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I make water kefir but would like to try milk kefir, can I convert my water granules to milk kefir granules?

From cheese.com: Brie de Meaux, named after the town of Meaux, is a French cheese produced in the region of Brie, located 50 kilometers to the east of Paris. [...] Brie de Meaux, an AOC cheese should be matured in the regions of Seine-et-Marne, Loiret, Aube, Marne, Haut-Marne, Meuse and Yonne. See also Wikipedia. So it's primarily a regional indication. Since it's an appellation d'origine contrôlée (AOC, "protected designation of origin") brie made in other regions can't use the name: Under French law, it is illegal to manufacture and sell a product under one of the AOC-controlled geographical indications if it does not comply with the criteria of the AOC. AOC products can be identified by a seal, which is printed on the label in wines, and with cheeses, on the rind. To prevent any possible misrepresentation, no part of an AOC name may be used on a label of a product not qualifying for that AOC. Brie de Meaux is an unpasteurized brie, with an average weight of 2.8 kg (6.2 lb) for a diameter of 36 to 37 cm (14 to 15 in). As for all other bries: they can be made from pasteurized milk, and they can be made anywhere (globally), so it's hard to make distinctions with them all. Usually, cheeses from unpasteurized milk have more flavour. As e.g. 'Life and cheese' writes in Beautiful Brie – raw versus pasteurised?: Immediately you’re hit by the extra power of the raw milk. It has oomph. It intoxicates with its caramelised vegetal flavours, which relax into a savoury, umami tang, ... Note that according to the New York Times (1981 post) Brie de Meaux in the United States is rarely the real thing: But French restrictions on Brie labels do not apply in American markets, and cheeses labeled that way are probably not the same as they are in France. The United States Food and Drug Administration prohibits the import of cheeses made from unpasteurized milk that have aged less than 60 days. Since Brie de Meaux, the most popular type, is usually aged only about five weeks, the likelihood of any authentic Brie de Meaux being legally available in this country is virtually nil. Still, some of it manages to find its way to select shops and restaurants in this country. Interesting read, confirming the US FDA rules anno 2016: Inside the World of Black Market Cheese

To form the curry, I put the default ratios but suppose I wanted to think about making adjustment. Would it be better to do it in the beginning or when it has simmered for some time?

This is actually very difficult, because the best advice is to make notes and correct it the next time you make the dish. The problem is that when making Indian curries, you typically bloom the spices in oil at the beginning. Trying to add spices later can result in a much different taste. You can sometimes get away with it with pre-made spice pastes if you’ve completely misjudged the amount of spice to use, but I wouldn’t suggest adding just any spice shortly before you’re going to serve the dish. I don’t know if it’s traditional, but you could adjust flavors when serving by adding chutney. Japanese curry, however often uses a curry roux, so the spices have already been cooked. You can get away with adding it much later in the cooking. I know that there are also Thai, Malay, and Chinese curries, but I’m not familiar with cooking those, so can’t comment on when you can adjust the spices. (I think Thai curries mostly use fresh things like garlic, lemongrass, etc, so you can probably get away with adding more layer, but they might need to be cooked down)

I've always heard that you should wait for water to boil before adding pasta/perogies/vegetables/etc. What is the reason for this? Is it because it reaches boiling point faster? If so, why?

The primary reason is for accuracy and reliability in cooking times. Boiling water is guaranteed (not accounting for altitude) to be at 212 F (100 C). With a set temperature you can then say things like "boil X for 9 minutes" with a very high measure of confidence. You certainly can cook things in the water as you go, but it's going to be a lot more hit-and-miss. Pasta, for example, will begin to cook before it reaches the boiling point. You would need to measure the temperature, and check the pasta regularly to determine when it was done. You can't give someone an accurate cooking time with this method either. The time it takes for water to boil will vary greatly with stove heat output, pot size & shape, and the amount of water.

What is it in canned biscuits that makes them puff up immediately upon opening the can yet stops them from raising further? What kind of food voodoo is at work here? Please explain the food science behind this and what additives cause this effect in the "food".

I used to make the store brand version of the Pillsbury canned biscuits. It was true that the CO2 is the gas that creates the pressure. The dough is made by measuring all of the "scaled" ingredients to get the proper mixture, which in turn controls the amount of gas created. It is then pumped onto a conveyor where it is sheeted. This is similar to rolling it with a rolling pin. This is how the thickness is determined. After that it is cut with a die similar to a cookie cutter. (although for mass production and varies based on what size and shape desired...Look up rotary die cutting for biscuits-- this was not the tool we used but is the most common way that bakery manufacturing cuts sheeted dough). We did retard the gassing by keeping the production room cool until the product got to the canning process. Then we allowed the process to warm. This allowed the cans to "gas up" This process actually helps the can seat or seal. The metal lids are just crimped (rolled with cams) onto the cardboard side. The gas actual pushes on the can structure until it latches together.

I made a vanilla cake from scratch using this recipe and when I removed it from the pan, I noticed little brown lumps along the bottom and edges the size of BB pellets. I tasted one of the spots, thinking it was burnt sugar, but it was very hard and very very bitter. I think it tasted like baking powder but also lemony. This is the second time this has happened to me using different recipes. It never happens when I make a chocolate cake. All the ingredients today were fresh, everything was at room temperature, and the pan was clean. I greased it with Pam and then placed parchment paper circles. I did not have cake flour, so I used AP flour. The batter looked fine and had no lumps in it, I scraped down the sides of the mixing bowl, and nothing tasted off when I licked the spoon. I think it has something to do with adding the baking powder. What would cause this?

I have been having this problem on and off. I do think it must have something to do with the baking powder, but it doesnt happen everytime. I keep trying to find an answer but, unless it has happened to you, people think you are crazy.

Whenever I grill a fish (red snapper), even after grilling for a recommended grill time (about 10 to 15 mins), it comes out no less juicy compared to when it was put to grill. And when put in a plate, its skin is like floating on its flesh due to moisture. I need a complete dry fish after the grilling is done with crispy skin, How to achieve that? Note: I dont know how to dry a fish before grilling, I am assuming that all the drying can be done during grill with heating (which currently doesnt happen), any tip that works is welcome.

You could pack it in dry salt for a while to suck some fluid out via osmotic pressure. Should end up with damp salt and a drier fish. I'd guess if you only packed the outside and brushed it off before grilling it might not have too much salt transfer inwards to oversalt the fish, but I have NOT tried it, just speculating on a method that should work.

I buy mussels at Pusateri and Whole Food Market for a year in Toronto. They sell them on ice and dry, not in running water. 10 s this video, Bart teaches add salt to cold water and soak for 20 mins. But I repeat 6 times...so 20 mins x 6 times = 120 mins of soaking!!! Mussels exudate less black grime every next time, but even after 6 times, water still has much black grime! See my pic under! Why? This happening for a year! Part 2, Step 2 has GIF that shows you what I mean.

If your mussels are really that dirty, scrub them well first, then soak them in fresh water + salt (about 35g per litre) - or sea water - and add a scant handful of ground oats. The oats are supposed to irritate the mussels and they'll purge it together with the sand, while the salt water will keep them alive. It can take a long time to purge really gritty mussels (according to some sources, from 2 to 12 hours). I'm not sure how clean you expect your mussels to be, just make sure most of the sand is purged. You should also ask the shop if the mussels have been purged before - it's usually the case.

Related to making small quantities of balsamic reduction, if I make a large quantity of balsamic reduction, how long will it keep? What's the best way to store it? I know vinegar will keep for a long time, but the reduction tastes so sweet and so not vinegary that I have no faith that preservation is related.

It should last years. If the reduction contains just vinegar, reduced until thick. This yields a very acidic solution very high in sugar (partly caramelized, depending on how long it was cooked). Other than sugar and acetic acid, there are some polyphenols and other gunk, some aromatics, and a bit of water. There are two primary ways that food spoils: decay by microorganisms and oxidation. Decay happens when things get stinky and slimy, such as meat that has been left in a warm place for a few days. Bacteria can live in a lot of habitats, but need fairly mild conditions to thrive. Oxidation occurs when unsaturated fats (and other substances) pick up rogue chemicals from the environment, and is often refereed to as 'rancid'. This process will occur whenever something that can oxidize is exposed to air, but tends to progress slowly. In the case of a balsamic reduction, the high acid and sugar content will stop bacterial growth. Since the reduction also contains acid, anything that could have been oxidized has already oxidized. Therefore a balsamic reduction should last pretty much forever. You might want to seal it up to keep bugs from getting in it, but other than that, it should be stable for years.

This question is not about preventing meat from going bad or about aesthetics due to oxidation etc. and is specifically about how best to store meat in the fridge for taste. Depending on who I get my meat from (i.e. which butcher) sometimes it comes wrapped in paper (either individually or all together), sometimes in individual bags or sometimes all bundled together in a single bag like today. How is it best to store them, for up to 3 days? Leave them all together in contact? Separate and individually cling wrap them? Put them together in Tupperware? I guess what I'm really asking is does it make any difference to taste or texture depending on how it is stored in the fridge as long as the meat remains fresh and continuously refrigerated? * *Not including uncovered storage in the fridge which would dry out the meat.

Beef ages, so it comes down to your preference, and the cut. As Tom Mylan, executive butcher and co-owner of the local, sustainable butcher shop The Meat Hook in Brooklyn, NY, explained in The Atlantic: During wet aging, the plastic doesn't allow the meat to breathe, so it ages in contact with its own blood, which lends it "a more intense sour note and a more bloody/serumy flavor," according to the Department of Food Science and Nutrition at the University of Minnesota. This sounds a bit negative when you're talking about the flavor of a steak, but the fact that upwards of 90 percent of the beef taken home by American grocery store shoppers in plastic-wrapped foam trays is wet-aged seems to suggest that it can't be all bad. Dry aging, on the other hand, allows the meat to breathe, lose water (which increases its "beefiness" since there is now less water and but the same amount of muscle fiber), and get acted upon by other microbes beside those of the muscle itself. Those other microbes are the long, threadlike mycelia of various airborne fungi that begin to digest the meat, giving an aged loin its distinctive flavor, aroma, and fuzzy exterior. So dry aging wins, right? It's complicated: while most meat snobs (myself included) prefer dry-aged beef, the American public actually prefers bagged beef according to a number of very expensive meat studies. Certainly you could chalk those results up to Americans preferring what they have become used to and choosing bagged meat over the funkier flavor of dry-aged beef. Ultimately neither method of aging is the be-all-end-all: it is impossible to properly dry-age steaks like the flat iron, skirt steak, or chuck tenders because they lack the protective fat and bone that cover traditional aged cuts like rib and short loin. Once they are removed from the carcass, they simply begin to degrade and dry out, which is why I think everyone agrees they should go into plastic.

A while ago I had an orzo dish in a restaurant, where the Orzo had been cooked in the oven together with vegetable stock, garlic, herbs, and cherry tomatoes. The waiter said that the trick is to put the raw Orzo into the hot olive oil with garlic and top it up with the liquid to cook it directly in the oven. I tried to re-cook the dish but unfortunately, the orzo had either been too cooked/ sticky or not cooked through or got hard on the top. I tried to find similar recipes online but the orzo always seems to be precooked or cooked in tomato sauce. What would be the right liquid/orzo scale to cook orzo in the oven?

I don't know about bacon literally melting in one's mouth. I doubt that is possible. However, the term "melts in your mouth," when referring to meat, is usually used to describe an ultra tender preparation. The sensation probably is mostly centered on how we perceive fat and collagen that were broken down during the cooking process. Collagen and fat actually do melt, and proper cooking of proteins known to "melt in your mouth" keeps much of these melted elements within the final product. Alternately, when you eat a "dry" piece of meat, it is likely overcooked, and fat and collagen have drained from your final product. Fats and collagen melt at different temperatures, and depending on the preparation, need different cooking times to provide the ideal eating experience. Often, these items are cooked "low and slow". For example, say, a pork butt cooked at 190F (88C) for 12 to 18 hours, or a properly cooked stew. Collagen melts as low as 160F (71C). Fats melt in the 130F to 140F (54C to 60C) range. No preparation of meat, that I am aware of, literally turns entirely to liquid in one's mouth. As an aside, this creates an issue for people who use sous vide/low temperature cooking, as sometimes cooking temperatures are below those needed to melt fats and collagen. In that situation dramatically lengthening the cooking time can be helpful, if one wants to impact the texture of the final product.

Since wooden cutting boards are safe for use with meat, I was wondering if I can reuse the cedar grilling planks. Yossarian's answer to this question about how to prepare a plank says you can use one again depending on what you're cooking. So, what determines whether you can reuse the planks? How should I clean them after use? After too many uses, will they lose the ability to impart flavor to what's being grilled? The ones I bought were fairly expensive, so I'd like to get as much use out of them as possible.

I will generally reuse a plank on two conditions: The bottom isn't completely charred. Sometimes, the bottom ends up complete black. I find that this won't start to smoke a second time. It's also a mess to store anywhere. The top isn't a mess of food. This is largely dependent on what you cook. Fish skin sometimes gets cooked on, glaze bubbles and chars, oil lights on fire and the top surface chars. Something like shrimp, tomato, or sausage will be fairly clean though, and nothing will cook on to the top. In order to reuse the plank, I clean it with soap and water, the same way I'd clean a wooden chopping board. I've never managed to use a plank more than twice and I usually just toss them after a single use. Keep in mind that a dried cedar plank is a dried cedar plank. Cost is generally more based on the store that you buy it in than the product you're buying. A hardware super store (like Home Depot) will generally have these quite cheap.

I've come across a number of recipes (the most recent of which was this) which suggest various combinations of adding hot melted chocolate to a mixture that contains eggs. The problem that I have here is that if I let the chocolate mixture go cold, it hardens and can't be mixed, and if I don't, it cooks the eggs. I've tried stirring the mixture as the chocolate is added, which seems to be the most common suggestion, but it makes no difference. Can anyone offer any other methods of avoiding scrambled egg cake?

The cocoa butter in your chocolate melts fully at 43 degrees Celsius (110 F). But it stays liquid until at least 30 degrees C (85 F). The most heat sensitive proteins in an egg white coagulate at around 65 degrees C (145 F), most proteins stay stable until 85 degrees C (185 F). As you shouldn't overheat your chocolate anyway, you have a certain temperature range where the chocolate will stay liquid, yet the egg unaffected. Note that the real problem and culinary art therefore is not the coagulating egg, but the effect of warm chocolate on any "foam" you might have produced in an earlier step: Too warm, and the bubbles might pop, too cool and the chocolate will harden as the cool other ingredients take up too much heat before it is fully incorporated. Rule of thumb: Melt the chocolate gently and let cool until barely warm to the touch. Stir quickly, yet gently, when incorporating the liquid chocolate into your batter. (And read the recipe in case you need to deviate from this.)

We are making prime rib for dinner on Christmas Day, were having 25 people how many pounds of roast do I need

A normal serving of meat is 200-250 grams per person. In American units, about half a pound per person. Times 25 and you will have a good estimate. If there are a lot of sides or multiple courses you can decrease it a little.

Cans of beans say "Heat for 3-4 min. DO NOT BOIL". Does anyone know why canned beans should not be boiled? Surely they were boiled when they were first cooked, so where's the problem?

