How can I thin a sauce that has too much tapioca flour I bought a half gallon of picante sauce, and it was way too thin. I put in tapioca flour to thicken it, but added too much (when I warmed it up to blend in the flour).

Now it is so thick and jelly-like that it won't pour out of the container without the help of a fork or spoon. It also does not lend itself to chip dipping. Is there a way to thin that out and return the consistency back to somewhat normal? A different site talked about adding tomato juice to thin tomato-meat sauces out.

There are a couple of things you could try to partially recover the sauce, but my feeling is that none will have very satisfactory results.

The reason is that starch gelatinization is an irreversible process. The problem is even worst for tapioca, which is rich in amylopectin  in comparison with other starches like potato and corn, richer in amylose. Amylopectin is the responsible for the characteristic 'gluey' texture and translucent colour of gelified tapioca (and also asian sticky rice) starch, and is the driving agent of the gelatinization process. Starches which are richer in amylopectin form stronger gels. There are a couple of factors that could have helped slowying gelatinization, like for example adding acid to the water. But the issue is that once the starch has been heated for enough time and the gel formed, acid won't help you go back.

There are some potential fancy solutions like using amylase to digest the gel into shorter sugars. Amylase is present in your saliva, but you really don't want to spit in your sauce because the other stuff in your saliva will likely lead to fermentation and spoilage of the sauce.

Another potential solution but laborious solution would be trying to dehydrate your mixture and rehydrate it avoiding heating. For example you could bake it in the oven under low heat until the mix gets dry and hard. Then you process it into a blender with water avoiding to overheat it. In Brazil they use tapioca gum to make pancakes, and by personal experience cooking these for two long make it crumbly again.  But I cannot guarantee you this is going to lead you to satisfactory results.


Why isn't my roti soft? I have tried this recipe but i want roti more soft.

Roti recipe

500 g Wheat flour
15 g Salt
50 g Oil
300 g Water or as required

Cover roti immediately with a cloth to keep warm, and soft. Cooking too low a heat will make dry roti. Did you knead and allow the dough to rest - it absorbs the liquid better and makes a smoother dough.


How to keep dust and cat hair off cast iron pans? I live with three long haired cats that shed in the winter, and my place gets dusty at times too. I have a fairly new cast iron skillet that I use once every one or two days. I don't have any shelves in the kitchen big enough to store it so I have to hang it.

There's always cat hair and stuff stuck to it because I store it in the open. So then I have to clean it which is making seasoning difficult.

How can I store this pan in a way that is both convenient and protects it from the environment? I have found covering it in foil to be somewhat effective but tedious and not perfect, and also wastes a lot of foil. Plastic is difficult because I have to let it cool, although if the oven is off I can let it cool in there. I can't really store it in the oven because I use the oven often. The design of my house makes it impossible to keep cat hair and dust out of the kitchen.

I also don't understand the physics and chemistry behind how the seasoning layers develop so I'm not sure what storage techniques are bad for the condition and "development" of the pan.

Is there a good way to store it that keeps it clean and in good condition?

First off, cleaning isn't necessarily bad for seasoning.  "Soap removes seasoning" is largely a myth; Serious Eats discusses this at length.  The seasoning is actually a polymer chemically bonded to the iron, not just something coating the outside that will easily wash off, so anything that isn't able to remove the iron shouldn't remove it.  Certainly a light wipe with a wet or soapy cloth is perfectly fine.

Second, a few options you might consider:

If you're hanging it on the wall, hang it so the main part of the pan faces the wall.  This will mean less stuff gets on it (and more gets on the bottom, which is irrelevant).
If you crochet or knit, or know someone who does, make a cast iron pan cover.  I know a friend who did this.  You can make it out of a relatively heat-resistant yarn, so that it isn't damaged by the pan being warm.  You might also be able to reuse an old sweater, as long as you confirm the fabric is something that can stand up to the heat (100% cotton is probably best since it's hard to say what different polyesters will do).
While the pan cools from your seasoning, keep it in the oven, or turn it upside down.  That way it can be cooler before you cover it.
Buy enamelware.  Maybe cast iron isn't the best idea in a long-hair cat household.
Before using the pan, heat it up a lot (20 minutes or so in the oven or over high heat).  Then brush off whatever is on it (carefully).  This will remove the cat hair effectively without risking any damage to the seasoning.


Who first put ridges on Ramekins and why? These white things are called Ramekins. Why do they have the ridges around them and who was the first person to make the ridges on them?

Doing a bit of research I've found a few reasons. One having been mentioned above in a comment, that it removes the risk of the dishes sealing themselves together, or at least reduces.

The most logical, however, is that the flutes create more surface area allowing heat to penetrate much faster, for quick and even cooking.


