How do i stop small bits of cabbage from floating past my weight to the surface of sauerkraut brine? How do i stop small bits of cabbage from floating past my weight to the surface of the sauerkraut brine? it's the 3rd day of ferment and i'm using a Ball Spring weight with a fermentation lid. I tried putting parchment paper under the weight and that did not work at all, it just stirred up more bits to float

I know of four approaches to this problem:

A better-fitting weight. The wider the weight, the less will sneak up around it. This can work very well for a wide-mouthed vessel. This is what my grandma and great-grandpa used to do—use a barrel, bucket, or wide-mouthed crockery with no narrowing at the mouth, and put a same-sized plate on top with rocks to hold it down. But for smaller batches in something like a mason jar, the narrowing at the mouth prevents a wide weight, even for wide-mouthed jars.
Saline-filled ziploc. This is sort of a corollary to #1 since the ziploc can fit any space. Some people fill a ziploc bag with brine and rest that on top of the ferment. My brother does it this way. The benefit is that the bag can spread out to block any sized opening. I don't care for this approach, though: Either the top of the baggie will protrude above the surface of the fermentation brine, making it a little harder to remove any yeast and mold that develops, or else you'll need to put it so far down in the vessel under the brine that it reduces the amount you can ferment.
Use crossed "carrot planks." Sometimes I've cut a large carrot lengthwise into something that looks like small orange wooden planks. Then I place those flat on top of the fermenting vegetables, crossing two or three of them. If they're long enough to reach the whole way across the mouth of the vessel—and ideally a little longer so that you have to tuck the ends downward a little around the vegetables— they do a very good job of minimizing floating bits. Downside: I've found when I do this, the ferment is more likely to develop a layer of yeast floating on top (kahm), presumably from the sugar in the carrots. Kahm is benign and easy to remove, but I don't care for the slight yeasty flavor it imparts.
Don't worry about it. My preferred method. Unless the weight is just too narrow for the vessel, after a few days the bits that are going to float will have floated, and the rest will reach a kind of stasis. I monitor ferments daily for the first few days anyway, so it's no hardship to scoop off anything that floats. And I've found that once ferments get past the early stages of fermentation (a week or two), things become less likely to float anyway. The first stages are heavy in CO2 production, which is why you see lots of bubbles initially, and those bubbles lift things to the surface. As early-stage lactic acid bacteria die off and are replace by the later stages, you'll see much less bubbling.


Fresh half and half curdles in hot coffee I have a specific travel mug that I use on occasion that will curdle the creamer. The creamer I used is only a few days old and it only happens in this mug. It's a stainless steel double walled with lid. I have no idea why it does this. When I use a normal mug, I have no issues.

One possible difference is that when you pour coffee (or any other hot liquid) into a ceramic mug, the liquid cools a fair bit (the heat is "lost" to heating the ceramic cup). The double-walled stainless mug is designed to lose as little heat as possible, and the inner wall has much less thermal mass than the ceramic. So, when you pour the creamer into the stainless cup, the coffee is hotter.

The simplest way to test if this is the case, would be to measure with an accurate thermometer. And the solution, then, would be to allow the coffee to cool some before adding the creamer.

Alternatively, temper in the creamer. To do this, put the creamer in the cup first, then add a little coffee, stir, add a little more coffee, stir, then add the rest. The idea is to slowly heat the creamer up to the coffee's temperature. This should prevent curdling, even if your coffee is near-boiling.

It could be some residue on the cup, but I doubt it, because stainless is fairly easy to clean. Also, it'd be hard to imagine enough residue to curdle the cream without also being very evident in the taste of the coffee. Stainless steel itself is pretty non-reactive, so its probably not a reaction with the coffee or cream.


How to clean the rubbery skin from monkfish before cooking? I really like the tender parts of monkfish.  I buy the fish gutted and decapitated and i tear the slimy gross skin from the back.  Then I cut it up into small chunks for frying.  However, removing just the outer slimy gross skin still leaves the 2nd layer of skin that's in between the outer and the meat -- that is very hard and rubbery. The problem is it seems impossible to clean before cooking as it is almost integrated into the meat.

Is there any way for me to clean monkfish so that I can enjoy the tender portions without the rubbery part?

This video posted by Rogers Powel shows the technique very clearly.

Place place the filet skin side down.
Grasp the tail end, and slip your thin, flexible knife into the filet by the tail end, scraping against the skin, cutting down the length of the fish.
Turn the fish over, and inspect.  If any pieces remain, removing them is similar to removing the silverskin from a pork or beef tenderloin.  Slip your knife under the end of the remnant, pulling the blade up against the skin and cutting down its length to remove.

I recommend watching this video or others, because the technique is easier to see than understand from a written description.


Sea Salt and Mercury I've heard that sea salt is more flavorful than iodized table salt, but was wondering about its mercury content.

Due to the mercury level in oceans, nutritionists are recomending to limit sea food meats such as tuna and cod for women who are pregnant. However, do I need to be concerned about mercury when consuming sea salt ?

I'm not much familiar with the techniques used to separate out the salt.

Food grade salt (Sodium Chloride) in most parts of the world is evaporated from sea water. It generally does not have any detectable mercury, though it does have many other trace elements, some of which are normal dietary minerals

Mined salt (rock salt) is generally used for industrial purposes and de-icing, it contains "dirt", but generally not mercury. In most cases, rock salt is salt from old sea water when it was trapped and evaporated millions of years ago, so has the similar trace elements as fresh evaporated sea water

Some 'speciality' salts, like Himalaya salt, are just rock salt deposits that are more contaminated than normal. Some of these contaminants are normal dietary minerals, most are not e.g. Iron oxide

One interesting exception is the mineral Iodine. It is usually added to food grade salt (fresh evaporated or old rock), as it does not often appear naturally, and many people in the world have diets that are deficient in it

Mercury salts exist in sea water for only a very short time before it is bio-accumulated by algae and then eventually by large order fish. Most heavy metal salts do not stay in sea water for any length of time, but are quickly absorbed by other organisms


What happens during a cold fermentation that makes bread taste so good? Many techniques for bread highlight a long cold fermentation.  I've read that this gives enzymes more time to work and it contributes to a more 'complex' flavor.  What do the enzymes do and why don't they slow down in the fridge as well?  Wouldn't the reactions just happen faster at room temp?

A cold/delayed ferment does several things:

Allows for more complete hydration of the starches, and more gluten development.
An enzyme called protease, which is naturally occurring the flour, breaks some of the long gluten bonds, making the dough more extensible. (This is not in conflict with the first reaction, it just controls the gluten length).
Creates flavors through alpha-amylase action converting starches to sugars.

The first two items are lumped into the term autolyse, which can be done in time frames of anywhere from 10 minutes to several hours.

The third item of a cold ferment gets more complex... Additional enzymes (alpha-amylase enzymes) that come along with the flour, yeast, other ingredients added to the flour (malt powders), or grain mashes, perform a set of reactions that break starch molecules into sugars. This reaction is what turns malted grain from starchy soup to sweet liquid in the beer-making process of "mashing". These sugars both add flavor of their own, caramelize to create new flavors, and feed the yeast creating even NEW flavors.

The trick, and reason it is cold, is that the yeast contribute valuable enzymes to this process, but can be too energetic. If they are allowed to ferment wildly they would likely over-leaven the bread. The cool temperatures slow the enzymes down as well, but not as much as the yeast, letting the enzymes catch up with the process.

Now - no part of this process is dogma. There are people who cold-rest their dough and THEN add yeast the next day. Problem here is that you need to allow at least 6 hours at room temperature for the yeast to catch up, and it is hard to integrate yeast into pre-made dough. The results can be similar, but the scheduling is awkward. Other variations include cold resting only part of the dough, or making a liquid "soaker" that includes some mashed grain, allowing that to sit at room temperature without yeast, which is then integrated into the main dough on the day of baking.

Cold-resting dough is also a practical matter - once the dough is mixed and resting, if it spends 12 or 36 hours in the fridge, it doesn't matter too much, and once it is pulled out, only requires a few hours to come back to temperature, final proof, and bake. It sounds like a slower way to make bread, but personally, splitting the process into two days makes it easier to fit into a busy life - I start the dough on one day, then the next day (or two or three days later, if I get busy), I can pull the dough after work, proof and bake for a late dinner that evening. The flavor and dough development are icing on the cake.

To really dive into this process and what drives it, check out Peter Reinhart's books "Bread Baker's Apprentice" and "Whole Grain Breads", both of which go into the process in great detail, and are excellent reads for anyone wanting to improve their baking. It includes a lot of the science, and enough background information to make you feel comfortable with what you are doing, and comfortable experimenting on your own with variations to the process.


How does the Croatian system of flour categorization correspond to the systems of Western Europe and USA? 1) In my country we have following types of wheat flour - T-400/T-450 and these 2 are white, T-500/T-550 (also white), T-850 (brown) and T-1100/T-1600 (black), however when I googled this I didn't find anything and it seems that there is no such thing as "black wheat flour" so I'd like to know what is it's name in Europe and USA (black wheat flour is wheat flour with high ash content, in my country numbers after letter T represent ash content multiplied by 1000)

2) How are all these wheat flours produced?As far as I know wheat flour is made by crushing wheat grains.

3) What is the difference between whole wheat flour and black wheat flour (T-1100/T-1600)?

Flour types are quite different in various countries, but yes, all flours are basically made from crushing grains (wheat in this case).

A grain mainly consists of three parts:

 Source: http://www.californiawheat.org/industry/diagram-of-wheat-kernel/

The bran.
The outer layer of the grain.
The endosperm.
The white inner part that we tend to associate with flour.
The germ.
The sprouting section. Often removed in flours for longer shelf life.

So when milling grains, the parts of the grain are separated, for whiter flour (that's the lower numbered types, the number actually giving the mineral content and indirectly indicating the fiber content.), the bran and germ are mostly removed, "brown" and "black" flour (middle to high number range) increasing amounts of the bran are kept,resulting in a higher fiber content.

Whole grain is - as the name implies - made from the whole kernel (but quite close to "black" / 1600).

As you noted, the "numbers" (= mineral content) typically sold in stores are not consistent in European countries, but the pattern is always the same. (In France, the numbers seem different, but are basically the numbers you know divided by 10.) If your recipe calls for a specfic "number", you can "mix" "lower numbered" and "higher numbered" flours to get the desired strength.

