What happened to my soaked almonds? I bought some packed almonds and soaked them in water for about 24 hours. I then removed the water with a sieve, cleaned the bowl and put the almonds back. I covered the bowl with a paper towel and left them for about 48 hours. I then placed them in a plastic container and when I opened it the next day, the almonds were covered with a web-like substance.

Were the almonds infected by fungus? How could this have happened?

They are covered by mold, a type of fungus. What has happened is, mold loves moisture and when you closed the lid on almonds which had a good amount of moisture in them, the mold had the right conditions to grow.

Note: You should discard them all.

And next time, you'd like to have soaked almonds, it's better to keep them in the fridge at all times, as @rumtscho has aptly remarked. This basically means, you should also soak them in the fridge, and once you strain and discard the water you should continue keeping it in the fridge. Basically treating them as perishable food at all times, and discarding them (if any left ;)) after 5 days...


What's the best time and temperature for tenderness when baking red potatoes? Lately I've gotten into baking Red Potatoes with butter and spices and I've found I enjoy them when they are nice and tender.

What's the best temperature for baking red potatoes for tenderness?

How long should they be baked for?

It depends greatly on how hungry I am. :-)

350F for about an 60-90 minutes, depending on how many are in there.

425F for about 40-60 if I'm hungry and impatient.

Microwave on high for a few minutes (few holes poked in it with a fork) if I'm really hungry and really impatient.

They're done when a fork goes in easily.


Does the material of the container affect the flavor of the prepared tea? If yes, what material should be preferred to get the best results? I use a steel bowl for boiling the combination of tea and milk. Then I pour the prepared tea in a melamine cup.

Does the material of the container affect the flavor of the prepared tea?

From: https://cooking.stackexchange.com/a/10338/6168

  The pot should be white porcelain or glazed earthenware and have a partly serrated edge

Why porcelain or glazed earthenware? What will happen with the steel bowl and melamine cup?

It shouldn't have any effect, in the sense of any flavors leaching. If your container does change the taste, you should replace it.

But it would be very unusual to chance upon a taste-changing container. Most cookware is non reactive, and containers meant for preparing and serving tea even less so. For example, untreated aluminium is reactive, but I've never heard of it being used for tea pots or tea mugs. Steel is completely OK in that regard. Melamine also has no effect on taste, but see the footnote for safety considerations.

The most likely condition under which you find a taste change would be if you are using ceramic teapots or mugs which were not mass produced for daily use, but made by a pottery hobbyist or by some exotic traditional technique which does not reach the convenience standards of modern mass production. In that case, you can simply switch the container to a neutral one, if the taste bothers you, or if you are worried about the safety of glaze leaching into your drink.

  Why porcelain or glazed earthenware

No special reason. What you cite is an ISO standard. It wasn't made for people making tea at home, they wanted to have perfect reproducibility, and the easiest way is to restrict as many variables as possible. So they took one of the traditional choices and prescribed it in their standard. There is no reason to follow that standard when you make tea for drinking.

The material affects the taste of the tea in other ways: it has an influence on the speed of cooling down. But it is impossible to make a general recommendation here, as 1) there are many other factors influencing the cooling speed, and 2) people have different preferences for the taste of tea. The only relevance here is that, if you have found a process which produces tea you like with one set of utensils, it might produce a different taste if you use a different teapot, and you'll have to experiment until you have calibrated the process to your preferences again. But the differences here are subtle, you have to be a pretty dedicated tea drinker to be bothered by them.

Footnote on melamine safety: Melamine is a resin which contains traces of formaldehyde, a known carcinogen. The formaldehyde does not end up in the food at room temperature, but it starts leaching at higher temperatures, this is why it is not microwave safe. As the leaching process is gradual, and depends on pH besides temperature, there is no hard temperature prescription beyond which it is considered unsafe to use. But I couldn't find any source rating melamine for over 100 Celsius, and some of them give a lower temperature such as 60 or 70 Celsius. If you are concerned about the formaldehyde, you are probably better off choosing another mug. Porcelain is the standard choice, but steel and some plastics are also frequently used. For a short consumer info on melamine, see http://www.fda.gov/Food/ResourcesForYou/Consumers/ucm199525.htm.


Substitute for Onion Powder I live in Europe but use many US recipes. These often call for onion powder which is hard to find here. Diced or minced onion is often not a good alternative and whilst garlic powder is easier to obtain, I find it complements rather than replaces onion powder. What could I use as (an easy to obtain) substitute for onion powder?

Well, you could make your own onion powder. It isn't that difficult.

  Peel and finely chop your onions.
  Then, spread the onion pieces out on a tray and heat in a 150°F degree oven or in a food dehydrator until dry.

  Tip: The onions are dry when you can easily crumble the chopped pieces
  in your hand.

  Allow the onions to cool. Then, grind with a coffee grinder, spice mill, food processor or mortar and pestle until you reach your desired
  consistency.
  Store your finished onion powder in an air-tight container in a cool, dry spot or freeze.


For reheating stuffing in the oven, how long would you bake it and at what temperature? I've made Bread Stuffing with Fresh Herbs from Cooks Illustrated this year for Thanksgiving, and I'm going to need to reheat it to serve. It cooked for seventy minutes at 375 the first time around, but I'm not sure how hot to set the oven or for how long to give it to get it hot without drying it out terribly the second time. Also, is there a standard amount of chicken broth people add to stuffing on reheating?

I'd reheat it at 375 again, covered, and add maybe 1/2 cup liquid to start. It will probably take about 30-40 minutes to come back to temperature. If you have an instant-read thermometer, it is at a servable temperature at 160, though you may want to go a fair amount higher if it will sit long before being eaten.


Can of chicken left in hot car - okay or trash I bought a can of chicken (chunk white meat) a while back. Because I wasn't "deliberately shopping for groceries" (I was at the store returning bottles for deposit, but had earlier realized my meal plans were short by one can of chicken), that was all I bought, and as a result, I ended up tossing it in the glove box and forgetting about it for about a week.
When I finally brought it in, it was rather warm, and presumably had been heating and cooling every day it was left in the car.
Is it still safe to eat? Obviously, if it was something that would normally be refrigerated, the answer would be a very emphatic "no", but being canned, it has already been cooked to death and (at least in theory) sealed into a sterile environment, and doesn't need to be kept refrigerated. (Note: the can is not bulging noticeably, which I do know would indicate that it is definitely not safe.)
p.s. I read https://www.stilltasty.com/fooditems/index/16796 but it doesn't say if exposure to higher temperatures is an issue. OTOH, a comment on this question suggests it may have already been exposed to similar conditions.
p.p.s. I don't plan on keeping this around for another 2-3 years; the intention would be to eat it within about a month.

Referencing Shelf-Stable Food Safety, from The Food Safety and Inspection Service in the US.

There are several factors that limit the shelf life of canned foods. First, cans can rust over time. Shipping accidents, where cans fall and dent or are crushed, also cause container problems.
Then there’s can corrosion. In all foods, but especially in high-acid foods like
canned tomatoes, natural chemicals in the food continually react with the
container. Over several years, this can cause taste and texture changes, and
eventually lower the nutritional value of the food.
High temperatures (over 100 °F) are harmful to canned goods too. The risk
of spoilage jumps sharply as storage temperatures rise. In fact, canned goods
designed for use in the tropics are specially manufactured.

The exact determination here depends on exactly how hot the interior of your glovebox was getting on particularly hot days, but that's impossible to know. Personally, I doubt that the temperature ever reached dangerous levels and would just enjoy my can of chicken.
However, you may have different tolerance for risk levels than I would, so I hope that the information I've provided is sufficient for you to make a decision of your own. The absolute 0% risk determination would be to simply throw it away. It's your choice.


Can a blood orange be half bloody? I've got a "sanguino moro" (blood/red) orange, but it appears to be only half-bloody, as in the photo below. However all figures I've found on the internet show oranges that are purely red inside, for instance the ones on Wikipedia. Is this normal? Should I be worried about it? I'm mostly concerned whether it's a sign of the orange being "sick" or health-threatening in any sense.

While many pictures show them deep red (perhaps for the dramatic effect?), even orange flesh wih only some red tinge is normal.

Even the wikipedia link you gave in the question states:

  The Moro is a "deep blood orange" meaning that the flesh ranges from orange-veined with ruby coloration, to vermilion, to vivid crimson, to nearly black.

The color of oranges is affected by temperature: Only if there is a certain temperature difference (cool nights vs warm days) the oranges develop the deeper hues. For blood oranges the crimson flesh and reddish tinges in the skin, "normal" oranges get their typical orange skin instead of greenish or yellow.

Fun fact: Even greenish oranges may be ripe, but just didn't get the cool nights. For the sake of the consumers who percieve orange = ripe, green = unripe, the skin of oranges and other citrus fruit can be "de-greened" by the "ripening gas" Ethylene (if permitted).

Below a range of color variations from mostly orange to deep red:


sweet stones of Perosa I saw pictures of some sweet buns that look striking, and I cannot find a recipe. The buns are described as "sweet stones of Perosa."
Here is a picture of sweet stones of Perosa, and another of sweet stones of Perosa in a basket.
How does one achieve the stone look?
The pictures are from a web site that promotes the town of Perosa Argentia, the implication being that these are traditional bake goods from that region of Piedmont, as such, I assumed the silver coating is achieved by means accessible to a country cook. I thought may be eatable charcoal mixed with something could produce the effect, but I have no idea.

There's a couple of options. I've never heard of "sweet stones of Perosa", but if the recipe actually goes back many years then it's likely it originally used extremely thin silver (or other metal) foil, stuck to the buns and then baked.

Those pictures don't look like edible foil, though. The silver is attenuated at the sides. That makes me think they're using spray-on silver food coloring (basically edible spray paint).

In either case, the coloring is likely applied before baking, and as the buns puff up the colored area cracks, making the buns look rocky rather than just silver.


How can I decorate jelly This is jelly as in Jello (either gelatine-based or vegetarian), not as in jam.  I'd buy it in the right base colour/flavour.

I appear to have been volunteered to make Shopkins¹-themed food -- at least a cake and as little more as I can get away with.  One thing that looks quite simple is Wobbles.

This is essentially a green jelly (classic jelly mould shape) with eyes and a mouth.  The eyes themselves could be made from icing quite easily, but how could they be attached? The mouth could do with being outlined in a darker shade of green: piped on? painted with food colouring?

