick which was developed to sell Aluminum cookware and NOT for fat free frying or non-stick properties. BTW All Clad IS NOT true copper cookware no matter what they or any one tells you. They use thin veneers of copper either externally or internally. -Dick

I frequently drive from Wisconsin to shop at Mitsuwa(stock up actually) and have eaten at the 'Food Court' there. The range is from Japanese Sushi(they are quite stingy with the slice of fish) to Korean Bim Bop or whatever. It is not fine dining but a food court akin to any other in a mall. For a lunch on the weekend it would suffice or to bring back to your room. For an evening's dinner, no. As it happens, i will be at the Odeum on 11/6 and will be having lunch with a friend from Oak Brook and am also looking for a nice lunch spot in the area. The 'Food Court' at Mitsuwa is not it. -Dick

It never ceases to amaze me, the association between a name and a function after the orginal function/build/owner/whatever has changed. I have eaten or attempted to eat under all the changes in ownership/management. Certainly it has been heading downhill since Banchet left with some bright spots I must admit. Why anyone would purchase a Pontiac GTO of today, expecting to capture the nostalgia of yesterday is a mystery to me. Le Francais was Jean Banchet, the right restaurant for the times. The Liccioni's are/were(they are divorced) good wherever they are serving. Frankly, today there are many excellent restaurants to consider rather than wondering who will show up at Le Francais. -Dick

Go here: http://www.tienda.com I am first in line for the Iberico when they are ready! From my experience from ordering a bespoke Spanish shotgun(they sent the wrong model 14 months later), the Iberico will be ready 'When pigs fly'! In terms of hams, do not forget the country hams from http://www.scotthams.com They use nothing but salt, not nitrites or nitrates. The only reason you can't eat thier hams like prociutto is that they are not tested for lysteria, although many apparently do. Their bacon is also good and similarly only salt is used. A slab lasts us all year and we use it for cooking as well as just plain eating. For a 'city' ham, http://www.nueske.com makes an applewood smoked ham that is pretty hard to beat. Bacon is also good.-Dick

Pardon my French, but I find the Korean markets uniformly dirty, produce limp and the fish, mostly thawed and cretainly not suitable for sahsimi/sushi, if even suitable for eating. Japanese stores are always clean and the best looking produce, fish and meat. I have been in Japanese retaurants, where you would swear you could eat off the floor of the restrooms, they are that clean. There is a Korean store in Glenview(Hyundi Market) where the produce is sometimes OK on the week ends otherwise during the week it's terrible. All the fish is thawed from frozen. Good source for Korean red bean paste and other condiments as long as you look at the expiration dates. -Dick

I guess I would have to somewhat agree with Dick about copper - I think it's pretty great at most cooking tasks (I'm a convert!). But there are a few pieces that I would definitely not want copper exterior-SS interior: - Stockpot - gawd...copper is heavy enough as it is....and full copper in a stockpot is serious overkill. I think the copper stockpots on the market are copper-Tin interior anyways. - Nonstick omelet pan - I guess copper exterior/NS interior would be nice, but I'm not rich enough to be able to throw away my copper pan after the NS coating wears off! - Wok - SS is way too sticky for stir-frying meat and rice. Plus, I like a nice light metal (like carbon steel) to toss around, and you can't get the "wok chi" from SS. - Indoor grill - I don't think it's even available in copper...besides, I would choose cast iron for this one Edited: changed can to can't! An attempt to answer your questions: 1. My copper stockpots are stainless steel lined and they are 8 and 11 qts. Yes, they are heavy. 2. The Falk culinair pots and pans are stainless steel lined. I guess i did not adequately convey that the SS lining is as good as any non-stick coated pan I have ever used, hence my conclusion as to the real function of non stick coatings for aluminum pans. 3. We use a traditional wok and the largest evasee that Falk makes as a wok at times. Works great and frankly I can't tell the difference other than the weight. 4. We grill outside only. -Dick

Mined salt and 'sea salt' are the same thing. One was deposited eons ago when ancient seas dried up. Except for trace minerals they are both sodium chloride. There are those that tell you that they taste different but that is usually due to the different crystal form. In solution the difference can't be detected, period. Salts that are colored having a large precentage of foreign material do taste different. WE use Morton 'Kosher' for most uses with Baleine sea salt, course and fine in reserve. A supply of 'Fleur de Sel' is kept on hand for esoteric uses. -Dick

"First, from the way I asked the question, it should be evident that I think it's basically idiotic to get a set of cookware in one style from one manufacturer. It's a forgivable error for a novice or newlywed, but no serious cook should make the mistake of thinking the same style of utensil is best for all tasks. The ideal stockpot and the ideal skillet have very different properties." Old topic but I haven't replied and reading the first post made me want to reply. As a Nuclear Engineer, I probably don't possess the tact to ask a question and then categorize anyone that would have a different reply, but here goes. I threw EVERYTHING out and purchased an almost complete set of Falk Culinair after purchasing a few pans from them. Copper at 2.5mm thickness is so faster to heat and conducts so evenly, that nothing compares. Non Stick, well the Falk comes closer than anything I have used. I thought about this and formed the following conclusion. When aluminum was first used for cooking, it stuck. Coatings and anodization are techniques used to make aluminum pans that are cheaper than SS pr copper. They were not developed to provide low fat cooking or anything else. Cook with the Falk and you will instantly realize what we have been fed for all these years. The brushed Falk finish means that you don't have to worry about polishing the copper exterior. I also believe that a uniform performance from pan to pot provides the cook/chef with yardstick that allows he/she to cook without having to remember which pan is being used and what are its cooking Characteristics. -Dick

NOTHING and I repeat NOTHING beats Kopp's custard. The 1/2# cheesebugers are not bad also. -Dick

1. You want to use kosher salt or salt without iodine and anti-caking ingrediants. Nothing else. 2. Sterility does not matter, the salt is what presrves the anchovies. If you have ever observed how salted anchovies in the can are produced, sterility is not a concern.-Dick

Usinger's veal wiener for the ultimate dog! Natural casing, special order by the box. Do not confuse with Usinger knackwurst. Since we are a 45 minute trip away from Usinger's, we periodically stop and pick up boxes of brats, veal wieners and odd and ends. Usinger's uses no MSG which a few other made in Wisconsin brands use and the quality is impeccable. -Dick