Best meat replacements for a vegetarian/vegan? Let's compile a list of vegetarian/vegan meat replacements.

Generic replacements:

Seitan
Tofu
Tempeh
Quorn
Quorn Vegan Alternatives
Paneer
TVP

Commercial fake meats:

Tofurky (Roasts, Sausages, Deli Slices)
Lightlife
Morningstar
Worthington Foods
Boca
Simple Truth (not exclusively vegetarian/vegan brand)

Similar products (nutrition):

Beans
Mushrooms (Portobello, oyster, trumpet, so many more…)

Pardon my rampant vegerianism, but the trick is not to substitue meat at all.

I generally get my nutrition from other sources, without using meat substitutes at all.
Unless I really feel like a certain recipe that I used to like back in my meat-eating days.

Use beans, lentils and whole grains for protein.
Use nuts, seeds and avocadoes (or any other fatty fruits and vegetables) for B-vitamins.
Use beans (again) and leafy greens for iron and calcium.

So, it turns out my answer is a bit Zen.  Sorry.


Is it easy to make my own Vanilla Sugar? Some background: We had some visitors from Austria recently and they wanted to make a cake.

The cake called for a couple of ingredients not terribly easily obtainable locally and which I am not too familiar with. Quark and vanilla sugar. We understand from our friends these are pretty much staples in Austria. But we had to track them down.

We are experimenting with the left-over vanilla sugar in fruit crumbles and various other recipes where sugar is required.

Turns out vanilla sugar has a pleasant delicate sugary vanilla taste. But the product just seems to be caster sugar with a vanilla pod inserted.

When we run out can we carry on "making" more by just sticking a vanilla pod in 500g of sugar. Does it require a certain amount of time for the vanilla to infuse into the sugar? Is there anything more to it than that, or is it that simple?

P.S. The cake was called Topfengugelhupf, in case anyone is interested.

The best advice I can give is to use Alton Brown's recipe to get your timeline.

Vanilla sugar is very easy to make, and I hesitate to answer with a link, but my advice would be the same thing as he wrote, because this is what I was taught.

Basically, you want to cut the pod in half, and scrape the beans from the seed into an airtight container.  Then drop the scraped pods in the container, give it a shake, and let it sit for at least a week.  AB recommends 1-2 weeks; I tend to just let it go indefinitely until I need it.

A lot of people don't scrape the pod but I find that it adds a lot more flavor if you do it that way.


How to make Chicken Laksa taste more like To's restaurant? I've tried a couple of recipes to make Chicken Laksa but I cant get it to taste like this Malaysian restaurant (To's in North Sydney).

I've had the best luck with this recipe from Taste.

Is it just Red Chilli and Shallots I'm missing, or am I doing it wrong using laksa paste (Tean's Gourmet Malaysian Curry Laksa Paste)?

For a start, any Asian dish will be effected if the chicken stock is not good. Make quality chicken stock from whole chicken carcases, and take your time with it

In the case of Laksa, the key flavours are mostly in the Laksa paste (shrimp paste and lemon grass). If you don't have an equivalent of the one used at To's you will have an entirely different dish. A lot of effort can go into a Laksa paste (or for that matter curry pastes in general), in terms of exact ingredient ratios, roasting times etc, quality and freshness of ingredients etc

Laksa is often made with prawn stock, not chicken stock. Save the prawn heads and other fish bits, and boil them up for a very stinky prawn stock

Don't overdo the coconut milk/cream. Stick to one brand, and start with a lot less and see how it goes, if it is lacking, add more. Record what the magic amount for your favourite  brand is

Getting quality and fresh ingredients for Asian dishes is often a major stumbling block for truly authentic tastes. Making your own decent Laksa paste is near impossible outside of Asia. Western grown lemon grass, tastes like, well grass!

When you're next at To's have a peek in the kitchen, ask if you have too. And check what they use for Laksa paste. If it's out of a branded jar you're in luck, if it's homemade, it's back to the grindstone, literally

The recipe linked, does not seem like a very good Laksa recipe to me. Also a good Laksa is topped with chilli oil. This is an import part. It consists of a lot of chilli and a little garlic cocked in a cup of oil. Float a couple of spoons of this on each bowl as you serve it


Sardines without the nasty breath? I recently tried to do more with small canned fish. Despite the stigma, they're cheap and healthy and underutilized--what's not to love?

More than 3 hours later, I was mortified to find out that I was still burping up an ungodly fish smell. Clearly, this was not about oral hygiene, but rather the chemistry of the fish in my gut.

Suffice it to say, I would not want to put anyone else though this. Are there any ways to somewhat neutralize the bad breath with a cooking technique or food pairing?

My favorite way of preparing canned sardines, which hasn't yet caused me "fish burp", is:

Boil some whole yukon gold potatoes in heavily salted water.
Meanwhile, make a vinaigrette with red wine vinegar and the oil of the canned sardines (assuming they were packed in oil).  I prefer to make the vinaigrette quite acidic.
Toss with parsley and fine julienned shallot and season to taste.
Plate the potatoes smash them into an even layer.
Put the sardines over the potatoes.
Cover with the parsley salad.
Optional: Cover with sriracha to taste.

If there is any credence to the belief that lemon juice will cover up the bad breath, you could alternatively use that instead of the vinegar in the dressing.  Furthermore, the acid from the vinaigrette will help cut through the fattiness of the fish.  Finally, the potatoes will help "dilute" the fishy contents in your gut.


How to prevent my wide rice noodles from breaking after cooked? I’ve been making Pad See Ew a number of times. I cook my wide rice noodles according to the package instructions (place in boiling water for 6-8 minutes) followed by draining in a strainer and rinsing under cold water. However, they break when I place them in the wok to stir fry with the sauce/vegetables.

Any advice on how to prevent this from happening so they stay long noodles and not small chunks?

Two reasons I can think the noodle would break apart.

Your noodles are overcooked.
The noodles are sticking.

If you are stir-frying a noodle after cooking, likely I think the first would be the biggest factor. I would typically suggest undercooking the noodle first.

Cook it a minute or two shy of al-dente. It should be soft enough to stir-fry, but still "undercooked".
Drain and then stir-fry with enough oil to prevent sticking.
If the noodles at this point are still not al-dente, you can add some broth/water to the sauce and let it soften some more.


Should I top up pickling cabbage solution? I'm making a first attempt at pickling cabbage. I compressed some cabbage in a suitable container, and added hot vinegar with spices to it, making sure to fill it right up to the brim. I put it in the fridge.

The next day I take a look at it, and presumably the cabbage absorbed some of the liquid, since there's a 5cm or so gap at the top.

Should I add more vinegar to it and top it up? Or just leave it as it is?

Generally yes you should top up the solution, anything exposed to air even in the fridge will start to spoil.  Many pickling jars have an insert and/or weight that you can add at the top to make sure the food remains submerged.


Does cinnamon "spoil"? When cinnamon (or other spices) is past its "best by" date, I know that the flavor and potency will be less strong. However, is it still safe to use it on food?

(This came up because a co-worker asked me today whether he would be safe eating cinnamon that expired five years ago on a sweet potato at lunch. Why he has a very old container of cinnamon -- indeed, any cinnamon -- in his desk drawer, I didn't get around to asking.)

Yes it will probably be safe, but it might not be very good. Keep in mind if a sweet potato is cooked properly it doesn't need any seasoning at all. Bake it until it's dark on the outer layer of flesh and the potato will be so sweet you'll wonder why you don't cook it that way all the time.


Baking spread equivilent in the US I trying to find out what I could use to substitute "Baking spread"? It is in a British recipe and in the US, where I live, I've never seen this.

"Baking Spread" is what used to be Margarine, before most of the ingredients of margarine were banned [predominantly the hydrogenated vegetable oils & trans fats].

In the UK, the most famous baking margarine was Stork, which still exists in a new form. It is owned by Unilever, who publish this data on its formulation - Unilever: Stork

  Ingredients

  Vegetable oils in varying proportions (70%)(rapeseed, palm,
  sunflower), water, salt (1.5%), buttermilk, preservative ( potassium
  sorbate), emulsifier (mono- diglycerides of fatty acids), citric acid,
  flavourings, vitamin A and D, colour (carotenes).


Can you freeze soup? I am planning on making soup with my leftover turkey frame. I was just wondering if it is possible to freeze the soup and have it taste good when it is thawed. I am guessing it should be fine as long there aren't any noodles in the soup. Other than that the only ingredients called for are vegetables (celery, can of diced tomatoes, carrots, mushrooms) and spices.

What do you think?

Soup freezes great in my experience.  To freeze it for long term storage, you'll probably want it to be vacuum sealed.  In order to do this I freeze individual sized portions in Tupperware-style containers (make sure to leave enough room for expansion), and as soon as they're solid, vacuum seal those large "cubes".  They generally stack pretty nicely in our garage freezer.

In general soups should thaw and taste very good, some flavors even seem become stronger or seem to enhance and meld better with the freezing.  If you vacuum seal them as above you can throw them (still sealed) into a pot of boiling water for hot soup relatively fast!

As an aside, another great option with a leftover turkey frame would be to save it with previous odds and ends (carrot/celery ends, onion pieces, etc) in the freezer, and when you have enough make a simple stock.  You can then freeze the stock into cubes (in ice cube trays) for soup-making later, sauteeing veggies, in place of water for more flavorful rice, and a ton of other things.


Looking for meal-planning / grocery list software I'm looking for software (either PC-based, or web-based) that can be used for meal planning and generating shopping lists. What I'd like is for it to store recipes that I have, including their ingredients. At the beginning of the week, I would like to select recipes and side dishes for dinners and have it generate a shopping list of things necessary for those recipes. A nice feature would be for it to calculate calories, fat content, etc., for the week.

Is there such a thing out there?

Thanks.

Disclaimer: I am the owner of the company behind this service as well as the programmer of it.

Except for calculating nutritional data, http://bechamel.net does exactly this, if you are a registered user (which is free). Please note that there's not a whole lot of activity on the rest of the site though, and because of that, there's not a lot of development going on (that doesn't mean there are any plans to shut it down, there's not).

To use Béchamel for this, go to a recipe, click "I want to eat this soon", drag the recipe to the applicable day, go to the shopping list, and add the recipe. You can adjust servings either per recipe in the list, or globally in your profile. It will even coalesce equivalent ingredients in the shopping list (2 eggs in one recipe and 3 eggs in another will become 5 eggs in the shopping list).