So I'd like to stick icing onto jelly on a near-vertical surface (or find some other way of getting the white) and paint/pipe onto jelly.

¹Colourful collectible plastic things with faces, only comprehensible to small children.

Look for two molds shaped as Wobbles eyes.
Fill the mold's border and center with black gelatin and leave it in the fridge until it's set. Add white gelatin for the eyeballs. Leave it in the fridge again. When the eyes are set you can put them inside the bigger mold and fill it with green gelatine.

This is an example of the same effect using candy fish and blue gelatin.
You could even use candy eyes and save time.

Jello aqualium.


Yeasted rye starter immediately doubles! I'm making a yeasted sourdough starter per the directions in my bread-machine book, but with rye flour instead of whole wheat.  It's supposed to sit for 2-5 days, but it doubled almost immediately and is doubling again in my largest bowl! I can stir it down to keep it from overflowing, as it did the first time, but is it OK if I let it stand for another 6 days, when I plan to make the bread?

As another commenter asked, are you using store bought yeast or a sourdough starter? If you're using a starter, you can store it in the fridge, covered and then take it out a day or two in advance and give it feeds every 12 hours or less depending on its doubling speed. If its store bought yeast I wouldn't take the chance and would throw it out.


Mushroom substitutes I use mushrooms mainly to bulk up food, for example, I add them to cottage pie, lasagne, etc.. and they can turn 1lb of minced into 1.5lb.  Also, I particularly like venison stew (which seems to require a huge quantity of mushrooms).

The problem that I have is that my daughter can't stand mushrooms, and studiously picks them ot of all her food.  Is there an alternative for them for the two uses above?

I concur with Elendi's answer, especially about the dumplings in stew (but I love dumplings).

As far as stretching minced (ground) meat, I recommend you try TVP. You might be amazed how innocuous it is, and how far you can stretch meat. For an organic product that does not contain hexane (the potential carcinogen noted in the Wiki article) try TSP. It's a bit more expensive, but once hydrated, it's a whole lot less expensive than meat.


Should I use oil to stop the steaks from sticking to the grill? I tried grilling my steaks on a little sparse steel grill in a convection oven.

They came out great, with one annoying issue: they stick to the grill and have to be ripped off. This both damages the steak a bit, AND makes the grill hard to clean with the caked-on pieces of meat.

I was thinking of using a bit of oil to solve this, but don't know if it's OK?

If so, should I oil the steak, or the metal of the grill? And which oil do I use? The grill is set to 450 degrees.

I typically oil the grill.  After brushing it to get off any remnants from the last grilling session, I take a paper towel soaked in vegetable oil (something with a high smoke point), and rub my grill down with it.  (I hold it using a pair of tongs).

I then let it sit for a couple of minutes, and then rub it down again it again -- you're effectively making a plastic coating, as you do when seasoning a cast iron pan.

Now for the unbelievable part -- the next time you run into problems with it sticking ... wait.  I know it sounds crazy, but basically after a few seconds of grilling, the meat sticks to the grill ... after it's cooked long enough, it releases.  Maybe not full releasing, but it gets ... less stuck.  (assuming you're not using a sugary marinade that's turned into glue).

So long as you're okay with medium rare to medium, just give it another minute, and then try giving it a nudge to see if it's starting to release.  You won't get the cross-hatch grill marks, but most people really don't care so long as it tastes good.


Will using a knife sharpener reduce the lifetime of my knife? In the long run, is it better to regularly use a knife honer instead of a knife sharpener once in a while to keep the edge sharp?

You should use both. Knives have a very thin ragged edge (the burr) that is too small to see, which gets pushed over from use, and which makes the knife seem dull. A honing steel straightens this burr out. I use a honing steel before I cook every day.

Over time, the burr wears down, or can no longer be straightened. At this point, you will need to use the sharpener, which actually removes metal from the blade. One metaphor would be that if your knife was carpet, honing is like vacuuming, and sharpening is like steam cleaning.


How to transport fresh ravioli to office potluck? I made some fresh ravioli to take into an office potluck. I only have access to a microwave at work to reheat the food. I also don't want my ravioli to stick to each other once cooked. I'm thinking of boiling the ravioli at home, immersing them in tomato sauce in a microwaveable container, and then reheating the entire container in order to serve. Any other ideas/suggestions?

I take the question to mean how you can best preserve the fresh-made texture with microwaving?

I would make, cool and store ravioli in single layers on parchment/waxpaper in a container for transport. Separately,  the sauce transported in largest microve-safe container that will fit in office micowave.
Heat sauce to boiling then gently add in ravioli and continue to reheat on defrost if stirring would damage ravioli, or higher setting if you  can stir halfway through time.


Should one always use the whole garlic clove? When using garlic cloves for pretty much anything, is it ever necessary to cut the slightly brown end off (that which connects to the head), or the middle out? Often times when I peel a garlic clove and cut into it I'll notice that the middle portion is slightly to moderately green and I'm always wondering if this should be discarded along with the brown end(s). If there are obvious blemishes in the garlic I'll remove those, but other than that is there a general rule of thumb?

The green in the center can have a bitter taste, and many chefs prefer to remove them. If the taste and color don't bother you, it will not cause problems for the dish.

The brown end tends to a have a harder consistency than the rest of the clove, so may cause a problem depending on how you cook the garlic. If you're cooking it in a manner that leads to a very soft and mushy piece of garlic, you'd be better off discarding it. (Boiling in soup, for example.) It probably would not make much of a difference if you were browning the garlic for a topping.


What is a economic way to store/buy ingredient for salad Given that many ingredients in salad will go bad after several days, how can you store leftover salad so it is not wasted? Many vegetables such as beans lose their freshness after opening the can/package.

For vegetables, one is too much already no matter if it is a whole lettuce or the prepackage stuff, and I can only consume 1/3 a can of beans each time and I might not want to eat salad everyday ( even once a day ).

Will it help if I put the remaining beans in a sealed bottle? What about the vegetables? will they last for 2 weeks?

I myself love to eat salads, but can't ever seem to store them for more than a week. For me, I  only buy salad when I want to eat it. However, there are some tricks for getting more miles out of your garden treats. Here are two:

Remove as much air as possible from your storage container
This is kind of a no-brainier, but I have had people in my household set an open plate of salad in the refrigerator, and wonder why it spoiled over night. Air and moisture are the enemy and make sure to protect your goods. You have probably seen on commercials special bags or containers that claim to remove air and keep vegetables fresh. Be wary of these products, I have tried some and usually don't get the features promised.

Don't cut salad with a metal knife
Perhaps a lesser know fact about lettuce is that cutting it with certain metals accelerates the oxidation process. This simply means that your lettuce will turn brown faster if you cut it. Try using a ceramic knife or rip your greens when preparing to slow down on browning.

To answer your questions about storing. I would recommend not keeping your greens for more that a week, and store them in within the designated bin marked in your refrigerator. This bin is designed to remove moisture and keep your veggies fresher longer.


How to prevent brillant pink raw bread dough from cooking up to yellow? I added some cooked beets to a bread recipe. The result was a lovely pink dough:

After cooking, the rolls were yellow on the inside with some of the pink still visible in the crust:

Why? Any way to over come the color change?

It appears that the pH of your bread changed during baking. Beets are red because of their anthocyanins. According to Wikipedia:

Anthocyanins can be used as pH indicators because their color changes with pH; they are pink in acidic solutions (pH < 7), purple in neutral solutions (pH ~ 7), greenish-yellow in alkaline solutions (pH > 7), and colourless in very alkaline solutions, where the pigment is completely reduced.[5]

You would have to post your recipe or analyze it yourself to determine what is alkalizing your dough, perhaps baking soda? Changing your recipe to make it more acidic may change the texture
of your bread. You could look for another recipe that uses acidic ingredients, such as butter milk that might off set the color change. The pink looks very pretty though.


Does cooking in a pressure cooker destroy nutrients? I've read that because of the higher temperature specially vegetables lose more nutrients in a pressure cooker as opposed to a normal cooking method. Is this true?

According to Eating Well who consulted a food scientist, yes, some heat sensitive nutrients are lost, but no more so than other forms of cooking:

  Pressure cooking can reduce heat-sensitive nutrients (e.g., vitamin C,
  folate) and bioactive phytonutrients, such as betacarotene,
  glucosinolates (helpful compounds found in cruciferous vegetables) and
  omega-3 fatty acids, that are beneficial for human health. But so do
  other cooking methods—and generally to more or less the same extent.

but in other cases, as in grains and legumes, the pressure-cooking is helpful:

  in the case of grains and legumes, although the vitamins and
  heat-sensitive vitamins and phytonutrients are vulnerable to
  deterioration, the net result of pressure-cooking is a positive
  nutritional gain—from the increased digestibility of the
  macronutrients (protein, fiber and starch) and the increased
  bioavailability of the essential minerals.


What is the proper technique for making fried rice? I've tried my hand at making fried rice a few times now. I seem to be getting these things wrong:

Texture of rice
Browning of rice

I've been cooking the rice, stir frying some veggies, and an egg in a separate pan. Add rice and egg to veggies, stir fry a couple minutes, eat. How can I improve this?

Did you let the rice totally cool down before trying to fry it? I always cook the rice the day before and keep it in the fridge overnight.


Why should you scrub/clean cast iron cookware with salt? I've seen this a number of times (for example here, or here at cooking.SE), and I do it at home, but I'd like to know for what reason salt is good for cleaning (cast) iron cookware.

I know it's a stop-gap measure when a non-stick pan looses it's coating (I can't find the reference).

The purpose for cleaning with salt is that it is an abrasive, and helps remove anything sticking to the pan, without being harsh enough to remove the seasoning.

Its not a stop-gap measure for poor seasoning; it is intended to preserve the seasoning.  The main issue is avoiding soaps and detergents which would tend to remove the seasoning that makes cast iron fairly non-stick.


Milk seal didn't break I had a jug of
Milk todaynand I was trying to open it ... instead of the seal breaking ... the whole lid mechanism popped off. It made a cracking noise so I'm sure the thing was sealed . It wasn't easy to open but for some reason the seal didn't break. Any input as to why or if it is still technically sealed?

It happens sometimes, no worries.

