What are different methods of preserving chillies? I've been given three chilli plants:

Bulgarian Carrot
Jalapeño
Scotch Bonnet

I'm not going to be able to use them fresh before winter arrives.

What methods of preserving would be appropriate for chilli?
What would be the effect on them in terms of taste, texture etc.

Freezing

You can freeze hot peppers.  Scotch Bonnet and other thin-walled varieties freeze particularly well, although thick-walled ones can be frozen as well.  I think the recommended storage time is 6 months, but I know I've had ones that were fine after a year or so.

So long as you're going to be using them in slow cooked applications, you can just drop them in frozen.  For other applications, they might be a little bit mushy.

If you want to cut them up, it's easiest to use a really sharp knife or scissors, and cut them up while they're still frozen.

Pickling

Pickling works better for thick-walled peppers, like the jalapeños.  It will also affect the temperature, but as a function of time (the longer, the more mushy they get ... slower for the thicker walled varieties)

The vinegar gives a nice brightness to the peppers which may not be desired in all recipes.

You'll want to cut up the peppers before pickling, to ensure that the liquid gets to the flesh from both sides, but you can leave it in slabs to give more options for later.

Drying

I've had mixed luck with drying peppers, but it might be an issue with the local climate.  It generally works better with thin-walled peppers.

Once you think they're dried, you'll want to put them in a tightly sealed glass jar and check for signs of condensation on the inside after a day ... if there's any, they're not dry enough to put away for long-term storage.

To use, you'll either have to pulverize them (to make your own version of 'crushed red pepper), or soak them to soften them up enough to use.  You can cut up dried peppers into stripes fairly easily with scissors before soaking, but dicing is a bit of a pain.


How does boiling impact the texture of tofu? For years, we've been making pasta sauce that incorporates extra firm tofu. To prepare the tofu for crumbling we follow this procedure:

cut tofu into pieces
cover with water
bring to boil
drain
mash with potato masher
squeeze out water by wrapping in towel and twisting
add to tomato sauce

How does boiling affect the change in the texture of the tofu?

Ah, so the question is "Why does boiling the tofu change its texture?". Answer: it doesn't. Try doing this recipe without boiling the tofu, I think you will find it is pretty much the same. I think if the boiling serves any purpose at all it is to remove any last remnant of taste from the tofu. I don't mash tofu often, but when I do, I never boil it and I've never had a problem.


what is the point of making jam if it consumes pectin which requires fruit to make Making jam usually requires pectin which is extracted from fruit. If the traditional purpose of making jam is to preserve fruit, why would it be a good idea to extract the pectin from one fruit to preserve another. This seems circular.

The "paradox" here is a result of an oversimplified explanation of reality. The crux is in

the traditional purpose of making jam is to preserve fruit

For the addition of pectin to make no sense, you have to make two assumptions: 1) that the  only reason is to have access to fruit in winter (which is what I think you mean as "to preserve fruit"), and 2) that no matter what you do in your life, you have to always be efficient, as in not wasting resources and trying to get the highest amount of output you can.
I would argue that both are untrue. The efficiency argument is highly prevalent in our current society, but it is not an absolute imperative. And the idea that people do things for a single purpose, and it is the same purpose for all people doing it, is simply untrue for most situations in life.
There is not "the purpose" of making jam, there are many different purposes. Here is an incomplete list in no particular order:

Having access to some form of fruit in winter
Having a sweet bread spread
Having all the ingredients for that pie recipe you absolutely love
Being proud of something you made yourself
Having a nice gift with a personal touch for people who can afford to buy what they need anyway
Feeling connected to the traditions of your culture
Learning something new
Having more personal connection to your food
Having an activity in which you can involve your whole family
Doing something about these 17 kg of ripe cherries on your tree that are all ripe in the same week

People make jam for some combination of these reasons, with different people giving different weight to each of them.
Sure, if you are thinking of a medieval peasant in Western Europe who is dependent on subsistence farming, both your assumptions are likely to be true, and it would make little sense to add pectin to jam. But that farmer wouldn't have had access to powdered pectin anyway, nor to many of the kinds of fruit which need pectin for canning anyway. I'm pretty sure they must have made their jams mostly without added pectin. But modern food has developed under completely different conditions, and there is no barrier to pectin becoming part of jams.


Need help identifying 2 ingredients in homemade chicken biryani I am very fortunate to work in an office where I am one of about 3 caucasians for around 100 people originating from Asia. Yesterday, we had a pot luck, and one of the dishes was a fantastic chicken biryani. I got to bring home some leftovers! However, there are some ingredients I am trying to identify. Here is a picture of the dish (sorry, it's been cooled and reheated by nature of being leftovers):

Now, as one would expect from real Indian food, it was fantastically spicy. Star anise, cardamom, and curry leaves. But there were other things that we can't quite identify.

There was something that seemed like a "glob," I don't know how else to describe it. It was small, about pea-sized. But it was bright pink in color, and had the awesome visual effect of giving sections of the rice a gorgeous magenta-pink color. It also had a light savory flavor.

Next, we have this ingredient:

It had a VERY strong, peppery anise flavor, very much like cardamom but significantly stronger. It was about an inch long, almost like a walnut, but a bit smaller. Inside, there were several small pellets. Here is a picture:

If anyone can let me know what the pink "glob" was that gave the brilliant color, and what the pod was that gave such a great taste, I'd really appreciate it!

That looks like "Black Cardamom".  You can probably find it in an asian grocery. I'm not sure what the pink thing was.


Does active dry yeast really need proofing? Several sources (e.g., The Bread Baker's Apprentice, The Fresh Loaf's Yeast FAQ, and even On Food and Cooking) tell me that active dry yeast must be reactivated by proofing in warm water, or the bread won't rise adequately.

My bread machine manual says to keep it dry, so I have. I've kneaded it into breads I've made by hand, once again dry. I've mixed it with the dry ingredients in a stand mixer, before adding water. None of these fail to rise adequately, or noticeably less than when I proof it. (I'm using Red Star Active Dry Yeast)

I'm wondering, am I missing something? Why does something that according to almost anywhere I look is not supposed to work seem to work just fine?

The only clue I've got is that On Food and Cooking warns that "at cooler soaking temperatures, the yeast cells recover poorly and release substances that interfere with gluten formation (glutathione)."

edit: To clarify: yes, it's active dry yeast; "Red Star Active Dry Yeast" in particular. Yes, the bread machine manual says active dry yeast, not instant, and has different instructions for rapid rise.

No, it isn't actually necessary.  The yeast activates just fine with the moisture in the bread.  I've been using Active Dry Yeast for years and hardly ever bother with proofing it.

Proofing shows that the yeast is actually alive.  If you have any doubt about it, proof it as the first thing that you do, before mixing up the other ingredients (and especially before putting liquid in).  If it fails then you didn't waste materials.


Where to find Tara gum? I'm looking for a source for "tara gum" powder. It is used like xanthan and guar gum, but reportedly
increases the general benefits and adds a "creamy" taste. The only providers I have located only sell in mass quantities.

I am a care giver for a man with dysphagia(difficulty swallowing) and he can only eat a few items
that I freeze with the gums added. All other nutrients/medication are taken in via stomach tube.

I'v read online that "possibly" one of the major ice cream makers uses tara gum.

They have it on major electronic marketplaces like Alibaba and Amazon. The amounts can be household-friendly, e.g. by the kilo (2.2 pounds).


Onion and Garlic, a no-no? I had an Italian flatmate once who was on the brink of lynching me when he saw I used garlic and onion in one dish. He said that - at least in Italian cuisine - thats an absolute no-no. You can use both, but never together.

Especially with something like Spinach, I think that combination is quite nice though. Is this an Italian kitchen "rule", a general thing, or was he just misinformed?

Clearly, your flatmate was misinformed. Firstly, Italian cuisine is defined regionally. There are vast differences throughout the country, usually defined by local ingredients and historical influences.  However, there are many Italian dishes...from north to south that contain both onion and garlic.  It could be true that someone's specific recipe for, spinach, for example may only have onion...or only have garlic, but if you like the combination, there is no reason not to use it.  There is no such general "rule" in Italian cuisine.


What's the best method for making iced coffee? How should we make iced coffee at home? We only have a French press.

Do you like it cold-brewed? The absolute best thing to do from my perspective is to stir half a cup of grounds into a quart of water and let sit overnight; you can then filter it using your french press or a regular plastic filter the next day to get a low-acid coffee concentrate. Mix one part of this with 1-2 parts of water (hot or cold, adjust for strength) to get coffee. The concentrate keeps well in the fridge too.

The only problem is that the coffee you get will be very low acid; if you like your iced coffee more acidic, this won't help. For my palate it's great, but YMMV.


Are my gas stove burners clicking due to high elevation? I have a Viking gas stove. My front burners make a clicking sound when it is set on low. It doesn't seem to do this when the gas is higher. I have had a certified technician to check to see if anything is wrong and they can't seem to find anything. I have been told that this may be due to the high elevation of Calgary. We are at over 3000 feet from sea level. Could this be true?

While trying to find other resources for you question (looking at the effect of elevation on pilot lights in furnaces, hot water heaters, etc) it was mentioned that elevation does in fact play a role in the pressure of the gas being ignited and could theoretically create a problem. In most responses though, there was debate about whether the theoretical effect was effective.

Anyway, while elevation could be causing the difficulty, if your furnace and water heater are working I might suggest that either the pilot or the burner might need a bit of cleaning. Pilots will frequently tick when they are clogged or the jets around it are not making a whole circle.

If you clean it and have no result, you might want to look into ways to increase the pressure of the gas jets without increasing the overall output. Perhaps this is one of the Vikings with sealed burners? There are varying reviews on whether this helps/hurts air to fuel ratio at higher altitudes|elevations. If this is the case, your gas company may be of some assistance.


How long does it take a hot oven to become cold The recipe calls for a cold oven and I something baking in the oven on 450. How long will it take to for it to be cold again?

It depends on what temperature is "cold", is it room temperature ?

it also depends how well insulated is your oven and/or if you keep the door open to let the hot air out quickly.


Sourcing and storing avocado Possible Duplicate:
  What can I do to help my avocados ripen?
  How can I choose good avocados at the supermarket?

I live in the UK and have a difficult time getting hold of good avocados.