Feel free to use it if it fits your needs.


How can I keep flies out of my kitchen? I'm very concerned about food safety, but at the same time, I like to keep windows open when I cook to get in a lot of fresh air.

Unfortunately, this has the bad effect of allowing flies to swarm in.  Lately, I've been having to cook with all my windows closed, and this makes the air in the room extremely stuffy and very uncomfortable to work in.

Is there anything I can use to keep flies out of my kitchen when I cook?

A few fly traps can help matters tremendously. Take a plastic bottle, like for water or soda, and slice it in two just below the neck. Now take the neck of the bottle, invert it, and place it inside the base of the bottle. Add a few centimeters of "bait". When I had a terrible fly problem last year, I learned that flies really like the energy drink "Rock Star". Go figure.

After a couple of days with three traps in my kitchen, I no longer had a problem.


What's the difference between Guatemalen, Honduran and Salvedorean Cream? All three are available at my local mexican market. How are they different?

I haven't actually had these creams (I might have to try next time I'm at a Latin grocery), but a little research indicates that Guatemalen cream is something like a hybrid of American style sour cream, and creme fraiche; Honduran cream is saltier, and Salvadoran one is sweeter.

Here's a review.


gluten free hot cross buns What can I add to make my gluten free buns a decent size.  I have tried for years. There has to be something to lift them and make them to the same size as our regular hot cross buns

Hot cross buns are a yeast bread, and without developed gluten most of the air produced by the yeast will escape from the dough. Without developed gluten you won't get the same lift, and your texture will be much more crumbly.

The typical solution to this is to add xanthan or guar gum to your dough, this will act as a gluten substitute and help trap air and improve texture. Both are readily available in many countries. You can also add both at the same time.

Suggested amounts for bread are:
Xanthan Gum - 1-2tsp per US cup of flour (about 125g depending on the type of flour)
Guar Gum - 1 1/2 tsp - 1tbsp per US cup

It depends on how stretchy you want your dough to be. Hot cross buns tends to be pretty stretchy, so if it were me I'd add 1 1/2 - 1 3/4 tsp per cup of flour and see how you go. Let us know how it goes!


Garlic Cloves Size Differentiation I understand the ins and outs of peeling, what a clove is, mincing, crushing, etc., as I am new to cooking and learning one step at a time.  My question is about size.  When I purchase a bulb of garlic, the size can vary a lot, even down to several different sizes of cloves in one bulb.  If a recipe calls for eight cloves, the size variation can be pretty big.  Do I just pick a size and make sure they are all the same, or do I purchase in a particular way?  Or, is a clove a clove?

A clove is not a clove. There are 2 main types of garlic:

Hard Neck: hard neck garlic varieties have larger bulbs (or head as you call it), and fewer, larger cloves
Soft Neck: soft neck garlic are generally smaller than hard necks, and have more but smaller cloves

Hard neck varieties are on the whole stronger flavored than soft neck varieties, although a lot of it depends on the richness of the soil and how well it was farmed. All garlic varieties have larger cloves on the outside and smaller ones on the inside.

As for how many to use, if a recipe calls for 8 cloves I generally treat one large hardneck clove as 2-3 cloves, and softneck cloves on a 1:1 ratio. Some of the varieties I grow are very strong, so if I'm using a red duke I may just use 1 clove for a recipe that calls for 8. Generally the rule I gave will work fine for store bought garlic.


Can you make Sous Vide Steak in a Pressure Cooker? I have been reading about sous vide cooking and it seems like sous vide cooking is done under pressure. I want to try cooking a steak sous vide in a pressure cooker and then searing it to create a nice crispy edge at the end. Is this possible with a pressure cooker? What specific temperature and time frame should I consider for beef steak? Are there any weight graphs available to determine the time required?

I'm afraid you have gotten something wrong.

Sous-vide and pressure cooking are, as far as food physics is concerned, on the opposite ends of the scale.

Pressure cooking allows you to increase the boiling point of water, thus reducing the cooking time. (Bad idea for a tender steak, btw., as soon as you exceed a certain temperature, the proteins in the meat change irreversibly and the meat gets tough.)
Sous-vide uses temperatures way below the boiling point, combined with a very extended cooking time. This means you can safely and slowly bring your steak to the desired core temperature without the risk of overcooking and thus toughening the meat. A final sear is just a finishing touch, not technically a necessity for cooking the meat. (But don't skip it, it's for flavour and eye appeal!)

So no, we can't give you a temperature / time chart for steak in a pressure cooker - because the results would be very unsatisfactory.


How many risings for bread? The background: I baked bread a couple of days ago, and I was out of yeast, so I borrowed a couple of packets of Fleischmann's Instant Yeast from a neighbor. I'm used to dry active yeast, which requires two risings. My neighbor told me that with the instant yeast, she kneads for only five minutes instead of ten, skips the second rise and shapes her bread right after the first. I tried it her way, and I have to admit, it was the weirdest bread I've ever encountered. Even though the dough ended up smooth and elastic, the resulting bread was noticeably sweeter than my recipe, and it had a texture closer to cake than to bread.

The question: When using instant yeast, how many rises are needed to make a non-sweet bread? Do I have to stick with just one, or is it permissible to use two rises with this yeast? Definitely it needs more kneading, as my neighbor's recipe didn't form proper gluten chains, but should it have the second rise as well? Will something bizarre happen if I use two rises instead of one with instant yeast (asked as if this wasn't bizarre bread in itself)? Or should I just refrain from baking bread until I can get some proper -- read: dry active -- yeast?

You should still use two rises if that's what the recipe calls for.  The main differences are that instant yeast does not require proofing, and you can use a bit less of it because more of the yeast is viable.

The full article is behind a paywall here (https://www.cookscountry.com/how_tos/6140-yeast-101), but here's a short excerpt summarizing the substitution (instant and rapid-rise yeast are the same thing):

  Active dry yeast must be activated (or proofed) in warm liquid before
  using; rapid-rise yeast can be added directly to the dough and does
  not require proofing, but the test kitchen has found that doing so
  does help to speed up its rise. Rapid-rise and active dry yeast may be
  substituted for each other if you follow this formula: 1 teaspoon
  active dry yeast equals ¾ teaspoon rapid-rise yeast.

And, though you refer to active dry yeast as "proper," I find I get better and more consistent results with rapid-rise yeast.  And a pound of it is really inexpensive at my local grocery store, too.  It keeps for months in the freezer.


How do I clean these gloves so they do not leave marks? They leave marks on dishes in the pattern of the gloves.
Details

Tried soap, bleach, ammonia, vinegar, scalding water, microfiber cloth.
Only the fingertips leave marks and are sticky.
Palms or back of fingers with the same pattern are not sticky, nor are flat parts.
Brand: Playtex
The marks on glass come off with microfiber cloth and pressure.

Clean rubber gloves can still leave marks. My guess is that the finger pads are more wornout (at microscopic level) and you've reached the not so smooth 'meat' part of the rubber that will stick and rub off on things.

Try with new gloves, or surgical latex gloves, or if marks on glass drive you nuts (like some of us), you can try microfiber gloves over rubber gloves.


Can salmonella show up in a raw-egg product once it has already been made? I know raw eggs should be avoided, especially by sensitive people (children, pregnant women), as they may contain salmonella. Let's say I make a big tub of ice cream, with raw eggs, and several people have some with no ill effects - can I assume that this particular tub of ice cream is salmonella-free?

There is probably still some risk, so I wouldn't assume it was safe; however, ice-cream is frozen, so I wouldn't worry about ice-cream at all, unless the egg-mixture was left at room temperature for a significant time before freezing.

As far as I know, salmonella is in the faeces of the chicken, if present. Some faeces will often stick to the shell. In very rare circumstances, which I believe are negligible, the salmonella penetrates the shell and infects not only the white (less of a problem) but also the nutritious yolk, and then the whole egg is contaminated. But this chance is probably too small to encounter in one's average life time.

What has normally happened if the faeces are contaminated and people get sick, is that some of the salmonella present on the outside of the shell contaminates the egg when the shell is broken, or the extremely small number of bacteria present in the white get a chance to infect the whole egg (chance ca. 0.005 %, see below). (Note that in many countries the outside of the shell of supermarket eggs is supposedly sterilized.) At that very moment, however, the number of bacteria present in the egg white should still not be enough to make people sick. But if the egg is then left to sit outside the refrigerator for several hours, and enough faeces touched the egg white, the bacteria may have enough time to multiply and make you sick. If the egg is properly refrigerated, chances are much lower, but I do not know the exact numbers.

One often sees grey spots and smears on the outside of eggs; I believe this is normally chicken faeces. Even so, salmonella is quite rare, such that the healthy shouldn't be worried about making ice cream, mousse au chocolat, and such from unpasteurized eggs. But if a young child, an old person, a pregnant woman, or someone with health problems were to eat the ice cream, I would not take the chance and use pasteurized eggs. If the food is contaminated, the fact that people do not get sick who have eaten it immediately upon making it offers little evidence, because the bacteria haven't had the time to multiply yet. I believe you will normally not get sick from eating contaminated steak tartare, for example, because it is eaten immediately.

However that may be, ice-cream is frozen: as Derobert said below, salmonella probably cannot multiply below 5 °C, and certainly not below 0 °C, so ice-cream should be safe under all normal circumstances, that is, if it was frozen shortly after breaking the eggs. Normal temperatures in refrigerators slow down the growth of the bacteria as well: perhaps you shouldn't worry too much about anything that is kept at 7 °C anyway for a few days.

  The inside of an egg was once considered almost sterile. But, over recent years, the bacterium Salmonella enteritidis (Se) has been found inside a small number of eggs. Scientists estimate that, on average across the U.S., only 1 of every 20,000 eggs might contain the bacteria. So, the likelihood that an egg might contain Se is extremely small – 0.005% (five one-thousandths of one percent). At this rate, if you’re an average consumer, you might encounter a contaminated egg once every 84 years. — The Incredible Egg, Medicine Net


What is the purpose of vinegar in this lollipop recipe? I found a recipe for lollipops. It uses 2:2:1 ratio of sugar:water:vinegar. What exactly is the role of vinegar in it?
The recipe was:

10 spoons of granulated/crystalic sugar
10 spoons of water
4 spoons of vinegar
food coloring

Combine ingredients and cook approx 10-12 minutes since water has started to boil. All water has to boil out. You can test if it is boiled enough by making a drop.