It could be the perforations that make the band break off were not quite cut correctly, could be the band was just a hair wider than normal (or the plastic softer), could be the neck of the jug was just a bit narrower.  All within manufacturing tolerances.

Usually, if you pick at the separated band, you can pry it off the milk-jug neck, its not even that hard.  That is essentially all that happened with your jug, the perforations didn't tear when the cap was removed, so the band got yanked off with the cap - probably part of why it wasn't as easy to open, you needed the extra strength to stretch the band loose.

The breakaway band doesn't have anything to do with the milk being "technically sealed" or still sealed or not, the important seal was the airtight suction between the cap and the milk that kept the milk form exposure to air.  If that seal was good, then the milk is safe and the band not breaking off isn't a problem.  The lid is supposed to be a fairly good cap anyway, to keep the milk fresh while being used.

The band doesn't actually make a difference after the initial opening, it's just supposed to make sure you know the milk wasn't opened before that, during shipping or whatever, maybe prevent the cap from working its way loose or letting you know if it had.

You might want to remove the band if it makes re-capping your milk difficult, but otherwise - it isn't a problem.


How to beat one or two egg yolks? Many sauces and pastries call for beaten yolks. You need to beat yolks well, till they are thick again and are lemon-colored, so using mixer is a must.
But if you need only one or two egg yolks, regular mixers are too big for the task. What I'm currently using is a battery-driven micro mixer, and it is not powerful enough and eats up batteries fast.
Can anybody suggest a good solution to the problem?

Using a mixer is not "a must". You should be able to whisk 1-2 egg yolks together quite easily which a whisk and some elbow grease. How do you think we beat egg yolks for the centuries prior to electricity?


Grey mushroom cream sauce - why so dark? I've attempted making an Alfredo sauce many times in the past: With flour+butter, without, many different recipes that none have achieved an actual white color. The mushrooms and onion tint the whole sauce in this grey shade which isn't very appetizing. Any tips or tricks for a sauce that's actually white?
Thanks.

You don't say how you prepare the sauce, and Alfredo does not contain mushrooms (or flour, or onions). But if you are simply pureeing button mushrooms, then no, there is no way to make it any other color. The mushrooms have black gills, and they will color the whole white sauce.

In theory, you could try removing the gills from button mushrooms before cooking a sauce. In practice, you will probably have enough pieces remaining to give the sauce a light greyish tint.

You can use a different type of mushroom, one without black gills. Porcini should work. Of course, you'll end up with a different taste, and porcini are not a staple in every supermarket. But if you insist on a white sauce, this is the way to go.

Another option is to just eat it as it is. Humans need some time to get accustomed to visual stimuli which are not expected in a given context. But a sauce made with mushrooms, onions and cream is super tasty. After you have eaten it a few times, you can learn to associate it with "good", not "unappetizing". But I guess the success of this method will vary between people.


What is soy chicken and how is it prepared? In many places in the US, I have eaten something called Soy Chicken varieties. I would like to know how this is prepared. Does anyone have any idea?

Soy chicken is usually available at Asian grocery stores that cater to an East Asian demographic. It is normally sold as "soy ham" or "veggie ham", with "chicken" as one of the varieties available. It's usually in a sort of log shape and you just cut it to whatever size you need.  It is technically already cooked, but many recipes will call for it to be coated and baked, etc.


What are safe, effective practices for smoking salmon in a commercial smoker? We have been smoking salmon in an electric smoker (a Master Built) for about 6 months now, using a dry rub brine recipe containing salt, brown sugar, garlic and other flavorings (sometimes brandy, sometimes smoked red pepper powder).  We have tried to adjust the temperature and time to gain a safe, but moist and smoky tasting end result.  We have been using mesquite wood chips. I have read that the authentic way to smoke meat is very slow over a smoky fire and can last longer than what is possible in a commercial smoker. How can I achieve the best results with my smoker?

I am projecting here, perhaps, but I think the question you're asking is "why doesn't my salmon come out moist and succulent like what I get at the store?"

A couple reasons.

First: you want to properly cure the salmon for at least 24 hours beforehand. 36 is better. To cure, you will need two whole sides of salmon (or one cut in half), with the skin on. Rub your cure into the flesh--so 2:1 salt:sugar, plus whatever other spices you care to use. The addition of brandy sounds lovely; I like tequila or a nice peaty/smoky Scotch myself, or maple syrup (but obviously nix the sugar if you're doing that). Place the two pieces together, flesh to flesh, optionally including herbs between. Wrap very tightly in plastic, completely sealed, bung into your fridge to let it cure.

Second: when the fish is cured, remove from the wrap, rinse off the cure.

Third: time to smoke. If you want dry and flaky, hot smoke--this seems to be what you're doing and what you don't like. Therefore, it's cold smoke time. The two basic ways to do this are either to add LOTS of trays of ice to the smoker itself, or to route the smoke through a cooler filled with ice and then back into your smoking chamber. A quick Google should provide you with diagrams for doing so.

Do not over-smoke. Fish picks up flavours quite readily, and will dry out if oversmoked, even if cold. Really for salmon I don't think you need much more than 20 minutes of cold smoke.


Can you use cooking oil to make "African Drop Doughnuts"? Do you have to use deep-fry oil or corn oil to make "African Drop Doughnuts" or can you use cooking oil?

It's hard to give a specific answer since I don't know what temperature you need. I looked at a couple recipes for African Drop Donuts and the temperatures were pretty far apart: 340F and 375F. I also don't know what you mean by cooking oil!

But you can use any oil suitable for deep-frying at the temperature specified in the recipe. Depending on what kind of cooking oil you have it may be fine, or it might have too low a smoke point.

Things like canola, sunflower, peanut, corn, and safflower would most likely be fine, since they all have smoke points of 400F or higher and are pretty neutral. You can look at a table of smoke points to get an idea beyond that.

The one thing you probably want to be careful about is oil labeled as generic vegetable oil; without knowing what kind of oil it actually is, it's hard to know what its smoke point is. It might also be more strongly flavored.


What characterizes a soup that holds well in a buffet setting? Maybe there is good reason buffets seem to have the same short list of soups: they hold well ie flavor and color; do not separate or split; heavy ingredients do not sink to bottom.
What should I avoid in soup recipes that they can be held hot for up to 4hrs?

I was really hoping that someone still in professional food service would answer this, but they haven't, so here's my list of rules based on memory from when I was:
Soups that are no good for holding:

Egg-drop soups and seafood soups are risky because of rapid spoilage
Miso soup settles out
Soups that are thickened with a butter or heavy cream emulsion; these tend to separate after being heated for hours
Pasta, barley and rice soups are problematic because the grains both absorb liquid while sitting and sink to the bottom.
Bread-thickened soups tend to turn to porrige
gazpacho actually does not do well; even though it is cold, after a few hours out it can ferment unless you keep it well-chilled

Soups that are good for holding:

Just about any pureed vegetable soup
Cheese-and-emulsifier thickened soups, like broccoli-cheese soup, do well
Bean soups with a moderate amount of beans do well (thick bean soups tend to solidify though), like vegetable/lentil, or brunswick stew
Chicken/noodle soup is a good standby if the noodles are very small and less than the chicken (see above)|
Thin dal, like a classic South Indian sambar, is designed for long sitting
Tomato/vegetable soup
"Chowders", including corn chowder, hold well from a suspension/serving standpoint, but see above for the risks of holding seafood
Any clear broth, such as bone broth, consomme, pomegranate soup, etc.

That's all I have; hopefully someone with current buffet-running experience will speak up.


What to do with italian soda type syrups? I go to an Italian grocery store near my house that has an aisle filled with different flavors of syrup. I know you can make Italian soda by mixing it with carbonated water but I was wondering what other things you can make with them?

Coffee flavoring; Pouring it over Ice Cream; Mixing it with Cottage Cheese as a snack;


Should I roast meat/bones before making stock out of it? Usually when making a chicken stock I just boil up some chicken wings/legs with some veggies. The other day when cooking with my brother he added roasted lamb bones to the strained chicken stock when making a lamb jus.

This got me thinking why I don't roast the wings/legs when making a chicken stock, and why he didn't just add raw bones to the chicken stock.

So should I roast my chicken bones before boiling them up for stock?  And can I add lamb bones to my stock raw?

Roasting the bones first will add a deeper flavor. The roast flavor may or may not be desired, it depends on your preferences.

This is from the article I've posted below: "Roasting caramelizes them, heightening sweetness and deepening flavor. But any blackening will make meat stock bitter. 'You don't want that burned bone thing,' cautions Keller."

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/10/31/FD0JSAGEJ.DTL


Will mustard seeds soften in a sauce? do mustard seeds melt into a dish if they are an ingredient in making a sauce?  if not, would they be strained out after a specific lenght of time?  Do they get softened in liquids?
I wanted a sauce that reminded me of a sweet and sour sauce from a chinese dish and would compliment the meatloaf but not be too thick like a flour or starch based gravy.

Cranberry and Red Pepper Sauce:
 2 thinly sliced red peppers
 1 cup red wine
 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
 1/3 cup sugar
 2 tsp mustard seeds
 3 tbsp dried cranberries

To make the Cranberry and Red Pepper Sauce return the frypan to a low heat and cook the red peppers for 5-6 minutes until soft, then add red wine, red wine vinegar, sugar, mustard seeds and dried cranberries. Simmer 10-15 minutes until reduced by about two-thirds. Cranberry and Red Pepper Sauce can be made in advance and reheated when needed.

I am familiar with pickling spice and use of mustard seeds in a scratch made recipe for Sloppy Joes my mom made and put the mustard seeds in but do not remember if the seeds were even noticed and know that the only crunch in mom's recipe was from celery.

They will not "melt" into the sauce, but I think your desired effect depends on how long they cook in the sauce.  I frequently make "pickled" mustard seeds, which result in a softer seed that pops in your mouth, rather than remaining crunchy. A great garnish or condiment. Not crunchy at all.   There are two ways to do this: 1.  bring to a boil, then strain, repeatedly 8 - 10 times.  This removes the tannic notes, then the seeds are placed in pickling brine.  Method 2 brings seeds to a boil in pickling liquid and simmers them for 30 - 40 minutes.   Method 3 makes use of a pressure cooker.  All result in mustard seeds that are not crunchy, but soft and pleasant to eat.  You could certainly obtain the same result in a sauce.  In fact, I could see it adding an interesting textural component to the dish.


