How to decide how much to dilute extremely hot chillis I have come into the possession of a couple of naga varieties. We don't know which ones exactly, but google search seems to confirm that I do have some very hot varieties on my hands and they may average close to 1 million Scovilles.

I was thinking of making some hot sauce, how do I calculate the right ratio of chilli to filler so that I don't end up with something that will kill me?

As reference, the hottest chilli I regularly use are bird's eyes.

Update:
As a point of reference for others:

I started off with 4 of my nagas (and 1 tiny home grown halepeno) to 7 deseeded tomatoes. I just cut the top and bottom off, then run my knife around the seeds, taking out the 'cross-hairs' structure as well.

I had other ingredients, but tomatoes were the bulk of the sauce. This yielded about 700ml of sauce. At this dilution I could feel the heat, but it was quite mild.

I then cooked it down until most of the liquid was gone. A reduction of about 50% in volume. This left me with a moderate level chilli sauce. It's got heat but I can still taste everything.

Given that you don't know what you have, I'd favor making up "more of less 100% chili sauce" or as close to that as your methods come, taking care, and not tasting it.

Then take one tiny amount of that (a drop, a 1/4 teaspoon, a mL) and dilute it in whatever seems likely in your estimation (I suppose based on "possibly 1 million Scovilles" and some reference sauce you like) to be "more than plenty" of filler (1000X? 2000X?), mix throughly, and taste. If not hot enough, add more, mix again, taste. If still too hot, dilute more, taste. Keep careful track and you'll have the correct ratio for sauce you can stand.


Keeping Muscat de Rivesaltes I've had a bottle of Muscat de Rivesaltes on the shelf for a while but opened it last night for cooking. How should I store the remainder, as I'll be using it rather slowly?

It's a very lightly fortified wine, only 15.5%. I'd keep sherry (18%) tightly stoppered and on the shelf for weeks, but  would freeze a strong red if it wasn't going to be used in a few days.

Drinking it up isn't an option as I'm not much of a drinker, especially alone. So should I treat it like a stronger fortified wine, or like normal wine?

Treat it like normal wine, 15% isn't enough alcohol to preserve it. Refrigerated it will be drinkable for up to 2 weeks and you should be able to cook with it for a bit longer than that. I'm not a huge fan of freezing wine, especially if you're going to be thawing and then re-freezing it, although for cooking you can get away with it.

Incidentally, most sherries do not have a long shelf-life and should be treated the same way.


How can you consistently separate Kefir into curds and whey for cheesemaking? I have trouble getting my Kefir to cleanly separate on a consistent basis, despite allowing it to sit out for multiple extra days, prior to refrigeration.  As my house does not remain at the same temperature year round (nor day-to-day), I suspect temperature is a major contributor to the problem.  I have tried heaters, and although I can get the room quite hot, the separation is minimal, just as without the heaters.  Is there a special heater, etc. for this separation that would work for kefir cheese?

With milk kefir, if you over-ferment it, you will see it break into at least two if not three layers. Slightly cloudy whey is one of them. Without that, you can strain out some grains, but getting a curd is going to be difficult. You can try  acidifying the kefir with lemon juice or vinegar to coax out a curd, but it would be much easier if you let it over-ferment. That means patience (many days) if you have a cool ambient temperature or you can somehow keep it warm (say 30C) for a day. The type of milk matters too. Homogenised fresh milk tends to be harder to work with, and UHT tends to be easier.

You need to see a distinct layer of whey first before trying. It should not take more than half a day to strain out the curd. Salting the over-fermented kefir before straining also helps.


Getting stains off of a glass top stove I have had a glass top stove for about three years now.  I have two spots that have stained black. The stains look like a patch of burnt food, however they are flat to the surface.  I have tried to use the white ceramic cook top stuff you can buy (to no avail).  I have tried to scrape it off with a razor (also to no avail, and this is why I know that it is flat to the surface of the stove).  Any ideas?

First of all, razor on glass is a bad idea.  I hope I don't have to explain why.  Just think about what you're doing there.

You definitely did the right thing by buying the cooktop cleaner (I assume you used Cerama-Bryte or some similar product), but that's only half the equation; if you just use a cloth or paper towel with that, you won't get good results.  There's a product called a "Scrunge" that's specifically designed for cleaning (scrubbing) glass cook tops.  Use that with the cleaning solution and it can clean almost anything off.

With a little bit of elbow grease (okay, a lot of elbow grease) I managed to clean off over a year of caked-on grease and charcoal around the burner rings that I was never able to get with the Cerama-Bryte alone.  I don't want this to sound like a product endorsement as there may be other, similar kinds of specialized "sponges" on the market, but this is the only one I know of that's safe to use on glass (i.e. won't scratch it like a scouring pad or those double-sided 3M sponges).

You can also try baking soda.  Make a concentrated paste (say 3 parts baking soda to 1 part water) and scrub it in as hard as you can.  This is often enough to clean by itself, but if that fails...

Finally, you can use the baking soda/vinegar track.  Use roughly equal parts of each but don't mix them in advance.  Instead, pour vinegar onto the stain and sprinkle on the baking soda afterward, or vice versa, and scrub right away while it's fizzing.  That will usually dissolve anything under it.


Are curd and sour cream typical middle-eastern food? I keep going to restaurants around my city (São Paulo) where in certain days of the week, some of them serve middle-eastern food.

Curiously, there's always a whitey cream that some of the restaurants call "sour cream" and some of them, call the same cream as "curd".

Now I searched through Google and I discovered that both terms seem to describe different dishes, even though these restaurants interchange them as if they were the same thing.

Also, when looking on the web, I couldn't find much result on which one is right, some pages of middle-eastern cuisine doesn't even list it as one typical food, but they do list baba ghanoush and hummus, that is also served here. Which led me to think that sour cream isn't really from the middle-eastern cuisine, but just misthought to be, as it's similar to baba ghanoush and hummus.

Is sour cream and curd different food, or the same? Is it really from middle-eastern cuisine, or just some restaurants that think it is, when it isn't? And if it is, what is the correct name of it?

This looks like it's most likely labneh, a form of yogurt that's strained to remove some of its moisture. The texture can range from a thick sour-cream consistency to something like dense cream cheese, and it's common in the cuisines of the Mediterranean and Levant. Sometimes it takes the form of rolled balls, sometimes it's served as a dip or sandwich ingredient, but it always has the characteristic sour taste of yogurt. Often it's garnished with mint or za'atar, but not always, though it's usually served with olive oil.

It's also referred to variously as "strained" or "Greek" yogurt (which can mean something different than the common slightly-thickened "Greek yogurt" that's currently trendy in the United States) so I wouldn't be surprised if there were a slight difference in translation that's causing the confusion. As you've found in your research, "sour cream" in the US usually denotes cream that's cultured in the same way as yogurt. "Curd" is more confusing; in the US it usually refers to cheese formed by treating with acid to produce solid clumps, but it can also refer to similar substances produced from fruit, as in lemon curd.


Why do you need to refrigerate bread dough overnight? I'm making a no-knead bread (actually my very first time making bread!) and right after mixing the dry ingredients with water, it's supposed to sit for a couple hours to rise and then be placed in the refrigerator for some long period of time. Well wouldn't you know, after mixing the ingredients I accidentally let it sit all night - so it sat at room temperature for some 8-10 hours before I realized it. As soon as I found it in the morning, I put it in the fridge, where it has sat for now about 9 hours.

The dough's consistency seems fine. Is there any reason I shouldn't go ahead and bake it? (after bringing it back down to room temp, as the recipe calls for) Why does it need to be refrigerated after rising at room temperature for a couple hours?

The reason for doing delayed fermentation in the fridge is that the yeast development is slowed down, while still allowing the enzymes that naturally occur in the flour to do their work (converting starches to sugars, making a more flavorful dough).

The risk of doing it on the counter instead of the fridge is that the enzymes are working AND the yeast is working, which can over-leaven the bread, and they'll eat up the sugars you are trying to create with enzymes. Over-leavened bread isn't ideal, but it isn't the end of the world either. There is a lot to learn about bread baking if you want to really excel at it, but "just bake it, it'll be fine" is always present as you experiment - glad the loaf turned out well!

"No-Knead" bread is a great introduction to "rustic" doughs (very high water content), and to cold fermentation. Cold fermentation is about the best thing you can do for your bread as a home baker, whether or not you are using the no-knead recipe - I cold ferment nearly everything I bake.

If you want to learn more about the process and jump off the deep end, Peter Reinhart's book "The Bread Baker's Apprentice" is a great place to start. It is detailed without being pedantic, simple without being over-simplified, and oriented for the home baker without forgetting the reasons that professionals do things the way they do.


Chocolate loses its flavor and texture I regularly buy Ghirardelli double chocolate chips. Most of the time they have a complex and delicious flavor. But sometimes the texture is harder and they have lost the complex/delicious flavor.

I don't want to use them for baking.  Is there anything you can do to restore chocolate?   For instance, I'm wondering if I could warm them up to near the melting point to restore the flavor?

I suspect they are ruined when they are exposed to high temperatures - as when I've had a high quality chocolate bar (or chips) melt - a similar thing happens.  Cold temperatures (below freezing) also seem to be bad.

It sounds like Chocolate bloom

My guess would be that when you observe this after cold storage, it is sugar bloom due to condensation cycling in your freezer & likely fat bloom when exposed to heat, though it could be both.

The chocolate should be salvageable by melting in a double boiler.

Further Explained from wikwpedia:

"Chocolate bloom is either of two types of whitish coating that can appear on the surface of chocolate: sugar bloom... and fat bloom"

"Sugar bloom is caused by moisture. Condensation on to the surface of the chocolate or moisture in the chocolate coating causes the sugar to absorb the moisture and dissolve. When the moisture evaporates, the sugar forms larger crystals, leaving a dusty layer. It is caused by:

Storage of chocolates in damp conditions
Use of hygroscopic ingredients (low grade or brown sugars)
High-temperature storage conditions of chocolate-covered confectionery, where the centers have a high relative humidity and the water vapor given off is trapped in the wrappings

Fat bloom in chocolate is due to the cocoa butter which has separated toward the surface.2It is caused by:

Poor (incorrect or incomplete) tempering of the chocolate
Incorrect cooling methods, including covering cold centers
Warm storage conditions
The addition to chocolate of fats incompatible with cocoa butter

Image Source


Is taro (satoimo) bark edible after grilling? I'm aware that raw taro is toxic and needs to be properly cooked.  However, I'm seeing some conflicting information online about eating taro bark.  An article on WikiBooks states,

  The hairy outer layer is always removed with caution since skin irritation can arise caused by the juices secreted by the taro root.

