budrichard

A wing has three parts, seperate into the three parts and use the tips for stock. Just put the wings into a hot oven on an oiled pan spread out. Roast at high heat until done/crisp. This avoids the fat of deep frying since today's chicken is quite a fatty little bird and doesn't need anything else to make it crisp. Roll in a sauce made with McIlhenny's and little butter, make a dip with Maytag Blue and sour cream. Have crisp celery spears on hand, a few beers and your in business. Avoid the coomerical sauces even the Original Anchor as you can make a better sauce at home with McIlhenny's.-Dick

You need to remove the coating on the ferns before consumption for optimum results. A bit tedious but worth the time. First rinse in cold water and a lot will come to the top. Next blanch in hot water and more will be removed. -Dick

With 50+ years experience of cooking Maine lobsters, I will respond. For 5 lobsters, you could fit them in a 20 gal pot if you curled them in just right. DO NOT take the claws and knuckles off and cook them seperately, the liquid contained within will be lost. For those of you that are concerned that your lobster has a brain and then ascribe feelings, or a concerned about tough meat? If you go to a lobster boil in Maine, do not ask them how they kill the lobsters before cooking. They will laugh at you. I certainly don't believe in causing any animal uneeded pain, but the nervous system of a lobster is rudimentary and it is not a felony to kill a lobster by boiling without euthanizing it first! -Dick

' Hotategai' or scallop that is absolutely fresh makes the most wonderful sashimi you can imagine! We obtain our day boat scallops from Browne Trading and they are two days removed from the water. If your scallops are truly fresh, then all that is needed is a little Wondra flour, butter , white pepper and salt. Do not overcook but serve them with the center still raw or rare. They will finish cooking on the plate. Do not worry over liquid loss but add lemon and use for a sauce. -Dick

NEVER have I tasted petrol in a German reisling. It doesn't matter if the wine is new,or mature, spatlese, auslese, BA or TBA that had maderized did not taste of Petrol. -Dick

My dealer tells me that the lack of Fuller's in the Midwest is due to a container freezing in shipping. 1845 is simply not available. -Dick

I'm not trying to give your reviews a hard time but the following review has me baffled. "2002 Pieroth Riesling Auslese Dorscheimer Pittermannchen Mosel-Saar-Ruwer, Germany Pale yellow/clear colour. Aromas of petrol, white flower, flint. Medium-sweet, full-bodied wine. Good acidity with honey, apricot and lychee fruit. Long finish, ~40-45s, with honey replays. 88 points (03/28/2004). " How can you give any points to wine that has aroma of petrol? -Dick

If you are subscriber to Sam's email, you just got the Parker ratings from the April issue of the Wine Advocate. Not sure what is real and what is hype but the ratings look like what could have been put down without tasting a single wine. I know that I couldn't possibly taste all these wines and yield a coherent picture even if I spit them all out! I will probably pick up a futures in few cases to keep the 2000's I purchased company. -Dick

Your allergy sounds like the beginning of a anaphylaxic reaction sensitivity. My wife has an allergy to sulphites but this only results in a headache. See your physician and obtain an EPI-PEN to carry with you in case the reaction becomes life threatening. I carry one because of an increased sensitivity to insect bites and stings.-Dick

MY 2001 Sauterns are about to show up and should be uniformly great, so I will pass the 2003. I will order a few cases of Bordeaux mostly to continue my vintages in a couple of Chateau's. If they turn out very good so much the better. -Dick

Somewhere in a container is a case of mixed BA and ice wine from Domdechant Werner coming to me, so you know where I put my $$'s!. I bought every bottle of his 1997 Auslese I could get my hands. Silver prize medal winner and a fabulous wine. There is a certain segment that cares not about quality but about how 'rare' and how much it costs. A trip to Sam's Wine will quickly point that out. -Dick

Not to be facetious but I would test it for Chronic Wasting Disease. I am great lover of venison but the incidence of the disease in Wisconsin has led to my prohibition against eating any. As a matter of fact due to 'Mad Cow' in the US, we don't eat US beef anymore. -Dick

First, don't be caught in the trap of believing everything you read in print is true. Second the USDA recognizes that smell is a very important determinater in the freshess of fish. If it smells bad, it is bad! Judging from the number of posts about skate not smelling of ammonia, I will opt for a non-ammonia smell as an indicator of freshness. BTW. if you have ever shopped for fish in a Korean grocery store, you will not be surprised about the smell of anything. Korean hygiene standards are very poor. - Dick