They are generally of two types in the shop, hard and tasteless or soft and brown. I sometimes try to buy the hard type, after a while sometimes they are good, sometimes they seem not to ripen and others they are rotten by the time they are soft.

They are not cheap either getting on for a £1 each.

I would really like to know:

How to choose good ones from the shop? Are there types which ripen well, does the shape or color help determine what will ripen well.
How to store while at home? I tend to put in the fruit bowl with Bananas should they be warm or cold in the dark or the light.
Are there good stores in the UK for buying them from (possibly too localized|localised?)

I usually buy green, hard avocados to use them in a couple of weeks. When I'm looking for an almost ready avocado for my guacamole at the supermarket, I look for a not-so-hard one and pop off the stem: this is a tip I found over the internet and it really works. Pulp under the stem should be greenish and not brown or dark, otherwise it's probably rotten. You can usually find your ready-to-enjoy avocado with a couple of pop offs.

Take a look to this link for a more in-depth explanation about popping off the stem:
http://www.nwedible.com/2012/05/never-buy-a-rotten-avocado-again.html

Regarding storage, I put them in a bowl on counter top to let them ripe slowly; in a bag with apples or bananas to speed up things. Once ready, I store them in the fridge. Once opened, I put them in Tupperware: they stay perfectly green.

Keep in mind that if you place fruits near apples or bananas, which naturally produce ethylene, your fruit will generally ripen faster.


Why is it that white fish do not have as strong of a "fishy" taste as other fish? As a rule, my wife does not like the taste of fish, or pretty much anything that once made its home in the water. However, she's decided to give fish another shot. Not wanting to hit her over the head with the "fishiest" of fish, I did some quick Googling and determined that white fish tend to be the easiest on the palate.

Why is it that white flaky fish like sole, halibut, and haddock have the least "fishy" taste?
Is there a scale relating color and texture to that of "fishy" taste?
Is there a more appropriate term to describe "fishy"?

Kudos to your wife for giving it another shot!

Let me start with what I feel is the most important part of my answer: find a good fish monger and make friends. If the supermarket is the best you can find, so be it, but learn the name of the person behind the counter, ask about the fish, be interested. Ask what's just in, ask what's fresh. If the fish is frozen at sea, ask if you can get some from the freezer instead of the stock in the case that's been thawed and sitting all day.

Ask to touch and smell the fish. Look at the stock - do the whole fish have clear eyes? Does it smell like a dumpster? Getting the freshest, best fish will help you and your wife enjoy it more. Some good suggestions here on shopping for fish.

Now, on to your bullet points. Fish should never smell or taste "fishy". Fishy smelling fish is a sign of bad fish.

I find that a lot of my friends who say they don't like fish have had experiences with poorly handled or old fish. Fish must be fresh (or frozen at sea and handled properly afterward) to be good.  I've stopped ordering fish in restaurants unless it specializes in fish (and I don't mean Red Lobster) or is well known for their freshness.

That said, some fish is certainly more strongly flavored than others. I found this nice chart here with a few varieties of mildly flavored fish. I do agree that flaky, white-fleshed fish is generally the mildest. Flatfish, like sole or flounder tend to be consistently mild. Tilapia has become an extremely popular fish lately.

However if you do find a good fish monger, talk to him about it and you should be able to find plenty of interesting venues: monkfish has been called the poor man's lobster, and I had some arctic char the other night that knocked my socks off.

As for why white fish tends to be less strongly flavored than meatier fishes, I can't really answer authoritatively. My guess would be that meatier fishes tend to be more oily and fatty, which equals more/stronger flavor.


Why does fish stick to a pan which is not very hot? As we have seen there are several threads about preventing the fish from sticking to the pan by making the pan very hot.

I want to understand why does the fish stick to a pan which is not very hot.

What is the science behind it?

Have you heard of the leidenfrost effect? If you drop a bit of water on a very hot pan, the water floats around on its own cushion of steam, thus not touching the pan at all. Similar things happen when you sear meat on a pan. The steam keeps the food from bonding with the pan.

In general you shouldn't cook meat on a medium heat. Generally you want to cook meat either on a screaming hot pan/skillet with a heavy bottom, or low and slow. Rarely in between.

I have no science to back this up, but watching a documentary on Francis Mallmann, who cooks over wood fires, claim that when the meat first touches the grill it sticks, but once the Maillard reaction occurs the meat begins to unstick. He says he hates it when people touch the meat and move it around, and that its best to just leave it be until its ready to be flipped. People associate cooking things very hot with burning them. But in reality getting a nice sear requires very high heat, which creates many of the flavor compounds in the food we eat. You're more likely to burn or overcook something at a lower heat, because you're cooking out all the moisture slowly then it begins to burn the entire thing very rapidly, rather than browning the outside. Which could also make the food stick to the pan.


Is weak coffee more likely to be bitter? https://somedayilllearn.com/how-to-make-black-coffee/

  Go big or go home. I typically use 2 tablespoons per cup. Weak coffee is more likely to be bitter.

Is there some truth here? Why would weak coffee be more bitter?

It's not so much that weak coffee is bitter, as that over-extracted coffee is bitter. If you want it strong but don't use enough ground coffee, you can get more flavour by leaving the water on the grounds for longer. But then the bitter flavours come out. The opposite is espresso; a decent espresso is of course strong but not at all bitter and extraction is quick.

Another factor may be that some of the bitter compounds come out early but are masked or made acceptable by the other flavours

Water temperature also plays a role in which components of the flavour are extracted, but I assume that's fixed.


What exactly is the salt for when making oatmeal porridge? As per the instructions on the oatmeal package, I make it like this:

I take a bowl.
I put 1 dl oatmeal into it.
I put 2 dl water on top of it.
I put 0.65 grams of salt on top of it.
I mix them together with a spoon.
I microwave it at 750 watts for 2 minutes.
I take it out and mix it with the spoon again.
I wait for a few seconds and then apply a spoon of lingonberry "jam" (the kind where you can see individual berries).
I pour some milk over this and eat it.

What exactly is the salt for? Is it purely for taste, or does it actually cause some kind of chemical reaction which makes it cook properly or something?

There are several reasons to use salt in cooking. From that source, the UK Salt Association (yes, that is apparently a thing!), salt is used as:

Seasoning
Preservative
Binding agent (in meat products)
Color Controller (in meat products and baked goods)
Texture aid (in meat products, baked goods and cheese)
Fermentation controller (in baked products and cheese)

The only one of these that applies to your recipe, is seasoning.
Note that apart from tasting 'salty', salt is also a known flavour enhancer which can improve the taste of food and drinks without making them salty. This is why salt is often used even in sweet applications, and occasionally even in cocktails.


Can copper vessel be boiled? I have the habit of boiling water before drinking.
I am planning to buy a copper dispenser.
In this context, I am getting the following doubts:

Can I boil water using copper water dispenser?

Is it okay to store boiled water insider copper water dispenser? If (1) is not recommended.

For a recurrent use in the kitchen, copper must be lined. This is done since long time.
If you boil water for a safer consumption or to reduce the smell of disinfectants*, then definitely you should buy a copper boiler only if lined.
*otherwise don't boil it.


Preparing Meats using Dry Rubs I have recently begun testing different types of dry rubs in preparing meat dishes.  What base ingredients (outside of spice blends) should I be looking for in a good quality dry rub?  If it is allowed, I'd appreciate if you could share products that contain the ingredients you are recommending.

Premade blends

If you're trying to buy something premade, look for blends without filler ingredients. For example, if you see sugar or salt as the first ingredient, that's a bad sign. Sometimes you'll also see large amounts of garlic or onion powder. Yes, you may often want salt and even sugar in your rubs, but you'll probably be happier adding them yourselves than paying a dollar an ounce for them.

It's also a great sign if they list all the ingredients, not just "spices".

And of course, you want it to not be old, since ground spices lose potency over time, but that's hard to tell without opening it. You may be able to get a sense for decent brands, or know that your store replenishes stock frequently so it hasn't sat on the shelf forever.

Beyond that, it's mostly up to your preferences. You'll just have to learn what spices you tend to like. It can be the highest quality in the world but if you don't like the spices, you won't like the rub. Keep in mind that different things do taste better with different meats; if you want a starting place, look for recipes with that meat, and then look for premade rubs with similar ingredients.

If you can't find anything you like in your own grocery stores, but still want to look for premade, don't give up. Just start looking toward smaller producers. Sure, they may not be in your grocery store, but there may be some great local places, and a lot of them have online presence now so you can use other people's local places too!

Just to give you the spirit of the idea... Your profile says you're in Chicago - I've heard of The Spice House there (since they also sell online), and they do seem to have some rubs. I don't know if enough good barbecue has made it up there, but if you can find any barbecue restaurants that sell rubs, that could be a good bet too. (I ate at this place last time I was back home in Texas and they even sell some seasonings online. Haven't tried them, but the barbecue was certainly good!)

Making your own

This is really an incredibly broad question, as you can see from the breadth of recipes you'll find if you search for recipes for rubs. There are really no "base ingredients" that make a rub good. As with premade things, your spice preferences will be personal, and depend on what you're using it on too.

But all that is really good news. You can find tons and tons of recipes online; trying a few and seeing what kinds of things you like will get you pretty far. In particular, if you grind your own spices, basically everything will be awesome, and your favorites will be down to personal preference. So we can't really tell you which ones you'll like best, but you can start to find out, and if you're grinding up single batches, you won't be wasting much along the way.


Possible to Cook with a Wok on an Electric Hot Plate? My kitchen currently consists of little more than an electric grill/hot plate combo, one wok and one non-stick pot/pan.  Woks, it seems to me, were really designed for flame - either wood and coal fires or gas burners.  The one time we tried with the wok (a round bottomed one) on the hot plate no heat seemed to be getting through.  So my question is, were we just doin' it wrong?  Or is it impossible to cook on a flat electric burner with a round bottomed wok?

Impossible is a strong word, but yes its near enough impossible as there is insufficient surface area touching to transfer the heat through, and hot plates do not have good heat .. not sure of the word, but they don't transfer heat well to things which are not touching them.

You can get flat bottomed woks which are more suited to this set up, but even then if you are moving the wok about a lot you still end up with the contact being lost quite a bit, and so not as much heat being transferred as you might want.

I've always found woks to work best on gas.  In fact gas is just best, full stop.


