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My muffin recipe calls for 1 1/3 cups of nonfat dry milk. Other than the 4 eggs, there is no other liquid. How much skim milk would I substitute for the dry milk?

You don't, it will not work. You want to substitute liquid milk for dried milk. What you don't realise is that the dried milk in such a recipe is acting as a bulking agent, ie. the dried milk is already substituting for some flour. If you don't have dried milk, you should look for another recipe that doesn't use it, if you want to be certain of reliable results.

I left some humbugs in a jar in the sun on a kitchen shelf. They melted a bit and are now stuck in the jar. How do I get them out?

White chocolate by regulation is at least 3.5% milk fat and 14% milk solids. As far as I know, the EU uses the same definition as the FDA (US). So, nothing vegan can legally be sold as "white chocolate". That said, there are a great many non-dairy white chocolate substitutes, usually made with any combination of soy milk, maltodextrin, vanilla, and saturated/hydrogenated fat (palm oil, shortening, etc.), among other ingredients/additives of course. They don't taste the same as real white chocolate, but then again, white chocolate isn't real chocolate to begin with, so it can't hurt to experiment with some of the products out there - which can be easily sourced with a Google search, as one of the comments indicates.

Based on a the coffee questions I've seen, it seems that hot beverage questions are in scope, so here goes mine: We like keeping iced coffee in the fridge, particularly in the summer. It's easiest to add sugar to the entire batch, but we both like differing amounts of sugar to coffee. Sugar doesn't dissolve in cold liquid very well. If I make a sugar suspension and put it in the fridge to sweeten the coffee as we drink it, will the mixture stay liquid or will the sugar crystals re-form? If this is impractical, can anyone offer another solution? Edit: Here's a picture of sugar solution that we've been keeping in the fridge and using. I made it 8 days ago and it's staying in solution quite well.

I do exactly that. I use a clear plastic squeeze bottles. I fill a mug 2/3 full with sugar, and top up with boiling water, stir, cool, funnel into the squeeze bottle, and keep in the fridge door. The squeeze bottle makes it easier to get the right amount of sugar into your beverage. I don't even worry about keeping it sealed. There's nothing much to oxidize. And the osmotic pressure of sugar solutions makes it very difficult for pathogens to live. This is why jams and jellies keep forever in your fridge. Like jams and jellies, the first thing you're probably going to see in the way of spoilage is mold. In the case of simple syrup, we're talking dark thready stuff at the bottom of the bottle. This happens about a month out. I chuck it, wash the bottle, and carry on. On a related note, I have a blog post about iced coffee. And it's kind of a little wrong. Cold-brew coffee is pretty good for making iced coffee, but it's not better than leftover percolated coffee. Seriously. We make hot coffee at my workplace using this cheapo percolator urn. We learned from the reviews on Amazon that we could just pour off the leftover coffee in the afternoon and have excellent iced coffee. And that's exactly what we do. (To be fair, we use Gorilla coffee, so that might have something to do with it, but I think it'd be good with average coffee.)

I understand that a western style of blade is meant to fix the point and chop behind it while a santoku is intended to slice with. I also find the width somewhat useful for carrying cropped ingredients around. But what is the main purpose of the blade vastness? Why not skinny(following image but curved)?

The wide and long blades of western and santoku can BOTH be used for both slicing and chopping. The main difference between the two of them is the tip. Slim/skinny blades enable them to slide through the foodstuff with reduced drag and greater mobility for turning within a foodstuff (eg. breaking down a carcass, or filleting a fish). On the other hand, wide blades provide greater stability and balance required for safe fast and precise processing of foods using chopping and slicing techniques. Both of these can be evidenced by trying to fillet a fish or breaking down a cow, and by chopping food. If one tries to fillet a fish with a chef knife then they should notice considerably more drag preventing fast and efficient processing, conversely if one tries to quickly slice a large food item with a filleting knife then they will find the food catching as the knife is repeatedly raised in quick succession with each slice, and lack of consistency with the precision of slice thickness.

I have a crumb topping (margarine + brown sugar + flour) that I usually make double or triple the recipe of and then freeze. Sometimes I don't divide it evenly and end up with extra dough when I defrost a section. Can I refreeze the dough or should I just toss it because it'll affect the taste? (What about cookie dough?)

I make a no knead bread up the weekend before, usually enough for about 8 boules. I keep it in the fridge all week and pull out as much as I need to bake at one time and pop it into the oven, usually in 1/2 pound sizes. I also re-use whatever dough I have left and mix it into the new batch the next weekend and keep it in the same container in the fridge. The worst thing I have ever had happen though is my bread kept rising in the fridge and that was a mess, still not sure what I did wrong with that batch. By controlling the portion size you are cooking you can control the time it takes to bake, and if you make the dough up on the weekend and keep it all week, you should be able to streamline your process. This process for me originated from Mother Earth News, and looking back on that article, which originally included the master recipe(s), they have books all about the process. So here is a link to that article and the subsequent publications. Happy baking! Mother Earth News - Healthy Bread in 5 minutes a day

I found a great looking recipe that calls for ground veal. What other meats would be a reasonable substitute for flavor and texture for ground veal besides the obvious ground beef? Lamb?

The original recipe calls for a total of 2 lbs of ground meat, 1/2 beef and 1/2 veal. I would suggest a close approximation to the effect can be had by using either (in decreasing order of preference): 50% ground pork, 50% ground beef -- Some of the mild flavor of veal, with tenderness and flavor from the pork 100% ground beef -- It won't be as tender or as subtle, but still will be good I would avoid trying to use as part of your substitution mixture: Ground lamb, goat, ox, and so on -- flavor is too strong Ground chicken or turkey -- these are extremely low in fat, likely to toughen your overall mixture, and likely to make it taste more poultryesque Personally, I would also switch from whole eggs to just the yolks, which will bring the binding and tenderizing qualities of the yolk, without the slightly rubber-like texture of albumin based white, to more closely approximate the qualities the veal would have brought to the dish.

In the summer while I'm at work I'd like to set the temperature of my small apartment higher--roughly 83 degrees as per US department of energy recommendations. I'm planning on keeping it between 76-78 when I'm home. However, I don't want my chocolate to to deteriorate. Let's assume we're talking about a thin bar of Lindt milk chocolate. It's been fine so far with the apartment set at 78*F and the chocolate in a dark cabinet. I definitely don't want to put it in the refrigerator as this is too cold for it. What is the maximum temperature I can leave my apartment at when I'm not around to keep the chocolate reasonably stable? Should I use a cooler or box to keep the chocolate cooler than the rest of the house? Is there a cheaper/better/easier option I haven't thought of?

There are three different crystal types in solidified chocolate with one of them being the prefered type. This is why we temper chocolate, because it promotes crystallization of the prefered type. From what I recall, the ideal temperature for chocolate is 70°F and the first type of crystal in chocolate starts melting at around 82°F. So while not ideal, you should be fine with the room at 78°F. Keep in mind Lindt chocolate with milk is a little softer than their darker chocolate line. You can simply place the chocolate in a cooler (like a coleman) along with a pop can that has been in the fridge. The cool can should prevent the chocolate from getting too hot. Switch the can with another cold one daily and that should keep the snap sound in the chocolate along with the taste.

I know you can use pink Himalayan salt for cooking, but I'm wondering if you can use it directly on food after it has been cooked, can you put it on steak or fries after they're cooked, as you would normal table salt?

Yes, you can, and this the way you are most likely to exsperience the textural difference of this type of salt; most people cannot detect any flavor difference for various mineralized or natural salts under test conditions, but this is the manner it is most likely to make a perceptible difference in flavor.

Let's say you have one tea bag and can either brew it in a mug of boiling water, or a larger tea kettle of boiling water. The temperature, steeping time, type of tea bag, etc. are held constant. Assuming you drink all the tea that gets made, would you consume more flavor/caffeine from one method than from the other? I'm just wondering because even though the amount of tea leaves in the tea bag would be the same, it intuitively seems to me like the water surrounding the bag in the tea kettle would be more hypotonic because there would be more of it compared to the amount of tea, so more tea would come out of the bag overall.

The pot will have more caffeine. You are right that the concentration of the final solution is determined not only by steeping time, temperature, etc., but also by the amount of water available to dilute the stuff coming out of the tea, including caffeine. It will reach balance earlier with less water. So more water will get more of the different compounds in tea dissolved. For an empirical observation by somebody surprised by the result, see also this question.

What are ways of getting only the egg white from an egg? Can it be done after the yolk is broken?

The traditional method is as Rumtscho describes. I got tired of this method for several reasons: Egg shells are dirty. Shells get in the egg (especially with home collected eggs which have MUCH thicker shells than store purchased eggs) Egg shells are sharp and it's hard to keep yolks whole. That method just takes too long if you need more than 2 eggs. Now I just crack the egg into my hand (which has been thoroughly washed -- cleaner than an eggshell). I hold my fingers a little apart and let the white slip through, leaving the yolk in my hand. Quick and simple. Regardless of the method that you use you should use three bowls: one for the collected whites, one for the white you are working on, and one for the yolks. Remember: only dump the current white into the collected whites after verifying that the yolk is whole. That way you don't spoil all your whites with one broken yolk.

I make strawberry syrup using the follow ingredientes. 1 pound of strawberrys; half lemon juice; 1 cup of sugar. How can I make a sugar free (or at least using less sugar) strawberry syrup?

You can make your strawberry sauce syrup without sugar easily just by replacing the sugar with stevia and then adding it to a proper amount of gelatin water for the proper consistency. It won't be the same for sure but it will be almost sugar free and thicker than water but not have the exact consistency of a syrup. Maybe a little xanthan gum along with the plain gelatin would be a little closer though.

My wife and I enjoy drip coffee, french pressed coffee, espresso, black tea, green tea, and just about anything caffeinated. However, my wife wants to avoid caffeine due to its physiological effects. Unfortunately, in her words, decaf espresso "tastes horrible," and I agree. I have similar feelings against decaf black tea. Is there anything with a bitter flavor similar to caffeine that could add some of the punch back to decaffeinated coffee or tea?

The answer is that it depends. Is the recipe for the stovetop or for an oven? If it is for an oven, make sure that your pan is oven safe to the appropriate temperature. While your recipe will likely work fine with a normal pan, it won't develop the same kind of crispy exterior that it might with cast iron.

Since my personal experimentation with fermentation tends to result in biological hazards and minor explosions, I tends to buy my fermented foods. I recently discovered a brand of store-bought jarred kimchi that tastes exactly right... the only problem is that it's not spicy at all. (It might actually have some spice, but I have a very high heat tolerance.) How can I make my kimchi spicier, hopefully in an authentic fashion? Different varieties of pepper have different characteristics and flavors, and I'm trying to figure out the best technique and the variety/varieties which will give me heat without compromising on the flavor. As an example or what I mean -- earlier today I was using the kimchi as a condiment and I mixed it with some sliced jalapenos. Jalapenos taste a lot like green bell pepper, so that was an unfortunate choice, and it wasn't very spicy at all.

You can add hot pepper flakes. Some advice on what brand from My Aunt’s Homemade Kimchi with a Vegan Kimchi Option: We’re also pretty particular about the brand of Korean red pepper powder (or hot pepper flakes), gochugaru that we use. We recommend buying Wang Korean gochugaru. Of course, gochugaru is only mildly spicy. A spicier substitute would be Gochujang, a traditional chili paste which in terms of spice level can range from mild to very hot.

Is it better to use parchment paper when baking cream puffs so that the middle does not end up being wet and soggy?

Yes to your title. No to the question body. I always use parchment when baking cream puffs. It is just to make the cream puffs not stick to the pan and cleanup easier. It doesn't insulate enough to affect baking temperature and has no effect on the cream puffs being wet and soggy or not.

What is the best way to making a great pavlova base?

The secrets: (some are old wives tales, but hey, it's an old recipe) Eggs: Room temperature (you don't put eggs in the fridge do you?) and not fresh Contamination: Make sure everything you use to prepare the base is perfectly clean, especially no grease. Use boiling water to rinse everything first. Metal or glass bowls are best, as plastic is harder to get 100% clean. Also make sure no yolk gets into the egg whites Beating: When eggs whites have gone firm, add the sugar a little at a time using a powerful beater machine going flat out. NZ'ers use their trusty but ancient Kenwood Chef with the glass bowl for ten minutes until the it looks like the Swiss Alps on a sunny day. You should not be able to feel the castor sugar when you squish some mix between your fingers. If they go dull you have over beaten. They will still work but will go extra soggy when cooked as the sugar runs out BTW: Use ear muffs when using your Kenwood Chef, I kid you not! Size: Height = radius, or a little less. A radius of less than 10cm means you won't get Pav, just meringue. You can experiment with baking paper rings to hold the mix into a perfect cake shape if fussy. I wouldn't bother though Problems: Collapse: You opened the oven door ... DON'T Cracking: Normal, don't worry. This is a messy desert and you'll be covering it with whipped cream soon! Crystallisation: over cooking Marshmallow like in middle: Normal, that's what a Pav is meant to be like. If it's not like that you have over cooked it, or you didn't make it thick enough. Foamed egg white is a self-insulator, once the outside cooks it stops the heat getting into the middle Weeping: too much sugar, over beating, or not enough cooking. Cook for little longer on humid days If truly stuck, go on a course http://www.creativetourism.co.nz/workshops_taste_pav.html This is what they should look like

Having a poor track record of making cheese sauces, I'm determined to do it right at least once in this decade. I read that one should use "low heat" only. Too much heat causes the cheese to go stringy or clumpy. Okay - but just what is "low heat"? Warm but not beyond what I can stick my finger in comfortably? Can someone put a number on it, degrees centigrade?