How to make silky smooth chocolate like galaxy bar or dairy milk bar? How to make silky smooth chocolate like galaxy bar or dairy milk bar from chocolate compound?

Very short answer: you can't.

Making smooth chocolate bars is an industrial process, not replicable in the home, at least not with reasonable amounts of effort and money. You need specialized know-how, equipment, and access to the proper raw materials.

Also, compound chocolate is not suited for making chocolate bars. It is a different end product, meant to be used as a cheaper and easier-to-melt alternative to proper chocolate bars, it is not a raw material for chocolate bars.


How do you grill meat and potatoes so that they finish at the same time? I use a charcoal grill with lump charcoal. I've had great luck with various meats and veggies, but I'd like to grill some potatoes and have them finish when the meat does. I usually foil wrap the potatoes and toss them in the grill over indirect heat, but it takes quite awhile for them to finish. If I wait 10-15 minutes until the potatoes are done, there's not enough heat left in the coals to properly grill the meat. The only thing I can think to do is to fire up the chimney starter a second time and throw in a second round of coals.

Does anyone have a better way to accomplish this?

Nuke or boil the spuds first to get them 75% to 90% done before they hit the grill

I wouldn't use foil either, they grill much nicer bare skinned. Root vegetables suck up the smoke and get tasty dark patches from the grill, just keep and eye on them, and turn as needed


Can I bake 2 small cakes at the same time? I have to bake 3 small white cholocate mudcakes and put them together to make the final butt shaped cake, which I will ganache and fondant. I have to bake 1 rectangle cake (for the back) and 2 half hemisphere round cakes (for the cheeks).

I have one rectangle pan 13cmx24cm and one 16cm half hemisphere round pan. I was wondering if I could bake the rectangle and one half round cake at the same time in the middle rack of my fan force oven or will that be a risk and make the cakes dry or undercooked? I usually bake them at 150 degrees.

As long as you monitor each cake for doneness individually, there is no reason not to bake them  together—assuming they both need the same temperature.

If the sizes are radically different (in terms of the thinnest dimension, which is usually the depth) you may need to adjust temperature to control crust formation during the time it takes the cakes through to the center.

If the cakes are close in depth, they should bake in approximately equal times.

You may wish to use cake strips or aluminum foil to protect the thing easily burned permiter of a hemispherical cake.

Note that 150 C (300 F) is an atypically low temperature for baking a cake.

See related:  Additional Cooking Time When baking more than one loaf of quick bread


Refrigerator in garage was turned off We just realized that our garage refrigerator/freezer was not on. The eggs are still cold to the touch but the vegetables, rice w/shrimp and meatballs in the freezer are not frozen but still cold. The ice cream is mostly melted. This tells us that the frig hasn't been off for a long time but we don't know for how long. Should we throww all the frozen foods away? Or would it be safe to cook everything instead.

I'm afraid the frozen goods are a lost cause. Throw them away. The eggs in the fridge are probably fine. Break one in a dish and give it the sniff test. If it still smells clean and good, they are probably fine. But don't delay in using them. Make a souffle!


How can I adjust my recipe for étouffée to prevent the addition of okra to it from making the dish too gummy? This is my recipe for étouffée:

4 Tbsp butter
4 Tbsp flour
1/2 cup chopped celery
1/2 cup minced bell pepper
2 toes minced garlic
1/2 cup chopped green onion
3 Tbsp chopped parsley
1/2 cup seafood stock
1/2 cup white wine
salt, pepper, and hot sauce to taste
8 oz crawfish tails

I want to double the recipe, substituting a cup of chopped okra for the additional 1/2 cup each of celery and bell pepper otherwise called for. What concerns me about doing this is okra's mucilaginousness; I know that my great-grandmother adjusted her étouffée recipe when adding okra to it to prevent it from becoming too gummy but can't remember how.

More liquid will dilute the okra's thickening tendency. But then your dish will be more liquid than perhaps you want. You could perhaps cook the okra separately and add it right before serving.

Editing to add: your other option is to skip me.


Bubble Tea - Instant or Traditional Pearls Is there any evidence that instant or traditional tapioca pearls - for bubble tea - are a better choice if I'm looking for a pearl that is very soft with just a little bit of chew?  I've tried traditional pearls and always have okay results - but I've had better from some (not all) bubble tea stores.  I haven't tried quick/instant pearls yet, but I'm tempted to.  However, I still have a lot of traditional pearls that I don't want to go to waste if they're no better or worse than quick cooking ones.

Also, is there some way to keep the bubbles from getting harder when you add the cold drink to it (be it a smoothie, blended coffee, etc...)?

The moist ones are the semi cooked ones

Dry is something like this (really quick Google)
Dry Pearls

Semi moist is something like this (again, really quick Google search)  - I think we might be talking about the same thing with the instant ones you are talking about
Moist Pearls

From dry, have you experimented with the times and ratios?  I find that depending on which versions you buy, the cooking times and ratios change.  (I have no idea if it's from the composition of pearls or what)  Not sure where your current pearls are falling short, but try going to 8-1 ratio of water-pearls.   Other techniques to try is to before  turning the heat off for your post boil time, let it simmer instead for another 20-30 mins and then cool off in the water afterwords.  The problem I find is that there is no hard and fast techniques that work on all pearls!

The way I do it is

8-1 ratio boil

40 min simmer

20 min cooldown


Difference between Pancakes and "Kaiserschmarrn"? Is there a difference between pancakes and Kaiserschmarrn from Austria?

There is a wide range of pancake variants.

Kaiserschmarrn are an egg-white leavened pancake often served with fruit and nuts, with the pancake itself being shredded for presentation.

This is different than the most typical pancakes served in the US, which are not egg-white leavened, but baking powder leavened, but it is still a type of pancake.


Can you add water to shortening to use in place of butter? When I was younger I was in an honor camp for felons taking a culinary program and was taught that you can add water to shortening to make a butter substitute.

Shortening is all fat, while butter is fat with "other stuff":

  Commercial butter is 80–82 percent milk fat, 16–17 percent water, and 1–2 percent milk solids other than fat. Source

Therefore, shortening plus water can provide a somewhat more accurate substitute than plain shortening. Even a major shortening brand recommends adding water when substituting for butter.

  If you use shortening, but want an effect closer to butter, add 1 and 1/2 teaspoons water for every 1/4 cup of shortening. Source

To get a mixture that tastes a bit more like butter, you could use milk instead of water.
In most baking applications, the additional liquid can simply be added when other wet ingredients are mixed in.

Alternatively, combining them in advance can be done with sufficient beating, although this will incorporate air and potentially affect texture. See below a picture of shortening whipped with water for a pie crust recipe:


Long-rising/no-knead enriched breads? As far as I know, the fundamental thing that makes no-knead bread work is a high hydration, a small amount of yeast, and a very long rise. This is my understanding as derived from Jim Lahey's recipe, (and described and publicized in the New York Times).

However, sometimes I want a softer bread with a different flavor, the sort you get by adding milk and/or eggs, but I still don't want to knead. Challah, soft rolls, and so on. Is it safe to leave a high-hydration enriched dough out to rise for half a day or more? I'd rather not try it, for fear that the smell of yeast masks the smell of spoilage until after I've eaten a slice. Alternately, can no-knead breads be made some other way?

This is a wonderful occasion for a cold rise!

There are two main methods to prepare yeast doughs, warm or cold. The first is probably what you are familiar with - lukewarm liquid, a cozy spot for the dough and after one or two hours your dough is ready for the oven. The second is actually what many bakers prefer: A dough with a very small amount of yeast is prepared with cold ingredients and rests overnight, sometimes even for a few days, in the fridge. During that time, the bread can develop a lot of flavour and the yeast taste is far less pronounced.

To adjust a standard recipe, reduce the yeast to 1-2% for fresh cake yeast or 0.4-0.1% for dry yeast of your flour weight (yes, that's very little, compared to what you are probably used to) and use cold liquid. After kneading, the dough is put to rest in the fridge overnight - the cold environment means you need not be super exact, an hour or two more or less won't matter. After shaping, the dough is set aside for the second rest at room temperature, during which you preheat your oven and stone / dutch oven, if using.

For the no-knead recipe in your example, I suggest starting with the yeast amount given, but instead of resting on the counter, give it at least twice the time in the fridge, probably more. My favourite baguette with roughly the same ratios as your recipe gets 1 hour on the counter (with a stretch and fold or two) before it goes into the fridge for 48 hours (and will turn out just fine after 24 or even 72 hours).

You can enrich the dough to your liking, milk or butter won't be a problem in the fridge.

If you add eggs, just mix them with the other liquids and proceed as you would without them. No-knead works fine.
For very buttery doughs (Hefezopf, Brioche), I suggest making it a bit wetter than usual, the butter firms up the dough and can restrict the cold rise, but that's not really a problem. In this case, no-knead won’t work as you need to incorporate the fat into the dough. The cold dough is smooth, firm and wonderful to work with.


How do I adjust for a recipe to bake in an oven instead of on a grill? I have a recipe for grilling a pear crisp that calls for grilling for 15 to 20 minutes over indirect medium heat.

Can I instead bake this in an oven?  At what temperature should I bake it?

Yes. You want it to brown, so I'd do it at about 375 or 400 Fahrenheit. Depending on how thick and wet it is, it could take anywhere from say 20 to 40 minutes. If you have a thermometer, you can figure it is done at say 180 degrees in the center. Otherwise just look for bubbling juices and a nice brown top.


Microwave Power settings Why is microwaving at full power for half the time, not the same as microwaving at half-power for twice the time. What's happening that's beneficial when the pulse is off half the time?

A microwave heats pretty unevenly — most of the heating goes into the outmost portion of the food, and even that isn't always even (e.g., bottom probably gets fairly little). That's not unique to a microwave; a pan mainly heats the bottom; an oven...

Mostly, the lower power settings give more time for the heat to even out by inside the food. Depending on the food, you could run at a higher power setting and keep pulling it out to stir, rotate, etc. Often quicker, but much more work.


Is it normal if ceramic pan looks like that after the first use? Is it ok that it looks like that after I roasted with no oil (first use)? I tried to rub it off really good it with a soft tissue and a dish soap. Except whatever left on the surface (what you see on the photo) food wasn't sticking to it.

