Was my bacon cooked? I made hunters chicken tonight, cooked a chicken breast for 20 mins then took out , covered with bbq sauce and cheese and lay 2 rashers of bacon over the top then returned to the oven -  225 degrees Celsius in a fan oven (that had been on for 20 mins with the chicken in) for about 8-9 minutes .

I didn’t flip the bacon, it was draped over the chicken.

Was this temperature and amount of time enough to kill bacteria? I’m 38 weeks pregnant and terrified of listeria. The pink meat had gone completely opaque and the fat had begun to brown, but the actual pink meat hadn’t gone brown or crispy.

Bacon is already cured and smoked. In many cases could be eaten as is but that is not supported by food safety guidelines.

If the meat was opaque, it was cooked. That plus smoke and salt and you are fine, especially if you do not live in a germophobe lifestyle. Parents who sanitize everything incessantly wind up having children with weak immune systems.

Opaque, pink meat is OK. It is the heart and soul of all good barbeque cookery. In the future, for a similar preparation, cook the bacon on the side in a skillet first, then drizzle the fat on the rest of the dish and drape the cooked slices, then you won't have to worry a smidge!

Good luck and hope all goes well with the little one. You'll worry less when you see they are pretty durable!


How can I save crumbly cookie dough? I found a recipe online that required making cookie dough from scratch and then wrapping the cookie dough in wax paper and refrigerating for 2 hours. I made the cookie dough and it was way too crumbly and dry for me to be able to put it in one piece in the wax paper without it falling apart. What should I do?

Part of what is going to happen during the resting period is that the moisture is going to more evenly distribute throughout your dough, and begin hydrating the starches, so that they it will become more cohesive.

Assuming there is enough moisture present, you just need to give it time.  2 hours may not be enough time--4 would be better.  Overnight would certainly be good.

If there is insufficient water, carefully distributing a few drops (maybe a tablespoon or two, maximum) before refrigerating will help, but you need to be sure this is the case.  Try letting it rest for four hours as is, and if it is still crumbly, then add some water.

Lastly, you may find that plastic wrap (sometimes called film wrap) may be easier to use than wax paper.  You want to roll your dough tightly, holding it together while it hydrates.  Normally, the two shapes that would be used would be a log (for sliced cookies) or a disk (for cookies that will be rolled out).

See also:  What does an overnight chill do to cookie dough, that a 4 hour chill doesn't?


Storing cooked rice in fridge I ordered a rice recipe yesterday and stored the left over in the fridge. However the container is not airtight. I was planning to have it today and tomorrow. I wanted to ask if its still safe to eat. It was kept in fridge within an hour of ordering.

The reason I asked if it was from a take away is whether or not it was cooked beforehand then reheated to order.

Chances are the restaurant has cooked a large batch of rice, cooled it and then reheated it for your order. If this is the case I would rather lick my toilet seat than reheat the rice again.

Why?

There is a bacteria spore (Bacillus cereus) that can live inside each grain of rice which can't be killed by boiling, also present in beans. The killing of this bacteria requires 120c (i think) which is only achieved under pressure (think canned foods). When the rice is then reheated again it's giving this bacteria more chance of growth, each time you heat it, leaving behind toxins.
Take away are notoriously bad for sticking to safety guidelines. Possibly allowing the rice to cool on the side in the kitchen or a stuck straight in the fridge. Where is is a must you cool the rice to fridge temp within 30mins. I'd personally always cool my rice under running water and ice. But I don't cook Chinese food and I imagine this would wash away much of the starch required for that 'sticky' Chinese style rice.
The warm time between them cooking the rice originally, then the time after reheating it, packaging it, delivering it to your door, you dishing it up and leaving it on your counter while you eat and only then putting it in the fridge... Bah tummy bug in a tub if you ask me.
We have no idea how long this rice was kept in the fridge at the place in question. Could be fresh that day but there's every chance it's older anything up to 3 days (hopefully no longer) which is way past the recommend 24 hours.

When people complain about getting ill from the Chinese/Indian they had the night before because of the prawns. Really more often than not it is the rice making them sick not the meat.

So the short version...

...bin it.


Can I add frozen vegetables to my thawed chicken meat in a slow cooker? I accidentally added frozen instead of thawed vegetables to my Chicken Alfredo meal I'm cooking in an Instant Pot (slow cooker mode). It's currently cooking right now, but I'm not sure if I should throw it out.

I didn't add any boiling hot water. I just added some room temperature alfredo sauce, refrigerated heavy whipping cream, thawed chicken, and frozen chopped veggies.

Is this safe to eat?

EDIT:
I have not made this recipe before. Usually 7 hours works with plain chicken + room temperature vegetables, and sauce but this is the first time I'm using frozen vegetables. I left it on overnight so I think it's finished now but haven't tried it yet.

Most slow cooker instruction manuals tell you to put the food in hot for most recipes. For traditional crockery inner pots the list of foods that can be cooked from cold (never mind frozen) is quite short and consists mainly of foods that are stable at room temperature. So you were marginal to start with (less so for some "auto"  modes).

If you put the veg in then realised (almost) straight away, just bring it to the boil and carry on cooking. Of course don't use a crockery pot on the stove top or a metal one in the microwave.

If it's been sitting lukewarm for some time you're on your own. It couldn't be deemed safe.


Which parts of a spring onion should I use in a pasta salad? The recipe I've got (Commonsense cooking, page 211) for a pasta salad lists spring onion (green onion/scallions) as an ingredient, but doesn't say which part to use. Should I be using the long, slender green tops, or the small white bulb, or both?

Using both is fine. I would reserve some of the green end to sprinkle on top for presentation. The white part is stronger so you may want to add it a little at a time.


Quick flavour for fresh popcorn I'm a great fan of popcorn, and I recently acquired a popcorn maker. It's the sort that spins the kernels in a drum and heats the metal until they pop.

However, I've had difficulty flavouring them. When I used to make popcorn years ago if I wanted a quick flavour I'd just sprinkle on salt of sugar liberally. But I'm a little more health-conscious nowadays, and I don't really want to use too much of either.

I found this question about flavouring corn:

How do I coat popcorn with flavor?

But the answers are a little culinary - I want to flavour my popcorn quickly and easily. Are there any good off the shelf flavourings for this? Or any mixtures I can make in advance and keep for quick sprinkles? Suggestions for both adults and kids would be much appreciated.

I worked at a movie theater for a few years in high school. We cooked popcorn in coconut oil and applied Popcorn Salt (the kind that includes artificial flavorings in addition to the salt) during cooking and at time of serving per customer's request.

For application after cooking we stocked many flavors of a brand of popcorn seasoning known as "Kernel Seasons." Those flavorings range from the expected cheddar and french onion to the stranger marshmallow and caramel.

These flavorings were fun every once in a while but most of them had strong chemical aftertastes. It's quick and easy to apply. Kids have a blast with it. People who object to artificial flavors will not enjoy it though.

You could try something like a powdered ranch dressing mix or some other spice mix for similar results.

The key is adding some salt during the cooking process. It sticks much better that way. Any additional seasoning should be added as quickly as possible after popping while the corn is still "wet" with oil on the surface, again for stickiness.


Jello and Evaporated Milk Dessert In the 50s, my mother used to whip Jello and Evaporated milk together, pour it into single serve bowls and refrigerate.  The result was a creamy foam that separated into two layers, forming a lighter foam on top.  She always said it was simple to make but never taught me how she made it.  I've tried simply stirring the Jello into boiling water to dissolve, cooling to room temperature and before it sets up, adding the evaporated milk and beating but it doesn't work.  I've been looking for a very long time but all the recipes I find are much more complicated than this simple, elegant foam.  I'm thinking she may have halved the amount of water the Jello box calls for.  Maybe she whipped the milk separately and then added the dissolved Jello?  Has anyone heard of this?  If so, how is it made and does it have a name?

Kraft has a recipe that resembles what you describe, in which you could substitute whipped evaporated:

3/4 cup boiling water
1 package (3 oz.) JELL-O
ice cubes
1/2 cup cold water
1/2 cup Cool Whip

Add boiling water to gelatin mix in a medium bowl; stir 2 minutes, until completely dissolved. Pour into blender. Add enough ice to cold water to measure 1-1/4 cups; add to blender. Blend 30 seconds or until smooth. Add the whipped evaporated milk; blend well. Pour into 4 dessert dishes. Refrigerate until firm.

To whip evaporated milk, an easy method is to pour the contents into a metal or glass mixing bowl, and place it (and, separately, the beaters) in the freezer for 30-45 minutes, until ice crystals begin to form. Remove and beat at high speed until thick, 3-4 minutes.

Alternatively, food author Liz Berg has devised a method that emulates the discontinued Jello 1-2-3 product that separated into layers:

6 ounce box of Jello
1/4 cup heavy cream, whipped [substitute whipped evaporated]

Divide dry Jello into two medium sized bowls. Add one cup boiling water to first bowl and stir till all sugar is dissolved. Add one cup of cold water and mix till combined. Pour mixture into clear glasses (6-8 depending on size) filling to halfway point. Chill till slightly jelled, about 30 minutes.

When the bottom layer is slightly jelled, whip the cream and repeat the process with the second bowl of dry gelatin, decreasing the cold water to ¾ cup. Whisk in the whipped cream and pour the Jello mixture on top of the first layer. Chill till set, about 4 hours.


What is the history of souvlaki and is there any benefit in cooking meat on a skewer? I'm wondering about the origin of souvlaki. Was it only something of a convenience (easy to cook lots of pieces together)? Or does this way of grilling lead to better results, as opposed to just placing the pieces on the grill? If the latter (at least for some type of meat), how is it justified that it leads to better results (e.g., small pieces, rotating)?

Also, you would expect that puncturing the meats makes it easier to lose its juices, but it doesn't seem to be the case.