You just add any vanilla-tasting product to your coffee. It doesn't have to be a sugared "coffee flavor". The best option should be plain vanilla extract. Then you have synthetic vanilin, which comes as a white powder or in tiny vials of propylene-glycol solution. As it is very concentrated, it ends up being much cheaper than the extract, but its smell is nowhere as rich as that of real vanilla extract. I suppose that you could also use real vanilla pods. I would cut off a piece, cut it open, and place it within the ground coffee during brewing (if you think it will interfere too much, you can also just scratch out the seeds and use them, but you will be throwing out lots of vanilla that way). I have never done it, so I don't know how big a piece you will need for the taste to be reasonably strong. I suspect that using vanilla extract will be more economical, as vanilla usually needs time to give off aroma, and the short espresso brewing time, even with the pressure, will need a fairly large chunk to make a difference in taste. Still, the pressure-brewed vanilla will have a different taste profile than the alcohol-dissolved vanilla extract, so if you are not happy with the taste the extract gives, this is one more method to try out.

I am cooking for a dinner party in a couple of days and one of the friends is allergic to egg but the 2 recipes I found and like ask for eggs. The recipe that mum uses also asks for eggs to bind the meat so the meatballs do not lose shape and breakdown when boiling in the curry. http://cooks.ndtv.com/recipe/show/mutton-kofta-100384 http://allrecipes.co.in/recipe/144/hyderabadi-nargisi-kofta.aspx Can someone please help and suggest something that will still bind the meatballs without losing too much of an Indian touch to the flavours?

If you add salt to your meat and leave for a few hours this will break down some proteins in the muscle (myosin), which cross-link / bind with each other. Hopefully you wouldn't need the egg to bind. I have done this with burgers and meatballs before, so no reason this wouldn't work OK for kofte

Yesterday I asked advice how to prepare nice potato parts. I was recommended to not remove the peel/skin and cut the potato in parts. I was also said to use the oven, instead of a pan and baking/cooking them in olive oil. I cut up potatoes... I used the oven... I set it to 200 watt. It had to pre-heat for 5 minutes. Then I put in the potato parts for 25 minutes. When I tried to eat them, they were partially raw, and the outside seemed dry out. The goal was (picture from the internet):

That was bad advice. If you're not par-boiling the potatoes they will need at least 40 minutes, but to be honest you are much better off par-boiling. Pre-heat the oven as before and place a roasting tin in to pre-heat as well. Cut the potatoes as before, then place them in a large pan of salted water, bring it to the boil, and simmer for 5 minutes. Drain the pan and place it back on the heat for a little while to drive off the moisture in the pan and on the potatoes. Transfer the potatoes to a bowl and drizzle generously with oil. Season well (you can add spices, smoked paprika is great), mix through, then place in the hot roasting tray and roast for 30-35 minutes. The boiling process begins to cook and soften the potatoes, and then the dry heat of the oven carries on cooking them while also crisping the outside.

I recently and very stupidly ran an analog (non-digital) meat thermometer through the dish washer. It came out full of water, like a fish tank or a pimp's aquarium heels, and it has not dried a milliliter since then (over a week). The brand name is Thermo Geneve, if it matters, and the dial reads from 140 to 190 Farenheit, with each 10-step temperature segment (except the 190) featuring one, two or three cuts of meat optimal at that temp. For example, 140 F has ham, rare-cooked beef to 180 F that just lists fresh turkey. Here's the image: Photo of Thermo Geneve Meat Thermometer Imagine it foggy and water logged to the physical 160 or 170 F level, and maybe a tiny goldfish swimming around. Any ideas on getting it dry? Many thanks for reading fellow home cooks!

If water got in you can get it out. Your thermometer is the circular analog type and it has more than one piece. There's one piece with the probe and dial, and then there's a circular cover with the glass on it. The water got into the thermometer through the seam where the 2 pieces meet, and this is where you'll get the water out, you just have to figure out how. What I would do first is to get a safety pin and see if I can pry the gap between the 2 pieces apart a bit to let the water run out. Be careful not to poke yourself if you try that though, it's easy to do. If you do get it dripping out then you'll need to find a way to hold it in place at about a 45 degree angle from vertical in the direction of the pin to allow the water to run out. Sticking it in a piece of styrofoam or a potato should do the trick. Another option would be to put it in a warm (call it 150-160F, 70C) oven at about a 45 degree angle from vertical. Sticking it through a medium size potato will keep it stable, don't use styrofoam as the fumes will be toxic. You could also combine these 2 methods. Another option I would consider is to put the thermometer on its side in a sealed container full of uncooked rice. The rice absorbs water and makes the air very dry, it's a method which works to dry out watches and even mobile phones.

Community wiki question. I'd like to compile an index of uses for stale bread. Here's a couple off the top of my head. Feel free to just go ahead and edit this list: As an ingredient Breadcrumbs, fresh or dried Breadcrumbs as coating or panade for Schnitzels, etc. Breadcrumbs as a filler in Rissoles, Fish Cakes, Meat Balls, Meatloaf, etc. Breadcrumbs as a thickener in soup, sauce or gravy Croutons Stuffing Appetizers Bruschetta Panzanella salad (with tomatoes, olive oil, onions) Soups Gazpacho French onion soup Spanish garlic soup Tuscan Tomato and Bread Soup Breakfast French toast aka Pain Perdu, Eggy Bread Fried bread Entrées Bread galette (soften with eggs, cook into a sort of omelette) Fondue Toast, toasted sandwich Dessert Bread and butter pudding Bread pudding Bread Sauce Brown Betty Brown Bread Ice Cream Summer Pudding Christmas Pudding and others such as Figgy Duff made with dried fruit and breadcrumbs then steamed in a cloth. Queen of Puddings and all the other similar ones made with bread crumbs, such as Manchester and Monmouth Pudding. Sophie Grigson's Tunisian Orange Cake Steamed Puddings such as Cabinet, Chancellor's, Chocolate, Marmalade, Raspberry, Syrup or Treacle Pudding Miscellaneous

Stuffing. Pretty much any stale bread product can be made into stuffing: I once made an old batch of cinnamon rolls into stuffing for pork chops. I made enough chops for 2 days of leftovers, and my guests wolfed the entire batch in one meal. No leftovers for me, AND I get asked about it to this very day.

I have been a week in London and I enjoyed the English breakfast: scrambled egg, bacon, sausage, toasted bread, warm tomato (I skipped the beans as I shouldn't eat them). Now, how can I do it at home, in Italy (with local bacon and sausages), for a single serving? I really need a step by step comprehensive guide, as I tried to do a couple of time egg and bacon with an awful result. I assume that people doing it every day will know a lot of tips and secrets, such things that may seem obvious to you but are obscure to a foreign. Of course, being a breakfast, it should be reasonably fast to prepare, so "logistic" tips are appreciated as well! PS: please don't give me the recipe for "Spam, Spam, Spam, Spam, Spam, Spam, baked beans, Spam, Spam, Spam and Spam". Great answers, thanks to all of you. I really appreciated (and upvoted) the step by step guide provided by Aaronut, but I market as accepted Sam's answer for its reference to Italian availability of ingredients.

I'm english. I mitigate timing issues by warming a pyrex dish or just a plate by keeping it under the pan I am grilling the stuff in (or in the oven on very low usually with the door open), then putting the bits that are cooked in the pan to keep warm. Generally this is because I'm doing it for more than I can do on the grill in a single sitting though, but it would work for single portions. I do this: Grill (broil) your bacon (smoked back), sausages (pork) and tomato. Bacon should be flipped once, when the fat on the rind is just taking colour, sausages turned a few times, tomato should be halved and done cut side up. whilst they are grilling prepare your scrambled eggs. Just mix 2-3 eggs a little in a bowl, no need to whisk to death, just mix till loosely combined. Add a little cream or milk if you want. whatever egg recipe flots your boat The bacon will be done first (don't make it crispy - just a little colour on the fatty bits). remove it when done, and put on the warm plate under the grill pan to keep warm. Cover it with another plate or foil. When the sausages are nearly done, pop in your toast. Then season with salt and pepper and cook your scrambled eggs. Again do this according to your favourite egg recipe, I melt butter in a non stick frying pan, add the eggs and stir with wooden spoon until set. some like the runnier than others. finish with a large knob of butter and check the seasoning. toast, sausages and tomatoes should be done. butter toast, put everything on a plate and eat with HP sauce and a hot cup of tea, no sugar, very little bit of milk, preferably from a pot of tea. if you don't like the idea of timing the eggs/toast with the finishing of the sausage you can grill everything till done and keep it all on the warm plate in the oven/under the grill pan (not directly under the heat, but under the pan which is under the heat) whilst you make the eggs/toast/tea. its not traditional, but I also like a slice of halloumi grilled with mine. maybe that's just me. the bacon that is usually used is back bacon (I much prefer smoked) but some people will use streaky bacon (again smoked is better IMHO): It probably unlikely that you will get back bacon in italy, so you next best bet is slices of (smoked) pancetta which is similar to streaky bacon. you might substitute a nice dry cured ham instead, but it won't be quite the same. though ham and eggs is a good breakfast.

Every chocolate-based recipe I've seen either requires tempered chocolate or can use either tempered or untempered chocolate. Are there any recipes or techniques that specifically require untempered chocolate? EDIT: I think the question might be a little unclear. To clarify, I have a block of tempered chocolate; I use this to make cordials (must be tempered) and ganache (doesn't matter). Are there any uses for it where I'd have to untemper the chocolate first?

Tempering is a process used to give solid chocolate a uniform appearance and texture, as well as to insure that those qualities are shelf-stable. Most commercially available chocolate is already tempered to some degree so that it has a pleasing appearance and texture for customers to enjoy right out of the box/bag. Tempering is required when the final product will be made of solid chocolate or the chocolate is a component in an unadulterated state, especially in candies that will sit at room temperature. These would include molded and enrobed chocolates such as chocolate bars, bonbons, leafs, and nests. Recipes that add chocolate to other ingredients such as dairy, flour, and sugar can be made with either tempered or untempered chocolate because the structure of the chocolate fat crystals is no longer the dominant source of structure and texture. Examples of this include cookies, brownies, ganache, ice cream, and cakes. There is no normal application where untempered chocolate is required and tempered chocolate could not be used. The only application I have been able to think of where untempered chocolate would be desired/required is something made for the express purpose of training and/or testing chocolatiers or chocolate tasting professionals.

What would be the best way for replacing egg wash when baking bread? I've tried unsweetened soy milk but it didn't brown that well.

You could always try using vegetable, corn, or light/regular olive oil, vegan margarine, or light corn syrup thinned with a bit of water (to prevent over browning): Wikipedia - Egg wash Yahoo answers - Vegan replacement for egg wash? I also saw something here that mentioned the use of soy milk, but you said it didn't brown well. If it didn't brown at all, then it is most likely because you were using unsweetened soy milk (remember, sugar browns when exposed to heat).

I have a friend that is training for a marathon and he drinks 6 raw eggs before running (Yes, like Rocky) - is this safe?

Bearing in mind the salmonella statistics given above., yes it is safe to eat raw eggs so long as you are not very young, very old, or immunocompromised in some way--e.g. HIV, chemotherapy, leukemia, etc.

I recently bought a container of what was labeled "Canadian-style sour cream" at a produce market in the Bay Area. Being from Canada, I was curious to see what it was, since all the sour cream I've had in Canada was the same as the sour cream I've had in the US. But when I opened the container, it sure seemed to be regular sour cream. So what's the difference?

It looks possible that the two pieces don't actually go together. The patent referred to is number 625702, for an enameled chafing dish with a domed lid. (It's kind of hard to tell, but I think the innovation being claimed is the lip/indentation which allows the handle to be attached without damaging the enamel.) The patent does mention the inventor's desire to apply the patent to other dishes, not just ones of the chafing variety, but the enameled piece you have greatly resembles the enameled portion of the dish in the patent drawing.

It seems pretty well understood that you shouldn't stir pancake batter until there are no lumps, cause that will create a tough batter. I'm curious as to what "lumps" exactly are. Are they unincorporated dough lumps? That's the only idea that comes to mind, but seems like it would have some negative result on the final batter.