However, a Japanese recipe for grilling taro clearly keeps the skin on.  Google translates a part of the recipe as:

  Wash the root vegetables thoroughly with scrubbing etc. (Picture 1), cut into a 1 cm wide stripe with the skin.

Photos accompanying the Japanese recipe clearly show the taro with the skin on, here and here.

Perhaps I've answered my own question, but can anyone confirm that the bark is edible?

It's my understanding that cooking the taro (including the skin) reduces the toxins to an acceptable level. I think the aversion to eating the skin has more to do with texture than anything else.

Boiling is also more effective at removing the calcium oxalate than baking.

If the recipe is from a reliable source, I'd go for it.


Are the citrus seeds necessary when making marmalade? Are the seeds necessary when making marmalade to extract pectin? If so, should the seeds be whole or ground up? Is the best way to keep them separate with a cheesecloth bag? This recipe is with Seville oranges and low in sugar.

Without seeing the recipe and procedure, it is hard to say if the seeds are necessary, there are many recipes for Seville orange marmalade that don't call for the seeds, and some that do. There is a good chance that they aren't essential to the recipe, that being said:

There is pectin in the seeds of citrus, but there is no need to grind or chop them for it to be released. Tying them in a cheesecloth bag, that would be easy to remove after cooking, would be fine.

(If the recipe uses added pectin, then the seeds shouldn't be needed at all.)


How to achieve a good char on cooked and shredded chicken? I happened to be at the grocery store just as they marked down that day's rotisserie chicken. I planned to use chicken breasts for tomorrow's Sesame Noodles with Shredded Chicken, but at that price it was hard to turn down rotisserie chicken. So now I've got it shredded, and as grocery store rotisserie chicken tends to be, the flavor is really nice. It's missing some char though.

The sauce I'm tossing with the final dish includes sesame seeds, peanut butter, garlic, ginger, soy sauce, rice vinegar, sriracha and brown sugar. I could make a little extra sauce (maybe heavy on the sugar for the caramelization?), and toss the chicken with a bit of that and put it under a hot broiler for a bit.

My thinking is to marinate the chicken in the sauce and briefly put it under a blazing hot broiler to char the marinade. I want to avoid overcooking the chicken and of course I want to avoid any nasty burnt flavors. Any advice or caveats?

EDIT: Just to follow up. I followed the advice of the posters here and did not further cook the chicken. I did add some fairly heavily charred multicolored bell peppers. That did the trick, it was a new recipe and it made a lovely meal.

One way to get some quick charring without drying out the meat would be to use a blowtorch.

To quickly caramelise and generate an effective Maillard reaction, you can:

refrigerate the meat in an air-tight container, keep it cool so it doesn't overheat during the charring process
Mix a touch of glucose syrup with an oil that has a high smoke point (like rice bran oil,) you need a viscosity where you can brush it on to the parts you want to char
Swiftly blowtorch the areas you brushed with the glucose syrup. I'm talking a few seconds at most.

You should be able to char the meat without cooking it at all by doing this.

EDIT: I realise now that this question was asked two days ago, and this answer is pretty useless now. However, I encourage you to give it a go if there is a next time :) Or just experiment with the technique when you have some free time and curiosity. If you don't have a blowtorch, the glucose syrup layer will also quickly create caramelisation and Maillard reaction in a hot pan, also in seconds.


Turkey took 2 hours longer in oven with no bottom element Our Christmas turkey, which, according to weight, should have only taken 3 hours to cook, was in for almost 6 hours and still was not quite done at the bone.  My oven is new, but does not have a bottom element.  Could that be why it takes longer?

I suspect that your oven has a hidden bottom element as I've never seen an electric oven w/o a bottom element.

Regardless, in a working oven the whole oven should be near the desired temperature. It will be a lot closer to even throughout the oven if you have a convection oven.

Since the oven took much longer than expected here are a couple reasons that could affect the temperature and/or cooking time.

Was the turkey completely thawed? A turkey that isn't thawed takes a lot longer to cook. And don't think that fresh turkeys are ready to pop into the oven. They can be cooled to 28F (I believe) and still be called fresh. They aren't frozen solid but they aren't ready to cook as is.
Check your oven with an oven thermometer. Ideally you use an oven thermometer every time you cook but certainly use one until you understand how accurate your even is calibrated. And then every few months afterward. You might find out that setting the dial to 350F gives you an oven at 300F.

I remember using a pan that was too big for the oven (it covered almost all of the rack) and burning the bottom of the dish. The heat couldn't reach the thermostat so the lower element never turned off. Not what you were experiencing but shows what can happen in non-convection ovens.

If you can provide more information (make & model), which rack position the turkey was on in the oven and the size of the turkey, you may get a better answer.


How do I cook beetroot I've just pulled some beetroot out of my garden.

I've never cooked beetroot before so would love a few suggestions.

Basically you boil them or roast them until tender, then let them cool and peel them. It is better not to cut or peel them before cooking, they will bleed lots of color and flavor. Some classic things to do with them: puree into a soup called borscht, slice them in a salad (particularly nice with goat cheese), serve as a roasted vegetable like you would a potato or turnip. They especially love dairy products with a little tang such as sour cream, feta cheese, yogurt and so forth.


Korean rice cakes (tteok) sold unrefrigerated I bought some tteok, cylindrical Korean rice cakes, that were displayed on a table. It didn't have a date on it. They seem to need soaking before cooking as they are not very soft but only packaged in a Styrofoam container with plastic wrap.

Is this safe to eat (there was no date on it) or is this the old rice left out issue? Thanks!

If they are completely dry, that's fine; you can buy hard dried tteok and they are shelf stable. But if they are moist, that seems very unsafe to have sitting out at room temperature for an indeterminate period of time.


How can I reduce nitrate concentration in vegetables before or during cooking? Can someone tell me how to minimize nitrate concentration in raw vegetables before cooking them? I need this advice very much because I'm cooking vegetables for my infant son, and I've heard that high nitrate concentrations are especially toxic for infants.

Some say that soaking vegetables in salty water with ascorbic acid can help, is that true?

Also, is there some technique that allows to neutralize nitrates during cooking? Like, maybe, changing the water.

Here is a great resource for this: Nitrates, Carrots, and Homemade Baby Food.

In a nutshell, though, there really is no way to reduce nitrate content without exhaustive preparation. We're talking grinding, pressing out the juice, then heating the juice to produce leafy veggie tofu. Yuck.


Substituting xanthan gum for flour My recipe calls for 1 tablespoon of flour, how much xanthan gum should I use?

Xanthan is not necessarily a substitute for flour.  We would need to know what your recipe is to give you the best answer.  Xanthan increases viscosity when at rest, but thins when stirred (shear thinning).  It is most often used to stabilize emulsions. It also reduces syneresis (the weeping of liquid from gels or purees.  It can be used as a binder in gluten free recipes.  There are a range of concentrations depending on the desired effect, but they generally don't go over 1.5% of the weight of the total recipe.


Manufacturer "best if used by dates" - how long that container has been on the store shelf I bought a jar of grated Parmesan cheese that has a "use by date" three months from today.  Has that jar been on the shelf a year, six months, three months, how long? Do Kraft, Sargento, Signature Kitchens, etc. all have to use the same amount of time between packaging and "use by" dates, i.e. for Parmesan cheese 1 year, six months, etc., or can they just pick a shelf life out of the air based on their "calculations?"  Please note: this has nothing to do with how long it lasts after I open it, but instead, how long has it been on the shelf.  Thanks

It probably hasn't been there very long, a few days to a few weeks at most. Shelf space in a grocery store is very valuable. They want to use it for products that move, not for inventory. Some vendors even have to pay a slotting fee to the stores to keep their products there.

That's not to say it was made yesterday. It may have sat in a manufacturer's or distributor's warehouse for months. Again, they don't want to pay the costs of inventory, but the logistics of manufacturing sometimes mean that they have to make a lot of stuff at once and store it. That would be most obvious for something like seasonal fruits, such as cherries, which are harvested all at once, canned, and then kept in warehouses before being shipped to retailers.

I don't know how far they'd set the "best before" date for grated hard cheese. It probably varies from manufacturer to manufacturer. I wouldn't have anticipated it being much more than three months, but if you've got a jar with a three-month date then it was probably at least six. Which means it could well be three months old before you bought it.

But it probably spent little of that time taking up shelf space.


Can I make this caramel the "usual" way instead of using golden syrup and condensed milk I've been following this millionaire's shortbread recipe to make as a Christmas gift.

In the second stage, the caramel recipe uses condensed milk and golden syrup instead of sugar and cream.

  For the topping
  150g/5oz butter
  1 x 379g can condensed milk
  100g/3½oz golden syrup

  For the topping, heat the butter, condensed milk and golden syrup in a
  saucepan, stirring occasionally until the butter is melted and the
  mixture is smooth.

  Increase the heat and bring the mixture to the boil, stirring
  frequently. The caramel will thicken and turn golden-brown. Set aside
  to cool slightly, then pour over the cooled shortbread. Allow to cool
  completely.

I've looked around at other recipes and it seems like the majority of them use this method. I suspect it's because this is more error-proof and beginner friendly. Using a sugar syrup that is already liquid means that it's not going to be as prone to crystallise, and it probably won't need to be cooked as long (or monitored as closely as usual candy making).

I'm quite comfortable making caramel the "usual" way with butter/sugar/cream. I usually make a "wet" caramel with water. I'd like to know if I can make it this way instead. My concerns are as follows:

Not getting the temperature/consistency correct (I'm not 100% sure which stage to aim for. Soft ball I think?)
Crystallising. I'm thinking about adding in glucose syrup as a stabiliser but I'd be concerned about crystallisation in any case.
Perhaps there's a reason why golden syrup/condensed milk are used here that I don't know about.