What are the dos and don'ts regarding cleaning a bamboo cutting board? What are the dos and don'ts regarding cleaning a bamboo cutting board?
How to let it live a long life?

I heard people talking about using mineral oil w.r.t the same. How much and when use it?

The care of bamboo cutting boards is extremely similar to that of traditional wood cutting boards:

Prime them with mineral oil, and refresh it every month or so.  (Wipe with oil, let sit for a while, perhaps 15-20 minutes, wipe off).
Wash only with mild soap, and rinse and dry immediately. (Wipe off and let air dry.) Don't put in a dishwasher.
If using for raw meat, you can sanitize with a very dilute bleach solution (about a teaspoon of liquid bleach per quart of water, 5 mL per liter).  Rinse thoroughly afterwards.


What is dry cottage cheese? My grandmother's recipe for cheese filling for kolacky calls for dry cottage cheese.  What is that and where might I get some?

Dry cottage cheese is called Farmer's Cheese.  The curds and whey are separated, and the curds are pressed.  My Russian grandmother used Farmer's Cheese as a filling for blintzes.


Why is expired frozen chicken safe to eat? It seems to be a widely held belief that that freezing chicken, and then defrosting, cooking, and eating it much later (well past the expiration date) is a perfectly fine thing to do.

What makes it safe? And are there any food safety hazards to watch out for when doing this?

It's safe because freezing greatly slows (if not completely arrests) the growth of the bacteria that would otherwise make the meat spoil. It doesn't kill them, it just puts them in 'stasis'. The expiration date is given based on the meat only being refrigerated. If you intend to store the meat past its expiration date, best practice is to freeze the meat ASAP, and to use it within 24 hours of defrosting.

The main hazard is in that defrosting. At no point should the chicken (any part thereof) be at room temperature for more than 2 hours. The safest method is to defrost the meat slowly in the fridge. You can also defrost it under cold running water, providing you keep it under the 2 hour mark.

Of course, you can also cook the meat straight from frozen. There is absolutely nothing wrong with doing this for small cuts like chicken breasts. Slicing and cooking a partially defrosted chicken breast is perfectly safe, especially as it often easier to make really thin strips with semi-solid meat. You just have to be extra careful that the meat is at a safe temperature (170°F/75°C).


Chocolate: difference between "Cocoa Mass" and "Cacao"? There isn't much diary products in my country. So cheese, double/heavy cream, baking chocolate etc are hard to find.

Some shops that specialize in baking sells this relatively expensive "72% cocoa mass" chocolate. While the supermarket has cheaper, baking chocolate that has "100% cacao". I don't remember the brand but it is something like this one.

How do i compare "100% cacao" to "72% cocoa mass"? Are they the same, and hence the 100% one has higher cocoa/cacao content?

Yep, cocoa and cacao are the same thing.

The 72% has sugar making up the rest of the mass. The description on amazon actually mentions that it's 27% sugar and 43.5% cocoa butter. The rest is cocoa solids, the chocolate-y stuff. As you say, that particular brand is pretty expensive; it's also pretty popular and well-regarded. Since it has plenty of sugar in it, you can use it for pretty much anything, including things like coatings, or even just eat some.

The 100% is unsweetened (there's no room for any sugar in there) so it's really only usable for things like baking, where you'll add some sugar. It's unlikely to be pleasant to eat on its own.

For what it's worth, usually in English you'll hear cacao only when referring to the overall cacao seeds and their use as a component of chocolate. It's not common in non-culinary contexts. For example, we'll say "cocoa powder" not "cacao powder".


Post harvest treatment of organic limes vs conventional limes If both come from Mexico to Europe in the same amount of time on a ship, how do organic limes stay unmoldy while conventional ones need fungicides?

It's a common misconception that organic produce doesn't use any kind of pesticides (insecticide, herbicide or fungicide) or other 'chemicals'. Unless you're buying apples from someone's back yard, there is some form of pesticide on it. Organic produce is simply limited on which types of pesticides they can use. Your limes will certainly have an 'organic' fungicide on them. You can read more about the requirements for calling produce organic in the EU here.


does washing vegetables and fruit with baking soda make sense? I have checked the other questions about washing vegetables and fruit, but they don't mention baking soda. Google brings up only unreliable (random blogs that give no reference) or biased (baking soda brands) sources. So, here it goes: my grandmother swore by washing vegetable and fruit in a weak baking soda solution (I am talking about sodium bicarbonate NaHCO3, not baking powder).

I tend to follow her advice and wash fruit and vegs in a baking soda solution, but I just gave the matter some rational thought: how concentrated should the solution be? And what the heck and I doing anyway? Does it make any difference? It is not that I am obsessed with cleanliness, I just want to know whether baking soda in the water makes any difference, or if I am just wasting time (and soda).

The FDA does not suggest baking soda, just plenty of water. I have found a paper, Antimicrobial Activity of Home Disinfectants and Natural Products Against Potential Human Pathogens that indicates that baking soda and vinegar have a disinfecting action against bacteria and the polio virus, but they are consistently less effective than commercial disinfectants like Clorox (nothing strange here, otherwise why would we need Clorox, right?).

Any suggestions? Sources?

From what I can tell it seems like you are asking whether a baking soda solution is a good solution for cleaning fruits and vegetables. The answer to that would be not really, you're wasting good baking soda. Research shows that even purpose made commercial vegetable cleaners were no better than plain water for cleaning vegetables, it's the soaking time and technique used that makes the difference.

The only chemical tested that seems to make and difference is chlorine, which demonstrably reduced contamination on the outside of melons. However, you don't eat melon rinds, I wouldn't wash vegetables or fruit that I was going to eat in a chlorine solution because chlorine is unpleasant stuff and will probably ruin your flavors.

So washing your vegetables in baking soda, vinegar, or baking soda and vinegar is no better than washing them in plain old tap-water. It's better for your flavors that you do not as well. The only use I know of for baking soda in the preparation and cooking of green vegetables is that adding a bit when boiling green vegetables helps preserve their vibrant green flavor by neutralizing the acids that break down the chlorophyll. The trouble is it also turns them to mush, so I never use that method.


Why is a tablespoon defined as 20mL in Australia? In Australia, a tablespoon is defined as 20mL whereas it is 15mL in nearly all other countries.

I'm interested to know where this comes from, and also what other Australian people do about this because the shops here seem to favour the 15mL variety which isn't a whole lot of use for local recipes.

The following snippet from Wikipedia doesn't fully answer your question, but it's at least suggestive of what might have happened: the UK standardized the tablespoon as a volume measure using its “eating spoon” meaning while Australia used its “serving spoon” meaning.

Before about 1700, people generally brought their own spoons to the table. Spoons were carried as personal property in much the same way as people today carry wallets, key rings, etc. From about 1700 the place setting became popular, and with it the "table-spoon," "table-fork," and "table-knife." The 18th century witnessed a proliferation of different sorts of spoons, including the tea-spoon, coffee-spoon, dessert-spoon, and soup-spoon. In the UK, the dessert-spoon and soup-spoon began to displace the table-spoon as the primary implement for eating from a bowl, at which point the name "table-spoon" took on a secondary meaning as a much larger serving spoon. At the time the first edition of the Oxford English Dictionary was published, "tablespoon" (which by then was no longer hyphenated) still had two definitions in the UK: the original definition (eating spoon) and the new definition (serving spoon). By the time of the second edition, the first definition was relegated to "also, occasionally". However the term "tablespoon" referring to a serving spoon has been on the decline in the UK since cooking books became common; it has more and more been used the same way as in the USA due to the measurement system outlined below.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tablespoon

Here's a list of the definition of the tablespoon measure from older recipe books published in different English-speaking countries. It's a short list, but it does somewhat show that the Australian definition evolved to be generally higher (20ml-25ml) than the UK one (around 18ml), with the South African one on the lower end (12.5ml).

Margaret Powell (British) 1970 Tablespoon = 18 ml
Australian and New Zealand Complete cooking 1973 = Tablespoon = 25 ml
Best of Cooking (Hamlyn) - Tablespoon, (Australia) = 20 ml
Best of Cooking (Hamlyn) - Tablespoon, (British) = 17,7 ml
Best of Cooking (Hamlyn) - Tablespoon, (America) 14,2
Indian Cooking, Chowhary 1952 - = Tablespoon = 25 ml
Cook and Enjoy, De Villiers 1971 (South Africa) = Tablespoon = 12,5 ml
Complete South African Cookbook (South Africa) 1979 Tablespoon = 12,5
The Australian Women's weekly 1978 = 20 ml

Source: http://whitegranny.blogspot.com/2008/11/beware-of-tablespoon.html

The proliferation of spoons mentioned in the Wikipedia snippet above is still evident in recipe books today. British recipes occasionally still use a “dessertspoon” to mean a 10ml measure. In Dutch recipes (link to a page in Dutch), a 5ml measure is referred to as a “coffeespoon,” while a “teaspoon” refers to a 3ml measure.


Szechuan fish soup ingredient -- what is it? I got a fish-and-pickled-cabbage soup the other day at a Szechuan restaurant that had these things in it that looked kinda like this. They were translucent off-white, about 2 inches long, and maybe an inch across. They had a light but chewy texture, and at first I thought it was some kind of tripe. What is this stuff?

From your description, if it isn't tripe, then it is probably Bamboo Fungus.  This is often used in soup an other dishes and has a neutral flavor.  The texture can be from soft to slightly crunchy depending on the length of cooking.


Can I make a cheese sauce with edam cheese? I love the taste if edam cheese and I want to know if I can make a sauce with it? Like the sauce with the roux+milk+cheddar can I replace cheddar with edam?

AFAIK, you should be OK.

It is a hard cheese, similar but different than cheddar, but should work.

You might have to experiment a little bit, even if the cheeses are similar, their behavior when melting might be different.


When can I use a cake recipe to make muffins? I wanted to know what are the rules for using a recipe of a cake biscuit to make muffins. I understand I need to adjust the time of baking. Is there anything else I need to bear in mind?

The recipe that prompted my question is https://veggiedesserts.co.uk/best-vegan-chocolate-cake/, but I wanted to have general tips if possible.

I can suggest two and a half ways to check.