Bob1's answer has some of the basics -- "lumps" are mostly caused by bits of starch that don't dissolve completely in the liquid to blend with the rest of the batter. But the potential "downsides" depend on the size of the lumps. It is true that if they are excessively large, you can end up with loose dry flour in your pancakes, which is unpleasant. But I usually have only found that to happen when I haven't sufficiently mixed in flour on the bottom of a mixing bowl or something. Unless you have an exceptionally thick batter or haven't mixed up large "streaks" of flour in the batter, it's more rare to find a large free lump of dry flour floating in the middle of the batter that is big enough not to be "dissolved" during cooking. Small lumps will usually be broken up in the cooking process as air from the leavening rises and causes circulation in the batter. The warmer temperatures during cooking will also allow liquid to penetrate dry flour bits more readily. (Note that most small lumps in batter that sits for any length of time won't even have dry flour at all: they'll just be "goopy" bits of dough where some moisture has penetrated, kind of like "lumps" in gravy, which won't be very noticeable in the final cooked pancakes.) Just a note about why many sources recommend "lumpy" batter: it has to do with gluten. If you beat your batter for a long time, more gluten chains will form. This is great if you're trying to build up strength in a batter to make bread or something, but undesirable if you want a tender cake or pancake. Hence, many sources will tell you to mix pancake batter only until dry flour and other dry ingredients are incorporated (i.e., no longer with dry streaks), but small lumps are still acceptable. If you beat the batter long enough to get rid of ALL lumps, you may be toughening the batter too much, so your pancakes will be rubbery, flat, and less tender, rather than high-rising, light, and fluffy. You will also likely be causing some of the bubbles produced by the initial burst of gas from the leavening to burst and leave the batter, which will leave the pancakes more flat and dense. So, yes, you want to mix enough that you don't actually have huge lumps containing dry flour, but any other negative impact of small lumps is unnoticeable in the final product. On the other hand, overmixing will generally result in dense, rubbery pancakes, probably not a desirable result. If you're truly worried about the lumps, I can recommend a couple suggestions to mitigate them: Mix with a whisk or similar utensil rather than a spoon. You want a utensil that will break up bits of flour most effectively, so something with multiple strands that cuts through the dry ingredients will facilitate that. Use lower-gluten flour, like cake flour or pastry flour. Often cake flour is milled more finely, making it easier to dissolve small lumps in liquid. Less gluten makes it less likely for lumps to stick together. In addition, your final pancakes will be guaranteed to be more tender. Let pancake batter rest. Many recipes recommend a rest of around 15-20 minutes at room temperature, or up to an hour (or more) in the refrigerator. This will allow time for the flour to dissolve more completely and allow most of the lumps to dissipate or at least soften before you cook the batter. (The fridge is recommended for longer rests, as eventually gases from the leavening will start to bubble out, and the fridge will slow this process.) A rest usually also results in more tender pancakes with a smoother texture, though be careful to add enough liquid as rested batter will generally thicken a bit.

I recently purchased some sun-dried tomatoes in oil. However a few days in the fridge and they look like this despite being unopened. I regularly buy these tomatoes and store them in the same way. Can anyone suggest what might have happened?

Oil solidifies at cold temperature. In the case of olive oil, it does so at 37F. It takes a few minutes to get back to liquid state, either by leaving it on the counter or putting the jar in warm water.

I have some plums that have started to go soft and squishy. Would they be OK in crumble / crisp / cobbler type recipes? (I can't taste them before cooking because I am allergic to raw fruit).

As long as they aren't spoiled they'll be fine for a crumble/crisp/cobbler. You'll want to have someone else taste them to make sure first. They may need less sugar and less or no precooking. If they are really, really mushy then you might want to add some firmer plums or other fruit to give some texture.

My Lemon Butter sauce was way too acidic. What can I use to mellow the sauce? I started with 1/4 cup lemon, added shallots and garlic and reduced by half. Then added 1/2 stick butter, cherry tomatoes and fresh bay scallops, and served over angle hair pasta. It was very lemony and acidic.

If that is 1/4 cup lemon juice, that seems like quite a lot and reducing it is also probably making it taste even more lemony. If you want to keep about the same amount of liquid, try softening the shallots and garlic in 1 t olive oil and then adding 2T dry white wine and reducing. Add 1T lemon juice and bring to boil again but don't reduce, add in the cherry tomatoes, scallops and the 1/2 stick butter. You could also reserve half the butter to swirl in after the scallops are cooked through.

I buy frozen, shredded potatoes. What is the best way to drive off moisture to help make them crispy when cooked? Would microwaving on a paper towel help remove ice crystals and help avoid soggy potatoes?

Would microwaving on a paper towel help remove ice crystals and help avoiding soggy potatoes? I don't believe this would be a good approach. To microwave long enough to drive off moisture, you will wind up cooking the potatoes in the microwave. Then when you attempt to finish cooking, the interior of the potatoes will over-cook before you get the right degree of browning. What is the best way to drive off moisture to help make them crispy. First you need to make sure they are thawed. Per the other answer, rinsing in a colander under cold/lukewarm water will accomplish this. Of course, this will add moisture to what's already there, so it will be even more important then to remove the excess. Once thawed, you can remove the excess water by wrapping the potatoes in a clean linen dish/hand towel, and then twisting the opposite ends of the towel to create pressure on the potatoes, which will squeeze the water out of them. Then once you've gotten the water out, cook them as usual. Make sure you use sufficient oil or butter to ensure a nice browning rather than just drying out and toasting the potatoes. Bonus tip: when I make hash browns, I use fresh potatoes and I find that the potatoes start to oxidize once shredded. This can result in a slight green tinge to the cooked potatoes, which I'm not a big fan of (it doesn't affect the flavor at all, but I prefer the fresh color). This can be avoided by tossing the shredded potatoes in a dilute vinegar solution; I find that an 8:1 solution, e.g. 1 cup water to 1 oz. vinegar is strong enough to prevent the browning while not imparting a vinegar taste to the potatoes. Naturally, do this before you squeeze the water out of them. Of course, if you like a little tangy flavor in your food, you might try a stronger solution, as well as experiment with other types of vinegar or acids (e.g. lemon juice). :)

I found this item at a Chinese supermarket. Hints: It was in a fridge It was humid (almost wet) and fresh The "slices" were 2-3 mmm thick I googled for "Chopin", "Chopin food", "Chopin Chinese", etc. to no avail. Too many music related hits returned!

You have misread the Wikipedia quote. It says (emphasis added): Kale freezes well and actually tastes sweeter and more flavourful after being exposed to a frost. While not terribly well written (since there is the red herring that it freezes well), this doesn't mean that the harvested plant was frozen, but rather that the live plant in the ground was exposed to frost. This causes it to begin converting starches to sugars in preparation for winter, giving it a sweeter taste. Per Burpee, for example: Frost enhances the flavor. Some of the tastiest kale is harvested under a foot of snow! Never harvest kale until after a hard frost or two. A few freezing nights make all the difference in flavor as the kale plants need a hard frost to transform their starches into natural sugars.

I think about buying a Dutch Oven. As this is mainly - and as the name says - an oven, I think also about buying a pot to cook in the fire/coal. After some research I found a) a Dutch Pot, also called a Dutchie (which is mainly used in the caribbean, take a look here) and b) a Potjie (which is mainly used in South Africa). They look different and I have the impression that they do also "work" different in a way I cannot specify (and there is not so much information about Dutchies in the web). So can anyone explain me the difference between these two?

I cannot speak for the Caribbean version but a traditional South African Potjie is more like a cauldron that a pot. It has three legs so as to be able to stand on its own. Conventional wisdom dictates that you would not use a potjie in an oven seeing as that hurts the pot. Another differences is in the size. You get the standard number 3 Potjie that is the most common and then also the number two pots and the number one. The number one pot is truly fantastic to use.

Basically the idea is you're bored of doing the dishes and you want to save time. Is it unhealthy? Will the chemistry alter a lot? Assume the container has been in the fridge [and what had in it isn't spoiled] and the traces are what remains if one quickly puts the remains out with a fork. The food recipe has been the same.

There is no food safety issue involved, but in most cases, there will be a problem with taste. I think that the most important factor is whether the recipe involves heating (in the container in question) or not. If you must heat something in the container, don't reuse. Different parts of a heated recipe are added at different times (e.g. for a stew onions and tubers first, then meat, then fluid, then the delicate veggies, and herbs at the end). Having some pieces of the old vegetables at the bottom will interfere with that. Even if you don't have such a dish and are heating everything at once, you will cook the old food for the second time, overcooking it. It will taste bad, or even burnt - not only the old pieces, they will give their bad taste to the rest of the dish. If you don't heat in the container, but only do some physical changes (mixing, whipping, blending), it will probably be mostly OK. Take care with dishes where the mixing order is important - if you made a soufflé mixture in a bowl, you cannot start another one in the unwashed bowl, because you have to beat the egg whites in a clean bowl. If you get impurities into the eggwhites before they are beaten, they won't aerate properly, even if mixing in the same stuff after they are stiff presents no problem. For a chemically leavened (baking powder or baking soda) batter, you cannot start the dry part in the bowl which contains moist batter traces. And if you made anything which ferments, you will have some overfermented fragments. I wouldn't do it with yeast containing recipes, but if you are making yoghurt, you can just see it as a part of your starter culture. If your food doesn't belong to these exception categories, you are probably OK. Still, your food will get some off tastes. Even if you remove the last of the old food immediately before the new cooking process (and do you really start cooking just after you've eaten?), the old food will have left dried traces on the walls of the container. These will mix or dissolve into the new food. The drying alone will have given them an unpleasant texture. If we are talking pieces, or even worse, purées of fruits or vegetables, they will likely have oxidized as well. Anything which changes its taste with age (like fish) is better washed away. So much for the downsides: not game-breaking, but they exist. On the other hand, I cannot see any big gains. Cooking gets much more utensils dirty than the container in which the food is stored/prepared. If you are already doing them in the sink, elbow-deep in soapy water, the marginal effort for rinsing an additional item is close to nothing. And if you have a dishwasher, I don't see any reason to not use it. Conclusion: there is no reason to do it, even though it won't poison you if you do.

I followed this miso recipe and cooked it on a foil lined sheet pan directly under the broiler. Somehow, I only succeeded in burning the excess marinade on the foil, whereas all the marinade coating the fish retained its light brown miso color. Any ideas as to what could have prevented it from browning properly?

I've made that recipe before. Lopez-Alt's assertions to the contrary, getting a good browning on the miso sauce is actually highly dependent on having a good, pre-heated broiler and having the fish exactly the right distance away. The first time I made it, I had the same result as you; the fish was fully cooked but the sauce hadn't browned. Here's things you can do to make browning better with this, but you'll have to tinker around and try various ones to get the combination that works in your oven: Precook the marinade, reducing it by 1/3 and making it thicker Add 2 Tbs more sugar do the marinade Pre-heat your broiler making sure that it's very hot before you put the fish in Test distances of 4cm to 10cm from the broiling element/flame Make sure the sauce isn't thicker than 3mm on top of the fish Finish it with a blowtorch Good luck with this. At least it tastes delicious regardless of whether it's browned or not.

The FDA recommends cooking eggs (or dishes containing them) to 160°F (71°C) for safety. However, I know it's possible to make them safe by cooking for a longer period of time at a lower temperature. Douglas Baldwin's excellent sous vide guide has an egg section showing the results of cooking at various temperatures. Unfortunately, as far as safety goes, it only mentions that 1.25 hours at 135°F will pasteurize them. So how long does it take to make eggs safe at temperatures between 135°F and 160°F?

You can find out more than you'd ever want to know about cooking eggs safely in the International Egg Pasteurization Manual. The standard USDA guidelines for pasteurization of plain whole eggs require 3.5 minutes minimum holding time at 140F (60C). (Note: Holding temp here refers to egg temperature itself in liquid form: see edit for clarification below. These times/temps are NOT sous vide water bath temperatures for eggs in shells.) As you can read in that document (particularly Table 6 on page 12 and Table 29 on page 25), adding in small amounts of salt or sugar increases the requirement for pasteurization by various amounts, up to 6 degrees F (3.3 degrees C). Yolks or whites alone also have different numbers. So, it's really hard to generalize here. Particularly if you start to include any dish that may contain eggs, the required pasteurization temperature may vary a lot. If you mix in eggs with a good growth medium and then slow-cook that mixture for a couple hours before it hits ~130F, there will be a lot more bacteria to kill than in an intact whole egg, hence requiring a longer or higher temperature process to make sure the food is safe. And different textures of food, different moisture levels, etc. will also affect pasteurization. Yes, in general if you hold eggs long enough above 130F, you should eventually kill off enough bacteria to make the food safe to eat. But there's no easy formula for it, particularly if you include mixing other things with the eggs. If you want to be safe, the easiest thing is often to buy pasteurized eggs or follow the 60C/140F recommendation for 3.5 minutes with whole eggs to pasteurize them whole yourself. Then you can mix or combine them with other foods with less worry. The only major egg property impaired by pasteurization at 140F is the foaming of egg whites. (Egg white alone can be pasteurized at 136F (57.7C) for 6.3 minutes, which will retain much of the foaming properties. With whole eggs, going above 140F, even by a degree or two, begins to inhibit other baking properties; see the linked document for details.) EDIT: After a comment pointed out some ambiguity here, let me note that the linked document is only about liquid egg mixtures. That is, if you break your whole eggs and bring that mixture to 140F, they will be pasteurized in 3.5 minutes. If you are cooking eggs in shells in a water bath, that's going to be a lot more unpredictable. Larger eggs will take longer to come to temperature, eggs that start colder will take longer to come to temperature, and water baths that have a very active circulator will heat eggs a lot more quickly than a static water bath. If you want to ensure safety for eggs cooked in shells, you'll have to hold quite a bit longer to ensure they reach adequate internal temp, but that time is unpredictable because of the above factors. There are sous vide guides out there, as noted in the question, that give much longer times to try to ensure safety for eggs in shells. Sous vide guides can't give minimum temp/time with as much precision as the pasteurization guide in the link here, because most people aren't monitoring the internal temp of their food in a water bath. I was originally trying to address the question about cooking eggs in general (not just "boiled eggs in shell") and dishes containing them safely, which would mostly involve liquid eggs and various mixtures including them. And the only way to be precise about minimum time/temp is to specify final internal holding temp, as you'd measure a turkey or whatever. Minimum overall cook times will always be estimates.

