budrichard

Ive been hunting and eating Canadian Geese for 35+ years. When we could find a guy who cleaned birds near Horicon Wisconsin we had them plucked and dressed and cooked them like we cook a wild duck, roasted rare. The leg/thighs were always tough. Now that we haven't been able to have this service for about 20 years we have turned to breasting out the goose and taking the leg/thighs in one neat package. The breasts are simply seared in butter, sometimes after a quick dip in Dale's seasoning, finished in a hot oven until rare and rested about 10 minutes. The leg/thighs are braised in a sour cream sauce with juniper berries or some such seasoning until tender.-Dick

I agree, its B.S. when objective tests are conducted but Riedel has made a fortune with this one, so what do I know! We serve wine from Baccarat to plastic cups depending on the wine and circumstances.-Dick

They are both rhizomes and that is where the similarity ends. Galangal has much more spicy and woodsy(pine?) scent than ginger and they are used in different cuisines. Young ginger is nowhere like Galangal. Pensy's does have a powdered form of Galangal that we use in a pinch but I can usually obtain the real stuff around Chicago.-Dick

If you use your kosher salt in cooking where the final form is dissolved or heavily incorporated, it makes no difference because its all sodium chloride. What makes Diamond different than Morton's or another Kosher salt is the crystal structure and/sor flake size. That difference in structure acts differently on your tongue if still in crystal form and its what pleases you that you use for finishing. We have both along with some Fluer del Sel and Baliene salts. I much prefer the Morton's for finishing and the course Baleine salt for whole birds and roasts because it tends to preserve its large crystals during cooking. If you really want to get anal about salts, there is a book out titled 'Salted' that lists just about every salt known to man. Caveat is that the author makes things up and makes ludicrous pronouncements and has no scientific background that I can determine. Pick up a copy at your local library if they were as foolish as mine and purchased a copy.-Dick

I suspect that there is some disinformation by the various parties that have an economic interest in selling salmon in the 'wild' versus 'farmed' controversy. Much of the 'Atlantic Salmon' that is sold fresh and cold smoked is actually farmed and I can't remember having truly wild Atlantic salmon for decades. Pacific salmon is not available all year round fresh in the US because of the seasonal nature of the salmon runs. We use a farmed Norwegian salmon for much of the year supplementing with wild Pacific salmon when the price hysteria of the initial runs has died down. My favorite of all salmon is fresh sockeye but for cold smoked its a King salmon or farmed Norwegian salmon. My dog prefers the canned product and we occasionally use it for a cold salad.-Dick

You can use just about anything with an edge as a fish scaler, problem is containing the sales as Posted. Using a large zip lock bag helps. Most who do large quantities of scaling have a dedicated place and tools because of the scales, they go everywhere and stick everywhere.-Dick

Where did you pick up that information? When I researched this topic, I've never seen that point addressed before. From 40 years of prepping all types of whole fish from salt and fresh water varieties, small to large. Try to remove some of the bones from a Red Snapper with a tweezers versas a pliers or the gills. A fish shears is also a requirement for removing fins and gills for a prep of a whole fish. You could try to use a common kitchen shears but I guarantee a Wusthof fish shears makes the job much easier. The pin bones on a salmon are unique to salmon and are usually thin and easily removed with tweezers. -Dick

None, if truly diver or day boat, eat as sashimi sliced then with a little lemon or fresh yuzu zest if you can find yuzu or flour with Wondra, salt, white pepper, fry in butter, and serve with lemon. The flavor of these types of scallops is to too good to be covered with a sauce.-Dick

Don't fish pliers end up mangling the fish when you're extracting the fish bones? If that's the case, what's the best fish tweezers out there? Has anybody tried Rosel's fish tweezers? The quality and material of Rosle products are usually very good, but I'm wondering if that's the best design possible for fish tweezers because there are a lot of different choices for design for fish tweezers these days. Unfortunately, when you look up fish tweezers or fish pliers on Amazon, there's not a lot of feedback on these products. AS I previously stated Wusthof makes a fish pliers and two types of tweezers of different widths for removing bones. Bones differ from fish to fish in diameter and length, hence the pliers are used for heavy boned fish whereas the tweezers are for more delicate fish such as the pin bones of a salmon. Wusthof tools are certainly not cheap but they will hold up for a lifetime. I have and use all three for many years and wouldn't be without them.-Dick http://www.cutleryandmore.com/wusthof/stainless-steel-long-nose-fish-pliers-p16277 http://www.cutleryandmore.com/wusthof/stainless-steel-fish-bone-tweezers:-p16284 http://www.cutleryandmore.com/wusthof/stainless-steel-slanted-tweezers-p16283

Glad it turned out well, there is nothing better than a properly cooked rare duck breast in a sweet and savory sauce! According to the website your duck was a Pekin. http://www.cherryvalley.co.uk/our-ducks -Dick

The first and most important question is what type of duck do you have? Most commercial ducks sold are Pekin with a few Muscovy's thrown in from time to time. The Muscovy's are larger and if aged usually maker a better seared and served rare type of preparation. Pekins can go either way but they vary in quality from supplier to supplier. Some Pekins are just downright tough, especially those sold frozen. I usually try to acquire my Pekins fresh from a local supplier and use the frozen low cost Pekins for slow braise preparations. Some of the best aged Muscovy duck breasts come from Hudson Valley Farms but at a cost. What type of duck do you have?-Dick