Muffins are closest to pound cake. The closer the base recipe to a pound cake (1:1:1:1 sugar:flour:eggs:butter by weight), the more likely that it will give you something muffin-like. If there is a liquid added, this can still work quite well.
By thickness. If a recipe is supposed to produce a thick and spongy cake sheet, it will likely make something that works as a muffin (some people might tell you you're making cupcakes then, but this type of discussion is rarely constructive). What won't work are thin or hard cakes - making prinzregententorte or dacquoise in muffin shape, if possible, is an undertaking for somebody with serious understanding of recipe design and a lot of time on their hands.
The half criterion - try to stick with chemically leavened cakes (baking powder). Cakes leavened by other methods, for a genoise, can turn out to be structurally difficult to work with when the shape is changed, and almost certainly won't give you a muffin top. You have more leeway here though, so if you feel adventurous, you can try recipes of this type and see what happens.


How to tell when a soursop is ripe I purchased a soursop at the grocery store recently, because it sounded interesting and tasty.

I tried to make a smoothie with it, but it tasted very bitter and the fruit was very hard and crispy.  The soursop was dark green on the outside and solid white on the inside.

I am determined to buy another, but I want to make sure it's ripe next time.  How can I tell when it is ripe?

I'm not sure I've had this exact fruit, but I've had similar fruits. They must be very soft. By the time they are ripe they will be soft and normally quite fragrant. But the best indication is that they are soft. If you push in, it will easily give and the skin will break. They usually don't sell them ripe because they would be damaged easily. You need to let them ripen at home.


Why use liquid nitrogen to make ice cream? I turned on the TV yesterday just in time to see a guy use liquid nitrogen to make his ice cream. At first I thought it was just to make the show more exciting, but it seemed to be an important part of his ice cream making process.

What benefits (if any) are there to using liquid nitrogen to make ice cream?

Ice cream is an emulsion and in it, you have air, fat, and ice.  The smaller the ice crystals, the smoother the icecream and better chance of achieving a velvety, creamy, smooth texture. The flavor is also elevated given the smaller crystals. Put it in the freezer, and ice crystals start to grow bigger and you lose the benefits.

Also, colder temperature inhibits the taste buds ability to pick up sweetness.  At liquid nitro cooled  temperatures, you can get an explosion of flavour as the icecream warms up and melts in your mouth and the taste buds start to pick up on sweetness.

Finally, aside from a show, it's much much faster to make icecream with LN2 than in a regular machine. Seconds versus 30-45minutes.

There are hazardous issues with liquid nitrogen and handling. As a starting point, look into this primer.


What causes pasta dough to be holey after running through a machine multiple times? I've tried making pasta several times now, and every time it turns holey after I run the dough through a standard crank machine:

Ingredients I use:

200 grams all purpose flour
2 jumbo brown eggs
Bit of olive oil
Bit of salt

I watched this video and saw I was adding an extra step. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6KhbS3q5b8

After making pasta again tonight, which came out perfect, I realized I was "re-kneading" the dough after I passed it through the machine.

Tonight I folded the dough once, and resent through the machine over and over, and it came out great! Hope this helps someone!


Interesting use for Okra as the main ingredient in a dish? I had a few handfuls of fresh Okra delivered with the last CSA delivery. I'm looking for an interesting way to cook a dish featuring it. I also have:

One eggplant
Some pumpkin
One leek
Lots of tomatoes
Cilantro
Dill
Potatoes

Okra + tomato is halfway to gumbo and other similar dishes. In fact, this is what I intend to do the next time I can get okra.


Teaching Bread Making to a young student- need new reasources Hi Seasoned Advice Forum Members
I am a semi experienced Artisan Bread Baker. I am currently teaching a 9 year old boy the basics of bread making and would like to see if anyone has any  suggestions on where I can find free educational material on Bread making that is not too heady, that would benefit my student

Take a look at the Josey Baker Bread book. He is a former elementary school science teacher turned professional San Francisco baker. The lessons start with the simplest no-knead bread and progressively add to that foundation with new concepts and techniques.  In a number of ways it feels like an elementary school science textbook.  It might be the best match for what you are looking for.

http://www.joseybakerbread.com/the-book


Turning regular noodles into no-boil noodles I've been told by other that you don't need to boil the noodles for lasagna before you assemble and bake it. They claim that you can just lay them out on the pan raw and assemble as usual and the heat from the oven + the liquid from the sauce is enough to cook the noodles to exactly where they need to be, and you. How true is this? I've heard of other people doing the same thing with home-made mac & cheese recipes, and getting good results. Note that I'm not talking about no-boil noodles, I'm referring to just regular lasagna noodles.

It's true.  I've done it quite a few times, before the 'no boil' packaged varieties were commonly available (if they even existed ... this was ~15 years ago)

Unfortunately, I haven't done it for many years, so I'm quite out of practice.  (found out I had a problem with dairy, so lasagne isn't something I make anymore)

From what I remember, you needed to use more liquid than normal, and make sure that there was a wet layer directly above and below the noodles.  You also had a rather long cooking time, to give everything a chance to absorb.  (I want to say 350F for 1.5 to 2 hrs, but I generally went with 'til a knife went in easily, then put it under the broiler to get it bubbly)

I know there are also slow cooker recipes for lasagne that don't requite pre-boiling the noodles ... I'd just look for recipes online, as plenty of them exist.  Just look for ones from the 1990s, as that tended to be before companies were selling 'no boil' noodles.


Why does my girlfriend love onions, but hate garlic? So, my girlfriend absolutely loves garlic, but hates onion with a burning passion. I'm reading up on this - they're both allium vegetables, and that's cool and all. But why is she offended by onions, lukewarm on leeks, and greedy for garlic? Chemically, what's going on, here?
I plan to experiment with various kinds of onions to obtain more data.

While onions, garlic and leeks are related, their flavours are not the same and a person may well like one but not another, or even like one cooked one way but not another (for example, fried but not raw onion, or roasted but not raw garlic). You ask "chemically, what's going on here" – there are different chemicals, as you can surely intuit by tasting the three for yourself (and each chemical will change during a given cooking process too).
Food preferences are idiosyncratic, and while sometimes you can identify a reason (for example, there is a specific gene related to finding coriander/cilandro unpleasant, or someone might have previously had food poisoning after eating a particular item and afterwards be unable to stomach it) on the whole you shouldn't expect an explanation deeper than 'because she does'.


How to Peel Potatoes Whenever I have to peel potatoes, I spend much of the time fighting the slippery, just-washed potatoes and keeping them from shooting out of my hands...what's a good way to peel potatoes more efficiently/easily?

I noticed the term "just washed" in the question.

My suggestion is -- don't wash them before peeling.  Wash them after peeling.

Water is what makes them slippery -- if anything, dirt adds traction as you're peeling.

(and I tend to do one end, then the length of it, slowly rotating, then the other end ... no idea if that's faster or less slippery ... but for carrots, I always do the fatter end first, as I find it'd harder hold a peeled skinny side while peeling the fatter end)


Vegan mayonnaise never emulsifies? I'm beginning to think this whole "egg-free mayonnaise" thing is an extremely elaborate practical joke. I have exhausted all the tips Google has yielded, so I'm hoping someone on here has an idea what else I might be doing wrong.

Here's my basic recipe (variations I've tried are listed below):
1/2 cup soy milk
1 cup sunflower oil
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp mustard
1 tsp vinegar
1 tsp lemon juice
Combine everything but the oil and whisk.
Add the oil in super tiny amounts, whisking like crazy each time.

Result: a very homogeneous white soup the consistency of water. There are no visible oil droplets. It takes about ten to fifteen minutes for the first oil droplets to appear, and a few hours for an actual layer of oil to form.

Soy milk and oil are both at precisely 28°C (82°F).

Things I've tried so far:

with a blender.
with an immersion blender.
with an electrical whisk.
with a whisk.
with a fork.
on a boat. No, wait, that's Dr Seuss.
add 1 or 5 tsp of soy lecithin. Does nothing, but despite soy lecithin's supposed tastelessness, the result tastes terribly of soy.
have ingredients at 23°C (73°F) instead of 28°C.
use oat milk instead of soy milk.
use a warm water/soy flour mixture instead of soy milk.
use a different oil.
add xanthan. This makes a somewhat thicker, but terribly clumpy mixture that you really don't want to eat.
different blender speeds.
quadruple the amount of oil. This resulted in a much larger amount of soup.
continue mixing for ten additional minutes. Resulted in my hand falling asleep from holding the hand mixer for so long.

I am so very out of ideas. Any help is greatly appreciated.

Edit: tried a few more things and added them to the list of things that do nothing.

Well this is ... disturbing. Switching to a different brand of soy milk let me succeed on the first try. I have no idea what the manufacturer of my usual brand does to it, but after more testing, even water+lecithine works better than that brand of soy milk.

I hope it's okay to answer my own question. For anyone who comes across this via Google in the future: I tried two different brands of organic soy milk with the same official ingredient list and no visible differences, and one consistently produces mayonnaise while the other consistently produces soup.

Thanks to all the nice people who took the time to try and help me!


Sanitising Black chef "whites" I have just been given new black "whites" at work. We are soley responsable for the laundry of these items, and I was surprised to see that my new "whites" are to be washed at 40 degrees. Can anyone recommened a sanitiser that wont "bleach" the colour but will make my uniform safe?

You may consider using a small amount of Borax, Pinesol or some other form of pine oil, or even the kitchen-friendly, environmentally friendly vinegar.


What are other techniques are used to tenderize steaks apart from using a meat mallet? I'm familiar with using a meat mallet to tenderize steaks, but I'm curious what other techniques or methods there may be to achieve the same or similar results.

Many marinades will act as tenderizing agents; particularly those that are longer-term or overnight.

The acids in the mixture will act on the meat to break it down and tenderize it.


Is my microwave oven safe to operate? In the middle of the oven, situated opposite the microwave source and below the carousel plate a two inch hole has developed over time. It is found rusted. Presently, when it runs I leave the kitchen after switching it on as a safety  measure. Is it safe to operate it? Can it be repaired? If so, how?

EDIT: The rusted floor (of SAMAR Panasonic) is shown, glass carousel plate removed exposing the hole beneath. Thanks for any suggestions.

No.  Depends upon the construction of the microwave.  I spoke to an electrical/electronics engineer with over 40 years experience and he said. NO NO NO. Replace it straight away. It could be safe, however without it being in front of him he does not know.