Historically, the practice of skewering meat had several advantages over building a rotisserie and cooking a single large piece of meat. Think about the advantages of cooking over a primitive camp fire, rather than a modern grill:

Cooks quicker, saving time but more importantly fuel for the fire (think desert or other difficult terrain)
Did not require plates or forks and knives to carry around if you were nomadic
Still cooks over a spit so can avoid falling into the coals

These days there are some other more modern advantages like:

Can use cheaper, tougher cuts effectively
Marinates/brines faster
Makes it easier to turn or flip on a grill
Skewers are fun

Puncturing the meat prior to cooking does not cause a large loss of meat juice during the grilling process. Maybe if you removed the meat from the skewer immediately after taking it off the grill you would lose more juice than had you never skewered the meat at all, but it's not like the original puncture will expose the center of the meat and allow everything to spill out. Leaving meat on the skewer to rest will be as effective as grilling a single unpunctured piece of meat.


Why is there liquid at the bottom of my lemon meringue pie? Why is it that whenever I make a lemon meringue pie, (packaged lemon filling, directions followed EXACTLY), and I cut into it, there is always a puddle of liquid on the bottom? I do use 7 egg whites but I put a bit of cornstarch in to help with the beads of moisture on top. That works, but I don't think that is related to my puddle problem! I have also tried to add the meringue to the lemon filling when it was hot and when it was cold. I have also tried to refrigerate the pie and just leave it on the counter. Still, a puddle! Does anyone have any ideas why I am getting a puddle on the bottom of my pie?

Water seeping from meringue is practically always coming from the egg whites. There are a few standard things you can do to reduce it.

First, do not overbeat. For some reason, recipes love to direct people to beat egg whites "to stiff peaks". These are almost never needed, and can easily lead to self-destructing foam (the proteins continue tightening after the beating, squeezing the water out and creating large, easily-collapsed bubbles). Go for soft peaks at most. I have found that using a high speed setting also helps, and beating per hand almost always leads to weeping, even if stopped early.

Second, use cream of tartar to create a stabler meringue without too much beating.

Third, the cornstarch isn't binding enough of the free water. If you whip less, you will have less free water, but if it is still not enough, you can use something more effective, e.g. xanthan.

Look around the site for more advice against weeping meringue. Also look at the pictures in that answer - the meringue there is for macarons, which are very sensitive to the meringue quality.


Is Black/Cloud Ear Fungus toxic? Ought I shun it? My friend from Hong Kong read this article that reported two deaths from Auricularia polytricha poisoning. I can't read Chinese, and thus I'm assuming  his interpretation is correct. She then   warned me not to touch, let alone eat,  Auricularia polytricha.

Is her fear warranted? Is she being level-headed and reasonable?

Every week, I make my own Black Fungus with Ginger Strips & Vinegar Dressing based on Din Tai Fung's rendition:

Cloud Ear Fungus is not poisonous, and is eaten by millions of people every day (mostly in China).  It is part of a whole family of "jelly fungus" which are almost all edible, and none of which are fatally toxic.
The article you linked cites two children who died of a bacterial infection due to black fungus which was soaked at room temperature for more than 2 days.  The article warns not to soak foods for too long.
You eat that black fungus dish every week?  Is this a medicinal regimen or something?


Why is Tilda basmati rice so popular? I've never used Tilda rice before, but I'm considering trying it and I wonder if it's worth the cost. I usually use India Gate or whatever is on sale, which is almost half the price of Tilda for the same weight. I don't see the same level of hype for other basmati rice brands as for Tilda, but I also see a lot of criticism of the brand, people saying it gets mushy, it's flavourless, it's overpriced, etc.

Can someone shed light on why there are so many hardcore Tilda fans? Is it because a lot of people grew up with it and are used to the taste? Is it the price driving a "placebo" of sorts and raising expectations? Or is it genuinely more fragrant and better textured than other basmati rice brands?

I don’t know to what degree things have changed over the years, but according to this article from The Independent in 2000 there is a lot of fraud in the rice business, with Patna or hybrid rices being passed off as Basmati.

Just as fraudulent dealers bulk up Darjeeling tea with inferior leaves, for some time now unscrupulous traders have been passing off inferior grain as basmati or adulterating it.
I contacted the Rice Association, a branch of the Food & Drink Federation, to hear that the Ministry of Agriculture exposed the scam over a year ago. Samples of 41 basmati rices were sent to Nottingham University, where the DNA "fingerprints" were compared with those of authentic basmati. No fewer then 19 samples were found to be adulterated.

Tilda have closer control over their supply chain than many other suppliers and, in testing, were not found to have substitute rice varieties being mis-sold.

Tilda, a leading rice importer which buys direct from the Punjab through its own agents, was responsible for seven of the 22 authentic basmatis in the test.


How to cure beef jerky with a minimum of salt? I just made a batch of jerky last weekend. I used the packet that came with the dehydrator. Marinade for 4 hours, dehydrate at 160 for 14 hours (12 for smaller peices) It turned out excellent! (I did not use the beef jerky gun)

My question is, since I only have 2 more packets left and I want to try my own flavors, what do I need to use to create a cure?

I'd like to stay away from salt if possible or at least reduce the salt content (possibly sea salt?).

What exactly is the cure doing?

The salt in the cure inhibits bacterial growth (particularly if the salt is one made for curing, and contains nitrates). So you should be warned that you are trading a few blood pressure points for enhanced risk of foodborne illness.  Unfortunately, I think your options are rather limited -- either to keep the salt as-is, or forgo jerky in your diet.


Should I sterilize new canning jars? They are new. Never opened. Sealed. Do I have to bother sterilizing both lid and bottle by immersing them separately in canner and pan? Or are they safe and sterile considering they are straight from factory?

You should sterilize your jars and lids before every use.

The dust that gets on them between uses and even in the box is enough to warrant sterilizing.

It doesn't take long. Running them through a cycle in the dishwasher with a steam or sterilization step is enough. I boil the lids in a small sauce pan.

Edit

Debbie M's comment below made me think that some clarification is warranted.

Lids used to need to be heated to soften the seal so it would seal properly. That is no longer the case.

Additionally, bottles and lids don't need to be sterilized if they are going to be processed for longer than 10 minutes or pressure canned.

http://nchfp.uga.edu/how/general/recomm_jars_lids.html

Foods that are processed less should have sterilized jars and lids. I am in the habit of washing them in the dishwasher which also sterilizes them.


Is there any potential harm to using warm water in my sourdough starter? My house is cold. It is regularly around 13 to 15°C (55 to 59°F) and it is only with a lot of (expensive) heating that I get it up to anything approaching "normal" room temperature. My sourdough starter is about three weeks old and is healthy enough (I've made several loaves with a decent texture and taste) but it does seem a little down in the dumps compared to many that I've seen online.

I've tried adding warm water rather than room temperature. I mix water half from my filter jug and half just boiled, which is about 53°C (127°F). I add it to my starter and the combined temperature is about 33°C (91°F).

This, along with several tea-towels for keeping that heat in, seems to help. The starter is significantly more bubbly and active and actually come close to doubling in size like everyone says it should!

But I'm aware that heat can kill yeast cells. Am I putting my starter at risk by this method? What do I need to be wary of?

I would limit the temperature of the water to around 110F.

140F is widely cited as the "Death Temperature".
At 120F the yeast is at it's "injury point" meaning you are harming the yeast, but may not kill it.
Some claims can be found stating water temperature as high as 95 can produce off flavors from the yeast when making bread. However, this really won't apply to your starter since it will make up such a small percentage of the loaf.

Here is a relevant, although not duplicate, SA post asking when eyast is killed: What temperature of water will kill yeast?

Some sources to skim through on the topic:

http://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=67272
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC232826/
https://www.exploratorium.edu/cooking/bread/yeast_temp.html
https://www.reference.com/science/temperature-kills-yeast-6cd7b72a3ed2d24b


What cut of beef can I use to make "sukiyaki beef"? I want to try a recipe for Gyudon (shown below) that calls for thin-sliced "Sukiyaki Beef". My local grocery store doesn't carry anything by that name. I'm comfortable with thin-slicing beef myself (possibly partially freezing it first), but I'm unsure what cut to start with.

What types or cuts of beef should I start with for Sukiyaki, Gyudon, Shabu Shabu, or other "Sukiyaki Beef" dishes?

I happen to have a rump roast in my freezer. Will that work?

Conclusion: Made it with rump roast. It sliced easily, cooked perfectly, and was tender and delicious.

Your best choices would be top sirloin (#1 choice), tenderloin, or one of the other (less expensive) sirloin cuts. Those cuts will be tender, flavorful, and without pockets of fat or gristle to mar the appearance of your dish.

I don't recommend round because I simply don't like its flavor. Using round in this application might be one of the best applications to use up round, but for the best possible beef bowl, I'd go with the sirloin or tenderloin.

TIP: To thinly slice meat, put it in the freezer first until it just starts to get hard (not even close to fully frozen), or start with meat that is only partially defrosted. Partially frozen meat is much easier to neatly and thinly slice. For this application, thin even slices really are important, they make for a much nicer presentation.


What would be a good sub for pineapple, any other fruit or veggie for a strawberry pineapple mint salsa I need to sub pineapple with something else, im highly allergic to it.

Kiwi.

Don't knock it until you try it. It will have a similar acidity and texture to pineapple. Use ripe kiwi and maybe a touch extra lime juice!


Substitute for rooster There's a Greek dish - kokoras krasatos - that I love and want to make for guests, but I can't for the life of me figure out where to find a rooster. Is anyone able to, short of pointing me in the direction of where to get rooster in Atlanta, offer thoughts on what to substitute for rooster in such a recipe? I believe the recipe's method to be a braise.

You can of course use a chicken.  While you won't know if it is a hen or a rooster, it should perform fine in the dish.

As a braised dish, you may do well with an older bird, although these are hard to find in the modern shopping environment.  You might use  a roaster (which will be quite large, but older), or a stewing hen if you can get special order one.


Kneading causing gluten How can kneading something create more gluten? Gluten is a protein. Can moving something around create more protein? I doubt it. So what is really happening? Are the gluten proteins bonding differently or tangling?

Yes, kneading develops gluten. Specifically, the gliadin and glutenin proteins in flour form gluten when mixed together with water. It's common, but inaccurate (and confusing I think) to refer to gliadin and glutenin as gluten.

For more about the chemistry of how gluten develops see the paragraph on 'bread products' in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gluten.