No, I don't believe so... it looks more like cooking residue to me. But you should be able to clean it sufficiently with one of the tricks below.

One trick, which I've used for any type of pan, is to put a small amount of water in it, then heat the water to the boiling point and let it cool. It softens up anything left on the surface, making cleaning much easier.

Another thing I do on a regular basis is using one of two products: Barkeeper's Friend, or Bon Ami. Similar to baking soda [mentioned on the WikiHow page: How to Clean Ceramic Pans]. All three are gentle, slightly abrasive cleansers that should not damage your pan surfaces.


What would happen if I add an extra egg yolk to some cookie dough? I'm making a batch of candied pecans which require the egg white from a single egg, well that leaves me with an extra yolk. I'm going to make some pecan sandie type cookies, and was wondering what would happen if I add the extra yolk? Will my cookies come out ok or will I botch my dough? I had to hand shell all these pecans so really don't want to waste them.

Pecan Sandies are sometimes basically shortbread (flour, butter, sugar, little to no water, no eggs). Other recipes include eggs and baking soda, which will give a softer, more cakelike cookie. If you add an egg yolk to the second type, it probably will make little difference. I'm not sure what the effect will be if you add an egg yolk to the shortbread type. However, I did find a shortbread recipe that includes egg yolks, so I don't think it will be a problem.
I found this article that recommends adding hard-boiled egg yolks to "scones, shortbread, biscuits, cornbread, and cake doughnuts." A shortbread-type Pecan Sandy recipe would fit the bill. Crumble the cooked egg yolk by using a spoon to press it through a sieve.

What happens is this: The tiny bits of cooked yolk intersperse throughout the batter and get in the way of the gluten network that forms when flour mixes with wet ingredients. Gluten is necessary in baked goods to give them structure, but too much makes for a tough, chewy crumb that’s generally undesirable in the pastry world. Cooked egg yolks prevent too much gluten (a.k.a. toughness) from developing without weighing the batter down. The result is a cake, cookie, or biscuit so tender that it feels like a mass of buttery crumbs just barely held together until they dissolve in your mouth.

Of course, now that your egg yolk is out of the shell, it's a bit late to boil it as a normal boiled egg. But you can poach an egg yolk in gently boiling water. The yolk has a sort of membrane that will keep it intact if you handle it gently. Here's a recipe for a soft poached egg yolk, but you will want to cook it until it's hard (maybe 5 minutes, but that's a guess).


How can I keep my burgers flat? I have tried to keep my burgers flat for a while but they always end up turning into a ball and I have to flatten them out as they cook, even tried the little hole in the middle of the patty but it doesn't work.

It's ground beef (90/10 angus beef) and I'm only adding salt and pepper before i shape them. I am doing 8 oz patties and grill at medium high temp.

Ok the inflation is gone, put no salt on it and added a bigger dimple. Now my second question would be, what can I do to keep the meat together?. Sometimes about 30% of the times it breaks a little from the sides.

Many chefs in the USA recommend pressing a large dimple in one side of the meat patty before cooking it on the nondimpled side first, to prevent the problem you are experiencing


How to cook fallow deer ribs? Yesterday I tried to make fallow deer ribs in a slow cooker. With beef ribs, I cooked them in a temperature-controlled slow-cooker for about 12 hours at 75 °C = 167 °F and they where amazing!

Done the same with fallow deer ribs, and they came out so dry that I had to cut the meat off the bones and blend it with hot water into a creamy soup to be able to eat it somehow.

I happen to have a moisture analyzer, and the meat after being slow cooked had only 55% moisture, while raw had 75%, so it lost 60% of its water during cooking.

Fallow deer is more tender then the common red deer, and also less fatty then beef I think (at least this piece). I even wrapped the whole thing in large cabbage leaves to prevent moisture loss, but it didn't help.

This is the piece before cooking:

I find it difficult to find a good way to prepare something which is on the bone, but so lean and tender. I find it easier to do with tough and fatty meat. Despite the meat attached to the bone being very tender, the bones are holding tightly, so I can't cut this into rib chops - I don't think I have a tool which can manage to cut this.

Boneless pieces of fallow dear I just sear for a few minutes on a pan and they are tender and great. But here I wanted to do something so the meat falls off the bone nicely, so I slow-cooked it, which ruined it.

I have another fallow-deer rib rack like that, how not to ruin it this time?

Is it possible to cook this properly in a slow cooked and/or in an oven, and if so what temperature and time to use in both cases? The whole thing weights about 2 kg (4 lb).

You will not succeed in slow cooking your deer to a nice, flavourful dish.  There is not enough collagen or fat to do so; this is generally true of wild game.  It has occasionally worked for me with rump or brisket from an older moose, but even then, the rump would have been better ground.

You appear to have the backstrap (loin), which is one of the two best cuts for steaks (the other being the tenderloin).  I would suggest that you make medallions (e.g. venison steak Diane).  Also by the same author here is a general discussion of deer steaks.

If you really do want to roast it, it should be barded (surrounded in fat such as fatback or bacon) or larded (strips of fat threaded through it).  I prefer larding as barding reduces the Maillard reaction.  In any case, it should be cooked quickly.  E.g., an interesting recipe - which I have not tried - is here at Serious Eats combines roasting with post roasting browning.  I think this is as slow as you can do it.

Finally, a hacksaw with a medium blade can work as a meat saw if you want to try chops.  A wood saw can sort of do the job, but the coarser teeth tend to produce an excess of bone splinters.

Best of luck and don't forget to use your previous piece to make a great brown stock.


What is the proper way to store steak at home? When you buy steak from the market it is usually wrapped up under shrink wrap and the meat usually sits on top of a moisture absorbing pad. When you get it from the butcher, it is wrapped up in waxed paper and/or brown paper.

Once you get it home, if you're not going to eat it for a few days, what is the proper way to store it?

The reason I ask is that if I let it sit in the waxed paper for a few days, when I open it up, it looks slightly discolored on the surface, with a slightly slimy texture. I'm assuming that this is okay because I've cooked may steaks that looked like this and have not gotten sick.

Should I take it out of the packaging and have it just sit on a plate? Does this emulate dry-aging? Taking it out will definitely prevent meat from getting the slimy texture.

The discolored surface is a product of oxidation, the same thing that happens when you leave apple slices in the open air. Oxigen is a highly reactive molecule and it binds to anything it can find, in this case your steak.

It is not rotten or unsafe to eat in any way, it just has an unpleasant color/texture when raw. Meat packaging is often filled with carbon dioxide, and since the oxygen is already binded to carbon it no longer reacts with the steak. The side effect of this is that your steak could have gone bad, but it still looks good. The pad just collects any fluid that might  drip off the steak, again for aesthetic purposes.

I'd suggest to remove the wax paper and shrinkwrap it, this will prevent it from oxidizing.


Swapping sugar for something less calorie dense but keeping the volume I have a friend who bakes for me. I suggested that we swap sugar for Stevia or something even less calorie dense. She's worried, though, that since the volume of the sugar is different, the banana bread itself will be damaged.
I also have a plan to swap the wheat flour for almond flour or possibly coconut flour. That can be handled by adding extra moisture, possibly extra eggs.
But how can I manage sugar?

Yes, the lack of volume will be a problem. Sugar makes up much of the structure of a cake. But since Stevia is 300 times sweetener than sugar, you'll end up using 300 times less. In addition the bulking issue, sugar plays many other roles in cake: it tenderizes, retains moisture, and contributes to browning. A sugar-free cake may be disappointing no matter what.
I also worry that you are making too many big substitutions. The recipe you are referencing was carefully developed to use wheat flour and real sugar: substituting vastly different products could lead to inferior results. Why not follow a recipe developed with your ingredients in mind? This recipe uses Stevia and almond flour as desired, but supplements with other binders such as flax and tapioca to ensure sufficient structure. Another uses Stevia, a gluten-free flour mix, buckwheat flour, eggs, applesauce, and flax. As you can see, to totally remove sugar and gluten from a recipe, you may need to carefully add other ingredients.
If you are really set on using an existing recipe, some recommendations for substitutions exist. This blog post prescribes replacing each cup of sugar with 1 teaspoon of Stevia plus some extra liquid. They give options:

applesauce, 100 percent fruit juice (apple, pineapple or grape are good choices), fruit puree, egg whites or plain, unsweetened yogurt. Fruit generally provides a lighter, fluffier texture, while yogurt gives the cake a rich, moist feel. Egg whites tend to lend density to cakes. Experiment with different substitutes until you find the one that best suits your tastes.

I haven't tried any of these recommendations, but let us know how your banana bread goes!


How do I plan a meal without a stove or oven? I have to cook a meal for my whole office (around 18 people); it's sort of a thing where everyone has to cook a meal at some point.

I would be able to find something myself but we don't have a stove or an oven at work and that's pretty much all I use. What we do have though is a microwave, a barbecue, a kettle, a sink, a coffee machine and a panini grill. We also have a fridge and a freezer. Also possibly a slow cooker.

So I am asking you for such advice or even a hint as to which direction I should look at in terms of what food I should cook.

I'd prefer to not cook such standard barbecue foods as hot dogs and burgers and chicken. I don't mind putting some effort in to cooking.

Missing the stove and oven is tough. But it sounds like you might have almost everything else you could possibly need.

With the microwave, you can essentially steam and even boil. With the slow cooker, assuming you have it, you can simmer. With the barbecue (grill, for us Americans), you can essentially do one better than roasting - anything that normally bakes in the oven on high heat is probably doable. The panini grill can do smaller-scale things in the same vein, and in some cases even substitute for sauteeing.

The barbecue might be the real hero, though, especially if it's a good-sized one. You can grill/roast any kind of meat or vegetable, and you can even cook a pizza on it. If it's the kind with a top rack, you can cook things more gently too. As derobert rightly suggests in the comments, you can even toss a cast iron pan on it. Failing that, you can also do a lot with foil - wrap things up to cook a bit more gently and keep them from drying out, or put down a few layers, grease it, and throw food on top to get something closer to sauteeing.