The Situation: Guy decides he wants to make bacon and potato cubes (I can't think of a better term) for breakfast. Guy wants to cook potatoes in bacon fat Guy cooks bacon and places bacon on paper towels to dry off Guy cooks potatoes in left over bacon fat By the time potatoes are done (20 mins or so), the bacon is cold :( What can be done to remedy this? Should I just wrap the bacon in tin-foil? I've yet to fully master "timing" when it comes to cooking two different parts of a meal at the same time

I render off the necessary fat over low heat, then remove the bacon strips, increase the heat, and fry using the rendered fat. When nearly done, I return the bacon to the pan to crisp it before serving. Of course, you could also just save the grease from one batch to use with the next, thereby ensuring you always have both fresh-cooked bacon and (reasonably-fresh) grease to use without having to produce the former before the latter.

My dough is not proving because the room temperature is too cold in my house. Is there another method to make my dough rise without over-proving it?

The official answer from your health department is no, it's not safe. After four hours at room temperature, you have to pitch it. That standard is a little on the paranoid side. Which is appropriate, since they have to protect people for whom a little salmonella is potentially life-threatening (the infirm, babies, the elderly, etc.) If you're young and healthy, the odds are it will do you no harm whatsoever. Even a glass of milk out overnight is merely going to be sour rather than toxic. So, it's up to you. I'd say it's a cup of tea and it will taste better if you make a fresh one, even if the risk to your health is small-but-not-zero.

I've been trying to get a rye sourdough starter going so that I can make all-rye sourdough bread. I've been at it for two weeks, with a 1:1:1 of water, starter and rye at 50g (the first two days I added organic honey and didn't start discarding starter until the 4th day). At one point the recipe I was following said 50:100:100 of starter, water and rye flour, and it did a little better that day than the previous if I'm remembering right. The main issue is it isn't bubbly enough. Some days I get some good bubbles, but I can't seem to link it to anything. I've been keeping the starter in the oven with the light on because I think our house is too cold, (we keep our house at 68 at night and 75 during the day) but I don't know if that's the right way to do it. I live in hot, humid New Orleans, so that could be affecting it (or our A/C). I tried to make a loaf last night and it actually hasn't risen at all, which is why I am turning for help. The starter passed the float test before I made the loaf, and smells sweet and sour like sourdough, but is pretty dense and thick, and the bubbles aren't at the level I see in pictures. Help please! Not sure what to fix, if it could be moisture, temp, or the flour I'm using (bulk section rye flour for the first week and Red's dark rye once I ran out). I want to get a good robust one going so I can keep it for a while but it hasn't gone anywhere promising so far.

Your problem likely has little to do with moisture or temperature -- starters can actually be established in a wide variety of conditions, from a dry dough ball to very wet, and can from very cool temperatures to quite warm ones. It may take more or less time to establish in some conditions, but your parameters sound well within range. I would check the "oven with light on" temperature if possible, just to see what it is, but I doubt it's high enough to cause problems. (You probably don't want to go much above 85-90F when trying to establish a wild-yeast starter, and a little lower than that is probably ideal.) As FuzzyChef said, it's possible that chlorinated water or old flour can cause problems. But my guess from your description that your starter rose significantly with greater feeding is that it's simply starving. Once yeast begins to be established (usually 3-4 days after beginning a starter, with 24-hour feedings, but can be anywhere from about 2 to 7 days depending on conditions), you should increase the frequency of feedings. I generally prefer twice per day, but it depends on temperature and amount fed. For 1:1:1, every 12 hours or so is reasonable. The problem with letting the starter sit for 24 hours at a time while trying to get established is that the yeast usually have peak growth pretty early on (within a few hours of a feeding), but after several hours, mostly you're just growing lactic acid bacteria, which makes the starter acidic ("sour"). That's good, up to a point. The problem is when the starter begins to get too sour, yeast die off, and they run out of food without feedings. A 12-hour cycle might be enough of a shift to jumpstart the yeast growth and catch them before they start dying off every day. (Some people with so-called "sluggish" starters or starters that have become too acidic will even try more frequent feedings for a limited time.) I think at this point you might have a relatively small amount of yeast that just isn't growing much from day-to-day. Try feeding more frequently for several days and see what happens. For a 100% hydration starter (which you have), you usually want to see a starter that can consistently double or even triple in size within 2-4 hours after a feeding before you start trying to bake bread with it.

I'm thinking about trying to make some wintergreen hard-candies out of gum paste + wintergreen extract, but wasn't sure what shape / size to make them. It got me thinking, "What shape should these candies be so that it's less likely that someone might choke / otherwise hurt themselves while eating them?" I feel like a perfect sphere is probably the most likely to be accidentally swallowed, but hard / sharp edges may not be good for the inside of your mouth. Tried looking this up online, but didn't really get worthwhile search results-- beyond hard-candies being the most likely food item for a child to choke on.

Spherical or spheroidal foods are indeed the most likely to be implicated in choking - grapes are well known. But you're unlikely to get sufficient statistics to answer fully. Most of the medical literature I've seen is at least as concerned with size, and of course that changes as you eat the sweet. You'd have to start unusually small for size to be much help. Hard edges are much less of a concern. You'd struggle to get them sharp enough to do any actual damage, and the corners dissolve fastest, meaning they blunt almost immediately. This also means that the corners of something like a cube will go fairly fast, and you'll be left with a near-spherical blob. You might be best off with something like a coin shape - a flattish disc or oval. This is a traditional shape for barley sugars, and I've also had hard fruit sweets that shape. While coins do show up in the choking statistics, they're very common items for children to investigate, including by taste and when not supervised.

I have a large jewel yam. I peeled, diced, and boiled it with sugars and some spices. When I peeled it, I noticed there were deep darkish furrows in the potato, like spots where sprouts had been but were knocked off. There were a bit dark around the corner. Against my better judgement, I didn't cut them out. After boiling, the dark black spots seemed to permeate the flesh. It doesn't taste different, but it looks unpleasant. Around them, the flesh is very fibrous. Is it safe to eat? Next time should I cut these out or avoid buying potatoes that have them?

Without pictures (or perhaps lab results), it is very difficult to say. It sounds like your sweet potatoes may have been infested with mold (thus the dark color), in which case the wisest course of action would be to have discarded them. In general, you should be suspicious of any unexpected appearance in your produce. Note: I am inferring the item in question really is a sweet potato, marketed as a yam. True yams may have channels inside, and are a very different vegetable.

I have a cheddar bay biscuit mix made by Red Lobster. On the instructions, it says not to overmix the grated cheese, water, and biscuit dough, but it says to mix it. What does that mean? How do I know how much mixing is too much? I did read the other questions that have to do with overmixing. But they mostly concern muffins, and I'm not sure if it is the same with biscuits.

Mixing strengthens the gluten structure in recipes that use wheat flours. In breads, for example, this is a good thing, as that structure is what allows gasses to be trapped inside, and provides the pleasant chew that we associate with a well-made loaf. However, when making biscuits (or other baked goods where a softer, more crumbly texture is desired...pancakes also come to mind), it is advised to mix ingredients until just incorporated (or...don't over mix). This is so that you don't develop the gluten structure in your dough. So, just mix gently and minimally until the ingredients are well-dispersed.

I would like to do at home frozen yogurt. Do I have to use an ice cream machine, or is there a technique to prepare it without a machine? PS: I don't really like ice cream without the machine as the ice crystals are too big. I wonder if the highest density of yogurt helps.

You can do it sans machine, but you are limited to small batches, and it tends to form crystals. You have two choices, bags or freezer container. Bags tends to make less crystallized product, and is a bit faster. Bags Get a large 1 gallon ziploc bag, lots of ice, a ~2 cups salt, a small, 1 quart bag and the mix to be turned into ice cream (or frozen yogurt). Chill the mix in the fridge beforehand. This helps the mix cool more quickly and evenly, meaning smaller crystals, meaning creamier product. Place the cream mix in the small bag, and leave a bit of air. Make sure it is sealed well, you may want to double bag it. Put the small bag in the big bag. Fill the big bag about half way with ice and add a few tablespoons of salt. Seal the big bag and start mushing the small bag from outside the big bag, moving it around and getting it in contact with the ice. You probably want gloves or to wrap it in a towel: it gets really cold. After the ice melts down, add more ice and salt, keep squishing until the stuff in the bag gets hard. You can toss it on the floor and squish it with your feet while watching TV or reading. Put it in the freezer for a few hours to condition. This isn't quite as nice as a machine. To compensate for the extra crystallization, you can add more fat and sugar, since those stop large crystals from forming. With frozen yogurt, I don't think there is much you can do. Freezer Container This is easier, but makes lower quality product. Simply put your mix in a large container (leave at least half empty), and place in the freezer. Take it out every 10 minutes and shake vigorously for a few seconds. Repeat until it won't move anymore. Use a fork to fluff the mix.

Weeks ago I made a chutney of local ground cherries with onions and raisins. It came out very syrupy but I figured it will still be good in small doses with meats. I was recently on vacation when hurricane sandy hit our east coast home -luckily nothing major occurred to our home-, and we were without power for several days. Anyway, I got back yesterday and noticed today that my chutney is not totally frozen. I'm wondering If chutney can spoil in the freezer if not totally frozen, and also what would cause the chutney to not completely freeze? What are the signs of a spoiled half frozen chutney? Any thoughts are welcome, thank you :)

It's doubtful that you'll get any spoilage in your freezer. Not much grows at -20°C, with or without liquid. Your chutney is likely not freezing because of its high sugar content: Freezing Point Depression. That's perfectly normal behavior.

Does the convection oven baking feature still utilize microwaves to do the baking/broiling etc?

Such things can be make and model dependent. What can give you a hint is what the documentation says about metal cookware being or not being permissible when using the convection mode. If in doubt, ask the manufacturer.

What exactly makes some fish "Sushi Grade"?

"Sushi grade" means that it is safe to prepare and eat raw. In order to do that, it must be frozen to kill any parasites. That means it either has to be: Frozen at -20° C (-4° F) for 7 days; or Frozen at -35° C (-31° F - "flash frozen") for 15 hours. There aren't any official regulations about the fish itself or its quality, and most sushi/sashimi distributors have much more stringent rules of their own beyond the freezing guarantee.

I ask this knowing that it's possibly borderline off-topic, but I don't see a Botany SE site where I could ask, so... A few days ago I stumbled (literally) upon an odd little fruit that had fallen onto the sidewalk. It fascinated me because it had three large lobes and a hard, mottled outer texture. I couldn't figure out what it was, so I brought it home and promptly forgot about it for a couple days. When I picked it up today, one lobe had softened, and with a little pressure I was able to pop it off. The lobe contained a smooth, dark-brown nut! Upon examination this reminded me of a chestnut. I broke off another lobe and found a second pod: I have no idea what these are; they appear very similar to chestnuts but are missing the pointed tip and spiny shell. I don't know what to make of them. Does anybody know what these are? More to the point for this site, are they (safely) edible? I noticed a lot more had fallen nearby, and I'm not above gathering some if they're tasty.

That is a buckeye, fruit of Aesculus glabra, also known as the Ohio buckeye tree. The seeds (the "buckeye" part) look sort of like a horse chestnut, but the fruit is different. Do not eat it! The fruits contain tannic acid, and are poisonous to cattle, and humans, as is the foliage. (Wikipedia) (You can, however, make buckeye candy: peanut butter balls dipped in chocolate.) This is a buckeye still on the tree, as well as some leaves if you'd like to revisit the source to verify:

I am kneeding my dough and it became very hard. It is even very hard to kneed more. I am trying to add more liquid (warm milk or water). It is still not soft. Also, the dough is not accurate means dough is a little bit like crumbly dough. Its not coming together. I added bread improver, egg, oil, milk powder, white flour and yeast, salt and sugar. Can anyone help me out how to fix my dough at this stage? Flour 1.5 KG , Yeast 1.5-2TBSP, Bread Improver 1TBSp, Oil 4-5TBSP, Sugar 2TBSP, SALT 1TBSP, Milk 250ML, 1EGG, 2.5TBSP Milk Powder. While mixing and kneeding the dough became so hard. I didnt let the dough to rise yet as it is not ready yet. Because last time I made dough it was very soft. But this time it is so hard.