Homemade plain yogurt I want to make an homemade plain yogurt,I heard you have to use your leftover yogurt to make some at home.Can I use sweetened yogurt to make my homemade yogurt or is it compulsory to use the plain yogurt that is normally recommended?

The leftover yogurt must contain live and active cultures. It does not matter whether the leftover yogurt is sweetened or not.


Does the colour of the olive oil say anything about its quality? Does the colour of the olive oil say anything about its quality? Some labels make a point of saying that the olive oil was made within a short period of time after harvesting. Why would this be important?

There are two main factors in quality of olive oil: the flavor, and the free fatty acid content. (Those are fatty acid molecules that are not bound up into oil molecules; they make the oil more unstable, prone to going bad faster.)

Neither of these has anything to do with color, which is provided by chlorophyll and carotenoids. The only exception is refined ("pure") olive oil, which is generally made from oil that already has higher amounts of free fatty acids; it's purified to remove those, and in the process the desirable aromatic molecules are also removed, so it loses flavor. This process would also tend to remove color. But as long as you're looking at unrefined (virgin or extra virgin) oil, that's not relevant.

I suspect time after harvest is not critical, but could potentially make a difference. The olives do need to be at the right point in ripening - underripe olives make bitter oil, and overripe ones make oil with less flavor. So if olives are left for too long after harvest before oil extraction, they could lose flavor from further ripening. Additionally, the flavors come from reactions between fatty acids and enzymes which are released during grinding and crushing, so I suppose this could take place much more slowly over time, especially if the olives have been damaged, and the aromatics produced at that point would be partially lost to the air. All of this said, presumably high-quality olive oils are produced correctly, whether or not they advertise details of the production. The labeling you've seen may just be marketing.

In any case, the surest way to discern quality is direct observation, so just try to find what you like! It probably won't be correlated with color, or any details of the labels.


How to prevent watery spaghetti squash I've tried using spaghetti squash as a substitute for pasta a few times, but every time I do the dish ends up really watery.

I've been roasting the split squash for about 45 min in the oven, then scraping out the flesh and then mixing it with my sauce.  When I first shred the flesh it's definitely moist and steamy, but it doesn't seem to be overly wet.  A few minutes after I've added it to the pan with my sauce however, it renders off what seems like a cup or two of water.

Most recently I've even tried wringing out the strands in a clean towel over the sink before mixing it.  That did seem to help, but it still watered down the sauce way too much for my taste.

Has anyone else encountered this issue?  Does anyone have any suggestions as to how to prevent it?

One simple change you could make is to simply not mix the squash with the sauce, instead, plate the squash and then pour sauce over the top, the sauce will cool quicker which will reduce the amount that the squash cooks past the point you decided that it was ready.

If the squash still cooks too much on the plate, try starting your sauce earlier and letting it cool so it's warm but not scalding when served.

I wouldn't recommend just taking the squash out before it's done and letting it finish in the sauce, since as it's cooking, it releases water, which would be lost in the oven, but would thin the sauce if it's cooking in the sauce pan.

If you need mix it with the sauce before serving, let the sauce cool to the point where it won't cook the squash further before doing so.


What is the Best wash or glaze for bread when trying to achieve a crunchy crust on Rolls i would like to know if there is a way to get a crunchy yet golden glaze on Buns/rolls... kind of like bread you would get out of a dutch oven

You may have to compromise a bit here, I am assuming you want both a shiny and crunchy finish to your rolls.

Traditionally, the crunch comes from a longer period in the heating oven with lid removed from the Dutch oven to crisp-up the outer layer. A different technique is used with baguettes, where they are sprayed with fine mist at 5 minute intervals over a total cooking time of 15 minutes. Both of these methods will give an excellent crunch, although the final finish will be dull.

An egg or milk wash will give a lovely final sheen to your rolls, but in my experience this prevents the development of a really crispy crust if you use a whole beaten egg. Apparently, just using the egg white diluted with water will achieve more crunch, but I doubt if it will be as intense as the traditional DO or spray method.

https://www.thespruceeats.com/egg-wash-yeast-breads-rolls-3057783


Best oil for fondue usage What is the correct (or best) oil to use for fondue?

Assuming this is a meat fondue (AKA fondue bourguignonne), using oil instead of cheese:

There is no best or correct oil to use - each type of oil has its own characteristic flavour.  However, a meat fondue generally involves heating the oil to 350-400° F (175-200° C), so you'll want to treat this more or less like deep-frying and use an oil with a relatively high smoke point.

That means, no unrefined olive oil, sesame oil or walnut oil, and be extra careful if you want to use butter (clarify it first).  Canola, sunflower, peanut, grapeseed, etc. are all good choices, or any of the refined versions of olive/sesame/walnut with higher smoke points.

Personally I'd either use refined olive oil or a flavour-neutral oil like peanut or sunflower.  Most of the time you don't want to be imparting any "foreign" flavours to meat, although I suppose you could go with refined sesame oil for a moderate Asian twist.


Washing vegetables that I accidentally threw moldy tomato sauce on safe? So I was frying some mushrooms and was gonna put tomato sauce/passata on it but I didn't realize it was moldy until I squeezed it out of the box and onto the mushrooms. I immediately put everything in a strainer and washed the mushrooms with hot water and then continued to cook them and put fresh sauce on them but I'm not sure it's safe to eat?
Thanks a lot

Washing the vegetables properly after getting the moldy sauce on them, and cooking them properly after should be fine. Your body is pretty well equipped to fight off small traces of most molds, you will only get sick if you ingest a substantial amount of mold.


Does stainless steel affect garlic flavors in food? They say that washing your hands with a piece of stainless steel can help remove the smell of garlic  and onions from your hands. There are even a number of stainless steel "soap" products on the market that are just chunks of metal meant to be used for this purpose. Opinions about whether this actually works or not seem to be mixed (see How do you remove garlic smells from your fingers?).

If there's any truth to this idea, that would suggest that using stainless steel pans, bowls, utensils, and serving dishes could also diminish or otherwise affect the flavor of foods containing garlic or onions. Is there any evidence of this? Stainless steel is generally considered to be non-reactive, but should one consider using materials other than stainless steel when cooking with garlic?

Personally, I use stainless pans all the time and haven't noticed any impact. Then again, maybe that's just because I use stainless all the time.

Drawing from some of the linked resources, it seems that one of the main theories about how those stainless steel "soaps" work is by interacting with sulfur compounds present in onions and garlic (together part of the genus allium) which are responsible for their strong pungency and odor.  There appears to be little actual evidence for these claims, and I wasn't able to find much better either.

That said, I'm going to surmise that this effect really wouldn't apply with stainless steel cookware, precisely because you're cooking.  Those sulfur compounds are volatile, and they tend to break down pretty quickly as you cook.  This is why the flavor profile of alliums changes so drastically even after a very brief sweat - they become much sweeter and much less sharp - because those sulfur compounds are being broken down and driven off.  Heck, onions will lose a lot of their harsh pungency just after being chopped.  Dice an onion and you'll likely tear up (due to the action of syn-propanethial-S-oxide gas) but come back to that same onion 3-4 minutes later and you'll experience much less irritation.  The compounds are generally unstable, especially when exposed to enzymes present in the onion.

So, cooking alliums in general removes or destroys the same pungency that causes the unpleasant odors.  Even if stainless steel interacts with the compounds responsible for that pungency in some special way, it's only doing what heat does anyway, and using stainless cookware is unlikely to cause any sort of perceivable difference.

The only time this might be a factor in the flavor of a finished dish is if you want to retain a very strong, pungent flavor, for example with raw spring onions in a salad or something.  In that case, it may be possible (though again, evidence is mixed) that a stainless steel bowl attracts some of those sulfur compounds in a way that a plastic or wood bowl does not.  But that's only a concern where you have contact between the alliums and the bowl, and many people find that pungent "bite" a bit overwhelming in any more than tiny concentrations, so you may actually be doing yourself a favor and providing some minute safeguard against over-pungency by using stainless.  In my opinion, this isn't likely to be a major concern for anyone.


Does steak from a supermarket cook quicker than steak from a butchers? I've recently made the jump from buying steaks at the grocery store to buying whole cuts of steak from an online butcher and breaking them down into steaks myself.
One thing I have noticed is the steaks I've bought from the online butcher take longer to cook. For example a ribeye of medium thickness bought from the grocery store would be medium if I cooked it for 2.5 minutes either side on a cast iron skillet. In contrast, I cooked a skirt steak half the thickness for about 3 minutes either side and this came out more medium rare.
I've been using the same pan, stove and temperature however it seems like its easier to overcook a mass produced steak.
Just out of interest has anyone had similar experiences? If so, does anyone know why?

Going to a butcher is a very good idea, and doing some of your own butchering on larger cuts is a great way to save money and get really good quality meat. It's not a question of butcher versus supermarket though, the factors that make a difference in cooking time are:

Cut: The word steak is a generic term for a small cut of meat cut across the muscle fibers, these cuts come from many different parts of the animal and have very different properties. Some cuts are denser because they do more work on the animal, these denser cuts like rump/round take longer to cook. Skirt steak does not cook at the same rate as filet, you can't compare them directly
Aging: Most of the time steaks are aged, this can be using a wet or dry method. Dry aging allows beef to loose moisture, concentrating the flavor and making it denser. Wet aging is cheaper and faster, but does not allow for this moisture loss. Dry aged steaks will be denser than wet aged steaks of the same cut, and therefore take longer to cook. There are plenty of butchers and supermarkets that sell both wet and dry aged beef, butchers are much more likely to be selling dry aged beef because you buy from a butcher when you want something better. Note that you can dry out wet aged steaks a bit by leaving them unwrapped in your refrigerator for a day, but it's never going to be the same quality

The key message is not to cook to time, but to temperature as all steaks are different. A good instant-read thermometer is well worth the few bucks to get the right result.


How to include soy milk in bechamel A visitor has left a nearly full bottle of soy milk in our fridge.  Personally, I hate the taste of soy milk, I find it too sweet and nutty for me, yet I feel compelled to use it up somehow.

I am going to make a bechamel sauce for a lasagne, and wondered whether I could use 1/3 soy milk and 2/3 regular milk in an effort not to waste the soy.