Beans in the can are already well cooked--they are essentially pressure cooked as part of the canning process. While only a speculation, it is highly likely that they are now fragile and bringing them to a full boil would mar their appearance--fewer whole beans--from the agitation. There is nothing I am aware of from a safety aspect that would contraindicate boiling the beans again.

I made a double batch of my homemade granola and this morning I notice that the top of the granola was all fuzzy. I keep it in an airtight container. Does any one know what would cause it?

Did you put the granola away while it was still warm? The inside of the container may have collected moisture while the granola cooled to room temperature, causing mold to form.

When I first started working as a cook, I was instructed in no uncertain terms to only use whole bay leaves when cooking so that when the leaves were removed, still whole, one could be sure that no pieces had broken off and remained in the stew (or whatever). I was told that eating dried bay leaves was akin to eating broken glass in their potential effects on the digestive system. Yet, just the other day I was eating a rabbit pie and I discovered a whole bay leaf in it. I asked the server, and she said that it was common practice for that restaurant to leave bay leaves in situ. I guess they can't be that bad for you if restaurants can serve them hidden in the middle of a pie?

There is no reason to worry. The worst thing which can happen is that a piece of bay leaf, being somewhat hard, can lodge somewhere in your digestive system, necessitating a trip to ER. But a medical paper on the topic starts its discussion section with the sentence "Reports discussing ingestion of bay leaves have been exceedingly scant". They only cite 10 references in the period 1950-1990, and most of these are general studies of foreign bodies in the esophagus, not specific studies of bay leaf ingestion. Given how often bay leafs must find their ways into people's digestive systems (they feature in our food), it is safe to conclude that only a tiny fraction of ingested bay leafes cause problems, else there would be more studies mentioning such cases. The same is true for side effects different from mechanical obstruction: if this had happened, somebody would have published it. The paper I mentioned is "Bay Leaf Impaction in the Esophagus and Hypopharynx" by Stephen K. Buto, MD; Tat-Kin Tsang, MD; Gerald W. Sielaff, MD; Laurie L. Gutstein, MD; and Mick S. Meiselman, MD. Sadly, it isn't freely available (I could read the full text because my uni has a subscription). I guess that if you are working as a cook, your workplace may decide that even if the chance for a customer choking on a bay leaf is something like one in a million, they'd rather instill removing bay leaves from dishes as a policy. Probably prudent, although there are more important risks to care about.

I'm curious if anyone has some experience with fiddlehead toxicity. Wikipedia has it listed as "may harbour microbes, and should be washed and cooked before eating." Most reports I'm reading online say they should be washed well and cooked for at least 10 minutes. Now I used to eat these raw, or at most, just sautéed a little. I had a few sautéed lightly last night without any ill effects as well. I've never been one to shy away from food just because I might be ill. After all, being ill is just part of trying new things. Still, I'm curious what the community has found.

The Source (you know which it is, right?*) says that toxicity has been proven - for a single species of fern. The exact quote is A common species especially enjoyed in Japan and Korea, the bracken fern Pteridium aequilinium, has been found to contain a potent DNA-damaging chemical. It should be avoided. Stalks of the ostrich fern, varikous species of Matteuccia, are thought to be safer to eat. and on another page Bracken-fern toxins caise several blood disorders and cancer in animals that graze on this common fern (Pteridium)... Matteucia... are thought to be safer... but there's little solid information about the safety of eating ferns. It's prudent to eat fiddleheads in moderation... So if you believe him, make sure you know they come from the correct kind of fern. I guess this isn't a problem with supermarket bought vegetables. Nowhere (or in no location mentioned in the index under fiddleheads) does he mention an unusually high contamination of microorganisms. But if you are afraid of them carrying dangerous agents on the outside, I think that they, when grown in the wild, will harbor the usual suspects carried by animal waste (E. coli, parasites like liver flukes or tenia). But I doubt that they will be higher than from other vegetables picked from the countryside (nettles, sorrel, dandelions). *McGee on food and cooking

My baby and I both enjoy Happy Creamies. I don't enjoy the price, however, and I do enjoy making food for my family. I'm trying to figure out what the basics of a similar homemade item would be. The snacks are about U. S. quarter sized around and shaped like large chocolate chips. I imagine that's easy enough to re-create using a pastry bag or even a plastic bag. The texture of the snack is similar to a vanilla wafer, only it melts a little easier in the mouth (similar to a Puff, only without the distinct rice puff texture). The ingredient lists for the three different types of Happy Creamies are as follows organic sweet potato, organic apple puree concentrate, organic sweet pea, organic white grape juice concentrate, organic coconut milk, organic guar gum, organic tapioca starch, organic spinach, natural flavor, xanthan gum, malic acid, ascorbic acid (vitamin C), B. coagulans, pre and probiotics, organic kiwi, organic cinnamon (apple, spinach, pea, and kiwi)) organic sweet potato, organic mango, organic carrot juice concentrate, organic guar gum, organic orange juice concentrate, organic white grape juice concentrate, organic tapioca starch, natural flavor, xanthan gum, citric acid, B. coagulans, organic coconut milk, pre and probiotics (carrot, mango, and orange) organic butternut squash, organic apple, organic strawberry, organic coconut milk, organic guar gum, organic carrot juice concentrate, organic white grape juice concentrate, organic raspberry, organic tapioca starch, natural flavor, citric acid, xanthan gum, B. coagulans, ascorbic acid (vitamin C), pre and probiotics (strawberry, raspberry, and carrot) It looks like the essential elements are some sort of starchy puree (butternut squash or sweet potato), coconut milk, guar gum, and tapioca starch. Am I right? How can I go from this information to a recipe, or at least a start on a recipe?

Ok I'm going to give this a shot by helping you understand why the ingredients are in there. At it's core this seems to be a very aerated meringue with stabilizers to help avoid using dairy products and eggs. organic sweet potato, organic apple puree concentrate, organic sweet pea, organic white grape juice concentrate These ingredients are your base flavors, they seem to be a pretty simple mix of naturally sweet ingredients to bring the sugar content up. organic coconut milk, organic guar gum, organic tapioca starch, xanthan gum These ingredients are going to likely be added together first to hydrate the gum and the tapioca starch is going to act as a bulking agent to make it have more volume without being dense. The guar gum and xanthan gum are going to give a more consistent mouthfeel and flavor release and add some stability to the meringue. These two hydrocolloids together have a synergistic effect and will strengthen the overall product, allowing it to take on more air without collapsing. organic spinach, natural flavor, malic acid, ascorbic acid (vitamin C), B. coagulans, pre and probiotics, organic kiwi, organic cinnamon These final ingredients appear to be flavor enhancing or balancing. Malic acid is very tart as is kiwi, the cinnamon likely helps to balance this. Ascorbic is likely in there as an antioxidant to prevent discoloration and the rest look to be the pro-biotics that are touted in the packaging but really probably play very little part in the making of the food. I believe the process of making this will be very similar to this recipe here http://blog.ideasinfood.com/ideas_in_food/2007/04/whipped_yogurt_.html

Let's say, I only want to make 1 sushi roll right now. Is there a good way to store the rest of the rice for tomorrow's rolls? And what about storing the nori?

I don't agree with Manne on storing rice. If you refrigerate what you don't use, then long grain rice could be used for a rice salad (similar to pasta salad) or fried rice. You might be able to use short grain rice in a rice pudding. But once the vinegar and sugar is added to make sushi rice -- I wouldn't try saving it for sushi -- it's not going to have the same consistency the next day, and I really don't think it would work. You'd be better off making a vegetable roll or two with the leftovers and chilling that for the next day. Off hand, I'm not sure where I might re-use leftover sushi rice where the consistency wasn't an issue ... maybe a rice-based casserole? As for the nori -- I use a zip-top bag, and compress the air out, and haven't had any problems.

first post here on Seasoned Advice and I'm just after a wee bit of insight in to the elements of a chilli sauce. I've been looking in to making chilli sauces at home, but am yet to give it a go - I'm a huge fan of chilli sauces and would really love to nail the flavours I like in a sauce of my own. I've checked out countless recipes in search of the key elements of a chilli sauce and then stumbled upon this article that stated the 4 key ingredients were fresh chillies, acid, aromatics (carrots, onions, etc.), and salt. My Questions 1) If these are the core ingredients, what role do they play in creating the sauce? (Chillies are obvious, but the acid and salt I'm curious about) 2) Are there any other core ingredients that go towards making a good sauce?

rackandboneman has excellent suggestions. If I may add one more, I would suggest adding some fairly strong tastes to reduce the prominence of the orange. Some soy, garlic and honey would go a long way toward turning the orange into a passable teriyaki.

I tried making my own vanilla extract a few months ago. Normally, it should be pretty dark (almost black). Mine isn't, as you can see: (full-size image) What I did was (after sterilizing it) filling a 250 ml (about a cup) bottle with vodka. I also cut up some (mostly seeded) vanilla pods, I think 4-5. My guess is that there isn't enough vanilla in it. I'm planning on putting some more in. Is that the proper way to save this half-extract? Are there any downsides to adding new pods now?

The problem could be the recipe. If you're using a lot of lemon juice, then a lot of sugar to cover up all that acidity, you're guaranteed to end up with something pretty soft. Have a look around at other lemon sorbet recipes, and see if you're using relatively more. But if your recipe is sane, then it could be your process. Here's how it could mess things up. Sorbet is basically sugar water with a bit of flavor. When it freezes all the way, unless it was churned as it froze, there's going to be a tendency for it to separate into ice crystals and even stronger sugar water. Some of this may happen in your first freezing step. Then you're pulverizing it in a food processor, probably giving it a chance to melt a bit. This is much worse than just leaving it out, since once it's in tiny bits, there's a lot more surface area exposed to air, and you're continuously mixing it, bringing in warm air, and so on. Then finally, it refreezes. The part that managed to melt in the meantime is going to repeat the earlier process, except now there's lots of space, so it's even easier for ice crystals to form and force out the sugar. So I'd definitely expect a tendency to end up with a runny sugar syrup component to your "sorbet". (If it's at all grainy, this is probably what's happening.) If you're determined to do this without any kind of ice cream maker, it's going to be hard to avoid problems. You can certainly try to correct for it by using less sugar, though. You could also just make a granita - freeze it on a sheet, and scrape it off to serve.

The following text is from the FDA site: What is Salmonella? Salmonella, the name of a group of bacteria, is a common cause of food poisoning in the United States. Most people infected with Salmonella develop diarrhea, fever, abdominal cramps, and vomiting 12 to 72 hours after infection. Symptoms usually last 4 to 7 days and most people get better without treatment. However, in some people, the diarrhea may be so severe that they need to be hospitalized. In these patients, the Salmonella infection may spread from the intestines to the blood stream, and then to other body sites and can cause death unless the person is treated quickly with antibiotics. Certain people are at greater risk for severe illness and include children, older adults, pregnant women, and people with weakened immune systems (such as transplant patients and individuals with HIV/AIDS, cancer, and diabetes). Salmonella do really exists sometimes in raw eggs. And lots of chefs, use raw egg whites to make mousse au chocolat, and some chefs uses raw egg yolks to in the mousse or other pastries, where they just beat it with some sugar and add it. How chefs re-insure that the eggs are salmonella free ?

One alternative is to use pasteurized eggs.

I found on Wikipedia that it is made from animals' skin and bones. The article describes the steps of gelatin production from a technical perspective: The manufacturing processes of gelatin consists of three main stages: Pretreatments to make the raw materials ready for the main extraction step and to remove impurities which may have negative effects on physiochemical properties of the final gelatin product, The main extraction step, which is usually done with hot water or dilute acid solutions as a multi-stage extraction to hydrolyze collagen into gelatin, and finally, The refining and recovering treatments including filtration, clarification, evaporation, sterilization, drying, rutting, grinding, and sifting to remove the water from the gelatin solution, to blend the gelatin extracted, and to obtain dried, blended and ground final product. How can you make gelatin from scratch in your own kitchen?

It's the refinement that's the real issue: anyone who's braised a big joint of meat knows that a couple of hours of low-temperature stewing will net you large amounts of gelatin. Hooves and antlers were the preferred media, but anything that's got a bunch of collagen will work. Talk to your butchers shop, and see if you can buy some bones. Refinement was done the old fashioned way: by hand. You skim the top to remove the scum, you add egg whites to degrease and to clarify the "broth", and then you strain and strain and strain and strain. And strain. And strain. And strain. The skimming/straining process is similar to rendering sugar from sugar cane, if you've ever done it (slightly less esoteric, because people still like molasses). They obviously don't use egg whites in rendering sugar. It's a huge amount of work (and OMG it stinks...do it outdoors if possible), and the end result is probably not going to be on par with the stuff you buy from the store. Unless you're hankering to re-invent an ancient technology just for the fun of it, I'd just buy it. Edit: I dug around, and there are a number of products for straining jelly that might make it easier, and they should be able to deal with the viscosity of the gelatin soup. Unfortunately they seem to be made for smaller batches, and that may not be helpful if you're doing a huge kettle.

I have made some Anzac biscuits and would like to coat half of the biscuit in chocolate. Is it best to use a butter knife or dip them in a bowl of melted chocolate. Do you then place on baking paper or is there a way of standing them up?

Whenever I work with dipping chocolate, I put a sheet of baking paper on my working table and place a cooling rack over it. This has two advantages: Excess chocolate can dripp off easily, without pooling that can happen when when the cookies are placed directly on the paper. The paper below makes cleanup very easy because the chocolate can be peeled off and reused if it contains no crumbs. (Admittedly I rarely reuse it because my children generously take care of the leftovers...) Liquid ("tempered") chocolate will be too runny to be spread with a knife. If you let it cool down to a spreadable state, you will get a very uneven and streaky surface. If you have only a small amount of chocolate available, you can use a pastry brush (which may also leave streaks, but less), but usually dipping is the way to go: Melt enough chocolate that the height in your bowl is more than half of your cookies diameter. (Kind of obvious, but noted just for the sake of completeness.) Dip the cookie in, let excess chocolate drip back into your bowl, then lay it flat on the rack to cool. No need to prop them up or so. Leftover chocolate can be stored for your next batch or makes a good excuse for serving hot chocolate. Some geometry: Note that dipping half a cookie will also coat the underside because you hold the cookie's edge perpendicular to the chocolate. If you dip only the top, you won't get a straight line, but always a crescent-shaped undipped part. If, for some reason, you want a straight line and a chocolate-free bottom, you need the pastry brush again.

I'm writing some software and could use some help (from some experts!) naming something. In cooking, culinary arts, etc. I have to imagine that there exists a concept where you, the chef, have a master "cook plan" for how you will execute a particular course, meal, set of servings, etc. Meaning, you know what you want to cook for a particular meal: you know the ingredients, the recipes for each component of the meal, the timing of when you need to start prepping, cooking and plating each component, etc. A master plan. A "cook plan" for the entire theatre of operations so to speak. This cannot simply just be a "recipe", as to me, a "recipe" is a sub-component of this plan as it takes ingredients in as input, processes those ingredients and produces (as output) just one component of a meal. I'm talking one step above an individual recipe: a plan that covers everything you will do to produce all the courses of a large meal. Is there a word for this in the culinary world?