Motors are designed to work at certain voltages and frequency. Altering either voltage or frequency or both will affect both the power produced, efficiency and may well in fact cause damage over the long term. Using a 120V motor in a 220v environment is a definite no-no as the motor will smoke, literally. Using a 50hz designed motor in a 60 hz system will probably not result in any immediate damage but motors and appliances have Fire Code ratings and are tested by Underwriters Laboratory and without that certification for USA operation on a 120v, 60hz system that we employ for most household items, an appliance should not be used in the USA for safety sake.-Dick

My wetstones are just that, stones with a few synthetic stones thrown in. No gadgets except for as stone with handle that Takeda Hamano makes for his knives that is very ingenious. You need a couple of stones with various grits depending on the sharpening job at hand. The courser stones are for bringing back a dull edge faster and then as you get finer in grit, the edge gets smoother and sharper. For a first stone, I would start with an artificial with two grits. Read, practice and learn. you have to choose the oil method (usually for western knives) versus the water method (usually for Japanese blades). These days i prefer the water method more and more. Most systems are designed to separate you from your money. Usually those stones labeled for thinner blades such as Global are finer than a stone for western knives. Wusthof makes a nice double sided stone that stores in a wood box that I use a lot but any good hardware store should have 'Norton' stones which are used in the machine shop environment.-Dick

For some design follows function and there is no doubt that Kitchenaid stand mixers are functional. Mine is in tool shop gray, but I certainly like the looks of the copper clad. Since my cookware is all Falk copper, it should look right at home if i purchase one!-Dick

We have a Kitchenaid microwave with rice setting. It makes superb rice but as others have said you have to experiment for your actual rice to get the rice water ratio as rice varies. I use it for various sushi(short grain), basmati, Thai or Jasmin, and brown rice. Arborio and paella types are cooked in a pot/pan.-Dick

"I have to come up with a savory recipe using champagne" Your Post indicates that you need to learn about Champagne versas 'sparkling wine'. You used the lower case for a product that requires the upper case because Champagne is a region in France and only certain wines from that region can carry the appellation 'Champagne'; Korbel not withstanding. The rest of the world produces sparkling wine of various quality and some of it can be quite good. I never use Champagne in cooking as it is too dear for that. A good quality American Sparkler such as Domaine Chandon or a Cava will suffice. Otherwise its not really any different than using a dry chardonnay unless one uses some of the very sweet sparklers that i can't stand.-Dick

First the quality of your brisket greatly influences the final product. even though briskets are not usually sold graded, i have used them from Select to Waygu grade and I can tell you that there are some select briskets that are just plain tough. Try to find a source such as Sam's Club that has good brisket from Choice or better animals. Second, 10 days is likely not enough and I typically cure for about 3 weeks. I also use Saltpeter for color preservation but the lack of usage will not affect the quality. Brisket needs to be cooked in liquid long and slow, at least 6 hours until you can visibly observe the fibers of meat starting to come apart. Good luck on your next try!-Dick

I wouldn't worry about the freezing affecting the venison unless it had been refrozen.-Dick

My personal belief is that all truffle oil contains an artificial ester and unless i actually observe someone shaving a truffle into my food, I do not eat anything with truffle oil.-Dick

With flaps, tenderloin, backstraps, something along the lines of a boneless saddle may be just the thing. Pepin has the technique in a couple of his books which involves not only the construction but the correct method of cooking. I have done it with a saddle of lamb many times. Good luck!-Dick

"Is there any good reason to leave the spinal column attached?" None, maybe the hunter did not have much experience butchering? The tenderloin is usually removed after gutting as it can easily be reached from the interior of the animal. The back straps after skinning. Ribs from a small animal are probably useless. Wisconsin now has CWD spreading through the deer heard so most animals are now deboned after skinning without breaking through the spinal column or other bones. I always have my heads analyzed for Prions. The summary is that we only take boneless cuts now from venison. So no haunches or shoulders on the fire! Your thoughts about bacon and en croute are spot on!-Dick

If your piece is as described you should have the back straps and tenderloins included. If they are not present, then someone has just given you the spinal column which is not of any use and usually thrown away except for possibly the ribs if attached. The back straps and tenderloin are the best cuts and are usually seared and oven finished to rare, and served hot. Roasting these cuts for the time required to cook the any meat present on the spinal column is just a waste of good venison. If a roasted whole piece is desired, a leg or shoulder is a much better cut but it should be moist heat.-Dick

Champale Malt Beverage by Pabst, been around for decades.-Dick

I've made and cooked a number of Wellington's over the years and I would not attempt this on a grill. First would be the added taste even if one used hardwood lump charcoal and not briquettes. Second is the control of the puff which you could not let rest on grill slats as it will mold and puff and destroy itself on removal so a pan is a necessity. A properly cooked Wellington using s whole tenderloin should rest for at least 30 minutes so if you can cook whatever else in that time frame, that's what I would do.-Dick

Why don't you query the restaurant?-Dick