Will this still taste like soy??  Should I reduce (or increase) the ratio of soy?  Will it affect the thickening of my bechamel, or the general texture of the sauce?  I will be adding a bit of grated grana padano to the sauce at the end of the cooking process.

I did a bit of searching online, but everything was about a 1:1 substitution rather than the EFFECT of incorporating soy.  Advice appreciated.

If the soy is "sweetened", I would not suggest using it in a savory sauce. However, if it is unsweetened, it should be ok. I personally like soy, but it all depends on the brand, and whether full fat, sweetened, plain or vanilla as to how I would use it. You might try baking with it, perhaps muffins, cake or biscuits - and substituting the soy for whatever liquid you would otherwise use.


Kids Lunch box - suggestion for fruit smoothie packaging Could you suggest how to package a home made fruit smoothie to make it appealing to young children. The kids seem to love fruit tubes by innocent in their lunch boxes as they are colourful, easy to open and drink from.

How could I pack a home made smoothie to make it equally attractive?

You could use a plastic syringe (without the needle obviously), which can usually be found at cake stores and such.

Where I come from there's a chocolate shop that sells plastic syringes filled with chocolate for kids.

On the other hand, the extended plunger may take up too much room. In that case, maybe a test-tube sort of thing with a plastic top to seal it. I've seen them around, but wouldn't know where to find them.


Sealed package submerged in water in the fridge, still safe to eat? In my fridge I had a sealed package of bacon and hotdogs in the bottom drawer, and the water of the fridge somehow got in there. The package was partially submerged in this water (1 inch of water). The reason why I think they might have gone bad is because something in water may not get as cold as if it wasn't. Is it safe to consume?

I know the mantra here is "when in doubt, throw it out", and we know you are in doubt, otherwise you wouldn't be asking the question...but, nevertheless:

The speculation, "something in water may not get as cold as if it wasn't" isn't true. Something in cold water will come to the same temperature as the water, just like it does in cold air, and probably faster than in air.

I don't quite get how that water got into the bottom drawer of your fridge, but if the water was at refrigerator temperature when it came into contact with the bacon and hot dog packages, and if they truly are sealed so that the meat isn't touching the water directly, then they shouldn't be harmed by having the outside of their packaging touched by cold water.


How to prevent home-made apricot marmalade from going mouldy I made a decent amount of apricot marmalade about a month or so ago and canned them in a clean and new containers and the lids appeared to be air-tight. A few days ago I opened one:

I did a Google search and decided to toss them away. How could I prevent it? I also read about it, some people suggested freezing that doesn't sound like the best solution to me. What's your suggestion?

Ratio of apricot to sugar was 2/1 and approximately half of the sugar I used was light brown sugar. I'm not entirely sure but it probably wasn't hot-packing.

There are two parts to the process of making jams, marmalades (and the like) shelf stable for extended periods:

The first part is the recipe - It must contain the correct combination of fruit, sugar, acid and pectin. (If the sugar ratio is not correct it may lead to mold or yeast growth.)

The second part is the canning - Using sanitized canning jars and lids, filling the jars to the recommended level (usually 1/4" from top) then processing in a boiling water canner for the recommended time for your altitude and checking the lids afterward to make sure they sealed properly.

In the case of your recipe, there was not enough sugar and no added acid. This probably would have kept for a while in the refrigerator, but not long term. Filling a jar and putting on an airtight lid does not make your jam shelf stable, there is still air in the jar along with microscopic microbes that can cause mold and illness. Proper canning will remove the air, creating a vacuum seal that can last for many years.

All that being said, I hope you are not discouraged by the above answer. Jam making and canning are not difficult, with a few proper tools and a good resource to learn the proper steps involved, you can be making all kinds of preserves that can last in your pantry for a year (or more).

To get started please check out this link National Center for Home Food Preservation - Apricot Jam. The website has tons of information on how to get started. Freshpreserving.com/canning-101 is also a good resource, but they do promote their own products.


Prepped beef mixed with other ingredients before tomorrow's stew I'm prepping for stew.

I'm cutting "beef for stew" into smaller pieces.

I put it in a Pyrex tupperware container.

Then I chop mushrooms and add them to the tupperware container on top of the raw beef.

I intend to cook all of it the next-day in a 6-hour stew. Pour straight from tupperware into crockpot.

As I prepare to chop the carrots, my husband says, "Don't mix the produce and the beef."

Is there danger? (Of cross-contamination presumably?) Even if not, is it a faux-pas? If it matters, other ingredients include cabbage, carrots, mushrooms, stock, and tomato juice

By the way, as I'm prepping, I cut the beef to my preferred size. It comes from the grocer golfball-sized. I don't like chewing that down. So I cut it down to quarter-diameter-sized or marble-sized. Is this just a matter of preference? Even if it is, what would a trained-chef prefer?

Why am I prepping so far in advance? Because I cut enough for a stew now -- so the crockpot is full & running. But while I'm all messy I want to cut the rest so tomorrow I can just plop it into the crockpot. Also welcome opinions on this.

cut it they way you want, it does not matter at all, and produce and meat together woud be a mortal sin in the kitchen, but if you have a small batch, store one night, and you will cook them together anyway for hours, I dont see any problem with that either. But why wouldnt you store them separetely? If you cook your produce for six hours with the meat you wont have anything left....better to add them later..and store them sep...


Can I cook with nearly ripe butternut squash? Due to a frost I had to bring in a few not-quite-ripe butternut squash.  The greenish markings on the outside and the not-well-developed seeds are signs they are not as ripe as desirable.  Can I still cook with these? Note they were photographed on a green cutting board but the color of the squash is close to true.

Unripe winter squash taste different from ripe, but you can treat unripe, peeled butternut like summer squash with good results.

My personal preference is to pluck any later flowers rather than let unripe fruit develop. These can be eaten raw or stuffed and cooked (my go-to method is seasoned cream cheese and chive).


How to cook bell peppers until they are VERY tender, but not broken down? I had a curry dish on a restaurant, can't remember the name of the dish, but it was something in the lines of "vegetarian pepper curry".

It consisted almost entirely of loosely chopped (3cm pieces) bell peppers of various colours, in curry (coconut milk + spices) sauce.

Nothing special about the dish, except for the tenderness of the peppers. They were soft in a way you could spread them over bread, except for the skins holding them together. But in the curry, they held their shape perfectly.

Every time I cook peppers for any extended period of time, they separate from the skins and melt into the sauce (tomato/curry).

How can this soft texture be achieved without breaking up the peppers?

Is it just technique? (i.e. not stirring or something, maybe the timing of putting them in the curry)

I'm not sure that this is how the restaurant did it, but perhaps that kind of texture could be achieved by blanching and freezing the pepper pieces, then reheating them in a microwave just prior to adding them to the sauce and serving. Blanching would ensure that they don't taste completely raw, and freezing would make them "mushier" without ruining the shape by extended cooking.

I haven't tried this myself, so no guarantees.


How do I measure frozen herbs, like dried or fresh? I froze a lot of my herbs over the summertime, but now I'm not sure how to measure them for my recipes....Do I measure as fresh or dried?

Definitely as fresh. And you might want to add a little more to compensate for the flavours lost in the freezing process.


How do I control the temperature of burnt sugar? I made a burnt sugar caramel sauce tonight that turned out beautiful. It is just what it sounds like; you make a normal caramel sauce but cook the sugar until it is past amber and getting almost black. Making this is such a high-wire act though, especially in a small batch. The difference between not dark enough, just right, and actually completely burned is just seconds. Much too fast to manage with a thermometer, especially because the temperature isn't even throughout the pan. So my question is, is there a way to slow this process down towards the end so that picking the right moment isn't so difficult?

There's a bit of misinformation in the answers and comments here I'd like to clear up.

Tobiasopdenbrouw's suggestion in his comment that a thinner pan may work better is a good one. A thin aluminum pan is an excellent conductor of heat which is precisely why it would help in a situation like this. It is far more responsive to taking the pan on and off the heat. A heavy pan has a higher thermal mass and is thus slower to respond to changes in temperature, and it will have more carryover heat.

A thinner pan will require more attention from you as it gets near your target temperature, but it's a lot easier to put the brakes on. As you approach your desired temperature take the pan off the heat frequently to check it's temp As soon as you take it off it will quickly stop heating -- there is only minimal carryover heat from the pan, and no magic carryover heat from an other source.

Additionally, adding more sugar will lower the temperature. There is no "solution" that can crystallize. A solution requires a solute and a solvent. There is only one substance present in molten sugar -- sugar.

Spraying water on it is a terrible idea and I advise against it. At best it simply vaporizes instantly to steam. At worst it spatters molten sugar on you, not fun.

In short, treat it like you would a pot of water that you were trying to maintain at a specific temperature. If the water gets too hot, you'd add more water or take it off the heat. The same applies concept to molten sugar.


Where to get or how to make hollow sugar balls? I'm trying to create a set of liqueur and cream filled chocolates by hand. My current idea is, having created the chocolate for the outsides, to build up layers of it on a "sugar scaffold". I can then inject the filling into the centre and melt closed the hole.

My problem is finding or making a suitable hollow sugar ball to act as the scaffold. I want them to be 1 to 2 centimetres in diameter, robust enough to have the hot chocolate built onto them, and flavourless. I can't find anywhere in the UK to buy such a thing, and I'm not sure how to go about making them.

Can anyone advise me on buying, making or finding an alternative for this project?

An even simpler method is to freeze your filling until set but still pliable enough to work with. Shape your spheres (or squares, or tetrahedra, whatever), then chill again until they are as solid as possible. Insert a toothpick, dip in chocolate, shake off excess. Stick the other end of the toothpick in a potato or something. Repeat coverage as necessary. (Alternative to using toothpicks is a chocolate fork).


Should chicken be cooked beforehand while making pizza? I was just wondering if I can arrange raw chicken on the pizza base and cook everything along or if I should cook the chicken first separately.

Cook the chicken ahead of time. I doubt your pizza cooking time and your chicken cooking time will be a perfect match, and it is more likely than anything that your chicken would be undercooked. That would not be good for anyone.

If you are worried about the chicken being dry on your pizza, you can try par-cooking the pieces instead of fully cooking them (though that may be a little dangerous, too), or you can add the cooked pieces to the pizza after it has begun baking.