So start planning the meal however you normally would - flipping through recipes, starting from an ingredient, whatever floats your boat - and restrict yourself to things that can be done with those cooking methods. Quite a lot of dishes will be just fine. For example, the microwave will cover a lot of simple vegetable dishes. The slow cooker can do a lot of soups and stews. The barbecue can do tons and tons of things. And of course, you can do absolutely anything that doesn't need heat - salads and other raw foods. Don't underestimate that; there are plenty of great cold dishes out there.

And of course, keep in mind that there's really nothing wrong with reheating for many dishes. I don't know how big the microwave is, but assuming it's a decent size, you can prep something at home - think casseroles, soups, vegetable dishes without very sensitive textures, or just think about what works well for you at home eating as leftovers. Or to give a more specific idea, freshly grilled/roasted meat or vegetables plus a nice sauce you made ahead of time at home can make a pretty impressive dish without much actual work at your office.


Gravy with Scrambled Eggs :: What went wrong? OK, I love scrambled eggs but I wanted a variant which isn't completely dry so here is what I did:
I got some instant (add hot water) type gravy packets which were of Chinese cuisine. I added hot water and stirred like crazy till it tasted, looked and had a good consistency like gravy. I made my scrambled eggs this way and simply added them. As a consequence, the scrambled eggs got all soggy and tasted really weird.
The ratio of addition was just enough to drown the scrambled eggs. Sorry but I can't provide metric proportions

Note: I am on a student budget, please suggest improvements which won't burn holes in my pockets.

Instant gravy packets are not known for their subtle flavor. They contain boullion, tons of salt, and some modified starch. If you don't like the flavor of a lot of that gravy then don't use it.

The scrambled egg recipe that you linked to is of a particular variety. They are just barely set. This gives them a very delicate flavor and even more delicate texture. They are also as moist as scrambled eggs can be.

Such a preparation of eggs would not be well served by a gravy.

My suggestions are these:
1- Use a different recipe for your eggs that will cook them much more. If you insist on a gravy then your eggs will need to have the structure enough to support it.

2- Make your own gravy and don't ever use those packets again- even if you are starving to death I think they would only hasten your demise. Instead find a recipe for a quick white sauce- (just fat, flour, and milk). If you would like you can add a little shredded cheese for flavor. I think you will find this will be more satisfying and possibly even less expensive than your gravy-packet-crimes-against-humanity.


Is it safe to eat smoked bacon without grilling? The reason I ask this is due to the fact nothing on the bacon packaging indicates it can or cannot be eaten 'raw' and in general eating raw meat is a bad idea.

I might disagree a little with rumtscho - traditionally cured bacon is one thing, what you get in packets from the supermarket is another. It looks similar and it tastes similar, but commercial products are processed rapidly and not tested for immediate consumption without cooking.

Products like Parma ham and Schwartzwaldschinken are proven to be adequately preserved for consumption without cooking. Modern bacon is not, in general. OTOH I know for a fact that raw packet bacon is commonly eaten in Spain without cooking, and I've met people who eat raw sausages (not a good idea in my opinion).

Me, I wouldn't eat it uncooked ...


Can I use a dark cocoa candy bar in place of bakers chocolate? I am making this new gluten free brownie mix and am wondering if I can substitute the Baker's chocolate squares called for in the recipe, with 70% or higher cocoa bars that I keep on hand. Are there any characteristics that the Baker's chocolate has that a bar wouldn't or couldn't be worked around?

I would say yes. However, depending on what kind of squares it calls for it may change the taste of the brownie or how rich the chocolate flavor is. 70% cocoa bars would be more similar to what Baker's Chocolate sells as Bittersweet (67% cacao) so if the recipe is calling for Unsweetened squares (100% cacao) then you'll have less chocolate flavor (and perhaps a slightly sweeter brownie). If the recipe is calling for Semi-Sweet squares (54% cacao) then you'll have more chocolate flavor (and perhaps a slightly less sweet brownie).


Substituting with Bacon and Bacon Fat in a Recipe I've been thinking about throwing cooked bacon into various recipes like candy and bread. Are there any general guidelines for adjusting the recipes for handling this addition? For example, should I lessen the amount of fat or salt to adjust for the same coming from the bacon?

On the same note, what fats can I substitute bacon fat for? I know it is a liquid when heated up but solid in the fridge. Does it work in place of butter, oil, etc?

Bacon fat is a liquid and salty, adjust both in your recipes (unless you want moist or salty)
Baking is pickier about fat ratios (so swap other fats out), and cooking is less picky (more fat is usually just tastier)
Bacon fat does solidify at room temperature, but in small quantities can be used to replace any oil (I often use it to sweat onions)
You can use the creamier texture of bacon fat in soups and sauces for a super mouth feel


Iranian Sweet Dish consisting of Lamb Paste I am trying to identify a dish I had a while ago while traveling in Iran. It was in Isfahan, and none of the languages I speak seemed particularly common with the locals, so I only got patchy details in addition to the actual experience of the dish.
The dish:

was served in a shallow plate, for dipping/scooping.
had a paste-like consistency, somewhat similar to hummus, but less chunky, more rope-y, and much more homogeneous.
was mainly sweet, with a slight hint of savoury taste and saffron.
was yellow-to-orange in color, I assume on account of saffron spicing.
was made (primarily or mainly) of lamb (I double-checked with the serving staff as well as other patrons).

I found it hard to believe given the taste and appearance, but after making sure everybody agreed on the fact that it was meat, both the consistency and the slight savoury taste made more sense. I don't know if it's eaten as dessert by the locals, but I would certainly think of it as dessert. It was very sweet.
Do you know:

what this dish is called?
how exactly it is made?

As confirmed in comments, the dish is khoresht mast.
According to this recipe and this video, the main ingredients seem to be lamb or beef neck, yoghurt, sugar, saffron, rosewater, and garnishes of pistachios and barberries.

The lamb/beef is simmered with onion and turmeric then mashed and blended, and mixed with an egg yolk, yoghurt, and sugar. This is gently heated, to which saffron water and and (optionally) rosewater are now added. The mixture is then chilled, garnished, and served cool. The video explains everything quite well.


Coffee whipped cream filling I want to make a coffee cream filling for a mocha roll cake. If I dissolve instant coffee into heavy cream will it cause cream to not whip up properly?

You should be fine, but you may have difficulties dissolving the instant coffee in cold cream.

Let me suggest a tiny tweak:
Dissolve the instant coffee in a tablespoon or two of boiling water, let it cool until at least room temperature (or even refrigerator temperature) and add it to your semi-whipped cream.

If you use a cream with a sufficiently high fat content - 35% or even 40% - the additional water will not cause any problems with whipping the cream properly. The lower the fat content of your cream or cream-and-other-liquid-mix, the harder it is to whip. Try to stay above 30% and chill your cream and the bowl well. Your heavy cream should be absolutely fine.


When (and how) do I add a pre-packaged japanese curry to a slow-cooker? Opinions across the internet vary on the most effective time (and method) of adding the curry roux to the slow-cooker.

Is the most optimal means to melt the roux with a little hot water in a seperate saucepan and add it on top of the other ingredients, or is it better to simply break the block up and add it at the end?

Just break it up and add it after the vegetables and any meats are completely cooked. Do keep the curry on the heat, stirring constantly, until the blocks have become thoroughly incorporated but don't let it stay on the heat unattended after you add the curry blocks as the mixture thickens considerably and may burn (guess how I figured that out).


Baked Red Potatoes cooked skin up or down (crisped results wanted) Should red potatoes that are quartered be cooked skin up or down in the oven? (Oiled!)

Hoping to get delicious crisped results!

I find that the side against the pan (for any ingredient in a roasting situation) tends to brown more readily.  So, if you want even browning, you'll have to turn your potatoes as the cook.  Beyond that, it's just personal preference.


How can I recognize good quality Genoa salami? A while back I saw a YouTube video on Genoa salami and they explained that good quality salami is rare in the United States. The people in the video were saying something like real salami is made from fat from a certain part of the pig's stomach and there is some special name for this kind of fat. The video went on to say that most American makers do not use this kind of fat because it is very expensive, so they use shortening and other cheap substitutes.

Anyway I can't find this video now and I want to know how I can recognize good quality "real" salami that has this special belly fat.

Recognizing quality entails knowing the product and the producers.  Obviously you need to taste and ask questions. The correct texture and flavor of the fat used in salumi is very important, as it is generally a very high proportion of the ingredient list (30 - 50%).

In general, if you want "authentic" salumi, I would think you want to stay clear of most of the factory-made products that we find in US grocery stores.  It seems that you have three options in the US.

You could purchase imported salumi from a specialty shop.

You can locate smaller scale, artisan producers. Easily done on Google by searching "US artisan cured meat" or something to that effect.  There are many in the US.  Most do mail order if they are not nearby. I also find even smaller, more local producers in farmers markets.  These people generally will not be using sub-par ingredients.

Finally, you can learn to make your own. I've dabbled with this myself. While there are challenges and special conditions that need to be in place, it is certainly feasible if you are up for it. I will say that finding quality back fat is a real challenge for home hobbyists, like me, who aren't near a quality butcher or artisan hog operation...but there are ways of making it work.


Is there a difference between the grocery store package of chow mein noodles and the package of lo mein noodles? I'm looking at making a recipe that calls for lo mein noodles.  All I can find in the grocery store are chow mein noodles.  Is there a difference between these two types of noodles?  I am referring specifically to the packaged ingredient, not a dish.

It becomes quite confusing when talking about the difference between chow mein and lo mein mainly due to the error in translation.

In Chinese chow mein literally translate as "fried noodles." However when buying chow mein at a chinese restaurant, you get vegetables with a side of deep fried noodles. Somehow the title of a dish is referring the to side rather than the main dish which leads to much confusion.

When talking about chow mein at a grocery store, it also gets confusing because you can get two types of noodles. The first kind is a fried noodle that looks something like this:

This is definitely not what your recipe is referring to. The second type of chow mein you will find is very much similar to lo mein. It should be a raw noodles that is still semi-soft. It should look like this:

If the chow mein you have at your grocery store resembles the second type of noodle, then you may use that as a substitute. If it resembles the first type, don't. The first type is used as a topping sort of like chinese croutons.


How to measure 7g yeast and 10g salt without a proper scale? I have a 10g precision kitchen scale and I need to measure 7g yeast and 10g salt. So I need to use teaspoon here, the following is the teaspoon I usually use and I wonder if it's the correct one. Is there any other method I could use to measure the yeast and salt that recipe calls for?