If braised meat is cooked at 200 degrees in a perfectly sealed pouch in the oven, does the temperature rise above boiling? I just tried to answer a question about pot roast and looking at recipes I discover one that cooks the meat at 200 degrees in a sealed pouch for 3 to 3 1/2 hours.

There is a lot of reason to make a roast such as a prime rib at low temperatures since the inside of the meat will cook close to the same speed as the outside making an even color and temperature to the meat.

However, cooking something at 200 degrees for 3 hours will ultimately cook it through and through which is the purpose. But, does it make a difference if the actual temperature of the meat goes past the boiling temperature? Would it be better to cook it in a 170 degree oven since the steam pressure raises the temp to perhaps something just under boil?

Any increased steam pressure would raise the boiling point, not lower it. However, I doubt that you will be able to seal the pouch well enough to withstand any serious pressure.

What may cause boiling though, is the fact that ovens cycle on and off, especially at low temperatures. The amplitude of  the cycles depend on how good your oven is. At 200°F, your pouch will probably experience above-boiling ambient temperatures during the on-part of the cycles. Of course, that doesn't mean that the contents of the pouch is above-boiling, but there may be.

However, I don't think that the braising liquid boiling slightly now and again is going to be a big problem. Sometimes when I've braised meat, there's been some boiling, and the results have still both looked and tasted great.


What's the best way to keep cover of a pan slightly opened? If you need to keep cover of pan or bowl slightly opened during cooking, what's the best way to do this. May be there is devices for that, if so preferably non-metal. Specifically glass bowl like Pyrex in a microwave.

Tilt the lid.
It will stay where you put it… approximately.
 See pan top left & pyrex bottom right; they will stay like that all day if needed

If it really refuses to stay, then wedge a spatula [or any other bit of wood or plastic (& of course, not metal if it's going in the microwave) of any appropriate size]* in it, either from the edge, down the handle, as at bottom left, or right the way across then balance the lid on top of that, as at top right. The latter will also go in a microwave.

*This is physics 101 - put something in that's big enough to hold the lid ajar, yet not big enough to get in the way of anything else & not small enough to fall in & get lost in whatever you're cooking…


Substitute for baking parchment I don't have access to baking parchment and I need to make a cheesecake tomorrow. Is there any substitute that I can use for baking parchment?

Go the old-fashioned route and simply butter your pan.
Worked for our grandmothers, still works today ;-)


Using whey from yogurt to make ricotta My girlfriend and I make a large batch of yogurt every week, and have done so for more than a year now - we just eat a ton of the stuff. THis leaves a lot of leftover whey which we used to just throw out. This past week I took my first swing at making mozzarella, and noticed that the recipe suggested not throwing out the whey, but rather using it to make ricotta by boiling it. I ended up throwing out the whey from the mozzarella anyways because it was a tiny batch, and we had to make yogurt anyway.

So, we made the yogurt, and my girlfriend saved they whey for me. I've been simmering it for a few minutes now, and it doesn't appear to be working. Nothing is curdling. I'm wondering if its a function of not having anything acidic in it? I tried adding a quarter teaspoon of citric acid, but still nothing is curdling. At this point I'm curious to play with it, so I may try simmering it all the way down into gjetost.

So really i guess my question is, outside of being less acidic, is whey from making yogurt different from whey from cheese making?

Also as a note, we use 1% milk.

Yogurt whey cannot be used to make ricotta.

With most cheeses, including mozzarella, the milk isn't boiled. The casein proteins are bound up with some of the lactose and almost all the fat to make the curd. The whey for such cheeses contains the rest of the lactose, tons of vitamin B, and almost all the albumin.

The albumin proteins are water soluble when they haven't been denatured. They also denature at a higher temperature than the casein does. Therefore, they almost all wash out of the curd with the whey. Bringing mozzarella whey to a (almost) boil denatures the albumin which precipitates out and can be strained to make ricotta.

When making yogurt the milk is heated to 190 or higher and then cooled. This is precisely to denature the albumin. The extra protein gives the yogurt a lot more structure.

However it means that there is no protein left in the whey- mostly lactose, lactic acid, and vitamin B.


Why do people smash garlic? It seems a lot of people say to smash or crush a clove of garlic before they cut it up. Why is this?

I've cut up garlic both ways, and I could see crushed being potentially a little easier to handle since it's flatter and doesn't roll as much.

Contrary to what several folks have said, garlic is not crushed primarily to help peel the skin. For example, garlic can be peeled easily with the clove intact, by cutting the small hard circular bottom of the clove (the part that's attached to the base, opposite to the pointy end). This will help loosen the skin, which should then come off very easily or will separate if you gently slide the blade of your knife in and loosen it.
While it certainly is true that crushing helps separate the skin, making it easier to peel (perhaps some folks might do it for that reason at home), that isn't the reason why professional cooks do it or the reason why recipes suggest it.
Why crush garlic?
Garlic is primarily crushed to release its oils, which in turn infuses subtly different flavours to the dish than if you didn't crush. Joe's comment above explains the chemical reaction:

... within the garlic cells are alliin and alliinase, which when combined, form allicin, which is the 'strong' flavor ...

You might also find this article from the Washington Post, where the author talks about the art of cooking with crushed garlic in Italian restaurants, a really good read. Specifically, the author addresses some of these key points which are very relevant here.
1. Crushed vs. Minced
From basic physics, something that is broken up into several tiny bits has a much larger total surface area than the whole intact piece. Since the oils extrude from the cut surface, it stands to reason that minced garlic will release them sooner and readily, often leading to a more pungent taste than desired.
In addition, minced garlic can be quite temperamental and you might often end up over cooking/burning.  As the author notes:

In its customary minced or chopped form, garlic can impart a pungent flavor that is difficult to harness. Add it too early to a sauté or stew and garlic burns and becomes acrid. Add it in the latter stages of cooking and the garlic steams or boils, leaving it raw-tasting and unpleasant.

On the other hand, slightly crushed garlic is more versatile and heat tolerant.

Left whole and partially smashed (just enough to release its powerful oils), garlic adapts to a range of high-heat techniques, cooking steadily and lending a mellow richness to a dish.

2. Usage in dishes
Crushed garlic is pretty standard in several Italian dishes. The advantage of having one or two large crushed pieces (in addition to those mentioned above) is that you can easily remove them from the dish once you're satisfied with the aroma/taste of the dish. This can be extremely annoying to do with minced garlic.
Some of the dishes that are enhanced by using crushed garlic are:

In [roasts, stews, quick meals and stir-fries], smashed garlic cloves are remarkably flexible, absorbing high heat and in turn giving off subtle but substantial flavor.

What happens when you crush?
To answer why crushing garlic works, let me quote a bit from a good answer to the very popular question on chopping onions (since we all understand onions better):

The enzymes and amino acids involved in producing the Onion Lachrymatory Factor (seriously!) are normally contained in the cells, and only become a problem when released in volume. Using a sharper knife will avoid mangling cell walls, creating more clean separations between layers, and reducing the amount of enzymes released.

Garlic, along with onions, shallots and leeks belong to the group of plants (genus) called Allium and being very closely related, the above is more or less true.
Indeed, it makes sense that if you want large volumes of oils/enzymes, you'd do exactly the opposite of the above advice, which is to crush it and break all the cell walls! This also aids in the mixing of the chemicals per Joe's comment above. Note that although a large volume is "released" or ready to be released due to the crushed cell walls, they make their way to the dish slowly because of the smaller surface area.


Does 100% pure honey expire? The bottle has a best by date. The bottle has been stored in a cool dry place away from sunlight. Does anyone have a clue?
I know they discovered honey thousands of years old but that is probably a very specific type.

Yes, honey last "forerver".
It might crystalize overtime , but you can liquify it with a little bit of heat.
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/the-science-behind-honeys-eternal-shelf-life-1218690/
As always, if you do not feel safe eating something, just throw it.


Do long-cooked pasta and brown rice lose more minerals than short-cooked types? There are many different types of brown rice and whole grain paste that one can buy. Some need to be cooked for 25 minutes while others only need to be cooked for 8 minutes. I was wondering if rice or pasta that needs to be cooked for longer will lose more of the minerals as these may leach into the water.

I love the subject of nutrition. According to the charts I looked at in the past (I had the same question), only potassium seems affected by cooking and only a slight lose is shown in the charts.


How do I intensify my marinade/brine? I often enter BBQ competitions where we are asked to use a "star" ingredient (such as dark beer or other product).  In most cases, this means using it to marinate/brine your meat before putting on the smoker. My problem is that even with the injection technique it is sometimes very hard to detect the taste of the marinade after smoking.

So my question is: How can I ensure the brine/marinade is truly present in the product I am smoking?  I have considered boiling the marinade after I take the meat out and then using it as a sauce on the meat after it is cooked.  But sometimes that is not allowed.  I'm open to any suggestions.

Despite the myths (and some here will disagree with me), the large flavor molecules in brines do not penetrate into meats more than a milimeter or two at the surface.   This is not the same with the salt, which will slowly migrate throughout the body of the cut.

Marinades can add flavor, but it is again a surface treatment, mostly from the marinade literally sticking to the surface of the meat.  Mops are the same idea.

As you have mentioned, you can inject a liquid into the meat, and then it is inside, but it will not penetrate past where it is injected.

Therefore, your best plan, depending on what the star ingredient you must use is, is to find a way to get it more intensely applied to the surface of the meat.

Depending on what you have, this may be to:

Incorporate it into your dry rub
Incorporate it into your mop; for liquids, possibly reducing it first (for example, an ale) to intensify the flavor without the bulk from the liquid
Reduce it and inject it, knowing that the flavor will pretty much stay where it is injected
Rules permitting, incorporate it into your sauce (again, possibly reducing it for intensity)

The more bulk of the substance you can get to adhere to the meat, or inject into the meat, through these methods, the more powerful the affect will be.

Since taste is closely related to aroma, I would suggest sticking to exterior treatments such as rubs and mops, where the aroma will trigger the taste perception more directly.


sprig of thyme dry substitute ratio I have a recipe that asks for 2 sprigs of thyme. How much dry thyme do i use as a substitution for the fresh? Or what does 2 fresh sprigs of thyme measure, a tablespoon?

Two sprigs of thyme will yield perhaps a tablespoon of leaves when stripped from the stem, depending on the size of the sprigs.

Using the typical ratio of 1/3 unit dried to substitute for 1 unit of fresh herbs, you would then want about a teaspoon for dried thyme.