How long will shredded carrots keep? How long will carrots that I've shredded in the food processor stay good in the fridge?  Also what's the best way to store them?

According to the website StillTasty, fresh, raw whole or cut up carrots will last 2 to 3 weeks in the fridge.

I would think that it would be a shorter time (1 week) for shredded carrots.  I'd store them in a container with a tight sealing lid, or in a plastic bag with the air squeezed out.


What baked good involves crushed digestives, peanut butter, and marbled chocolate? Recently i found a recipe for something I was interested in baking, but I cannot remember the name of it and my computer isn't accessible for a few weeks.
Can someone help me identify the name of the item being baked, or even point me towards something similar.

The recipe was along the lines of:

Crush digestive finely
Mix with peanut butter
line baking tray

Then something was poured over the top and 'messed up' with a spoon to give  marble effect. (I assume chocolate)

Can anyone supply me with more details and suitable ways to find a recipe for this type of dessert?

I made these Chocolate Peanut Butter Bars consisting of those ingredients and methods you talked about. Here is the link to a video demonstrating how to make this:https://m.youtube.com/watch?list=PL0k8v-V15rKtQFicZQl4hcxldjvW7mbDH&v=GG581Dvf39w


How to reduce the bitterness of tonic water in a non-alcoholic citrus drink? After having a good fizzy lime drink recently, I decided to try mixing up some non-alcoholic drink options.  Being completely ignorant of fizzy waters in general, I decided to go with tonic water to mix in some citrus drinks (I didn't even know tonic water was bitter, this was really a spur of the moment decision with no research).  I've had some success mixing it with some strong drink mixes, but the sourness and sweetness had to be really strong to cancel out the bitterness of the tonic.  Too strong really.  I really think I should have chosen club soda instead, but now I'm stuck with a gallon or two of tonic.

Instead of disposing it, I was wondering if there is any way to cut down/mask/hide the bitterness in a non-alcoholic drink mix.

P.S.  Not sure about the alcohol tab, as tonic isn't alcoholic, but its primary purpose from my knowledge is to pair with alcoholic drinks.

EDIT: My original version of this answer came from my incomplete recollection of a chapter in Kevin Liu's Craft Cocktails at Home on flavor balancing.  Now that I have the book in front of me again, I'm adding more relevant detail and revising the parts I got wrong.  In all fairness, salient points are already covered in other answers, but I think the science here is neat.

Bitter flavors in general are fairly difficult to mask.  This is possibly an evolutionary adaptation - bitterness can be an indication of toxicity in wild plants, so a sensitivity to bitter compounds in very minute quantities may have helped our ancestors avoid being poisoned.  In order to produce flavors of roughly equal intensity (using a perceptual measurement technique known as the Labeled Magnitude Scale), it takes about 3000 times the concentration of sucrose (sweet) to equal one part of quinine sulfate, the principal bittering agent in tonic water.  (It takes about 1500x relative concentration for sodium chloride and 50x for citric acid).

Relative concentrations aside, you get some interesting effects when these flavors begin to interact.  (Liu reproduces a number of figures from a fascinating paper published by Green et al. at this point.)  Perceptually, sweetness is also very difficult to suppress (another likely biological preference, since sweetness often indicates a concentrated source of energy in the form of sugar) and it will tend to dampen the perception of other flavors.  This is one of the reasons why commercial tonic water typically includes a pretty hefty amount of sugar or corn syrup (somewhere around 30 grams per 12 oz).  Adding sourness to the mix will suppress bitterness further; fortunately you're already doing this by using citrus.  Finally, salt will substantially reduce the perception of bitterness, while remaining barely detectable in the final mixture.  Salt also has the unique effect of "leveling out" sourness and bitterness when added to a solution that contains both (compare the rightmost two groupings from this figure) and as a result, Liu concludes that "Salt = magical fairy dust".  Yes, that's a direct quote from the book.

The lesson to draw from all of this makes intuitive sense: since bitterness is so difficult to cover up, you want a lot of other flavors in combination.  Adding sugar for sweetness will help, and including acid from citrus will too; it sounds like you've discovered this on your own.  The counter-intuitive part is that adding salt will further suppress bitterness and mellow out the acidity as well.

I would add a couple other observations from personal experience.  Because bitterness is detectable in low concentrations, you definitely don't want to add any more.  Steer clear of citrus that has a significant bitter component (like lime or grapefruit) and be careful to avoid introducing pith (the bitter white part of the peel).  If you're adding sugar, you can be much more liberal about the amount of salt you add; sweetness has a strongly suppressing effect on saltiness.  You could probably get away with a teaspoon or so in a gallon of tonic water if you're adding a couple tablespoons of sugar too.  As others have mentioned, this will all be much easier to combine if you make solutions of the sugar and salt (for simple syrup and, ah, salt water respectively) and then combine those into your tonic instead of just adding the dry forms.

Finally, don't give up on the tonic too soon.  It's a bit of an acquired taste, but I find that slight bitterness can lend some depth to mixes, and some guests really enjoy that; there's a reason why the gin and tonic is so popular.  If the quinine is really too much for you even after extensive modification, try diluting with additional seltzer or club soda.  Don't toss it out; instead, try using it in small dashes in other drinks as you experiment.  Trying new combinations is the absolute best way to learn what you like.


What is a good substitute for Kecap Manis Several Indonesian dishes that I've been thinking about making call for Kecap Manis, a sweat somewhat viscous soy sauce. I've seen several potential substitutes online involving normal soy sauce, but I'm not convinced that they would actually make a decent tasting substitute considering how much of the dishes flavor comes from the Kecap Manis. What other sauces would you consider substituting that might give the dish the same Indonesian flavor?

Kecap Manis is not simply sugar & soy sauce, as there are spices, too.  (typically galangal (related to ginger) is one of them, which I've only found in the US in larger asian/international markets).

The Dutch spelling of Kecap Manis is Ketjap Manis and you can regularly find it available online  (Through Amazon, you can get Bango, Conimex, ABC and Jans).

You can also find plenty of recipes for it (often intended for Indonesian or Dutch expats in America):

http://www.food.com/recipe/ketjap-manis-39318 :

1c. dark brown sugar, 1c. water, 1c. soy sauce, 7TB molasses, 1tsp fresh ginger, 1/2tsp corriander, 1/2tsp black pepper.  (see the link for instructions)
http://www.kayotic.nl/blog/ketjap-manis :

1/2c. soy sauce, 3TB molasses, 3TB brown or palm sugar, 1/4 a red chili pepper, 1 small garlic clove, 1" of ginger, 1 star anise (optional), some water.  (see link for instructions)
http://www.wikihow.com/Make-Kecap-Manis :

1c. soy sauce; 1c. brown sugar, palm sugar or molasses; 1/2c. water; 1" ginger or galagal (optional); 1 garlic clove (optional); 1 star anise (optional).  (do I have to keep saying 'see link'?)
https://food52.com/blog/16102-indonesia-s-favorite-condiment-how-to-make-and-use-it-yourself

1 part soy sauce, 1 part palm sugar (or brown sugar or molasses), flavorings (garlic, ginger, dried chiles, star anise, curry leaves).  (see link)
http://www.whats4eats.com/sauces/kecap-manis-recipe

1c. palm or brown sugar, 1c. soy sauce, 1/2c. water, 1 to 2 tsp molasses (optional), 1 or 2 slices galangal, 1 star anise.  (blah, blah)
http://www.eatingwell.com/recipe/248323/indonesian-sweet-soy-sauce-kecap-manis

1 1/4c. sugar, 1/2c. water, 10oz reduced sodium soy sauce, 1 star anise, 1 clove garlic.  (ditto)


What is this piece of fatty thing, inside a fish (a large snapper) which was near the roe? I had a quite large female snapper, it had large amount of fish roe, but nearby it was an interesting piece looking like pure piece of fat, quite hard and solid.
Here is a photo, these are the two large white things taking up most of the photo. The reddish thing in the upper-right corner is from a different fish, but I suspect its fundamentally the same kind of thing.

What is this organ called and how do you eat it?

Those look like the ovaries.
I don't know how anyone else cooks them, but I usually prepare them with a simple Japanese recipe: simmer in a water, dashi, sake, mirin, sugar, soy sauce, ginger mix. Great companion for drinking!
A quick search and I can't find any recipes for this in English... You could search "真子" and "レシピ" to find other recipes (in Japanese). There's a few videos on Youtube as well.
(Remember to remove the fibers and membrane and remove the blood gently, then wash with cold water/run it through hot water/lightly salt to remove the smell.)


How can I prevent simple syrup from crystallizing? When I store it in the refrigerator, my simple syrup always seems to crystallize.  How can I prevent this?  How long should I expect simple syrup to keep?

There are a couple of things you can do to prevent sugar crystallising. You can add some glucose syrup, or you can 'invert' the sugar by adding some acid, namely cream of tartar. Both should be readily available, online if not at your supermarket. Cream of tartar is also useful when making meringue.


What parasites are problematic in sous vide? Obviously, one should use only clean ingredients. However, especially with game and river/lake fish that's rather difficult.

What are parasites that should be taken into account in sous vide cooking, or any other tightly controlled low-temperature cooking?
What is the minimum core temperature and time to kill all parasites?

For sake of reality, "all parasites" should be limited to those in Europe and northern America.

I'm not looking for "just boil everything" or "only use inspected ingredients". Also, note that in sous vide, same temperature can be maintained for extended period of time. At least some temperature guidelines are higher than they have to be to account for quick, uneven cooking.

All information that gives safe cooking temperatures without reference to time at that temperature is wrong. The FDA guidelines, and state and local health dept. guidelines not only confict with each other, they are flat out wrong!

They all represent efforts to simplify molecular biology to two or three mindless rules. In the process, they guarantee that you will either overcook your food, or (if you care about good food) ignore the rules. Or possibly both.

For a summary of the actual bacteriocidal data, take a look at Douglas Baldwin's site: http://www.douglasbaldwin.com/sous-vide.html#Safety
He has compiled information based on the actual growth and death curves for the pathogens that concern us most in the kitchen: salmonella, e.coli, lysteria, clostridium perfringes. Taking care of these will also get you out of the woods with protists, parasitic worms, norovirus, and everything else besides bacterial spores (another subject ... more relevant to canning).