It is simply to add tartness to add some balance against the sugar. The water from the vinegar will evaporate and leave behind acetic acid. There is an old fashioned type of hard candy known as vinegar candy. Your lollipop is essentially just that candy on a stick.


Are there books describing the general principles of cooking? Perhaps my question is too weird, but whenever I read a book on cooking, it's just a list full of recipes. There are a lot of examples but there are no explicit laws or general principles of cooking  - here I must admit that I don't browse this kind of books often, so perhaps this is pretty common and I still didn't have the luck to find them.

In the cooking books I've looked, as I said earlier, there are a lot of examples. So one must practice a lot to learn how to improvise or change or invent. I'd like to know about principles from scratch - examples are welcome, but the principles are more important than the examples (in my search).

The best resource for this kind of questions is On Food and Cooking: The Science And Lore Of The Kitchen, by Harold McGee. It's best described as 'a cookbook without recipes', even though there are a couple of them in there.

It has several sections and describes in detail what various foodstuffs contain and how they are affected by different cooking methods. For example, there's a chapter on Bread, which goes through the whole process from kneading the dough to the crumb going stale.

It's very thorough, but also very readable. (I have read both the 1984 and 2004 editions cover-to-cover, and I don't think I'm the only one...)


Is it okay to leave uncooked chicken over night but refrigerate it in the morning and then cook it? I bought some chicken and I accidentally forgot to put it away and I put it in the fridge in the morning and I want chicken can I like boil it and the bacteria will boil away or what?

We don't refrigerate food because it needs to be cold at the moment of preparation, we refrigerate it because it keeps the "bad stuff" from growing in the first place. Something that's been at room temperature overnight has had plenty of time to grow harmful bacteria, and putting it in the fridge won't change that. It may slow the growth of further bacteria, but you're already in the "do not eat" zone, so you'll only be chilling bacteria-ridden, inedible meat.

While boiling will kill the bacteria that has grown, it may not eliminate nonliving toxins that those bacteria produced while they were alive. Even if you boil it, the chicken is not safe to eat.


Training on molecular gastronomy and sous vide I am looking for suggestions on opportunities for learning techniques directly from a skilled professional, preferably in a classroom setting.

I have been dabbling in molecular gastronomy/precision cooking techniques in my home for a couple years.  I have relied on the Khymos online reference, videos from Texturas, and a few cookbooks.  Fun as this has been, I feel I am at the point where I want to have an interactive session with someone skilled in the art, but as I cannot commit to a full-time culinary education, I need to find a recreational-level course.  I would be willing to travel for a well-crafted session.  Does anyone have any recommendations or ideas?

I'm not sure if you've encountered this in your research but it looks like it might be full of good information.

I would personally buy this book and fully consume it, but I personally learn better that way.

José Andrés Puerta has an M.G. restaurant in your area (minibar) that appears to be more experiential.  You could probably get a few good questions in during courses.


Difference between types of yeast While double checking a recipe I realized I might have used the wrong type of yeast. There is instant, active, liquid, dry and fresh yeast. What are the culinary differences between all the types of yeast?

Yeasts are pretty much interchangeable but have different fermentation qualities. Most recipes will specify the kind and amount of yeast. Adding more yeast than called for makes bakes rise a little faster and taste yeastier, and this appears to be a regional preference in the US and in some other countries, so amounts called for in recipes will vary.

Instant yeast is dry yeast that is as it suggests faster acting, for a faster rise. Good for pizza dough that doesn't need a long rise, for example. Also, the ratio of instant yeast to flour is around  one-half percent, about half that of active yeast. (2.5g of instant vs. 5g active per 500g of flour). Instant yeast can be added dry to the flour and salt (which inhibits yeast, so it's good to place the salt opposite the yeast in the bowl) when combining the dry ingredients and does not require proofing in water. Typically you will add very warm (@ 100ºF/40ºC but no warmer than 120ºF/48ºC) water to a recipe using instant yeast.

Active dry yeast is typically granulated and takes longer to rise than instant yeast. The ratio of yeast to dough is 1% (thus 5g active yeast per 500g of flour) and the yeast should be proofed in lukewarm to warm (about 75-90ºF / 23-32ºC) water with about a tbsp. of granulated sugar to ensure it foams and is live. Active dry yeast is proofed then added to the dry ingredients. More complex flavors and texture can be obtained by slower rising so active yeast is good for many breads. Active dry is the yeast typically used by my mother for her homemade white bread and cinnamon rolls, and results in a mildly yeasty bake with a fairly tight crumb structure.

Live yeast is a more perishable yeast typically found in refrigerator sections of the grocery. Its ratio to flour is 2%, double that of active dry yeast (10g of live yeast per 500g of flour) and should also be proofed in warm water with sugar as with active dry yeast to ensure it is live, and added to the combined and mixed dry ingredients after proofing. It can spoil due to mold and lasts about 2 weeks in the fridge.

Wild yeasts include the sourdough starters, which contain both wild yeasts from the air and probiotics (good bacteria). These wild yeasts can create a complex flavor and texture and take longer to prepare. Sourdough starters must be continually fed (some bakers feed daily, others refrigerate starter and feed weekly or as used for recipes) and typically will take 4-6 hours to prepare a mature starter batch (sometimes called a "sponge", "poolish", or "levain") for a recipe. These starter batches are either mixed with all of the recipe's warm water then added to dry ingredients (except for salt) before autolyze (the period where the dry ingredients are mixed with water and left sitting to absorb the water and start developing gluten) or mixed with a little water and added along with the salt after the autolyze. Fermentation times for rustic or sourdough bread using wild yeasts are often extended by refrigeration of the dough for 12 to 24 hours during the rise, and the longer fermentation results in a typically more open crumb with large voids and varying amounts of sourdough flavor to the bread.

When in doubt, best results come from following the recipe when choosing the type of yeast. All yeast types can be used with varying amounts of different types of flour, and the dough working techniques and fermentation times will vary depending on the flour; typically whole grain-heavy recipes will take a longer time to develop gluten but will have deeper and "more rustic" flavor, and may need several hours longer to rise to achieve the desired texture and flavor.


Can Nutella be substituted for Peanut Butter in Peanut Butter Fudge? Want to substitute Nutella for peanut butter in M&M Peanut Butter Fudge.

The critical differences in a fudge recipe will be the amount of fat, nut solids, and other ingredients that might interfere with texture and setting. Since fudge gets its texture from a cooled suspension of solids in fat, and having the right concentration of sugar cooked enough to get to the correct temperature, these are the critical ingredients to consider for this type of substitution. From the nutition information:

Nutrition Facts
Peanut butter, smooth style
Amount Per 2 tbsp (32 g)
Calories 188
Total Fat 16 g

Nutrition Facts
Nutella, original
Amount Per 2 tbsp (37 g)
Calories 200
Total Fat 11 g

So, Nutella has soy lecithin as well, which can affect texture. You will notice that the fat percentage, as grams per gram of substance is considerably lower for nutella, but it has sugar, cocoa powder etc. This means that less fat = more binding, but other ingredients = less binding.
The long and short is you have to experiment. Nutella has other ingredients, too, like milk or milk solids and generally has a lighter texture than peanut butter. Experiment and you will then have to adjust other ingredients, like chocolate type or powder, butter, cream, etc... The greater sugar content is also important.


Is cheese or pasta a good source of protein? I am eating "Wheels & Cheese":

As you can see, there's literally nothing but cheese and pasta here. The nutrition facts on the back says that there's 11g of protein in it. I've never heard of cheese or pasta being a good source of protein.

Where does the protein come from?

Both contain protein. The amount varies by the type for cheese, although it appears to be about 20% - 35%. All dairy contains protein. There may also be milk or cream in the sauce, which would also be a contributing ingredient.

Pasta also contains protein, but less than cheese. The amount depends on the type of flour used. It will also increase if egg is used in the pasta. If you look at Barilla, their normal penne has about 7g of protein in a 56g serving, or 12.5%.

Looking at the ingredients, there appears to be a couple of different types of cheese in the pasta as well as milk and cream. They would all contribute protein.

Beef is about 29% protein. So dairy is on par or better than meat as a protein source, but pasta falls well short of it.


How can I make the most effective use of high-quality olive oil? I was recently in an organic market and sampled some of the finest olive oil I've ever tasted.    I bought a bottle, and I'm now looking for ways to maximize my enjoyment of it.  I'm familiar with dipping bread into the oil, and this seems to bring out the taste with few distractions.  On the other hand, mixing the oil in a salad dressing hides some of the qualities among all the other tastes (herbs, vinegar, etc.).  My question is, what are some simple ways to maximize the enjoyment of olive oil?

In this part of the world, around the rim of the mediterranean, olive oils is very definitely used to dress a salad. This is not usually done by emulsifying everything in a shaker though. Generally, the salad is seasoned with salt and pepper, then drizzled generously with olive oil and a little lemon juice or good wine/balsamic vinegar. This allows the flavour of the oil to stand, and it is nicely complemented by the other secondary flavours.

Olive oil is also used to complement the flavour of fish, baked in foil in the oven after being brushed with olive oil and seasonings. This imparts a special aroma and flavour to the fish.

The best, and simplest in my opinion, is when for supper or breakfast we just slice some vegetables (cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers, carrots) and drizzle them with olive oil, to be eaten as part of the meal.


Is aluminum pressure cooker reactive? Will it give "off" flavors? I have an aluminum (not stainless steel) 5 qt pressure cooker that I bought fairly cheaply at a kitchen ware outlet store. It seems the traditional pressure cooker application for canning doesn't matter much what the material is: as long as it doesn't explode under pressure. I'm interested in using mine to cook stocks, beans, etc. The instructions I received with mine indicate several models of several materials and sizes.

Does the aluminum composition risk giving off, tinny flavors when cooking stocks and stews? Is there any other reason to believe I may have purchased the wrong "kind" of pressure cooker?

Provided the surface is bare aluminum, it can create off flavors primarily when cooking acidic foods. To avoid this, many aluminum pans are either coated with stainless steel or anodized for a less reactive outer coating. If your pan is bare aluminum, it should be fine for most cooking applications, but you may not want to use it to cook lower pH foods.