For simplicity the lighter types are sometimes labeled according to their use: Cake flour / all purpose flour / bread flour (-> increasing "numbers").

The US has a slightly different system, here flours are characterized by their protein content and labeled according to use. if I remember correctly there was some kind of "substitute chart" here, but I can't find it at the moment.


Does dumping the water from boiling ramen noodles reduce the fat content much? I enjoy eating ramen noodles cooked in the microwave at work.  I've already learned to toss the sodium seasoning packet to avoid the salt, but I notice the noodles themselves have lots of fat and much of it saturated.  (I understand the noodles are deep-fried as part of the preparation for packaging.)  In an attempt to reduce the fat content, I dump the water after the noddles are cooked and add more water to start up a new broth.

(For reference, I add Thai red curry seasoning and either an egg, canned salmon or both.  If I have one, I'll squeeze a lime over the finished product.)

Does it help reduce the fat content of the meal if I dump the initial broth?  Is there any way to know how effective the practice is?

Fat floats, so if you dump the water into a bowl and let it sit for a bit, you can see how much floats to the top. You can then remove the fat in any of the normal ways (this is exactly the process you use to defat a stock or a soup), and measure it.

Of course, I quickly looked up the nutrition information on ramen, and it has ~7g fat, ~3g saturated. An egg is ~6g fat, ~2g saturated. The fish is ~27g fat, ~6g saturated. Check your red curry seasoning as well (varies a lot by brand/type) So it seems like your approach is misguided, but nutrition questions are off-topic here.

edit: From thinking about your comment, you may want to try switching to spaghetti. You can just break it until it fits in the bowl, and it should be cookable in a bowl in the microwave, or even soaking in boiling water. You won't get perfect al dente or anything close, and my Italian ancestors will be after me for even suggesting this, but it will cut down on the fat. You can even get whole-wheat spaghetti.


Knife for cutting steak slices from whole ribeye? What type of knife is good for slicing a whole ribeye into individual steak slices?

I've looked at some instructional videos on youtube and a butcher used a curved blade, someone else used a long rectangular blade, but I did not know what either of them were called.

What type of knife should I use for slicing a whole ribeye?

You will need a standard curved 10" butcher knife. You cannot cut a proper steak with a straight-bladed chef's knife, as the blade will not contact the cutting board at the proper angle. The knife needs to be sharp. A sharp knife is less likely to cut you than a dull one because the handler will not have to fight with it. Also, please observe all safety regulations and common sense when using a dangerous instrument like a butcher knife.

Here is an image of  standard curved 10" butcher knife:

(Source)


What do you make of these ingredients in Ice Cream? konjac flour, as well as guar gum, vegetable glycerin, carrageenan gum, and locust-bean gum.

What type of ice cream would this make?

Konjac and Guar Gum will contribute to an elastic and stretchy texture. Glycerin flakes, locust bean gum and carrageenan will act as a stabilizer for the ice-cream, preventing large ice crystal formation.


Why do egg yolks curdle? I know that heating eggs up too quickly or (similarly) adding them to a hot soup/sauce too quickly will cause them to curdle. I wonder why?

In a word: Science! The yolk of an egg contains a large number of complex proteins, which are large molecules composed of chains of amino acids.  The specific combinations and ordering of those amino acids cause the proteins to fold up on themselves into complex structures, which in turn determine the protein's function.

The bonds which interact between amino acids and fold the protein in a specific way are fairly delicate, and they can be "denatured" or disrupted by the application of heat, salt, or acid, which changes the shape of the protein.  The bonds can also reconnect to other, different bonds when the protein is in its new shape.  So, when you heat an egg yolk, the proteins eventually change shape and bind to each other in a specific way that causes the physical changes we refer to as "curdling".  Here's a neat animation of the process.

This can be avoided when the yolks are heated gently because it takes a certain amount of heat to completely denature the proteins, and it takes a number of unfolded proteins interacting to bind into a new "curdled" configuration.  When you heat gently, you're giving the heat enough time to dissipate throughout the food, so that it doesn't exceed that temperature in any given spot and there aren't lots of fully denatured proteins all in the same place.  The proteins may still be changing shape, but they haven't reached the shape or concentration where they can bind together and curdle.  Which is good, because when they do bind together, those bonds are stronger than the bonds that originally folded the proteins.  At that point they're permanently curdled and no amount of cooling will un-bind them and allow the proteins to re-fold on their own. (EDIT: ironically, I stumbled on this article today which describes how some scientists have managed to do just that with certain egg enzymes. Weird!)

The final configuration can also be mediated by other proteins, sugars, etc. in the food.  For example, in scrambled eggs the proteins in the whites and yolks combined set differently than either of them do separately.  The cooking process can also be done gradually enough to produce a smooth texture even if the proteins are completely denatured.  For example, in hollandaise sauce egg yolks work together with liquid butter to form a smooth emulsion; even though many of the yolk proteins may be denatured, they can't fully set into a curdled matrix because the butter proteins, fats, etc. are also present.

A bit more detail on how to prevent curdling in specific culinary applications can be found in this related answer.


Spatchcock Turkey in Small Oven I'm looking to spatchcock a turkey this year, and I was wondering what size of bird (in pounds) would fit on a standard quarter sized baking sheet.

My oven is relatively small (it looks like it can fit something up to about 15 inches x 18 inches) and we're looking to try something different for Thanksgiving this year. I suppose the oven should fit a half sized baking sheet in a pinch, but I don't own one.

Aside: is there a simple way to cut the back bone up without using a meat cleaver (which I don't own)?

A quarter sheet pan is tiny ... 9 x 13.  You'd have problems fitting a large chicken on that.  If you don't have a place to buy a half-sheet pan, look for places that do appliance repair, and get a broiler pan ... they're of a similar size, and have plenty of uses.  (they just don't work for cookies)
In the comments of a Serious Eats post on spatchcocked turkeys  was this exchange:

ColoradoTommy ; 12:59PM ON 11/06/12 :
Kenji, what is the maximum size bird you would recommend spatchcocking (sp?), before going with the two bird approach?
J. Kenji López-Alt ; 1:01PM ON 11/06/12 :
@ColoradoTommy
Unless you have an oven large enough to fit a full-sized sheet pan, you won't be able to do more than a 12 to 13 pounder, max—it'll overhang the edges.
Even with a bigger bird, you'll have a few problems since it takes longer to cook. You'd have to reduce the oven temp by 25 to 50°F, and allow it to cook longer. Just use a thermometer, keep an eye on it, and you should be fine.

I'm not sure if his recommendation is for a 1/2 sheet (13"x18"), or a 3/4 sheet (15"x21") ...  I know it's not for a 1/4 sheet.
As for cutting out the backbone -- shears would be the standard way, but for chicken I've often just gone in with a sharp knife and slowly cut through everything.  It doesn't slice through easily, but if you keep one hand on the backbone to keep the chicken from moving, you can slowly saw your way through the ribs.  (mind you, I've never tried on a turkey).
If you do get sheers, I like the ones that separate to clean and that have a little notch near the pivot to make sure bones don't slip as you cut them.  The ones I have were sold as 'kitchen shears' not 'poultry sheers' (which are spring loaded (ie, more places to worry about gunks), and tend to be $70+, while my kitchen sheers were closer to $20).


Placing a ceramic bowl over stainless steel saucepan I have a few ceramic bowls that are oven, microwave, and dishwasher safe (I normally hand-wash them, though). I was looking at recipes for lemon curd and some of them recommended putting them in a metal bowl over a saucepan that has steaming water in it. Is it possible to instead use a ceramic bowl? It would not touch the water below, only along the rim of the saucepan.

Would this be bad for the bowl? I can deal with a few aesthetic scratches and scuffs on the side.

Will this take a lot longer to heat up?

It will take longer to heat than a thin metal bowl. It probably wouldn't crack, being oven-safe - it's just being exposed to steam, not direct flame, so long as it is above the water, not sitting on the bottom of the pot (which is what you describe.)


Why does my coconut sauce lack a strong coconut taste? Why doesn't my coconut sauce have a strong coconut flavor similar to what is served in Thai restaurants? Do they use real coconut or coconut essence or coconut oil? I use a can of coconut.

Canned coconut milk is the base of the majority of savory coconut sauces, Thai or otherwise. It tastes of coconut, but it isn't strongly flavored. If your coconut milk separates (some do, some don't; added emulsifiers inhibit this separation) the thicker layer that rises to the top is coconut cream. Basically coconut cream is coconut milk with less water and more fat. The cream is somewhat more intensely flavored of coconut than the milk, but alone it may be too thick for a lot of sauces.

Coconut milk is made by cooking the meat of the coconut (usually in water, sometimes in dairy milk) and then straining the coconut meat. It is not coconut water, coconut water is the juice that flows out of a just cracked coconut.

Do not confuse coconut milk or coconut cream with cream of coconut, which is usually sweetened. That ingredient is often called for in desserts, but not for savory cooking. Think Pina Coladas. This is a source of some confusion as different countries use different terminologies. Wiki certainly is not the best possible source, but if the language I am using here differs from your understanding of the terms, read this from wiki. Those are the definitions I am using in this answer.

The quality of canned coconut milk varies. It also is available in a "light" formulation, which tastes less strongly of coconut than non-light versions.

One traditional method seen especially in Thai cooking involves "cracking" the cream. Choose a non-light canned coconut milk without added emulsifiers (check the label). Refrigerating the can overnight can sometimes help separate the cream, figure about the top third of the settled contents of the can. Simmer that cream on the stove until the oil separates, it may take as long as ten minutes. The oil separation is the "cracking". Now you can fry the spices of the sauce (curry paste especially) in the oil (no need to remove the non-oil solids). Add the rest of the can of milk and simmer for a while to reduce the sauce to your desired thickness. Some meat can be cooked in the sauce, vegetables are usually par-cooked separately.

[EDIT: This video shows Cracking Coconut Cream at 2:20 ---
This video shows an alternative, for those that have difficultly getting their cream to separate at 4:10]

Beyond that, to get more coconut flavor you can add coconut powder (which is dried coconut milk) or coconut extract (here's a fun recipe from Alton Brown) but neither of those additions would be traditional.


