(00:00:00) Well, we're going to talk about food today with Al sick ermine who doesn't need much of an introduction. I don't think but it was it that was it right there. But but Al for people who may not be too terribly familiar with you. Are they I want their names. I don't know them either tell us a little about about you and how you got into writing about food and so on the previous food writer got sick from his or her own cooking or well we won't discuss it. All right. I was I was slaving away in the minds of the Cole's family over in Minneapolis and On the copy desk and I own the coffee disk copy this copy copy. That was a copy editor right drink a lot of coffee and enjoying it as a matter of fact and mentioned to woman who was my boss and it turns out the boss of the food writer and several other folks that if she ever wanted one food piece some time. I had an idea and the food writer then developed this stomach problem. Yeah. It's kind of kind of goes with the territory. I'm afraid and and asked to be relieved for three months while you know, she collected her thoughts and various other things and I said, well I had this one piece so I did that and then the next week I said I had another one. And the idea was that there would be a circulating group of folks who would fill in for the food writer and nobody else ever volunteered in the third week. I had a third idea and it just sort of kept at it had I walked in I know and said I got this I want to do this job. And what I'm going to do is peculiar themed dinners a lot of puns and recipes that most people probably won't make I don't think I would have gotten the job and this is how long you've been doing this now five years ago. No cheese in 1981. I was that right that is long time flies when you're having fun and getting strange stuff and you've never run out of ideas. Well leave other people to judge that all this tote was had ideas. Are there any good? I I find them under rocks and I put them on a long list this same woman that I worked for. She's no longer at the paper. She's she's in Gary right now, Indiana where she's the editor and is moving to Fresno, California where she's going to be an even bigger shot. But well, she was my boss, but I digress while she My boss we met with the people from about four other sections once a week and everybody discussed what they were going to do the following week. And if you didn't have an idea she did and it's it's a given that somebody else's idea is rotten than yours. So it's always a good idea to have several ideas packed up. So I ever since then if I get an idea no matter how lousy it is, I write it down and I have this very long list of very lousy ideas. And if I run dry one week There's this list of 600 rotten ideas and I can truly find one that's better than nothing. That's right. Al second one is with us the food writer for the many happen all for the Star Tribune Star Tribune newspaper of the solar system. If you have a question for him about food, you can call us in the Twin Cities at 2276 thousand 2276 thousand in other parts of Minnesota. Our toll-free number one 865 2970018 hundred sixty five to ninety seven hundred and in the surrounding Running States toll-free at normal. You'll have to call Direct at area code 612 2276 thousands not toll-free but is not very expensive either on Saturday morning. So if you really want to talk to Al you can you can do that the calling from the South Pacific. Do you have to also pay for that goal? If they're calling from the south from the South Pacific will pay for that? Yes, because there's some freak of nature going on to get us into the South Pacific. But Al how about your book carnal knowledge what's going on? But I booked well Harper & row don't know why is he was something wrong with Harper & row and they've decided to reprint this book with some additional material and the removal of some lousy material. It's a much better much better Arrangement called the Expanded Edition the out in May my agreement with them is that I stopped selling the one that I printed in my garage at the end of the end of the last year that means I stopped selling it to book stores and stuff bookstores that still have it still have it and you can rush out and buy the Now rare first edition of caramel knowledge or you can wait till manned by the not rare Expanded Edition. All right, either way the string but you must buy one or the other or you have to hang up now. Well, let's take some folks with questions. We've got quite a few of them. I don't know if they have the book, but maybe they will by the time they're done. Hi, you're on the air with all sick woman. How are you? (00:04:40) Well experiencing this kind of weather reminds me of the only place that I ever got snowbound was Milwaukee. (00:04:47) Oh God, how long were you stuck there? (00:04:50) It was 1940. Six and I was living close to downtown and working out at West Milwaukee at the VA and the hospital there and the snow started coming down in the evening and it just came down all night long and by morning nothing was moving and I remember that it made the picture of the week in the inside back cover of Life magazine. And that was cool back in (00:05:17) 1946. Remember that storm. My father walked home about three miles from where the street car got stuck. How about a food related question? No. No, there's more. Well, there's more. All right. I'm sure there is my father came in and had a glass of Brandy which he never drank in his life as we talked about the weather in Milwaukee in the mid 40s. Anyway, yeah, (00:05:39) everybody just one small paragraph. And the publication for the Galaxy and it says syrup swiped and since I'm a chocoholic it says this somebody swiped 360 cans of chocolate syrup from a restaurant and Kearney Nebraska. I wasn't there and police have issued a Statewide alert on the proud owner of the Dairy Queen restaurant said the thief or thieves cut a lock to a storage area at midweek and took enough syrup to make more than 19,000 Sundays, but I'd said serve was valued at $2,400. I didn't think that Elsa Kerman should miss that it was on three filed 88 last Saturday page 12a. (00:06:29) I'm deeply in your debt. Okay. Thanks for calling. Let's move on to somebody else here. Elsa. Come in is with us food writer for the Star Tribune. And what's your (00:06:38) question? Well, my question is