If you've added 250ml of milk for 1.5KG of flour then your dough is way too dry, there isn't nearly enough moisture for any kind of bread dough. A typical traditional pizza base recipe uses a ratio of about 5:3 flour to liquid by weight, meaning you'd need about 900ml of liquid for the dough. You've also added milk powder, which also needs to be hydrated, so add about 30ml or so for that as well. If you are using all purpose (plain) flour you should add a bit less water, say 10%, as there's less gluten in it. When you add the liquid to the flour it's going to be sticky, very sticky in fact, but that's bread making and you can't avoid it. You can oil your hands but that doesn't last, you're better off removing your rings and just cleaning your hands later. As the water incorporates and is absorbed the dough will get less sticky, but pizza dough is going to stay a bit sticky even after it's been kneaded enough, it will then be much less sticky after the first rise. The recipe you have isn't any kind of pizza base recipe I've ever heard of, milk, milk powder, eggs and sugar are all enriching agents and the dough you'll get isn't going to have the kind of structure you're looking for in a pizza base unless you're looking for some sort of non-traditional brioche style. It's also going to take much longer to rise as these ingredients slow the process. Traditionally a pizza base is flour, water, yeast and salt with olive oil being optional (I put it in).

I've always understood "bound breading" to refer to a three-step process, performed with chicken or other meats that have been portioned and patted dry: Dredge through (seasoned) flour and shake off the excess; Coat with beaten egg, slightly thinned (with water, milk, etc.); Coat with an even layer of desired breading (crumbs, more seasoned flour, etc). Recently, I came across this web page which describes bound breading as a two-step process, excluding the first step of dredging in flour. It occurred to me that, although I've always done bound breading this way, it seems like the thin layer of flour between the meat and the egg mixture would actually work against the breading sticking firmly to the meat. And yet, this is the way a bound breading is done in all the recipes and cookbooks I've encountered previously. What is the purpose of that first light coating of flour, structurally speaking? Obviously if you use seasoned flour, you're adding seasoning; but does it really make the breading stick any better through the cooking process?

The flour as the first dredging step does help the rest of the breading stick. Think traction. It gives the egg something to hold on to, which then holds on to the breadcrumbs. You're right, the vast majority of recipes that call for this kind of breading call for a three step process. That's because it works better. I've done it with and without the initial flour dredge. With is better. Considerably.

Can olive oil be substituted for vegetable oil in making a box cake mix?

Yes. As far as the mix is concerned, oil is oil. You're not reaching high enough temperatures to worry about smoke points or anything, and you're not trying to use a weird substitution (applesauce or some such). That said, I've done this before, so I can tell you that it may affect the flavor of the finished cake-- vegetable oil is called for because of its neutrality, but olive oil (especially the good stuff*) often has a distinct, fruity flavor. Depending on the (quality, quantity) oil that you use, that olive-oil taste may come through in your cake. Whether that's a bad thing or not is up to you. (*I and many others would consider it a total waste to use good extra virgin olive oil in a cake. I can't speak to any health reasons you may want to substitute, but if it were me and I just didn't have any vegetable oil on hand, I'd either go to the store now or wait to bake the cake.)

I am using a new container of yeast from the store; I keep it well-sealed (it's a small jar) and refrigerated. I make sure to use warm water in bread recipes - I check the temperature using a digital kitchen thermometer. I follow instructions to let the dough rise in a warm, moist environment - I put it in the oven (which is off, but was recently warmed to 100 degrees or so) with a steaming cup of hot water. However, my bread still doesn't rise - not in the breadmaker and not when made by hand. Should I use more yeast? If so, how much more? (..as in just a pinch more, or as in double or triple the amount?) Should I use more sugar, so the yeast has something to eat? I'm really at a loss here. Should I give it up and use different yeast? If so, what's a trusted brand?

You can proof your yeast to see if its still alive: Heat approx. ½ cup (100ml) of water to about 115°F (45°C). Add a tablespoon (10g) or so of sugar, stir. Water should still be above 105°F (40°C). Add a teaspoon of yeast, stir. Within 5 minutes or so, the mixture should be thoroughly foamy. If its not thoroughly foamy, yeast is bad (dead), dispose of it. (Note: Metric conversions above are rounded, just like the imperial units. Don't use these conversions for baking, but proofing yeast doesn't need anything exact.)

I have transglutaminase/activa powder branded "Saprona TG F". The ingredients are Salt, Gelatin, phosphate and transglutaminase. The dose is 1%. I'm making chicken roulade - should I apply it as a powder, a slurry or some other method?

If it's flaking, it wasn't seasoned right to begin with. However it really only matters on the cooking surface. You want seasoning to build up, but it shouldn't flake. See if it really is coming off, try with you fingernail. If it's coming off then get all of it off that you can by chipping it away. Scrape it off. If it doesn't come off then leave it alone, and season as normal another new layer. If you aren't happy with it, you can always strip it and start over but that's usually something you end up wishing you hadn't done. You do this by putting your cast iron in the oven and running it through a cleaning cycle. Be warned, don't do this unless you already know what to do and how to season your newly bare cast iron. Old cast iron seasoning is the best, you don't want to start over. I have some with a 1/4 inch of seasoning (I am exaggerating) on the outside of the pan and it looks crusty, but the inside seasoning and finish is baby skin smooth and slicker than any Teflon coating. I keep it that way by scrubbing lightly with a green scrubby to "tip" the bumps down before putting back in the hot stove to cook another thin layer of oil. You can't ruin cast iron except by breaking it. Don't worry, it's not ruined, it just needs some care. Some of my best cast iron was a lump of rust I rescued from the junk store.

I generally buy Choice grade beef, but will sometimes spend the extra money and buy Prime. How should I prepare Prime beef so as to take proper advantage of the additional tenderness, marbling and overall flavour of this grade? So far I've just been serving it on the rare side, or making carpaccio, but would not have a problem with serving it less rare.

If I'm spending the money to get prime, aged beef, I'm going to cook it rare if I cook it at all. The more you cook it, the more flavor you're going to lose. In the restaurant business, it's not uncommon to slip you a substandard chunk of meat if you order the fillet and you order it well done. How would you know the difference between good and bad at that point? Likewise a lot of additions. There is a place in town here that does an extraordinary fillet stuffed with goat cheese and cranberries, and one of the best I've ever tasted was covered with bearnaise and crabmeat, but, as a general rule, don't add a lot of extra flavors to high quality beef. The worst thing you can do is hide the taste, since that's what you're paying for. Still, aside from the two that I mentioned, you can stuff with blue cheese, make beef wellington, or make beef stroganoff (Link is to James Beards version, which, imho, is the best); quality of meat is huge in stroganoff. I'd only use fillet there, or some other very lean cut. Saved the marbled stuff for the grill.

Whenever I try to melt the sugar on top of a creme brulee with my kitchen blow torch, I find that the sugar takes forever to discolour even slightly, let alone melt. Eventually isolated patches of sugar start to burn. At this point I usually stop as I don't want to eat burnt sugar. I hold the torch so the flame ends just above the sugar, and I move the flame around constantly. What I end up with is sugar that isn't totally melted into a nice layer, but is still granular but somewhat stuck together. The texture isn't right at all - I want that smooth layer of sugar. What am I doing wrong?

The technique for creating a proper layer of melted sugar on your creme brulee involves three important elements: After you add the sugar, gently swirl the ramekin to create smooth layer of sugar. You don't want it too clump or be uneven. Gently 'kiss' the sugar with the tip of the flame, moving the flame around to heat evenly, just until the sugar starts to flow. Hold and rotate the ramekin to cause the melting sugar to flow around the cup and form an even layer. Your goal is to distribute the heat, and sugar, evenly and smoothly around the top of your custard. The technique to use is easier to pick this up by seeing it rather than reading about it. Alton Brown did a segment on Creme Brulee on Good Eats where he demonstrates the technique. (if the link fails, you can Google "Alton Brown Creme Brulee on You Tube")

I didn't find this question asked on this site, and didn't find it being answered anywhere on the Internet. I've tried the recipes that are given online. They're all more or less the same where they ask you to single fry the potatoes (and they all stress on shaking it in between). There's got to be a better way. I'm sure that there exists another way to make the fries crispier. My question is focused on double-frying rather than "how to make fries". I have gone through the other questions on this site and come to know that the normal process of making crispy french fries is to fry them twice (and freezing them in-between). However, what about the case when we're making them using an Air Fryer? Should we follow the same procedure of frying them once, freezing them, and then frying them again after a few hours? If not, then how can I make crispy french fries using an Air Fryer?

I tried out the following procedures with Air Fried french fries and concluded that the best way to make them is to cut, wash and air-fry. Note: Any kind of "frying" here refers to air-frying. Also, the potatoes were picked from the same batch, they were cut in exactly the same way with the same width, using a cutting tool. Blanching in water, freezing in the refrigerator overnight, frying the next day: Resulted in slightly sweet french fries. I don't prefer them sweet. Blanching in water + salt + vinegar, freezing in the refrigerator overnight, frying the next day: Resulted in slightly sweet french fries. I didn't notice any difference in texture or crispyness as compared to #1. Blanching in water + salt + vinegar, deep-freezing overnight, frying the next day: Resulted in much sweeter french fries Resulted in exactly the same kind of french fries as in #1 Cutting the potatoes, frying them immediately after that: Made the fries stick to each other. Also, the edges of the fries were burnt. (Best) Cutting the potatoes, washing them with water to remove the surface starch from the potatoes, frying them immediately after that: This made the best result, IMO. It was almost the same as #1, except that it wasn't sweet. The fries were not sticking to each other and crispy. Cutting the potatoes, frying them in one batch. Waiting for 15 minutes so that they cool down, and the moisture escapes. Then frying them again: The fries felt half-normal, half-hard like crusty cheese. I had to throw the ends of the resulting french fries because they were difficult to chew. My two cents: French fries cooking methods from oil-frying don't exactly port over to air-frying. Air-frying is much quicker and faster. However, it doesn't reach the crispiness of oil-frying. That said, considering the health-benefits, I would go for air-frying any day. The best way to fry is also the quickest way. Cut, wash, drain, and fry. I've also noticed that adding the spices after they are fried results in better french fries.

I see many times chefs choosing olive oil as the fat for cooking recipes that undergo heats of 400f+ (very much above the smoking point of refined olive oil) for 30 minutes, and its virgin olive oil many of the times! But isn't olive oil supposed to smoke at those temperatures? Does cooking past the smoke point not cause smoking and undesirable flavors or other issues? Does any flavor benefit from the oil actually remain?

Just because the oven is reaching high heat does not mean the olive oil that is on the surface of what is being cooked will reach the oven temperature (or get past the smoke point, even). In a deep fryer, heat is transferred almost directly from the heating element to the oil. In a pan, heat is transferred from the heat source to a pan, then directly to the oil. Both those represent very efficient heat transfers, and can bring an oil to past its smoke point. The oven transfers heat from source to food via the air, which is a very inefficient form of heat transfer. The temperature of the oil you apply to your food will be vastly more affected by the mass of the food than by the air in the oven environment.

I've got a surplus of Bing cherries at the moment, since they're in season and therefore on sale everywhere. I have a handful of made-from-scratch cherry pie filling, but most call for tart cherries (and a relatively large amount of sugar, 1/2 to 1 cup, about twice what I put in a typical blueberry filling). How much should I reduce the sugar to allow for using a sweeter variety of cherries?

5 gram per gallon (0.0125 percent) Xanthan gum inhibits separation in my pepper sauce. You see that as an ingredient in lots of hot sauces. It's a bit of a pain to mix in thoroughly, but there are plenty of other emulsifiers available. Last couple years it seems there might be a bit of consumer backlash growing against some of them, so choose carefully. You wouldn't want the next "gluten" in your product.

I wrapped some buttermilk biscuits in a kitchen towel and kept them in the pantry (they were baked two days ago) but now they dried out and turned to some teeth-breaking biscuits! Where and how should I have kept the extra fresh?

Biscuits are notorious for that; they're best eaten right away. If you want to preserve their original texture longer than 12 hours (yes, that short of a time), your best bet is to freeze them as soon as they are cool and eat them within a month or two. Wrap them as air-tightly as possible. You can pop the frozen biscuits in a moderate oven or unwrap and give them an hour or so on the counter to defrost, then warm them. Either way, it's best to serve them warm, they will seem softer and fresher that way. If you've found a recipe you like and think you might want to make them frequently, mix the dry ingredients for multiple batches. If you can weigh the dry mix that you have just mixed, then you're golden. You can make as many or as few biscuits as you want anytime just by using the same proportion of dry, fat and liquid as the original recipe. You can easily make a single biscuit that way or feed a crowd.

I currently have no baking powder in the cupboard and I'm just wondering if i can use yeast in a cookie dough recipe instead of baking powder

Your usual cookie recipe can't simply be adapted, but there are plenty of yeast cookie recipes (chocolate chip example). Some of them look rather interesting, but unlike the one I linked have significant rise times.

We are making vegetable curry with rice and need a dessert to go well with it. Does anyone have any suggestions?

Not authentic but a rice pudding cooked in coconut milk (cardamom opt) and chilled in individual portions is lovely with fresh fruit at the table. I had it served with passionfruit -lovely. Keep portions dainty after a full curry meal!

I'm keen on the idea of baking using "Baker's Math"... but, what ingredients do we count when trying to figure out the hydration level of a dough? Do we count just water/liquid? Or, do we count things like sour cream, butter, milk, eggs?