No, there isn't such a word. How planning is done Such a word doesn't exist, and neither does the "master plan" you are envisioning. What exists instead is a menu, plus recipes, plus conventions or ad-hoc decisions. First think of a situation where a caterer works for a big event, there is the need to orchestrate many people preparing, cooking and serving. These people are all professionals, and don't really need much information to get their jobs done. The single most important thing to be planned and written down is the menu. It is just a list of dish names written in the order of serving. But really, not even the order is needed, since it is determined by convention. A recipe will be available somewhere for each menu item, but for a high stakes event with professional cooks, they will probably not risk using too many dishes that are new to the cooks, so the cooks will likely know many of the dishes by heart and consult the recipe for these only cursory or not at all. Recipes may also be written down only as a list of ingredients, assuming that the list plus the name of the dish plus the cook's knowledge is sufficient to prepare the meal properly. Somebody will have to take care of the logistics and create a shopping list (it probably has some other name in a large commercial operation), which will not contain all items needed, only the ones which are not currently available in storage. And that one will be used by those who are buying the food, not by the cooks or servers. A prep plan as moscafj suggested might be made, saying what is to be made in which order, but this is entirely optional, and is not the word you are looking for, since it is a simple timeline which doesn't encompass most of the information you asked for, it is just one further element. Cooks are sufficiently self-organizing to be able to get the meal done with everybody doing their own timeline in their head or on personal notes without the need for documenting it. As for serving, most of it is also determined by convention. On formal occasions, there may be a seating plan, but it is not done by the kitchen. Decoration is also part of event management, not catering. I imagine that in some rare occasions, e.g. a formal dinner at a private mansion, somebody will tell the caterer "please serve in the Villeroy Grey Pearl china, not in the Waterford" but once a server is equipped with a set of china, glassware and cutlery, there is no need to plan anything further, they know how to serve. Other situations will involve people who are not seasoned professionals and thus don't have all the implicit knowledge, but these situatins also usually tend to be less formal, involve less cooking (fewer dishes, fewer guests, more parts such as bread being bought instead of made on the spot), and there are fewer people doing the cooking and serving, so less need to orchestrate a team. All three factors reduce the need of explicit planning. At the "easy" end of the whole thing is somebody throwing together a weekday dinner going with whatever is in the fridge, starting without a plan and making decisions while cooking. In the intermediate stages, e.g. 2-3 housewives from an extended family preparing a festive meal for a family celebration, people may do more explicit planning, but then they will also use some variation of the items listed above for the formal catering situation. Even when these items (menu, recipes, shopping list, prep plan) are explicitely written down, nobody perceives the combination of them as one cohesive "thing", so it doesn't have a name. Your information architecture You give very little information about what your app is supposed to do, so I cannot give more than the most general advice. If you really need a single "entry point" for the cook/caterer, it probably have to be the menu. Since all other planning items depend on the menu (OK, the recipes don't strictly follow the menu, but the selection out of the pool of possible recipes does), it does have a bit of a "root of all things" role. So you could give the menu a more prominent role in the UI and have the user first visit the menu and from there navigate to each recipe, and possibly have the shopping list for the menu and the prep plan for the menu. Another option is to call the unifying concept an "event" and have the menu, the shopping list and the prep plan belong to the event entity, and link the recipes from the menu. I am pretty sure both will be intuitive for somebody organizing the cooking for an event. Be sure to know that your users need these items before you invest the resources in programming them. The ability to jot down a menu will be central, but users may not care to enter a recipe for each menu item, since for many items, they are accustomed to doing them from either implicit knowledge or some existing storage system like a cherished grandma's dead-tree notebook. If the recipes are available, it can be useful to calculate a shopping list out of them, but make sure that you can deal properly with different units and with ad-hoc changes the user is making for the event ("this time, I want to make my aunt's panna cotta with strawberries instead of blueberries"). A space to enter an optional prep plan may be used under some circumstances, but find out from your users if they care for it. If they do, don't try to calculate it from information in the recipes, there are many implicit dependencies you won't be able to really place into your software. Just give them the blank space or maybe some minimal structure like time slots.

I am looking for an alternative to a procedure that my wife uses. She has been doing this for a very long time, and is very resistant to change. She takes a metal ladle, puts about 1 oz of vegetable oil in it, then holds it on the electric stove burner until the oil bubbles. Then she adds Geera (Cumin) to the oil. This is then added to the stew pot. One possibility is a very small metal pot, but I haven't found anything suitable. Maybe there is name for something like this that would help me find it.

Ajitsuke tamago are likely a culinary descendant of lu dan, Chinese soy sauce marinated eggs. Lu dan are also frequently added to soups, and can be hard or medium boiled. As a very old Asian food, they exist in other Asian cuisines as well, including Korean and Filipino. What's interesting is the lack of marinated, but not pickled, egg recipes from non-Asian cultures. Every country in Europe has some form of pickled eggs, but savory marinated eggs doesn't seem to be something that Europeans discovered before trade with China.

I don't know a thing about cured ham, but I just opened this ham, and while I realize a cured ham probably has a peculiar smell, I can't imagine this horrific stench being intended. My entire apartment smells like a trashcan on a hot day, and the ham has both black and green spots on it. Seven meters away, the smell is still strong enough that it just about makes me gag, and every instinct I have is telling me this is not edible. tl;dr: are jamon serrano hams supposed to smell overpoweringly like old mouldy food, or did I just blow $80 and a perfectly good towel on a worthless chunk of rot? This is what it looks like: Follow-up: I've been in contact with the store, and I'm going to go get a refund. I showed the ham to some knowledgeable people in real life as well, and they agreed that it's spoiled. Thanks a huge lot for all your helpful answers!

Microbiologist here. That meat is clearly spoiled, please don't eat it. While you could clean the mold off the outside, the discoloration and smell suggests that other microbes are at work too. Save yourself the intestinal pain and just toss it out.

The title says it all. Context: food preservation

As Lars Friedrich already wrote, curing with salt is a way to kill bacteria. A high sugar content and the removal of water in general alters the water activity.1 Some chemicals are toxic to bacteria (and to some extend also toxic to humans) like borax (which is used to preserve caviar; I'm not sure if it only inhibits the growth of bacteria) or ethanol (drinking alcohol). Sulfites are used - not exclusively - in wine making and on dried fruit. You can alter the pH. I doubt the food will be edible as-it-is. Last but not least you can irradiate the food to sterilize it. Irradiation is also commonly used to sterilize (disposable?) medical equipment. Please note that freezing does not kill any bacteria. Side note: There are some other bacteria that survive even in such adverse environments but they are not common as foodborne pathogens. If you really want to be sure that the food is sterile without cooking, you have pressure-sterilize, "poison" it or irradiate it. You can also preserve food even with bacteria and fungi: A sourdough has an almost indefinitely shelf-live. It basically only consists of flour, water and a mix of many different bacteria and yeasts. Cultured milk also has a very long shelf life. For further reading: The FAT TOM rule describes the six favorable conditions required for the growth of foodborne pathogens. 1 Caveat: (Botulinum) spores survive in honey. Do they count as bacteria?

I have a whole garlic where almost all cloves are slightly brown, a bit translucent and soft. This is a photo of one of the cloves: The cloves are also a bit sticky when peeled. It reminds me a bit of how pickled garlic looks like: These are not brown spots, so it doesn't seem bruised. Tastewise the garlic seems less strong than regular, light yellow garlic. Does anybody know how these cloves ended up like this?

This is a defect known as "waxy breakdown" or "waxy decomposition", and is caused by growing or storing the garlic under too hot conditions. See http://livegpath.cals.cornell.edu/gallery/garlic/waxy-breakdown-on-garlic/, which also mentions that anaerobic storage conditions are also considered a possible cause or contributing factor by scientists.

In muffin recipes, the instructions often say to stir the mixture till "just combined". Why does over-stirring the muffin mixture result in tough muffins? And how do you know if you did too much stirring?

The easiest way to tell if you've over stirred muffins, quick breads or cakes is the texture when it's baked. Correct, and it's all even. Over stirred, and you'll have a series of larger bubbles in the cake, called 'tunneling', where it looks like worms have burrowed their way through your cake or muffin. Stirring develops gluten, which is essential to trap in bubbles for most yeast breads, and to give it a little bit of chew -- but not something that you want in a typical quick bread. (muffins, cake, etc.)

Can a dough of only flour and water stay usable indefinitely (as in between a few days and a few weeks) when stored covered at room temperature? I made a batch of dough last week and ended up with a good portion of it unused. Today, I finally managed to finish it off by turning it into flatbread. Having the dough on hand throughout the week was convenient, but is there anything that I should watch out for in terms of food safety or taste?

Adding too much chocolate might be the cause....do use cocoa and chocolates at a balancing amount...(half of the chocolates and half of the cocoa)this works!! And do not forget to use milk....this makes the cake moist... And if you want it to be fluffy enough you might use bicarbonated soda!! This'll give good result!!

I tried to make goat cheese following the recipe below, I did not use any buttermilk although a comment indicated that could be done. I kept the milk at the desired temperature for 10-15 minutes with no curdling occuring, took off the stove then added the reccomeneded amount of lemon juice and still no curdling occured. http://guiltykitchen.com/2010/12/06/back-to-basics-culinary-fundamentals-goat-cheese/ My solution was to put the milk back on the heat until it started to curdle, and then take off the heat and add more lemon juice which produced curds, and then I was able to continue following the recipe. The result was a crumbly cheese that wasn't very spreadable. I used milk from a local farm, it did not have any indication of how pasturized it was. What did I do wrong? Should I have left the milk on the heat at a stable temperature until is started to curdle?

Classic Chevre uses a bacterial culture as well as rennet to coagulate the cheese, but that is not the only way to make a goat's cheese. The recipe you linked to doesn't have a long incubation time, so I doubt there's any intention that the buttermilk is inoculating the cheese and there's no rennet. So I think the "bacteria" idea is a red herring. A very simple goat's cheese can be made with goat's milk and lemon juice. I have had great success with it. It does make a fairly soft cheese, though how soft depends on how long its left to drain. The recipe I use has 1/3 cup (US) lemon juice to 1 quart milk. I'm in the UK so this works out as 2 lemons per litre. The result is quite "lemony" and you might want to use another acid source (white wine vinegar for instance) but if you keep trying you can home in on what you like. Simple acid cheeses like reasonably high temperatures. My recipe uses 180 - 185F (which may be hotter than you have used) before adding the lemon juice. The other thing is, its generally much easier to just let the milk sit after acidification so the curd can develop. 10 minutes is usually enough, but you can always leave it 20 or 30 minutes if the curd is slow to set. The guilty kitchen recipe goes straight to ladling out the curds. That is something you do for a ricotta or high acid cheese (which may sort of be what they are aiming for - I don't cook with buttermilk myself so don't have the experience) but I'd want to let things set a bit first with a simple goat's cheese. So: warm slowly to 180-185F, add lemon, sit, strain through cheesecloth to the texture you like. Crumbly may be an indication that its not setting long enough?

I am trying to make a hot / spicy almonds using raw almonds and cayenne pepper. Is there a simple non-messy way to get the cayenne pepper to stick to the almonds? I imagine I could mix the almonds with olive oil before spreading it or similar but was hoping there is a better "hack" that is not as messy.

That's the trick to getting spices to adhere to nuts. If you are worried about the messiness perhaps your method can be improved. Put your nuts into a tossing bowl and slowly drizzle the oil over them. If tossing is a technique you are skilled with you can do that, but I'm guessing it's not, in which case you can stir with a spoon. It won't take much oil, maybe two tablespoons per pound. Maybe less. Then toss nuts again while sprinkling with cayenne. Or spread on a tray and sprinkle with cayenne there. Lastly, if you are still struggling with the oily mess. Try enclosing in a sealable container and shaking. The oil will distribute and the mess will be contained.

Is there something wrong that can happen if I forget to feed my sourdough starter? I kinda forgot to do it twice, but it still appears to have a few bubbles in it. Previously it contained hooch, which I discarded. Also, my starter has a dense consistency because the whole grain flour I guess. So how should I feed it? I am using 5 tbsp of flour and 4 tbsp of tap water (previously rested for an hour or more to let the chlorine to fall to the bottom)

Then feed it again In my experience, any issues with sourdough, up to and including a surface layer of fungus, formaldehyde smell, and rotten dirty socks smell, can be fixed by simply feeding it. The worse the sourdough's condition is, the longer you have to feed it; if you don't have any of the above mentioned issues, two days consistent feeding should be fine. Three notes: Usually I put in 2:1 volumetric flour to water. I have used whole grain wheat (and rye) before, with no difficulties. The consistency will be a bit different, but whole grains can sustain a good long term sourdough. In my experience, a sourdough "trained" exclusively on whole grains does a much better job on any bread recipe with bran in it; whether whole grain or added. If you are forgetful about a sourdough, consider putting it in the fridge. I put mine in the fridge and feed it once a week. You can miss a couple weeks, which will then cause the aforementioned smells, but it can be recovered in a few days of consistent feeding on the countertop.

Is there a difference between pancakes and Kaiserschmarrn from Austria?

There is a wide range of pancake variants. Kaiserschmarrn are an egg-white leavened pancake often served with fruit and nuts, with the pancake itself being shredded for presentation. This is different than the most typical pancakes served in the US, which are not egg-white leavened, but baking powder leavened, but it is still a type of pancake.

Are all pork in supermarket previously frozen? Where can I get fresh ones? Is there a way to easily tell visually if a meat has been previously frozen?

Reading through the transcript on that episode of Good Eats it seems that he intended for the recipe to be done with the ice cream type rock salt: I also like plain old rock salt. Not only is it good for de-snowing, de-icing your, your front stoop, it's good for, of course, making ice cream, and believe it or not, for baking stuff. That being said, I would personally feel fine using the rock salt since it doesn't come in direct contact with the edible portion of the shrimp. But if I were buying bulk salt specifically to salt bake I'd err on the side of caution and purchase pretzel salt which has very coarse grains and is safe for consumption.

I have a cast iron mortar and pestle, but only the interior is raw cast iron - the outside and part of the handle are enameled, and the majority of the handle is covered in some kind of hard rubber. Is there a way to season something like this, maybe at a lower temperature for a long period of time? If not, what's the best way to care for this and keep it from rusting? If I just wipe it with oil after using it, it gets gunky pretty quickly. Bonus question: any idea who made this? It has no brand identifier on it, and I bought it years ago.

Le Creuset say 450°F/230°C is the maximum temperature their enamelled cast-ironware will take. Other manufacturers seem to be sometimes lower, though that could be a handle/lid requirement rather than the enamel itself - see Why are most enameled cast iron dutch oven's only rated up to 400-450 F? Your problem, assuming you season the mortar with a low-smoke-point oil is that your pestle is going to have to be carefully done over a flame. That handle is not going to survive in the oven. If it's silicone, then about 180°C is about all it can take… that's if you're certain it's silicone. I'm gonna have to edit that apostrophe out of the linked question, it's burning a hole in my OCD ;)

I am a student that recently moved to a student apartment, I have been making grilled sandwiches and storing them in aluminium foil to eat at uni. However, this causes the sandwiches to steam themselves inside the aluminium foil and the bread becomes mushy. How can I prevent this? Is there any way to store it and be able to carry it in the backpack without it steaming itself? Thanks!