what is his best recipe recipe for coconut whirring ice cream in other words if you wanted to call it make an Eskimo Pie or something or what is your recipe for the chocolate (00:06:53) to well I don't actually have one in my hip pocket but a little shortening in some chocolate ought to do it you know 1/2 teaspoon or a teaspoon in like a 6 ounce bag of semi-sweet chips melted just to stiffen it up a little bit more women when (00:07:06) it is your special brand of shortening then (00:07:09) my special brand of shortening I don't know I use I think I use Crisco I don't you know I don't remember having done that in the last few years but I know it works if you're having trouble (00:07:20) okay thank you (00:07:22) how did you get started in cooking anyway Well, I've made desserts as long as I can. Remember. I remember sneaking downstairs as a small child and making pudding on the stove and then eating the entire batch before my parents got up. So I I've often wondered whether my mother knew that was going on because she obviously had to replace the putting boxes. Somebody's somebody's been eating all that money. Huh, but I was making cake and stuff like that pretty early and I got into the rest of cooking pretty much when I became a single adult. I'll see me after class if you want a lot of detail about that and then I spent a year in France working on the copy desk of the international Herald Tribune and that's where I learned that you can make almost anything tastes good. I ate in nice restaurants a lot. Yeah, you can make almost anything tastes good if you put enough butter and cream honor, that's right butter cream and egg yolks and you go. Yeah, the American Heart Association recommends this diet for people they don't like Okay, I'll second one is waiting for your question now. Hello (00:08:24) there. Hi, I'll hang up. Okay, I do could you hit is it possible that you would know how to write a column for those of us that don't eat all the fat and all the sugar and all the chocolate. I find your articles very interesting. But that's the first thing I look for is something that I can make that you have dreamt up. (00:08:50) Well, yeah, it's possible and I did one was about six weeks ago. It was kind of boring but now actually pretty good. I made a point of making stuff with as little fat as possible and it wasn't bad. It wasn't great. I think there is there is Flavor. In fact, that's why we eat it. I mean very few people eat it to get fat what tell us a little bit about this thing that you flip them. So I'm trying to remember frankly. It was it was just one of my regular themed dinners, but the point of it was that there is a lot of stuff you can make by holding back on fat you Have to use a lot of fat and stuff. You can use you can make a salad dressing for example with just a teeny weeny bit of oil and a whole lot of other stuff Worcestershire sauce. The white wine Worcestershire sauce. The new stuff is real nice has no fat in it to speak of and things like like just a dab of sesame oil which is real flavorful and you need very very little to really give it a kick and you know, so he saw some various other stuff rice wine vinegar. You can make a pretty neat salad dressing with almost no oil. All right, we've got somebody waiting with a question and lines open again. If you've got one for Al Sacrament 2276 thousand in the Twin Cities, the lines are pretty much available 2276 thousand in the Twin Cities and I see those toll-free line still available to one 865 to 97008 were then Minnesota. There are a lot more lit up a minute ago. We made all those people hang up, didn't we? Well, I think you said if they don't have your book they got to hang up and they believed you well. Alright. Well, I hope they're all getting the Right now then I can call back. Okay, let's take your question for Alan. Oh, hello there. (00:10:26) Well, I not only have his book. I'm on the back of it. But as a cold chocoholic, I wondered how he keeps his figure as he does because I also gather that he's not into physical fitness. (00:10:40) Well you gather correctly, uh on the second one. You've only seen me from the waist up. I take it (00:10:47) on the street a couple weeks ago. (00:10:49) This must be Pat Green. Well, I don't really know but it was on the (00:10:54) back right but a memory well anyway, I am one of your devoted fans at I really do want to know how you keep as Slender as you are (00:11:02) because they don't feel good. But before that I kept low before that I kept slender by a method that very few would recommend. I think when I lived in France, for example, I ate pastry for breakfast and I pastry for lunch. I had pastry for an afternoon snack and it with a cup of coffee. And by that time I wasn't very hungry anymore. I didn't have much for dinner. You can only eat so much really gooey stuff. And if that's all you eat you wind up not eating all that much of it. I came back here having lost five pounds on that diet. Yeah how lose five pounds on nothing but pastry and should that's right. And and I had no cavities. My dentist said I had setback Dental science a hundred years. Uh-huh. We I remember that when we have you on we have to give equal time to the nutritionist and about, you know, somebody will be calling 6 to 10 weeks or something like that. Somebody will be calling to make exactly that point any minute now. All right, let's take your question for Al Hi. How are you? (00:11:57) Hi, I'm not a nutritionist. But I am a chef in a little cafe in Minneapolis and speaking about lower Cal salad dressings. I have one that is real popular. That is if anybody wants it to Heaney based salad dressing made with a little bit of sesame oil and its really popular where I work and cook and it's low in fat and cholesterol if you'd like it I can give it to you real quick. All right, go ahead. It's a you take a rose. Sesame tahini which you can get at any co-op store a rice vinegar crushed red chillies five-spice powder sesame oil Kikkoman soy sauce fresh garlic and fresh ginger and the proportions on it is pretty much equal proportions on the sesame oil and rice vinegar and the red chillies and garlic and ginger etceteras. It's just to taste and and also on the Kikkoman use today's and you mix it all up and it's really great on salads. It consists of chicken that have chicken and them and lettuce and salad that you use