Cooking with Aluminum


Can I decrease salty flavor after brining a turkey? I brined my turkey but it came out tooooo salty. Any suggestions to save it?  It's really good, juicy and tasty.  I will cut it up and cook in turkey gravy, but is there something I can do to remove some of the salty taste?  I will not be using the turkey drippings from this bird. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

If you make good turkey gravy with little or no salt, and simmer and store the turkey in that, I think that's the best you can do. The hard part is making good gravy with low enough salt, since low salt turkey flavor is hard to find.

You might consider a bit of an odd idea. You can make milk gravy with ground turkey, much like what in the Army we called SOS. Use the bare minimum of salt.

Serving the turkey with that, perhaps in an open-faced sandwich, could be good. Consider that with slightly under-seasoned mashed potatoes.

Good Luck! Let us know what you end up doing and your results.


Artificial Wood Chips/Smoke for smoking meat I am looking for alternatives to using wood chips for smoking meats.  I would like the process to actually smoke the meat.  Liquid smoke/marinades are not what I'm looking for.

Has anyone heard of any projects or items that could be used?  I'm thinking of a more environmentally friendly way to smoke meats without relying on wood such as apple, cherry, hickory or mesquite.  The cost of obtaining these woods in some parts of the world make it cost-prohibitive.

I'm confused.
You don't want fake smoke but you don't want to use wood? Are you asking for a synthetic substance you can burn that will not be worse for the environment than burning wood?

First of all- burning wood is not bad for the environment- that carbon has not been sequestered and so it would be released into the atmosphere anyway when the wood decayed.

Secondly- mesquite is a cancerous weed here in Texas and I encourage everyone to smoke with it to restore the damaged ecosystem.

Thirdly- You can't fake the taste of smoking with wood. That's the point. Even liquid smoke is actually made by distilling real smoke.

(I originally posted a comment and decided to modify it into an answer.)


Can I add cocoa butter to white chocolate chips to promote a smoother melt? My daughter sent me a recipe for gingerbread biscotti which has macadamia nuts and then dipped in white chocolate.  The recipe says to "melt according to the instructions on the bag".  Well, there are NO melting instructions on this bag of Ghirardelli White Chocolate Chips.  After reading umpteen stories online about the hazards of melting white chocolate, NONE of them mentioned adding cocoa butter.  Is it because most people don't have cocoa butter on hand (I use it in my soap making) or is it that it doesn't work?

White chocolate melts smoothly if there's nothing wrong with it. While I'd sometimes melt milk or dark chocolate in a microwave, for white chocolate I always use a bain marie, heated gently and stirred very gently.

If you try to heat it too fast it will catch and never melt. This can also happen if it's old, or has been stored in fluctuating temperatures.

There's a lot of cocoa butter in white chocolate anyway so adding more wouldn't do much to the melting. It might however be desirable to make the chocolate less sweet.


North African Dessert-Alexandria I had a North African dessert when I was in Montreal called an Alexandria. I've searched high and low, but haven't been able to find an ingredient list, recipe, or any information on the dessert's origins. Does this dessert go by another name?
It was very similar to a baklava, but had almonds instead of walnuts and wasn't as sweet. It didn't appear to have honey in it.
I found it at a farmer's market so there isn't a restaurant site or number to contact. I've attached a photo in case that is helpful.

It looks to be from the "Le Ryad" Baklava place at the Marché Jean Talon.
You could get in touch with them via instagram or facebook; the product is in one of the photo on instagram.
It simply might be an inhouse product with a "Random" name that sound exotic.


How can I reproduce a "gamey" flavor? I have fond memories of deer hunting with my uncle when I was younger... not only for the thrill of the hunt (as I'm sure most do), but also for the spoils: venison. Apparently, I was the only one of the kids who enjoyed the meat (I guess I have weird tastes?). It wasn't until recently that I identified the specific taste that I enjoyed: gaminess.

Anyway, it's incredibly difficult to buy venison where I live, and the prices on the net are unacceptable. So, that leaves me looking for a flavoring I can simply add to what I eat. Unfortunately, this has not been easy.

I have seen "liquid smoke" before (which I was told tastes exactly like how it's described), but nothing close to this.

Where can I find a "liquid game" or a similar sauce? Can I reproduce this flavor with other spices?

From a cooking perspective any imitation sauce or marinade is never going to deliver the quality that venison has to deliver. We have a massive deer farm close and the price is still ridiculous .
My suggestion is that you find a good butcher that will age beef for you on the bone ,or you could age it yourself if you have a climate control area to keep it at the correct temperature. Anything over 30 days on the bone will start to give you the gaming flavour you are craving. Nothing is going to match deer, but aged beef or really any type of cattle (eg buffalo etc) will give you the gaminess if it is aged. Restaurants are getting up to 180 days, which I could only imagine would melt in your mouth but the flavour would be intense.


What are the characteristics required for a liquid be considered milk? I know that the liquid from animal (cow, etc) are considered milk. But how do you know feature a liquid to appoint as milk? There's the vegetable liquids (soy, nuts, ...) which are also considered milks. What liquid needs to be a milk? the juice is a milk, for example?

It has to remind people of milk in looks and consistency and not be too strongly flavored of something else.

Really, there is no authority which appoints stuff as "milk". If it looks sufficiently like milk, it is likely that people will call it milk. If it is edible and available in large quantities (unlike the milk of, say, Euphorbia) people will try using it as milk - drinking it pure, adding it to coffee, making crepes with it, etc and thinking of it as just another kind of milk.

If you are unhappy with this answer because it doesn't list an objective decision criterion for dividing stuff into "milk" and "not milk", you need to realize that we are not dealing with mathematical sets here, but with cultural categories. Cultural categories are ill-defined, and membership in one is determined primarily by perceived similarities to the prototypical member of the category, in this case visual similarity to cow's milk.


What is the best way to store fruit in bulk to make smoothies? Next year for university I'm moving into a new house with a large chest freezer (a big upgrade from my current freezer drawer). I've always been a fan of making fruit smoothies with banana, milk, yoghurts, berries and what not however the biggest problem with this is that since I've moved out I can't afford to keep buying fruit for it to go off. So I have essentially 2 questions

Firstly is it realistic to buy fruit from the market where its cheapest, I'm thinking all fruits from apples to bananas and from berries to mangoes and then just throw them straight in the freezer, will this preserve them ?? Then the next day get them out and throw them straight into a smoothie.

Secondly and more preferably would I be able to buy a lot of fruit make it all into smoothies then put these into containers and freeze them, then get them out the night before so they will defrost and I can drink them for breakfast in the morning.

Thanks in advance

In professional smoothie/frozen youghurt/fruit shake shops, you'll usually see the fruit frozen in small pieces for easy portioning.
So raspberrys and blueberrys are fine, but you'd wnat to quarter strawberrys and cube mangoes or apples or kiwis or whatever before freezing them.

The freezing process itself is important to the strucutral integrity of the fruit, and will affect its texture. However, if you only want them for smoothies/blended drinks, that isn't very important.

As a usage note, remember that a home freezer compartment is usually at -4 degrees Celsius, whereas a chest freezer (deep freeze) would more commonly be at -18 degrees. A good blender won't mind either way, but your lips might find it a bit cold.

Also, you might find you can buy the fruit pre-frozen from the same vendors the shops get them, in which case it will be prepared for you, and all you need is to defrost and blend. Aside from saving you the work of peeling and chopping, their freezing process may be better, and it'll probably end up being cheaper too.


Is there a standard measure for coffee grind size? There is a lot of measurement involved in brewing coffee: the weight of the grinds, temperature of the water, etc. But as far as I can tell, there is no standardization on the size of the grinds. Recipes usually call for hand wavvy sizes like "set the grinder midway between drip and espresso grind" (for an Aeropress). Even an approximate standard would be more useful.

I'm curious if there is a standard unit of measure for grind size? If there is, do grinder manufacturers use or publish this information?

A quick search (surprisingly) revealed no standards for describing the grind. Neither the "International Coffee Organization" nor the "National Coffee Association USA" offer much more than: (from NCAUSA)

  The Grind

  If you purchase whole bean coffee, always grind your beans as close to
  the brew time as possible. A burr or mill grinder is preferable
  because all of the coffee is ground to a consistent size.  A blade
  grinder is less preferable because some coffee will be ground more
  finely than the rest. If you normally grind your coffee at home with a
  blade grinder, try having it ground at the store with a burr grinder.
  You may be surprised at the difference!

An author at "About.com" does offer an rather functional definition, though it lacks the authority to be called a standard:

Coarse - Very distinct particles of coffee. Like heavy-grained kosher salt. Downright chunky.
Medium - Gritty, like coarse sand.
Fine - Smoother to the touch, a little finer than granular sugar or table salt.
Extra fine - Finer than sugar, but not quite powdered. Grains should still be discernable to the touch.
Turkish - Powdered, like flour. Most inexpensive (blade) grinders will be unable to grind this finely.


What previously manual techniques should I use a stand mixer for? I recently added a KitchenAid to my kitchen on Valentine's day, so that's the source of my question.

I know plenty of things can be done by hand or with a stand mixer. But recipes don't always mention when it's an option. So what general manual techniques should I try using the stand mixer for instead? And if I do, are there any adjustments I'll commonly have to make, or can I just throw things in and let it go?

For instance, when making pie crust I used to just dice a stick of cold butter and slice that into 8 oz of flour adding water a drizzle at a time until I got the consistency I wanted, then I would roll that up into a ball. But it can also be done with the stand mixer. I was making pie crust for chicken pot pies, and halfway through I said... hey, that's why I got a KitchenAid. I just tossed the whole unfinished mess into the mixing bowl and let the flat beater do it's job at speed 1. It seemed to work just fine and I rolled out perfect crusts. But the recipe in the instruction book was different from my normal crust (more ingredients).

I use mine for anything that needs to be kept fairly cool, but doesn't necessarily need to be "cut" the way the blade of a food processor does. Anything that requires mixing meat, in particular. Burgers, meatloaf, etc. retain a better texture when the meat isn't warmed by your hands. Aside from those, we mix ground meat for jerky and meatballs in the mixer.

Hope this helps. Enjoy your mixer!


Mexican Cheese Sauce? There's a Mexican restaurant in my hometown that serves (their term) 'Arroz con pollo'.  The dish itself seems incredibly simple -- it's pretty much just rice, chicken, and an incredible cheese sauce.

I've spent countless hours on google looking for a recipe for something resembling this sauce, but there doesn't seem to be one definitive version of arroz con pollo, so I haven't had much luck.