For an even more thorough examination of the issue, take a look at the Microbiology for Cooks chapter in Vol. 1 of the Modernist Cuisine series. Both Baldwin and Myhrvold have arrived at the same conclusion by consulting the actual science. The official guidelines are irrelevant.

The original question is "what is the shortest temperature and time to kill all parasites." By "parasite" I'm assuming the OP means pathogen, since parasites are technically just one type, and not usually the most important.

There's no good answer if we take this question literally, because killing all of anything is almost impossible. Autoclaving in a pressure cooker at 250°F / 121°C for 30 minutes still leaves about one in a trillion botulinum spores alive. Pasteurization leaves about 1 in 300 million pathogens alive (by definition, actually).

Cooking guidelines aren't about trying to kill everything; we just try to bring pathogens down to a safe level. A safe level is one where if you eat the food that's been refrigerated properly, in a reasonable amount of time, and you have a reasonably good immune system, it will be very unlikely that you'll get sick. I know that's a lot of disclaimers, but it's a messy world.

Here are some basic guidelines. You'll get much more thorough versions looking at the above (or similar) sources. This stuff is best expressed as a graph. I'm padding it a bit for simplicity and safety:

126°F / 52°C for 6 hours

130°F / 54.5°C for 2 hours

135°F / 57°C for 40 minutes

140°F / 60°C for 12 minutes

150°F / 65.5°C for for 1 minute 15 seconds

160°F / 71°C for 8 seconds

This is the time for killing salmonella (the most heat resistant of the pathogens we care about) to pasteurization standards.

Please note that these are not cooking times: these are times the food needs to be held at the temperature after reaching it. Normal minimum cooking times just reflect how long it will take for the center of the food to reach a given temperature. The above times are additional.

You may have noticed that the first three temperatures above are well within the FDA's "danger zone." It's curious that the official guidelines consider your food in danger when it's actually in the process of being pasteurized.

But it's not necessarily that complicated. We don't really have to pasteurize food most of the time. If you eat conventionally cooked medium-rare steak, fish that doesn't taste like rubber, or chicken that still has some juice left in it, then you eat un-pasteurized food. It's not a problem, because with the exception of ground meat, virtually all pathogens reside on the outer surfaces of the food. And they get more than hot enough when you sear the food, whether the main part of the cooking was sous-vide or some other way.

Pasteurization is mostly an issue with cook-chill sous-vide, which is where you prepare food for reheating many days (even weeks) later.

Botulism is not a concern unless you're doing cook-chill and trying to keep the food for way, way too long (or in a much too warm fridge). The bacteria does indeed like the airtight bag, but it doesn't like the cold.


Are heads of shrimps safe to eat in US? I wonder if heads of shrimps bought from US grocery stores are safe to eat.

If it's safe to eat the shrimp, it should be safe to eat the head. The US food authorities (FDA) have, in a way, approved of the shrimp you have bought, so it's safe to eat.


coffee from seeds of dates I once heard that it is possible to make coffee from seeds of dates.

I heard that you have to bake them in a low temperature.

So, I took seeds of dates, baked them in the oven in 100 degrees celsius for about an hour, and then tried to grind them.

The blades of the grinding machine broke.

Before I try again, I would like your seasoned advice: how can I make coffee from seeds of dates?

How can I know in advance that the seeds are soft enough for grinding?

Handbook of Indices of Food Quality and Authenticity p474:

  The most important coffe substitute is undoubtedly chicory
  ...
  Chicory itself is reportedly adulterated by roasted beetroot
  ...
  Barley, malt, rye have been used...
  Seeds which have been used include chickpeas, peanuts, soybeans, other beans
  ...
  Date seeds contain less extractives than coffee...

All are roasted somehow.
Coffee: Related Beverages gives some roasting directions, but I don't immediately see a protocol for date seeds.

Roasted Kentucky Coffee Tree seeds are even still used occasionally.

If I wanted to grind date seeds, I'd smash them with a hammer first. Many seeds are unbelievably tough until broken.


Is unnecessary refrigeration problematic? Our local grocery store's produce section has a few areas of refrigerated produce along the walls--mostly "wet" vegetables like lettuce, squash, peppers, green beans, etc. The rest, in the middle of the produce section is simply on shelves in bins, like potatoes, onions, corn and bananas.

For the most part, our home storage tends to follow the store's--we keep lettuce in the crisper and onions out.

However, there are a few pieces of produce that tend to generate some controversy in our house, and they tend to be small and round, like grapes, cherries, and berries. The questionable item this week is blueberries. My tendency is to follow the store's practice of leaving this out, whereas my wife seems convinced they will rot in a matter of hours and insists they should be refrigerated.

I'm more or less satisfied with refrigerating them--as long as it won't cause a problem. I've heard that some items will actually go soft faster, or lose flavor, if stored cold.

Living organisms, including plants, are very complicated miniature chemistry factories. Even separated, dead body parts still have chemical processes taking place completely independent from any parasitic organisms (bacteria, molds) present. But of course, lots of the processes which take place in the living plant don't take place any longer, and their absence can change the food considerably (rigor mortis in animals, wilting in plants).

Refrigeration slows down the growth of bacteria and molds, and some of the processes going on internally in the plants. There are two problems with that: 1) sometimes, you want these processes to go on. A pear will continue to ripen and enhance its aroma after plucking, especially if there are catalysts like ethylene present. If refrigerated, this ripening will be limited severely. 2) Some of the chemicals already present in plants will change under low temperatures. ESultanik pointed out two such examples, the self-destroying aromatic compound in tomatoes, and the starch-sugar conversion in potatoes. These and similar changes happen in other fruit and vegetables too. But it doesn't mean that all fruit and veggies undergo undesirable changes.

There is a good rule of thumb to predict where such changes may occur. It says that the bigger the temperature difference between the plant's living conditions and storage conditions, the more likely it is for its chemicals to behave strangely. So everything which thrives north of the Alps should do well in the fridge (if the fridge has a crisper, use it). Everything else must stay outside (including tomatoes - you can grow them in Middle Europe, but they don't taste well). Shape, color, etc. is quite irrelevant to storage temperature. If you have logistic difficulties, just use small breathable containers for placing berries etc. into the fridge, instead of the squishable plastic bags you may have bought them in.

The rule isn't perfect, but to do better than that, you'd have to research the optimal storage conditions for every single fruit or vegetable and possibly furnish a cold storage cabinet or pantry in the 10°C - 15°C range.


How do I tell if a rutabaga is fresh? I recently bought a rutabaga from the store, having never done so before, and every single one on display had an oily feel to it - not sticky, but slick like it had been coated in a soft wax.

Is this how a rutabaga should feel when it is purchased?  If not, what should a rutabaga feel like, and how can I tell if it is fresh?

That is wax, it's done to help keep the moisture in the root. Turnips are also.

You know it's getting along when it gets soft and spongy or when the skin starts to wrinkle, same with turnips, beets, parsnips, carrots....You pretty much can tell whether they are good or not in exactly the same ways. Are the firm and crisp or soft, flabby and spongy?


What is the name of the Chinese dish from the movie "Girl with a Pearl Earring"? In the movie "Girl with a Pearl Earring" there's a Chinese piece of tableware, presented on the image below (center of the image, blurred):

What's the name of this dish?
What has it been used for?

It's a screen shot taken from a DVD release, hence the quality.

I'm pretty sure that it is a tulip vase.  The movie takes place in the Dutch Republic (today known as The Netherlands) which has been known for centuries for tulips, even suffering a "tulip mania" craze a few years before Vermeer's birth.  The lidded design allows the water for the flowers to be freshened easily while the multiple spouts support the flowers' stems.  This blue on white china is called Delftware, named for the city of Delft where both it and Vermeer came from.

Delft Vases

Vases & Delft Marks


Salt stick dough and shaping Having been given a copy of "Inside the Jewish Bakery", by Ginsberg and Berg, I set out to reproduce a treat of my childhood: salt sticks.

Basic outline: make a slightly enriched dough ('medium vienna + one egg'). Ferment, make logs, cut triangles, rest.

Now comes the fun part: the dough is fairly soft and sticky. Instructions are: stretch out triangles to six inches wide, then roll down with heel of one hand while stretching out tip of triangle with the other. If this seems a bit less that perfectly clear, well, that's part of my problem.

I find that the dough is far too sticky to cooperate with being rolled up with the heel of my hand on a 'lightly floured board'.

Any ideas? I am carefully weighing the ingredients, so I don't think it's a measuring problem.

Water absorption by flour varies by variety, brand, and even batch within brand. For example, I have an American bread book where I quite often have to use far more water than the recipe suggests to achieve the consistency stated. This is down to my British flour apparently absorbing more water.

Therefore, it's a good idea to simply use enough flour to get the desired consistency rather than worry too much about being precise. Having said that, when it comes to bread, wetter is better, so only add enough so that you can just work it comfortably.


Is my chicken ruined? I put 4 raw chicken breasts is a crock pot in the fridge last night around 9pm. This morning at 6:50, not thinking, I removed the crock pot from the fridge and put it into the cooker. I left it off until 9:00 am and started it for an 8 hour low heat cook. Did that 2 hours ruin the chicken? The heavy ceramic pot was really cold and it was covered. I figured it stayed refrigerator-like cold for most of the morning.

I think you should be much more concerned about what happened after you turned on the heating element.

It's likely that a heavy ceramic liner crock pot fresh out of a (properly kept) refrigerator would keep contained food out of the danger zone for a couple hours.  But once cooking begins, that's a wide temperature range to cross - you have to make it from 40 °F to 140 °F within two hours, regardless of the final temperature you reach or how long you hold the food on either end.  At low most crock pots don't put out very much heat, and you had a cold starting temperature for a thick, absorptive cooking vessel, so it may have struggled to bring the chicken up to temperature in sufficient time.

Unfortunately, without having monitored the temperature, there's really no way to know if this would be considered safe by the typical guidelines informed by food safety agencies.  I would consider it suspect at best, but you must make your own decision about whether that's an acceptable risk to you.