So in summary, how do I go about switching out this stage of the recipe for a more traditional method? Is there an advantage to following the recipe as is, or is it safe for me to switch out as a confident caramel maker?

With millionaire's shortbread you need a caramel with the right consistency, it needs to be soft enough to cut through (and chew) but have enough resistance not to squish out. The golden syrup, condensed milk and butter recipe comes out with just the right consistency, is extremely reliable and easy to make which is why it is popular.

There's no reason you can't make your own caramel, you just have to make sure you don't get the end result too soft or hard.


What flour and technique do I need for hand pulled noodles? I can't get the dough I tried to be good enough so that I can pulled it and make noodles out of it. What kind of flour exactly do I need? What are other things do I need?

I have used self raising flour as a base with water and yeast according to some random recipe on the net but it is not what I expected. I did a little research and found out that I should use a special flour for this but can't find anywhere what it is.

This is the last write-up on the topic, and it's much simpler:

For hand-pulled noodles, you need:
Bread flour (wet gluten 29-30%, protein 11%-12%)
45% added water
1% alkaline solution
kansui powder or (Lye Water + Baking powder) or Peng or Baking Soda

Ingredients (Alkaline solutions)
kansui powder
55% sodium carbonate (Na2CO3),
35% potassium carbonate (K2CO3),
10% sodium biphosphate dodecahydrate (NaHPO3.12H2O)

Lye Water
potassium carbonate (K2CO3) 74.5% in 100ml
sodium biphosphate  (NaHPO3) 3.4% in 100ml

Instant ash Peng
sodium carbonate (Na2CO3)  90%
Sodium chloride  (NaCl)    1.15%

It is recommended to use bread flour because of its higher wet gluten content compared to normal white flour. You will also need a small amount of alkali. One recommendation is to use kansui powder, due to its ph of 11. If kansui isn't available, the next option would be baking powder and lye water. If either isn't available, the next option would be to use sodium carbonate 1% of total weight flour weight (e.g. if you use 100g of flour, use 1g of sodium carbonate). If you're using a lower gluten dough like all-purpose flour, then baking powder will do just fine. If you're using cake flour, use baking soda.

(Remember to add the kansui/baking soda/baking powder/sodium carbonate to the flour and mix it in before adding water.)

Sodium carbonate vs. potassium carbonate:
I've haven't had success with bread flour, plain flour or all-purpose flour with potassium carbonate. Even though it increases the ph of the dough, it still does not give the dough its stretchability.

Why use alkaline solution in the first place?!
Alkaline solution will increase the water absorption and gluten creation of the dough to enable it to be pulled sooner than normal by leaving the dough to rest at room temperature for 45 to 60 minutes. The downside of the alkaline solution is that it also breaks down gluten after the peak absorption is achieved. So on one side you have faster absorption but on the other side the dough will become more resilient to pulling if left too long.

For a non-alkaline solution, use this tutorial. It will cover all the basics that you will need to learn, and you WILL need to use all-purpose flour or plain flour. Noodle flour works best.

In conclusion:
Without sodium carbonate it's possible to have hand-pulled noodles with any flour. The downside is you will have to knead the dough for 45 minutes and leave to rest for 2 hours until you can start pulling your noodle strands.

Without sodium carbonate the noodles are harder to pull and I had most success with cutting each strand and going from there from the video.


Matzoon and lactose chemistry Could you make matzoon from lactose free milk?
Or, are sour bacteria eating it away to unproblematic amount in terms of lactose intolerance?

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matzoon

Most lactose free milk does not have the lactose removed, rather it is made by adding the enzyme lactase to milk.  Lactase breaks down the lactose into simple sugars.  Some milk undergoes an ultrafiltration process.  In this case the lactose can be substantially reduced, but never completely eliminated.  I have to assume that it is more difficult to culture ultrafiltrated products, as there would fewer nutrients for the bacteria to thrive on.

There are lots of recipes online for making yogurt from "lactose free" milk.  There are also specific "lactose-free" starter cultures being sold on line as well.

I had never heard of matzoon, but it appears to be a yogurt-like preparation.  I would have to assume it would be possible to produce with "lactose free" milk.


How to reseason cast iron skillets using a fire I was told to put my cast iron skillets in an open fire to clean.  We did and now they have a red discoloration and look worse than before.  How do I clean the red off and get them shiny again?

Have they simply rusted? Clean cast iron or steel without oil (having been burned off in the fire) will rust at the least provocation.

Steel wool and oil should clean that off (it also requires "elbow grease") - use whatever oil you intend to re-season them with.


Caramel fudge pieces into sauce? I'm wondering if there is a way to turn store-bought caramel fudge pieces into a caramel sauce?  Would that be possible?

Fudge is a mixture of sugar, butter and milk/cream, made by slowly crystallising sugar at about 115C. You can make a caramel sauce by heating sugar and water to this temperature, and then adding cream (or maybe evaporated milk), followed by more gentle heating. So I think there is a chance it will work. You might want to add some extra cream for richness and texture.


What is the best western/cheap substitute for banana leaf? Southeast Asian recipes such as Amok are sometimes steamed in banana leaf containers. Since these are fairly expensive (and presumably not indefinitely reusable), is it possible to use, say, parchment paper instead?

What is a good low-cost and easy to find substitute for banana leaf in these recipes? (and for Amok in particular) If obvious candidates like parchment paper aren't suitable, why not?

If you can find a local Asian or Mexican specialty food store, you'll be more likely to find them, though they may be in the frozen section. Part of the uniqueness of these leaves is that they impart a slight flavor to the food cooked in them.

  People in the tropics use these huge leaves to line cooking pits and to wrap everything from pigs to rice.  The leaves impart a subtle anise fragrance to food and protect it while it's cooking.  Frozen leaves--once thawed--work just fine.  Boil the leaves before using them to keep them from cracking.  Look for banana leaves among the frozen foods in Asian, Hispanic, or specialty markets.

If you absolutely can't find them there are several substitution options:

  aluminum foil (as food wrapper) OR parchment paper (as food wrapper) OR corn husks (as food wrapper or to cover imus) OR hoja santa leaves (as a food wrapper, also imparts an interesting anise flavor)

Personally, I'd go for other leaves before foil or parchment. Particularly with steaming, I find that parchment can get soggy and may collapse if you're making it into boats, so you might want to test it before going crazy. Foil can be problematic because it can be very easy to puncture unless you get super heavy-duty foil and then you'd potentially lose all of the sauce.

It looks like you can easily make this using small bowls like ramekins, rice bowls or small souffle molds or hollowed out coconut halves. See the video here. The host mentions using the coconut halves due to not being able to find many banana leaves. They may be more expensive to start but you can likely use them many times before needing to exchange them.


What are the differences between using whole wheat flour vs. all purpose flour in batter for frying? There have been many questions related to whole wheat flower on this site before, but nearly all of them focus on baking. I'd like to know what is the effect of frying with whole wheat flour in terms of flavor, texture, and the complexity of executing the frying properly. I have heard anecdotally that whole wheat flour leads to a crispier batter, but can't find any reliable sources that back this statement up.

Just as with kneading, stirring develops the gluten in the flour. over-mixing batter is a culinary no-no (fr. non-non). Batters are frequently rested in the refrigerator so the gluten can relax. Foods fried in batter that has been overworked and deprived of adequate rest is like a chef exposed to the same conditions–tough and tired.

Whole wheat flour has considerable difficulty developing its gluten potential because when the outer coat (bran) is ground up and combined with the starchy endosperm, sharp particles of bran chop up the strands of gluten as they attempt to form. So the very quality that makes whole wheat flour such a 'pain' in the ass for bread making makes it highly useful for batters.

Whole wheat has practically become my default flour. It's fine for dusting food articles on their way to the sauté pan, and for making roux. But bear in mind that you may need to use a little more roux than before to achieve a given degree of thickening. That's because the bran coat displaces a small portion of the starchy endosperm.


What can substitute for the non kosher ingredients in bolognese sauce? I am trying to make bolognese kosher for my family and struggling. Here is the list of ingredients I hope to find a substitute for:

Pork
Pancetta
Heavy cream
Milk
Parmigiano Reggiano

None of those is a necessary element in bolognese; find a recipe that doesn't use them (use beef mince, or quorn).


How to add a salty/bacon flavor and texture to vegan collard greens? As a vegan of nearly a year bacon has come as a "great loss" and my collard greens have suffered for it greatly.

I have been experimenting with tvp bacon bits, vegan bacon strips (both frozen and refrigerated), tempeh, liquid smoke, soy sauce, butter, etc. to get something of the salty and fatty flavor/texture that I used to get with pork bacon but have yet to be successful.

Additionally I have tried boiling, slow cooking, sauteeing and a few other methods of cooking. The slow cooker seems to be the best, helping everything cook down as far as I want, but it does take a good while and does not get the animal fat infusion that I used to enjoy so much.

Suggestions for helping add some fat and texture to my way too healthy and way too mushy pot of vegan greens?

As a vegetarian, I regularly try to compensate for the lack of meat in a normally meat-containing dish using a number of methods, though I feel none can truly replace the addition of meat perfectly. In my experience, duplicating the effects of the addition of meat to a dish requires considering individually the effects the addition would have.

First I'll address the fat added. Since the lard present in bacon is high in saturated fats, you can attempt to duplicate that using vegetable oils that are high in saturated fats, like hard margarine or palm oil. While I wouldn't normally advocate with using an oil specifically because it has higher saturated fat content (for health reasons), in this case it will likely help the quality of the finished greens. Consider using a smaller proportion of the more saturated fats by adding in a lighter/healthier oil, like canola or grapeseed, as a portion of the added fat. There is no single rule for getting the fat content of a dish like this right, and it's often a matter of taste.

The smokiness added by the bacon is also a consideration. While liquid smoke could work, the volatility of the product can contribute to the flavor getting poorly concentrated in the food. I have had good results with both smoked salt and smoked black pepper in concentrating smokiness in a dish, and I have found that adding either more near the end of cooking encourages the flavor to be retained more prominently.