Thyme--or herbs and sprices in general--usually does not contribute to the chemistry of a recipe, just to its flavor profile, so you can adjust the amount as you desire to match your personal preference.

You also want to consider how the thyme is used in the recipe.  If it is in a bouquet garni, it would eventually be removed from the sauce or stock or other food product.  If the appearance is critical, you might not want the flecks of thyme in the dish, so you might want to use a spice ball (I would just accept the flecks, as I personally don't even own a spice ball).


Non-coconut substitute for coconut cream I'm planning on cooking a Massaman curry but for someone who really dislikes the taste of coconut. What would a good substitute be? I'm thinking of just using cream instead - do you think that would work well?

I would use cream as well. It's very similar in structure, thus they both have the title cream.


How is "Oelek" pronounced? Sambal Oelek is an Asian chili paste made and marketed by a Chinese American producer in California (Huy Fong Foods, with a rooster on the jar). I've been using it as an ingredient in mie goreng, the Indonesian fried-noodles dish.

The name "Sambal Oelek" on the jar doesn't carry a trademark symbol, so I don't know if it's a generic name or a brand name.

Everything about it - the recipe, this product, and my satisfaction with this dish - is perfect, except that I don't know how to pronounce it.

Sambal Oelek is not tied to any producer or manufacturer.
Oelek is a word indicating something was processed in a pestle and mortar, and refers to the mortar (if memory serves).

"Oelek" is the Dutch spelling for "Ulek", and the "u" is pronounced as the "u" in "bull", corresponding to the diphthong "oe" in Dutch.


If I can't find baking soda or baking powder, what should I do? Suppose I'm somewhere where stores don't seem to stock baking soda or baking powder. Are there other names either of those might be sold under? Or are there things I could substitute?

Related:

How to make baking soda (but apparently you can't really do it)
Substitution for baking soda (but mostly just suggests baking powder)
Making baking powder substitute with baking soda and powdered citric acid (but then you need baking soda)

1. Chemical leaveners

There are two "oldfashioned" chemical leaveners, both still used today in traditional German and Scandinavian gingerbread recipes:

Potassium carbonate (potash or pearl ash) and
Ammonium bicarbonate (salt of heartshorn)

They do have their own quirks and pitfalls, but if nothing else is available...

If you can get baking soda, mix with cream of tartar to make baking powder.
If your store does not stock it, you pharmacy most likely will carry "sodium hydrogen carbonate" (which is another name for baking soda) either as treatment for heartburn, it's an antacid (because it reacts with acid, neutralzing it and making these nice bubbles, as we know from baking...) or as topical treatment for allergic reactions of the skin (poison ivy and others).

2. Biological leaveners

This boils down to Saccharomyces cerevisiae, aka. baker's yeast or brewer's yeast. Of course you get very different results and have to follow a different procedure. But here are some recipes where they are used somewhat interchangeably, e.g. some types of pancakes or waffles and, obviously, bread (vs. sodabread).
The charming thing about yeast is, that if your are really, really far from a store, you can still get your hands on yeast: Start a sourdough using the yeasts naturally occuring on fruits or the air around you.
Probably not the kind of substitution you had in mind, though.

3. No leaveners

With good technique, you can incorporate a lot of air (because that's what all leaveners are supposed to do) in your baking goods by whipping your eggs well. There are various approaches:

You can whip the whole eggs.
Whip the yolks (with hot water or over a water bath to stabilize them) to Zabaione-like consistency.
Whip the whites and fold into your batter.

You will want to bake these batters right away before the bubbles get a chance to burst. The air will expand during baking and the hardening egg/flour-mixture will trap them in the baked goods. Contrary to many recipes out there there is no real need to bake a pound cake or even sponge cake with baking powder if it's done right.

Other recipes without leavener (or rather with the egg trapping steam generated by a rather high water content) are the members of the popover family (Yorkshire pudding in the UK, Pfitzauf in Swabia, some dutch pancakes) and pâté a choux.

Puff pastry relies on thin layers of butter separating the layers of floury dough and trapping steam between them.


What ensures big holes in my bread? Is it a high hydration rate? Minimal kneading? High-protein flour to hold hydration?

There are lots of theories about this topic.  Basically, to get large holes, you want a dough that has enough air to expand greatly, enough structure to support that expansion, and somewhat uneven distribution of the air/structure to produce various size holes.

Some things that will help:

Relatively high hydration.  It's not strictly necessary, but it allows more random gluten connections to be made, making for a more chaotic internal structure.  Hydration needs to be compared to flour gluten content.  High gluten is not generally necessary, but a good bread flour will help.  Nevertheless, it is possible to produce large holes in short or squat loaves (baguettes, ciabatta, focaccia) even with AP flour.  The high protein is usually only necessary to get a high-rising loaf.  Lower protein flour loaves may still have relatively big holes, but they are more likely to spread rather than rise high when baked free-form.
Gentle kneading at the outset.  You really only need to mix until ingredients are thoroughly combined and distributed.  Extended kneading at that point is not only unnecessary, but it can encourage the initial gluten connections to be really even (and not the random network of strands and holes).
Instead of kneading at the outset, do stretch-and-fold maneuvers periodically during the bulk rise.  They will add a lot of strength while minimally disturbing the emerging gluten networks.  And they will encourage more random connections between each stretch-and-fold maneuver.
Don't skimp on the bulk rise time.  This is when the big air bubbles and random gluten networks form.  Many people even do this overnight in the fridge or follow the "no knead" bread recipes that just let it sit out for many hours.
Don't "punch down" the dough after the first rise.  Instead, your goal is to shape the bread as efficiently as possible without destroying the random network of holes that is present.  Contrary to popular belief, you don't necessarily need to be very gentle with the dough at this phase (though with some types of bread, like ciabatta, it can help).  It doesn't matter so much if you lose some air, as long as you are stretching the gluten to add structure.  So, don't deliberately try to get air out, but instead focus on stretching and folding over to get a taut, elastic dough in preshaping.  Or, be gentle -- the dough may not rise quite as high, but it should still have large holes.
If you do lose some air during shaping, don't skip a bench rest.  A bench rest essentially allows another "stretch-and-fold" exercise that adds strength.  Preshape the dough until you can feel it become a bit taut.  Then cover the dough and wait 10-15 minutes.  Then do the final shaping of the dough, being sure that the surface is taut, which will allow the strongest final rise and increase oven spring.  Again, as long as your yeast is strong, the big holes will return even if you lose a little air here.  In most cases, being gentle and "trying not to disturb the bubbles" will actually result in less of a final rise and therefore smaller bubbles in the final loaf.
Use any techniques that will increase oven spring.  Anything that gets you a bigger loaf means more room for the bubbles to get bigger.  That includes: steaming the oven, baking on a preheated stone, slashing the loaves properly right before the bake, baking on high heat (at least for the first 10 minutes or so), etc.


Is there a way to make bacon a decent substitute for pancetta in Italian dishes? I live in a place where Pancetta is really hard to find, and when I do, it's completely overpriced. When I make some Carbonara or Gricia, both recipes from where I come from, I have to improvise it with good old bacon, but it never ends up the same as nonna did. So I ask, how can I make bacon a better substitute for pancetta?

It's not the same, but it can certainly work. Guanciale is a great substitute as well if you can find it.

I just made carbonara last week with bacon. I used this recipe. It came out pretty well. Using water in the initial cook makes the bacon come out a little more chewy.

Also, I use a zester on my pecorino, and it comes out grate that way.


Does anyone know what kind of pan this is? I have a friend who has this pan. What is it used for?

Your friend has an omurice pan. Omurice is a type of Japanese omelet. From Wikipedia:

Omurice or omu-rice (オムライス Omu-raisu) is an example of yōshoku (a Western-influenced style of Japanese cuisine1) consisting of an omelette made with fried rice and usually topped with ketchup.[2][3] With omu and raisu being contractions of the words omelette and rice,[4] the name is an example of Gairaigo. It is a popular dish both commonly cooked at home and often found at western style diners in Japan.
Omurice is said to have originated around the turn of the 20th century[4] at a western style restaurant in Tokyo's Ginza district called Renga-tei, inspired by chakin-zushi.[5] The dish was brought to Korea and Taiwan, and it is popular cuisine[6]. In Japan children, in particular, enjoy omurice, and it is often featured in okosama-ranchi (お子様ランチ) or kids' meals.1

This picture shows how it would be used:


How do I peel garlic in bulk? I want to make some garlic and jalapeno infused oil. Maybe not jalapeno but some kind of Chile.

Good ol' Chef John has a solution right here.

Basically, you want to enclose your garlic in some kind of container that lets them move around fairly easily. He uses two bowls, a commenter suggests a jar, I suppose it depends on the number of garlic cloves you want to peel.

Close the container then start shaking away, maybe for 20-30 seconds or longer once you get the hang of how long this method takes for your chosen clove count.


How can this "Bloody Brain" cocktail be made without alcohol? I found this recipe for a Halloween cocktail known as a "Bloody brain", here's a link, and I was wondering how I would go about making a non-alcoholic version.

The recipe involves strings of Bailey's Irish Cream that do not mix properly and form tendrils that bunch together and look like a brain. I would like to know how to achieve the same effect with no alcohol.

Most of the things in this are very easy to substitute.

Roses lime juice is sweet and non-alcoholic (and can be found in most supermarkets).

You can easily sub in heavy cream for Baileys: they don't taste the same, but chemically they react about the same.

Grenadine is just a pomegranate juice simple syrup. No alcohol there at all.

The only question is what you want to sub for the strawberry vodka. Some kind of soda, most likely. It's a question of taste. It won't be easy to get something that is both fruity and clear, but you might try white cranberry juice, or white grape juice.


How long will eggless pasta dough last in the fridge? I made some fresh pasta for myself, but the recipe made double the amount I need. I didn't have time to make the rest of the pasta and dry it, so I just wrapped the dough ball in plastic wrap and stuck it in the fridge.

How long will the dough last in the fridge?

I can probably use it tomorrow or in the next 2 days.