an oriental noodles with and it's little cabin low cholesterol. I'll steal it. Thank you. (00:13:16) All right. Thanks for calling and sharing that with us. Appreciate it not every professional Shuffle do that, you know a lot of them like to keep their secrets and I guess you can't blame the even see where she worked. Well, no, she didn't. Well, let's move on to your question. I they're also coming is (00:13:28) listening. Hi. Two questions one is where can I get a written copy of his recipe for snickerdoodles the Lord chocolate issued chocolate form of snickerdoodles that he had a few years ago (00:13:39) and I can send it to you if you'll drop me a line because I don't know where it is right now at the paper. Yeah. (00:13:45) And then also I was going to ask to before you start talking about the new Expanded Edition of carnal knowledge when you were going to come out with a sequel (00:13:54) caramel knowledge to the magic continues. We'll see how the Expanded Edition does the the the now rare first edition barely broke even and I have 4,000 copies in my garage. Is this going to be distributed nationally then? Yeah The Fan Edition will be for sale in Tucumcari and various other places. Are you syndicated your kind of kind of the Los Angeles Times Syndicate which goes to lots of thirsty cities occasionally picks up a piece of - send it to them every week and most weeks of the open and occasionally they call up and say well this isn't as bad as the other ones. Why don't we use this? I see so you so your name will be if not a household word it at least a garage word eventually recognizable and elsewhere around the country. All right. Thanks for waiting. You're on with I'll now go (00:14:40) ahead could you tell us some of the pitfalls you encounters and Publishing your first book? (00:14:47) Well the major bit followers than 4,000 copies of it my garage. I did it with a second with with a home equity credit line, which did get paid back. But that's a risk when you do something yourself and you wind up, you know with a mortgage on your house and let's say it didn't go at all because The scrapbooks are just about worthless. I'm still trying to find somebody will take them period much less pay me for them. Of course under normal circumstances. I could pedal those books the rest of my life, but it wouldn't really pay off. There are a lot of a lot of pitfalls one is that I kind of figured publicity would take care of itself and one is brought up. At least I was to be kind of modest and not to go out of your way to you know, to to honk your own horn, whatever. It doesn't work really doesn't work. I mean you have to go around and beat on people at bookstores and when you get a letter be sure that it anytime you hear from anybody you mentioned your book and it's kind of difficult for me to do. So, I'm going to let Harper & row do that for me this time. We'll see how bad they are. Well, they'll probably send you on a national book tour. Yes. I figure I'll be showing up in Two Harbors and they said six cities. Yeah. Well that's and you'll go on radio stations and and every third word you say will be caramel knowledge. That's right. That's every every two out of three words. That's right. Okay, two two seven six thousand as we cleared away that last group of colors. We've got room for you now at 2276 thousand in the Twin Cities. One 865 to 9700 in other parts of Minnesota and your question, please for Elsa come in. Hi there. (00:16:29) Yeah, I would like to know about actually broccoli itself know the people usually use just the top part of it is the bottom part. I've used it but I don't know is it is it bad for you or something or what? (00:16:43) No, it's fine. It just isn't as pretty I guess the you mean the the (00:16:46) stock. Yeah the stock to very yeah. (00:16:48) Yeah, a lot of people say You're supposed to peel it first, which is a big waste of time. Yeah, but no, it's fine. It's good for you just isn't as interesting looking I guess in the other parts are I don't think there's any difference in vitamin content or anything you you know use much broccoli in your recipes. Do you actually I like for myself, you know when I'm off broccoli with hollandaise sauce, I like a lot. I hate raw vegetables. I just hate raw vegetables. I mean if if I see recipe for a dip with a whole bunch of things like raw block, Luckily flow it's broccoli florets and cauliflower and stuff like that. I walk the other way. I just I mean God did not intend for us to eat that stuff raw or he wouldn't have provided us with saucepans. Yeah, what kind of appetizers are you especially fond of for myself chocolate, but other people other people don't go this way and I'm make a lot of dips and that kind of stuff little sandwiches cut out of big sandwiches. Okay, and we'll move on to some more folks with questions. Go ahead. And now the Monte Cristo is my favorite deep fried sandwich. I see. Okay. Go ahead, please you're on with (00:17:59) Al. I'm calling from Duluth and I really enjoy your cooking because from time to time but you know, I've heard such good things about the peel in that white Under layer and its really Stanford now it's about two dollars and sixty nine cents per small little jar. So I've been processing it and I'm baking cookies right now and using it and I thought I wonder what kind of chemicals are used or would you have any knowledge of that on the orange peel and washing it would I be removing it? I've been using it in everything on my broccoli and soups and cookies and cakes. (00:18:46) You're speaking of taking regular Orange from the store and using it now (00:18:50) right washing the oranges well and then putting the peed in the processor. (00:18:54) I don't know what kinds of preservatives wind up on on fresh oranges. I don't suppose very much. I know we've had a lot of stuff about apples being dipped in in revolting things and whatever I would think a good wash would take care of it. In any case you don't generally eat the you know, an orange right through the peel. Okay, well good luck with your cookies and you've got a great day to do some baking and eating up there in Duluth with all that snow. It's 11:30. I'll stick him in is with us food writer for the Star Tribune and you're on with him next to Lowell. (00:19:22) Hello in the early 1970s. There was a program on CBS radio network called Mike