Bitter roasted beets I just roasted some beets in the oven (as usual) but they turned out really bitter. Any idea why or what can I do to save them?

Roasting caramelizes the natural sugars in vegetables and, eventually, burns them.  Roasted anything that turns out bitter is almost always the symptom of overcooking.  Sometimes it also means that your ingredients were spoiled or "off" in the first place.

As for saving them - there's not much you can do in either case, other than trying to mask it with some other flavours.  Beetroot pairs well with cranberry and other tart fruits, which would probably mask the bitter taste; cream, sweetened yogurt or sour cream would also be a good bet.  Otherwise, I can't really think of anything else to do with them; overcooked food usually ends up in the trash for me.


Why is my pumpkin soup sour? Whenever I make pumpkin soup I always find it to be way too sour and I end up adding a Tbsp of brown sugar to correct. Are Pumpkins naturally tart, or is there a reason why this is happening? Are there other methods to correct this aside from adding sugar?

My method is to roast the pumpkin and then add to chicken stock with variety of spices (cayenne, salt, pepper, turmeric, cumin, etc.), and add cream or coconut milk to thicken.

Hmm. I would say that pumpkins maybe have a slight bit of acidity, but I would never think of them as distinctly sour. I suppose it could be the variety you are using. Also, taste your stock by itself to make sure it isn't contributing an unwanted sour note. All of that said, it may just be one of those expectation things. We are used to pumpkin in a sweet context, and your brain wants that little bit of sugar there to match the template, so it seems sour without it.

If you really want to test this out further, try making a small batch of the same recipe with no spices and plain water to see if it is truly the pumpkin that seems sour to you.


What is silken tofu compared to regular tofu and how do you use it? Because of the contest, I read up about tofu. It's something I'm not familiar with at all, I've only eaten it twice. I came across the term 'silken tofu'. I only know this by name.

I've found that silken tofu is in short tofu that's not well pressed. It's consistency is custard-like. My question is if this is correct. Are there any other differences, apart from the moisture content?

Another question is how to handle this. You can't fry custard AFAIK (although I'm willing to try ;-) ). So do you always use it raw? Or do you bake it in the oven? Do you use it as a 'sauce' with fried veggies? Or should/can you drain/press it yourself? If you would drain/press it yourself, would you have the same result as store-bought regular tofu?

Non-textured, or 'Silken' tofu (which comes in extra soft, soft, firm and extra firm varieties, just to be confusing), is typically used in sauces that would otherwise call for cream (I have used it in vegan mornay- and bechamel- style sauces), or in making cheeses (i.e. ricotta), and things requiring softer cheese (i.e. cheesecake) as a component. It is also used in dips and smoothies.

I use it in cooking for my vegan half and half (1 part soy milk to 1 part silken) as vegan half and half is more pricey. My girlfriend frequently uses it in vegan egg-salad (the secret is in using turmeric for color and black salt for the sulfurous egg-y taste), I have used it as a dressing for cucumber salad in place of mayonnaise.

It is a versatile component in both vegan desserts, and sauces, but textured tofu is typically the fore-runnner in terms of entrees due to it's flexibility (and compatibility with meat in most preparations) in frying and baking.

  Typical recipes involve prepping it as a raw ingredient or a component of another element (i.e. sauces), and not a finished product like textured or sprouted or fermented tofus.

In assessing whether, or how, you would want to use it, I would recommend that you taste it raw. It has a nutty flavor that many people find either bland or too-much-like-tofu. Although I cannot account for the reaction your will palate will shoot to your brain, I can say it is easily flavored and the soy bean flavor overwhelmed. In making some desserts, for better or worse, it will feature more prominently if there are no other flavors to crowd it out.


How do you make mustard water? I just found out the little bit of water that forms right above Dijon mustard tastes great when adding it on top of meat! Problem is that there is not much of that water in a Dijon mustard jar. Simply beating mustard with water doesn't quite do the trick.

I know it sounds disgusting (by itself) but when you add it to things it gives a great hint of Dijon raw mustard just cant create.

Mustard is mostly vinegar, so instead of diluting mustard with water, try vinegar, or vinegar and water.


Rocky road seized up? I tried to make rocky road and stuck exactly to the recipe which called for butter and syrup to be added to melted chocolate..but very single time I added the butter to the chocolate it just seized up? It's ended up as very expensive rocky road as I tried it several times all with same result. I ended up just using chocolate. What did I do wrong?

Every recipe I looked up said pretty much the same thing. You have to make sure that the melted chocolate does not touch any water or steam, otherwise the chocolate will seize up.

Recipe: "Melt white chocolate in a microwave safe bowl, in the microwave by heating on high for 1 minute, stir with a metal spoon then heat for bursts of 30 seconds stirring in between bursts until melted. Make sure that anything that touches the chocolate (bowl, spoon etc) is really dry otherwise the chocolate will seize up (so don't use a wooden spoon coz the wood may have moisture in it!)"

Recipe: "Melt the chocolate in a bowl placed over a pot of gently simmering water. Don’t let water or steam come into contact with the chocolate as the chocolate will seize. Stir until melted."

I found this recipe (with butter and syrup) and it uses chips instead of the normal chocolate: "Before you make your shopping list, please note that there are three measures of white chocolate - I used white chocolate melts for the top because they are whiter and easier to melt than normal white chocolate, which can seize up if you don't treat if very gently"

There are many more similar recipes and all of them mention the water not touching chocolate bit to avoid seizing.


Is reusing bones for stock better than once cooking longer with more water? I've heard about reusing bones for stock (eg. blog post even if the second time is a bit weaker flavor.

My question is, if there is some advantage to this. Consider the following to scenarios:

Fill pot of bones with N liters of water until just covered. Boil X hours. Strain broth. Refill as before. Boil X hours again. Repeat. Combine all three batches into one big soup.
Fill pot with 3N liters of water and boil for 3X hours.

The former seems much more labor intensive. Will the flavor extraction work better the first way for some reason? Perhaps the fresh water is better suited for extraction? Perhaps the lower water:bone ratio helps speed things up?

I would think this would result in thin stock under normal circumstances. I would go for a longer, single boil instead if the fear is there is remaining goodness in the bones.


What, other than popcorn, can be made in a popcorn maker? What can successfully be made using a popcorn maker, other than the various kinds of popping corn?

I've tried pumpkin seeds and, while they didn't pop, they did become toasted and actually quite nice.

Many popcorn makers can be used to roast coffee...you will likely destroy it as a popcorn popper over time, however.


How can I prepare bread dough to be cooked the next day? I'd like to make some fresh bread for breakfast tomorrow, but don't particularly want to wake up at 5am to mix and prove the dough. How could I make the dough tonight so that I could just throw it in the oven tomorrow?

Make the bread all the way through.  You can even let the first rise happen.  Drop your yeast to about half.  Oil a bowl, drop in the dough, spin once to get the ball of dough covered with the oil and then put plastic wrap over the bowl, or a damp cloth...and plastic wrap.  Put the bowl in the refrigerator.

The refrigerator slows down the yeast without killing it, which also increases the flavor of the bread (over night cool low yeast methods for bread are considered the "right" way to make bread).

In the morning, pull out the bread, press out any large bubbles, roll it around and let it come to life again.  I usually punch it down one more time and then let it rise in the pan or on a sheet depending on what kind of bread I am making, then bake as normal.

In your case, because you're doing a stuffed loaf, assuming there is a rise before the stuffing, THAT is the point where you will start the morning.  Everything before the pre-stuff rise, the refrigerator IS the pre-stuff rise, pull it out, let it warm, punch it down, stuff, put in the pan, let rise, bake.


Tortilla or flat bread breaks and ruins inflation If you cook flatbreads/tortillas they should ideally inflate on the griddle.
What might cause tortilla or flat breads to break or crack in places some time during the inflation process, letting out steam and thereby preventing a full inflation?
Is it insufficient development of gluten (not enough kneading)? Or is the dough too dry? Wrong heat? What might cause this issue?

Only some flatbread recipes are expected to "fully inflate" during cooking. Mexican flour tortillas, in particular, will have bubbles up to around 2", but shouldn't puff up into a balloon. So "what might cause it" is you doing things correctly.
In order to fully inflate, the inside of the flatbread needs to be weak enough when the outside gels and dries, such that the force of the steam can rip the inner crumb but not the outer crust. That means the hydration can't be too low, the flatbread can't be too thin, and the temperature can't be too low. Full inflation is unlikely to occur when cooking on a griddle (with no radiant heat from above) since the top won't be cooked. You might be able to get a griddle flatbread to inflate by cooking for a short period at a very high heat on the first side and then flipping, but I haven't tried this.


Cake in homemade chocolates I have added some cake pieces and cherries to homemade chocolates. Can I keep them for 5-10 days? Since the cake and cherries are in chocolate, will they last for a longer time?

I am inferring you have coated the cake with chocolate, as some sort of petit four or confection.

This will not change its shelf life.  It will still stale inside the chocolate (as this is a function of the change in hydration and gelation of the starches), and while less likely, pathogens may still grow since they will have been present from before the cake was enrobed with the chocolate.

Depending on the type of cake, it should be good for between 1-4 days or so, refrigerated.

Cakes freeze exceptionally well.  If you wrap your confections tightly to prevent condensation when thawed, you should be easily able to hold them for several months.


Lemon liqueur has gas? I tried to make some sort of liqueur with homemade lemonade. I added lemon juice, sugar and a little vodka. I left it for 2 months in a dark and cool place and as soon as I opened it turned out it contained gas (a lot of it). I tasted it and it's like sparkling lemonade with alcohol. Where did the gas came from and is it ok to consume?

The gas is likely due to fermentation of the sugars by wild yeasts which are present almost everywhere.  This is the standard method for production of alcoholic beverages, although specific yeast strains are used.  It is obvious that there was insufficient vodka to prevent yeast growth.

As far as consuming; there is no way outside of a lab to determine the yeasts and their products, as well as any bacteria - and their products - that may have participated.  As such, I would hesitate to consume it.


Homemade frozen pizza dough I like to use the commercial frozen pizza doughs to make pizza, like for example Tizeo's.

The problem is that my doctor has told me to cut out sodium. I used to make my own, but then I would have to bake soon.