I found this site to convert grams to teaspoons, it says

  2.5 tsp of yeast equals 7 g yeast

  1.75 tsp of table salt equals 10 g table salt

Is that correct?

(1)  A packet of yeast is typically 7g exactly.  So if you're buying yeast by the packet, use one packet.  But assuming you will be measuring from bulk yeast, the correct measure by volume would be 2 1/4 tsp instead of 2 1/2 tsp.

(2)  The weight of salt relative to its volume varies considerably depending on what salt you are using - the best way to work out the appropriate conversion for the salt you have on hand is to consult the Nutrition Facts on the back of the container.  Most salt gives the nutritional information based on 1/4 tsp. - but the weight of this amount of salt depends on the type of salt and size of grain.

Here's how you do the math.

Start with the information on the back of your package - for example, let's use my Fine Mediterranean Sea Salt - 1/4 tsp. = 1.2 g.

Multiply both sides by 4 to get the weight of 1 tsp. - 1 tsp. = 4.8 g - i.e. 4.8 g. per tsp.

You need 10 g - so divide 10 g by 4.8 to get the number of tsp. you should use - 10 / 4.8 = a little more than 2 tsp.

You really should get your measurement this way instead of relying on a generic conversion formula.  There is significant variability from salt-to-salt.  Another salt I use has a label that states 1/4 tsp. = .7 g (the crystals are larger so the same 1/4 tsp. now weighs much less than the sea salt).

1/4 tsp. = .7 g.  (multiply both sides by 4)

1 tsp. = 2.8 g.

So this salt is 2.8 g. per tsp.

You need 10 g - 10 / 2.8 = a little more than 3.5 tsp.


What can I add to this food to make it taste good? I want to make some sprats + potatoes + some cheap vegetables like cabbage soup. What can I add to it to make it taste better? Some types of spices or some other cheap type of vegetables maybe? As long as it's cheap enough and makes it taste good, I'm fine with it.

Mainly the thing that I'm having a problem with is the fish taste, seeing as sprats taste kind of like herring, and boiled herring doesn't taste very good.

Pickled herring tastes great, so does salmon and other fish. Especially smoked. But not boiled sprats.

Note that I'm not looking for options like baking or frying the fish, I'm looking for a solution to the current problem, to add something, not to change something in this "recipe."

This question may get closed, but there are still some standard answers why broth doesn't taste good.

Number 1) salt, broth must have salt or some seasoning that gives the broth some character, otherwise no matter how else it may be good, it will taste dead and flat.

Number 2) there are certain triads of veg that need to form the basis of broths even if you use other ingredients in addition (like fish or chicken). Mirepoix is one of those, which is onion, carrot and celery. Another is the Cajun holy trinity of onion, peppers and celery, or the French duxelles of onions shallots and mushrooms. There is also the Portuguese refogado of onions, garlic and tomato.

Just a few days ago I made a ramen noodle soup that was cabbage based, but I still started with a mirepoix first, added cabbage and fish sauce, then after making the broth threw out all the spent veg, and tossed in fresh cabbage and mushrooms a few minutes before serving.

Make one of these the basis of your broth, and remember to salt "just enough" salt, not too
Much or too little. It requires tasting to get it right.


Can I cook my haggis from frozen? It's Burn's Night and I want to cook some Haggis. I froze my Haggis over a week ago. The packet advises to 'fully defrost before cooking'. After which it advises a 90 minute blast in the oven (or less so in microwave, but I would much prever oven).

It's 7p.m. here and I would love to eat my haggis tonight, is this feasible? How should I defrost it? Can I (as I'm tempted to) just stick it in the oven and let it cook through?

You 'can' cook it from frozen, knowing that a few things will suffer. First, the outside will be somewhat dried out and over-cooked before it is done in the center, depending on how hot the oven is and the cooking time. That being said, if your Haggis is pre-cooked, it should be OK.

You can also 'Hurry up ' the defrosting process by putting it under running water. This can affect texture, depending on what you are defrosting.

Finally, you can speed-defrost something by using warm running water, but this carries SOME SERIOUS RISK if you don't cook it right away. The bacteria will love the warmth and will start to multiply, but I have done this many times when I knew I was using a meat immediately.


Does ripening banans in a bag with other fruit harm the other fruit? Our office just got its first fruit shipment, which included an apology for the under-ripe bananas and the suggestion to put them in a brown paper bag along with an apple to speed up the ripening.  Does doing this harm the apple?

I'm aware of Why does a brown paper bag speed ripening?, which talks about why this works, but the focus there is on what's happening to the ripening fruit, not what happens to the catalyst.  We want to know if using one of the high-quality apples they sent us would lead to regrets.

By browsing this site I've learned that there are other ways to ripen them, including apparently just putting them in the bag without the apple.  The instructions from the vendor made me curious about the apple, though, so that's the focus of this question.

(If you make alternate suggestions, please bear in mind that we're in an office with limited kitchen facilities.)

It doesn't harm the apple, but it does speed up its ripening as well. And that risks over-ripening. So your perfectly crispy apples may begin to become mealy. Eventually they become targets for yeasts, molds, etc and start to rot. But it's not making them toxic or causing untoward chemical changes. They're all just speeding each other up.

Yes, you can just put them in a bag without the apple. They will produce their own ethylene (the gas that causes ripening, and which they make while ripening). It may take longer, since under-ripe bananas will put out less ethylene than a ripe apple, but just by a day or two. It's just a question of how hungry you are.


How to cook roast pork with a crackling wrap I bought a joint of pork from the market and they asked if I'd like them to put a crackling wrap on top - so obviously I said yes.  The crackling wrap seems to be a thin sheet of fat that she simply placed on top of the joint.

My question is - do I need to do anything different in the cooking process to cater for this, or just roast it as normal (with the crackling wrap on top)?

Lucky you! Not sure which cut of meat you have or what your normal cooking method is, but this crackling wrap can add a lot of flavor and moisture to your roast.  It`s great, especially with leaner cuts that can tend to be dry.

You want to season your roast as usual, but be sure to put seasoning between the wrap and the top of the roast (and on top of the wrap). You will want to cook the roast low and slow to your desired doneness.

The crackling wrap will act like a fat cap on top of the roast and slowly render the fat, essentially basting your roast as it cooks.

Rather than buy a pork or beef roast out of the case that has been trimmed all the way down, we usually ask the butcher to get us one out of the back that has not been trimmed. We then trim the bottom and leave the fat on top so that we can achieve this same result.


Questions about a recently purchased wok Recently I purchased a wok from a shop without asking too many questions. They mentioned that it needed to be seasoned, and I assuming, but not convinced, that this is a carbon steel wok.

My first questions is to get some information about the material of the wok. As can be seen from the images the material on the inside surface of the wok has these cracked ridges and is not the polished steel that I would have expected. The outside of the wok seems to be a different material, or perhaps is the same but just polished?

The second question is on the proper method to season a wok of this material?

Wok pics

I don't think those are "cracked ridges"; I think you have a hammered wok.  The appearance is an artifact of how they are manufacted, by hammering a steel blank into a form or mold.   It probably is a carbon steel wok, as that is the most common material used for the hammering method as far as I know.

According to this article at The Kitchn, you should season it as follows:

  Scrub your wok in hot, soapy water and then dry it over low heat on the stove.
  Turn the burner on your stove to HIGH and add 2 to 3 tablespoons of oil to the wok. I prefer peanut oil, but any oil can be used - sesame,
  chili, or canola. Coat the wok surface evenly with oil by tilting and
  turning it.
  Heat the oil and keep the oil spread across the surface until it starts to "glaze" the wok - in other words, it turns into a thin layer
  of film. Use a wok spatula to move the oil around and tilt/turn the
  wok to move the oil as well. Be careful not to spill any oil that
  would start a grease fire!
  Let the wok cool and the layer of oil will harden on the surface.


How do you make tomato paste? I have a garden every year and would prefer to use my own tomatoes for all my cooking.  I can them and make sauces, but haven't found a good recipe that describes the technique for tomato paste.  I need it to be thick like you buy at the store - I use this for sauce dishes, etc that I don't like to be too runny.  How would a home cook go about making tomato paste?

Tomato paste is just tomatoes with the water removed, essentially.  I'd slice the tomatoes in half and roast them (cut side up) at 350 degrees F for an hour (this will concentrate the flavour nicely and you can add s&p/olive oil/herbs/garlic if you want).  Then mash them through a sieve or food mill to get a smooth consistency.  Then put that tomato puree in a pot and just boil them down until it's as thick as you want.  As it gets thicker, you'll need to stir it regularly to prevent it sticking to the bottom of the pot and burning.


Citrus-smelling sourdough starter I have a batch of King Arthur sourdough starter that I mixed up several months ago and have been using ever since. I keep it in the refrigerator and feed it with 100 g of AP flour and 100 g of water once a week. I have made several hybrid loaves with it with no issues.
I have noticed that at the end of the week when I am ready to feed it, it seems to have an orange-pink coating that has a strong citrus smell. I assume that it is some kind of fungus. I live in north Florida. It does not seem to be harmful in any way; I've made several loaves since I noticed it and have never gotten sick.

Any idea what it might be?

UPDATE
Here is a picture of the starter. In the lower left, you can see an orange tint.

I'm pretty confident you can get rid of that with the Ed Wood "washing" process.

Stir hooch into starter. This stuff the microflora make to protect themselves.
Increase the volume 3-5 times with water
Stir until homogenous
Pour off 4/5ths of it
Tip in flour and stir until homogenous
If not a consistency you like then add more flour or water
Wait until it has risen double or triple
Repeat several times

Lactobacilli and yeast are just a lot more active than moulds when at room temperature, they will outcompete the mould spores. If there were a toxin you'd just be diluting it, but I've heard of people reviving prized cultures that had gone completely black.

Good luck!


How to make a lattice pie crust? I just made a lattice pie crust for the first time. The best I can say about it is that it wasn't a total disaster. So I would like to know what is the proper way to make it.