The term is not really defined that way. In the strict sense, it only has meaning for lean doughs - made of only flour, water, yeast and salt, eventually preferments or later mixins like seeds. You can extend it to enriched doughs (those that have fat, milk, eggs, tomato juice, etc.) but then it is no longer sharply defined. Calculating the exact content of water (e.g. adding to the calculation 17 g of water for every 100 g of butter) are pretty useless, because the water bound in an emulsion or other kind of colloid doesn't behave the same way as free water when making a dough. So, a dough with 100 g water and 100 g butter will be extremely different from a dough with 117 g of water, and still pretty different from one with 117 g of water and 83 g of oil. So, there is no real formula any more to create an actual percentage. The concept still stays somewhat useful in this case, but you have to "play it by ear". When you are trying to judge how soft a given enriched dough will be, you can start by calculating all the liquid and fat ingredients as if they were "hydration", which gives you a rough guide to compare it to other doughs, and then you have to make it and gain a tactile understanding of how it actually behaves.

The other day I attempted to make a white chocolate ganache, and while the flavor is perfect, it utterly refused to set. Instead what I ended up with was a sticky, somewhat runny blob. It never hit that really nice fudgy stage where I could take it out of the spring form and not have it run all over the place. Granted it wasn't horribly runny, but still enough not to be presentable. I'm used to dark chocolate ganaches which will firm up into something not unlike a fudge, which is perfect for making tarts. The basic recipe was this: 1 cup heavy cream, held at a low simmer for around 5 minutes with spices Strain cream over 12 ounces of nestle white chocolate chips Stir on low heat until fully melted and slightly reduced Any ideas would be really helpful, I have high hopes for this recipe once I can get the ganache to set correctly.

White chocolate does not have starch, so it does not thicken the ganache, unlike dark chocolate. The proper proportion for white chocolate ganache is 45 to 60 ml of cream to 12 ounces of chocolate. You used 240 ml, which made it too runny. Use less cream and you will get a good consistency.

I'm attempting my first slow-cook today but, of course right after I started it, I read that there's some nasty chemical in uncooked kidney and cannellini beans that can cause vomiting. And apparently slow-cooking, even for eight hours, is not sufficient to deactivate it. I'm confused as to whether this applies to just dried kidney beans, or if it is also true for canned beans one gets from a store (i.e. in water). Will these have been pre-cooked to remove this toxin?

If Wikipedia is to be trusted (and in this case, their source is the FDA), there is in fact a toxin in some raw beans, such as kidney beans. The toxic compound phytohaemagglutinin, a lectin, is present in many common bean varieties, but is especially concentrated in red kidney beans. White kidney beans contain about a third as much toxin as the red variety; broad beans (Vicia faba) contain 5 to 10% as much as red kidney beans.3 Phytohaemagglutinin can be deactivated by boiling beans for ten minutes; the ten minutes at boiling point (100 °C (212 °F)) are sufficient to degrade the toxin, but not to cook the beans. For dry beans, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) also recommends an initial soak of at least 5 hours in water, which should then be discarded.3 During the pressure-canning process beans undergo (they are fully cooked in the can), the toxin is certainly deactivated. Canned beans are ready to eat, even cold, although they probably taste better hot, and with some flavor from a sauce or accompanying dish. The danger would be in slow-cooking dry beans of this variety, which have never been previously cooked.

I've been trying to make butterscotch bars. I'm not a new baker, but I don't have much experience in melting brown sugar and butter together. The recipe (included at bottom of post) I'm using says that I need to melt butter and add brown sugar, and stir until sugar is melted. When I first tried it, everything went well. Butter and brown sugar were mixed as one and it kinda looked like toffee. On my next attempts, I couldn't get the same result anymore. When the brown sugar melts, it doesn't incorporate with the butter anymore and it turns really hard like candy. So, what I get is hardened (but still grainy) brown sugar in a pool of melted butter. Please give me some tips and techniques to properly melt butter and brown sugar together so that the result is like gooey toffee. I hope it can be done without candy thermometer. The author of the recipe didn't use one, and I think the quantity of the sugar-butter mixture is too little for me to dip a thermometer in it. Thank you! The recipe: 1/4 cup unsalted butter, 1/4 cup butter compound (I think it's half butter half margarine), 1 cups dark brown sugar, 1 large egg, 1/2 tsp vanilla extract, 1/2 tsp baking powder , 1 cup flour, 1/8 tsp salt In a small pot, melt the butter and butter compound over low heat. Add the sugar and stir until melted. Turn off the heat. Preheat the oven to 325°F and grease an 8" baking pan. In a large bowl, sift the flour with the baking powder. Add the salt. When the sugar mixture has cooled, add the egg. Mix well after addition. Add the flour mixture and mix until just incorporated. Add the vanilla and mix one last time. Pour the batter into the pan and bake for 25-30 minutes or until the cake is set. P.S.: I haven't tried to actually let the mixture come to a boil because, as I said, the brown sugar becomes so hard and candy-like when it melts, and I'm afraid it gets even harder if I let the mixture boil. Please give me tips regarding boiling it. Thanks a lot for helping this newbie out. :)

In the past I have had a similar issue with making a butterscotch drink recipe. What I have found is that adding a bit of water to the melted butter (1-2 tsp/1/2 c, 5-10mL/120mL) helps dissolve the brown sugar and prevents graininess and seizing. Sugar is not readily soluble in fat, so it needs water in order to dissolve. I suspect one of three things happened: Different batches of butter may have different water contents. The brown sugar may have lost some of its moisture as it sat around in the pantry. Some of the water may have evaporated off while melting the butter. If you heat brown sugar in butter without enough water some will dissolve in the water present from the butter and the brown sugar, but it will become grainy and seize as the water is evaporated and the undissolved sugar granules act as nucleation sites. Meanwhile the undissolved sugars are being lightly fried in the fat from the butter.

Can I dehydrate different kinds of herbs on different trays at the same time in my dehydrator? Or, can each tray be a different herb. I am drying sage, oregano, parsley, and thyme.

Yes, there is no issue with that. If you have specific drying times for each herb then I guess you might need to take them out at different times but I can't see it being an issue. At worst they may absorb a little of each others' odours but the effect should be small and not really change the flavour when used in coming.

I know that fish bought from a grocery store isn't always great quality or safe to consume raw and this was elaborated in this question. However, is it generally safe (if prepared properly) to turn a fish caught from a local fishing spot into sashimi/sushi? Are there any specific factors to look out for such as water quality and pollution? If it is not generally safe to do this are there methods one can use to determine the safeness of the practice?

The biggest concern with fish caught in the wild is the presence of parasites. You'll have to look up which species of parasite are present in the species of fish that you wish to use, and treat it accordingly. Tapeworm is common in salmon, and several other varieties of fish have various parasites capable of infecting a human host. Most sites I've seen suggest that you need to freeze the fish at -4 degrees Fahrenheit (-20 Celcius) or colder for 7 days or -31 Fahrenheit (-35 Celcius) for 15 hours to guarantee any parasites are dead. Many home freezers may have difficulty keeping temperatures this low. Also the freezing process, if done in a home freezer, has a good chance of ruining the taste and the texture of the meat. You may want to look into flash freezing methods to avoid this. Supposedly there are certain species of fish that do not have any parasites, or at least no parasites capable of infecting humans. You will want to do your own research on this to be certain. Beyond parasites bacteria are the other biggest concern. Make sure you put the fish into a cooler immediately, and freeze it as soon as you return home. Sources: http://seafoodhealthfacts.org/seafood_safety/patients/parasites.php http://www.sushiencyclopedia.com/sushi_concerns/sushi_parasites.html

I was thinking about it and we use charcoal, gas, wood chips, etc to heat our food; for obvious reasons and since they burn for a long time. But what if, for example, you set a few steaks on fire and use those steaks to cook a hamburger? Would it improve the taste of the hamburger?

It's possible to smoke meat using nuts or herbs, and fish can be baked on a huge slab of rock salt, but other than that, people don't really bother. There's nothing wrong with experimenting though. Maybe you'll invent something new by burning fruit. Who knows.

I am always in favor of fresh ingredients when possible. I recently discovered that minced (and crushed and chopped) garlic is available in very inexpensive jars in the produce section of the grocery store. I've always bought garlic and chopped it for a given meal, but I wonder if such jars of prepared garlic are worthwhile. Would purchasing prepared garlic in a jar be a time saver in some situations, or is the quality reduced such that it is not recommended? As a side question, does minced garlic in a jar keep for very long once opened?

Yes, it is different. Does it matter? It depends. If you're going to use garlic in a stew or anything else that would 'dissolve' the regular garlic anyway, it doesn't really matter all that much in my opinion. If you want to preserve the texture and/or create a more 'urgent' garlic flavour in short-cooked food, I'd go with fresh. Sidenote: most of the prepared garlic comes with additives, consider if you want to have those as a part of your diet. As for keeping time once opened: no worries really - bacteria really don't like garlic all that much, so refrigerated you should have no problems hitting 6+ months.

My grandfather loves chocolate so much but he has a diebites so i want to buy a sygar free chocolate for him so anyone tell me from where i can buy it.

If you live in the UK, Thorntons do a very good range of sugar free chocolates. My grandma says that these are the best ones she has tasted, they don't have the bitter taste that some do: http://www.thorntons.co.uk/thumbnail/Chocolate-Toffee-Fudge/No-Added-Sugar-Chocolate/No-Added-Sugar-Chocolate/pc/2198/c/2212/2212.uts

How do I know that my yogurt has live and active cultures in it? I used store bought organic Greek yogurt with live and active cultures as my starter, and it turned out beautiful and thick,but I'm making it to replace taking probiotic capsules. In all my studying beforehand I never found a conclusive answer as to, HOW do I know if the yogurt bacteria is in it?

The fact that you made the yogurt is proof enough. Your yogurt has live cultures. In principle every yogurt is a colony of bacteria living in milk. When you make new yogurt, you are establishing a new colony, using the starter as "colonists" who then take over the new milk. The result is a lively ecosystem of bacteria. Companies nowadays optimize food for long storage time, and frequently also for some blandness. Since a lively colony can go more sour with time, some of them actively go and kill the bacteria after the yogurt has been made. This stops the yogurt's taste from changing. The reason why people warn you about choosing "live cultures" for homemade yogurt is that, if you happen to pick a storebought yogurt with killed-off culutres, they won't be able to colonize your new milk. Instead of yogurt, you will end up with spoiled milk, wasting time and food. They don't mean that you will make somehow "dead yogurt" from a dead culture.

I am looking for a good book on British cuisine, and I have a specific type of book in mind. I tried looking on Amazon, but I couldn't determine whether a given book offers what I want. I am looking for a book which is more of a good read than a recipe collection. I actually intend to curl up in an armchair and read it through. It should describe different traditional dishes, something about their background, maybe things like where it is from, is it prepared for certain occasions, maybe some historical anecdotes, or typical pairings. If there are traditional genera of dishes which require their own technique, I'd like to see that technique explained somewhere. For example, I have a book on French cuisine, and it contains very detailed directions on making pastetes, independently of any recipes. A general chapter on food history in Britain could also be nice, if not too long. It should also provide the recipes for the dishes - maybe not a big collection, just for sampling whatever is described in the text. But please, it should be a book with good recipes, not one where the author described the cooking tradition and then just slapped the first recipe they came across without even testing if it can be made. It should cover baking as well as cooking. I've always wondered what scones taste like. It should contain a good share of food porn. All in all, I guess it is maybe best described as a collection of Smitten Kitchen articles, only the text shouldn't be about the author's personal experience with the food, but about the tradtions surrounding it. If you know of such a book, I am looking forward to your recommendations.

I have "The Cookery of England" by Elisabeth Ayrton, and it seems to meet most of your conditions. The introduction is a brief history of traditional English food, there are historical anecdotes interspersed in the text, and yes, it has a recipe for scones, and also for cheese scones, but there is little food porn - sadly, the only picture is on the cover.

The only thing I really miss since I started the whole rampant vegetarian thing is the taste of Worcester sauce in all sorts of dishes. Is there a way to get close to the flavour without doing anything rude to any anchovies?

I have found a few recipes on the web: Vegan Worcestershire sauce Vegetarian oyster sauce There are also a few hard to find ready-made vegan Worcestershire sauces on the market, such as Annie's. When I read these recipes (which I have never made) I can tell that their flavor profile is missing some key aromas present in the original Worcestershire sauce. As strange as it may sound these sauces could use some of the aromas found in Parmigiano-Reggiano and in broccoli.  Whichever recipe works out, someone should write a blog post on this topic.

There are commercial flavored popcorn (i.e. BetterMade) that aren't topped with flavor but coated like a potato chip. How do I re-create that coating at home? Specifically, I'm a fan or the 'hot' style coating (bbq, buffalo chicken, jalapeno, flame). I've tried oils, tossing in a bowl, spraying from a bottle, but no luck - it's just regular popcorn with a little chili powder sticking to each kernel.

Anyone ever try just popping with your regular oil, but 50/50 mixed with India Mustard oil, and then before dumping the popcorn into the oil, add 1 tsp of Turmeric powder, and 1 tsp of Reshampatti chilly powder ( hot India ground chilli ) in with the popping corn ? When it pops, you get a hot curry taste, and an atomic yellow colored corn. Salt with unflavored regular popcorn salt, or, powdered India "Black Salt" for an unusual taste sensation. Dave

How do I make sure the crust of a baguette, etc. turns out a nice golden-brown when baking?