Acceptance of sweet rice dishes in Japan My father once told me a story about some Japanese guests coming over to Europe. On their stay here they were once served a sweet rice dish. The guests were so shocked that rice would be served this way that they outright refused to eat it. In an effort to save the meal they even poured some soy sauce over it which of course completely ruined it.

Now I'm asking myself, is this the common opinion in Japan? I remember a scene from the anime "One Piece" - which is one of the most popular ones - where some guy is giving a girl trouble for making a sweet rice dish, thus I think it must be a rather widespread habit.

Since rice is so very important in Japanese cuisine I would have guessed that they would use all kinds of flavouring available. Is there a special reason behind this? And does this only occur in Japan or other asian countries too?

Mochi is a sticky rice cake that can be served both sweet and savory.  Sweetened rice pudding is not an uncommon dessert in Japanese cuisine.  I think your original premise, that sweetened rice is unacceptable in Japanese cuisine is flawed.  Rice is a staple in Japanese cuisine, and is used in numerous ways.  Sweet preparations are certainly common.  Perhaps your father's story, and your anime example, illustrate better what might happen when people expect one thing, and are presented with another.  However, I think your generalized conclusion is incorrect.


What is the purpose of basting a roast? Is the purpose to add flavor, moisture, or both?

Do you really think it makes a difference?

The only thing I have ever found basting a roast does is increase the time it takes my food to cook because I keep opening the oven door.  I don't buy that it helps with flavor or moisture.


Why do different brands of butter taste different? This has been playing on my mind for a while and I thought it was time to ask!

In any supermakert, there is usually at least 5+ regular brands, then 3-4 supermarket brands. In addition to some supermarkets stocking expensive/specialised brands.

Forgetting margarine or low fat/special butter where chemicals are added, traditional butter is just milk with salt sometimes added.

Now, it doesn't matter where I buy milk from, it always tastes the same. Considering this and that traditional butter is just churned milk... Why do different brands of butter taste different!?

Cook's Illustrated (AKA America's Test Kitchen and Cook's Country) has done taste tests of various brands of butter, salted and unsalted, cultured and not cultured.

They found that the single most important thing in unsalted butter was how it was wrapped. Butter wrapped in foil doesn't pick up off flavors from its environment. Land O Lakes (incidentally my go-to brand) treats the parchment it wraps its butter in, and that parchment does keep out off flavors. Butter wrapped in regular parchment not only picks up off flavors, but over time loses moisture. The wrapping is an issue in salted butter as well, but not as big of one.

Secondly, obviously some butters are cultured and others are not. In the United States, most cultured butter is imported and is significantly more expensive. In the tastings, most people preferred cultured butter to uncultured when used as a spread. When used in baking, they found no difference.

The third issue they found was whether or not the cows were grass fed. Some tasters picked up what they called "barnyard notes" in the grass fed. Some tasters liked that, others did not.

In salted butter, the amount of salt varies widely. For use as a spread, most tasters preferred brands with more salt. For baking and cooking they almost always recommend unsalted butter.

Just FYI, Cook's Illustrated recommends keeping butter in the freezer until just before the stick's first use. Even foil wrapped butter will pick up some off flavors from long storage in the refrigerator.


Higher or lower fridge temperature Which would save electricity:  higher or lower setting, in summer.  My husband set it low and I tend to set it higher.  I do not want my stuff to be ruined by a too low setting.

Refrigerators are heat engines, and the energy cost is somewhat proportional to the difference in temperature desired.  Assuming your room temperature is typical, higher internal refrigerator temperatures are going to therefore take less energy to maintain.

Modern refrigerators are well insulated and remarkably energy efficient.

You should choose the the temperature setting of your refrigerator based on the quality and safety of the foods stored within, which indicates a temperature of about 32-40°F (0-4°C).

Too cold may freeze food, which can lead to quality issues, but is safe.  Too warm can allow food to spoil, which is a far greater risk.

See also:

What is the ideal fridge temperature
What temperatures should I keep my refrigerator and freezer set at?


Truffles: how do I pick between buying truffle or truffle oil? I'm interested in buying truffles in one form or another to be used as a seasoning for omelettes and pastas and such.

The main two truffle products available are fresh truffles and truffle oil. Truffle oil sometimes contains no real truffle, but some kind of synthetic aroma that imitates the truffle aroma (however, I'm interested in oils that have real truffle).

Price-wise, should I be looking at oils or buy straight fresh truffle and use it as I wish? I've heard a claim that truffle oils should be a more inexpensive way to get the truffle aroma, but upon comparing the prices of truffle oils with real truffle and fresh truffle, I'm not sure.

E.g. I can purchase truffle for £45 for 15g or 250ml of truffle oil for £12.50. Which one is affordable should depend on how much 250ml of truffle oil might have actual truffle and whether one would get more truffle by buying fresh truffle instead.