However, we tend to lean pretty conservatively about food safety advice around here, because while there are always anecdotes and opinions, much smarter experts than we have set a high bar for safety standards and acceptable risk.  As always: when in doubt, throw it out.


What are the equivalent amounts of these sweeteners? I've been looking into using one of/some combination of the following:

Powdered sucralose,
Sucralose liquid,
Powdered stevia extract,
Liquid stevia extract,
Erythritol

I'd like to know which one/combination is the most economical for sweetening recipes, and I know prices can vary, so what are the equivalent amounts of each?

I had always wanted an "artificial" sweetener that worked for me, but I have always been extremely sensitive to them. Not that they give me headaches or anything like that, I just find them vile. The aftertaste especially was just nasty to me.

Then one day I was offered a water with a couple of drops of flavoring. It was like drinking lemonade. Sugar sweetened lemonade! Well, it obviously wasn't sugar sweetened, because that would have taken more than a couple of drops. I'm a naturally curious food nerd, so I read the label of the drops. The drops were the brand name Dasani, and the sweeteners were sucralose and acesulfame potassium (Ace K). I had never heard of Ace K, and I already knew I didn't like sucralose (alone). This was not boding well, but I was intrigued. So, I used every bit of Google-fu that I had (and a lot that I didn't) to learn this:

Pure sucralose is about 600 times as sweet as sugar (by weight). Ace K is about 200 times as sweet as sugar (also by weight). Combine them, and they become "sweeter than the sum of their parts". This is not within the scope of your question, but I will tell you this too (also borne out by my lengthy research): Ace K works beautifully to wipeout the aftertaste that other artificial sweeteners tend to have, particularly sucralose and aspartame (nutrasweet). So, by combining Ace K and another sweetener (I recommend sucralose), you get two benefits. Number one, it takes less of each to sweeten whatever it is you're trying to sweeten, and number two, you knockout the aftertaste of the sweeteners.

So, to get started, you need a gram scale (they're not just for chemists and drug dealers):

This one is mine, $10

You also need pure sucralose, 50 grams lasted me over two years, $19, 100 grams is only $3 more

and

Ace K, the smallest amount on Amazon might last a lifetime, 1 pound, $13

Use the gram scale and mix the sweeteners 50/50 by weight. Pull your shirt over your mouth and nose or wear a mask to mix them, otherwise you will taste sweet for days. A scant 1/8 teaspoon of the combo will sweeten an entire double-strength, 12 cup pot of coffee (which I mix with milk to create iced coffee). You can also bake with it. It's amazing stuff. To me (artificial sweetener phobic), it's indistinguishable from sugar.

EDIT: Yoplait has recently started advertising that their light yogurt is aspartame free. What are they using instead? Ace K and sucralose.


Reuse of Food Grade Tins I am interested in using a food grade tin (such as this) to store small amounts of food, in particular for storing summer sausage or cheese for short periods of time (1-2 days). What are the food safety concerns (if any) for this? My searches online seemed to concentrate on reusing industrial canned food containers (verdict: not recommended), and I'm not sure if this type of container warrants different treatment.

Different types of tins are intended for storing different types of foods (dry crackers are very different from cheeses that contain some moisture).  And as mentioned previously, linings can chip when the tin is being cleaned.  Food grade does not mean that they are reusable - I'd contact the source and ask them.  Usually the I&I (industrial and institutional) market has sturdier packaging than home use.  If the I&I is not to be reused, I'd really doubt yours is suitable, especially for moist products.


How do I know if food left at room temperature is still safe to eat? If I left food out of the refrigerator for some period of time, is it still safe? If I left it out too long, can I salvage it by cooking it more?

When in Doubt, Throw it Out!
You cannot always see or smell bacterial contamination. Mold that appears to be growing only on the surface may grow invisible roots into softer foods. Do not rely on a visual inspection or "smell test" to tell you whether or not a food is safe. It's not worth the risk - food poisoning can be much, much worse than an upset stomach.
The Danger Zone

Per the USDA guidelines, potentially hazardous food that stays in the temperature "danger zone", 40-140 °F (4-60 °C), for more than 2 hours should be discarded. For temperatures above 90°F (32°C), the limit is 1 hour.*

Potentially hazardous foods are those foods that spoil most easily, such as unshelled eggs, raw meats, fish, shell fish, dairy products, almost all cooked foods.

This time is cumulative, so it includes time bringing the food home from the grocery store, time before cooking, time after cooking, and so on.   The reason is that while cooking may destroy bacteria or other pathogens, it doesn't always destroy the toxins that they have produced.

In general, regarding perishable foods like meat, most dairy, unshelled eggs and shell eggs (in the US), cooked casseroles, and so on:  if the food (or its perishable components) have been at room temperature for more than two hours, you should discard that food.

To avoid the danger zone, keep cooked food hot until ready to eat, then refrigerate immediately. Separate large items into smaller containers to help them to cool more quickly. If you’re defrosting something, do it in the fridge or under cold running water.

If you can be certain that the food was not in the danger zone, then yes, it is safe. For example, if you left a large chunk of frozen meat out and it is still frozen solid (including the surface) when you come back to it, it was not in the danger zone.

Why is it so strict? / Why didn't I get sick?
These guidelines are about making sure you don't get a foodborne illness, i.e. reducing the risk to where it's so small as to not be an issue. So if you break the rules, e.g. eating food that's been left at room temperature for 8 hours, that doesn't mean you will get sick, just that you're taking a risk.
Why does cooking not completely "reset the clock"?

Some bacteria leave behind harmful protein toxins that cannot be "killed" (denatured) by cooking. Cooking food is only effective against live organisms, not their toxic waste products. Spoiled food cannot be cooked back to safety and must be discarded.

Cooking is pasteurization, not sterilization. Pasteurization means killing most microbes, so as to render the food safe for human consumption.  Sterilization methods (e.g. pressure-canning and irradiation) are the only safe methods for longer-term room-temperature storage. Otherwise, the danger zone rules always apply.

Even sterilized food can only remain sterile under an airtight seal, e.g. when properly canned or vacuum-sealed. Once it is opened, it is no longer sterile. Air contains countless bacteria and molds, and their spores, which will readily re-colonize any suitable environment they encounter. Cooked food tends to be an ideal medium for growth.

What can I leave out longer?
For foods that aren't potentially hazardous as described above, there's no solid rule, but things are generally safe for much longer than the 2 hours given above. For example, things which are sold at room temperature (e.g. fresh produce, bread, or cookies) are most likely safe at least all day or overnight if not for days or even months. You can find guidelines for common things at StillTasty.
Regulation and Risks
Follow the guidelines set out by reputable regulatory agencies, especially when serving others. Local organizations include:

FDA Food Code (USDA)
CFIA (Canada)
Food Standards Agency (UK)

Other regulatory sources apply in other parts of the word, but major food safety organizations usually agree in essence (if not in complete detail) on most issues.
Failure to follow reputable guidelines is irresponsible if you are serving guests, and failure to follow your specific local codes is likely to be illegal if you are serving customers.
Health codes tend to be very conservative, to fully protect the community.    You have the right to take risks on yourself by ignoring their recommendations, but please do not risk the safety of others.
Again, When in Doubt...
Once again, if you suspect spoilage or contamination, please, throw it out.
* Note: this is the USDA's rule. Other agencies may have variations on it. Additionally, government agencies generally make very conservative recommendations - they're trying to make sure that no one who follows the rules gets sick. Breaking the rules means maybe taking on some risk. That's up to you - just remember, eventually someone gets unlucky, and food poisoning is not fun.
Helpful Resources

Wikipedia: Food Safety
USDA Fact Sheet
Still Tasty - has information on storage methods/times for almost every food.

Further Reading/Frequently Asked

Why is it dangerous to eat meat which has been left out and then cooked?
How long can I store a food in the pantry, refrigerator, or freezer?
What Do I Need To Know About Temperature and Food Safety?
Is there a problem with defrosting meat on the counter?
How long can cooked food be safely stored at room/warm temperature?
Is it safe to cook a steak that was left out (raw) for 7 hours?
How long can eggs be unrefrigerated before becoming unsafe to eat?
Should I refrigerate eggs?


Do I need to boil flax seed egg substitute? Most recipes I've seen for flax “eggs” simply say to mix 1 tbsp of ground flax seed with 3 tbsp of water and chill, but I read a recipe (I think it was for vegan cookies) that said to boil the mixture before chilling.

Does this improve the chemistry of the egg substitute in any way?

Heating the water will speed up absorption. The question is by how much and if it’s worth the extra time?
I have made many recipes with flax as an egg substitute. I don’t ever recall boiling the water. I can’t think of any of them that didn’t turn out as intended.
Do you have any links for the recipes that recommend this?


What do you call it and where to buy some What do you call these in English, before the frying process, and where can they be purchased?

I don't think there is an English word for these. It seems as though we just call them by their Indian name, of which there are several. Pappadam and Appalam seem to be the most common names, although in different regions of India the name can vary slightly. In the picture you posted these are referred to as Round Chips, at least according to one merchant.

A recipe can be found at Awesome Cuisine:

Ingredients:

Black Urad Dal (black lentil flour) – 1 cup
Salt as per taste
Cumin Seeds – 1/2 tblsp
Cooking Soda (baking soda) – a pinch
Oil – 1/2 cup
Asafoetida Powder – a pinch

Method:

Clean and spread out the urad dal under the sun for a few hours.
Then grind to a smooth powder.
Add asafoetida powder, cooking soda and salt.
Add enough water and knead well to a thick dough.
Add oil and cumin seeds.
Knead again to a chapati dough consistency.
When the dough starts to turn pale yellow, pinch small balls of the dough and roll them out into thin circles.
Keep them under the sun (or under the fan) for 30 to 45 minutes or until the moisture has evaporated.
Store them in a clean, dry container.
Fry them in hot oil and serve with rice or as desired.