Can someone point me in the right direction?

That sounds like a standard queso cheese (typically found on your chimis etc.)

If you are looking for a terrific queso recipe, there are myriad. However, two tips for any queso:

seek out "Chihuahua Cheese" (its a mild white that melts very smoothly and has a subtle flavor)
pepper and cumin and paprika roasted first are your friends, but if you add more than a little, they are your worst enemies. (also, fresh roast jalapenos for ideal flavor, don't use diced.)


Does resting fish before serving affect its texture or taste? More and more recipes seem to turn up that tell you to rest fish before serving. Not for very long, but still. That seems not right to me. You rest meat to reabsorb juices and relax,so it seems more tender. And to even out temperature differences.

Fish is a completely different kind of "meat", and I don't see why resting would help here. For one, the cells have less tough walls, so it is tender anyway. And the temp issue seems less important as well, being less dense than meat.

You could argue that dense fish flesh, such as monkfish, is more like meat, and therefore resting is necessary, as I have heard. But that seems a very dubious reasoning to me. But the chefs on the same level as Ramsay propose to do this...not that these chefs are necessary right and up to date with the WHY's of what they do, of course.

Would resting fish change the its taste or texture in any noticeable way?

Would resting fish change the its taste or texture in any noticeable way?

No, in short.  The only mention of 'resting' of any fish is from the Lophius genus (aka Monkfish, Angler fish).  It is suggested to allow the monkfish to rest if you are going to slice it before serving to reduce the amount of liquid released.

I would suggest to portion the fish before cooking, and serve asap after cooking.

I think mainly the term 'resting' for fish is inappropriately used, as the fish is actually undercooked and the carry over/residual heat completes the cooking before it is consumed.


What's an easy to use juicer that juices oranges as well as other fruit? I would like to buy a juicer for making fruit juice, including orange juice.

But the juicers that I've seen fall into one of two categories:

Work for all fruits, but you have to peel oranges.
Work only for oranges without peeling (just juice half an orange at a time).
Ideally the juicer should be electric rather than manual (easier) (new requirement)

Is there any combined juicer for these two functions?

Ideal other features are easy to wash (dishwasher), gets a good amount of juice out of each fruit and long product lifetime.

(Backup info on question: Can I ask a recommendation question?)

Update: thank you for the answers so far. Based on that, I've added the electric requirement.

I like the OXO good grips citrus juicer. It has a reamer for fruit the size of orange which flips over for smaller fruit such as lemons. I think it beats a wooden hand reamer because it holds the juice and filters out seeds. No peeling is necessary. It's manual, but I think that is easy.


Should I wash newly bought plastic tumblers? Just bought these cups from IKEA.

Beside from being dusty, I asked myself whether I should put these once before usage into the dishwasher to "wash away toxics" that might be on the surface of the cups.

On the other hand, this might be pure superstition.

My question:

Should I dishwash plastic cups/plates before first use?

Generally, yes, to wash off any chemicals that might have been used to finish the plastics or rinse any sprue away. If you're going to be putting the dishwasher on anyway, you might as well throw them in.


Shelf life of dried egg pasta & pasta hanger or fridge? I have gleaned that fresh pasta (egg and flour) can be "left on the counter to dry". My question is, how soon will the dried fresh pasta go bad. Secondly, where should dry pasta be stored? In the pantry or in the fridge?

When in the pantry, maybe twirled on itself and inside a container. My problem with pasta hangers is that it attracts ants.

The most accurate answer is going to depend quite a bit on your environment, the following things are factors:

How humid is the air where you dry it?
How clean (e.g. absence of mold and particles, dust, etc) is the air where you dry it? You'd be surprised how some dirty air ducts can contaminate a room.
The average temperature of the room

There's also the moisture content of the pasta itself to consider. Under ideal conditions (semi-warm, relatively dry and reasonably clean air), pasta that has been dried correctly can last for several weeks at room temperature on a vented tray covered with some wax or parchment paper. I try very hard to consume it within that period, ideally within a day or two of making it.

If you do need to store it longer, you want it in an evacuated container of some kind (vacuum sealed) and then freeze it. Make absolutely certain the pasta is completely dry or the crystallization of the remaining moisture is going to affect it very negatively.

If you need to make a lot well ahead of time, consider using a bit less egg than your recipe calls for, kneading more, and then simply refrigerating the pasta in an otherwise evacuated container (plastic bag, etc) similar to how you'd purchase fresh pasta at the grocery store. It can stay refrigerated in that manner for up to a couple of months, and you can dry it fully prior to using it.

It's hard to write a blanket 'safe' answer here too, as oils you might add to your recipe could be closer to being rancid than you think - use common sense above everything else and rely on your sense of smell :)

In short, if you're going to end up freezing it ... you're kind of defeating the purpose of making it fresh to begin with, a good brass-cut pre-made commercial durum would almost be a better idea at that point. But if you do have to freeze it, try to do so in the absence of air and moisture, or you'll end up with something that sort of defeated the purpose of making it fresh to begin with.


How to apply transglutaminase brand "Saprona TG F" I have transglutaminase/activa powder branded "Saprona TG F". The ingredients are Salt, Gelatin, phosphate and transglutaminase. The dose is 1%. I'm making chicken roulade - should I apply it as a powder, a slurry or some other method?

Through trial and error I discovered that applying this brand as a powder is the best method.


Can I cut chili powder with Paprika? I live in Africa, but cook with US recipes often. I have found that the locally available chili powder is MUCH more intense than it is in the US. So much so that making a custom taco seasoning yielded some near-inedible heat. For the moment I have solved this by bringing in chili powder in bulk. For many reasons, this is not ideal.

I have heard that one can mix in Paprika (being a milder chili powder) in order to cut down the intensity. Does anyone have experience with this? Do I just need to experiment with various 1/2-1/2, 1/4-3/4 ratios in an effort to find a suitable level of intensity? Any thoughts on how to do this without going through the process of cooking an entire dish?

This recipe list chili powder as:

2 tablespoons paprika
2 teaspoons oregano
1 1/2 teaspoons cumin
1 1/2 teaspoons garlic powder
3/4 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper, or to taste (optional)

There are other mixtures, but this one seem basic enough. The "heat" comes from the cayenne pepper. The other spices round out the flavor.

So I'd mix everything but the cayenne pepper and use that mixture to cut your present chili powder.


How to saute dried and fresh mushrooms together? I'm preparing a creamy mushroom pasta. The first step is sauteing and browning the mushrooms. The recipe calls for a variety mushrooms including chanterelles. Unfortunately, I can't find any fresh chanterelles so I opted for dried ones.

Considering the rest of the mushrooms will be fresh, what should I do? Should I rehydrate the dried mushrooms with water beforehand? Or let the moisture from the fresh mushrooms rehydrate them in the pan?

I would .. hydrate the dried mushrooms in enough near-boiling water to cover, plus a bit, for as long as you like. Lift the mushrooms out and reserve the soaking liquor. Sauté the soaked mushrooms along with the fresh

If your recipe involves a reduction stage, of wine, stock,  or some other ingredient, add the liquor, and reduce alongside..

Or, if there is no step like that, add to the mushrooms at the end of the sauté step, and reduce to a tablespoon or two before proceeding with the recipe.

Take care not to add any grit or sand that may accumulate at the bottom of your soaking liquid: give the soaking mushrooms a stir or shake every now and then to coax it out, if there is any. Lift the mushrooms out rather than straining,  and carefully pour the liquor off the lees, when the time comes.

As Sdarb points out in the commentary, you can measure the quantity after soaking, if you need to. That won't be exactly equivalent to the same measure of fresh mushrooms.. but if you're not wildly out, in a recipe of this kind, that shouldn't be critical. Taste as you go.


Does anybody know what company made this spatula? I received the following spatula and I want to buy another one, but I can't find it. Does anyone recognize the company?

I think the answer is right there. It is an INOX spatula.
This one has the same ridges on the handle.

http://www.100x100chef.com/index.php/eng/shop/collection-retail/inox-retail2/retail-plating-spatula-detail.html


How can I prevent a thick layer of tikka marinade on my chicken? I make chicken tikka on and off and I normally marinade the meat for over 24 hours every time I do it. I notice that, after grilling the chicken it still has a cake-like coating. I have noticed this regardless of whether I use yogurt in my marinade or not. Is there anything I could do to get more of a drier, less cakey coating in the end product?

Use a higher chicken-to-marinade ratio, so a small amount of chicken isn't sitting in masses of marinade. If you see chicken tikka marinading in a restaurant, you'll note that is only lightly coated.
Failing 1., simply wipe off the excess marinade before cooking.


Buckwheat flour. Can it be used for pizza dough, and what other uses/properties does it have? Buckwheat flour. Can it be used for pizza dough, and what other uses/properties does it have? I remember making crepes from buckwheat flour and I'd like to use it more often. I'm fond of pizzas, the child that I am, and was wondering about why do you hear so little about alternative flour being used for pizza dough.

You can use buckwheat for pizza dough, but it will not be anything like an actual wheat flour. Buckwheat isn't actually a grain and doesn't contain gluten. The gluten is what gives pizza dough it's chewy texture (and makes it stretchable when you're tossing the pie).

You need to substitute something like xanthum gum to make up for it.  If you want to go down this path, google 'gluten free baking' for advice and directions.

On the other hand, buckwheat makes an excellent partial flour substitute in pancakes.


Oven temps for cooking in enameled dutch oven What is the temperature needed to bake 1.5 lb boneless pork chops with 2 potatoes and mushrooms in an enameled dutch oven and for how long?

I would suggest an oven at 425 degrees Fahrenheit (218 degrees Celsius) and to use a meat thermometer for an internal temperature of 145 degrees Fahrenheit (63 degrees Celsius). It would probably take about 20-25 minutes if you sear the meat before putting it in the oven.


How can I get a thicker coating when enrobing something in chocolate? I'm trying to make dark-chocolate-covered marzipan balls, using Valrhona Guanaja 70%.
My problem is that the chocolate coating is too thin; the end result has a) too low a ratio of chocolate to marzipan, so the flavors aren't balanced, and b) a hole in the bottom, where I place the balls on a silicone mat after coating them. I'd really like a thicker (1-2mm) coating, including on the bottom.
My first thought was to let the chocolate cool and thicken further before dipping; below 26C/80F. That did help to get a thicker coating, but reheating it from that point, after the temperature dropped too low, seemed to cause issues with the tempering of the chocolate.
Googling this, I found endless questions about how to achieve a thinner coating, but nothing about how to get a thicker one.
It seems possible to get an arbitrarily thick coating using a spherical mold, but marzipan can't really be piped into the sphere.
Is there a trick to getting a thicker layer when enrobing? Do I just need to be more patient with my approach of letting the chocolate cool, or do a better job of tempering it in the first place?