What I would like is a techinque where I could make a big batch of pizza dough, split it up into small pieces, freeze it, then pull out some and have to thaw and rise so I can make pizza that day.

I used to do it all the time.  (but then I cut out gluten ... blah)

Make the dough
Let it proof once.
Roll into smaller balls
Place in a zip-top container
Freeze

It's easiest to let it thaw in the fridge overnight when you want to use it ... but because I make lots of small balls (maybe 2" / 5cm across), and then freeze them in sheets (16 to a gallon zip-top bag), if I have to I can break it apart into smaller amounts ... or spread it out so there's additional surface area for thawing.

Once it's thawed, you can easily shape it, and then add toppings and bake.  (or bake, add toppings, and bake ... or cast iron skillet, flip, flip again, top & broil ... however you like baking pizzas)


How to get flour quesadilla light and crispy? My homemade quesadillas made with flour tortillas always come out hard, dry and crunchy instead of light and crispy.

I spray the tortillas with a little Pam (spray oil), lay one tortilla oil-side-down in a hot pan, I sprinkle the cheese, meat and sliced peppers, top with the other tortilla, oil-side-up.  I flip it when the bottom tortilla is firm and evenly brown-spotted. It's always too dry.  I want it to be more like it's a chimichanga crust but of course, that's been fried which can't be done with a quesadilla or all the filling would fall out.

I've looked online but the recipes seem to use the same preparation method that I do.

Any suggestions to make the tortilla lighter and crispier? Thanks everyone!

I use a liquid oil instead of a spray oil; you're far more likely to get hot spots with a spray, which is bad for any kind of cooking. That stuff works better as a grease than an actual cooking oil.

I also tend to have pretty good success by frying the tortillas up to just a hint of golden-brown (dark brown spots is overdone) and then finishing it off (i.e. to melt the cheese) in a low-heat oven. As an added benefit, if you're making a largish batch then that makes it easy to keep them warm until they're all ready to serve.

YMMV, but I find this to be the case for a whole lot of stovetop cooking; with the direct heat, it's very easy to dry foods out before they're cooked to the stage you want. It's far easier to control the heat in an oven and just use the stove for an initial (or final) fry/sear.


How can I uniformly chop peanuts? I'd love to get something approximating the nicely uniform chopped peanuts you get when you order a sundae at McDonald's.

I have tried manually chopping the nuts, and they come out all sorts of shapes and sizes.  I bought a manual nut chopper, and while this is closer, there's still lots of peanut dust.

Short of buying a commercial nut chopper, is there any trick to get the nuts chopped evenly and with minimal dust?

As @Carey Gregory already mentioned about McDonald's, I generally cook for 6-10 people and for small kitty and birthday parties, so for that I use a manual nut chopper (with size adjustment bolt).  This gives me fine results of chopped nuts almost in equal shapes. For 2-5 servings, I simply use a sharp knife to chop them. I almost every time try to make them uniformly chopped. But obviously it's a time taking process, but you can do it if you are preparing for 3-5 servings. You can purchase the nut chopper with size adjustment bolt for much better result.


What other English names are there for dried grapes? In the US we refer to basically all dried grapes as raisins. In cooking shows in the UK I hear them refer to sultanas. I've also read that dried currants are really dried grapes, not actually the currant fruit that's been dried.

Are there any other names?

Background: I have a very important ulterior motive. My daughter is deathly allergic to grapes. She nearly died this summer while in Hungary after thoroughly checking the ingredients on a food. I'm trying to make sure we know all possible English terms she might encounter for grapes or raisins. Unfortunately she didn't save the wrapper of the food that nearly killed her but she says "sultana" wasn't on the list and didn't remember "currant" being on it but there was a light colored dried fruit she found after the reaction started.

Reading your question and all of the comments (that include some valuable information that should be in your question  ;-) ) answering what you really need as knowing the English words only will definitely not help you when in Hungary as I've seen many translation errors reading ingredients even in sophisticated multi-language countries like Switzerland and Belgium:

Languages re-ordered by alphabet as I got a few additional ones:

Dutch / Flemish / Afrikaans: druif/druiven, rozijn(en), krent(en)
English: grape(s), raisin(s), sultana(s), currant(s) (except black/red/whitecurrant)
French: Raisin(s)
German: Traube(n), Rosine(n), Sultanine(n), Korinthen
Hebrew: צימוק
Hindi: किशमिश
Hungarian: szőlő, mazsola
Italian: Uvetta, Uva, Sultanina
Russian: виноград, изюм, кишмиш, султанша
Sanskrit: शुष्कद्राक्षा
Spanish: uva, pasa


Custard based ice cream vs eggless ice cream I'm looking up ice-cream recipes to try to make one for the first time. I found recipes that use the custard base (with eggs) and then some that do not use any eggs. I am also planning to buy an ice-cream maker coz I plan to make lots of different flavours, well hopefully.

As I will be trying this for the first time, I am really confused, which method to choose and what do people generally follow at home. I have read heaps of different questions, but nothing really helps. For now, I am leaning towards an egg-less recipe as the custard based recipes seem to harden up and crystallize a lot, if not cooked properly. But then custard seems to be silky and smooth in texture. I am really confused and looking for some help!

The two types of ice cream are generally referred to by name as:

Philadelphia style.  No eggs.
French style.  Custard based.

Each can produce a quality product.

Philadelphia style ice cream is easier to make, as it is not necessary to make the custard, and it can have very pure, clean flavors.  Its mouthfeel is critically dependent on the quality of cream, and the way it is churned and frozen (even more so than French style).

French style ice cream has a smooth almost silky texture, due to the natural emulsifiers in the egg yolks, as well as a distinctive eggy or custard like background flavor.  It is also somewhat more work to make, and the egg flavor can compete with other flavorings.

There is no way to give you a single recommendation, as both types of ice cream have their advantages.   For pure, single note flavors like a delicate fruit or coffee, you may wish to go with Philadelphia style.   For maximum richness and decadence, especially for deep chocolate and vanilla flavor, French style is very good.

There is no reason to exclusively make one or the other; you can have recipes from both types in your repertoire.

Either way, the quality of your product will be enhanced by making the base mix the day before, and refrigerating it over night before churning.

See related:

Why does holding ice cream mix improve flavor?


Can I make my crumble topping in a mixer? I have a basic crumb topping that I use to top fruit crumbles. It consists of 1 cup brown sugar, 1 cup flour, and 1/2 cup margarine. I like to make it in big batches and freeze in individual bags in the freezer so that I can just pull it out and sprinkle it on top of the fruit whenever I need it. The trouble is that the recipe calls for it to be made by hand, and I really really dislike making it... My hands end up hurting badly for a while after, and it takes a long time to get the margarine off.

Can I make it in a stand mixer or would that affect the quality? I would probably use a cookie paddle to mix it.

You could use just about anything to mix that, a food processor, a mixer, a stand mixer (just about any attachment), even a blender would work in pulses. Freezing it too will work just fine. Just move fast because any of those methods will create heat, and heat will melt butter. As long as your ingredients are mixed and your butter (margarine) isn't melted, you're golden.


How can I best bake cookies from cold dough? I like to make chocolate chip cookies, and the first batch always turns out great. However I don't use all the dough at once, so I refrigerate the leftovers. When I use this cold dough to make another batch of cookies, they are usually a little overdone on the outside while still a bit underdone on the inside.

I've tried setting the dough out on the counter for a while to let it warm up to room temperature, but even sitting out for over an hour, it hasn't noticeably changed temperature. I've also tried rolling the balls of dough in my hands for a bit to warm them before placing them on the pan, but that seems to make the issue worse (probably because the outside melts before the inside thaws). This leads me to think any other solution (microwaving the dough, putting the pan in a slightly warm oven, etc) will make things worse rather than better.

Is there some easy solution I'm not thinking of besides making dough in smaller batches (which is tough because you can't go down to less than one egg)? Do I need to store the dough in a different way or prep it somehow before baking?

I generally use the recipe on the back of the bag of Tollhouse chocolate chips, which uses butter, sugar, brown sugar, eggs, flour, etc. I use real butter, not margarine or shortening.

Bake it all and freeze some cookies.

Cookies freeze great.  And you can let them sit out overnight to thaw without worries.


Can this shrimp paste be used to make kimchi? I live in a rural area of Canada, asian markets aren't a thing around here. Since there isn't much good kimchi around, I decided to try myself !

I went to a largeish city a few weeks ago and was able to get this shrimp paste:

https://i.imgur.com/AEnHi0L.png

When doing my research, the product called for usually looks like this:

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-yM6LLHJvt7I/UaqrTVVvZHI/AAAAAAAABtI/QwYdgP-5xEQ/s1600/rhubarb-4357.jpg

In the kimchi recipes I found, the shrimps are like the product above, whole and pink. However the product I bought is pasty/ground and grey. It is also Vietnamese rather than korean.

I cannot find the korean salted shrimps anywhere sadly, but this looked like a reasonable substitute to me. Would anybody with any kimchi-making experience knows if that shrimp paste would be suitable?

You don't need the shrimp paste to make kimchee. I don't think you would notice the difference if you left it out. Better to leave it out than use the paste you bought, which has a very strong and distinctive flavor.


How to make Jell-O less sweet? I made a Jell-O last night and it turned out too sweet for me. Is it doable to increase the amount of water used but the same amount of Jell-O powder? So instead of 1 cup of hot water, 1 cup of cold water, and 1 Jell-O pack, it would be something like 2 cups of hot water, 2 cup of cold water, and 1 Jell-O pack. Or would doing this result in the Jell-O not solidifying?

If you add too much water your jello (jelly in some parts of the world) will not solidify. What I would suggest is looking for a non-sweetened gelatin mix and adding less sugar to it. Alternatively you could get gelatin sheets or powder and make your own from scratch. It's not that hard to do and you get exactly what you want.


Safe to switch from warm to high on poultry in crock pot I put 6 fresh Foster Farms ‘legs’ (drumstick attached to thigh) , with skin removed, into my daughters crockpot , along with onion, celery, fresh herbs and filled with water to make my good chicken soup. I expected to wake up to that beatiful aroma, and was puzzled at what went wrong. Unknowingly, I set the crockpot on warm! That was at 10:00pm. I turned it to high at 6:00 am. I can’t find anything online regarding this. Will the dangerous backteria be killed off or should I just toss it, to ward off any food poisoning?