Royce. Yeah, and they carried a recipe for one of the best summer macaroni salads I've ever tasted. Unfortunately. We lost it and we're aware that micro is dead. (00:19:41) Yeah, it was the salad to (00:19:44) a salad. Yes. (00:19:46) I would duck that recipe if I was you. (00:19:49) Well CBS doesn't seem to have any any record of what it is. I wonder if there's a micro a cookbook somewhere in people's attics or if you know his an underground where (00:19:59) we're such read like really is scared in that underground right now. I I don't know. I have not seen a microwave cookbook. But I remember my quarry a great voice. He wouldn't have been where I was if you didn't. That's right. And I don't know about what the qualifications are to be where he is now, but if I don't know how to get a hold of you if I ever run across a microwave cookbook, but I had not seen one you might check with there are people who look for old books and that might be the place to start if CBS has no no record trying to remember the name of the guy who worked with Mike road because he had a sort of a (00:20:32) sidekick. Yeah. I don't remember that either great man. (00:20:36) Yeah, you always pretended not to know what a spoon was can use it you put it this in a what and you stir it. Oh, I can't think of his name like Roy and (00:20:46) III don't know but as far as I know there's no similar nationally syndicated cooking show like that that that's on the air anymore there. We had to be local now, I (00:20:57) think well, good luck. Yeah, maybe that'd be something for you to think about doing now. Oh Lord. Yes about that. You want to you want to ask me what a spoon is and stuff we get that weird and I'm pretty good at that. I'm real good at asking dumb questions and what else / thing you got there. All right, the funny thing on the end. Let's move on to your question, please hi there. I also come in as listening. (00:21:18) I have a question that I'll hang up. I was wondering if Alka comment on the availability of Frozen Custard and Milwaukee and why we can't find it here. Thanks. (00:21:27) You're clearly a Milwaukee in since you didn't use the letter L in the name of that town. I don't either it's Milwaukee Frozen Custard is all over Milwaukee why Milwaukee? I don't know there is in the last I believe year or so. There's an outfit here called Rachel's I think that sells frozen custard. Don't know what I'm talking about. It looks pretty much like saucer die soft serve ice cream and it is a pretty much the egg content is very different. It is not like custard. It's ice cream like but his real rich and it's very good and why it stuck in Milwaukee. I don't know. I read a piece about it in the Wall Street Journal must be about a year ago or so that explains that it's only made in small batches wherever it's made because something happens if you try and make it in big batches like it turns blue or something. I don't know so it's not it's not the kind of thing that is done by large chains. And that may be why it doesn't show up very many places. But yeah, there are two or three places if if you're from a walking of Milwaukee and if you're up, I've been here too long. He's trying to say Milwaukee. I almost did it, you know, you're from Milwaukee and of your of a certain vintage then all you have to say is the name of a couple of those places like cops. And everybody from like the one-third of town would go to one Frozen Custard place and everybody from another third. There's a place on Bluemound Road Petrus on the North side that everybody would go and they didn't even like Frozen Custard all that much of the something that group like Frozen Custard you go there for the bad hamburger, whatever they want with it. Hmm. All right, I'll see Carmen is with us the food writer for the Star Tribune and you're on the other now. Hello. (00:22:59) Good morning. I'm calling from Sioux Falls South Dakota. I would like to know if you can recommend a cookbook or reference book that would talk about the technique of various processes. I've heard it said that they recipe is to cooking as a piece of music is to a concert artists and it's the technique that makes a difference. Is there anything you can (00:23:21) recommend trying to remember the name of the author? I think is Jacque Pepin PE Pi n book. Anyway called La technique which is about as close as you're gonna get I think it and is I remember it. It's a picture book with recipes lots of small picture showing the guy with his knife poised and is knife halfway through the onion and his knife most of the way through the onion and stuff like that. I think there is something to a merry heart got a letter not long ago having Interviewed somebody who said once, you know the basics you can cook anything got a letter from a guy saying all right, what are the basics which was a good question and she attempted to answer that and let you know article recently. It's real hard to come up with everything one needs to know but there are some things that that aren't real obvious. Chopping with a knife if you've never shopped with a big chef knife. It isn't real obvious. What you supposed to do with it. I suppose because sawing back and forth on yelling and takes you a long time. All right, how do you do that? Well big well, yeah first you put your two knees closed up tight and no that's wrong. You cut the onion in half. All right, that way you can put the two halves down. They don't scatter all over the place. Okay, good idea, you pull off the peel. If you're having trouble with that cut the onion and the two halves in half again, then you got little right angle corners and just peel peel right back without a whole lot of tears and stuff. Then you have a chef knife which is brought at the back and point it at the other end, but not like a carving knife not like a carving knife, right and you hold the onion in place sort of carefully so that it's not so that your hand is not under the knife while you do this. And Rocket kind of up onto the tip and pull down on the on the back end and push the onion under it or move the back and forth in the sort of a wedge keeping. The point is the pivot interesting. Hmm, as long as we're talking about technique and so forth. What do you consider kind of the most important kitchen utensils that everybody had should have if they're going to make any attempt to attempt to do