How much dough do I actually need for one lattice (let's say for a 26 cm pan)?
What crust thickness is optimal for the strips? (I had 3 mm, and it seemed a bit thin, they tore sometimes).
How many strips do I need?
What length should my strips be? Obviously, they should be longer than the finished lattice's size, because they weave over and under. But how much extra length do I need for that?
Is there a good technique for weaving which helps me make an evenly weaved crust? I had lots of trouble managing the strips in the middle (widest) part.
Once weaved, how do I keep the strips from moving around while I transfer the lattice to the fridge and to the pie?
How do I attach the upper crust to the lower crust? My pinching didn't produce too good a result.
(maybe part of the above) How do I make the edge of the pie aesthetically acceptable? Mine is one long lump.
How do I prevent the liquid in the filling from squeezing through the crust holes and flooding the crust?
(should probably have come first) Are denser or looser lattices easier to make?

I made a rather loose lattice, like this one:

But I have seen much denser pie crusts too, like this one.

I know this is a rather long question, if you people think it is better, I will split it into many small ones. Feedback welcome in the comments here or in chat.

There are two keys to this. First, work right on the pie and start in the middle. Second, fold strips back to make it easy to do the over/under.

This picture, from  http://localfoods.about.com/od/preparationtips/ss/latticepiecrust_8.htm, is kind of the aha! moment for me. Fold half of the vertical strips back, lay a horizontal strip, unfold the folded strips and fold the ones that weren't, repeat.

Trim extra length from the strips, and use eggwash to glue them to the bottom part of the pie, where it comes up at the edges.

You'll have extra dough what with the trimmings and all - just use it to make a freeform gallete or the like. If you have no extra pie filling, use jam, or butter/brown sugar/raisins. Way less trouble than trying to make exactly the right amount of dough for the lattice.


How much food to serve 100 people? I'm catering my own event for 100 people and need to know how much of each meat and side dish I will need. It will be buffet style and there will be a fair mix of men, women, and children.
I will be serving pulled pork, grilled chicken, mac and cheese, baked beans, potato salad, corn on the cob, coleslaw, raw mixed veggies, and dinner rolls.
I will be buying the meat pre-cooked so I just need to know the prepared amount needed.

I worked in an Italian place that occasionally did banquets. This is how we anticipated an adult serving:

Mains (meat / pasta with sauce / fish) 160 grams (or 100 grams of protein per adult, plus 60-ish grams of sauce, garnish, etc - this allows for a bit of extra)
Sides are 1/3 * 2 of mains, since people generally have more than one side. Roughly 2 servings at 50 grams each, for a total of 100 grams.
Bread you can do per person at just 1.5 * headcount, add more bread if you have more kids because kids tend to go for the bread.

I would strongly encourage you to drop one side dish, and suggest dropping the raw mixed veggies. You've got cole slaw there and corn, that's more than enough. Because at the number of items you have with absolutely no data on what tends to move the most, you're going to end up with a ton of extra food and likely fall short on what people wanted the most.

For the rest of this answer, I'm going to assume the mixed veggies are going away, because it really does simplify this a bit. You've got pulled pork and chicken, and sides that people (including kids) are equally likely to want. That's kind of important.

So let's say it's 50/50 when it comes to people that want pork or chicken (it never ends up being that, but it's a great place to start). You begin with:

Chicken * 160g * 50 / 1000 * 2.2 (conversion) is 17.6 pounds
Pork * 160g * 50 / 1000 * 2.2 (conversion) is also 17.6 pounds

Important: I don't know if your chicken is bone-in or not, if it's bone-in, add a third back into that number.

So say about 17 1/2 - 18 pounds of each protein. Ordering 20 of each isn't a bad idea.

Now let's calculate your sides assuming that people will want 3/5 of them regardless of what protein they want. That's simple, or 3/5ths of 100, or 60 grams per person of each. Do the math and the conversion and you get roughly, 13 pounds of each side.

Now again, factor the kids in. Kids aren't usually wild about potato salad, and if you're expecting a lot of them, ramp up on the mac n cheese. Likewise, if you know the crowd you're serving isn't really fond of things with gluten, ramp down on the mac n cheese. I wouldn't mess with your protein portions too much based on kids, it's better to have a bit extra and send food home with people than run out.

It's important that people RSVP and indicate any food preferences, allergies, etc - MAJORLY important if someone has a peanut allergy (make sure the folks preparing your meat know if that's the case). You may also find out that you need a lot more chicken than you thought.

In most cases I really recommend letting a caterer handle it, but it's not rocket science (in fact it's more guesswork than actual science). Make sure you handle the food properly (at 100 guests plus, did I mention that a caterer might be a good idea?) I don't know what's in your potato salad, but it needs to stay cold. Do you have the needed chafing dishes to do this, both hot and cold?

I never was responsible for banquets, though I did a lot of cooking for them to whatever amounts were needed - I have a lot of respect for banquet cooks and chefs because it really is an entirely different animal.


How to remove dirt from inside green/spring onions? I love spring onions (I believe they're called green onions in the US); I use them in salads and to add flavor.

The problem is, whenever I get them from the supermarket, they're filled with dirt.  No matter how much I wash them, and spray water inside the little stalks, there is always a considerable amount of dirt inside.

I'm a little bit confused as to what I'm supposed to do with this.

Is there a way to clean the dirt from the green section, apart from doing something nutty such as cutting open each stalk?

Or are you supposed to just eat the dirt?

This occurs pretty often with leeks as well.  The procedure there is to cut open the stalks lengthwise - i.e. one cut from top to bottom along the long axis.  This allows you to fan apart the layers to ease out any trapped dirt.

You could do the same thing with your green onions, assuming you don't mind cutting them lengthwise.  If you don't want to cut, you could try soaking them in a sink or pot full of clean water for a half hour or so, agitating them every now and again.  The water should get down the stalk and at least loosen up any trapped dirt.


How to cook for a big group I have to prepare a meal for a group of 60 people. I already have a recipe (Japanese curry with rice) but I have no clue how many of all the ingredients I need, because when I cook it for myself I just put things in the pan without measuring anything.

So that brings me to my question:
How many ingredients do I need (in total or pp)?

The things I use in the recipe are:
- Japanese rice (separate)
- potatoes
- sweet potatoes
- big carrots
- onions

I was thinking about 100 grams of (uncooked) rice per person, so 6 kilos in total, but I have no clue how many of the other ingredients I need in the curry itself, or what amount is normal for veggies in a meal.

I will serve sausages with the meal, but separate because of the vegetarians who are attending.

If you have time, make the dish at your normal size and measure everything you put in. This will allow you to get a recipe with proportions that you can use for your full party. Measuring weight is best if you have a scale, but volume should still be significantly better than guessing.

Say you make your dish and it uses

w grams potatoes
x grams sweet potatoes
y grams carrots
z grams onions

If this feeds 4 normal people, then for 60 people you need

(60 / 4) * w grams potatoes
(60 / 4) * x grams sweet potatoes
(60 / 4) * y grams carrots
(60 / 4) * z grams onions


Can a microwave oven cook chicken? The other day I was looking for chicken steak recipes, and most of them suggested to use an oven. They mentioned particular temperatures and times.

But the problem is, I am in Japan and I have a standard Japanese electric oven (電子レンジ) [microwave oven]. It doesn't have a temperature setting. It only has POWER in Watts and time settings.

200/500/700W are what I have to work with. So, what can I do to make a steak in that oven? Or can't I?

A microwave can cook a beef steak or piece of chicken to a safe temperature and make it edible, however the result is often tough and you won't get a crust of any kind on it.

When you cook something on a pan or on a grill/broiler the outside is exposed to a high temperature, giving the outside a chance to go through chemical changes like Maillard reactions and caramelization which give color and flavor. The food cooks from the outside in.

A microwave oven cooks by exciting water molecules throughout the food, penetrating up to about 1 inch depending on a number of factors. The energy is spread out rather than being concentrated on the surface, you never get to a high temperature on the outside, so you get none of that color or flavor. Microwaves also tend to cook meats and poultry too quickly, making them rubbery. You might be able to remedy this by using the lowest power setting in bursts. Turn the food regularly as well as microwaves tend to have hot spots. A lower power will also let things cook more evenly, as the hot spots will cook some areas faster than others.

You may get an okay result for chicken, however I wouldn't attempt it with beef.


How to get spongy slightly chewy pancakes? One of my favorite restaurants makes these amazing pancakes that are wide (12+ inches), pretty thin (1 cm?, fairly spongy/chewy and fried crispy on the outside edges.

I'm wondering what steps one must take in order to create batter that produces a spongy/stretchy product?  When I follow most recipes the pancakes comes out more cake/bread like.

If my description is lacking, the only thing I can compare the consistency to would be the pancake like bread that comes at Ethiopian restaurants, which I believe is called Injera

Side note:
These definitely weren't crepes though they were sort of shaped like them.  They didn't have the "eggy-ness" of crepes.

In my reading, injera is a sourdough-leavened flatbread, and it does indeed have the consistency you describe. I've made it with wheat and (the more traditional) teff flour. It's not sweet or quick-bread (in any sense!) but is fun, tasty, and worth a try to eat or make.

If I'm understanding correctly, what you're looking for is a pancake with qualities I'm often trying to avoid. :) Guesses on how to get where you want, based on what you've got so far, based on what I've done accidentally in the past. Apologies that this is all over the map.

Over-mix your batter. With quick-breads you often want delicate crumb; over-mixing will give you more gluten development (assuming wheat or other gluten-containing flour). This will have a more rubbery mouthfeel.
Let your batter rest longer. This will also allow gluten to develop (and/or relax), which might have a similar effect.
Use a harder (higher-percentage gluten) wheat flour. Flours will vary greatly in protein; try a high protein "bread flour" made with hard wheat.

These might help with the sponginess factor also.

Might also want to experiment with type and amount of leavening.

more or less quantity of baking powder, or perhaps baking soda optionally with some kind of acid (e.g., buttermilk).
yeasted pancakes! I can't immediately find a passable recipe link, but James Beard had a lovely (albeit a bit finicky) overnight yeast pancake recipe. Give it about 4 attempts before you abandon it. :)

Wackier suggestions:

Try soy milk. Unlikely to be how your favorite restaurant is accomplishing it's feat, but this might do something different because of protein or perhaps if there's other adulterants or thickeners like gums or so.
Go off the deep end: try a thickener like corn starch, arrowroot, carrageenan, xanthan gum, ...
Try a gluten-free pancake recipe or mix. Who knows!

Good luck! Have fun! And let me know if I've missed your goal.