How Rough Should the finish on a Pizza Peel Be? I have read over and over that you want a rough finish on a wooden pizza peel for best results. But other people seem to state that it is simply the moisture absorptive nature of wood that causes wooden peels to work better.
I purchased a cheap wooden peel with a slick shellac like coating and would like to fix it, but I am not sure how rough (i.e. what grit sand paper) is optimal for the surface of a peel. Has anyone ever done any tests or have any experience with different roughness's to find the optimal finish to put on a peel?
Quotes:

A wooden peel tends to have less problems with sticking as the wood is rougher, absorbs water and doesn’t get condensation. - https://www.crustkingdom.com/how-to-use-a-pizza-peel/

"Raw," unfinished wood peels have a rough, porous texture ... they actually tend to be more nonstick than coated peels. - https://www.businessinsider.com/best-pizza-peel#wood-versus-metal-pizza-peels-7

Here is a post written by a profession who apparently uses peels so rough that their employees get splinters - https://thinktank.pmq.com/t/wooden-pizza-peels-to-sand-or-not/15723/2

Based on personal experience:
The critical issue is that the peel be textured enough to "hold on" to flour or semolina, allowing the pizza to slide off of it.  This means the ideal texture is the same as a new cutting board, oiled wood sanded to 120 grit or so.  It's not rough as such, but rather just not smooth like plastic.  I once got a bamboo pizza peel that was high-polished, and I found that 15 minutes with some steel wool was enough to make it usable.
The other issue you're going to have it that shellac is probably going to melt or catch fire in the pizza oven.  So, while a light sanding with 100grit paper or even steel wool would probably do it for "roughing up" the pizza peel, you might find you have to strip off all the shellac to actually use it.


What does meringue powder do in butter cream icing? I've recently been taking a Wilton cake decorating class. Part of the curriculum includes making our own buttercream icing. Many of Wilton's recipes for buttercream and like icings call for the addition of meringue powder.  Other icing recipes that I've found online seem to be split as to the use of meringue powder. I've made many buttercreams in the past and have never used it before, and haven't been aware of any specific shortcomings.

What is it that meringue powder does to the icing? I've heard that it will cause the icing to "crust". How is this advantageous, and what am I missing by not using it?

Also, given that meringue powder is essentially egg whites, will using it in shortening-based buttercreams that otherwise would not require refrigeration make my icing require refrigeration?

The crusting is important so that any flowers or other intricate decorations will fix their shape and not slump when left out in warmer temperatures.  (you don't want to refrigerate iced cakes, as when you remove them from the fridge, you'll get condensation).  An icing that crusts quickly means that you can use an icing that's not quite as stiff for your decorations, and after a few hours of decorating, you'll come to appreciate that minor difference.

The crust is also a benefit when trying to get a perfectly smooth cake.

Some other recipes will crust over time, and the recipe that I got from one of my instructors  uses more powdered sugar and cream of tartar, but no merangue powder.  I suspect it's the starch in the powdered sugar that ensures that it still crusts up.

As for shelf life ... I'm not 100% sure.  I believe that the eggwhites have been pasteurized,  and I've made flowers, let them dry out, then kept them stored for months at a time ... but I can't remember if those were made with merengue powder or not.  I suspect that some batches were.


Can I fry my frozen Maitake pieces with other fresh mushrooms? I was given a bag of frozen Maitake pieces and read online that they are best cooked without prior defrosting.

Can I throw into the skillet a handful of fresh shitake or oyster after awhile?

Sure, why not? If you're really worried about it, just saute the frozen and the fresh separately and combine them after the fact.


What are the pros and cons of Convection Microwave Ovens? Are convection microwave ovens a useful item to have?  Or are they not good as a microwave and not good as a convection oven either?

I understand that a regular convection oven helps to cook things faster.  But a microwave cooks things pretty darn fast already so why would you want a convection feature?

Microwave:  A microwave heats water and molecules in the food by using microwave radiation.  It will heat food efficiently and quickly, but does not brown or bake like a conventional oven.

Oven:  Fueled by gas or electricity and heats from the bottom (baking, roasting) or from the top (broiling).  The heat is from a single direction and not uniform.

Convection Oven:  An oven that has a fan that circulates heated air.  This allows for operation at a lower temperature while cooking more quickly.  It also results in a more even bake.

Convection Microwave (Oven): A combination of a microwave and a convection oven.  Allows for even, quick cooking that is browned or baked.

So, at the bottom of the scale is a microwave and an oven.  They each have different functions.  Then there is a middle tier that would be a convection oven - an improvement over the oven.  The top tier is the convection microwave oven that provides all the features:  quick cooking, heating, baking, browning, and evenness.

If you do a lot of cooking and only have a single oven, but find yourself wishing you had a second, a convection microwave would be useful for you.  If you want something truly multi-purpose, then yes.  Since each has a set of features it provides and/or lacks, it comes down to what best fits your needs.


Will seasoning cast iron skillet with vegetable oil leave trans fats? I've read that when I buy a cast iron skillet I need to "season" it with any vegetable oil, or buy from a company that has already done this process, i.e cooking the vegetable oil at really high temperatures. Doesn't this produce trans fats? Will this leave trans fats in my food afterwards?

Trans fats, as in hydrogenated fats, are not created by heating oil.  The process of seasoning a pan involves polymerizing, drying, and carbonizing the oil, which is different from hydrogenation of the oil (how trans fats are created).

Per @craPkit, there are confusing references to trans fats and overheating oil.  However, overheated oil is oxygenated, not hydrogenated.  These oxygenated oils are confusingly referred to as trans fats in some literature for technical reasons, but they are different from what is meant by "trans fats" in health literature (that is, partially hydrogenated fats).  That said, oxygenated oils are probably bad for you, just in a different way (primarily for your cholesterol level).

Additionally, if you have seasoned your pan properly, oil shouldn't be coming off into your food in any significant quantity.  The whole point of seasoning is to create a hard non-stick surface on the cast iron that doesn't come off; if it is coming off, you did it wrong.


Short-term bread storage I bought all kinds of bread today (Thursday morning), pitas, whole-wheat rolls, a kind of challa-looking thing. The best before is about five days time. They're for consumption on Friday night and Saturday, so up to three days from purchase, although we'll be out camping and they'll probably be in a hot car for the drive out and in bags in the sun during the day while we're walking.

For the 24 hours or so from Thursday morning through Friday morning before the drive, is it better to put the bread in the freezer, or just let it sit on the shelf?

Personally I have had varied results when freezing bread. I have had some that came out wonderfully after a couple of months. I have also had some that after a couple of days came out very dry. Note that when freezing bread, I only freeze fresh, and in a very short amount of time after getting it home. I find that results vary depending on the type and brand of bread.

All that said about freezing, I don't think how you keep the bread for the one day period will affect anything as much as the conditions you describe after leaving home. Bread in a bag in a hot car can be bad but bread in a bag sitting in the sun can be really bad. (Even on a short trip to the market I will not place bread in my car where sunlight can hit it.)

What I would recommend is to use a cooler. When preparing to leave for your trip, line the bottom and sides with frozen ice packs and cover the ice packs with a heavy towel to keep them from direct contact with the bread. Cover the items in the cooler with a towel (a little more insulation). The idea is to keep the bread at a moderate to cool temperature.

I do this whenever I carry foods that I want to keep cool but not in contact with ice packs. It works well for bread, perishables (great for salad greens), etc.

I also learned that a couple of layers of bubble wrap can be used in place of the towels. I can't take credit for the bubble wrap idea though. When ordering perishable items I noticed that this is how they were shipped.


Substitute for Accent Seasoning My recipe calls for 1-teaspoon of Accent and I do not have this ingredient, as they were out of it at my grocery store.  Is there a good substitute?

Accent seasoning seems to be mostly Monosodium Glutamate (MSG). You can try to find another MSG-type seasoning in your normal store (I don't know what brands might be available where you are so just look for things with MSG as the main ingredient), find pure MSG which is sometimes available in Asian grocery stores, or you could just add a cube of bouillon or two to help round out the flavour a bit.

MSG basically tastes a little salty and helps make the flavour fuller or more intense. Bouillon does the same thing, so it would be an acceptable substitute in most dishes.


Fix for runny pecan pie I have read the boards from people who ask what they can do with a pecan pie that did not set up and all the responses are what the cook should have done from the beginning. That doesn't help.  Is there something I can do NOW to fix it?  Should I try baking it more?  Should I microwave it?  Help!!

let it sit out and dehydrate a bit?

fold it into vanilla ice cream?

next time:
more egg in the filling
or
use less filling
or
lower temp/longer bake time


How do you properly cook stuffed cannelloni? Up until now when I made cannelloni I stuffed it with meat. Now was the first time I made it with cheese and here are some problems I have discovered:

The cheese melts during cooking and escapes the noodle. Since the dish fills with liquid as a result and the noodle is drained of liquid, the noodle gets squished and loses its tube form. Basically it collapses on itself
The cheese adds more liquids and fats so the noodle is not crunchy or at least el dente. I recall at a restaurant the noodle was surrounded with pomodoro but it was crunchy, had good form and retained the stuffing.

How do I resolve these problems when making cheese cannelloni?

EDIT: Recipe:

You start by cooking 4 garlic cloves in olive oil, then you add spinach (i think 100g) until it wilts. Then you add 200ml bechamel sauce(basic bechamel with roux and milk and some cheddar), 125g ricotta cheese, and 75g parmegiano reggiano. This is the stuffing.

You then stuff it into the cannelloni (i used 15 pieces), line them in a buttered dish and surround them with pomodoro sauce. Layer remaining bechamel (200ml) on top, tinfoil wrap and bake for 25 mins. Remove tinfoil, let it brown for 10 and youre done.

I think your cooking method is fine and the problem lies in the stuffing. I see a few things that may be contributing factors to your issue.

Make sure you are using the minimum amount of olive oil you can. You don't want excess in your stuffing.
Spinach tends to release a lot of moisture when cooked. Wilt the spinach and squeeze out as much moisture as you can before adding it to the garlic.
Ricotta tends to have quite a bit of moisture. It can vary by brand. Try draining the ricotta through a strainer for a good while to let the excess moisture drain off.

You might also try reducing the amount of bechamel in the stuffing. If I'm looking at it right you are currently using as much bechamel as cheese.

And last but not least, a commercial trick I learned is to add a very small amount of bread crumbs or cracker meal. I've seen that done in both baked dishes and salads like tuna, chicken, etc. It's kind of a hack to handle extra moisture.