The trick is steam and high heat. Heat your oven up to 450 F (230 C). Bring a pot of water to boil on your stove. Once boiling, pour the water into a deep roasting pan on the bottom shelf of your oven. If you can place it directly on the bottom of your oven (it doesn't obstruct vents) then that is ok too. 1" (2.5 cm) of water is enough. Let the steam build up for 5 minutes Spray your baguettes with water, they should be rather nicely wet. Don't forget to slash them as well Put your baguettes in the oven on the top shelf. BE CAREFUL opening your oven. Don't let the steam blast you in your face or other exposed body parts. Let it dissipate a bit. 5 minutes into baking, spray the baguettes again (be careful) 10 minutes into baking, spray the baguettes again 15 minutes into baking, carefully remove the tin of water from the oven Let bake for a final 20 minutes Depending on how even your oven is browning the crust you may need to turn the pan at the spray intervals.

Our yellow squash has some brownish discoloration inside in a ring down that extends length-wise. Is this normal variation and safe to eat, or is this an indicator that the squash has gone bad?

This can be one of two things: 1) If you bought this from a store the squash is a bit old. It own't hurt you as mentioned in one of the comments above it just isn't pretty. 2) If this is a fresh squash, if you had a heavy rain storm or a higher than normal concentration of smoke in the area (like forest fires) then it is possible for excess minerals to be deposited in the meat of some veggies (squash is among that list). Either way it won't hurt you.

Carrageenan, a seaweed extract, is used frequently in vegan cheese and other vegan and vegetarian preparations as a thickening agent. However, I have never seen it recommended as a way to add "body" and texture to a vegan stock, as a replacement for the collagen in meat stocks. Particularly, I'd like to experiment with it for vegetable stocks intended to be thickened into a sauce. Is this because it works poorly for that purpose, or just because few cooks have tried it? Or some other reason?

In my experience, a combination of acid (lemon juice/tomatoes/tamarind paste) and heat(temperature) is used to cut the taste of raw onions. You will need to continue frying the raw onion and masala mixture until it separates from the oil, which is a good indicator of the doneness of the onions as well as the spices. If you follow this route of cooking the onions after pureeing them, you would also not want to roast the spices before grinding them, and instead fry them all together at this stage.

I know peanut butter and other nut butters can easily be made at home, but they all seem to have very small bits in them. Creamy is never the true creamy smooth of big brand store bought. Is it possible to replicate the ultra smooth creamy texture of store bought at home? I don't like nuts in my food and even the tiniest bit of texture will put me off.

Well, you could shell out for a commercial nut butter mill, if you had an extra thousand bucks lying around. But otherwise the answer is probably not. I believe that commercial peanut butter makers grind the nuts between metal plates, which gives the very fine texture. At home, you're presumably using a food processor, which can't make thick-textured pastes very fine. Some health food stores have nut butter mills, though, so if you're looking for freshness, you can grind just before you buy.

From here: http://www.devans.in/mediumcoffee.html Medium roast of Plantation "AA" brings out the full compliment of aromas and results in a coffee that has moderate acidity, tangy flavor and good strength. What does acidity mean in terms of coffee? How does it affect taste?

Acidity in coffee results in a brightness of flavor. Higher Grounds describes it as "dry, bright & sparkling sensation". Sweet Maria, a purveyor of unroasted beans, describes it as "bright, clear, snappy, dry, clean, winey, etc." In truth, you would need to sample a variety of coffees with different characteristics and develop your own sense memory, because it is extremely difficult to describe flavors. A nice Ethiopian full city roast will have good acidity when compared to say a French roasted anything. In general, coffee grown at higher altitude will have more acidity than lower grown coffee; and lighter roasted coffee will retain more of its acidity than darker roasted coffee. See also: Kaladi Coffee article on coffee acidity Higher Grown: Coffee Acidity: the Science & the Experience

I'm trying to make the broth part of Maanchi's tteokbokki recipe and it calls for dried anchovies. I'm on a bit of a time crunch so getting them online isn't the best and the closest Asian market is hours away. Could fresh Anchovies replace the dried ones?

Speaking as someone who has made this broth, it will not work. Fresh anchovies will add too much oil and will break up in the broth, making it cloudy and too fishy. You really want to look at other dried ingredients. The answers to this question cover a fair range of what those dried ingredients could be.

My house mate brought back from green tea from either China or Malaysia that was dark green balls that unrolled to large, thick leaves when steeped and I'm struggling to find anything similar! It didn't have the same young/grassy taste like some of the jasmine tea I've had and instead tasted quite earthy and ... green! (Sound stupid I know) Does anyone have any pointers to what I should be looking for? When I've searched for whole leaf green tea it comes back with Jasmine Pearls which are a lot longer and thinner when steeped but these were more substantial

Rinse chicken in water then add it back to the grill with low fire...brush ckn with honey. The honey will balance the salt. Just keep an eye on it as the honey can burn fairly quickly. Enjoy!

Stainless Steel seems to be all the rage in cooking stores these days, yet frying eggs on one leads to an extremely messy cleanup situation, assuming you can get it out without breaking it. Scrambling eggs works fine but the cleanup is brutal, even with loads of butter. My goal is to cook/fry eggs in a pan, Teflon seems the obvious choice; but it quickly starts to flake off making the food uneatable. What type of pan and associated tools (spoon, spatula, etc) should I look for? I’d also like to avoid using loads of butter, PAM, and oils, seeing as eggs have enough fat and cholesterol already.

Modern non-stick pans should not have problems with coatings flaking off. Spend $50 on a non-stick pan and it will last you for a very long time. Coatings on good pans should hold up to any non-metallic utensils. Very expensive pans suggest that you can hit them with a hammer and not hurt the surface.

I was wondering if meat and chicken get cooked well, do we need to wash our hands before handling it?

Well, nothing is mandatory as long as you are cooking for yourself. If you are cooking in a commercial setting, there are clear guidelines on hygiene, including washing hands before handling food. There can be a lot of things on your hands that you might not want to go on your plate, including the dust after cleaning the house. So if you are cooking for other people, I’d consider it a basic courtesy to work with clean, i.e. washed hands. If you are cooking for yourself and if you think it’s superfluous, feel free to act as you see fit. Let me suggest a test if you think about skipping the initial hand washing: Would you lick your hands without batting an eye? The overall effort of washing ones hands is so small, during the time you are pondering the question, you could easily have washed and dried them. And if you remember that washing hands is the easiest way to prevent colds, stomach viruses and other infections, the first stop when arriving home after a day at the office or in town should be your bathroom sink anyway.

Meats with a low fat content, like shrimp and chicken breast are often suggested to be cooked at a high temperature for a short period of time. However meats with a higher fat content, such as beef brisket and pork ribs, are often to suggested to be cooked low and slow. Oil has a lower specific heat than water which means it heats up faster. Given this, I would expect high fat meats to have shorter cook times. Why is it the reverse?

The cuts you are talking abut don't just have fat, they have collagen. Collagen requires long cooking in order to be converted to gelatin and stop the meat being tough and chewy, and to add that delicious richness to the cooking liquor and succulence to the meat.

Someone told me a while ago that if you cook with olive oil (in a curry, for example) that its properties change compared with using it in a cold dish (e.g., salad dressing). Firstly, is this actually true of olive oil, or any oil, for that matter? If so, how are things like the vitamins, antioxidants or saturated/unsaturated fat balance of a particular oil changed when it's cooked?

Usually this is said specifically about extra virgin olive oil. The reasoning is that extra virgin oil is pressed cold and processed without heating in order to preserve specific flavor profiles in the finished product. Cheaper oils are extracted using heat to maximize extraction, but lose some of these flavors. Generally heating is discouraged because you're paying a premium for unheated oil, so using it in hot applications would defeat the purpose.

I hate the idea of measuring flour using something as imprecise as measuring scoop. What numbers do you treat as definitive/authoritative/canonical for doing weight conversions for different types of flour?

There is no official standard. The USDA uses 125g/cup, but labels on packages claim different weights for one cup: Gold Medal brand: 130g King Arthur brand: 120g (updated 2016) wolframalpha: 137g superpacked: 165g I always convert my recipes to weights using 140g/cup.

Why would one need to mix the dry ingredients (flour, salt, soda) separately and before mixing into the liquid (butter, sugar) than just mixing everything into one bowl at the same time when making cakes? What would be the result if done ?

I went into some detail with this in my answer to What are the factors that affect the chewiness, softness, moisture of bread based desserts like cinnamon rolls? To summarize my points there and add some more (simplified) detail on the chemistry: Gluten is responsible for elasticity of dough, which is perceived as chewiness. The difference between bread, quickbread (muffins/scones), and cake is largely due to the difference in gluten formation, with cake having the lowest amount and bread having the highest. It does not directly cause rising - the leavening agent (yeast, baking powder, etc.) is responsible for that. What it does do is form a protein network by cross-linking, which not only results in the elasticity above but also traps gas and prevents it from escaping during the baking process. The "rising" in baked goods is essentially just stretching of the gluten network. This is why hydrocolloids such as xanthan and guar gum can mimic some of the effects in gluten-free recipes; although the mechanism is completely different - in essence, they're creating a very thin gel. Gluten is also exceptionally good at both absorbing and retaining moisture; it can absorb up to 150% (1.5 times its own weight) in water. One thing you'll notice about typical wheat products vs. their gluten-free equivalents is that latter don't last too long and have to be frozen or consumed quickly. Part of this is due to preservatives in commercial baked goods, but much of it is also simply due to the gluten retarding moisture loss. You can think of it as a kind of natural preservative. It's activated by water and heat and is (relatively) slow-acting, which gives it a high tolerance with respect to time and temperature. This is why many people will tell you that bread is "forgiving" while cake and other low-gluten/gluten-free products are not. When baking without gluten, you will have to be very precise about all of your measurements. Its coagulation action is actually very similar to that of egg whites, and pure gluten (AKA vital wheat gluten) is sometimes actually used as a replacement for egg whites. A meringue is just heavily aerated egg whites and specifically protein; gluten is basically doing the same thing inside of whatever you're baking. Finally, it provides nutritive protein when eaten. Wheat gluten is about 75% protein and all-purpose flour is about 10% gluten. That means 7.5% of the flour you consume is actually protein. Of course that's nowhere near what you get from meat, but it's still a significant contribution to one's diet. In short: Gluten does a lot of things. Keep in mind when doing gluten-free baking that a lot of the substitutes only replicate one or two of the effects.

I'm looking into baking sourdough bread; I've read that I must have a stoneware or earthenware baking bowl in order to make it come out with a nice crust. Is this strictly true? Or can I substitute something else, say, baking it directly on my pizza stone with a pan of water underneath to provide steam?

You can indeed do what you ask - baking on the pizza stone with a steam pan. It works better to pour hot water directly in the pan when you put the bread in though, rather than just leaving water in the pan. You get a burst of steam and then a consistent small amount. It's a method that Peter Reinhart advocates. The other common option - especially with high hydration doughs - is to bake it in a covered dutch oven for the first half. This approximates some of the effect of the earthen/stoneware. The steam from the bread itself keeps the environment moist. You certainly don't need those pots for fantastic bread. Tonights loaf - no earthenware ;) (I rushed it for dinner, so the crumb isn't what it could be.)

I have made one batch of ice cream, and now I need to make another. I have rinsed out the freezer bowl, and when I dried it I noticed that the water had frozen to a thin film of ice. So it is obviously still pretty cold. I am hoping to finish the second batch tonight (at the time of writing it is 7 pm here in Sweden). Is a couple of hours in the freezer enough, or do I need to wait until tomorrow morning?

This really depends on your freezer and your icecream bowl. Usually the instructions will have a suggested freeze time on them...In my experience, however, it's usually 6-8 hours at a minimum. If you need to make multiple batches, it is ABSOLUTELY worth your money to get another bowl.

I'm trying out a recipe for a type of dinner roll. After kneading it on my mixer for 15 minutes, I put it in a slightly warmed oven to rise. I noticed that the dough was very wet, though. There is no way I'm going to be able to shape this into rolls. How to deal with this? Should I have added some flour during kneading? (The next time I make this, perhaps I can just reduce the liquids: 3/4 cup milk, 1/2 cup water, 5 tbsp butter, 1 tbsp oil). Can I add flour after it rises? Basically, punch down the dough, incorporate flour and keep kneading until the dough is "shapable", then shape them into rolls and bake. Something else?

I'd do one or more of a few things: Treat it like the dough in Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day, in which you sprinkle flour on top, then pull off a portion you need, then shape quickly into a ball, developing the outer skin, keeping the freshly floured side out. Chill down the dough, so it's firmer and easier to work with. (and then do #1 while it's still a bit cold) Put it into muffin pans or similar for baking, so you don't have to worry about it holding up on its own or even attempting to shape it. (if you can shape it a little bit, you can then put it into a pan with enough of a lip to give them some support as they rise; they might spread into each other, but you can typically break them apart after they're baked) In general, I find that kneading dough in a mixer (unless specifically called for in a recipes) always needs more flour. Basically, when you're kneading normally, you might work in 1/2 cup or so of extra flour. And there are the issues with knowing what the proper way to measure flour for a given recipe if the measurements are given in volume (cups) and not by weight, which will easily throw off any bread recipe.