So should I look into purchasing and using truffle or truffle oil, if I want the most (real) truffle aroma per buck?

If you want "the most (real) truffle aroma", as you write, there is no question that it will come from real truffles.  With a bit of Internet searching you can see that truffle oil is generally a chemically derived product.  While we can debate whether or not any flavor or aroma that is created in the "lab" is the same as the real thing, you specifically want to experience "real" truffle.  The only way to do that is with the authentic item.  The challenge is that truffle aroma/flavor is fleeting.  So, the closer to unearthing and the closer to the source the better.  To me, truffle is a unique and special item.  So, when you want to experience it, get the best and most real truffle you can afford.  Have fun using it in dishes that highlight its aroma and flavor, then wait for the next special occasion.


How to cook a fish to make its bone as soft as those in sardines? When eating fish, accidentally swallowing the bones is a nightmare for me.

Currently, eating sardine is the only solution due to its soft bone.

I am worried that my health may suffer in the future if I continuously eat sardines that might contain "not so friendly" chemical substances.

I want to learn how to cook fishes to make their bones as soft as those of sardines.

Is there anybody here who knows the secret of making soft bones without "artificial and dangerous" chemical substances?

Do I need a special cooking apparatus to make fish bones soft?

Sardines are canned, which means the high heat of a pressure canner.  That is what softens the bones.  If you are wanting softer bones for other kinds of fish, you can either cook them using a pressure cooker or can them.  However, this will only work for smaller fish that have smaller bones.

If your main concern is that you will swallow a bone and choke, then buy your fish as fillets only.  Most fish fillets have no bones at all. The pin bones that are in salmon fillets can be removed with needle nose pliers, and are so small that you couldn't choke on them if you tried.


Is it worth tearing lettuce for salad? I have read that cut lettuce is more likely to brown on the edges than torn lettuce. The stated reasoning is that the lettuce leaves will tear between cell boundaries whereas if they are cut the cells are ruptured.

When preparing a largish salad tearing the leaves can take a lot more time than slicing.

How much of a difference does tearing actually make? Is it worth taking the time?
Are there some types of salads or dressings that will exacerbate the browning of cut leaves and the leaves should be torn instead?

Tearing is NOT worth the extra effort, tested experimentally.

Others have explored the theoretical reasons behind this, so I decided to test it in real life.  I did this like so:

Green leaf lettuce from the local CSA
Cut one leaf with a sharp knife (stainless), and tore the second leaf carefully by hand (fast, clean tears)
Pieces were both wrapped in moist paper towels and left out at room temperature
Photographs were taken at 30 minute intervals

After 2 hours, the 2 leaves still look identical (picture below).

Cut (on the left), Torn (on the right):

Provisos: knife was sharp and leaves were fresh and kept moist.  A dull knife or more abusive handling of the leaves may yield bruising and faster browning.  I am currently repeating this on a longer time scale, and may attempt with a dressing.

Practical take-away from the experiment:

I have found that in real life, it doesn't matter how you divide your leaves, as long as you don't apply dressing before storing for a prolonged period.  The acidic dressing will wilt leaves and cause discoloration, and leading to a limp, soggy salad.  The experiment supports that neither method leads to unacceptable browning within a short timeframe.  In practice, I've only seen browning when lettuce is left overnight or longer, or when it is stored with dressing.

Cook's Illustrated confirms this with their experiment to see if plastic lettuce knives are worth it. They found that:

  Though all lettuce began showing some browning on the ribs after 10 days, none showed any signs of browning on the cut or torn surfaces. After 12 days, the heads cut with metal knives showed faint signs of browning on these surfaces, and the lettuce cut with the plastic knife followed a day later. The torn lettuce was last to brown on its ruptured edges, starting to turn at 2 weeks.

Given that lettuce is browning on the ribs before it does on cut edges, the difference between cut and torn is no longer important.  You're only adding 20% to the time before browning appears on cut surfaces.  Most people will agree that after 2 weeks lettuce no longer has its full flavor. I have found that to get the freshest, best taste it should be eaten no more than 4 days after harvest.

So, if there difference between cut and torn is insignificant, why cut rather than tear?
It's faster and more consistent, especially if you have good knife skills and a sharp knife. You can cut a head of romaine in under a minute by knife, versus several times this by hand.  You also don't have to worry about bruising leaves or making irregularly shaped pieces by accident, and you can choose to do large pieces or fine, fluffy shredded mixture.  In my time in professional kitchens, I came to rely on the knife as an extension of my body, and you should too.


How should I choose my next step as a cook? I'm a reasonably competent home cook: I can roast a chicken, bake bread, improvise a dinner with what's in the fridge, etc, but I'm looking to step up my game a bit. How do I look at a recipe and decide if it's a good next step in learning to cook?

I would like to make good use of my time and energy; for example some things might be too ambitious, or some things might not teach me much.