No, you can't make a grilled sandwich, seal it and expect it to still be crispy later. You can reduce the mushiness quite a bit by letting the sandwich cool completely on a wire rack before you package it up. If you don't have a wire rack you can make a lattice out of chopsticks or skewers, the important thing is that the bottom of the sandwich can air cool.

What is the name of the flavor of wasabi, horseradish, mustard, capers, and jalapeño? Unfortunately, I'm not fond of the taste of the above ingredients. To me, they taste similar. I don't mind the heat. I love a home-grown scotch bonnet or the occasional Carolina Reaper, but the taste of the above ingredients have a certain taste that are very similar and don't taste good for me. Does that taste have a name? What is it? Disclaimer: While looking for related questions, I found out that I have not tried real wasabi. But I chose to include wasabi because 'fake wasabi' is based on horseradish, which I assume means that they taste similar. Related questions that ask for substitutes: How much of "wasabi" is actually wasabi in the United States? Substitute for horseradish? How can I maximize Wasabi flavor? How can I approximate wasabi taste? Mustard substitute Is horseradish and Wasabi the same thing?

That is probably the ally isothiocyanate. Other veggies that have isothiocyanates include cabbage, bok choy, and kale. It doesn't stand up to heat in powdered flavors very well, usually degrades at the temperatures I've spray dried (roughly 200 C) at and becomes more of a fermented note than a spicy note.

As per the title, I consider "Milk" to be the substance secreted by living being to sustain their young, whether they be human, cow, dog, etc... Almonds do not produce milk to sustain their young, in fact they are simply crushed. This reminds me more of juice than milk. So why don't people call it "Almond Juice"? Wouldn't this be more accurate? The only reason I can think of as to why they would call it Milk would be to attempt to market it as a "milk alternative". Is that all there is to it? Or is there some defining feature that actually makes it fit the definition? EDIT- Looks like I'm not the only one who finds this strange

One reason is simple appearance, I think - opaque white liquids or saps have long been called "milky", including nut milks, coconut milk, dandelion or milk thistle saps, and several other white substances. Nut milks get called milk because they look like milk to the eye. Another reason is that nut milks behave like milks in recipes - they are emulsions with sugars, proteins, and fats... fruit juices tend to have nutrients and sugars, mostly, they behave rather differently in cooking. Almond milk was a long held substitute for animal milk in medieval times because it was more reliable - the nuts would be shelf-stable, while actual milk could spoil within hours. It is worth pointing out that nut milks were substitute for so long because they worked in dishes calling for milk, at both the chemical level and for rough flavor profiling. Also, it is probably worth noting that nut milks taste like milk, as well - a mellow flavor, very mild and a bit rich. The flavor isn't strong or sweet like other juices. They are different from cow's milk, true, but perhaps nut milks are not immensely more different from cow's milk than it is different from sheep's milk or goat's milk. In the end, nut milks get called milk because they seem similar, and there's no other category they fit into more neatly. If it is to label them as an alternative, it is a very old label, and for an alternative that works very well in nearly all applications. Ps: if it helps, the nutrients extracted from the almonds into the milk were produced by the parent tree and intended to sustain the baby almond-plant... so the major difference is that the plant stores the milk in solid form, not whether it was meant for the next generation or not

I have a recipe for macarons that works well; it says to use 2 trays while baking to get the raised lip. I find if I crust the macarons overnight, that the lip comes up because the goo inside explodes like a volcano ripping apart the outer layer crust. My question is though: what are the optimal conditions - should the oven be hotter or warmer? how long is long enough for crusting Finally, how do people make them in such nice neat shapes? Mine always come out looking misshapen.

I was lucky enough to get a macaron session from a Michelin-starred pastry chef before Christmas and he gave me some invaluable tips. Use an Italian meringue recipe. In other words, pour warm sugar syrup on to the egg whites instead of sugar from the cupboard. The eggs will already have been 'cooked' into structure and will not require any crusting. They will retain the same shape that you pipe them out at. You can bake them straight away, or in a couple of hours - they won't be any different. When piping, use a moderate pressure. Don't wring the bag out. Keep the nozzle approx 2cm over the tray and maintain that height while you pipe - let the weight of the batter spread the macaron out evenly. When there is enough mixture in place (about 4cm across?) stop squeezing and flick the nozzle away in a controlled circular motion to avoid creating a 'nipple'. I wrote about this including his recipe on my blog here. PS. I just remembered that adding further weight to the Italian meringue technique a very prominent French chef in the UK, Raymond Blanc, said that he always uses this method. On his TV programme this week he said it delivers far more consistent results.

Does anyone know if ginger root is the same as ginger? I have a recipe with dried ginger but can only find dried ginger root. Hopefully someone knows the answer

Ginger is a root. Ginger root is ginger. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ginger "Ginger or ginger root is the rhizome of the plant Zingiber officinale, consumed as a delicacy, medicine, or spice." If you write ginger too many times it doesn't look like a word anymore.

I was at a restaurant and sat at the chef's table where I could see the chef making the entrees. He seemed to be using thin pans that were battered and dented. I couldn't tell what material they were (either alu or steel; they weren't copper), but they were thin and/or soft enough to be battered and dented. Still, he was able to cook lamb, chicken, duck, and salmon without any burning or sticking. The pans were heated very hot and well oiled. If anything, the thinness of the pans seemed to make heat transfer even easier. This caused me to come home and look a bit askance at my heavy, all-clad, triple-ply cookware. Are thin-pans totally usable and it's just all in the chef? This seems to upend my purchasing habits entirely.

Are thin-pans totally usable and it's just all in the chef? Yes, and no. As usual, skill matters more than tool choice. A bad cook won't turn out good food with a great pan. A great cook with a bad pan will usually outcook an intermediate cook with a great pan. But the same intermediate cook will turn out better food with a great pan than with a terrible pan. The difference the pan makes is mostly the evenness of heating, and somewhat in the food layer which gets heated. A professional cook typically pays more attention to the food and knows how to react to uneven heating, e.g. by stirring/flipping at the best moment. The pan in the professional kitchen is also better preheated, instead of being taken out for the current dish only. In some parts of Europe, the home cook also cooks on a resistive stove, so each dent or warp is very problematic, unlike cooking on gas. Then there come the cooking techniques. The thin pan limits you there. It is well suited for standard frying and stir frying. That is, you use enough oil and keep the food moving. Many home cooks love to apply an almost imperceptible amount of oil, which means that the pan's heating evenness is much more important. Also, if you want to leave your food sitting there, an overheated pan (or a pan with overheated spots) will burn it. There are also results which I think not even a pro can achieve with thin steel pans. For example, I have never seen crepes get a beautiful even dark color when made on a thin alu pan, while mine get it automatically in the cast iron at home. In the end, your purchasing habit is your personal decision. A thin pan is not equivalent to a thick pan in handling and outcome, and it is up to you to choose what tradeoffs you are willing to make.

A typical bit of advice on the subject says: Store your herbs and spices in a cool, dry place. The ideal temperature is one that remains fairly constant, averaging right around 70° F." You're also supposed to keep them dark and dry. I do this by keeping my spices in a drawer, but I'd really like that space for something else, and to put my spices in opaque magnetic jars on the fridge. The opaque jars would keep out the light, and the cap would keep out the moisture, but my fridge is only two feet away from the stove, and there's probably more light, moisture, and temperature variation there than there is in the drawer. Is this difference worth worrying about?

It appears to be a 'Meat/Cheese Press': https://picclick.co.uk/Vintage-Mason-Cash-Cast-Iron-Ceramic-Meat-312233238612.html I'm not sure why you'd press meat, but you'd use it with cheese to press the whey out.

I just baked a chocolate chip cheesecake in the oven for 65 minutes and forgot to put a water bath in there! what do I do to make sure that it's done okay? I don't have a thermometer. Did I ruin the whole thing?

If the recipe called for 65 minutes with a water bath and you baked it for 65 minutes without one, it will certainly be done and almost certainly taste good. The texture might be different than the recipe intended because you've effectively let it get a bit hotter, and the surface might have cracks (which is only an issue if you care a lot what it looks like). I'd be very surprised if it's ruined!

I just moved across country and basically sold everything I own including my cooking pans. I used to use a medium-high sided two handled pan that I cannot find an image for to show you. It worked for my purposes but I am generally cooking risotto for six and it never held enough and I would end up with some of my grains still on the crunchy side. I tried a larger around pan and it would not heat evenly enough on a conventional range. In a moment of desperation I tried using a wok, that was not a good idea. In any case I find myself on the hunt for a good pan to use that will handle six servings and heat evenly, I know I could cook in batches but I am generally just trying to get dinner on the table. I am also aware that pans are subjective but with such a price range difference out there I don't have the money to experiment.

I suggest getting a quality stainless clad saute pan or saucier. For years I made risotto in the All-Clad 3 qt. saute pan shown here: Unless you're serving huge portions this is plenty of room for 6 servings of risotto. There are larger options available though, including a mammoth 14" 6 quart one. This pan easily does 90% of the work in my kitchen, so at any price it carries its weight in the kitchen. That said, this past Christmas I got the All-Clad 3 qt. copper-core saucier shown here: It's a very close matchup, but this pan is perfect for making risotto. The higher sides are a definite benefit, but you don't sacrifice much in flat surface area. The copper core is amazingly responsive, noticeably more so than aluminum. It's obviously rather expensive, so if you're uncomfortable spending that much on a pan I'd suggest getting one of their regular 3 qt sauciers -- you'll spend at least half as much. If I only had one pan in my kitchen though, I think I'd still go back to the saute pan above. Its versatility is just unmatched. Regarding your concerns that a wider pan won't heat as evenly, this is generally true for a cheaper pan. However, All-Clad pans use magic to bond a layer of aluminum (or copper) between a layer of magnetic stainless (exterior) and 18/10 stainless (interior). The end result is a very even heat which you can actually confirm with an infrared thermometer.

Every recipe about searing duck breasts I've seen says that you should score the breasts cutting through the skin, but not too deep: you should avoid cutting into the meat. I do follow this instruction but don't completely understand why. What harm could be done if I cut through the meat, just a little? What exactly should I avoid?

The little bit (about 4 - 5 grams after cooking) of fat in the breast itself will render out faster, and you could end up with a dryer over-crispy duck breast by the time it's done in the center. A tiny ding shouldn't present a problem, but if you actually get the whole or most of the edge of the blade into the breast, you'll have to pay close attention to heat as you cook it. If you score it that deep, you're probably better off poaching it in butter after searing. The juices in the breast make it moist, and you definitely don't want to lose those either, but that tiny bit of fat in the breast once you've rendered out what's in the skin makes it delicious. You really want to keep that in.

Im asking since I have directly added frozen peas to a flavor base with water. Its been over 30 minutes in simmering temperature with a lid and the peas are still not tender. They also stuck to the bottom of the pan.

There's no point in boiling peas separately if you can cook them in whatever dish you are making, it's an extra pan to clean up and you lose whatever flavor gets leached out in the cooking process. I think where you went wrong is adding them frozen as you caused the base to cool and they sank. If you add a lot of peas the base can take a long time to get back up to cooking temperature, which is why they haven't cooked. Next time thaw them in hot water before you add them to the pot, this will make them cook much faster and it will get rid of any excess water from ice (some companies pack water with their frozen vegetables to bulk them out) which can dilute your food. The peas don't have to be warm or even up to room temperature, just not frozen anymore. Once you add them give them a stir or two every couple of minutes to keep them from sinking and burning on the bottom. If you do want to add them to the pot frozen then you need to crank the heat up until the pot is back up to temperature.

I don't have a single tools to measure the weight of ingredient. I came across recipe with different weight: 1/4 cup olive oil 1 pound dried spaghetti 2 tablespoons butter 4 ounces Pecorino Romano cheese, finely grated 1 1/2 teaspoon finely ground black pepper Salt (optional) There are already 5 units, how do you measure them separately? If you use a scale, do you translate the unit? Also, do you have any picture for the size of cup/tablespoon/teaspoon/etc? I have spoons in different size. And cup, to me, is also unknown in size. I also welcome recommendations of scales and alternative methods to weigh the ingredients.

This is something that really puzzled me when I went living in an English-speaking country. Having grown up in Italy, where recipes tell you "Put 120g of this then add 250g of that", I've always used a scale. The first time I saw I recipe with cups and teaspoons I said: yeah, but I've got 10 types of cups in the kitchen... which one should I be using? Then someone told me that they were real unit of measure and introduced me to measuring spoons (something that in Italy would be very difficult to come by). So, going back to your question: I strongly second @Adam's opinion of buying a digital scale: they're cheap and do the job (personally, I would not spend more than $30-40 on it, but you can find $300 ones if you wish). If your recipe calls for teaspoons, cups, etc. then you can: Buy measuring spoons/cups (you can find a complete set for $10, for instance this) Convert them to g (or whatever your scale measures) using an online calculator. If you google for "teaspoons to grams" or "cups to grams" you'll find plenty. You can even get an app on your phone. I use this app which works pretty well (I'm sure there's a similar thing for iPhone, but I don't use Apple products, so I can't help there).

I've had a lot of success making bread and pizza dough using the Jim Lahey "No knead" method, leaving the covered dough to ferment up to 18 hours. I normally cover the mix tightly with plastic wrap, and it will bulge slightly, maybe up to 1cm at the centre with ~ 500g proved dough at the end of the time. In the interests of saving waste, I have invested in a set of stainless steel bowls, which have relatively rigid lids with a double airtight seal. They are a push fit rather than clip over variety, so in theory if the CO2 production is excessive, they would pop off. Will using these bowls have a detrimental effect on the quality of the dough if the lid stays on for the full duration? Or have I wasted my money here and could have just replaced the cling film with a large plate?

This should not impact your rise at all, unless the container is too small to allow for dough expansion. In which case, you might have a mess on your hands. Many people (me included) use sealable containers, though I more frequently just use a clean kitchen towel (a plate would work too), the idea is just to keep the dough from drying.

Is there a way to keep Totino's Pizza Rolls from opening and spilling contents in the oven, or is that just what they do? We normally cook half the bag at 425° for 14min, which is following the instructions on the bag almost completely (we add one minute because we like them well done).

I've had this issue for years, and only recently found the solution! I just bought a microwave/convection/air fryer, and discovered when I heat the pizza rolls using the air fryer setting, the pizza rolls come out perfectly crispy, hot, and best of all, completely intact with all the filling!! Yay!! Hope it works for others who have struggled w this wonderful little snack

I want to make a lightly sweetened, very dark chocolate sauce. I've been trying to make this with water or milk and cocoa powder and a small amount of sugar. It has the taste I want, but the problem I'm having is that the cocoa settles to the bottom of whatever it's stored in and is a pain to mix every time it's used. I've thought about making a syrup, however that requires a lot of sugar. I've thought about adding a gum, but that seems to change the taste. Any ideas? I'm also open to better dark recipes, such as @rumtscho suggested (using chocolate instead of cocoa powder).