For the savoriness added by the aminos in the pork, there is a wide variety of vegan options for its substitution. A good place to start, in my opinion, is to use a vegan not-meat bouillon (e.g. from Edward & Sons) as the base of the broth. The addition of nutritive yeast (and to a lesser extent mushrooms) can also help infuse the broth with umami, and is a common ingredient in vegan broth preparations. If desired, the addition of liquid aminos (e.g. Bragg's Liquid Aminos), and/or MSG can help further improve the savoriness of the greens.

For the texture added by the bacon itself your intuition of using TVP or vegan bacon is likely the way to go. While neither adds much flavor itself (vegan bacon being far more mellow in its baconiness), they are probably your best bet for duplicating a meaty texture.


thick, crunchy, fluffy corn flakes breading In student canteen one of dishes I'd frequently order were soy steaks in corn flakes. I remember them well to this day, because the soy comprised maybe half the volume - the small pieces of soy were crumbed in a thick layer of corn flakes, holding firmly, and forming some kind of fluffy, crunchy crust.

I tried to repeat this a few times, following various recipes about different foodstuffs crumbed in corn flakes. I never got this effect.

Firstly, most of recipes call for corn flakes smashed/ground into small pieces. These had predominantly regular sized corn flakes. Then, full-sized corn flakes simply don't hold - I cover the piece of soy in egg, then crumb it in corn flakes, and most of the corn flakes fall off, either at once, or upon placing in hot oil. For the life of me, I can't get more of it stuck.

I believe I'm missing some ingredients, and the technique might be different than what I'm trying, but I don't know what should it be. So, how do I achieve a thick layer of corn flakes breading?

This is pretty much the look I'm striving for.

The comments have already touched on a number of potential solutions.  The core problem seems to be that you need a thicker, more viscous batter than can hold onto the cornflakes better than raw egg.  Egg is slippery stuff, and will tend to form only a very thin layer on whatever's being dipped into it, but you want something much denser here.

In the recipe you included, honey makes the egg more viscous while seasoning at the same time.  You could do the same thing by adding a small amount of flour or (appropriately) cornstarch to the egg before dipping the soy.  You could even try going completely eggless and make a beer batter or tempura-style batter; depending on your recipe, you may need to back off on the liquid so that it remains relatively thick.  Dip your soy into the batter, then into the cornflakes, and then fry or bake as you see fit.

You can probably play it quite loose with the cooking time.  Since soy isn't an animal product that needs to be cooked to a certain temperature for safety purposes, just cook until you're happy with the final product.


How to clean and maintain cast iron lids I have a number of cast iron lids that fit skillets, dutch ovens, etc.  Most have the little cone-shaped spikes on the underside to collect and return moisture to the food.

I have no issues cleaning and maintaining my cast iron pans and pots, but I find the lids are prone to specific problems.  Here are the two main ones:

(1) When simmering or baking with the lid on (or partly on), the underside of the lid gets exposed to a lot of water vapor which then condenses.  The underside is therefore "attacked" by more excess moisture than any other part of my pots or pans.  Over time, this tends to degrade the seasoning and can more quickly lead to rusting.  With periodic oiling and reheating after cooking, I find that I really never need to do a complete re-seasoning of a pan (unless it gets damaged in some way).  But seasoning on lids seems to degrade a lot faster, and it's next to impossible to do stovetop "maintenance seasonings" with a little oil because of the shape of the lids.

(2) When cooking over high heat in a skillet, I sometimes want to put the lid on.  For example, one method I like to cook a cheap thick steak is to sear over high heat on both sides, and then turn off the heat and put the lid on to finish cooking (which is easier and simpler than heating up an oven to finish it).  Anyhow, if the pan is hot enough, a significant amount of grease will rise in the closed pan and condense on the lid.  The residue is difficult and annoying to clean because of the spikes on the lid.  Another area that often gets build-up of grease is the small lip right on the edge of the underside of the lid.  Neither the spiky area nor the lip lends itself well to scrubbing with salt or wiping with paper towels, which I commonly use to take care of the pans and pots.  In just a few uses over relatively high heat, the grease will build up, leaving behind sections that are gummy and others that are hard to scrape off -- and it seems like it also can trap moisture sometimes that contributes even more to the problem mentioned above with degraded seasoning and even rusting.  Unless I soak it in a sink with hot water and a lot of soap, it's very difficult to keep clean, and that will also degrade the seasoning more quickly.

In many cases, I've just given up and will use an ill-fitting random lid on cast iron rather than the traditional cast iron lids.  But given that people can buy lids like this, there must be ways to maintain them without gummy grease build-up or spotty seasoning.

Is there a way to avoid or lessen these problems or to solve them in a straightforward way?

We use kosher salt to clean (still-warm) cast-iron by pouring in a handful then rubbing around with a (usually paper) towel. The kosher salt grain size is just right to be an abrasive for removing excess grease and other food particles, and you don't have to worry about it melting. Then a wash with hot water and a little soap to complete the washing, followed by a rinse. To avoid rust, we dry the pan by putting it on the stove, high flame, until the water has evaporated.
We have to re-season the pan every once in a while (once or twice a year), but this method has worked well for us.


How to make crispy/dry potato chips/crisps? I've tried frying chips a few times, but, even though it's fun and tastes relatively good, they did not turn out like commercial potato chips (such as Lay's). My homemade chips soaked up too much oil, making them slightly too 'wet', for the lack of a better word. Commercial chips in general are much drier than my homemade chips, and I presume less oil per chip correlates to less calories per chip.

So how can I make potato chips that are more like the commercial kind?

I am going to get "unsciency" as I used to make fries for hours on end at a local mom and pop shop.

How thin / thick doesn't really matter, you'll just have to adjust your frying time accordingly.

1) Use a starchy potato

2) slice your potato evenly, with a peeler if you don't have a slicer or mandolin

3) soak them in water for 30 mins with a pinch of salt

4) let them dry a bit

5) blanch them with vegetable oil until they are limpy but has no visible color change (Oil
should be hot enough that when you put them in, 5 seconds later there are bubbles)

6) cool them completely, I throw them into a container into the fridge

7) refried them by putting in enough pieces in such that it will still bubble immediately (oil should be hot enough when you drop a spot of water or chop sticks in that it bubble immediately, but you wouldn't hear like a crackling or have oil splashing at you)

8) Take them out one piece at a time as they change color.

The key is vegetable that's pretty much the only oil that makes things cripsy at lower frying temperature, other than bacon fat, this makes a much more golden chip, and generally a easier time to control, so you can make more at the same time. Shortening, olive oil, peanut oil, butter, lard has been tested and isn't really good. Sesame oil is good too if you like the taste of it. Also, don't attempt to drain the oil after blanching, the oil will come out when you re-fry them.

Salt or season while warm.


what is the difference between butter spread and pure butter? first of all, basically what is the difference?

what are their uses and is there a big difference? for example is there a case where I should use pure butter for some things but never a spread or vice versa? When the recipe says butter which one should I use?

Usually things titled butter spread are actually made from largely vegetable oil.  They can be a replacement for butter in recipes where the fact that there is fat in the recipe is all that matters (quick breads, brownies, muffins, etc.).  In general if you have a recipe where melted butter joins the wet ingredients and those wet ingredients get mixed into the dry ingredients, you should be able to get by using butter spreads (at least the oil-based kinds).

On the other hand, butter spreads aren't going to work well in baking that requires the creaming method (where butter and sugar are creamed together) because the texture is "firm out of the refrigerator, softens quickly" (source) as one spread maker says.  The bubbles needed to make baked goods rise using the creaming method won't hold.


to remove casing from sausages or not? Is it best to remove sausage casing before cooking sausages or not?
I don't see it mentioned in recipes, but have seen it done by people when cooking. Is this a matter of preference or is there any improvement to quality of flavor when casings are removed?

I'm sure it's a personal preference.
Personally, I'd never dream of doing it, unless it was for a dish that specifically called for it, or one that requires 'chunks'*. Part of the job of the casing is to keep the sausages moist. You shouldn't even prick them with a fork whilst frying [yet some people do].
For chunks, there's a distinct difference between frying them whole & cutting up than cutting then frying. The first retains the shape, the second tends to squeeze out of the ends as the casing shrinks.


How to clean mushrooms? Some people say cleaning with water removes the taste from mushrooms.

But if I don't use water the mushrooms will carry a lot of dust.

Do you have any techniques for cleaning mushroom so I don't eat crap but don't spoil the mushroom?

I find that brushes and even paper towels are too rough on mushrooms. I use cold running water and gentle rubbing by hand.


Fork left in microwave, hole in microwave wall I left a fork in my microwave and there were no sparks but there is now a small hole on the inside wall. The microwave works fine but is there anything dangerous about this?

First off, what is the hole in? Is it just a hole in the plastic interior, or is a hole clean through the metal shielding? If you're confident it's just the plastic, that should be fine - that's not part of what's keeping it safe.

If it's actually a hole through the metal, then the power transmitted is roughly proportional to (d/λ)^4, that is, the fourth power of the ratio of diameter to wavelength. (See this question on physics, with more details found on another question there. That proportionality is from a simplified version of the problem, but it should be an okay approximation.)

With a 12.2cm microwave wavelength, using a 12.2cm hole as the baseline, 0.01% as much leaks through a 1.2cm hole, 0.1% through a 2.1cm hole, 1% through a 3.8cm hole, and 10% though a 6.7cm hole. And the full power of the microwave is 750-1500W, so the absolute worst case power leaked through those holes is .15W, 1.5W, 15W, and 150W. So for holes less than 1cm (leaking at most .15W) you should not have to worry. A 2cm hole (leaking at most 1.5W) also would likely be safe, since the energy shouldn't be too focused, but that's the range where I'd start getting nervous.


Difference between two cleavers - straight back vs curved Hopefully this is a quick, simple question. What is the effective difference between a traditional cleaver (something like this) and a straight back cleaver (like this)? I can't tell if the curved blade near the front would be helpful or hurt the my normal usage of a cleaver (hacking up carcasses).

So, as I couldn't find anything online regarding this. I asked the butcher I work with.