anything besides just heat up of microwave frozen dinner. Well, you know pots and pans and knives, I guess, you know a good knife after that. I would recommend before you buy a Cuisinart or any kind of food processor or you know, potato masher or anything really at all by way of interesting accessory. I would buy a pastry bag and a couple of tips because you can yes, I would don't look at me like that. Thank goodness. This isn't television. I just got it very peculiarly because you're going to make a cake. Or any kind of dessert at all. I having a little star tip. You can put whipped cream out in little little flourishes and stuff makes it look great. And and the appearance of food is is half the battle if the food didn't go to all the food is terrible making it look good is going to help but if it if it's okay and it looks great that's a whole lot more impressive and it's not just desserts. I mean you can make you know, if you can do that with mashed potatoes, I've used the word poot for the process of extruding stuff out of pastry bag and I've been told that's not a polite word. So I'll stop using that I didn't know that if you squeeze many potatoes out of pastry bag with a star tip, they look pretty neat a lot of stuff like that looks pretty nice granted one star tip ever all the fancy stuff you're going to make is going to look the same after a while people going to say doesn't he know how to do anything else but it's a lot better than a hop on the on the plate with a just, you know, great big papa stuffs, right? All right. So Al Sur command highly recommends a pastry bag right after your pots pans and night and there's a lot of things you can't make it all without a pastry bag like an eclair. Cream puffs or so. It's a lot harder to try and shape something so they're all right. Let's take another question from a caller. You're on the air now with L. Go ahead. (00:27:02) Okay. I really enjoy your book and we really enjoy your column and I'm going to be really strange recipes available. (00:27:10) You wondering what (00:27:11) microwaving? (00:27:12) Oh, well, it'll be a while because I don't have a microwave oven. (00:27:15) Oh, no, hurry up and get one. (00:27:18) I this is an interesting thing some people who buy microwave ovens wind up just singing their praises forever saying the use them for everything and some people no matter how good Cooks they are wind up saying all I do is reheat coffee in it. My guess is that I would wind up reheating coffee in it. I just I don't know. I don't I like Browning stuff a lot. I mean, I like to fry stuff and I like to broil stuff and I like to get stuff crunchy and that's the one thing a microwave doesn't do. It gets tough cooked. I have not tried to make sauces in one. I should try and get a hold of one. - I like to have my hand in there stirring as I guess my problem with the microwave oven. You can't do that. Mmm, you like to have a real tactile sense. We are food. I guess I guess the thing for me is I enjoy actually I like the process of cooking and getting it done in a hurry is important to a lot of people and would be important to me if I wasn't doing this for a living I've rather I don't use the food processor for chopping onions. I'd rather chop my hand that's maybe stupid it takes longer and I guess on that basis. I wouldn't really enjoy a microwave oven very much. Okay, 20 minutes before twelve o'clock with Alistair Comin here today. And hello, you're (00:28:28) next. Hey, I've got this recipe that came from the New York Times cookbook and I'm looking (00:28:34) to fix it up. I mean, did you pay me to fix up this you but I'm (00:28:37) trying to figure something out. All right, I got three of your I bought three of your books. (00:28:41) All right there. Alright, you're home free. Okay, send him out to California. So you won't go there ought to stir. (00:28:49) What I'm looking for is something called canned concentrated bullion. (00:28:53) That's beef broth (00:28:55) at the beef broth is what I've tried taking the the the beef broth and I just can't seem to get the proportions right on the thing it either comes out too. Salty or (00:29:04) beef broth is saltier than heck, right? Yeah. I know. I just wonder whether what they meant by the the concentrated part that's that's condensed, you know Campbell's condensed, you know, 2414142 or whatever baccarat if it's much too salty, you might try can concentrated consomme instead which isn't assaulting has a little extra flavoring that may or may not help the recipe. I don't know I usually use consommé whenever I find a recipe that calls for beef broth. Okay. Good. Thank you. Is it possible to make beef broth yourself? You're not have a society how you do that and take some beef bones and some beef and in a lot of water and stick a stick of celery and carrot and raise a bay leaf and boil it forever get it has thickened as concentrated as you want do the same thing with chicken if you want I can bring up and you can have it as chicken. You're not chicken as you want to depending on how many chickens you want to stand near the pot or or get in the pot when you make this. Hmm. Okay, thanks for waiting. It's your turn now to talk to Elsa come in. Hello there. (00:30:00) Hi, I'd like to ask a couple questions about restaurant reviewing. I'm wondering if he thinks that the reviewers are a little bit kind with the restaurants because you know, they like them like them to succeed as we all would I just think that it's sort of let's a buyer beware in this community because you take your chances on going to some of our restaurants new and old if there's not a specific Chef there in your on the off our it's a disaster. I'm I've observed that a lot of restaurants in this community will spend tens of thousands of dollars to decorate and then hire, you know, someone out of high school for $12,000 a year to be the chef it rather than the reverse the on. Both professional chef is not really appreciated. I don't think here in the Twin Cities and I wonder if you could comment on that (00:30:57) well, but you know certainly varies with the restaurants you go to as far as the reviewers. I don't review restaurants and I want to stay very far away from doing that. I would have the problem that you mentioned. That's why I don't want to do it. I don't like putting people out of business if I didn't like the food but I think