Warm not low? I would toss. Chances are you had high levels of pathogens before switching to high and not all toxins from bacteria are destroyed by heat.


Will a dishwasher sterilize bottles for canning? I'm making tomato relish. Can I sterilize jars adequately by putting them in the dishwasher?

Absolutely not. You need to boil them if you're even THINKING about canning. Chances are you'd be fine, nice acidic relish to keep the bacteria down...But do you want to take the chance?

Even if you have one of those dishwashers with a nuclear "sterilize baby bottles" cycle, don't trust it. For canning, you need them as close to medically sterile as is possible.


When does baking/cooking in bulk have an advantage? I often wonder (in the cases of spanish rice, soup, & bread) if my local restaurants have an advantage over what I can do at home because they're working at a different scale.  How does this affect the flavors and prep?  Are there other results of working at scale I wouldn't think of?

Mostly, it's just more efficient from a time perspective.  You can do all the stuff that a restaurant kitchen does at home on a smaller scale, but it may seem like a lot of work for just a small portion.

For example, the prep time to make homemade broth, then put together ingredients and cook a homemade soup for 4 servings might take you most of an afternoon.  Maybe by adding an extra hour for processing ingredients, you could easily make 100 servings of that same soup.  The difference between making 1 loaf of bread and 20 loaves of bread is minor, assuming you have equipment to handle the larger quantities.  You'll spend a few more minutes dividing and shaping, but otherwise most of the time is just waiting for the dough to rise and then bake.

So it's really about efficiency.  If a recipe says "stir for 20 minutes while simmering," you'll probably have to do that for roughly 20 minutes whether you're making a cup or 3 gallons.  And because all that prep work is tedious for just a few servings, many home cooks won't bother -- they'll substitute store-bought broth or bullion, they'll buy pre-mixed bread dough, etc.    Those "shortcuts" are often one main difference that can make your home cooking not as good.  Otherwise, there really aren't specific advantages for most dishes.  In some cases, you may need to adapt techniques or recipes to handle larger vs. smaller quantities.  But flavors can be effectively developed in most dishes whether you're making one portion or a hundred.


Preventing Noodles from Sticking to the pot I have been having this problem with my macaroni and I'm hoping that I'll finally be able to find an answer here!

I make my noodles in a pot on the stove. But I find that a lot of my noodles are sticking to the bottom of the pot. This severely complicates the pot cleaning process - plus it is hard to make sauce in the pot when there are noodles stuck there...
Anyone know why this happens and how it can be prevented?

When noodles or pasta is cooked in too little water, the starch released during cooking has nowhere to go, hence the stickiness.

If you are cooking plain noodles or macaroni, I would use at least twice the volume of water to noodles, preferably more depending on the size of pot available to you.

If you are cooking the "instant" variety that comes in a packet with pre-made flavourings, I would follow the package instructions but use a lower heat setting on your cooker, and ensure you give them a stir every so often. That way, the sauce will not thicken or evaporate so quickly.


How do you reduce a cream sauce? My wife made a cream based sauce last night and the recipe said to "reduce" it.
The cream sauce was comprised of some white wine, couple cups of heavy cream and chicken broth (my wife substituted water for the broth)

I looked up how to reduce a sauce, and it basically said to heat it up til most of the liquid evaporates and the sauce gets thicker.  Makes sense, but the website I was on said that the liquid should simmer on low heat while reducing.  I was doing this but it was taking forever and was still very thin (~30 minutes).  I cranked up the heat to high and that sped things up, but I'm wondering what the proper way to do it is.

Should she not have added water?  Was there something else we missed? Or does it really take that long to reduce a cream sauce?

The simple answer is: You reduce a cream sauce the same way you reduce any other sauce, by simmering it until a certain amount of liquid is gone, just like the instructions said.  You have to be careful about temperature though, because milk (or cream) can burn at high temperatures, and then your sauce is ruined.  You should keep it to a low or at most medium simmer.

Cream sauces normally tend to thicken extremely fast, so the long cooking time is almost certainly due to watering it down.  I don't think the water was necessary at all; the chicken broth was probably for flavouring, and although "broth" is a somewhat nebulous term, one would normally expect a broth to contain at least some amount of gelatin, which will cause the sauce to thicken substantially when it cools if you reduce it a lot.  Water doesn't, so you've added no flavour and thinned out the sauce.

Basically, you (or your wife) added water for no other purpose than to try to evaporate it later.  Water generally doesn't go in a cream sauce.  If you don't have chicken broth or can't use it, I would either substitute more wine or just leave it out completely.  Usually the only time you substitute water for broth is if it's actually the base of your sauce.


Do I need to season a stainless steel saute pan? Okay, I received a nice stainless steel saute pan for Christmas and in looking around online there are people that say I need to season it. Most of the techniques I've seen involve oil and salt and cooking that for a bit and then wiping it out. Is this necessary? Do I need to do it every time I use the pan? Are there other techniques that you folks use? I had never heard  of this for stainless steel, but I want to make sure I'm taking care of the pan correctly.

Thanks.

I've never heard of doing anything other than giving it a good cleaning, as you would with any new item before first use.

I've only heard of seasoning used for cast iron and carbon steel, not for stainless steel.  Looking online, I did find instructions for seasoning stainless steel, but I'd be inclined to look at the paperwork that came with the pan -- if the manufacturer recommends doing something, follow their instructions.  If they don't, just give it a good wash.


How should I cook a 1lb bottom round roast beef in the oven? I'd like to try cooking a small roast beef. It's just me and my boyfriend so I only got a small 1lb one. I don't have any special cooking tools like crockpots, so how can I cook this in the oven so it will be tender and tasty?

Update

Made it last night and it turned out delicious! So much better than my first attempt at roast beef... was not only was it edible, but also tasty and tender :)

I ended up using a mix of both methods. I put oil and salt on it, did the sear in the pan since I don't trust myself with the broiler, then put it in a the oven at 275 w/ beef stock, garlic cloves, and onion (should have done the onion later though). I covered it with tinfoil since my casserole dish lid isn't airtight, and after two hours added some carrots and potatoes and left it in for another hour or so. I'm so happy it came out well, thanks guys! :)

Given your lack of tools, we're going to have to get MacGyver on this roast.

You'll need some sort of flavorful liquid (or a combination of them).  Chicken stock or beef stock would work.  I'd normally also recommend using something acidic like red wine or tomatoes, however, using this method (which is based on tinfoil), acids can react with the aluminum to produce off flavors.  If you want to cook with wine or tomatoes, you can transfer the meat to your casserole after you brown it. (More on this below.)
You'll also need some type of mild tasting oil.  Vegetable, corn, canola/rapeseed, peanut, light olive oil, will all work.
Salt.

That's it in terms of software.

Hardware:

Paper towels.
Tinfoil (preferably the big, wide kind, and heavy duty).
An oven.

That's it.

Algorithm:

This is basically the same technique that Cos Callis proposed, just using different tools.

Adjust your oven's rack to about 6 inches from the broiler.  Turn on your oven's broiler on its highest setting.

Lay out two layers of tinfoil on your counter.  Make sure the tinfoil is big enough such that if you were to place the roast in the middle of it there would be a border of tinfoil around the roast that is at least as wide as the roast itself.

Optional: Put the tinfoil on a large sheetpan or cookie sheet.  This will help you in transporting the device to/from the oven, and it will also ensure against spillage in your oven.  If you do things right you won't have to wash the sheet.

Pat the meat as dry as you can get it and put it in the center of the tinfoil.

Pour a bit of oil on top of the roast and rub it all over.  You only need enough to barely coat the entire roast.

Generously salt both sides of the roast.  I prefer using kosher salt, because it is less saline by volume, so you can more evenly distribute it without over-salting.  You'll probably use a good tablespoon or so.

Put the roast under the broiler.  Wait about 5 minutes, but that number isn't exact.  Use your eyes.  Just wait until it looks good and brown and crusty and delicious.  Just don't blacken the entire thing.

When the top side is browned, flip it over to the other side.  The best tool for the job here is a pair of tongs, but a fork will do.

Brown the second side.

Remove the roast (which is hopefully on top of some type of pan for your convenience).

Turn off your broiler and reset your oven to 275 degrees F.

Fold up the sides of the tinfoil around the roast to make a sort of pan around it.  Try to leave as little room around the roast as possible.

Alternatively, if you want to use acidic ingredients, you can transfer the roast to the casserole at this point.  The reason why you couldn't use your casserole from scratch is that it is probably not broiler-safe.

Pour in enough of the beef/chicken stock to just barely cover the roast.  It shouldn't require very much liquid.

Once the liquid is in, fold the tinfoil on itself to seal the top, such that you end up with a tinfoil package containing the browned meat and the stock.  Try and make it airtight.

Stick that in the 275 F oven.

Just let it sit in there for ~3 hours.  You don't need to touch it.

After ~3 hours, take it out.  Hopefully the tinfoil didn't leak.

If you did this correctly, all the cleanup you need to do is crumple
up the foil and throw it out.

You can also experiment with adding other vegetables (e.g., thinly sliced onions or whole garlic cloves).  You can even add them from the very beginning.

As I mentioned in a comment on Cos Callis's answer, bottom round roasts have a lot of tough connective tissue which needs to be cooked low and slow (<300F) in the oven in order to become soft and tender. However, if you were to cook the beef the entire way at that temperature the meat would end up being gray and tasteless. The reason is that the Maillard reactions (which are what turn the meat golden brown and make it taste more meaty and delicious) don't really occur below ~300F, which is the purpose of the initial sear.


Can sauerkraut be prepared with open lid? If the cabbage is successfully kept with weight, under the brine, all the time.

I use a glass paper weight as weight. Can mold also form on the weight, on the portion which remain above the brine while using a closed lid or an open lid?

Thanks.

Making sauerkraut does not require a lid.  As long as the cabbage is submerged (and you have the proper brine) it will be fine.  Any mold that forms on the surface or the weight can be removed.


Simulating Orville's Cracked Pepper and Salt Popcorn Has anyone made something that tastes similar to the (discontinued) microwave product?  As a bonus question, does anyone know why they discontinued the product?  I doubt that it was lack of demand.  I think it was only ever available in limited parts of the US.