He also can't give a definite answer, he does however have a collection, including a cleaver similar to the Curved Front. He recons as the front rarely takes a pounding like the main flat section, it's almost always sharper. As a result if for example he is cleaning the meat off Beef Ribs for mincing. He'd use the front part for slicing down the bone then the main section to chop any bone for other uses (Gravy etc). He does point out it's rare he would do this as he almost always has a boning knife to hand so just uses that, but if in a rush to do something for a customer it's just handy.

Again this is what he uses the front for, not necessarily the intended purpose. A reviewer for that particular knife seems to use the front for cutting pizza... hmm. (here)


Cork-like flavour in "tasteless" Xanthan Gum I recently discovered xanthan gum and bought a jar to try this amazing thickener for myself. When opening the jar I however noticed a slightly "corked" smell to the powder itself. I made a thick (~5g/1L) mixture with water to see if the taste was noticable, which it was. It was also noticeable in a thinner sweet cherry dessert sauce.
All sources online refer to xanthan gum as being completely tasteless - did I just get a bad batch? For reference, the brand and specific product is Sosa Pure xantham gum.

OK to sum up what this is. This can be a multitude of things separate or combined. Since its a cork smell, i would say throw that batch out and get a new one and try it. If its the same thing, then report it on their website (If they have one) and just get a different brand. it might be molding, or staling of the gum. Either that or they make Juicy fruit gum out of the game stuff and its just not reliable. ANYWAYS, i would say get a different brand nonetheless and try that.


What can I do about peeling wok seasoning? I bought a carbon-steel wok, seasoned it, and it worked great for a couple weeks. Now however a small portion of the seasoning right in the very middle seems to have peeled off. While the sides are perfectly non-stick, the middle is, if anything, slightly sticky to the touch. I really hope I don't have to strip the seasoning and redo it from scratch. Any recommendations? Thanks!

Edit: I should also add that the metal underneath the peeled-off portion looks like the unseasoned wok, a light blueish grey.

The most likely problem is that you let oil pool in the bottom of the wok during seasoning, so it didn't polymerize properly.  Personally, I would scrub that portion off, and reseason only the bottom, using this method:

Heat the wok to smoking hot.
Turn off the heat, and immediately polish with a lightly oiled cloth or paper towel.
Turn it upside down to cool (this prevents oil pooling at the bottom).

A second possibility is that you cooked something very wet, and maybe acidic as well, in the bottom of the wok while the seasoning was still fairly new.  Again, the answer is to scrub off the damaged portion and reseason it.
Some relevant links for general care of carbon steel woks:

Patina burning off
When to redo seasoning
Serious Eats wok seasoning

Overall, don't worry about it too much; I find that I mess up the seasoning in my wok (usually due to too much steaming) at least once a year and re-do it.  As long as you don't scratch up the metal (use a bamboo or plastic scrubby), you can rescue your wok from any kind of seasoning problem.


What can be used as a substitute for tomato sauce in typical italian dishes? I have a friend that has developed an allergy or sensitivity of some kind to tomato sauce in foods. She has been craving pizza, pasta, and lasagna for a while now and I've been searching for a way to make those sorts of dishes without using tomatoes, but while maintaining a similar flavor i.e. not a white sauce flavor.

Any ideas suggestions?

You could use Red Pepper Coulis:

Roast red peppers on grill, gas flame or cut off the sides and place skin side up under broiler until skins are blackened.  Cool and remove charred skin.

Sweat onions and garlic in a little olive oil with salt and pepper until softened.  Add the charred roasted red peppers and some chicken stock.  Simmer until vegetables are very soft and puree with an immersion blender, food processor or regular blender.  Taste and adjust seasoning as necessary.  Thin with additional stock according to consistency desired/needed.

Add basil, oregano, Italian seasoning blend to season as desired.


Speeding up avocado ripening Sometimes you want to buy an avocado, but all they have are hard on touch and you know they are not ready yet; they are rubbery and untasty.

One can buy them and wait couple days, they ripen sooner or later (hopefully before they get spoiled).

Are there any tricks and tips on how to speed up the ripening? Like special storage, some treatment to the avocado etc.

In general, but mostly in my experience, it's a bit like treating a cold, or a flue: It you don't do anything, it will take 7 days, but with medicine it might only take a week.

In general, there are no natural fast-forward methods for fruits to ripen, at least not to the level that makes it interesting: If the actual specimen of the fruit is willing to cooperate, you might get from X days to X - 1 days, maybe X - 2 in very happy circumstances.

You may be able to force the fruit (or vegetable, whatever) to get to the stage where it fits your needs for processing (heat tends to work nice in general for instance, that's why we cook and fry stuff ), but it won't be the same as ripening that fruit. It's not like the fruit realizes what's going on, and starts to make up for lost time.


Does caramelizing increase the amount of sugar in a dish? I love caramelized onions. But I'm not sure I should have them often.

I've recently learned that the browning associated with caramelized onions and baked apples is a product of either the Maillard reaction or the pyrolysis of sugars.

The chemistry on these pages goes a bit over my head, so I thought I'd ask - does caramelizing / baking increase the amount of sugar in a dish? Or does it just transform one type of sugar into another?

If my reading is correct, pyrolisis is actually breaking a slow carbohydrate into a fast one (i.e.: sugar)? So it would be correct saying the dish has "more sugar", informally?

No, neither caramelization (which is the same as pyrolysis in this context), nor the Maillard reaction increase the sugar content of onions. They actually decrease it a bit.

Caramelization/pyrolisis starts out with a sugar and ends with something that is not sugar. Maillard starts with a sugar and amino acids, and ends up with something that is no longer sugar. So in both cases, sugar is being used up and makes something which is not, chemically speaking, sugar.

This is the answer to the literal question you are asking. Since health questions are off topic here, I will only briefly mention that "fast carbohydrates" and "sugar" are not necessarily the same thing, and that the effect size could or could not be physiologically significant. So, this information alone is not sufficient for you to draw conclusions about the healthiness of eating caramelized vs. noncaramelized onions.


a manual meat slicer My household really likes things like turkey and ham sandwiches for lunch.

One thing I've searched around for is a 'manual' meat slicer. I'm thinking of something like a miter box like one might find for woodworking. Basically it would be a device that holds a serrated knife in a frame, and allows the meat to slide along in increments in order to achieve consistent slices. Does anyone know if there is something similar for slicing meat? (I know that electric meat slicers are available; but do I need yet another electric appliance?)

Personally, I don't have any problems with just using a knife. But others in the household lack slicing proficiency.

Addendum
For those who have suggested that I get knives...I have great knives and have no problems in using them; and like I said above, it's for others in the household who are not proficient.

Anyway, it looks like there is nothing like what I visualized even on google searches. I added a picture of a woodworking miterbox in case people don't know what that is. Of course a knife would replace the saw and you probably wouldn't have the angle cuts; and it would be tailored so that you could slide the food item along incrementally for even slices.

I know it's for vegetables but you should be able to trim the meat into a size that you can slice with a mandolin.   I haven't tried it myself but if you get on that has no blade guard it should work great.


What is milk product in cocoa butter? What does "may contain milk" mean on the side of my cocoa butter container? Is it not pure cocoa butter?

Any time you see something like "may contain" after an ingredient list, it's a warning that it might contain trace amounts of that substance and so could be harmful to anyone who's allergic to it. Basically what they're saying is that they didn't intentionally add any milk or milk products to the cocoa butter, but since they make other products at the same factory that use milk they can't guarantee that some hasn't slipped in somehow.

So assuming that cocoa butter is the only ingredient then it would be pure cocoa butter, at least by the legal definition.


Can I separate cream from powdered whole milk? Can I separate cream from powdered whole milk? I spend much of my time in the Philippines and milk is very expensive and cheeses are almost impossible to get. I am making pizzas and I want to make my own mozzarella cheese.I want to buy powdered whole milk in bulk for making cheese, butter, and ice cream. I want to remove some of the cream from the reconstituted dry milk to make butter and ice cream with and to use the milk with the cream removed to make cheese and buttermilk.

I don't think you can get cream out of your milk - it would be homogenized by the process, and people would want their milk to be smooth and not separate out so they would take precautions against such a thing in the manufacturing.  Also, a lot of the powdered milk I see sold is skim milk powder, you should be very sure you're getting full fat powdered milk even to try.

You might be able to get butter, but as far as I know butter from whole milk would be a lot of work for a relatively low yield (one reason cream is preferred, and butter was historically often made from soured milk - it was easier to get butter after culturing).  Though it looks like powdered milk can be used in cheese-making (according to CMB92's link), for increasing yield of cheese or making fresh cheese (your mozzarella could qualify).

On the other hand, if you are buying in bulk, you might contact the seller and see if you can't get some packages of powdered cream along with the milk.  They are likely made by the same manufacturers, and same processes, so it might be possible to substitute for part of your bulk order or else purchase additionally, or even inquire about other powdered products (buttermilk, sour cream, butter powder, etc).  I've used powdered cream before...it can be a bit tricky to work with but, at least with the brand I got, you can make even whipped cream, and also butter - we almost did, from overwhipping the cream.  And manufacturers recommendations usually include uses for ice cream and baking, although you will want to check by the brand you buy, since some recommendations differ.  You can fortify your powdered milk for making cheese with, if you want higher fat.

And, heavens, I think it would be easier to have two or three packages to scoop out of rather than trying to reconstitute and separate the cream out of your milk (and store it up for separate uses).  You might even be able to make skim milk powder work, if that is what is available, by supplementing it with cream powder to make a "whole milk".


When cooking meats such as pork chops in a toaster oven, is it better to use butter or some type of oil to coat the pan? I often use a toaster oven where I line the tray with aluminum foil and coat it in something so the food doesn't stick. Is a difference between using butter or olive oil or some other type of oil to prevent the meat from sticking and make it taste rich?

Also depends on how hot your toaster oven gets. Butter burns at 350 F, most oils dont burn until at least 400 F.

Heres a list of temperatures at which different oils burn http://whatscookingamerica.net/Information/CookingOilTypes.htm

Usually Ill start with oil and add some butter towards the end for flavor if Im cooking on a high heat.


Optimum Bone To Water Ratio For Pork and Beef Stocks I am tinkering with my stock recipes.