You are fighting a losing battle here. Cocoa powder does not dissolve in water, and it will simply sediment over time. If you are unwilling to do something about viscosity (and I understand that - gums do change flavor), you can only slow the process by using methods which are increasingly difficult to apply at home (basically, creating smaller cocoa powder pieces). If you are not already doing so, boiling the sauce first will help somewhat. This is the same line of thinking as adding some starch (cornstarch or tapioca were mentioned, doesn't matter which). Cocoa powder itself is mostly starch, so once it is cooked, it will be more puddinglike and will bind water better. My preferred solution though would be to abandon the recipe and start working with chocolate instead. Chocolate is a sol, consisting of solid particles suspended in fat. Much like an emulsion, only both phases are solid. When you mix it with the fatty emulsion of milk, you achieve a much smoother mixture than the cocoa powder + water combination. It won't guarantee perfect dispersion, but should be better. Unlike the previous suggestion, do not boil or you will lose the advantages of the existing sol/emulsion.

I dropped my brand new microwave transferring right out of the box and before use. It landed on the back right corner. The frame is bent, but it doesn't look like anything else is wrong. I don't know if I can still use it; is it safe to just try it?

I'm not sure whether or not this question is really on-topic here. But the basic answer is that microwaves generally have a lot of safeguards built in to avoid radiation leakage, if that's what you're worried about. The FDA states: There is little cause for concern about excess microwaves leaking from ovens unless the door hinges, latch, or seals are damaged. In FDA's experience, most ovens tested show little or no detectable microwave leakage. If there is some problem and you believe your oven might be leaking excessive microwaves, contact the oven manufacturer, a microwave oven service organization, your state health department, or the nearest FDA office. So, if only very minor exterior damage was done, and there was no damage to the door or seals, it seems unlikely there would be a problem. On the other hand, WHO recommends: The design of microwave ovens ensures that the microwaves are contained within the oven and can only be present when the oven is switched on and the door is shut. Leakage around and through the glass door is limited by design to a level well below that recommended by international standards. However, microwave leakage could still occur around damaged, dirty or modified microwave ovens. It is therefore important that the oven is maintained in good condition. Users should check that the door closes properly and that the safety interlock devices, fitted to the door to prevent microwaves from being generated while it is open, work correctly. The door seals should be kept clean and there should be no visible signs of damage to the seals or the outer casing of the oven. If any faults are found or parts of the oven are damaged, it should not be used until it has been repaired by an appropriately qualified service engineer. Basically, I can't know how much damage and/or what type of damage you did by dropping it. (And no one else here could know for certain either.) Microwaves are generally designed in such a way to prevent radiation exposure except in cases of severe damage or deliberate disassembling, but I have no idea what may have happened internally to your device by dropping it. If you're concerned about other safety issues (electrical shorts, etc.), it would be even more speculative to try to address whether or not they could happen with these few details.

Preface: I already read Is it possible to bake a cake without an oven? and Baking pizza without an oven. The package of many prearranged, UNcooked frozen flour products presuppose the use of an electric or microwave oven. However, how can these desserts be cooked without them? I have available an electric stovetop, pans, and also a rice cooker. I exemplify frozen flour products with the following: ACE Bakery Frozen Bake Your Own™ Baguettes, Flatbreads, Focaccia and Waitrose Frozen Cheesecakers, Pies, Tarts.

From your list of 'electric stovetop, pots, and rice cooker' I would suggest constructing a double boiler by placing one pot inside another where the inner pot has a lid and the outer pot has a measure of water sufficient to support the inner pot (a steel bowl would be preferable, but you didn't mention that). Using a low heat (just enough to bring the water to a boil). Place your product inside and be prepared to wait. The double boiler will closely resemble oven like convection to evenly (albeit slowly) heat your food. It should brown well and you minimize the risk of burning. If you are making something like a small pizza, you should definitely add a small bit of oil/butter to the bottom of the inner pan. Do you have access to a 'slow cooker' (crock pot)? These can be used to create a variety of 'baked' goods (breads, pizza, cakes...) But I am guessing not (because you didn't list it...) However, you do mention a 'rice cooker' which is not that different (depending on the brand/style) and I would be inclined to experiment with that.

Can I freeze soup in a pot (I believe it's made of stainless steel)? Are there any health risks? Is there any risk of damage to the pot?

There are no health safety risks with storing food in a stainless steel, or most other cooking pot metals for that mater The pot should be fine, but there is always a risk with metal in a freezer in that bare skin contact may freeze to it. Also other products in freezer bags may even freeze to it In general it's easier not to use metal containers in the freezer, unless enamelled or plastic coated

I am a neophyte cook (and a guy). I bought some cast iron cookware in the hope of taking it camping. It seems that it must be seasoned before use. I looked on-line and followed the directions. Not knowing if the seasoning was just for the cooking surface or the entire item, (I figured it's all iron, right) I coated the entire griddle and Dutch oven in vegetable oil and baked at 350° for an hour. Now both items are sticky. What did I do wrong and how do I fix it?

It's possible that you put a too-thick layer of oil on (e.g., if you dumped oil on it instead of wiping it on with a paper towel or similar). Or that you used a oil that doesn't work well; soy works and it's cheap. But more likely, it just hasn't cured fully—and the fix is simple, bake it longer and/or hotter. The exact time/temperature needed depends on the oil you use. And how much smoking you're willing to tolerate. [Hotter is quicker, but smokes more, up until you get too hot and just burn the seasoning off like an oven cleaning cycle.] Note typically you put on more than one layer of seasoning. PS: If it came coated in wax, etc. to prevent rust during shipping, I hope you removed that first. Bare iron is metallic gray.

I love fermenting my own hot sauce and kimchi (sauerkraut). I’ve safely added all sorts of vegetables (carrots, garlic, onion, etc) but want to experiment with new flavors. Can I put some fresh or dry mushrooms in a batch of kimchi? What about anchovies (not fresh, the salty kind packed in oil)

In The Art of Fermentation, Sandor Katz notes that he has fermented shiitake and some other mushrooms, but does not specify fresh or dried. Christopher and Kristen Shockey, authors, owners of Mellonia Farm and the website Ferment Works, include a recipe for Pickled Shiitake in their book Fermented Vegetables that calls for dried shiitake. In the recipe notes they also suggest adding dried mushroom slices to sauerkraut. Fish is often added to vegetables for kimchi, depending on the style of kimchi being made. Maangchi, cookbook author and blogger, has several recipes for kimchi, like Easy Kimchi with fish sauce and fresh squid and Traditional Napa Cabbage Kimchi with fish sauce and salted, fermented shrimp. I have not seen recipes for oil-packed fish, but fresh, salt-packed, or dried anchovies would all be worth experimenting with. I have heard of oil being used in certain applications in lacto-fermented vegetables, but I am not sure how an oil-packed ingredient would interact with the rest of the ferment. For example, I have read blog posts of people use a layer of oil on the top of their fermentation vessel as a type of airlock--the CO2 passes through the olive oil but oxygen cannot penetrate it. I have not used this method, though. There are also traditional Indian pickles made in mustard oil in sunlight (whereas most lacto-ferments are kept out of direct light or even in darkness). There have been cases of botulism forming in olive oils flavored with fresh garlic and herbs; botulism bacteria are introduced to the oil from the fresh produce and then thrive in the anaerobic environment of the oil. Acidification is required to treat the produce to prevent botulism. Lacto-ferments create an acidic environment unfriendly to botulism, so the situations are not identical, but caution should be used when introducing oil to lacto-ferments.

Sometimes when I get frozen fish, it comes with several pieces frozen together (specifically, Trader Joe's does this with all of their frozen fish). Is there any good way of separating them without fully thawing? This could also apply to other frozen things, but I'm mainly interested in fish.

If the pieces are only frozen together in a few places, you might want to try heating a butter knife up under hot water and then using that to pry them apart. This is similar to heating up an ice cream scoop. It won't work if they are really packed in together tightly though.

I followed this recipe of beef vindaloo, last night, triple checking everything written there. Since I don't have a spice grinder, I put the chopped onions, chopped tomatoes, salt and spices in a mixie and converted it into a fine paste. Then poured it into a container which had 1kg cleaned beef pieces, poured 250ml of vinegar (the recipe says 250ml for 0.5kg beef, but I felt pouring 500ml for 1kg of beef is too much). It's been marinated in a fridge overnight. Today morning the beef seems a bit tough when I squeeze it. I thought it's supposed to turn tender. Anyway, now the recipe asks me to use the marinade for frying the beef a bit. This confuses me. How is beef going to get fried (even though there will be 8tbsp of oil), when the marinade contains a good amount of water from the tomatoes and onions? Every other recipe I have known, the tomatoes are only added after the frying takes place. I've never known tomatoes being used in marination. Is this really something that works? Every other recipe calls for the onions to be fried along with the spices. Is onion really blended into a paste and used for marination? Now that I have a rather large quantity of marinade full of onion and tomato, will that ruin the taste of the curry because the onion paste might not actually get fried? Should I (instead of trying to fry the marinade), take some fresh onions, chop them up with some ginger and garlic and fry them in oil until golden brown, and take the beef pieces separately and fry it for a while (until the outsides are brown) with the onions, ginger and garlic and later add the entire marinade to make a curry? Somehow I feel that if I just follow the rest of the recipe on that page, the curry will get messed up.

That seems normal. All the "raw" means is that it was extracted from the honeycomb without significant heating. It's liquid to start with in the honeycomb, so it's normal for it to still be liquid when you get it. I don't know if I'd call it runny, it should still generally be a pretty thick, slow-flowing liquid, but it's not a paste. The color is mostly just a function of what the bees were gathering. Dark is often more flavorful, probably a good thing, but depends on your tastes. Mass-produced honey is very often lighter, and wildflower honey (where the bees just get whatever they want) is very often darker. I've definitely seen plenty of raw, unfiltered honey that looks liquid and roughly the darkness of the raw honey you bought, judging by the picture in the linked page. If anything, it's probably more common to find dark unfiltered honey, because the filtering can lighten it up a bit. The "paste" you linked to looks like it's crystallized/creamed. There are a lot of tiny sugar crystals, making it thicker and opaque, which tends to make it look a bit lighter too. (It's not completely smooth, like "perfect" creamed honey, but it's a lot smoother than uncontrolled crystallization, so I think it's fair to call it creamed.) Raw, unfiltered honey does crystallize more easily, because it has more imperfections in it to jump-start crystallization, so it's not entirely surprising to see raw honey in that form. But raw honey certainly doesn't have to be that way.

I want to make zabaglione and think that the taste could benefit if I sweeten it with honey instead of sugar. But I am not sure whether the sugar crystals have a physical effect on the fluffing up. Can I do it, or will it be flatter without the sugar?

Honey, for me, makes zabaglione terribly heavy. However, you can buy Crumiel, a dehydrated honey product from the Texturas line by Albert and Ferran Adria. My understanding is that it can essentially be used as a substitute for sugar while retaining the honey flavour.

If my recipe calls for white rum and I only have Jamaican rum can I still use the same measurements?

It really depends on the recipe. Dark rum tends to have a more complex flavor, heavy on molasses. As long as you like that and feel it will go well with the rest of the recipe, it is fine. It isn't going to make any substantial chemical difference in a way that will affect the outcome, so base your decision completely on flavor and color.

I have asked many people about "best to way to clean cauliflower" before cooking. I got several answers, like keeping in salt water or add soak in turmeric mixed water. And also how do you remove worms from cauliflower?

A bucket of salty water is the best way to get rid of bugs. That said, I've never had a problem with bugs in store-bought cauliflower. You need to completely submerge the head in water, so a bucket that can fit the whole head is best. Add about 2 Tbsp salt per quart warm water to get it nice and salty. Submerge the head, florets down (they float, so a weight to keep it submerged will help). Let sit 5-10 minutes, remove, rinse, and eat as you please. The salt in the water helps to kill the bugs and encourage them to let go. It also might kill some surface contamination if it exists, but this isn't really the point. You should see bugs either floating or at the bottom when you remove the cauliflower. If you don't need the head whole when cooking, core and cut into desired size prior to soaking.

A tortilla bread recipe calls for 3/4 cup milk, is it okay to use yogurt which is thinned by water? Flour 2 cups Baking powder 1 and 1/2 tsp Salt 1/2 tsp Oil 2 tbsp Warm milk 3/4 cup Many other recipes call for water instead, but I believe milk makes the bread softer and affect the texture. That's why I'd use yogurt.

Yogurt will work just fine. It will even give you some nice extra flavor. Unless it is greek yogurt you don't need to thin it at all. Greek yogurt has some water drained off but normal yogurt has the same water content as the milk it was made from. In some recipes you might have to thin it to get the right consistency to work with but in the case of flour doughs you can just mix it into the dough straight.

Really, that's all I want to know. Whenever I try to make it with the store bought "dry" noodles and soak my dish comes out terribly. What are the best sauces to use? Best way to keep the egg from clumping? etc? Thanks!

I live in Thailand so I feel I'm qualified to answer this question. The key sauce for pad see ew (ผัดซีอิ๊ว) is figured out from the dish's name. See ew (ซีอิ๊ว) is a Thai soy sauce that is either dark or light and sweet or salty (yes, four versions in total). The dish also contains fish sauce. In my opinion, pad see ew tastes best using the dark sweet sauce, which has a deep molasses flavour. Use only sauce made in Thailand and there are no substitutions. Look for this on the label: ซีอิ๊วดำหวาน (dark sweet) or ซีอิ๊วดำ (dark not sweet). Since you probably can't read Thai I suggest you play a spot-the-difference game. My personal favourite is this sauce but it's hard to get outside Thailand. If you do substitute using normal soy sauce you pretty much end up with pad khii mao (ผัดขี้เมา).

I have been baking rhubarb pie since the 60s. All of a sudden I made a couple and they both came out runny. What happened? I always use the same recipe.

The answer from zerobane provides some reasonable suggestions for working around a few common problems. Of course, they require you to know you're going to have problems ahead of time, which is a problem if you're using a "tried and true" recipe that fails infrequently... So ideally, you find a way to identify these problems before you start making your pie, and adjust the recipe as needed. Water content To gauge the water content, macerate your rhubarb ahead of time: Cut the stalks into small pieces Mix well with sugar - most pie recipes call for a rather large amount of sugar in the filling, so add it all now. Refrigerate for several hours. The sugar will draw out moisture from the rhubarb, allowing you to estimate how much thickener you'll need before you start cooking. Which thickener you use will depend on the style of pie you're aiming to make. You could also pour off some of the juice at this stage, but this will tend to reduce the rhubarb flavor. Pectin content The other variable here is pectin. A high pectin fruit (like the granny smith apples zerobane suggested) will - when mixed with sugar - happily thicken its own juices. Pectin levels in rhubarb vary, but generally it is fairly low compared to self-jelling fruits such as apples or oranges so you'll generally always add some additional thickener or (if you're making a jam) additional pectin; adding apples accomplishes the latter, while tapioca flour / clearjel / corn starch accomplish the former. Note that if you opt to add grated apples, you can press the juice out of them first (press them into a sieve or wrap in a towel and squeeze) - this'll increase their ability to thicken the rhubarb juice. If you were hoping to depend heavily on pectin to thicken the filling, you could estimate that ahead of time too. But for a pie filling this is probably overkill; as zerobane suggests, simply pre-cooking the filling (with thickener adjusted based on the liquid released during maceration) will quickly tell you if additional assistance is needed. To add additional starch-based thickener to the hot filling, first mix it into a small amount of water (or fruit juice, or reserved rhubarb juice) and then slowly pour it into the filling while stirring; then simmer for a few minutes until the filling reaches the consistency of gravy - remove from heat, pour into a pie shell, and bake to finish.