I make popcorn in a Stircrazy quite often so I don't have a problem with the basic technique.  I add the salt to the kernels and drop it all in when the 2-3 test kernels pop.

However, I love (or used to love) the Orville Redenbacher (natural, buttery salt and ) cracked pepper microwave popcorn.  When the product was discontinued I tried several techniques to reproduce the flavor and nothing has worked.  Here is what I tried and the results:

1) Adding cracked black pepper to the salt and kernels before popping.  While the salt sticks the black pepper mostly stays in the popper.

2) Adding oil and black pepper to the kernels and salt.  I mixed it well to coat the kernels and more stuck than with method #1 but much less so than the microwave product and also the flavor wasn't as "special" as the microwave product.

3) Adding cracked pepper after it is all popped.  I only added this in case someone was planning to suggest it.  The pepper mostly falls off.

One thing I haven't tried is grinding the pepper to dust, like popcorn salt.  But then it isn't cracked pepper.

I doubt the cracked pepper flavor in the popcorn actually comes from cracked pepper. Food technologists tend to use extracts for flavors, and then enhance the visuals. The popcorn you like is likely flavored by some sort of pepper extract (probably oil suspended) with some cracked pepper flakes thrown in for visual effect.

You may very well be able to re-create this if you take the same approach: get the flavors working and then worry about how it looks. This makes things easier in a way, you can use whatever works to get the right flavor rather than trying to get it from one ingredient.

Pepper and chili flavors are both oil-based, and you'll have the best luck trying to get the flavor into an oil and then coating the popcorn in the oil than trying to add the flavor directly to the popcorn. Try adding your pepper dust to oil or butter and gently heating it for 20 minutes or so.

You can then try using this oil to pop your corn, this may or may not work properly as pepper tends to burn and get bitter, however if you've extracted the flavor into the oil it may work. If it does turn bitter then the oil would need to be added after the popping. Adding some cracked pepper flakes to the oil at the end ought to give you the visual effect you want as the oil will help it stick to the corn. You could add the salt to the oil or simply sprinkle it on.


Why does meat (beef and pork) stay pink inside even when braised or stewed for hours? Question is basically as is in the title. After simmering for hours, I would expect beef or pork to look fully cooked and grey in the centre, but it'll come out with some pink in the middle. Since its internal temperature should have reached around boiling, why would the inside still look like a medium steak?

(This question isn't about food safety, more about why this happens.)

Your assumption about a temperature "near boiling" is wrong. Meat is an effective temperature insulator.

Meat in a pot always ends up having a heat gradient, with the center being colder than the outside. A thin piece of meat will end up the same temperature as the water after many hours, but a big slab will still have a few degrees Celsius difference.

I am also pretty sure that your meat doesn't look "like a medium steak". Sure, the color may not be grey, but the color needs very high temperatures to turn grey, maybe above 80 Celsius, while a steak stops being medium if it reaches 57 Celsius. There is a vast range between "medium" and "grey" where the color may still be in the pink part of the spectrum, but the texture is entirely different (and the color is also not the exact same shade, if you look closely). Combine this with the fact that simmering water is not close to boiling, it is 90-ish Celsius, and that stewing is done with meat which is high in isolating fat and connective tissues, and it is no wonder that, even after a couple of hours, the temperature has not compleltey evened out throughout a slab of meat and the middle stays a different color.


Is there a fool proof way to fry sausage? I love fried sausage with breakfast; it goes great with bacon. But I've always been a little freaked out about under cooking sausage and I don't prefer cooking the crap out of it. Is there a fool proof way of frying sausage, and if not are there any guidelines?

And for bonus points can I get away with frying it in a stainless steel skillet?

Update: I guess the meat of my question is: How do I know when it's cooked enough for eating?

If you cook the sausage low, slow, and covered (with a few table spoons of water and/or onions) until properly cooked then brown to desirable crispness you are guaranteed to be eating fully cooked sausage.


Need to maintain gelato at 10-18 °F without electricity I will be vending a soft serve/gelato at events and festivals this summer. I need to maintain its soft frozen temperature between 10 and 18 °F (-12 to -7 °C), but most events are very limited on power. I would like to use a cooling bath that needs to be safe around food.

32° is easy (ice) and 0° is easy (ice and salt). Should I just add water to the ice and salt mixture creating a slurry that would be a less efficient system? How difficult would it be to maintain a semi stable temperature? Are there other cooling bath mixtures you would recommend? I've done some research and found many of the alternatives are not food safe.

You could experiment with salt to ice ratio. Somewhere around 15% salt to ice ratio you get freezing in 10-18° F range.

Once you are at 10-18° F, you should have extremely good insulation to keep the temperature stable, have a thermometer placed very close to your gelato and constantly check that, have lots of frozen ice+salt mixture and minimized the exposure of your frozen content to ambient environment.


Why do red onions turn blue or green when cooking sometimes? I cooked a pot of beans with some red onions last night.  Today for lunch when I got them out of the fridge, all of the onions had turned a blue/green colour!

They still taste ok, but sure looks unappetizing!

Any ideas what's going on here?

The pigments that give onions the colour behave like a litmus test. They are red in the naturally acidic onion. They turn green/blue in an alkaline environment. It sounds like when you cooked the beans it created that alkaline environment to cause the colour change.

See Here.


Are these tiny white dots on my bread mold? I've never seen mold look like this before. I've also never noticed these on my bread in the past. I Just bought this loaf of white bread two days ago so it should still be good although I can't find a use by date on the bag. I bit into a piece of bread last week that had very obvious (but I was exhausted) mold in it. Am I just being overly cautious now?

No it is not mold. They are coarse particles of some kind of grain (often corn meal, but in this case maybe wheat as corn meal is usually yellower). They sometimes sprinkle these on when they bake the bread; Sometimes on the bottom of the loaf (often with French bread) I think to keep the bread from sticking to the pan as it bakes. Also makes the bread look rustic and more "homemade."


Why not cover the pot? I have noticed some foods, such as quick-prepare ravioli, specifically state not to cover the pot when warming them. Why should the pot not be covered?

I am especially interested in knowing when I can break this rule. Specifically, we heat food on an underpowered electric stove. Covering the pot of water seems likely to raise the temperature of the water, which the directions for the ravioli state should be boiling. Should I leave the pot uncovered as the directions state, or should I cover the pot to raise the temperature of the water that extra little bit closer towards boiling?

By quick-prepare ravioli, you mean without sauce, right?

It's fine to (and you should) cover the pot to bring the water to a boil. Incidentally, it's best to start with cold water from the tap, hot tap water will likely be more contaminated, possibly with lead. Once the water is boiling, add the salt, then the pasta. Adding the pasta will bring down the temperature of the water, so you can briefly put the lid back on to more quickly bring the water back up to the boil.

Once the water is boiling again, it's recommended that you keep it uncovered because pasta water is very prone to foaming up and boiling over. It's a royal pain when that happens, so think before covering pasta while it is boiling. If your pot is big enough and you watch carefully, you can save some energy by cooking with the lid on, just be careful because boil-overs happen quickly. Obviously, it's good to have a stockpot with a glass lid for that.

EDIT: Now that I've covered the conventional wisdom, I'd also encourage you to read this: A to Pasta: is simmering equivalent to roiling boil?, especially the Serious Eats link. I admit, I haven't done it (set in my ways, I suppose), but considering your set-up, you might find the method works better for you.


What kind of nonstick coating is this? I recently bought a Good Cook brand sheet cake pan, not realizing that it was nonstick. I'm was wondering what kind of nonstick coating it had, since the only coatings I know of are ceramic and teflon, and I usually expect to see a darker color on teflon pans.

What kind of nonstick coating does this pan have?

It is simply teflon. It can be colored in any color, but the lighter colors will darken with overheating, so it is convenient to coat a pan in an "overheated" color from the beginning. The manufacturer here chose to use a different color.


Gari as subtitutes for tapioca I used to make a lot of cakes using tapioca flour. Now I've moved to another country and rarely stumbled upon the flour in the supermarket. Last time I found gari which also made from cassava. Can I substitute gari for tapioca? Can I put it in food processor first to make the texture more similar? From what I've read, usually gari's mixed with water to make porridge, but I don't have a lot of ideas in how to use it (other than all my tapioca flour recipes).

Thank you.

Most western substitutes call for using Corn Starch instead since the two have similar binding properties. For example see this:

http://www.buzzle.com/articles/tapioca-flour-substitute.html

Garri/Gari may seem closer to home, since it made from Tapioca as well (aka Casava), but it is a different composition than Tapioca flour. While Tapioca flour is primarily starch, Garri's composition is somewhat the opposite since Garri is what remains after the starchy water is drained from mashed-up, oiled Tapioca.

As suggested, look for starch-based flours, your best option is Corn Starch available in most countries.

Sources for my research:

On Tapioca Starch:
http://www.bobsredmill.com/blog/healthy-living/what-is-it-wednesday-tapioca-flourstarch/

On Garri: Wikipedia :)


sous-vide prepared food seems cold I've recently been experimenting with sous-vide cooking. The results have been good, except that I find that the food can sometimes seem unpleasantly cold. Obviously I tried reducing the time between removing from the water and eating but this doesn't solve the issue completely.

For example, I cooked fish fillets at 50 degrees Celsius for 30 minutes. The flesh was beautifully medium-rare but after just a couple of minutes on the plate I found it far too cold for my taste.

Are there any techniques to heat up the food immediately before serving without over cooking it?

The core technique is prevent the food from getting cold.

With sous-vide and other low-temperature cooking methods, pre-warming your plates is essential. Also, sauces etc. should be pretty hot and you plate the coolest food (the meat or fish) last. Serve immediately.


How do you cook nopales while keeping the green color? I am trying to cook mexican Nopales but they seem to loose their green look. Is there an ingredient that needs to be added or a special technique that would keep them as green as possible?