The recipe is basically 2 cups flour, 1/2 cup water, no eggs. I used half white whole wheat, half AP, tbsp of olive oil. (Yes it's very good, even w/just some olive oil, parmesan, salt and pepper)

Most importantly: there is nothing in the recipe that will go bad in two days. I am unsure whether the texture will be affected after two days in the refrigerator. But make sure the dough is wrapped tightly. The most common way to store fresh pasta is to freeze it. Tell you what, make an experiment: Freeze half and refrigerate the other. Then after two days compare the cook both and tell us whether is a difference or not.


Why would using oil make muffins less sweet? I've been wondering, what makes muffins less sweet when using oil? (instead of butter?)
In this case, a muffin mix tells me to use butter. The alternative (to make "american style" muffins) is to use (sunflower)oil. It would make it less sweet.

I think you are looking at it the wrong way... butter makes it sweeter, so not using butter is naturally "less sweet". It isn't that the oil 'causes' less sweetness.


Substitute regular sugar for confectioners sugar in icing Can I use regular sugar instead of powdered sugar to make a drizzle icing for my pound cake?

It depends on the type of recipe you want to use, but generally the answer is yes.  Powdered/confectioner's sugar recipes for glaze or icing often just use a very small amount of liquid.  With granulated sugar, it can be difficult to get a smooth consistency by just adding the liquid that way, so the more standard way with regular sugar is to add a small amount of water to a pan and cook the sugar in it until it dissolves and creates a thick syrup.

(Alternatively, if you just don't have confectioner's sugar on hand, you can grind up granulated sugar in a blender or coffee grinder.  Some also recommend food processors, but many of them won't get a consistent fine grain in your sugar.  Just pulse until particles are fairly small and the sugar is powdery.  The particles may then be small enough to dissolve quickly in your icing recipe.)


What other cookies/biscuits were traditionally baked in shell shaped forms like this one? This is an old form I got from my German mother-in-law, here in Southern Germany. It is 10 cm (~ 4 in) long and 5 cm (~ 2 in) wide at the widest part. From the double shell shape, it appears to be a madeleine mold. Were there any other uses that someone knows of?
And yes, I use it to make southern German "Bärentatzen" - or "bear paws". I am just wondering if there is another use or two out there, since it looks so much more like shells than like paws :)

It’s not a perfect match1, but considering the region and that you apparently have just one or a few, I would assume that this is a slightly unusual mold for “Bärentatzen“ („bear paws“), a classic Swabian Christmas cookie.

(Source)
A soft but stable flourless dough made with whipped eggs (or just egg whites), sugar, chocolate and almonds is first shaped into balls, coated in sugar, and then pressed into a wooden or metal mold just to shape them. The sugar prevents them from sticking and they are baked not in the mold, but free on a baking sheet. If you look closely at your mold, you’ll see that there is none of the slight polymerized grease residue that suggests that it was ever put into an oven.
Molds are traditionally made of wood (“Model”), usually beech or other hardwoods, but I have seen tin ones as well - the metal ones were more common in the earlier 20th century (pre-WW I&II and shortly after), but often had problems with the material suffering over time. Wooden ones are seeing a comeback in recent years.
Bärentatzen are pretty local - older Swabian cook books have them2,3, in the rest of Germany they are virtually unknown or mean another type of cookie closer related to spritz cookies. Food historians have suggested that the original shape was supposed to be scallops or seashells (think the religious symbol of the pilgrimage) and that the reference was lost at some point. The alternative name „Schokoladenmuscheln“3 („chocolate scallops“) is another indicator.

1 Typically Bärentatzen would be single shells. The baking equipment company Staedter sells a wooden version of a double shell  and of a single shell as „Spekulatius mold“, which is in my opinion imprecise as Speculaas are traditionally very flat and at least the single one is sold as „Bärentatzen“ by Birkmann, another baking equipment supplier.
2 Kochen und Backen nach Grundrezepten, Luise Haarer, 1965 (and others)
3 Kiehnle-Kochbuch,  Hermine Kiehnle, 1928


Something came out of oats. What's this? These came out of a rolled oats product.
Are these some part of oats and safe to eat?

Looks like millet to me.

Your oats were probably processed in a plant that handles various types of grain and something was mixed.

It's a little hard to tell from just your picture but if it is millet then of course it is safe.


How do you prepare Jello with fruit pieces? I would like to make individual containers of Jello with fruit pieces, but the fruit always sinks to the bottom,is there a way to prevent this?

The only trick I know is to let it start to firm up before mixing in the fruit.  You can pour a layer, let it slightly firm up (it'll be kinda a thick goo), add the fruit and the rest of the mix.

... but you don't want to let it set up completely; then you'll just have two layers that haven't bonded well with fruit stuck in there.

Exact time for it to gel depends on what temperature you're resting it, and the size of the container you're chilling it in (mostly it's a matter of surface to mass ratio)


What is the difference between bún tươi and bún khô? There are two versions of Vietnamese rice noodles available. I'd like to know what is the difference, if any. They seem almost identical.

bún khô
bún tươi

I'm going to go out on a limb and say that there doesn't seem to be a difference in the two. They are both rice vermicelli noodles.

While I found very few search results in English, they appear to be the same. I also searched images and found that there are packages of each but there are also packages labeled like this:

So I came away thinking it's more semantics than anything.


Wok seasoning.. Again Hi so after removing old seasoning on my wok with vinegar baking powder and a lot of scrubbing, i tried to season it again. But i could not get any good results ( https://imgur.com/gallery/9xHfndA )
As you can see the oil did not act as a layer but like some drops dripping.. I am sure i didnt use too much (it was really a thin layer) but once starting to burn, the oil grouped in these weird lines. Could that be the patterns of my towel showing off? I am really confused... I am doing it over the gas stove because i dont have any oven. If anyone can help it is really annoying because its the only pan i have right now and the small seasoning i made still peeled when cooking... Thanks!!

Just to expound upon what @Tetsujin wrote above, if you burned the oil start again. And by start again, I mean scrub off the burnt residual oils and go from there

If you don't have an oven you will need to be extra careful. The beauty of an oven is you can set the temperature more easily. I would recommend you try and find a place to season it that has an oven. This will help you avoid this issue in the future.


My salmon burgers are bland I just tried to fry a salmon fillet and eat it as a I would a hamburger patty: with bread, cucumber and tomato. No matter my seasoning, I keep finding the taste bland.

What could I do to enhance the taste when it comes to spices and other ingredients?

I would squeeze a lemon over the fish when it was done, and then make a sauce for it. You can do like an Aioli or flavored mayonnaise, using ingredients such as capers, dill, lemon etc.. whatever you would normally like on regular cooked salmon.

Also, you will find a difference in taste between a farm raised and wild-caught salmon. Wild caught salmon have redder flesh (although some places have started dyeing farmed salmon), and have a much stronger salmon flavor than farm raised salmon.


Preserving cheese sandwich I'm curious about an effective method of preserving a cheese sandwich. I'm looking to prepare them as far ahead of use as possible. I've considered various alternatives but it's not really clear what's best.

Room temperature- cheese should be refridgerated?
Fridge- bread and fridges doesn't mix.
Freezer- pretty long-term, but foods are just not the same after being frozen, and it's not clear if half a working day is enough to guarantee defrosting

So the bottom line is, how can I preserve my cheese sandwich  for the longest time with the least degredation? I like soft bread.

For bonus points, add pickle.

The freezer is your only option. If you don't like the taste after unfreezing, then there is nothing you can do and have to make your sandwiches fresh.


For patting dry meat, what is a substitute for paper towels? Patting dry with paper towels is really wasteful. I would like to pat dry meat with something reusable like a kitchen towel, yet I fear some of the bacteria will remain on it and make it contaminated.

Is there a substitute for paper towels?

Also, do not confuse this question with: Do you use paper or clothe towel

This is about the safety of using a reusable drying material, not it's culinary efficacy.

There are only four ways that I know of other than towels (paper or otherwise) to dry meat:

Air circulation
Time (in a relatively dry environment).
Heat
Momentum

Most people avoid the heat approach, as you'll start to cook it once it's hot enough to be safe for long-term storage of meat.  Some recipes may start in a low oven to dry the surface, then remove it, let the oven pre-heat to a higher temperature, then finish cooking.  (as it's difficult to give recipes that know how quickly your oven heats up).

For momentum, you basically have to flick the meat such that the water gets flung off.  Which is prone to lots of problems (letting go of the meat, plus the spraying of contaminated liquid everywhere).  You could use a salad spinner, but if you did, I'd recommend keeping a separate one for meats, as you don't want to risk contaminating other ingredients that would be eaten raw.

For the airflow, you can set it under a low speed fan ... avoiding high speeds so you don't end up aerosolizing the moisture and flinging it through the kitchen.

Or you can place the food in a ventilated container and leave it in your fridge overnight ... possibly with a battery powered fan in the fridge to improve airflow.

As all of these ideas have drawbacks (food safety, time, etc.), most people just accept the waste of using paper towels.  There are a few times when one of the others might be used (food dehydrating, trying to get a glaze to set up (eg, peking duck), dry brining, etc.), but they're relatively rare.


Chuck Steak or Chuck Roast for Stew I have 4+ lbs of beef chuck steak in my freezer. I was wondering if I could use those to make beef stew, or if I would be better off with beef chuck roast. The steaks are 1-1 1/4" thick, frozen. Thank you!

A chuck steak is simply cut into slices more ideal for grilling whereas a roast is left in larger thicker shapes more ideal for roasting. Once you break them down into stew shape either is viable.


Too much pepper in soup: any way to fix? I added too much ground black pepper to my soup (was actually following a recipe for once, while I usually season to taste) - is there any way to rectify this other than diluting it? I think I vaguely remember hearing once that adding lemon juice "removes" some of the pepper...?

A little lemon juice plus a bit of sugar might help. That is a fairly well known folk-remedy. If you can squeeze in something starchy (some rice maybe, or noodles?) that might help too.


Timing Stock/Broth Perfectly I have been experimenting with different methods and I am trying to find the perfect extraction time for each of the elements of my stock. I first noticed this when one time I added celery leaves and parsley in the last hour of the cook, and it had such a nice fresh aroma to compliment the deep stock flavour and thought maybe it would make sense to add in every element of a stock at different times?
It's been my experience that Chicken Carcass and Feet are about done at around 4-6 hours, Veal and Beef Bone around 10-12. But vegetables are good after about 2 hours (carrots, celery, leek), is there any reason why I should not cook my veal stock for 8 hours and then right towards the end pop in the vegetable? It seems so intuitive for me but I have literally NEVER seen it done. Maybe I'm missing something?