I want to make crêpes, but I have run out of milk. I do have all the other ingredients I need. Can I somehow substitute the milk by water or anything else?

You can substitute but don't expect them to be exactly the same, of course. The fat, protein, and sugar in milk all interfere with the flour and egg protein binding in the crepes. Milk will produce a more tender product. Also expect the flavor to be a little less luxurious without the fat and sugar. You can use vanilla or replace some of the oil with butter (if your recipe doesn't already call for them). Powdered milk or evaporated milk are good to have on hand for when you get in situations like this.

I was reading this question, and there's a solution to the OP's answer. I'm not fond of salt and this is a drawback for bacon (to me, that is). I do want to end up with pieces of cooked bacon (so mixing in milk or less bacon won't work), but less salty. Where I live, we also don't have 10 brands of bacon, so choosing the brand with the smallest amount of salt isn't good enough. Is there a way that I can reduce the saltiness of bacon? I don't care about the actual salt percentage. I'm curious about salt perception, so masking up the salt would be nice.

Soak and rinse... completely immerse the side of bacon for a few hours in clean, cold ice-water, drain, rinse, and repeat. A cooler is best for this, as it keeps the meat cool and offers lots of water for the salt to dilute into, otherwise a use a large pot in the fridge. The downside is that this may also affect the "cure" - the smoke-flavor that many manufacturers add in lieu of actually smoking the bacon. Higher quality bacon may not have this issue (but then again, higher quality bacon won't be so salty).

I am using the following list of ingredients in trying to make gluten free, grain free, egg free, sugar free muffins. The texture turned out a bit too dry. Increasing which ingredient would give a moister texture? Bananas or date puree? 1/2 cup Buckwheat flour 1/2 cup Potato starch 1 teaspoon baking soda
 1/4 cup melted butter 1/3 cup date puree 1/2 cup mashed ripe bananas
 1/4 cup yogurt Pinch of cinnamon

Increasing the amount of yogurt and/or banana mash should work best, the former having a more noticeable difference. You might have to experiment to get the amount right, but I'd suggest starting with an additional 1/4 cup of yogurt or banana mash. You could try more date puree as well but that might make the muffins too thick.

Is it possible to make bread using similar batters/techniques as cakes? Or why isn't is possible to make breads using similar techniques or batters as a cake?

There are different products sold as "vanilla powder". What I have seen is pure synthetic vanillin crystals, without maltodextrine or other stuff in it. Generally, I would recommend using the extract if available. It is always made from the real plant, and the alcohol dissolves many different flavor compounds from the plant. Even if the powder is a dried extract from the real plant, it may have less flavor than the extract, if it uses less powerful solvents than alcohol, or if some of the dissolved flavors happen to be removed in the process of drying. But you also have the risk of getting synthetic vanillin, which is only one of the compounds which give the plant its aroma. Used on its own, it is rather harsh and one-dimensional. The extract always tastes better than synthetic vanillin.

This shape of pasta easily nests inside each other. A lot of times if you just pour it directly from the bag/box into boiling water, you will get stacks of them together. Once they are cooking this way it is a major endeavor to separate them. The pasta won't cook evenly because they are stacked together. The ones stacked in the middle will have more al dente centers. How do we prevent this? (One way is to make sure they are separated before entering the water. Once they start cooking and some of them are stacked, what is the best way to separate them?

Adding your pasta to cold water before boiling it may help. You will need to stir more often overall, but the shells won't initially stick together as soon as you add them to the water, and then you can stir to prevent the sticking as they become softer. Harold McGee in a New York Times column wrote this: I prefer starting with cold water, because the noodles don’t stick together at all as they go into the pot, and because I don’t notice a difference in flavor once they’re drained and sauced. What happens is that the starch on the noodles gets rinsed off in the water before it can gelatinize and stick to everything. So you will have to stir even before the water gets warm.

When cooking chicken bought in pieces (quarters), what is the best way to achieve a dish that is without the bones? Should you pull the meat off the bones before or after cooking?

It depends what you are making and how you are cooking the chicken: If what you intend to create is some sort of long-cooked "pieces of meat in sauce" then leave the meat on the bones and simmer for an hour or so. The bones will give much more flavour. When the meat is tender, remove it from the bones, which will be easy, cut it up and put it back in the sauce, and keep going. I do this for curry, stew, and the like. If you intend to give each person a recognizable piece of chicken, such as a grilled breast or a grilled leg, leave the bones in, serve it on the bone, and let the person deal with it. If your plan is to cook the chicken for a very short time, such as a stir fry, then remove it from the bones first and cut it up. It will have less flavour but it will cook quickly. Chicken breast is easiest to debone, and legs are harder - I use legs for the long-cooking and leave the bones in, and breasts for the short cooking and debone and cut them up first.

Generally I have heard that most recipes are designed for baking in metal dishes. I have also heard that glass will get hotter than metal, and thus I should cook it at a lower temperature for longer. Does anyone know whether these statements are true? Am I going to burn the edges if I leave it at the same temperature? What is the truth behind this?

First, the short answer: There's a lot of erroneous information circulating concerning glass bakeware, and very few reliable sources or repeatable experiments seem to be cited. In general, I'd say that the variance among different metal pans of different materials, colors, thicknesses, and coatings will have more significant effects than the difference between glass and metal. So, if you're someone who worries a lot about pan color or thickness and adjusts your oven up or down by a few degrees for it already, then yes, this may be a concern. If you're someone who just assumes all metal baking pans are equivalent anyway, glass is not going to behave much differently -- I'd just say monitor your food when trying a new pan/dish, and adjust your time and temperature accordingly. Now, the long answer: Part of the problem with comparing glass and metal is that there are so many differences: Metal pans conduct heat faster than glass, which can change both how evenly the heat gets distributed throughout the pan and how fast things cook. But this is mostly relevant when the pan is changing temperature (as when first put in the oven) or heated unevenly. Metal pans can vary in color: darker pans will cook faster, while lighter or more reflective ones will cook more slowly. Glass is generally transparent, which decreases some types of radiative heat from the pan color, but it also allows infrared light to pass through which increases radiative heat. Metal pans are usually quite thin compared to glass. Glass therefore heats up and cools down more slowly, so it will be less responsive to changes in baking temperatures. (On the other hand, metal pans can also vary significantly in thickness, too.) Each of these factors may be more or less relevant depending on your specific baking situation and recipe. For example, if we take the last consideration from the list: if you're cooking something for a relatively short time, glass dishes may spend most of the baking time just warming up, which will affect browning and doneness on elements in contact with the pan. But if you're baking a dish for a long time, this factor is less relevant, and the extra heat which is transmitted through the clear glass may actually cause food to cook faster. There's a common rule-of-thumb passed along in many cooking sources that one should decrease the oven temperature by 25F when using a glass baking dish and perhaps decrease cooking time as well. Other sources agree with the 25F decrease, but recommend that cooking time will be increased. But I've seen no reliable source justifying when this is necessary or what exactly we are comparing the glass dish with! If we're comparing glass to its closer cousin, a ceramic casserole dish, then yes, in many cases a glass dish may cook slightly faster due to the extra heat transmitted through the clear glass. But it's much more complicated for comparisons to metal. Harold McGee in On Food and Cooking seems at one point to lump glass together with light-colored dull metal pans in terms of overall baking properties, pointing out that both will transmit heat better than shiny metal pans and thus will cook (about 20%) faster. But dark colored or black pans will increase browning and cooking even more. I recall seeing a Cooks Illustrated test some time ago that basically claimed the oven temperature reduction for glass was generally unnecessary, but I don't recall the details (and can't find the reference now). In terms of actual empirical data, well, there's this source on browning, which baked dough for 15 minutes in four dishes of the same size but different colors and materials. Glass here performed slower than a black pan or thin (shiny) aluminum, but faster than white ceramic. But we can draw few conclusions from such a limited test, since (as I pointed out above) glass dishes take longer to heat up and would likely have performed differently in a longer bake. All of that said, I would offer a few general guidelines: If baking for a short time (say, less than 20-30 minutes), the lag-time in glass warming up will be significant. Cooking may be somewhat slower for food in contact with the glass surface compared to a metal pan. In a hot oven, it may be useful to lower the oven temperature somewhat and cook longer to allow the food in contact with the glass to "catch up" with the top of the food (which might otherwise brown faster). When baking for longer times, glass will cook and brown somewhat faster than shiny metal pans, about as fast as dull (light) metal, but not as fast as dark metal pans. In that case, you may want to make small adjustments in the same way as you might for different colored metal baking pans. If baking a casserole or similar wet dish and using glass instead of opaque ceramic, it may cook and brown somewhat faster due to heat transmitted through the clear dish. Glass will generally retain more heat when removed from the oven than metal pans, so baked goods or other food left in the glass dish will continue to cook somewhat longer. In some circumstances, this may justify removing the dish from the oven when slightly underdone or else removing the contents (particularly baked goods) from the pan earlier. I don't think there's any truth to the general statement that glass always "cooks faster." Lowering the oven temperature slightly may be a good idea if you are concerned about the top surface browning before the bottom in a particular recipe, but glass is not a unique material to do that for. Overall, I'd recommend just using other doneness indicators (internal temperature, browning, texture, firmness, etc.) to determine when your food is done. The one nice thing about glass baking dishes is that you can view the food from many more angles, which can often give you information about how fast the dish is cooking on the bottom as well as the top -- and you can adjust oven temperature as needed to try to even things out.

Many of the premixed curry pastes and curry dishes I have eaten have a brownish / reddish colour to them. I have a nice collection of spices that I cook with, but my curries seem to always look and taste quite similar. Most of these are a yellowy colour, dominated by turmeric. Thinking of butter chicken and also a goat masala that is available at a local restaurant; what dominant coloured spice am I missing that would give my curries a red or brown colour? I am assuming that these would introduce me to some new flavours that I can mix and match with. Note: I already have paprika.

I've seen a lot of different curry recipes with varying levels of authenticity, but the most common ingredients I see in curries that might impart that colour are: Garam masala (brown) Chili powder (red) Cumin (brown) Paprika (red) Tandoori powder (usually a mix of masala, cumin, ground red pepper, fenugreek, and others - very red) Saffron (red) Still, it's all kind of a moot point, because, in Indian restaurants the most common source of red is actually red food colouring. Don't kid yourself; Indian restaurants use plenty of "artificial" ingredients - they also usually use food colouring in the saffron rice, which is how they get those few vibrant red grains to mix in with the yellowish rice.

My favorite chicken-and-mushroom soup recipe incorporates hot peppers and, on upon immediate serving has a lovely kick. However the reheated leftovers are entirely bland, almost as if the "hot" from the peppers dissolves away into the soup. I've tried using more peppers and hotter varietals, but still can't get the leftovers to have any appreciable level of spiciness. This is the general recipe that I'm following: Poach chicken breasts in 6 cups water along with spices and garlic. Remove chicken, strain stock, discard solids. Add chopped mushrooms (hen-of-the-woods or shiitake), chile pepper, chopped ginger, tbsp vinegar, tbsp soy sauce, and simmer. After ~10 minutes, add back chopped up chicken breasts and simmer until meat is warmed through. The original recipe called for 1 Fresno chile, thinly sliced. I've tried up to 6 Fresno chiles, but also, in separate tries, 6 serrano peppers and 6 habanero peppers. (My local supermarket doesn't carry anything hotter than habaneros.) When I slice the peppers, I retain the seeds and pith. In all attempts, the broth itself doesn't become spicy, but on the first day the sliced peppers provide an ample "kick" and act like little pockets of spiciness. Regardless of the pepper type or quantity, the peppers in the leftover soup lose their kick, and the broth remains un-spicy. My first instinct here is to remove the peppers from the broth and use them as a garnish; the fact that they're cooked with the broth however makes me think that the original recipe authors intended for the broth to take on some of the spiciness from the peppers. Questions: Why do the peppers lose their spiciness in the leftovers? What are some possibly ways to adjust this recipe to make the broth take on the spiciness of the peppers?1 1 I ask this so that I can try and do what the original recipe author intended by cooking the peppers with the broth: making the broth spicy. If I can manage that, then I can service the hot peppers as a garnish and then not worry about them losing their kick overnight.

The perception of "spicy" is completely dependent on the person. And there is a "tolerance building" thing going on too: what is intolerably hot for somebody not accustomed to heat might not even register for somebody who eats hot frequently. As an anecdote, I had a friend who started eating hot. After a month, she started asking the cook to use pure tabasco instead of tomato sauce on the pizza. After another month, she complained that the pizza was made with tomato sauce and the poor cook had to let her taste her from the bottle to convince her that the pizza was indeed made with pure tabasco, it just didn't have the same "kick" for her after habituation. From your description of your soup only feeling hot enough for you after adding six habaneros with the seeds, it seems that you have developed an extremely high heat tolerance. And this would be an explanation for what you observed. Six habaneros will contain a certain amount X of capsaicin. When your soup is fresh, the pepper has enough capsaicin concentration that you notice it and enjoy it. But when you leave it alone, the broth dissolves the capsaicine (unlike pure water, the fat and maybe also the solvents from the vinegar enable it to do so). So you end up with a kind of "capsaicine tea". But remember that you have the same amount X of capsaicine, this time diluted in litres of soup, as opposed to sticking all in one bite of pepper. So, now that you bite on the pepper, you don't get the heat. But when drinking the broth, its concentration is so low that it does not register for somebody with a high heat tolerance. From your subjective point of view, the heat has "disappeared". The original intention of the recipe author was certainly that the whole soup becomes somewhat hot. And for people with less heat tolerance, it will work well. They will be able to eat the broth and notice the heat, even with much lower quantities of hot pepper. For you, it seems that you still haven't reached the dose which will work for you in a soup. So you can add more capsaicin - either use more peppers, or find a source for hotter ones. If the logistics are a problem, buy them dried. But note that at no point will the whole soup taste as hot as the single fresh pepper (due to the dilution), and also that you will become habituated with time, just like my friend with the tabasco pizza.

Morton's Tender Quick says to cure for hours, but the curing recipe I am using says to cure my ham for 4 days. I am wondering does Morton's Tender Quick cure so fast that it only needs hours? Or can I cure with it as long as 4 days? or is that only for insta-cure and pink salt? I am way confused. I can only find Morton's and I really just want to get started curing.

Morton's Tender Quick is a fast cure salt meant to be mixed in with ground meats or used for curing thinner cuts (or fish). Hams must be brined for days in order for the salt solution to penetrate deeply through the flesh and prevent spoilage. It is important to follow good curing protocol and use the amount of salt as requested in the recipe. Sodium nitrate, or pink salt #2, is not essential from a food safety perspective for whole muscle curing but is for dry-curing various salumi.