The first suggestion is to let the chocolate get cooler - which will help in two ways:
Less runny material from the start and less time until the chocolate starts to set, resulting in less runoff overall.
Yes, it means you will be walking that fine line between just right and too firm, but my favorite trick for that is to prepare a comparatively large amount of dipping chocolate and rely on thermal mass to help me get through as many pieces as possible.
Holes at the bottom can be avoided by using a wire rack instead of a mat, although this can come with its own pitfalls.
And ultimately, you can always double-coat your marzipan to get a thicker coating.


Can the non-stick coating be removed from cookware and still be useable? I have an old but very useful baking sheet. It is heavy-gauge aluminum, and in reality having had it for so long it is unlikely that I would be allowed to replace it. Here is a photo to give any idea what I am facing.

My question is whether the remaining non-stick coating can be safely removed. At this point we are probably eating some of the coating so I think it would be better to do this if possible.

Removing it mechanically (sanding with waterproof P100 and then again P200, steel sponge, sand blasting, ...) will remove the coating and expose the pure shiny Aluminium.
The advantages of Aluminium are :

light
cheap
conducts heat well.

The disadvantage of Aluminium is that it's a health risk if used improperly, so:

Let it oxidise for a few weeks after you've removed the coating so that it becomes dull again: Al2O3 is much harder than Al and has less risk of leaching into your food.
Use a lot of fat (oil, butter, ...) when using the baking sheet in the future
Clean it with soft materials (sponge, cloth, ...)
If it needs a thorough cleaning, you'll see the soapy water becoming grey: that's the Al2O3 being removed, so let it oxidise again for a few weeks.

If you take above precautions, you'll get another 25 years of usage out of it without it becoming a health risk!
:-)


How can I infuse olive oil safely? I am infusing olive oil with truffles. How can I do it safely? Heating the oil destroys the truffle smell and pickling it is a sure way to do the same. Are there any other methods? Perhaps some type of filter that will eliminate the particulates?

Edit This answer assumes that you want a shelf-stable oil. If you are going to use up the oil immediately (or within 3 days and refrigerate), methods like the pressure charging from moscafj's answer don't pose a safety problem.

Simply, you can't. I am not sure how industrial oils are made, maybe they are irradiated or simply made under sanitized conditions and at the end microbiologically checked to ensure that a given batch isn't contaminated, but it isn't something you can do at home.

There are no methods accessible to home cooks to prevent botulinum in low-acid foods. Heat won't work, as botulinum bacteria don't just live like any other bacteria, they also form spores which will survive temperatures which would have incinerated other species with a single form. You can never reach these temperatures in a watery medium, e.g. in canning purees, in industry it is done in canners with much higher pressure than home pressure canners. In oil, you could theoretically reach the temperatures as you are not limited by the water's boiilng point, but as you pointed out, the flavor will change a lot. In the worst case, you will have to bring the oil to above smoking point to ensure safety.

Filters won't work, as any filters small enough to hold back bacteria are too tight to permit something as viscous as oil to flow through, and botulism toxin isn't "particulate matter", it is dissolved in the food.


Vanilla Extract Vodka Quality Most of the recipes and guides I have read for making vanilla extract say to use cheap vodka or whatever is available; however, if I am going to have it on my shelf for the next few years, I want to make the best extract I possibly can. Is there any benefit to using good vodka over the cheap stuff, or am I throwing my money away?

Also, I don't drink, so I have no idea what the best Vodka is. I did some searching and the consensus seems to be that Russian Standard, Grey Goose, and Skyy are the top 3 mid-range vodkas. What do you recommend?

I have family in Reunion Island - one top seller of bourbon vanilla. The only vodka they have there is imported, and rhum (or rum if you prefer to spell it that way) is readily available.

Personally I would recommend:

150 ml / 5 oz. of neutral alcohol (e.g. rhum, vodka, eau-de-vie)
2 beans
8 weeks (6 min) without light, occasional shake

You can also use syrup instead of alcohol, but concentration / flavor will be different.

5 oz agave or sugar cane syrup
2 beans

AFAIK:

vodka is not mandatory
use any vodka you like (e.g. could be in your cupboard already)


What can I add to boiled lollies to stop them from melting in humid weather? I've made a gingerbread house this year and popped in stained glass windows. The windows are made of crushed up boiled lollies.

I baked the gingerbread, then added the windows, then baked the bread a further 15 minutes. Five days later the windows are melting because of air humidity. How can I stop this from happening? Is there something I can add to the boiled lollies to keep them hard?

To be precise, the lollies are not melting. They are absorbing water from the air.

If you're really just crushing the lollies (not melting them and re-casting them into sheets of "glass") then you're accelerating the absorption process by increasing the surface area.

Does it need to be out in the open for five days? I'm surprised the gingerbread hasn't gone soggy (actually, I'm surprised it's not been eaten). I would consider putting it in an airtight box until it's ready to serve.

Otherwise, you might be able to make the windows last longer by reducing their water content. Put the crushed lollies in a pan, bring them to the boil and let them simmer to lose more water. Use a sugar thermometer to find the necessary stopping point. Be careful not to burn the sugar. Then pour onto a flat greased surface, to solidify into "glass".


Is it safe to drink the water that basil seeds are soaked in? Is it safe to drink the water that basil seeds are soaked in?
Also would it be okay to drink that water with and/or without removing the soaked seeds?
Thanks and regards :-)

If the basil seeds are safe, the water should be also safe. If you have food-grade basil seeds (i.e. non-teated seeds) and didn't soak them for too long (so pathogens had enough time to grow), this should be safe. I think soaked basil seed last as long as soaked chia seeds, 2 weeks.

There are even desserts / drinks with basil seeds and the water in which they were soaked in.

Source


What type of lubricant should be used on oven door hinges? My oven has squeaky door hinges.

There are many types of lubricant available ( traditional, silicon, Teflon etc.), all with different pros/cons.

I'm curious, is there a "best practice" choice for what should be used in this case?

Although they don't get as hot as the interior of the oven oven hinges are exposed to a significant amount of heat, so you should pick a lubricant which isn't going to burst into flames when exposed to heat, dry out, or gum up. My usual go-to oil for the home is 3 in 1 oil, but I wouldn't use it here because of the heat. 3 in 1 make a high performance spray lubricant which handles high temperatures, sprayon make a food-grade high temperature lubricant spray, and you can also get spray on bearing lube (for cars but is good for high temperature) - all of which would be fine for this application.

I would recommend a spray on lube because oven hinges tend to be hard to access, and the spray will help force it in better, however if you gave good access you could get a tube instead.


Problems with my technique in making a Belgian Liege Waffle I have been following a very nice recipe to the dot. However, I encounter some problems. My final texture is more similar to a bread than a waffle.

Is this because I use trimoline instead of honey? Some recipe use baking powder / diet sprite, what is this for?

Also, could I freeze the dough after I mix it with the pearl sugar? How long could the mix dough stay in the freezer?

The reason why your Liege waffle has breadlike texture is that it is supposed to have a breadlike texture.

While currently in America, waffles tend to have a uniform texture with small variations, and everybody has come to expect waffles within this range, in Europe waffles are any dough or batter baked in a waffle iron. I have waffle books which contain waffles made from batter, cookie-dough-style dough, bread-dough-style dough, and others. They are all baked in a waffle iron, but their final texture ends up being similar to bread, cookies, etc., becasue this is how dough works.

Traditional Liege waffles are a type of waffles made from firm yeast dough, like bread. And the texture is more similar to bread than to a standard American waffle. You didn't do anything wrong, you got the result intended by the recipe author.

If you don't like this type of waffle, you should search for a different recipe.


Why aren't my potatoes cooked? I had a 3lb roast on a bed of baby potatoes (smaller than a ping-pong ball but larger than a grape) and onions at 375F for almost 3 hours. The roast came out great (cooked to 150F internally), but the potatoes are still raw in the middle. Shouldn't they have cooked by then? And what can I do in the future to prevent this?

As per comments: There was also a pizza stone in the oven. Could that have played a factor? It was preheated with the oven, as suggested in Storing Pizza Stone in Oven. The oven was preheated about an hour (my oven doesn't beep, just has a change in light color, so sometimes we forget we were preheating and wander off).

Put the roast on the bottom and the potatoes around the edges. Cover everything with red wine (or whatever fluid you are using)


Not sure of slow cooker setting in my multi pot I have a Cook's Essentials K22739 multi use pot.  It has 2 pressure cooker settings,  and one setting each for steam, brown, warm and slow cook.  If I have a small pork roast whose packaging says to slow cook with one inch of water on high for 4 hours or with one inch of water for 4 hours in a pre-heated 350 degree oven, how long should I slow cook it in my pot which has only one setting for slow cook???

I found the manual (PDF) for it on the QVC website. Reading that - which is frustrating because it's in a strange order - if you find what's labeled as page 8, it says that the cooker runs at 180 F, which is the equivalent of the low setting on a traditional slow cooker:

  [. . .] The longest cooking time is 9 1/2 hours with a temperature of 180°F. Note: 180°F is the lowest setting on a traditional slow cooker.

The Crock Pot website suggests that the equivalent of four hours on high is eight hours on low. Which seems to be supported on other sources, too.

So...

With your multi-cooker, you'll want to cook your roast for about 8 hours on the slow cook setting.


Can a rice cooker make amounts much smaller than its rating? I'm looking at getting one of Zojirushi's induction rice cookers and the 5.5 cup model is currently a little cheaper than the 3 cup model. I'm a single guy and will only be making a cup or two of rice unless I'm entertaining.

Is there any reason not to go with the larger version so I can use it when entertaining as well?

As I note in my answer here, I use the exact model you are considering. It is one of the best gadgets I've purchased. It has no problem making any batch down to 1 cup in size. Being able to cook the full 5.5 cups when entertaining is invaluable as well.

I will sometimes cook more than I need for lunch the next day, as well as making fried rice for the following night's dinner.

Bottom line: you won't regret the purchase.