For pork stock I have been using 8 cups of water over a roasted trotter, a roasted backbone section with about 4 inches of rib attached, and a 1/4 inch slab of roasted pork belly.

For the beef stock I have been using 8 cups of water over an equivalent amount of roasted beef bones (knuckles and backbone/rib).

This gives a very flavorful stock and, for cost reasons, I want to determine how much I can reduce the concentration (by adding more water) without reaching too watery a taste.

Does anybody have any guidance on this topic?

I don't think you have a problem here. If you find yourself with a rich stock but your recipe needs something gentler, you can simply dilute it as necessary.

When making stock, I follow Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's methods (from his Meat book):

Use as much bones as you can reasonably fit in the stockpot; break them up with a cleaver if necessary.
Include vegetables: onions, carrots and celery are the classics, but some others also work e.g. switch parsnips for carrots to give a paler stock.
Pack the stockpot with the bones and veg until it's mostly full, then cover with water. Use enough water to cover the ingredients, but not much more than that.
Bring to a boil and simmer.
When simmered, strain the liquid and bin the remaining solids.
With just the stock, boil it hard to reduce it down to a smaller volume of richer stock.

I reduce mine until, from a large stockpot's worth of stock, I have as much liquid as fits in a single icecube tray, freeze the cubes of stock and keep them in the freezer in a plastic bag for when I need them. Then, I just dilute to taste if necessary; for example if I want a light stock for cooking rice then just one or two cubes to a litre of water works well. If I want to enrich a stew, I might throw a few cubes straight in.


What type of mint are mint leaves from supermarkets? I know mint is an umbrella term for different types of mint eg peppermint, spearmint, Orange mint and so on.
However when buying mint from say Tesco’s it Sainsbury’s do you know what type of mint it typically contains?
The packaging seems to just say mint.
Thanks

It is whatever they had on hand. There seems to be a statistically higher chance to get spearmint, but they sell other mints too. From the point of view of the supermarket, the ambiguity is not a bug, it's a feature. They just sell whatever gets delivered.


Looking for some advice on why brown bits burned I was cooking this sausage and peppers recipe.  I warmed up some EVO, browned the sausage on both sides, about 3 minutes on each side.  They left some brown bits behind.  I drained the pan of EVO and fat.  There was still a slick of oil and brown bits.  I then cooked the onions and peppers on the same heat (6 / medium).  The brown bits seemed to dry up and eventually collected and burned.

What did I do wrong and what could I have done to prevent them brown bits from burning?

Also, how much oil are you supposed to put in the pan to brown the meat?  Just enough to coat the entire bottom of the pan?  More or less?

Stirring and scraping would prevent burned bits. The onions and peppers release water as they cook the mechanical action of stirring and scraping pulls up the brown bits before they burn and incorporates them into the peppers and onions.


Is old barbeque sauce safe to eat? Last summer I made a batch of BBQ sauce.  The recipe contains bourbon, lemon juice, Worcestershire, vinegar and dark molasses.  It was simmered before being bottled.  It's been sitting in a capped jar in the fridge since then.  I know the flavor might not be optimal now, but is it safe?  It's at least six months old.

Rule #1 is always: When in doubt, throw it out. Nobody here can guarantee that it is safe. If you didn't pasteurize (or sterilize depending on acidity) then there is always a chance of dangerous contamination.

That being said, Worcestershire and and molasses are both shelf-stable while bourbon (alcohol), lemon juice (acid), and vinegar (acid) are all types of preservatives. So if that is the complete list of ingredients (no garlic or other perishable food) then the chances of this mixture developing any harmful bacteria, especially if it's been sealed and refrigerated all this time, are slim to nil.

I'd still throw it out. Your health is worth more than the $2 and 10 minutes it costs to make a new batch. Even if it won't harm you, it can't be very good in terms of quality anymore.


What is the thick black soysauce that they pair with Hainanese Chicken Rice In Singapore, whenever you order Hainanese Chicken Rice, they will give you three dipping sauces, including a thick black, slightly sweet soy sauce.

It's very different from normal soysauce. What products or recipes should I be looking for?

Update: I have purchased several brands and types of dark thick black soy sauce for use with Chicken Rice, as well as kecap Manis and will post an update shortly.

Soy sauce is not all the same. The dipping sauce with Hainanese chicken rice is dark soy sauce.

The soy sauce that is most well-known around the world is what we call "light soy sauce", or often just "soy sauce". This is liquid, about as viscous as water; a small amount of the sauce ranges from light to dark brown. It is predominantly salty.

"Dark soy sauce", on the other hand, is thicker, with a consistency like a very thin honey. It is also darker; even small quantities of the sauce are black. Its flavour is deeper than light soy sauce, and depending on the type and brand can have just a stronger umami flavour, or even taste slightly sweet.

External source if needed.

If you're hunting dark soy sauce, look for labels like "superior" or "aged" soy sauce. If the bottle is not opaque, you can verify by swirling the liquid around; dark soy sauce will coat the walls of the bottle, while light soy sauce will run down quickly.

And if you're specifically looking for a variant good with chicken rice, avoid those with added ingredients like mushrooms or scallops -- the flavour profile is wrong for the dish.

(Disclosure: I'm Singaporean, and proud of it.)


re-hydrate dried and salted cod with water and milk I usually re-hydrate and desalinate dried and salted cod with water, changing the water several times during 48 -72 hours, keeping the fish refrigerated during the process.

dried, salted cod pieces
Lately I've read people use water and milk for the soaking. As I didn't find any information about that technique I'm wondering what is the benefit of adding milk? What is the change in the fish itself, if we use milk to soak it?

Normally I poach the fish in milk as a last stage of preparation, especially if I'm making brandade.  The milk, in that case, adds creamyness to the fish. both making up for some of its residual dryness as well as helping mask the salty taste.  However, that's after the fish is soaked in water for 24-48 hours.  A 1-hour poach in milk is also my way of "emergency quick soaking" cod.
Presumably soaking it in milk would be to achieve the same effect, without poaching it.  Salted cod has almost no fat, so the milk bath would be adding some much-needed fat to it.


Can jerky be re-dehydrated within 24-hour of removing from dehydrator? I am making jerky for my son's wedding (175 people), and I want it to be perfect. I've made it many times without issues. However, a batch I made late last night was removed from our dehydrating oven by my husband after I went to bed. This morning, it looks to me as if it could have stayed an hour longer. Can I put it back in the oven for a bit without problems? I've eaten a couple of pieces and it tastes ok, but much of it is gleaming with fat that I believe would disappear with a bit more heat. Hoping for some great responses QUICK!

The main concern is that bacteria can start to grow in moist meat. If you first heated the meat up to 160-165F then started drying it, then you're probably in a better situation, but if you didn't pre-heat it, then the question is, does it just have fat on the surface or does it still have water inside it?

Interrupting the drying process for several hours puts the meat in the "danger zone" temperature range longer. If it is thinly sliced and the dehydrator isn't overloaded and it's been in the dehydrator over 10 hours at around 140-145F then according to the USDA recommendations it should be safe. If it was interrupted before that, or if it is thick pieces, or if the temperature is significantly lower, it may not be safe.

http://www.fsis.usda.gov/wps/portal/fsis/topics/food-safety-education/get-answers/food-safety-fact-sheets/meat-preparation/jerky-and-food-safety/ct_index


Chocolate mousse - methods to have firm foamy mousse using white egg and cream I am working on a multilayer chocolate mousse but is kind of hard for me as some recipe suggested me that I should use the white part of the egg and others suggest me to use double cream.

I would like to derive a scientific method to have nice and foamy mousse all the times, independently from when I use egg whites or cream.

Most of the times I use the "egg white" I manage to get a decently
firm foamy mousse. Some people use salt to get it to become nice and foamy. Other people suggest is not needed. I noticed that when I whisk it and there are drops of water it doesn't  foam.
When I use cream I don't manage to get it foamy. How can I do this?
Any tips?

Any help suggestion is greatly appreciated.

In the referenced mousse recipes (there is more than one in that dessert), the vast majority of the foaminess will come from the whipped cream.

You need to ensure that your cream is beaten properly to maximize foaminess, that is air volume:

Chill your working equipment, including the bowl, whisk, and of course the cream itself
If whipping by hand, use a large balloon whisk
Beat until holding the whipped cream up from the whisk does not cause it to lose its shape--this is the stiff peak stage.  You need to be careful, as this is the last stage before overbeaten.

In the praline mousse, the purpose of heating the eggs and sugar is so that the gelatin will dissolve; the gelatin will provide the stability for the molded dessert after it is formed and chilled.  The air beaten into the egg yolk mixture will help a little, but it is the more minor factor in the overall mousse.

In the panache based mousse, half of the cream is used to form the ganache, but again, the foam comes from the whipped cream.  In this mousse the post beating stability will come from the cocoa butter firming up when the dessert is chilled.


Can I make fermented lemon soda using yogurt cultures? I'm trying to make a lemon soda using fermentation.

Is it possible to make a lemon soda by mixing sugar, lemon, warm water and a scoop of live cultured yogurt? I put it inside a pressurize cooker, is this okay?

Soda-like drinks have traditionally been made in the same way as beer, but with less fermentation to keep the alcohol content low. Without alcohol, (and with a bunch of protein and fat around from the yogurt) you run the risk of growing some botulism in your soda. Some traditional fermentation techniques carry risk of botulism, and any 'new' technique should undertaken very carefully. That being said, your soda should be quite acidic and probably safe. Get some pH paper and use it!

There are a few things I would change in this plan:

Yogurt is made at fairly high temperatures to encourage lactobacillus growth while inhibiting others. Find out the best temperature for your culture, and make sure you can maintain it during fermentation.

Try get the culture growing independent of any yogurt: grow it in your sugar/lemon solution for a few generations without pressure and with a bit of oxygen. If it's still alive and still tastes good, you're probably OK. Otherwise, if the culture dies halfway through fermentation, something else is likely to grow in its place :-(

Lemon juice is quite acidic, and will clean metals quite nicely. So don't put your soda in any metal container unless your really like the taste of iron. (Even beer is acidic enough to cause this problem, fermentation is always in glass, plastic or stainless steel). Used plastic soda bottles work well when clean.