I am not familiar with nopales, but I would be astonished if their green color was determined by something else than chlorophyll. Chlorophyll is usually destroyed by normal cooking techniques. If you want to keep the color mostly green (some dulling is inevitable):

cook the vegetable in an alkaline fluid. The easiest way is to use water with some baking soda added. The problem here is that humans like food which is slightly acidic, and alkaline food tastes soapy. Also, vegetable fibers soften more easily in alkaline environments, so they will be somewhat mushy. So use a very small amount. If they are to be added to a dish which is acidic (in a Mexican dish, the culprit will probably be tomatoes), cook the green vegetable separately, and only combine it with the rest of the dish at the last possible moment. Right before serving is best.
Heat destroys chlorophyll too. Cook the green vegetable as short as possible. Blanching is perfect, don't forget the ice bath at the end. It will probably be enough as a preparation method. While I don't know how hard a nopale is, I find blanching to be quite sufficient even for broccoli (provided the water contained either salt or baking soda), and their stems are one of the woodiest things we eat. If you don't think they are softened enough after blanching, cook them longer, until you find they are sufficiently softened.


plastic cutting sheets. how to use properly I bought some plastic cutting sheets in a pack of two. One side is smooth, the other side has a rough texture. Which side of the sheet should I cut on?

The rough surface faces downward to prevent the board from slipping on smooth surfaces.


Pan reutilization techniques How to achieve a constant browning and even cooking when you have a bunch of steaks that do not fit on the pan?

What happens to me is that usually the first batch gets not brown enough, and the second and subsequent batches get browner (more than what I like.)

What is the proper technique to have all the pieces cook about the same?

It sounds like you are adding meat to the pan before it comes fully to temp, which is why your first batch is coming out unbrowned, and you are additionally cooking the steaks to completion in the pan which is why you have too much browning on the second and subsequent batches.

The way to solve this is make sure that your pan is hot for the first batch.  I normally throw the pan that i'm going to be searing in on the fire about five to ten minutes before I start to cook but you might need to adjust that time based on type of stove and how quickly it heats. The trick to steaks after that is to sear in the pan and finish in the oven.  This lets you control the darkness of the sear independantly of the doneness of the meat.  It is critical that you let the pan come back to temp before starting your next piece of meat. Once you have gotten the desired sear on the meat, bring to desired doneness in a 350 degree oven.

Let rest for at least five minutes to allow the steaks to reabsorb the juices.


Cream cheese frosting split. Is it still safe for consumption? As I was making cream cheese frosting, it split and curdled a bit . Can I still use it for icing the cake . It tastes fine.

Assuming it split while mixing, and all of the ingredients were fresh individually, yes it is safe.  You can use it, although it may be unsightly.


Avocado Oil Moisturizer- Edible? I bought a bottle of avocado oil to cook with, but I failed to realize that the label was for moisturizer, not food.  The label says that it is pure, 100% avocado oil, not scented or anything.  I know the old motto "when in doubt," etc., but if it really is pure avocado oil then there shouldn't be a problem with me cooking with it, right?

No

If it is labeled "cosmetic grade" then it is not safe to cook with, it is only safe if it says "food grade".

I understand cosmetic grades of otherwise edible products (like cocoa butter or your avocado oil) may be made with solvents that are not food-safe, they may have trace contaminants from the processes involved, there may be any number of things that simply are present in small enough quantities to fall below the legal guidelines for labeling.

You can choose to take such a risk, if you are really sure, but it is a risk and not recommended for a reason.


Does resting the dough for a long time reduce the need to knead the bread? In this article by Chef Michael Smith, he mentions a recipe where leaving the dough to rest for 18 hours removes the need to knead the bread. Is this a viable alternative? I've tried the recipe and found that the bread was more dense than a properly kneaded dough.

Allowing the bread dough to rest for the 18 hours will allow the bread to develop the gluten which gives the bread the chewy texture.
This will reduce the need for kneading.

Personally I have experimented with this method but with a shorter resting time (8 hours) and have achieved crusty, chewy-textured bread.

Note though that the crustiness of the bread is due to the use of an oven-proof pot and not the resting period.


Can I learn to cook from a book? I want to improve my cooking skills and have considered following a number of books that call themselves cookery courses (e.g. Delia's complete cookery course, Ballymaloe cookery course).

Can I really learn to cook from a book or should I consider taking a cookery course?

Learning through repertoire is a good way to build standard skills in nearly every discipline. If what you want is to be able to create a variety of good meals then cooking out of books will serve you well. That isn't to say that the book you choose doesn't matter, of course it does! A book full of accurate facts and procedures does not a good teacher make. Choose a cookbook that is so engrossing that you don't mind reading it like a novel. That's how I felt reading Bourdain's Les Halles cookbook and I'm sure you can find a similarly inspiring work.

Understand that this makes you one who can produce recipes, nothing more. I mean this earnestly and non-disparagingly, as being one who can replicate a good recipe time and again is one who has a high level of skill. Still, most who delve into cooking and the culinary arts are rarely satisfied by this state of affairs. One desires to substitute ingredients, build on a base, even invent their own cuisine! For that, experimentation is the best teacher. You're going to have to start cooking boldly and failing often to achieve that. There really is no better teacher than making something completely inedible out of $50 worth of pork, then adding insult to injury with a fast food dinner. =/


The right amount of jalapeño Often when I make soup I add a minced jalapeño (with the seeds) into the soup. I know that the pepper has a (I believed) 1,500-2,500 heat range and so when I add a full pepper on the low end of that scale it's fine and I get that tongue numbing heat sensation. When the pepper is on the higher end I get the throat burning dire-need-of-milk sensation.

If the pepper is on the low end and I only add half then the heat is also undetectable. Though on the high end with only half then it's just the right amount.

How can I use the right amount of jalapeño?

The heat of individual peppers varies. Add a little bit at a time, tasting as you go. You can put more in, you can't take any out!


what difference does slow cooking onions with/without broth make? I'm reading recipes for slow cooker onion soup (and onion soup in general). There seems to be two camps- cook the onions with broth (~8 hours), cook the onions without broth (~6 hours) and add it in for the last leg of cooking (~2 hours)

what differences can be expected with these two techniques?

The issue is caramelization-- by cooking onions fairly slowly for a long period of time you can bring out the natural sweetness of the onions and caramelize the natural sugars present in the vegetable.  Onion soup (assuming you mean a French onion soup kind of onion soup) starts with caramelized onions and then adds broth, simmers, tops with bread/croutons and cheese, and bakes til bubbly and browned for a delicious soup that is rich, lightly sweet, and sometimes a little salty.

Making onion soup in a slow cooker is usually done for convenience, as the process of caramelizing the onions can be time consuming and requires frequent stirring (so it isn't idle time as with a crock pot or slow cooker).  This process is important for the richer, sweeter flavor it imparts to the soup.

The camp that adds onions alone to the pot and cooks for a while before adding broth is attempting to caramelize the onions, albeit in a more hands-off way, which would give a soup that is very close to the traditional method.

The recipes that simply add raw onions and broth immediately are forgoing the depth of flavor provided by caramelizing the onions first-- unless they have indicated that the onions should be caramelized before being added to the slow cooker, there's just no way to replicate that flavor, so soups that start this way will have a less developed (not necessarily weaker-- but probably closer to raw onion than sweet caramelized onion) onion flavor.

Personally, I find the broth-later versions to give a better result, richer and with more flavor.


How to clean settled oil fumes from cabinets? Well, I haven't really cleaned my cabinets right above the stove for a few years so now they are covered in sticky, nasty goo that's basically settled oil fumes (I like to fry and sautee stuff).  Any idea what to use to clean it?  I tried regular soapy water through a sprayer but that didn't do much.

If it's safe for the cabinet surfaces, Bar Keepers Friend or some similar product (the active ingredient is oxalic acid) is pretty good at dealing with gummy polymerized oil mess. I would not try this on finished wood or painted surfaces, but if you happen to have a metal vent hood above the stove it's fine, or if you're dealing with the hidden unfinished underside of the cabinets.

Failing that, the stronger the soap the better. Soapy water may not do much, but if you squirt a good amount of dish soap into a moist sponge, you may start making progress.

See also Gummy residue from baking spray/oil - this is essentially the same thing as those dark spots you get from stray oil when baking, but generally in larger quantities and possibly a more liquid or at least softer form.


How long can I keep thawed vacuum-packed fish in the fridge? I know that for fresh fish, or fish that was previously frozen without special storage, you should use it the same day.  If I thawed too much, does the fact that it was vacuum-packed add to the time I can safely keep it?  Does it depend on the type of fish?

There's always the delight of botulism, which thrives in the anaerobic environment provided by vacuum packing.  Listeria and vibrio bacteria can grow in an anaerobic environment, and are potential food safety risks present in fish.

With this in mind, I would not expect vacuum packing to extend the life of a fish much.  It will reduce freezer burn though!


What herbs to use when baking bread, rusks and scones? since this is my first thread and I'm not a baker myself I hope you can help me as best as possible.

I'm visiting my gran on the farm this weekend - she's the amazing chef and brilliant baker. She grows her own herbs in the garden and I was hoping she could experiment with adding a more savoury/"herby" taste to her freshly baked scones, bread and rusks. Some of her herbs include: Basil, origanum, thyme, rosemary, licorice, mint.

So, I hope you guys have some ideas and thanks ahead :)

I won't offer any suggestions on what type of herbs you should use in your recipes - that is entirely up to you and what you like.  Experiment with different flavors and combinations from a basic base, or there are plenty of recipes freely available on the Magical Interwebs for savory breads.

The technical answer is, generally dried herbs are preferable when baking because they contribute no moisture to the recipe, and because they generally have lots of time to infuse their flavor into the dough.  Fresh herbs are nice (and it sounds like you have plenty of them available) but you need to consider a few things:

Dried herbs have a more concentrated flavor, so you will need to need to use a larger quantity of fresh herbs when substituting them for dried in recipes.  The most common rule of thumb seems to be about 3 times the amount of fresh herbs for dried, maybe a bit lower if you've got really nice and fresh herbs with intense flavor.
Certain leafy herbs (basil, mint) will retain and contribute some moisture.  It's doubtful that you'll be using enough in any recipe to throw off its water balance, but beware of using large amounts.  if you want a strong flavor for these herbs it's best to use dried.  Also, these items can get really bitter when bruised or otherwise mistreated, and that bitterness will wind up in your bread.  Not so tasty.
Particular herb flavors will stand up very well to baking, and others will not.  I find that some savory flavors like thyme and oregano mellow out when baked but still retain their character.  Rosemary will work well in baked goods but has a very intense flavor, so you'll want to use a bit less than other herbs.  Other delicate flavors like mint don't do well when baked, both because of the bruising problem noted above and because they're so delicate.