What's the best way for inexperienced cook to finely cut cabbage? I really like home-made pickled/fermented cabbage (russian style; which is bigger slice size than typical Sauerkraut; I would say 1mm thick). But I'm not a great cutter - I am very slow and find it quite difficult to do good even fine cut of a whole head of cabbage.

What is the best (two criteria for "best": fastest and/or lowest-learning-curve) way to finely cut cabbage in those amounts (1-2 medium sized heads) for someone without devoting 10,000 hours of training to get the professional chef techniques?

I'm OK with using tools (mandoline? grater?) as long as a reasonable quality tool that's recommended can be had for $20-$30 range - e.g. "Buy $200 cuisinart with special blade" isn't quite in scope here.

You can try using a good long sharp knife and a large wooden cutting board like Michael mentioned but it can be slow if you're inexperienced. Other cutting boards will dull your knife quickly which is why I mentioned a wooden one.

The only other way I know is to use a mandoline. You'd have to first cut the cabbage small enough to use but I know for myself, it would be a lot faster than using a knife. (And I'm an experienced cook too!)

If you do much food preparation and cooking, a mandoline is very useful to have. I'm not sure if you'd consider $50 (rough estimate as I don't know where you live) expensive. The best, in my opinion, for a home cook is a Börner mandoline. It's German made and does a great job! I'm not advertising their product - only stating that I think it's one of the best. You can check this video that compares a number of different reasonably priced mandolines.
https://youtu.be/I15-htHJF_I


Steeping coffee in milk I'd like to add coffee to my hot cocoa recipe, but I'm not interested in using instant coffee.  What do you all think is the best method- maybe I should heat my grounds & milk together and let it steep?  Has anyone ever tried this?

When my husband and I were trying to make good coffee ice cream, we did just that -- steeping the coffee beans in milk. It worked quite well.

If you have a French Press, you can use that with coarsely ground coffee beans. Heat the milk to a simmer or even a very low boil, and then use it in place of water in the French Press. This was how we got the best results for our ice cream.

You can also get good results from whole beans. Heat the whole beans in milk in a pot, and then let sit in the refrigerator overnight. Strain out the beans, and you'll have strongly coffee-flavored milk.


Should I thaw cherries for a sour cream cherry pie? I have a bag of frozen cherries and want to bake a pie with them, adding creme fraiche. I'll probably use a recipe intended for sour cream, as they are easier to find. But they tend to use fresh cherries, so they don't have recommendations on how to add frozen cherries.

What will happen if I add them from frozen? If I add them thawed? Which is likelier to taste better?

If it matters, I am planning this to be an open pie (no upper crust).

Thaw and drain them.

If you use fruit as a main ingredient like for a [your choice of fruit]pie, using frozen cherries will cause two things to happen:

They will significantly increase your baking time, because you need extra oven heat to thaw them. This may cause your crust and cream mixture to dry out or overbake.
They will exude a lot if liquid which can

throw the filling-to-binder (eggs, starch) ratio, causing problems with the pie setting or the filling falling apart and
cause soggy spots both in the cream filling and the crust. And mushy crust in a pie is pretty yuck.

Note that there are cases where using frozen fruit is fine, but that's typically recipes like blueberry muffins, where you add just a comparatively small amount mixed into a batter and local slightly damper spots aren't much of a problem.


How to prevent watery dippy eggs I cook dippy eggs as follows:

Bring a pan of water to the boil (enough water to just cover the eggs)
Gently lower the medium-sized eggs (usually just one or two) into the water
Reduce the heat to a simmer
Time for 4 minutes

The problem is that when I crack the egg at the top to eat it, I am greeted with quite a substantial layer of water inside (floating at the top). Once I scoop the water out though, the yolk is pretty much perfect for dipping.

I've tried cooking for a bit longer (such that the yolk starts to harden - yuck) but I'm still finding water inside.

Why is this happening? And how can I prevent it?

The albumen in eggs gets more liquid as the eggs age. Storage in a warm place can also exacerbate the effect. Use the freshest eggs possible, and store in a cool place, if not the fridge.


What is the closest substitute for the cheese in urnebes? Urnebes is a Serbian salad that contains cheese. Searching for recipes for said salad, I noticed that there are a lot of difference in the chosen cheese. Some say feta, some say cottage cheese, some say sour cream, some say a mixture of those, etc.

While I think the authentic cheese would be a Serbian one, I discovered that the Serbian cuisine has a version of each of those kind of cheeses.

Which Serbian cheese is the used cheese for making urnebes and (assuming I won't get my hands on that kind of cheese) what is its best substitute?

Wikipedia, as well as all 12 serbian recipes I found specify full-fat white brine cheese (cow or sheep milk). Only one of them called for a type of cream in addition to the cheese.

In Western Europe, Turkish groceries can carry typical Balkan white brine cheese. If you don't have access to one, buy feta. Cow and sheep cheese are considered substitutes in Balkan cuisine - the cooks are aware that they have a difference in flavor, but they use what they have at hand, similar to the way that an apple recipe will call for crisp apples, but won't specify Pink Crisp or Elstar apples. So both cow and sheep feta will do in principle. But I have noticed that supermarkets sometimes carry expensive real Greek feta, which is high quality, and only cheap western-made cow feta-style cheese, which is of inferior quality and has a rubber texture. If you are not sure of the quality, go for the real imported feta (which will be sheep), not the feta-style.


Uses for meat that has been in the freezer for 2 years? I have some old chicken breasts, thighs, and a steak vacuum sealed in my freezer. I think it is between 1.5 and 3 years old.

I'm assuming it won't have a good texture if I cook it and eat it normally. What can I do with it? Can I at least toss them in with the rest of the bones when I'm making chicken/beef broth in my Instant Pot?

It's perfectly safe, even if not a perfect texture, so I'd cook it and eat it. The only question is how.

I suggest that you first mince or finely chop it (even in a food processor) then brown it and cook it in a sauce. Chilli would work well, or curry, or pasta sauce (perhaps in a lasagne). If just cut up small, risotto is another option. These are just examples of what I would do. I've done this quite a lot with meat that I've cooked and frozen, less often with raw meat but still successfully. If you're worried about the texture, you may want to spare your nerves by not planning to serve it to guests, but it will be fine.


Earthy tasting frozen salmon I got out some wild sockeye salmon that had been in the freezer for quite a while (several months at least, not more than a year). It was vacuum-packed, no freezer burn, sealed properly, etc. I cooked it very well but while it smells and looks okay it tastes earthy and a bit undercooked (even though it's flaky and opaque). The texture is fine. I stopped eating it but wondering what this is about.

I cut it in half while it was still raw and washed the knife and then used it for salad ingredients. If the knife wasn't washed well enough could the raw salmon cause me a problem? Thanks!

Edit: Does anyone know what the taste might mean? Or if it might mean it's not really edible? I did eat a bit and am fine but I guess we have taste buds for a reason so I should probably avoid it. I am curious as to what might have gone wrong.

Not likely. Wild salmon is pretty low on the list of foods that can cause harm because of cross-contamination, particularly salmon that has been frozen for an extended period of time. Undercooked fish is considered risky more because of potential parasites than bacteria. Months in the freezer is going to pretty much eliminate any risk of consuming a live parasite. Plus, the toxins that can be found in fish are not particularly common in salmon. If the fish didn't spend too long in the "danger zone" either before or after freezing, you've got very little to worry about.


Is it possible to transfer E-O157 from simply touching something with contaminated hands? Today I went to eat at a local hamburger chain with my family. It was the type of restaurant where you can clearly see the workers making and prepping the food. While observing them make our food, I witnessed the cook take out the raw hamburger patties (with a gloved hand), put them on the grill, grab the buns and cut them in half, line up the plates, place the toppings on the bun, then continue cooking the hamburger, all with the same gloves. Being a little paranoid about my children getting unnecessarily sick, I immediately informed the manager and requested new buns and toppings with fresh gloves. The manager didn't seem to think a whole lot about it, but still granted my request, but I definitely had to spend the rest of the stay with some death stares from the staff. After leaving, I started to wonder if I was being a little unreasonable since I have been seeing this practice more and more at different restaurants and fast-food joints.

I have read ALOT of questions on this site about the risks of cross contamination but most of it involves best practices and food being cooked together, like this, and this, and this.
Based on all my reading, I already know this is not good practice, but what I am curious about is if any of the bad stuff, like E-O157 can actually be transferred to the buns and toppings in this manner.

Am I overreacting about the risks associated with this practice, or are the risks relatively low? More specifically, is it even possible to transfer enough of the bad stuff to make someone sick by using the above practices?

It's not unusual for a line cook to handle several things at once, but I can certainly understand your concerns. It would be preferable if the cook could pick up the burger with a seperate utensil, dedicated to the burgers. With someone else assembling the plate (bun, side dish and "fixin's").

The issue(s) with E-O157, as I understand them, are primarily a result of contamination during production. In NC, an establishment that grinds their own meat is allowed to serve the food product at any temp the consumer requests (even to the point of Steak TarTare - yum!). The reason is simply that they are in a more controlled environment and the risks are significantly lowered/eliminated. Businesses that have their ground beef processed off-site are limited to cooking it well enough to kill the bacteria. Typically, "well done".

Cross-contamination is a "thing", but a restaurant employee is more likely to think of it as: don't put the potato salad spoon into the spaghetti sauce, or don't stick the meat thermometer into the soup pot. Picking up lettuce and then reaching for a slice of tomato... is generally "ok". I do agree that it would be unappealing to see what you described.

The US Dept of Agriculture/USDA provides much more information on their website.


How can I ensure that my pizza is properly cooked? I occasionally make homemade pizza using pre-made dough (similar to this), however I can never seem to get the dough cooked properly all the way through. It ends up with nicely done edges but an underdone middle, or a properly cooked middle but overdone edges (occasionally I get lucky and get overdone edges with an underdone middle too).

Generally for cooking it I follow the instructions on the packaging, about 15 minutes at about 450F. It is cooked on an upside-down cookie sheet.

What can I do to get a pizza that is the proper done-ness throughout?