I'd been taught growing up that you should never store canned food in the fridge in the open can. Is there any scientific basis to this, or is it just an old wives tale? What types of foods should not be stored in their can once open? Would olives, for example, be harmed from this sort of storage? Or only more acidic foods like tomato paste or pineapple be affected?

Short answer: storing food in an open can is normally safe for a short period, but inadvisable. Longer answer: There are three main issues with storing foods in an open can. They are metal oxidation, contamination, and funk. Oxidation. As commenters have observed, cans used to be made of tin, which is toxic. Modern cans are made from either steel or aluminum. If the contents of the can are acidic, cans are lined with a polymer (plastic) inner layer. If that layer is broken -- say, by a major dent in the can or by using a knife to scrape out contents -- then the acid can get to the metal and, over time, corrode it, and some of the now-oxidized metal will dissolve into the food. As far as we know, the oxidized metal is not toxic, but it tastes horrible. Contamination. Any open container of food can become contaminated when an airborne water droplet (tiny -- microns wide) containing a nasty microbe drips or settles into it. The major biological culprit here is Listeria, which can grow in any moist environment, including spaces refrigerated below 40F (5C). Also, if juices from your raw meat drips onto an upper shelf, which later gets wiped inadvertently into your container of ready-to-eat food, you are likely to get Salmonella or E coli. This risk can be mitigated if you keep your raw meats on the lowest shelf, but not eliminated. Also, it is worth noting that contamination through this pathway is a relatively rare event -- but even so, it is not worth the risk. Funk. Have you ever put an ice cube in your beverage and notice your beverage tastes strange? The chemical compounds that give food their flavor tend to be volatile (meaning they will readily leave the food into the surrounding air). Also, the mustiness of a refrigerator/freezer is due to volatile compounds produced by mold and mildew. Foods that are wet and/or fatty can be molecular velcro to these compounds.

I've a Wusthof classic ikon knife which i've had for about 5 months, it seems to be losing it's edge. It's regularly honed with a grooved honing rod, but I'm unsure if I'm doing it correctly. I've watched several videos on how to do this, keeping the blade at a constant angle of around 20 degrees. So, what is the norm for sharpening knives? Have I been doing it incorrectly which has resulted in the knife losing its edge, or is this normal? Parts of the knife seem sharper than others, for instance the heel, whereas the tip seems pretty dull

Given that the question is "how often", I want to actually answer that question, even though some of the answers above supply more complete advice. Stainless steel knives normally want honing with a steel every 2-4 uses. This will keep them sharp. Carbon steel knives should be honed after each use. If you have been honing, you should need to sharpen your knives no more than once per 1-2 years. There are definite exceptions to this. For example, knives used for cutting joints and bone will need sharpening and honing more frequently. Knives used only for "soft duty" (e.g. on fruit) will need honing and sharpening much less frequently. And serrated knives are their own special case. The above is based on my own experience caring for 18 knives from multiple manufacturers, including both stainless and carbon steel. Some of my knives are 25 years old and still sharp despite regular use. So, the fact that your Wustof is getting dull despite regular honing after only 5 months indicates that something is wrong. Possibilities include: improper honing technique (but you seem to have made an effort there, and it's not that difficult) not honing frequently enough bad honing rod (is it a Wustof too?) bad cutting board (glass, stone and bamboo are all knife-eaters) heavy usage, like lots of boning or hard chopping Note that honing keeps knives sharp, it doesn't sharpen them. So if you waited 3 months to start honing, the dullness would have already set in. If that's the case, then you'll want to get the knife sharpened, and then get into a routine of honing it every 3 times you use it.

I always put BBQ sauce on my chicken after it is done baking, but I was wondering if I can do the same while seasoning it to save time?

Yes, "It is possible"...however there are trade offs. The sauce will caramelize and become a tasty glaze...but...your chicken becomes more 'braised'(cooked in liquid) than 'grilled'. You get the caramelized sauce but loose the 'maillard effect' that comes from grilling. As taste is personal matter the best advise is try it and see which you and your audience prefer. On an aside, you might try doing a brine (long soak) or marinade (other than the viscous BBQ sauce, for instance soy sauce) and/or even injections to layer different flavors.

I would like to make chocolate decorations with melted chocolate. After searching on the web, however, I am not quite sure I could find acetate sheets. But I can find baking paper. Would there be any substitute, like baking paper, parchment paper? What is the difference between them? I want to make melted-chocolate decorations like those around this cake:

Acetate sheets posses a firm and rigid shape, with a glossy coating that assists the removal of decorations such as chocolate decoration. It also can be shaped without being indented at any point which baking parchment most frequently fails to do. Baking parchment is very agile, this fails to support decorations as a mould, and would consequently lead to breakage of the decoration should the parchment not retain a flat edge. It could also bend in frequent points, misshaping the chocolate. This is what makes it suited towards cakes, as as it can be ripped off. I would therefore conclude that it would be most suitable for you to use acetate sheets.

When I go eat at Peking Duck restaurants, they always bring a delicious duck over, present it to me and friends or me and family members, then they proceed to slice a few pieces onto the little buns, add some hoison sauce, veggies, and then distribute to us to eat. Then, it almost seems shocking, they take our duck away. It's like...half a duck is taken away from us...mysteriously back into the kitchen. So now we have to order another duck ...then a third duck... + some sauteed dishes to fill us all up. So my question is: Why does this happen? Is only a small part of a duck edible? Are we being ripped off? E.g., Are they keeping the duck for themselves for some purpose? Making soups comes to mind. Are they making duck soup with the duck that we should have eaten? But then here's another interesting obversvation: I notice that Peking Duck service stations at buffets actually throws away big parts of the duck, after slicing up a few pieces to make the buns for people standing on line. So...perhaps it is just a fact that most of the duck is inedible. But I would just like some information from this forum. Thanks in advance!

Typically, the 'Peking Duck' dish only uses the crispy duck skin. The rest of the duck will usually be used in other duck-dishes.

Recently we made french toast for lunch at home. However there was come miscommunication, and my better half made pikelet mixture instead of prepping the milk/eggs mix one would normally expect. Pikelet mix would be similar to pancake or flapjack or perhaps even waffle mix, a somewhat thick-but-runny liquid, that can still be poured slowly. So I dunked toast-bread slices in pikelet mix and pan-fried it like french toast. We ate it with various toppings, like butter, syrup, or cinnamon-sugar. Would have gone very well with Bacon too. We jokingly called it "german toast" for no other reason than its next to french toast. Is this pikelet/pancake-dunked fried bread known by an existing name ?

What you made is generally called batter dipped French Toast, which a lot of people say is better than regular French toast, and you seem to agree. I may have to try it! There's one person calling the recipe German Toast, so you aren't alone, but it isn't a common name for it. German Toast is one of the alternate names for French Toast no matter how it's made.

I bought an Instant Pot pressure cooker recently. One of the features is its "Smart Cooking Programs" that can program the settings with the touch of a button. I haven't seen any recipes the use of these buttons, and even the book that came with the Instant Pot uses "Manual" for everything. Should I use them?

There is one very different issue to be kept in mind - water in a microwave can overheat and "explode" once it is disturbed. Another poster had exactly this problem a short while ago: Water exploded in Microwave So follow the usual precautions, e.g. putting a wooden toothpick or a small, very clean stone (chemists have them in their labs) in your vessel. In a pinch, a spoon will do, but not all microwaves handle metal objects well. If you are worried that heating your water in a microwave might not be sufficient to kill all "nasties", remember that killing bacteria is a function of time and temperature, so you might feel safer if you not only bring your water to a boil, but continue boiling it for another minute or so. I would assume that this is mostly for your psychological benefit, but it certainly won't hurt. The temperature reached is identical for different heating devices as physics dictates the boiling point of water and it can't exceed that as long as it's liquid.

I was thinking about doing a baked dish with chicen and rice covered with a can of cream of mushroom soup. I'd like some advice. I was just planning on kinda winging it by cooking some rice, putting it in a casserole dish, placing some chicken breast on top, then covering it with the soup and baking until chicken is done. maybe put some bread crumbs on top so they get nice and brown. Any tips before I try it out?

A couple of tips: When you cook the rice, make sure it's not too soggy, or it won't absorb the flavour of the chicken and soup. Make sure to liquefy the soup before pouring it over top or it will glop more than pour - especially if you don't plan to mix it with water or milk. Put it in a bowl and mash it until it's liquid enough to pour. (probably obvious) For safety, make sure to fully cook the dish (especially the chicken) before taste-testing! You could also try a ready-to-serve (non-condensed) soup. This usually isn't as gelatinous as condensed soup.

I've been baking for not that long now and I usually peruse the web and the hundreds of books I have at home before I attempt a recipe. However there is one thing I am just not able to get down right. Whenever a cake or something involving eggs is baked, I get a really strong eggy smell that puts me off. Even after it has cooled down, the egg smell and taste remains. But I don't notice this in cakes from stores or bakeries. I don't know what to do to neutralize this, or is it completely normal? I use brown farm fresh eggs that aren't pumped full of stuff (at least that's what they say on the packaging). Update: I will try to figure out what the cheap eggs taste like in the next cake that i bake. Furthermore, i will also compare with results i obtain from a new professional line oven that i am purchasing soon. One of these is the culprit, since whenever i eat baked goods elsewhere this issue is rarely experienced.

It is normal that eggs smell of eggs, yes. Some people are just more sensitive to certain smells than others and detect them in smaller amounts, and sometimes all people perceive a smell with equal strength, but a few will have a negative reaction to a smell commonly regarded as pleasant. If you react with unusual aversion to the smell of baked eggs, there is nothing you can do about it. If you are indeed using standard recipes from widespread books, they probably smell OK to the general public. There is no way to remove the smell of eggs. But you can do two things: avoid overcooking the eggs. When somebody finds the eggs smell unpleasant, they are usually reacting to the sulfur compounds egg proteins form under high temperatures. This is not a universal solution, because a properly baked cake has been exposed to temperatures high enough to form lots of these compounds. But in dishes which can be overcooked, such as custards or boiled eggs, less cooking is usually much better smellwise. choose recipes with less eggs. This will mean that you will have to restrict your cake eating habits a lot. Genoise is probably completely out of the question, but if your sensitivity also shows at pound cake and similar, then there aren't many traditional types you can bake. It is possible that whites-only or yolks-only cake types won't trigger your problem, but if both do, you will possibly have to start replacing some egg in normal recipes. Sadly, eggs are very important for the texture of a cake, which means that substitutes only work in certain types of cake (pound cake, sponge cake) and even then, the larger the proportion of substitute to egg, the worse the final texture. But it may be worth it, if it lets you enjoy cakes you wouldn't eat when made with eggs. Update after comment If you don't smell this in bakery cakes, there are still a few possible explanations: the sensitivity theory is right, and the bakeries in your area rely on some kind of product different than fresh eggs, such as powdered eggs. The processing used in industry ingredients could change eggs in some way which removes the components which cause your sensitivity. This should be easy to test: if you can eat homemade cake with fresh eggs, it is not the cause. the smell compound to which you react could be something entirely different from the sulfur compounds always present in eggs. You said that you are buying fresh farm eggs. But the point is that fresh heirloom products are normally much more chemically diverse than mass-produced food. It is especially noticeable in fruit and vegetables, but I guess that chickens held under less-than-optimal conditions and fed standardized food mix will produce eggs which have much less exotic trace compounds than those of chickens raised on small farms under sunlight. You could try baking with the cheapest supermarket eggs and see if this solves the problem for you. maybe my sensitivity theory is completely wrong, and you are indeed doing something unusual to the cake. As mentioned above, overcooking is a suspect. If your oven is hotter than the dial shows (very common), you may be consistently overcooking every single cake. Try inserting a roasting thermometer into your cake and yanking it out as soon as it reaches 90 Celsius. It might have a slightly floury taste, but at least you will know if it is the smell of overcooked egg or something else which bothers you.

I've heard that ceramic knives are the new thing. It's far easier, though, to find metal knives that look and feel nice. So, budget notwithstanding (within reason) and assuming that I have to buy a whole knife set (which I do), how many ceramic knives do I "need"? Do I want a full set if I can get one? Do I only need one? What sort? (big, small, serrated...)

Yes, ceramic knives are the "new thing," but that doesn't make them superior. The problem with ceramic knives is that you can never sharpen them, and, as mentioned in the comments, they may chip. Don't get a ceramic chef's knife or paring knife; the answer to your question is zero. If you really want a ceramic knife, then buy a ceramic bread knife, although you won't be getting any extra performance for the money. Ceramic blade mandolines, however, are great. The ceramic blade will be sharper and hold the edge longer than a steel mandoline, and since you don't sharpen a mandoline anyway, it doesn't matter that ceramic doesn't sharpen. Note, a separate, and good, question would be "what knives do I need?" The answer is it depends, but I concur that you should not buy a "set" of knives.

I know that putting a crosshatch on a pork chop won't increase its flavor but I like the presentation. Generally, I either rotate my chops too early or too late, resulting in torn meat or no crosshatch. How can I tell when is the right time to rotate the chop to achieve the crosshatch?

First, make sure your grill grates are brushed well to remove debris so that the food has complete contact with the grates. After preheating the grill use a clean old towel to wipe the grates with a light coating of oil. Additionally, a thin coating of oil on your pork chops or other protein item will be beneficial. Once you've placed the meat on the grill it's really just a matter of paying attention to the meat. Don't try turning too soon or you'll tear the meat and leave the grill marks behind. If the meat resists, leave it alone. It will release itself from the grill when it's ready to be rotated for the cross-hatch marks or to be turned over. Of course there is no need to be concerned about grill marks on the second side as only one side will be the "presentation side" and the second side will never have marks as good as the first since there will likely be small bits of food debris keeping it from having complete contact with the grill. Presentation side for other items would be the flattest surface (such as the skin side of a skinless chicken breast) or the nicer looking side (flesh side of a fish fillet).

I want to be a home cook and at some stage to become a chef having my own café or restaurant. Marco Pierre White always says when he likes a dish in masterchef: Great dish. It tells me that you understand flavors. What does he mean? How to understand when to combine salty and sour, sweet and sour and salty, sweet and hot, umami and sweet, and all the other combinations? Should all dishes have flavor combinations?

Yes, all dishes should have flavour combinations, unless the dish consists of one single ingredient with no seasoning added, no oil added, it can't help but have them... even then a tomato for example has different flavour in the skin than it has in the pulp, than it has in the seeds, the inner leaves of a brussels sprouts will have less bitterness and more sweetness than its darker outer leaves... flavour combinations are almost impossible to avoid. So to balance flavours you do have to understand them. Not everyone might agree with the combinations you choose to create and not everyone enjoys the same taste combinations, but even so, to reliably create the blend you do like, you need to understand how it is composed. There are any number of resources online which will break flavours down to a few key groups, though not everyone describes it the same way. Essentially you need to understand what is meant by basic terms such as sweet, bitter, sour, umami and salt. To those five you can also add 'spiciness/heat' which is often considered to be more sensation than flavour. You should read up on what it already accepted knowledge about the effects these flavours have on each other, how salt changes perception of bitterness, how sweetness can counteract excess salt but leave the umami clear. Read up what chefs have to say about these interactions and test them out, see if you detect the same effects they do. Spend time tasting your ingredients and training your palate (I was so busy thinking of flavours as a palette from which one can choose the equivalent of colours to paint a dish as you might paint a picture that I originally spelled 'palate' as 'palette') so that you can analyse a dish and detect what makes the difference between a combination you like and one you don't. Understand your ingredients, both fresh and storecupboard ones well enough to know quickly what will make that difference.