The other major problem with a pressure cooker is getting the soda out: if the cooker did hold pressure from a fermentation (actually it will probably leak CO2 faster than it is made) you shouldn't be able to open it until the pressure is removed. Again, soda bottles are a good choice here.

Last - your water should not be chlorinated, the flavor of your soda could be ruined by chlorine.


Is regular unsweetened cocoa powder safe uncooked? Presumably, the cocoa isn't raw. I can't find anything on the safety of consuming it uncooked.

I see here the questions on how to make it dissolve in cold milk, but would prefer a stronger confirmation.

Yes, it is perfectly safe uncooked, although it may be unpalatable without being sweetened.

For example, you can make your own chocolate milk mix with cocoa powder and powdered sugar.  Simply mix it into milk, without cooking, and enjoy.

It is also dusted uncooked as a garnish or accent on some pastries or cakes.


Would this be called matured cream? I have some single cream or double cream in my fridge that's been there over a month & the flavour and taste has degraded into something sour and horrible on it's own but when adding other flavours like salty. Sweet & savory it brings out a nice flavour in dishes that you might not expect, which tastes a bit different  from normal cream that hasn't  soured.
I wouldn't call it sour  cream because  I don't  know  what enzymes & cultures  are used to make it , this was just sitting in the fridge  for too long but I guess most people would call this maybe gone off cream.
Is there such a thing as matured cream in the same way we have matured cheese?

Most people would say it's gone bad, or gone off, yes. Since you didn't ferment it intentionally, there's no telling what it is now, and you should throw it out.
Cheese is a fermented food which develops slowly as it ages. Maturation isn't random or by chance. The environment is carefully controlled to ensure the fermentation process continues smoothly, and that continuation is desired. Since you didn't intentionally begin or control this fermentation process, I don't think anyone would consider it "mature."
As far as other fermented dairy products go, they generally aren't intended to last as long. I suppose you could call an overripe creme fraiche "mature," but probably wouldn't, simply due to the fact that maturity isn't desirable in a creme fraiche or buttermilk. Those products are fermented quickly and then stored in a way that attempts to halt the fermentation process.
So, no, you don't have matured cream because what you have isn't the result of intentional, controlled, and desired fermentation.


How long will vacuum sealed grilled lemons keep in the refrigerator? I have cut in half and grilled lemons, then marinated with sugar, herbs and a little oil... All of which have been vacuum sealed in my fridge for about two months.

Vacuum sealing food does not make it safe at all. You have to treat it like any other cooked food, only with the added risk of botulism.

I was looking into whether your lemons might be acidic enough to be treated as a refrigerator pickle. I could not however find anything to confirm that. Worse, newer studies recommend against previously used "tried and tested" refrigerator pickle recipes due to listeriosis danger.

So no, it is not safe. You shouldn't store it for longer than 5 days.


Baking 2 dishes needing slightly different temperatures and time In one oven I need to bake 2 dishes: one needs 35 minutes at 375ºF, and the other needs 45 minutes at 350ºF.  How much time should the second dish cook at 375ºF?

On a practical basis?  40 to 45 min.  That is, bake it for 40 min and then check it to see if it's done (or otherwise check it 5 minutes earlier than you otherwise would).

The difference between 350F and 375F in actual cooking is generally dwarfed by the temperature inaccuracy of home ovens.


Help! Liege Waffle excessively dense I made liege waffles today and got a very dense crumb. I'm not sure if my waffle iron is not hot enough since it's a old model that only plugs in, no heat control. Any suggestions? Also, I left the dough in the fridge overnight, but since it didn't rise much I let it proof around 85 degrees covered in plastic wrap for an additional 2 and a half hours. Any suggestions?

I followed this recipe:
http://liegewaffle.wordpress.com/liege-waffle-recipe-liege-gaufre-recette-metric/

Given the very-specific times and temperatures given in the recipe, I'd bet that deviating at all would probably cause this result.  Step #7 specifically states that you want to slow and limit the yeast's growth, which I would guess is to form very fine gas bubbles in the dough and provide a final burst as the waffle cooks.  Letting it proof for so much longer probably let some of those bubbles merge and escape from the final dough.  In short, don't do that, even if it doesn't rise very much.

If you follow this recipe to the letter and it still doesn't work, check your yeast for freshness.  They may be expired (in more ways than one) and less effective than normal.

Finally, don't beat yourself up if it takes a few tries to get this right.  This is a very finicky recipe - I've never seen so many temps and times in a waffle recipe.  There's probably a reason why the author states that they aren't seen much even in Belgium.


How to make apple chunks in apple pie stay intact? I made an extremely delicious apple pie yesterday, with a puff pastry crust. The only problem was that by the time the pastry was cooked, the apple filling had turned to mush - the texture of apple butter or apple sauce.

I used fresh Bramley cooking apples from the tree in our garden, and cut them into what I thought were reasonable sized chunks... I added sugar and spices (cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves) but nothing else - no water or anything.

Should I have cut them into bigger chunks, or is there some other technique for ending up with solid chunks of apple in the pie rather than mush?

The only trick I know of is to use a different variety of apple-- some will turn to complete mush, while others stay firm.  Unfortunately, unlike potatoes, they don't tend to be marked at the super market as to which variety they are.

Now, I'm not familiar with Bramley, but from what I've found, it's compared to Granny Smith, which tends to hold up well in pies.

I'd recommend blind baking your crust, if you aren't already, so the filling isn't in there as long, and possibly going with a thicker slice of apple when you're cooking, in hopes they won't break down as quickly.

update : in checking CookWise, there's a comment in the apple pie recipe that "briefly sautéing and poaching apples softens them slighly before the sugar, which prevents cells falling apart and preserves texture, is added"


How to rescue a Hollandaise with too much lemon I accidentally doubled the amount of lemon juice in my Hollandaise recipe. The result is much too sour to be usable, but if not for that, the sauce would be okay.

Could I rescue this sauce by immediately preparing another batch with no lemon juice and then whipping or folding the two batches together?

I would have to melt another stick of butter and separate four eggs, so assume it takes me 15 minutes from when the first batch is done to finish preparing the second batch.

Yes, do it. Making the second batch is your best way to get something good.

First, keep your first batch warm, don't let it cool down. Second, you don't have to wait them to get ready to mix them. Start with the new yolk with a bit of water, beat until foamy. Then, instead of drizzling oil, drizzle the old batch, until incorporated. Then add more butter. Use a lower temperature than for the normal beating process, so you don't overcook the yolk from the existing batch.

Alternatively, if you don't mind having a fattier sauce, just add more butter to the existing batch. The fat absorbability of hollandaise is not limited by the yolk emulsifiers, but by the available water. A single yolk can absorb liters of fat, if you started with a bit of liquid before adding the butter.


How many kilos of bread can I produce with one kilo of flour? I wish to calculate how economic a breadmaker is compared to store bought bread. Does anyone know how many kilos of bread can be made from one kilogram of flour?

To make it simple, let's say generic white bread and basic simple white bread.

In my experience, it doesn't really save money, but it's still worth it because it's fresh and better than store-bought at the same price.

For me, 1kg of all purpose flour yields 1.6kg of bread (as two loaves). Each 13x4x4" (Pullman) loaf weighs about 800 grams after cooling and yields between 24-30 slices depending on thickness. The cost per loaf is under $1.00, and includes all ingredients, tax, and electric for mixing/baking/slicing.

I've made a few hundred loaves based on variations of this formula:

                      %  grams   cost  cals fat protein sugar sodium
all purpose flour    100  500   0.417  1833   0      50    17      0
    instant yeast    0.8    4   0.067    16   0       0     0      3
  nonfat dry milk      4   20   0.203    70   0       7    10    109
       canola oil     10   50   0.072   429  50       0     0      0
            sugar      4   20   0.019    75   0       0    20      0
             salt      2   10   0.006     0   0       0     0   3933
            water     56  280   0.000     0   0       0     0      0
      dough total  176.8  884  $0.783  2422  50      57    47   4045

To be clear, I no longer use a bread machine. My answer focused more on how much bread can be made with 1kg flour. The Pullman loaf pan was $25, and the electric knife was $20. So for 300 loaves, that adds 15 cents per loaf. The mixer and oven are used for other things besides bread, so I don't really consider them in the overall cost per loaf.


Chicken rejuvenation? Let's say for argument's sake that if I buy a rotisserie (cooked) chicken from my local grocery store and stick it in the fridge it will last 5 days before it starts to be detectably going bad. Prior to the 5th day the bird tastes and smells fresh.

If I rip the meat off the bones on the 4th day and fry it in some olive oil and/or butter and stick it back in the fridge should I expect it to stay good another 5 days?

There are several things to consider here.  Fist "detectably going bad" is probably beyond the point where there are potential safety issues. Second, it is probably difficult for you to determine how long the chicken may have been in the danger zone between grocery store cooking, storage, travel time to your home, and refrigeration. Consider how long it might take a whole roti-chicken to pass through the danger zone and cool to safe temps. So, you have a potential opportunity for bacterial growth to begin with.  Thirdly, smell and taste are not reliable indicators of safety.  Plenty of potentially bad stuff happens with out you sensing it.  Fourth, what you cook it in (oil or butter, for example) is not relevant.  Finally, reheating generally does not reset the safety of your food, especially with the unknowns that you presented in your query. For example, food heated poorly, multiple times, could support bacterial growth that becomes more heat resistant.


lasagna sauce ahead of time I know it is possible to make lasagna a day or so ahead of time but I would like to make only the sauce ahead of time, let it cool and then refrigerate. Then bake the lasagna the next day. Any thought on this?

Yes, you can make the tomato (or meat) sauce in advance and keep it a few days in the fridge.
You can also make the bechamel in advance and keep it in the fridge.


What is each side of a 4-sided grater for? We own a standard 4-sided grater, but only ever use the side with large holes.

What do the other sides do, and what kind of recipes are they for?

We have:

Medium holes with a cutting edge on bottom (look like large raindrops)
Small holes with cutting edge on bottom
Outward protruding holes with spiky edges on all sides
Wide holes that look like a smiley.