I have been given the honors of making appetizers for the family Christmas dinner. One of the traditional recipe calls for melted Velveeta, to go over a cooked sausage "pate" on top of a small piece of rye bread. To not hurt any feelings I'm going to make some of these with the traditional Velveeta, but for others I would like to replace the Velveeta with some other cheese. I'm assuming I'll have to make a thick bechamel sauce. I need help with what cheese, or up to 3 cheeses, I should melt down. Any suggestions would be considered. FWIW the sausage is usually fairly mild, not much spicier then the rye bread it is on.

If you want the smoothness of melted processed cheese, but not the extra trouble of making your own, you can use processed cheese in other flavors such as Swiss, sharp cheddar, extra sharp cheddar, and pepper jack. (Just to name a few.) Another option is canned or jarred process cheeses in various flavors. Lastly, and probably what I would use, are different varieties of very young, soft cheeses. They tend to melt well and if young enough, don't need any additional ingredients. As an example, I make a mac and cheese with a very young Gouda. It is quite literally just the macaroni and cheese. The cheese is to die for creamy. On the rare occasion that I end up with a slightly more mature cheese, a tablespoon or so of cream is all it needs to get to that smooth, creamy point.

Can you use regular knife sharpeners on damascus steel? I'm aware it should be sharpened properly once a month on a wet stone, but I want to know if I should keep it bright by using a steel between uses? Is there anything else to bear in mind? I was thinking of getting a little gadget which was recommended, but I don't know if it can be used.

Yes, you can use a honing steel with a damascus-style carbon steel knife blade. Depending on what you have, you may need to get a harder honing steel, because the carbon steel of the knife is harder than a stainless blade. I have a honing steel from Shun that works quite well. Do NOT use that "Anysharp" sharpener or any sharpener like it. Such sharpeners are designed to sharpen blades by aggressively removing metal from the blade edge. If you use one of them, you can expect to wear down the edge of your blade and use up the hard steel there in just a few years. NOTE: Many "Damascus" blades sold commercially aren't actually Damascus-style, that is, folded carbon steel. Instead, they are stainless or standard carbon steel with two face plates of folded steel on either side of the blade, purely for decorative purposes. These blades have the same care instructions as any stainless or carbon blade.

When making dishes with tinned tomatoes etc, it is good practice to rinse these out with water to get the remaining contents out. Sometimes, to save on washing up I use hot or boiling water instead so I can then dissolve a stock cube etc. In the liquid. Having read that tins are coated and bottles can leach chemicals, is this a safe practice?

Tinned food is already cooked above the temperature of boiling water (Canned Food Alliance). So with tins it's not a problem. Rinsing with something acidic or very salty may not be a good idea if the container didn't hold comparable food in the first place, as it may cause corrosion (that's why tomato tins are lined, to stop the acid attacking the metal). Tetrapak-style cartons use a different approach, Aseptic packaging in which sterilised or pasteurised food is packed cold into sterilised containers in a sterile environment. However the inner layers are polyethylene which can be used up to 120°C briefly and 110°C for longer. So they're OK too. There may be exceptions to this, so you may wish to avoid using boiling water just in case. Plastic bottles are different - many are PET (Polyethylene Terephthalate) which has a far lower maximum temperature. If you pour boiling water into a PET bottle, you're quite likely to leach stuff out into the water, and you may even end up with boiling water on your feet as the container softens so much it could break. Use cold water for rinsing plastic bottles (not all are PET, but it's easier to just use cold for all of them; some others also soften enough to be awkward to handle, which you don't want with boiling water)

Most of the time it ends up dry. Are there any special marination tricks?

Brining is great to begin with. Use a bone-in, skin on chicken breast. Once it's done you can remove the skin and carve off the bone if you like. Also, set up 2 heat zones in your grill (either by banking your coals or by turning off a gas burner). Brown it for a few minutes over the hot zone, then transfer to the cooler zone to finish cooking, until temp comes to 165-170 degrees. Then remove from heat and wait at least 5 minutes to slice.

I was attempting to roast a head of cauliflower with olive oil and seasonings so it comes out crispy. Following the instructions, I roasted it for 35 minutes at 450°F (the recipe said 30 minutes, but it didn't seem done), stirring once halfway through. However, after they cooled, it appears that they've steamed instead of roasted. My guess would be that I put too many on the sheet. Can I stick them back in the oven for another try? If so, for how long, and should I use more oil?

No, cooking them for too long will make them mushy, whether they’re roasty or not. You could try oiling then a bit and sticking them under the broiler for a couple of minutes (watch them closely!), but i wouldn’t cook them longer than that.

A lot of recipes I've been preparing lately often list salt and black pepper as "to taste" in terms of quantity. I get that the general idea is to make the food taste good, but I'm not sure that I regularly notice salt or pepper unless there is TOO MUCH of either. When a recipe calls for adding something "to taste", what am I trying to note when I taste it? If it's a brand new recipe, how do I know if something is supposed to be bland, seasoned or salty/peppery?

To taste is one of those awesome cooking terms that trips people up all the time. To taste does not mean to what tastes good to you, although you can use that as a determination and your dish should still come out fine for most people. To taste means that you add salt (or whatever) while tasting the dish and you slowly add until the seasoning tastes perfect. To properly do this you are going to have to train your palate, but luckily it's not that hard to do. As a matter of fact, we have a pretty good way to learn it right here. The end result you are trying to achieve is the point where food tastes the most like itself without adding to much, this the small increments. The important part to remember is that "to taste" is where your food lives. It's the thing that is unique to you and a part of what makes every dish you make an expression.

I had a lovely bunch of young coconuts. I extracted the water of most of them, and I blended all the meats and enough of the water (in the right proportion) to make something like 3 gallons of coconut milk. The only issue is that the milk has tiny coconut particles that I need to be rid of. I tried a fine cheesecloth (with multiple layers), but draining it is going to take days and if I force it, the tiny particles slip through. I thought about using a kitchen centrifuge, but I don't have one (if they make them). Any ideas to extract a completely smooth solution from what I've got? The 100mL of said nectar I got from the cheesecloth after much patience, has tantalized me.

Alton Brown made coconut milk on his show Good Eats a few years ago, and he suggested using a clean tea towel and squeezing the pulp until it has given up all the liquid. Here is more on it: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/coconut-milk-and-cream-recipe/index.html

I am having difficulty baking a vanilla and chocolate cup-size cake. The ingredients are as follows: 12 (1 ounce) squares semisweet chocolate, chopped 1 cup butter, cut into pieces 1 cup cold milk 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour 1 pinch salt 2 eggs 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 1/4 cup white sugar The problem is that the cake burns on the outside, and then the inside is not completely done. If I reduce the amount of batter I use in the tin to a half-size cup, they end up as cookies. I have also tried to reduce the temperature from 200 degree to 100 degree, extending the time from 15 minutes to 30 minutes but still do not get a well-balanced end result. I would like to know if I have a bad mixture of ingredients, or a completely wrong temperature and timing for cupcakes.

Firstly, it strikes me as odd that your recipe has no raising agent - no baking powder, no bicarbonate/baking soda, no self-raising flour. Unless you're whipping a lot of air into the batter, the cakes will barely rise, and you will end up with 'cookies'. I would add 2 teaspoons of baking powder and 1/4 teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda (baking soda) and see if that helps. As for the temperature of your oven, I wouldn't go so far as to halve the temperature and double the time. The idea is that you need enough heat for the cakes to rise at a decent rate then form a crust on the outside. 100 degrees will do little but slowly dry the cakes out. Domestic ovens are rarely well calibrated, so your oven may be running hotter than the dial indicates. Invest in an oven thermometer to make sure you are setting the temperature correctly: I have had an oven run 40 degrees hotter than the dial said before now! If you haven't got the time to get a thermometer, try setting the oven about 20 degrees cooler on the dial, to around 180 degrees.

I use my pressure cooker a lot and for one recipe I'm practically bathing a few pork loins in white wine. I know that pressure cooking only reduces liquid by less than five percent, and I know that cooking only reduces alcohol by evaporation not breaking down of molecules (or at least I think so). So does pressure cooking only reduce alcohol content by ~5% (since the stuff that evaporates will probably be mostly alcohol? Or will the alcohol content in the steam be much higher? Even in that case, if I let it sit before releasing pressure, most of the steam will turn back into liquid. Basically, can I add "helps get you tipsy" to the list of my InstantPot's many features?

You had too much air in your batter. This isn't a result of beating to much, but rather insufficient macaronage after folding in the sugar and almonds. The excess air expands in the oven and creates a hollow shell that then collapses. The macaronage is really the trickiest thing about macarons - it is very hard to convey in recipes exactly what the texture of the batter should be after the process. It just takes practice and experience. It is hard to get out of the sponge-making mindset of gently folding ('must retain air, must not overdevelop gluten!'), but you must in fact beat the air out of the batter like nobody's business. Knowing when to stop so you don't end up with batter puddles is the key. For what it's worth, I have tried many macaron recipes over the years, all with varying degrees of fussiness regarding age of the egg whites, texture of the almonds, stiffness of the peaks and so on, but the best recipe I have ever used is the one that does away with most of that nonsense - you can find it here.

Although I like the basic taste of radicchio a lot, I frequently get heads that are so bitter as to be basically inedible. Can you suggest some cooking techniques that are particularly effective at reducing the bitterness without masking the other flavors too much?

Braising gently in milk will also, I find, help with bitterness. The radicchio becomes wonderfully succulent, very nice with a firm-fleshed fish.

I like to cook from scratch and I like to make my tomato-based pasta sauce (marinara) by cooking fresh tomatoes with herbs etc. However, the cooked tomatoes are always too runny for my taste and lacking the thickness that jarred supermarket alternatives do add to the pasta. I have tried cooking the sauce longer to get more water to evaporate but never was able to reach the "processed" level of consistency/thickness. I am familiar with other forms of thickeners, such as roux or corn starch, but I'd rather not add starch. Is there another thickening agent I could use in my home-cooked marinara sauce?

Fresh tomatoes are insanely watery, so you're starting at a pretty big disadvantage here. Trying to fix it with a thickening agent alone might not be the best plan. That said, if you want a short answer: use tomato paste, whether homemade or storebought. It'll thicken and improve the flavor. Watery tomato sauce usually has watery flavor, not just watery texture, so any way you thicken besides tomato paste is likely to leave you with a thick sauce that still lacks flavor somewhat. First off, try to make sure you're using more pasty less juicy tomatoes. It's hard to give very specific advice since this depends a lot on exactly which varieties you get. But everyday supermaket tomatoes are generally too juicy, with the plum tomatoes often (but not always) being somewhat better. From there, the most common options leave something to be desired: Remove some of the juice before cooking. This costs you some flavor, though. Cook longer to reduce the sauce. This costs you the fresh tomato flavor. Puree the sauce, so that the pulp gets spread around and thickens the liquid. This doesn't fix everything, but it helps a bit. You get this for free with longer cooking and reasonably small chopping, but you can also use a food mill, or grate the tomatoes, or find another way to thoroughly smash them. So the best option, if you're looking for a totally fresh tomato sauce might be something like: Make your own paste (nice and thick and rich). It's easiest to reduce without burning in the oven, but you can do it in a pot too with some care. This is the time-consuming part, but if you do it in bulk, maybe not so bad. Make your own quickly-cooked puree (so you keep the fresh flavor as much as possible). If you have a food mill you can save a lot of time here by just hacking up the tomatoes and bringing them to a boil as fast as possible and cooking for 5-10 minutes, then using the food mill to get the skins and seeds out. If you want chunkiness, either mix in some fresh tomatoes just before serving, or if you want the chunks cooked, accept that you'll need more paste to make up for their water. Add paste until it's thick enough. Then since that's all a bit time-consuming, you can save time by buying paste (it's cheap and easy). If you don't have a food mill, peeling and seeding is kind of a pain if you're making larger quantities, so you might consider just chopping reasonably finely and tolerating the skin and seeds. There's a much longer writeup, "How to Make the Best Tomato Sauce From Fresh Tomatoes", of essentially this technique with an awful lot more attention to detail at Serious Eats. I personally find the lazier versions to be a better balance of time spent and resulting sauce quality, but you might think it's worth it.

Why don't store-bought bread crumbs spoil? Can you make your own bread crumbs and save them for later use? Will homemade breadcrumbs mold?

Bacteria need a friendly environment to live. They can't survive without mosture. Mold tolerates more, but it needs moisture for life too. Bread is too dry a food, so it doesn't catch bacteria. This is why it can be stored outside the fridge. But if you live in a moderately humid climate, it can still be moist enough for mold to grow, especially if stored in a non-breathing package (plastic bag). Drying the bread to the point where this won't happen is possible, but it gets quite hard then. Examples for such dry bread are zwieback or finnish crispbread. Store bought breadcrumbs are dried to the point where they can't catch mold. This is why they can be stored for so long. If you make your own in the food processor, they will be similar to bread. Probably a bit better, because the bigger surface will let them dry quicker than bread. But if you want to be sure they will last, dry them. You can use a dehydrator or put them in the oven at the lowest temperature (usually.50 deg C) and hold them there for 4 - 5 hours.