Obviously, there's the amount that it can make in one batch, and there seem to be three basic types (ones you freeze the bowl ahead of time; ones you pack it with salt and ice, and ones that refrigerates themselves). ... and I know I'm looking for one that I don't have to hand-crank ... (I did more than enough of that as a kid) ... but beyond that, are there any features I should be looking for when buying a machine? If it makes a difference ... I'd mostly be making sorbet with it, as I don't handle dairy well, but I might make ice cream or gelato to share with other people.

I have a Donvier brand ice cream maker. It's a hand-cranked kind with an insert that you pre-freeze. Unlike the old-fashioned salt/ice kind, the hand-cranking involved is super minimal, so don't necessarily discount that option. (Basically, you just need to scrape the ice cream off the sides of the insert occasionally, so it's usually something like crank it around 2-3 times every 5 minutes and it only takes about 20 minutes to freeze the ice cream.... you'll likely spend more time stirring your ice cream/sorbet mixture during prep, than you will after adding it to the machine!) I would personally recommend this style since it means there are fewer components to break and they tend to be much less expensive. The pre-frozen container is part of what makes it so speedy, but obviously it means you can only make 1 batch at a time and it takes up space in your freezer. I think the only reason to get the kind with built in refrigeration is if you want to make multiple batches in a row and you plan to use it a lot. Whichever style you choose, buy the largest one that your kitchen can accommodate since you can make a small batch in a big machine. I got mine at a garage sale and as a result, it's the pint size, rather than the quart size and it's the one thing I don't like about it.

As you know, sometimes the best scraping tool in the kitchen for cleaning up is your own fingernails. The only thing I know of that compares in terms of effectiveness is metal, but you shouldn't use metal on many things, such as cast iron or teflon pans. Is there anything that can match the effectiveness of fingernails, but that isn't so hard it scratches like metal?

Try searching for "pan scrapers." I have a pair from Lodge that has served me well, though you can find almost identical scrapers without the branding. These are essentially equivalent to the scrapers mentioned by ChrisH, but with curves to make it easier to clean the edges of your pans

I use a rice cooker like the one shown below to cook dried mung beans and red beans (Adzuki beans) as well as rice of course. After boiling and cooking, the rice cooker switches to a stable hot temperature to store the contents for a second meal, I suppose the idea being that bacteria don't grow readily when it's too hot. That seems to work fine for all of them, except that while the rice is still white in the morning and the red beans still red, the mung beans turn dark brown in the morning. In fact they start changing color within a few hours. It doesn't matter if I've made them fairly dry or quite wet. I cook them on different days, they are not mixed. Just the dried product and an equal or larger amount of tap water. Is it possible to understand why the mung beans turn so dark brown if they stay hot? I don't notice any big change in taste, but the color looks quite discouraging. Is there anything I can add that would prohibit the color change?

Milk proteins will coagulate at particular temperatures and Phs. You wrote that you used 2 Tbs of lemon juice but you didn't say how much milk you added that to. If you used too much milk then the mixture will not be acidic enough. Follow a recipe. You also wrote that you boiled the milk once. I don't know if it is a language barrier issue but it sounds like you boiled the milk in the past. The milk needs to be at near boiling temperatures when you add the acid. The combination of heat and acid will cause the milk proteins to unravel (denature) and tangle up with each other (coagulate) which will result in the curd you are looking for. If the milk has been handled well, that is if you didn't leave it out overnight, then it has likely not spoiled and you can try again by either adding more acid or bringing to a boil as necessary.

I used yeast,water,milk,egg,sugar and flour in my dough. I forgot to put the butter the recipe called for. My dough has risen already. Can I add the butter after it has risen or can I make something out of what I got already?

No, you shouldn't be adding butter at this stage, it will take too much kneading and undo the rising. Whatever it is you were baking, just go ahead and bake it this way. There are many breads which don't use any fat at all. The taste will be different than with butter, but it will still be a good bread.

I am trying to brine a chicken and then cook it in a soup. I just can't seem to do it properly and have noticed varying results for reasons I cannot figure out. My basic method is: add 1.5l spring water to pot, add 30 grams of sea salt and mix until dissolved, add 1kg whole chicken (whole or small pieces), refrigerate for 6-12 hours (usually 12), then cook. I have noticed the following things, please kindly explain why I may be getting varying results and what I may be doing wrong. I notice that if I cut the chicken into eight small pieces these do not brine well at all compared to a 4 piece cut or a whole chicken. This is even after using high salt and plenty of time. When using high salt parts of the chicken come out extremely salty however other parts do not and these parts look raw/red/pink which I think suggests the brine didn't go far enough. I am guessing this is because brining works on chicken surfaces (perhaps this is where the pores are) and with small pieces the inner chicken is exposed. Having said that, most recipes say you can brine small pieces in 1-2 hours. Why doesn't it work for me? Even when I do a whole chicken or 4 pieces, despite giving it 8-12 hours, sometimes there are raw looking parts in the leg pieces, any idea why? Also although the rest of the chicken seems to have been reached i.e. is white although it is not juicy and tender. Any idea why? On one day I brined a chicken with 17 grams salt and only 5 hours, a leg piece came out perfectly, another leg piece OK and the breast didn't. Why on this day did one piece come out great whereas other pieces didn't? Even on other days I double or triple the salt and time yet I haven't been able to get the same result. In thinking about the cause for the above I wondered: does the container need to be air tight to brining to be effective? does water temperature(room/refrigerator/0c) make a difference to actual brining itself? does there have to be plenty of space between chicken parts in the brine or if they overlap a bit? If I use higher salt and what more salt absorption, should I simply leave it to brine longer i.e. longer then 12 hours? Suppose I do a high brine chicken, I then throw away the water and make a new pot with water and say 4 grams of salt, I then add the chicken and cook the soup. Will salt come out of the chicken and go into the water or will it stay in there? Apologise for so many questions, I'm just trying to give as much info as possible. Hope somebody will kindly answer. I brine everyday and can hardly seem to get a good brined leg on any day. In response to peoples comments* Thank you for your responses. To clarify a few things, firstly I am brining and then cooking as a soup(boiling then simmering). I have to do this because I have a stomach ailment and I am intolerant to greasy foods(grill/oven) and stews(due to onion and vegetable intolerance). Strange as it sounds, my stomach is so weak that I am also intolerant to proteins that haven't absorbed a lot of salt e.g. chicken in chicken soup. The only food I can tolerate is protein that is salted quite well e.g. salted, plump, tender and juicy as with brined chicken. This is why I am doing brined chicken soup only! There are no red spots rather after cooking the soup I notice areas/flesh where discoloration(brown, purple,red) is present throughout parts of the flesh. I am sure the chicken is being cooked well(have cooked a lot of soups) however the colours seem more like flesh which the brine hasn't penetrated otherwise it would become white like the rest of the chicken. I have noticed this to be more present when in pieces e.g. small cut chicken or leg pieces rather then breasts. On the next try I will boil my salt first, however I had been stirring with a spoon until all salt visibly dissolved so don't know if this is the cause. I have increased salt for testing purposes, on such days the brining does improve however I still notice the raw looking flesh in certain parts of the chicken. When doing a whole chicken, the problem is present usually in the leg rather then the breasts which come out good. The chicken I use are actually quite small 1kg or slightly above and these are covered by 1.5l of water.

The brine in the above scenario is too weak however even if you made it stronger you would not see the results you wanted. The reason for this is because brines do not work when cooking soups because the salt comes out with boiling. Brines work for dry heat methods e,g grilling, roasting. The reason you are seeing different results is because your chicken is absorbing salt due tp a dfferent factor. It could be the chicken had a lot of ice crystal damage to start with.

Well my question is exactly what is says in the title. I come from a culture that has hamburger-style meal. Unlike hamburger, our plyeskavitsa (or pljeskavica using another type of transliteration) tends to grow in diameter when the portion size increases. That is to say, when I order a small plyeskavitsa, the patty will have (for example) diameter A and thickness B. When I order large plyeskavitsa, it will have diameter 3 A and thickness maybe 1.5 B. This way, the eating procedure is same for all sizes: You start biting at one end, you bite off a piece through the bun and the patty and basically repeat the procedure until it's consumed. If you buy a bigger portion, you'll just need to repeat the procedure more times. On the other hand, with American burgers, when the portion size increases, the diameter will stay the same, but the thickness significantly increases as well as the number of patties (for example let's think of say BigMac or BigKingXXL). When I try to apply procedure for plyeskavitsa or say regular hamburgers, what happens is that when I bite down, the middle layers get pushed out of the sandwich, making a total mess of everything. So my question is: How am I supposed to eat thick hamburgers without having the middle part spill out?

A somewhat strange but effective technique is to fix the contents by piercing one or two toothpicks through the entire burger, before taking the first bites on the opposite side. When you approach the middle you can take them out, at this point the filling should tend to slip in your mouth rather than the other way.

I may want plant some ghost chili pepper, but I am afraid it will be too hot to eat. Is there any safe method to prepare/cook ghost chili which will not reproduce insanely hot heat from the throat to stomach? What about habanero chili pepper? Is it safer to eat?

Dilute heavily by using a very small portion of peppers per dish Allow cooking time for the pepper flavor to permeate the dish before adding more. It's not like black pepper where the taste spreads instantly. Remove the seeds and membranes holding them, as this reduces spiciness considerably Cut peppers very finely or puree so there aren't any large pieces to deliver a shocker in the final dish Wear gloves when handling the peppers If you don't use gloves, wash your hands well before touching your eyes, mouth, or other "sensitive regions." AND FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT IS GOOD AND HOLY, DO NOT FRY OR SAUTE THE PEPPERS. No, seriously. The last one is a mistake you only make once, and should be on a warning label with all store-bought chilis. The capsaicin somehow becomes volatile when heated enough, and the result is like filling your entire domicile with pepper spray. I am ashamed to say that the last two cautions are drawn purely from personal experience. It's not the kind of "hot date" you want to share with an (un)lucky person, believe me.

Came across a Challah recipe which called for adding ingredients in the following order: water, yeast, flour, eggs, sugar, salt and oil/butter. They highlighted the order is important. Why is this important? Or is this a myth? I've actually seen most recipes call to add the sugar and water first to "bloom" the yeast.

The order of operations/ingredients in many recipes is critically important, especially those where chemistry is involved and/or gluten development. Some ingredients, such as baking powder, will activate as soon as they get wet, so you may not want to wet them too early. Yeast development is affected by sugar and salt (in different ways). Gluten development is affected by fat and mixing (in different ways). So, for example, if you premix other ingredients before you add flour you can limit how much the gluten is developed in the dough, which is desirable for some breads and cakes. And most important in challah is to "take" the challah (remove a small piece and burn it before baking the rest into a loaf).

When I scrape out the seeds out of my vanilla beans and simmer them with milk or incorporate them into batter, they always leave little tell-tale black dots in the finished product. Is it possible to filter them out somehow and is it something commonly done in the professional kitchen? I don't think I remember seeing these dots in restaurant desserts. It's not critical, but I'd rather my panna cotta be pristine white :-).

A chinoise will not--I speak from daily experience--filter out vanilla seeds. A coffee filter would, but my question is: why on earth would you bother? It's annoying to do (and depending on what the product is, filtering through a coffee filter would ensure you lose other things), and seeing actual vanilla seeds in the final product tells your guests that you are using real vanilla beans, not extract. Professional kitchens do not, generally speaking, attempt to remove the seeds for the reasons noted above. @stephenmacdonald, most dessert recipes that call for a fine mesh strainer do so because there is the possibility of chunky things ending up in the product. In the case of that recipe, I would guess it is to prevent chunks of undissolved gelatine from ending up in the final dessert.

When I steam my tamales, the masa becomes mushy. What am I doing wrong and how can I prevent this?

I know this thread is way old but I did just find it It took me years to figure out that it was my meat filling that was too wet, making my tamales take forever to steam.

I have a sourdough bread recipe that calls for either Real Salt or unrefined salt. I do not have either of these and I’m not sure if these salts are fine or coarse. I have Himalayan pink salt coarse for grinding, coarse kosher salt & Morton’s iodized salt. Are any of these comparable?

This may come across as a little cynical ;) Don't believe the hype. Salt is salt. The difference between Himalayan, iodised & kosher is so small you'll never taste it. They're all 98%+ sodium chloride. To a 1Kg loaf you're going to add something like 10g salt. As it will completely dissolve before you bake it, not even the granule size is important.

I have a few questions regarding egg yolk in ice-cream. I would love to try making homemde ice-cream but a lot of recipes I see have egg yolk. Is there a substitute that I could use or is it possible to just leave out the egg yolk? I have heard that I could substitute egg yolk with coconut cream or maybe it was coconut milk. Is this true? What is the purpose of egg yolk in ice-cream?

One of my favourite ice creams involves fresh strawberries (just picked), cream, and sugar. That's all. It can be hard finding "recipes" for things that are simple, so when you search for recipes you get all kinds involving you making a custard first and so on. If you've made eggless icecream and don't like something about it, that's one thing, but my guess is you haven't made eggless icecream yet. Try it.

I like the pork in sweet and sour pork to be crunchy, so I deep-fry it and only add the sauce at the last second - or often just have it on the side. I'm thinking of making a big batch of S&S for a party, and I'm trying to figure out if I can do the deep-frying early, but still have the pork be crunchy. Is there any way to do this, either by changing my cooking technique or by storing it a certain way? Even if I can do it the day before, it'd dramatically simplify the party logistics.

The secret to crisp sweet and sour pork is mostly how you serve it Roast, BBQ, grill (whatever you like) the pork so it fully cooked, but on the lighter side of done. Cut into bite sized pieces If you want to deep fry (not actually required) use a thin and light tempura style batter (flour, baking soda, beer mixed for ten seconds works OK). Drain well. This can be done the day before and keep it in an airtight container, but reheating is as much trouble as fresh deep frying. Remember, when using a thin light batter deep frying only takes a minute If not deep frying, finish and reheat under the grill (broiler) till it just starts to smoke Use a hot Chinese style serving platter and poor in all your sweet and sour sauce fresh from the wok. The sauce and the platter should be piping hot, it doesn't matter if the the pork is not that hot Pile the middle of the platter with freshly shredded raw cabbage and onion. This should make a low flat island in the sauce just breaking the surface of the sauce. You can use wok fried capsicum, onion, carrots etc instead of cabbage (not as good!) Carefully pile the pork pieces onto the island For extra zing add more shredded raw onion on top For a coastal style, and some fresh shredded coconut and/or mango (not to everyone's taste) Serve immediately with a large serving spoon, so guests can scoop up the sauce and pork all in one go