To answer in the language of the question asked:

Medium holes with a cutting edge on bottom (look like large raindrops) : used for shredding.
Small holes with cutting edge on bottom : used for shredding when you want it finer than the larger size.
Outward protruding holes with spiky edges on all sides : used for grating.
Wide holes that look like a smiley : used to slice things to an even thickness.

As for recipes ... I generally don't use the slicing portion too often, as I can get fairly consistent slices with a knife, but if you're not so skilled, it could be used to slice potatoes for an au gratin (might need to slice them in half first, is the slots aren't wide enough to fit the whole potato), or to slice firmer cheeses.  It can also be used for slicing cabbage for coleslaw (again, once cut down to fit), cucumbers or carrots for salads, etc.  As the blades aren't razor sharp, there are some softer items (eg, tomatoes) that it just won't work for, that you'd have to do by hand or get a much more expensive mandoline.

The grating side I only generally use for hard cheeses, when I need a more powdery texture than I can get with the shredding sides.  I've also used it for zesting citrus (although it only works in large quantities, as you end up losing about 1/2 a lemon to the groves and it doesn't release without a brush**), and I've used it for pulping carrots (was mixing them into a sauce, and I didn't want identifiable bits)

The shredding sides are the ones I use the most, with the choice of side dependent upon what size I want the resultant shreds.  I use it for firmer vegetables and fruits that I'm baking into breads (zucchini, carrots, apples), potatoes for hash browns, medium cheeses for firmer cheeses (when I want this texture), etc.

Although a food processor can be used for this task, you have to consider a couple things (besides initial cost & space it takes up) : it's really easy to go and shred lots of cheddar cheese in a food processor, but it cramming all in there and fusing back together from the force and heat, defeating the purpose.  Chilling the cheese helps, but you also need to keep dumping the work bowl out.  If you have a strong arm and a small food processor, a hand shredder might actually be faster and give better results.

When using a shredding disk for firmer things, you do more damage than by hand, resulting in lots of liquid being given off.  Sometimes, this is better ... I have a potato kugel recipe that comes out very light as I can get more of the liquid out after having gone through the food processor ... so you may want to try both tools (if you already own them both) to see which one gives you better results.

** ... I've heard you can wrap it in plastic wrap, use the grater, and then pull the wrap off to get it to release; I've never tried it, in part because I now have a microplane grater, but also because I'd be afraid of getting bits of plastic in the food.  I also want to say that I saw the trick the context of pulping ginger or garlic, but it's been long enough ago that I don't know that I can trust my memory


Simple things to do with very tart plums? We got a bag of purple plums from our CSA that have a great flavor and seem ripe, but that are very tart. I'm the only person in the family who really likes sour fruit, and they are pretty sour even for me, so we are not going to get through them eating them out of hand.

What are some good fast and simple ideas for cooking them? A compote? Can I make something like apple sauce?

EDIT: Speed and simplicity are important considerations. Homemade jam is delicious, and I know how to make it, but jam-making isn't something I am going to do after I get home from work to use up some extra fruit.

Tart fruits work well in jellies and jams, or as candied fruit. These all allow you to vary the sugar content to get the level of sweetness you want, plus you don't have to worry about botulism as much.

You could also try a fruit-infused brandy: cut fruit into slices, and layer fruit/sugar/fruit/sugar into a tall lidded jar. Cover with a spirit of your choice, usually vodka, although a milder brandy or white rum also works. Let this sit for several weeks to infuse, strain, and use as a flavoring in cooking or as a mixer in cocktails (or just drink it).


Dutch oven instead of oven? I'm moving into a small apartment with no oven. Before, I had a 16" oven stone to bake my bread and I'm looking for something to keep baking.

Would a duch oven over a gas kitchen work? I can't use coal (I have no terrace or backyard).

Do you have any suggestions to survive without an oven?

I would recommend a combination toaster and convection oven.  While I have a regular oven in my small apartment, I rarely use it in favor of saving energy (and money on my energy bill) by using the toaster/convection oven.  I have purchased toaster oven sized muffin tins (just a 6 muffin tin) and a toaster oven sized roasting rack that fits two sizes of meat.  My oven came with a roasting pan.  The convection features have done wonderful things for my pies.  You can get them big enough to make pizza in.  As long as you aren't cooking for a crowd, it will work wonders.  Things I've successfully baked in there include:

Muffins
Cake (did have to do it one cake at a time for a layer cake)
Pie (the convection feature is perfect for pie!)
Bread
Cupcakes
Pitas
Steak (well, it was a broiled steak recipe - the best I can do without a grill)
Chicken breasts

I had a friend who rented a place that has a convection cooking setting on the microwave.  We successfully used it to make muffins once, but I haven't tried it further.


Can I use chopped white onion instead of pearl onion? I'm making mustard pickles and it calls for pearl onions. Can I use white onions chopped up?

I have seen recipes that call for chopped white onions instead of pearl onions, which leads me to believe it is feasible.

The texture might be different; when cooked, pearl onions tend to have a different sort of bite to them, much like a grape, revealing a burst of flavor after a slight resistance, whereas chopped fullsize onions tend to be more one-note and soft. I don't know for sure what pickling does to the texture, but if it is beneficial to use whole onions for a similar effect, you'll lose that. I suspect the flavor penetration would be greater, however, due to the cutting.


How do I keep an egg from cracking while being boiled? I know it's a stupid question and I really am quite the amateur when it comes to cooking, but this problem occurred rather very frequently to me.

The egg moves in the boiling water and often it hits the wall of the pot and cracks, making a mess. No matter how little water I use, I can't avoid it. Any way out?

I see two possible solutions here:

Very slowly increase the temperature of the water. This way, the
water currents will be much tamer, and the egg is much less likely to
move around.
You could also try either cooking the egg in a heat-resistant spoon to minimize its movement, or fill the pot with many eggs, so they have less room to move around and gently bump each other rather than the walls of the pot.


Pan makes knocking noises So today I went to a flea market and found a copper pan with a stainless steel lining. I cleaned it thoroughly  and the first thing I wanted to try is to caramellize sugar (because of the lack of fryable vegetables and meat in my fridge). While heating the empty pan it made some scary knocking noises as if I would take a spoon and tap the pan. Furthermore I saw steam escaping from somewhere at the pan. I thought this steam comes from the handle or somewhere else where I didn't dry the pan thoroughly enough.

Later on I searched for English, German, and Italian reviews and found a one and only bad review in German of a similar pan on Amazon. It basically says that water can be trapped between the copper and the steel and thus causes bulges and in the worst case an explosion. This review doesn't mention any noises.

Is the ingress of moisture between the copper layer and steel layer a thing? Was this pan a bad bargain? And how can I distinguish bad pans from good pans except by looking for reviews in the internet? Are there characteristics that I can look for (e.g. how the edge looks like where the copper layer and steel layer end)?

I've had this issue also with new pans.  I've purchased pans before that need to be seasons and tempered by heating in the oven.  As any metal heats it expands, during expansion you will hear little knocks and creaks.  I've had pans with rolled edges that trapped water from washing, has caused the water to escape as steam and whistle on its way out, very disconcerting sound.

You may try checking the manufactures website (check bottom of pan for name) to see if you may need to temper your new pan in the oven prior to using. My daughter and I are a stickler for reading directions on every new item we get, which is how I learned to temper my pans. I wouldn't worry too much about the sounds it makes, over time it will stop.

If the pan is a frying pan the easiest way to temper it is to put some oil in the pan and heat it till the oil comes to a smoking point (remember different oils have different flash points, cheap vegetable oil being one of the lowest).  Remove pan from the heat and allow to cool, pour or wipe out any excess oil. For long lasting non-stick surface on your stainless steel pan don't allow it to come in contact with water.  The stainless steel is very porous and the water will wash the oil away.  Also, never put a hot pan in water, it will warp it. Watch the video I linked below to learn how to season your new pan.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1376ITxF1Oc


Is beef 'aged' in vacuum packed bags? I got some beef this weekend with the following label. This label is obviously not aimed at the consumer, but as I was after a single piece, the guy behind the counter gave it to me in its original packaging.  When I got home I noticed the details of the label which opens a whole raft of questions:

I'm guessing USE AFTER instruction is to ensure the meat is sufficiently mature before being sold, is that correct?
If that's true, is the whole aging process done in these vacuum-pack bags?
If so, could I have kept it for a further 19 days before opening (I bought it on the 5th)  for a more mature beef?  Who needs "Jamie Oliver Matured for 21 days" if we can just do it ourselves?

PURCHASED:  5th,  USE BY (on sale label): 6th

Yes, vacuum sealed beef is 'wet aged,' which produces a cheaper though inferior product to dry aging.

You can age yourself at home, you just need decent climate control, and the knowledge to know the difference between good aging and bad critters infesting your meat.Bear in mind also that there is significant loss in dry aging, as you have to cut off the outside of the meat.


How do I infuse fruit flavor in ganache? I know to infuse the flavor of citrus fruits in ganache, I can simple boil the cream with the zest and strain it out. What about fruits that have juice but don't have zest or aren't commonly powdered, like starfruit, apples, etc?

Thanks!

There are four common ways to make fruit-flavored ganaches:

Use the zest of the fruit
Zest the fruit (works best for cirtus) and place the zest in the cream as it is brought to a simmer. Strain out the zest and use the cream.
Use reduced juice
Fruit juice from almost any fruit may be used as a liquid flavoring in ganache. The fruit juice should be heated until it is about half of its original weight. The reduced fruit juice can often be used as a 1:1 (depending on the type of juice you might want to increase the juice slightly) substitute in recipes that call for a liqueur. Like a liqueur, it is stirred in slowly (a little bit at a time) after the ganache has been mixed together.
Use a fruit-flavored liqueur
A third option is to find a liqueur with the correct flavor. It should be added slowly after the chocolate and cream have combined and formed a smooth ganache, but before the ganache has cooled.
Use an extract or flavoring oil
You can also use an extract or flavoring oil. Extracts should be treated like liqueurs. Flavoring oils (such as these) should be added in VERY small quantities after the ganache has become smooth.

The first option may be combined with the 2nd or 3rd. If you choose to combine the 2nd and 3rd options you would have to use half of each, because doubling the liquid in a ganache will either change the consistency or cause it to break.