For inclusion into a terrine or pate I use a fatty pork. As for lining the terrine, I long ago switched from fatback to Crisco with no problems. Caul fat would be nice but is difficult for me to obtain. -Dick

Ammonia smell in skate and in ALL fishes is a product of decomposition. Fresh skate as well as most fish will have almost no smell at all, certainly not a strong smell. Eons of evolution have imprinted in our brains what 'bad' smells like. If your nose doesn't like the smell than it's bad. Fresh skate will have no smell and will taste sublime and will not be tough. If the membrane is still on, you can poach in a court boullion and then remove. Other wise just coat lightly with Wondra four, salt and cracked white pepper, fry in unsalted butter. Serve with fresh lemon. -Dick

As with most food items it's not so much how one cooks them as what one procures and how one preps them for cooking. In the case of soft shells, they must be moving. Smell them, get your nose in it!Avoid at all costs the limp things sold in most stores that are just about dead. "Can I clean them for you?" stores will ask. NO! Cleaning kills the crab and they will lose moisture until you cook them. Clean them yourself. Correct way to clean. Pull off the apron underneath, also tells you the sex. Peel back the flaps and remove the gills. Use a sharp knife and cut right behind the eyes. DONE. Coat with Wondra flour, season with salt and craked white pepper, fry in unsalted butter. Fresh lemon and eat! -Dick

Fuller's products including London Pride are available at discount Liquors in Milwaukee Wisconsin(where else!). -Dick

Jacques Pepin's 'The Art of Cooking Vol 1 & 2' is about the best there is! Not only are there recipes but color photos and step by step techniques and explanations. Along with the 'La Technique' and 'La Methode' or combined as 'The Complete Techniques' they form a very good basis for cooking skills. Be aware that all these volumes have been reprinted in soft cover but were available at one time in hard cover which have become collectable. -Dick

For these type of dishes i always use a rice that holds up well. An authentic paella rice or 'La Preferdia' Pearl Rice or Valencina style is very cost effective. Made a brown Jambalya last night with this rice and turned out very smooth. -Dick

My taste in individual wines has not changed in about 30 years. I still purchase Geman and French wines(of course Burgandies due to the pricing are now rareties)What has changed is my tolerance for poor wine and wine snobs. Poor wine now gets consigned immediately for cooking or in the case of really bad wine, it goes down the drain. Wine snobs are for the most part completely ignored. Wine Snob = A person that spends more time talking, writing and describing a wine in infinite detail and with nuances that one cannot begin to perceive than the time it takes for me to drink a glass of the wine!-Dick

Kuni's for sushi/sashimi and other things Japanese. Kuni started at Hatsuhana many many years ago and about 20 years ago opened his namesake restaurant. -Dick

You will never know what exactly is in any bottle of Cognac today. Most producers long ago dispensed with the nomenclature of Grand Champagne and Grand Fine Champagne Cognac as a way of at least telling where the spirits came from. The VSOP of 40 years ago is now the XO of today and rapidly changing. Our last bottle of XO was junk! The producers have a good thing going. They can change the contents while leaving the name the same, all the while increasing the price. To find a decent bottle of Cognac today, one has to pay well over a $100/bottle. Time to find a new spirit!. -Dick

The test of salt is to add salt until an egg floats in the water. Saltpeter is about 1/4 teaspoon for each zip lock bag. The brisket is put into 2 gal zip lock bags with water. A whole brisket needs to be cut in two to fit in the two gal ziplocks. Spices include a LOT of fresh chopped garlic, coriander, mustard seed, fenugreek, bay leaves, ceyon cinnamin, cardamon and whatever else suits my fancy at the time. When ready to cook, wash in cold water, into the pot with Guinness and cook for 4 hours. At the end add red potatoes and cabbage. Serve with mustards and horseradish. For sandwiches, use dark rye, swiss, cold pack kraut and a hearty mustard. I'm hungry! -Dick

About a month a go I took a whole brisket, salt, spices, garlic and a little saltpeter and started the corning process. Wednesday is the day! The process has never failed to yield a corned beef that everyone who has eaten it, says is the best they have ever eaten. How many of us have gone the corning route and what have been your methods and experiences? -Dick

See Jacques Pepin 'The Art of Cooking, Vol 1". -Dick