the the reviewers that we've had in recent years have not been reticent if they don't like the food and I know Jeremy Eggers who's our current reviewer does go back to make sure that he didn't have a particularly interesting or particularly lousy experience than it was not typical so that there is a problem, you know, if you go into a restaurant and it turns out the chef was sick. What are you supposed to say? Well, I don't know what it would be like if he went when the chef was well, but if you pay your money and that's what you get it seems to me that's the experience you had and you might as well say so I I've had pretty good luck. I don't dine out a great amount. But when I do I I've had pretty good luck. I don't go to the kinds of places. I would expect to hire a kid right out of high school. Do you say you don't go out too terribly officer? Because you prefer to make and eat your own food. And you think that what's home-cooked is going to be better. It's going to be tasting better or or what. I enjoy cooking. I cook once a week in any I mean a dinner for the for the paper and have a bunch of people over so it's sort of that's the kind of experience you have going out anyway, so to go out again, is it there ought to be some reason I enjoy it. I enjoy a lot going out to eat and I like to go but it's kind of expensive and what I like to do when I go out to eat to spend the evening and it's kind of hard to do, you know, you feel rushed after you've eaten other people at the table, you know people can stare at you. But when you get home from work, aren't you Carton and it isn't the last thing you feel like doing futzing around the kitchen and then well I'm going to reveal I don't know why I'm going to do this my wife and I both like spaghetti from the jar and most nights in the maybe half the time that's what we have spaghetti and sauce out of the jar because it's fast and it's easy and The elaborate stuff for another time. Okay. It's about a quarter to twelve. We're talking with Al circumvented a food writer for the star in Tribune his stuff appears now in the Sunday magazine exclusively. Is that right? Well, yeah pretty much exclusively. I'm supposed to be doing some other stuff and I hadn't got around to it yet. But what about the food trivia column that you used to do what that was part of this the same Enterprise and I just haven't done one of those recently and I will again soon in possibly some non-food trivia as well. There are other questions that occur to you when that trivia column was essentially this here's something that occurs to you. That isn't worth asking anybody about because it's too stupid. Uh-huh. How are you supposed to get the last of the cocoa out of the can that kind of thing it's real hard to do because the cocaine has this hole in the middle of the top. Yeah. So what I do is a public services to call them up and ask them how you supposed to get the cocoa out of the can and have them say Well, it comes out just fine and did they say what they say? Well, yeah a Hershey's that was kind of an atypical answer you. Bigger much more helpful stuff, but her she that's one of their best products and clearly the when I said to the guy, you know, it's real hard. He said yeah, it isn't then he called back knees we have no problems with he had asked somebody in the can is one of their best items. You don't kick the can if you work at her she's but I had a laughter I mentioned that and mention my solution which is to take a can opener and feel the entire lid off which works just fine the lid and the hole in the middle all come off as one piece got a lot of people writing in with various interesting Solutions including a kid who said you put the flour the sugar whatever going to use in the recipe into the can with it. Then you shake it and put all that stuff back on. There's a little bit of flour sugar mixture left. All right. So the food trivia column will oh, yes it continues. Yes, indeed. Okay. All right. Let's go on to another caller's question. Hi there you're on with L. (00:34:44) Okay. I have the book. This question is a spin-off on his old orange roughy recipe. It's related to like a 10-inch brook trout or rain. A trout what is the sequence of operations when you want to Bone the trout stuffed its tummy with crab meat or whatever and then put it all back together and finish it off under the broiler. (00:35:10) I don't know. I'm not sure what you mean. (00:35:15) I've tried, you know cooking it and broiling as and then you open it up bone and but I'll (00:35:20) disintegrate know you surely you surely do everything before you cook it (00:35:25) including the (00:35:25) boning. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah like you would with with yeah. Absolutely. (00:35:32) Okay. Thank you very much. Okay. Thanks for your (00:35:35) question. We'll move on to you now. Hello. Will of course you're from somebody who says that's dead wrong meant three people are on the line now saying you bone and after you cook it. Well, we'll find out. Go ahead. What's your question? (00:35:46) Okay. I've got a rather simple question. I've got a good recipe for stuffed chicken breast, but it calls for a package of force and cheese with garlic. Confirmed I've never been able to find this what would be a similar type of cheese that I could (00:36:01) use. Okay. First of all, I'm sure you can find it at Major stores like lens and Byerly's in the city's here. There's another an American-made cheese called. Rondelay. I think that is very similar. What these are is soft cheeses with a lot of spices and stuff in them. They're almost like Philadelphia cream cheese and consistency and if you want if it is a real desperate effort, you can take some Philadelphia cream cheese and throw in some garlic and some dried basil and you got something similar. All right move on to another question here as we talk with all go ahead, please you're on with him now (00:36:35) and one two, three order. Is that a fountain if it's a spoon with a red cherry on top cross from Walker Art Center you were talking about spoons for technique in Gourmet magazine. They have a friendship with color photographs. I don't find any use for a microwave but with beef stock or chicken stock if you make it yourself you can Troll the salt amount and then put it in ice cube trays and freeze it and then you can add it to the