Also note that it's pretty easy, if a little time-intensive, to create your own dried herbs from fresh, which is a great idea for extended storage.


Ingredients for Cocktails I've recently taken an interest in mixing cocktails - I've never done it before or anything similar and I have a question about sourcing ingredients. I want to try making lots of different cocktails, and I've been looking on thebar.com for recipes and it looks like I'm going to have to buy lots and lots of different alcohols.

I consider this problem similar to buying spices for curries. You tend to need a small amount of lots of different spices which means they might only get used now and then.

How can I keep the price reasonable when buying ingredients? I don't have a cupboard of alcohols at my disposal yet and I don't want to spend money on something and only use it once. Do I need a set of commonly used alcohols? Or is it really a matter of amassing them all over time?

This is my first time posting on cooking.se, so please comment if I've missed any information off and I'll try to edit it in as quickly as possible, or if this question is too open ended I'll try to narrow it down.

I agree with @logophobe; open-ended and/or subjective questions are frowned-upon as you probably know from your other SE sites.  That said, I like mixology (though I despise that term...), but I am no professional. I'll try to pick off a few parts that were helpful for me as I started this hobby, and hope that will either help you get started, or help you refine your question! I tried to arrange this answer from specific to general, because I couldn't stop typing. :)

The tl;dr answer: pick one drink. What's your favorite drink? Buy the ingredients. Mix it straight from the book. Taste (hopefully, enjoy). Vary the proportions. What happens? Tweak. Then pick another one; repeat.  Alternatively: pick one base spirit; riff on that.

The longer answer... You articulate the universal problem in mixing: how to begin without going crazy or broke (or both). My ridiculous answers below also illustrate this: you can spend unbounded time thinking about this and talking about it. :)

Here are some examples of how I'd suggest starting, because, apparently, I like hearing myself type:

Pick a booze.  E.g., vodka: first, sip it by itself. Then mix with endless variety of mixers or juices: tonic, orange, cranberry, grapefruit. Explore mixers: triple sec, peach schnapps, Rose's lime juice.  With that alone you can make at least a dozen legitimate cocktails (cosmo, cape codder, SotB, greyhound, fuzzy navel, ...).
Pick a drink.  E.g., manhattan: start with a reasonably inexpensive bourbon or rye whiskey that you like, some decent sweet vermouth, Angostura bitters. Mix by the book. Vary the vermouth: half-and-half with dry vermouth: perfect manhattan.  Vary the bitters; see which you prefer (citrus, Peychaud's, Angostura).  Drop the vermouth and add some sugar: old fashioned.  Add anisette liquor: whiskey Sazerac.  A similar riff could be done with many other classic cocktails: e.g., dry gin martini, pink gin, Americano, Negroni, ...

Edit: adding response to Mojito/Rum preference. Given that you like the Mojito (muddle lime, mint, and sugar; add rum; fill soda) and rum; I'd start like this:

Back to basics. Having very similar (though simpler) ingredients: Try a daiquiri. First, this gives you an opportunity to learn how to make yourself some simple syrup -- sugar syrup; recipe. Make a bunch and keep it (once cool!) in the fridge. Ice in a glass, add rum, lime juice, then some of your brilliant simple syrup. Shake, strain (or leave on the rocks, my preference), enjoy.  This also gives you the opportunity to try a cocktail shaker with pint glass and a cocktail strainer.
Add a new ingredient. Mix it up a bit with some grenadine; you get a Bacardi cocktail. This gives you an excuse to buy (A SMALL BOTTLE!) of Grenadine. (You see where I'm going with this...)
Now go back to the Mojito. Get yourself a wooden muddler and mash up the solids first, right in the glass: muddle the (quartered) lime, mint leaves, sugar, until crushed. Then add your liquids and stir.
Garnish! Add a straw-shaped slice of some fresh sugar cane stick and fresh mint sprig on the top. Presentation!
Change the spirit. If you like white/light rum, look around for cachaça. It's a relative of rum (both made from sugar cane; rum from refined/molasses products).  See if you like it straight or chilled, then try a caipirinha. Try cachaça in place of rum and vice versa.  I find the stuff rather vile, but it's a unique taste.

Anyway. I hope you see what I'm trying to illustrate: just change one dimension at a time.  This gives you the opportunity to see exactly how each feature (spirit, garnish, mixing technique, gadget, flavouring) impacts the result.  Just my take.  Have fun!

Then, more generally: Mixing involves three categories (from my perspective):

ingredients (basically, dictated by what cocktails you're trying to make)
technique (i.e., how to make them)
gear (i.e., what you need to make and serve them; like measures, glassware, shaker, utensils)

If you want to get really fancy, any of these could (figuratively) consume your entire life and income. To start, you need only a few bottles and some ice. As you say, collect more over time.

Since it sounds like you're focused on the ingredients (which, IMHO, is the right place to start) my basic recommendations are as follows:

Start by exploring a few classic cocktails that have a small number of basic ingredients. Consider looking at

the official IBA list or
Wikipedia's list of duos and trios.

Understand the classes of ingredients and what they are:

base spirit (e.g., vodka, gin, rum, whisk[e]y, tequila, brandy),
liquors (e.g., triple sec, anisette, coffee liquor, herbal liquors),
other additives or garnish (e.g., bitters, fruit, herbs)
mixer (e.g., sour mix, simple syrup, soda water, tonic, fruit juice, milk/cream)

Mix what you enjoy!  Could be boozy classic cocktails, fruity vodka drinks, easy-going aperitifs, ...
Get a cocktail book; read :)

Because I can't help myself to give a general answer as well: A bunch of sites and blogs have recommendations for general bar ingredients; search for something like "essential cocktail ingredients" to get started.  I like the following ones (beware ad content...)

Gizmodo takes a mathematical approach to identify the most common ingredients in popular cocktails
Martha has an overview of storage, gear, and ingredients
This other generic overview

Last, my overarching recommendations: Start slowly. Taste everything. Have fun.

Hope it helps! Enjoy (responsibly). :)


Pasteles are too salty I made pasteles, but they ended up too salty. How can I reduce the salty taste? Is there something that I can add to the water when I boil them so they don't end up too salty?

The jury is still out (as far as I know) whether diced, raw potato in the water used to boil something like this will help draw out salt, but it's worth a shot. It won't help a lot, but it might help a little. You can then use the potato in another application.

Be sure not to salt the water you're boiling them in, and change the water if it gets salty.

Your best bet is to serve the pasteles with a sauce. Acid, a bit of sugar, and heat (as in peppers or cayenne) will all lower the sense you will get of the salt. Be sure not to salt (or at least seriously undersalt) the sauce!


What's the difference between soup meat and stew meat? I bought a share of a cow, and was given both of these in my delivery. They both seem to be roughly the same sizes of chunks.

Are they from different parts of the animal? Do they require different handling?

Stew meat is usually a piece of meat that is tough when cooked quickly, but becomes tender over a longer cooking period.  Examples, Beef - Brisket, Cheek, Chuck Steak; Pork - Brisket, Shoulder (aka Butt).

Soup Meat can be a flavoursome cut which is between the quick and slow cook cuts to give flavour and remain a good eating texture.  Example, Chicken - Thigh.


What is the dark stuff inside a green bell pepper? My wife has been cutting up some green bell peppers and on the seeds is some dark stuff. The outside was firm and normal looking.

It sounds like it was gassed to stay bright green and firm but the seeds are showing how old it actually is. The pith (the whitish veins on the sides) is also firm on a fresh pepper, if its limp probably due to age.


Brownie with chocolate mousse on top I want to make a cake that involves a brownie layer with chocolate mousse on top. I just want to use my own trusted brownie and chocolate mousse recipes. I've looked it up and found a few similar recipes.

Now, I'm worried that the chocolate mousse might have a bit of fluids at the bottom that will ruin the brownie layer. Is there anything I can do to improve this (I was thinking of a small layer of chocolate that will prevent absorption of the fluids by the brownie) and is it generally a good idea to combine the two or am I better off making a regular chocolate cake layer instead of a brownie?

Thank you for your advice

Brownies are thicker than a standard cake sponge, but either can absorb moisture, if you want to prevent that then a thin layer of chocolate frosting would work fine, or as you suggest a thin layer of chocolate.

It is opinion based whether I think a brownie or a sponge would be better with mousse, what I will say is that the consideration is the difference in consistency between the two. A rich, soft mousse on top of soft, fluffy cake may more people than hitting a thick, harder layer of brownie, but it all depends on the effect you are looking for.


Why do some quinoa seeds sink and some float? I was boiling quinoa the other day and I noticed that, when I dumped them in a pot of water, a minority of seeds (maybe 10%) floated and the rest sank.  Why do some stay afloat?

Air pockets.

It's why wormy beans/grains will also float - the surface tension of the water prevents it from entering into small crevices.

If you have cracks or holes in the grains that contain air, the whole ensemble will less dense than the surrounding water and will therefore float.


Why is cheese wax red? All the cheese wax I've seen on cheese is always red. Is there a specific reason as to why this is? Can the wax be some color other than red, like maybe magenta?

You haven't seen a lot of waxed cheese, or you've only seen a few specific ones. I can easily find (and have frequently eaten) green, black, and yellow ones, though the yellow in some cases is more of a clear wax. Other colors are possible though the range may be somewhat limited by having the cheese wax be non-toxic (generally felt to be a good idea.)

One supplier has red, clear, yellow, purple and black (no green there.) Here's the purple.

This may also be a regional thing - if all the people that buy cheese in your area expect red wax and are more likely to buy cheese waxed that color, you'll see more of it, as suppliers will learn to choose red wax when supplying that region.


Should pans be washed before adding more poultry? In a bakery kitchen should the pans used to hold the raw chicken be washed before placing more raw chicken in those same pans? Especially if there are hours between usage.

IMO, in a professional/commercial kitchen you should never re-use and always use clean equipment.

The risk of contamination is great(er) in case of chicken, so is the risk of having an inspector coming in and seeing dirty equipment lying around.