Is there any reason why I should not cook my veal stock for 8 hours and then right towards the end pop in the vegetable?

No, and there are many reasons why what you are doing is what you should be doing!

It seems so intuitive for me but I have literally NEVER seen it done.

Well, I can find many sources that advise you to add the vegetables towards the end of the cooking time. For example, from The Kitchn:

Adding the vegetables too soon.
Vegetables cook a lot quicker than beef, so there’s no reason to add them to the pot at the same time. Add them too soon, and you’ll be left with mushy (and unappetizing) veggies.

And it makes total sense. At my household, we make bone & vegetable soup about once a week, and are pretty familiar with the timing of each ingredient. We usually just put in the "soupable" vegetables that are lying around in the house, so the recipe is always changing.
Here is our rule of thumb as to which sort of ingredients go into the pot before others, though other household may vary:

Bone and meat.

Medicinal aromatic ingredients *(like dried shiitake mushrooms) and salt.

Root vegetables (like carrots) and vegetable stalks (like cauliflower stems).

Leafy greens (like lettuce) and herbs.


Sesame Seed replacement What can I use to replace [beige] sesame seeds? What could be a close visual match?

I want to make an "everything bagel" inspired scone, but want to avoid sesame seeds due to allergy concerns.

Thanks in advance.

Golden Flax Seeds

Since you're only looking for a visual match, I suggest Golden Flax Seeds. The taste and texture, of course, are quite different, but they are still edible.

Here is a side by side comparison.

Sesame seeds

Flax seeds


Do I use the Air Fry fan when baking with the Emeril 360 Air Fryer/Oven? The air fry fan comes on automatically but the instructions seem to indicate I should push it off.  Is it still convection cooking or is the Air Fry button for Air Frying only?

The fan isn't for frying only: it helps to regulate the heat more consistently and hastens the cooking/baking process. Turning off the fan doesn't turn off the element, however, so it will only slow down the baking process. If the instructions indicate that you turn the fan off, it could be because the item you're baking should bake at a very slow rate. This, however, means that the heat will come from above only, so just keep an eye on your food, just to be safe.


Par-Cooking Corn on the Cob in a Microwave I prefer barbecued corn on the cob, but don't always have the chance to cook it quickly after buying it. I know that fresh corn loses its sweetness fairly quickly if you don't lock it in by cooking it, so I want to blanch it in the microwave enough to retain the flavour but not so much that it will be overcooked if I barbecue it.

Is this possible, and if so, for how long should I microwave the cobs?

The microwave is a fantastic place to cook vegetables, especially corn. You can fully cook an ear in around 3 minutes, in the husk. Leaving the corn in the husk seems to trap a great deal of steam as it cooks, speeding up cook time. If you're looking to get some nice color from the grill while avoiding the wait, I would try 2 - 2:30 in the microwave, depending on how done (or fresh) you like your corn.


How can I tell if the food inside a pressure cooker is done cooking? I've been looking into getting a pressure cooker since it works on the premise of increasing the boiling temp of water thereby cooking things more quickly. Operating on the premise that a pressure cooker is an enclosed system, is there a way besides following the time recommendations of a recipe to find out if it's "done", or is it like Schrödinger's Cat where you only know for sure when you open it and release the pressure.

Smell.

Every time the whistle of a pressure cooker blows, you get a mild aroma of the food along with the escaping steam. The aroma is usually a good indicator of how good the food has been cooked.

Besides smell, the only other thing is time.


Is it safe to use staples or paper clips to seal parchment paper when cooking fish en papillote? When cooking fish en papillote my pouches sometimes leak liquid in the oven. The internet tells me that I could use staples or paper clips for a better seal, but I could not find any information regarding whether this is safe or not.

Are there any health risks to using staples or paper clips to seal parchment paper when cooking fish (or anything else) en papillote at about 450F?

As long as they are not plastic coated, it is unlikely for anything relevantly toxic to get into the food via vapors just from heating a small household metal object in the same space with the food, below temperatures that will cause anything to melt. That would require some constituent having so high a vapor pressure at 450°F that a lot of it would go into the air...

Unknown metal objects in contact with the food, especially if they get immersed into an acidic sauce, could be more of a concern since there could be reactions with the metal and metal salts entering the food - though it is not that likely for toxic elements to be present in the steels or other metal alloys used for objects like paperclips or staples. Lead (from some brass alloys, or from some kinds of bright tin finish), aluminium (usually not added to steels), cadmium or zinc plating (don't use anything decades old and looking yellowish. This can be a type of zinc coating, but it could also be cadmium plating. zinc (which also is found as a non-yellow plating) is not per se toxic in small amounts, but FDA rules seem to discourage reactive foods contacting zinc-galvanized steel), copper, pure chromium or nickel (these are used in food-safe steels too, I would not be so sure they are food safe when used pure as a plating) are probably the alloy elements to worry most about...


I want to make my own cheese. How do I get started? I've seen people do their own mozzarella and it seemed easy. Any tips on how to get started (equipment, ingredients, recipes)? What about blue cheese and other stronger cheeses?

Making Mozzarella is not fantastically difficult, but certain things during the process are critical, probably the most important is temperature.

If it's your first time making cheese, you might find the buying a 'starter kit' the easiest way to get up and running. These will provide you with all the important items you needm such as rennet. If you feel brave, then you forego the kit and dive right in.

For Mozzarella try to find Buffalo milk, which is what 'proper' Mozzarella is made from. It's lower in cholesterol than cows milk, has more protein and makes a much richer cheese. If you can't get Buffalo milk use the best full fat, non-homogenized milk you can find.

Here's a recipe I've used before MOZZARELLA

Here's a link with the differences between Buffalo milk and cows milk

Cow Milk vs Buffalo Milk

Whilst it's quite possible to make virtually any variety of cheese at home, some cheeses, such as blue cheese, require a place to develop at the correct temperature and for quite long periods of time.  ideally, this would be a temperature around 10c with a humidity around 70% and a time for maturing at around 2 to 3 months.

Here's a good place to start:

http://biology.clc.uc.edu/fankhauser/cheese/blue_cheese/blue_cheese.htm


Steel Cut Oats: cooking in milk vs. water Most of the recipes I've seen (including Good Eats) recommend simmering the oats in 4 cups of liquid for 1 cup of oats. Alton Brown recommends 3 cups of water for ~25 mins and then (1/2 cup of milk + 1/2 cup of buttermilk) for ~10 mins.

However, I would like to do away with water entirely (just curious). Could I just simmer 1 cup of oats in 4 cups of milk for ~40mins? Or is the first ~25mins of simmering in water designed to maximize water absorption?

Also, if anyone has cooked oats mostly in milk before, I'd like to hear their opinion as well.

Yes, this is possible. From my childhood experience, oats were always cooked in milk, never in water. I can't tell you specifics of how to do it, because it was my mother and grandmothers who made them.

But based on the behavior of other grains cooked in milk, from complete kernels to flours, I don't think that you need to make any changes as compared to cooking in water. Take for example polenta - both the ratio and the method stay the same for cooking in water vs. milk. The resulting product is creamier and tastier. For oats, it is also slightly slimy (but not unpleasant), I don't know if this happens with water.

As for water absorption, some grains do well if soaked before cooking, others don't need it. This shouldn't change in the milk vs. water scenario.

The comments mention burning the milk. It never happened with my mother's oats and I am sure she did it on a stove, not in a slow cooker. Obviously, you want it to simmer, not boil. I assume that this is how you do it in water too, but if you don't, change your method for the milk, or you'll have a disaster on your hands. The mix may need stirring while it simmers, but maybe you can do it without stirring too, polenta in milk does not need it if you don't turn your burner too high.


Does boiling a salsa or BBQ sauce for 30 min alter the taste? So after I "cook" my salsa ingredients for 30 min, then blend and place it in the jar, does boiling the jar for another 30 min affect the taste?  I don't notice it but wonder what other think.  Also, what's the difference or advantage of hot fill BBQ sauce vs boiling?  Is it the type of lid you have to use?  I know you can't boil a plastic lid.

Not really.

Cooking something for 30 more minutes after cooking it for 30 minutes isn't going to change the flavors much more than they already had. After 30 minutes at a given temperature, most of the chemical reactions that are going to occur in your food will have occurred already. The one caveat to this is if the original cooking temperature is much lower than the second-cook. (i.e. heating it up to only 150F for the initial cook, vs. 212F for the second cook) If you're talking about boiling it for 10 hours, then YES, there will be some changes.

Boiling the whole jar with the food inside (and the lid just barely unscrewed) will allow the whole setup to be sanitized, and thus keep the whole works food-safe for much longer than just dumping in hot food.


Acrid taste on King Crab Legs I bought some crab legs on Monday night.  I steamed them on Tuesday night.

I couldn't have more than a bite; the taste and aroma was that of ammonia, although the taste itself did not taste poisonous.  (My wife says she didn't notice and went happily along)

I am wondering if this could have been because the legs were bad.  Also, I stored them in the fridge for 24 hours instead of keeping them in the freezer.  A friend thought this shouldn't have mattered.

Any definitive thoughts as to what caused this effect?

Fresh seafood should smell briny, like the sea. It generally should not smell strongly in any way--not in a "fishy" way, and not like ammonia.

According to the US FDA, you should not eat seafood that has even a fleeting, minor smell of ammonia:

  Uncooked spoiled seafood can have sour, rancid, fishy, or ammonia
  odors. These odors become stronger after cooking. If you smell sour,
  rancid, or fishy odors in raw or cooked seafood, do not eat it. If you
  smell either a fleeting or persistent ammonia odor in cooked seafood,
  do not eat it.

The scent of ammonia in shellfish is a strong indicator that it's gone bad. When the crab meat begins to decompose, the byproducts create the scent of ammonia. Even thought the scent was minor (you could smell it, but not your wife), this would still indicate that the crab legs had begun to rot.

Crab legs are generally flash-frozen immediately upon harvest, and kept frozen until you buy them and bring them home. This keeps them "fresh" because they spend very little time in the danger zone.

Likely, in transit between the dock and your home, the crab legs thawed, spent excessive time (more than 2 hours) in the danger zone, and have spoiled. I would not expect the refrigerator storage to have caused this alone, unless there was also additional non-frozen time before you purchased them.