vegetables or anything else you make (00:37:04) yes indeedy and you're taking very careful notes and I appreciate that. Be sure to publish them 12 minutes before noon. Hello. Al sick of it is listening for you now. Thanks for waiting. (00:37:15) Hi. Yeah. Hi. I've enjoyed your hilarious articles in the queue cookie, and I'm originally also more (00:37:21) often you certainly are. (00:37:23) My father was the Horticulture spread walked County Park system. Well, no kidding. But anyway the Frozen Custard my one brother in law was courting my sister and he would always bring Frozen Custard from Bluemound Road when the strawberries were in season and there's nothing better than that. So yeah, that's all I wanted to say (00:37:49) food food from one's past is so much better than anything you can get now just by definition hmm regardless of It even my mother's you. My mother's cooking is better night. I can get yeah. Well, it's a lucky thing that you're that she's out of earshot here, right? Okay. Let's take your question for Al hi you're on the air. (00:38:07) This is Patrick Raymond, and I was wondering about our homemade chili because I never had homemade chili before and I don't know the gradients on that. (00:38:20) Do you almost every recipe book you could get a general recipe book ought to have at least one or two chili recipes and there are a lots of just plain chili recipe books. I checked the public library or bookstore. What are what are some of the things that you like to put into? Well, there's there's a great raging debate among real chili fans as to whether till he ought to have any beans in it. Some people like beans in and real chili Fans Say No, chili really has beans in it. I think Julia's beans Pinto beans not kidney beans maybe certainly hamburger or ground pork or little bits of steak. There's a whole lot Texas Chili people believe in chunks of meat as opposed to ground beef and stuff like that. That's that's that's It's hot dish that's hot dish to you. Okay, I like it that way but I mean the the the the folks who think chilly out of walk out of the bull by itself. Go for chunks of chunks of meat you like it with lots and lots of spice in it, or I don't particularly, but I'm most most people who want chili in the first place want it pretty spicy Beyond chili powder lot of cayenne and Tabasco and garlic and onion and I kind of stuff when I was little my mother made chili with kidney beans over and over elbow macaroni. Like I said, I mean the food of your past no matter how bad it is is real good. Okay, that really sounds like hot dish. Uh-huh. Okay, chili mac your question, please next for Alistair command-i. (00:39:48) Hi, we're interested in a couple of things. First of all, we I bought my wife here booked a years ago because she would laugh so historically at your column but one two things one, what could you give us a little history on the tie that shows up in the picture your picture in the paper every Sunday and if it has any eating related consequences the color and all and also if you can give us a little more background on Galena, Illinois and some of your activities there. Thank you. (00:40:19) Hmm. Somebody's been reading between some lines. I think the tie I have a collection of extremely bad ties. Some of them are in large plastic garbage bags right now because kind of overflowed the Election area-wide and and otherwise disgusting ties from the 40s and and whenever the one that's appearing right now on the paper. I'm not sure which it is we cuz we took a series of pictures at the request of the editor of the magazine the series of pictures with my tie and various bowls of soup. Different size different pulses. So if you want a different kind of different bowl of soup every week and the designer of the magazine carefully cut off the bowl of soup from each of the pictures because he thought it was not the best idea and I don't know where the other has noticed this nor I don't know whether the editors noticed that it stopped being a different tie each week, but it made of these listening maybe he will know or maybe some friend of his will tell him how do you get those ties cleaned or just wear them know as is afterward if it's if it's actually a splendid time. I may have it cleaned but you know the ties I believe that I have bought one tie out of that whole collection. I paid a dime for it. Most of these ties are from you know, people find them on their furnace pipes downstairs where they've been for 20 or 30 years. They say this is a tie isn't it? Why don't we give it to Al so I haven't paid for any size and it seems kind of silly to spend two bucks to clean a tie that didn't cost you anything, you know, and especially to clean it a second time. Well, I know a little soup I gives it right character little extra character. A lot of these ties are perfect for wearing to McDonald's. They already look like they have cabbage ketchup and mustard on them and there's no point in having. I'm clean Galena, Illinois. My wife Katherine Watson. We got married last Thanksgiving several years ago bought a what would be called a retirement home. I suppose in Galena, which is a lovely 19th century town on river in Northwestern, Illinois sort of like still water but a whole lot more so because she hadn't intended eventually to retire there if she ever got around to retiring and she was watching the prices of real estate go up. So rapidly that she thought I could never afford to do this in 20 30 years. So she bought this home makes no sense to most people to have a town home in another town. If I said it was a lake house that makes sense to be go up there for the weekend. Well we go to glean a lot for the weekend which I hope that makes some sense now. It's kind of like a farmhouse and we spending a lot of time pulling off Bad wallpaper and stirring a bit was left of the wall and trying to decide what to do with and stuff like that eating experiences going is that with the fellow asked about I think he just wanted to know about your experiences and I don't believe I've ever mentioned the word Galena in print Catherine does quite a bit. So some somebody's figuring something out here, I guess. Okay, we've got about five minutes left. We all seek Him and we'll see if we can put everybody on who's waiting. And that's you first. Hello there. Go ahead, please. I'm gonna be yep. Oh (00:43:12) goodness. Well, I waited so long. I've almost forgotten my question. First of all I Heap garlands on your column. I don't have a microwave. I'm a chocoholic. I don't have your book but you must bone the fish as I've been listening while they are fresh. You can't do it after they're cooked good for us cheese that this gentleman is looking for its in a little box. It's many times. Uses the appetizer on a cracker and it is from France, but they have an American brand to I want to know why you didn't mention Betty Crocker's cookbook to the man who called in and want to know about everything. (00:43:50) Well good question Betty Crocker's cookbook to that man. And thanks to you for holding mine. Okay soon. Let's see your next I'll second one is listening and you're on the air with him. Hello there. (00:44:03) I have a question for a person who loves heavy creamy kinds of things. I was introduced to something on a recent trip called Cornish clotted cream cheese and it was quite good tasting and I'm wondering can you get it someplace here? Besides Byerly's it takes me four and a half hours to get to a by early. So I'm looking for something that maybe even if I can sort of reproduce something out of just heavy whipping cream or something. (00:44:27) Well, I was going to say luns has something called Devonshire Cream, which is I believe about four bucks for a bottle. That isn't big enough to fit in the coffee cup. It's real good stuff. My mother had this once in upper, Michigan when she was a kid. And and been trying to duplicate it for years. There is occasionally a recipe in a cookbook for something called Mok Devonshire Cream which involves cream cheese what this is in any cases is allowing cream to sit out at Great length cooked, I think first and then allowed to just sit and thicken one can certainly achieve that effect the same way. You make crème fraîche fake crème fraîche with with cream and sour cream and letting it sit out. I would I would start out with heavy cream maybe a little cream cheese, maybe a little sour cream. It's going to give it more tame than should have and let it sit out Stir It occasionally when you shocked a cookbook. Let me ask you something about when you go to the grocery store and you see stuff called whipping cream is that the same thing as heavy cream, there are all sorts of standard product descriptions that the federal government maintains for what you can call what in each of those various crimes has to have a minimum of so much percent butterfat whipping cream is not one of those terms. There is heavy cream. There is light cream there is a Bunch of Define terms whipping cream is is pretty much like heavy cream. There's been a product on the Shelf here for a couple of years which is described as extra heavy cream and which is darn thick and pretty expensive Kemp's makes one in Land O'Lakes makes one and they're hiring butter fat than whipping cream normally is and they whip in a big hurry if you're planning on sticking in the Mixmaster walking away for the minute. It usually takes you come back and find butter. All right. We got a time to put you on the air with our next. Hello there. (00:46:13) Yeah. Hi. I'm a Lutheran pastor and outstate Minnesota and I used to live in Michigan hewp. I certainly enjoyed your non-food article about the differences. That would be if the Church headquarters for the Lutheran Church had ever moved to Milwaukee. (00:46:29) Thank you. (00:46:30) That difference is that monopolist would have (00:46:33) that article produced in a rather Snappy response article in the Milwaukee Journal pointing out that I hadn't lived in that town since the Eisenhower Administration and for his other St. Remarks, but I'm glad you liked it. Did you have a food questionnaire was at it I think he is probably left us for the time being so we've put you on the air with L. Now. Go ahead, please. (00:46:53) Well. First of all, I want to say l is a pretty fine human being as well as being funny. Well, thank you. Well, I'm pretty special and I would like to know why the chocolate cake that I made with the Hershey's cocoa from the Hershey's recipe didn't taste the chocolaty is Al stuff (00:47:09) because I don't use cocoa (00:47:10) why (00:47:11) chocolate is cocoa and cocoa butter both together. Hi Lois. And one of the flavor ingredients of chocolate is the cocoa butter. Not much. It's what is the only flavor ingredient in white chocolate which doesn't have a whole lot of flavor, but the combination of in effect white chocolate and cocoa is chocolate and if you leave part about isn't this tasty if you want to make a really chocolaty treat avoid the recipe that contains cocoa is my it is my advice. All right, and you're going to be our last caller today. (00:47:42) The lady was talking about Cornish clotted cream or Devon cream on the way. It's made is is it's heavy cream that's 40 percent butterfat and what it what happens to it as it's cooked. It's reduced. It's a lot of cream that's reduced over a low low heat over the period of eight hours. That's how long it takes. It's really hard to make if you do it at home because you have to stand over the stove and constantly stir it so that it doesn't burn and scrawled. That's why it costs so much when you buy it at the store, I think once has it $44 That's what it's done with it. A lot of cream introduced over a long period of time and it's like constantly you have to stir it and that's why no one had ever met. (00:48:27) It's wonderful though. Thank you. All right. Thanks for your call. And I'll thank you for coming in. Thank you. It's been a lot of fun to have you on and and I've demonstrated once more that I really don't know anything that amazing about that. But you have colors who do will certainly have you back when your new book comes out. If not before thank you also common the food writer for the for the star and tribune the Star Tribune will get the name right one of these years and he'll change is his book is called caramel knowledge and the new expanded improved version coming out in May weekend is made possible by Ecolab Incorporated and it's Chemlawn subsidiary. This is Bob Potter speaking. You're tuned to ksjn 1330 Minneapolis-Saint Paul having up to 12 o'clock Mark. I said the snow has apparently skipped the Twin Cities. I mean to any large extent. Uh, yeah more or less some of the western and North