Get a pizza stone. It is important to preheat the stone with the oven. Put it in the oven before you begin to preheat, if your not in a hurry...let the stone and the oven hold at temperature for a while before you put the pizza on it. The stone will radiate heat into your dough evenly. Stones are 'better' than metal (like a cookie sheet) because they release the heat into the dough 'more evenly' If you have a 'pizza pan' putting that on the stone will work well also.
Completely preheat your oven. Many electric ovens use the broiler coil (on top) to heat the oven to the desired temperature faster, if you attempt to bake your pizza during the pre-heat stage the top is likely to cook faster than the dough. You may eyeball your pizza as done because the top 'looks' ready, when the dough is not yet finished.
One of the common culprits in an 'underdone' middle is that liquid has soaked into the dough causing it to cook more slowly. If your sauce is too thin you might want to thicken it up some. Also, spreading a thin coat of soft (not melted) butter over the top will form a barrier to prevent the liquid in the sauce from soaking in. Finally, you might try putting the grated cheese on first and then spreading the sauce over that. As the cheese melts and the sauce warms it will settle into (approximately) the expected layers, but if the sauce has been kept from the dough for a few minutes it will not soak in as much.

If you aren't satisfied with these results then you might try:

Get an oven thermometer. The temperature actually in your oven will vary from 'the dial'. It's expected, just know what you're actually getting. You want your oven to be 'very hot' (professional pizza ovens will range from 600°F - 900°F) your home oven is unlikely to get 'that' hot but 450°F should be close enough to do the job.
As a last resort... par bake the crust. Put the un-covered crust in the oven for a few (5ish) minutes first, pull it, then top it and return it to the oven.

I hope you find something here to help with your pizza woes.


How common are worms in dried mushrooms? I was excited to try cooking with dried mushrooms until I saw some comments from people who found (many) dried worms mixed in with their dried mushrooms.  How common is this?

It must be pretty widespread (at least in morels) as evinced from this pretty extensive list of references to worms in fresh (and dried) morels.  From what I've read, the presence of worms seems to indicate that the mushrooms are of lower quality and might have been harvested too late.

  Dave Fischer's North American Mushroom Basics - Some fungi have
  evolved to take advantage of multiple food sources. For example, the
  Oyster Mushrooms you can buy fresh at many grocery stores break down
  and digest cellulose, but they have also developed mechanisms for
  literally trapping and then eating tiny little "worms" called
  nematodes; this gives them access to extra nitrogen...".

  Mycological Society of San Francisco - Avoid morels whose caps are
  soft or mushy, or become granular when rubbed: they are too old and
  wormy. Morels occasionally contain insect larvae that drop out during
  the drying process. The mushroom-lovers we know have disregarded this
  aspect of morel enjoyment. After all, they are very small worms.
  Because of the irregular nature of its surface a morel cannot be
  rubbed or brushed. You may find this worrisome, wondering about what
  kind of things lurk in the dark pits ready to jump into your b'chamel
  sauce...

  Sandy’s April Product Report - When purchasing morels, check carefully
  for worms and excess sand. The worms should be easy to spot as they
  are white, in contrast to the dark mushroom. To clean, gently brush
  off any sand or dirt with a soft pastry brush.


How can I get a corn tortilla to be pliable enough to work with? I like the flavor and texture of corn tortillas (store-bought), but they always tear apart whenever I try to use them in a non-flat way - enchilada-style, for example.  How can I make the corn tortillas soft enough to work with (to roll around some ingredients, for example)?

You need to warm them up a bit. There are a number of ways to do this

20 or 30 seconds on a griddle (or a comal if you have one)
wrap a stack in foil and place in 325 oven for until warm
wrap a stack in a clean towel and steam them using a steamer
slightly moisten a towel and wrap it around a stack and microwave them for a bit

If you've warmed them and they are still tearing then your tortillas are no longer fresh.


What can I do with under-ripe eggplant? The eggplant in my garden was doing very well up until a hard frost a couple of days ago (it's late December, and this was inevitable). Some of the plants died and I picked the eggplant.

I have several variety of eggplant, but they are all rather hard. Will they ripen indoors? And, would it be possible for me to use them in eggplant parmesan before they are fully ripe?

let them sit in a sunny window with southern exposure until they get a little soft. Then put them in a paper bag for a couple of days and they should be edible


how much alcohol is cooked away in preparing agar agar? I make vegan jello by dissolving agar agar in boiling water.  Sometimes I add liqueur (e.g. Grand Marnier) for a little flavoring and sweetness, in which case I would add about 0.5 cup of liqueur to 5.5 cups of water and bring it to a boil for about 15 minutes.

Is there an approx. concentration of residual alcohol remaining in the agar agar jello (called "kanten" in Japanese)?  As an example, the liqueur used is 40% alcohol.

There is a misconception that alcohol will easily burn off when used in cooking, and since pure alcohol has a lower boiling point than water, if you mix them, it is thought, the alcohol will burn off first.

The reality is that when mixed together the situation gets more complicated and the new boiling point of this solution is neither that of pure alcohol (173°F/78°C) nor water (212°F/100°C) and will fall between depending on the ratio of the mixture (keeping in mind that you started with water in your alcohol).

So if you want to cook with alcohol and burn more of it off it's best to do so before adding water. In your case you may want to cook down the liqueur first to remove more of the alcohol. If you combine them as you have been, you can assume that you'll burn off a similar ratio of water and alcohol from the solution.


Do all modern electric stoves have "binary" heating elements? I've noticed that the burners of some or all of the newish-style electric stoves which have a flat top have a peculiar property.  They do not seem to be capable of running at a constant low temperature, instead periodically coming on high for brief-to-longer periods of time.  These stoves were not, as I understand it, discount priced.  They are not induction stoves, but seem to have an element embedded in the material which forms that part of the stove top.

Is this an across-the-board trend in new stoves?  Is it difficult to find electric stoves which work the "old way", supplying a constant temperature?  Is there an advantage to the way these newer stoves work?  It would seem to be difficult or impossible to cook a range of dishes on such appliances.

The burners on essentially all electric stoves are binary in that they are either fully on, or fully off.  It would be more expensive and less energy efficient to use electronics that continuously vary the current flow through an electric element, and this would make no significant difference in temperature behavior at the cooking surface.  Instead, electric stoves use a bimetallic switch which is a relatively simple way to have an on-off pattern with variable on/off times.  To create constant heat, all electric stoves use materials that are bad conductors of heat between the electric element and the cookware surface to buffer the huge temperature swings at the element and produce very steady heat at the cooking surface.

The difference you are seeing between electric coil heating elements and glass-ceramic cooktops is that in the electric coils there is an inner heating element, then a thick ceramic layer, followed by an outer layer of metal.  The element itself is heated in a binary manner, but all you can observe is the heat after the buffering of the ceramic layer has made up for the large fluctuations at the element (i.e. the outer metal glowing fairly constantly once it's heated).  In a glass-ceramic cooktop, since the buffer layer (the glass-ceramic surface) is translucent, you are seeing the actual element glow (often this is an infrared lamp instead of a resistive wire) so you are viewing the non-buffered heating pattern.  If you had a clear coil, you'd see the same heating on/off patterns in a coil stove as you do in glass-ceramic.

Consequently, if you measure the surface temperature of a glass ceramic cooktop, you should see a fairly constant temperature.


How to choose an upright, self-defrosting freezer? All,

we're in the market for a freezer.  It will be in our (converted) garage, and due to our space constraints we want a self-defrosting upright freezer.

I found some useful-ish articles such as:
- http://housewares.about.com/od/refrigeratorsfreezers/a/chestvsupfreezr.htm
- http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/freezers/buying-guide.htm

Intended use is to store leftovers (mostly from stewy dishes), broth, ice-cream and cuts of meat (we might want to buy a 1/4 or 1/2 steer or hog, butchered and packaged).  Currently we do not use our sub-fridge freezer for much in terms of veggies or fruits.  We might want to get and ice-cream maker and store the bowl too.  An automated ice cube maker would be nice, but not a must have.

Convenience, ease of mind, and build quality are key.  Price & cost of use are important but secondary.

I am interested in opinions from current freezer owners on key features & characteristics.  What are the details that you have found useful, what are those you found were gimmicky?  How to assess build quality?  Should we look for a longer warranty than 1 yr?

Many thanks,

JDelage

From my own experience, watch out for the following pitfalls.

Size. Very wide or very long items don't fit, so shop for the most interior space available.
Plastic doors. Check that these are secured and don't fall out easily. Check if spare parts are available and affordable. If you can, buy one with
Only drawers.
Auto-defrost is nice. Check how and where the drain-water goes. Plan for it.
Buy the most energy-efficient you can afford.


can Tilapia replace salmon in recipes and taste good? I have a few recipes for salmon, and a freezer full of tilapia. Can I just use the tilapia instead of salmon? It's for things like "salmon and rosemary", and "poached salmon with cucumber dill sauce" for example. I know fish is not all the same, but I would like to try these out without having to get more fish when I have so much. So can I just change it right over, or will it not taste right?

It depends on the recipe.

As Jefromi said, salmon does have a different flavor. Specifically it has flavor. Tilapia doesn't really have much flavor at all.

More importantly, salmon has about three times as much fat as tilapia. Salmon holds together better than more fragile white fish. This makes grilling salmon much easier than other fish which fall apart.

If your recipe highlights the flavor of the fish, or relies on the fat or cohesion of salmon then you should not make the substitution.

On the other hand if your recipe calls for baking in a pan and uses other flavorings, such as lemon, that can overpower the flavor of the fish, it would be a good candidate for substitution.


How to reproduce the smell of the ocean in cooking? How might I recreate the smell of the ocean for cooking?  I was out today fishing on a Pier in San Francisco and caught both a smelt and crab.  The smell of both had that romantic smell of the sea. (I threw both back)  I'd like to experiment with that smell and taste in cooking, so any proposed solution should be non-toxic. Thanks in advance!

"The smell of the sea" as romanticised by those of us who visit the shore infrequently, is really that of rotting seaweed & dead sea animals...

So, that aside, which aspect of "the smell of the sea" are you really trying to recreate?

It could be as simple as 'make it smell a bit fishy' for which almost any South East Asian fish sauce will do. [It will also add salt, so be careful in your seasoning]. Some are far stronger than others & many, to a westerner, have almost indecipherable labelling, so you may need to try a few to find the right one. They're generally quite cheap, so it's not too hard to experiment.

Additionally, sea-weed - packaged conveniently in sheet form by many Japanese companies for making sushi - would add some of that 'vegetable edge' to the experience, with its own distinct aroma.

Both of the above, added to almost any broth or sauce, will set you off in the right direction, without having to add anything you dragged from the pier yourself ;)