In my view this is pretty simple: make things you want to eat.

As long as you cast your net wide enough as you look for recipe ideas, there will always be new things that you'd love to eat and will learn something from making. And as long as you want to eat the food, you'll be motivated enough to actually follow through and do it.

Most of the time, this will mean making things where you're mostly comfortable with the recipe, but there are some new parts you haven't tried before. It might be new combinations of ingredients and flavors, which will broaden the creative side of your cooking. It might be new techniques, which will enable you to make more things in the future. To oversimplify, when you look at a recipe, if practically every step sounds new or difficult, maybe save it for later; if most of it gives you an "I can do this" feeling, go for it!

It's fine to take on bigger projects too, of course, as long as you go into it with the understanding that you might want to try parts of it by themselves first (or that things might fail the first time).

Either way, be sure to cast a wide net: skim cookbooks, read food blogs, browse recipe database sites or food photography sites, and so on. There's always a lot out there that you'll surely want to try and just don't know it yet.

But above all, just seek out things that look good to you (or your friends/family). The rest will follow.


How to prevent pizza dough from stretching back I have a problem with my pizza dough. I start to shape it but it is somewhat difficult to make it bigger and thinner because the dough stretches back to its initial form.

Any ideas?

Funny enough I was until recently working under a certified pizzaiolo. Are you allowing it to rest properly? How long are you kneading it for? What is your method for shaping your dough?

Edited to add from a later comment (I don't really see the point, it's right there after all):

Pizza dough, particularly if you are using proper 00 flour, needs a solid ten minutes of kneading before it rests. Resting time will vary depending on temperature and so on, but 2 hours seems excessive to me. Don't ever use a rolling pin to shape pizza dough; you've spent all that time working air into the dough, why squeeze it all out? Shape by hand, pulling towards you with your left while pushing away in a windshield wiper motion with your right and rotating the dough slightly on each pass.


What is the correct water to pasta ratio? I have heard one should use a lot of water when cooking pasta; how much water should I use?

This question was answered to some extent in another Pasta cooking question by Roux. This answer, which is basically just a link to a series of experiments by an MIT grad / Chef, dispels a number of myths about cooking pasta. For instance:

Water will return to a boil in the same amount of time regardless of how much is in the pot prior to pasta being added.
Pasta won't get sticky with smaller amounts of water. It only gets sticky because of reactions in the first few minutes of cooking, and the solution is to stir it. This is necessary even with lots of water.
You do not need a lot of water to cook pasta.
Water does not need to be boiling to cook pasta. It simply needs to be above 180°F/82°C.

Some really interesting stuff in the article that debunks quite a lot of kitchen lore about cooking pasta. I have tried this at home with great success.

So in answer to your specific question:

No, you do not need a lot of water, it simply has to cover the pasta.
The amount of salt is heavily dependent on the amount of pasta, the amount of water, and your own taste. You need to find a consistent way to cook pasta and then experiment.


How much alcohol is left in this sauce? I make Rachael Ray's beef teriyaki with green beans, although I double the amount of sauce. I usually use dry sherry (rather than mirin), 15-20% alcohol. Given that the sauce is only cooked for a couple minutes, how much of the alcohol will burn off?

It is impossible to calculate. Alcohol is more volatile (in a chemistry sense volatility is a measurement of a substances tendency to vaporize) than water, but it doesn't disappear anywhere near as fast as many people think, especially when it's mixed in with water.

You are adding the alcohol to a wide pan on high heat and stirring a lot, which is certainly a good combination for alcohol loss, but the finished dish will still have some alcohol in it.


I would like to hear any techniques involved in making Turducken for Thanksgiving A Turducken is a de-boned chicken stuffed into a de-boned duck, which then is stuffed into a de-boned turkey. I would like to try this but would first like to hear from anyone else that has made this Thanksgiving bird(s).

Where do I start?  Are they cooked separately? How do you stuff them in physically - is there a technique involved? Should I cook covered or uncovered?

A Turducken is not for the faint of heart.  It takes a lot of work, but is a very impressive presentation.  Everything starts raw, the duck and the chicken are boned completely (which you can ask your local butcher to do for you).  The turkey is only partially boned, keeping the leg and wing bones.  Make sure to start with a large 25 lbs turkey.

First lay the turkey down and season the inside. Spread a thin layer of whatever dressing you have, and lay down the boneless duck.  Season, stuffing, place the chicken.  Again with the seasoning and the stuffing.  Last but not least, you have to close the birds up.   Use a butcher’s twine and sew the turkey up, sealing everything else inside.  You’ll need at least two people, one to hold the turkey together, one to do the sewing.

I highly suggest, as with any poultry, brining the meat first.  Because you are dealing with a very large and dense loaf of meat, you need to make sure it’s cooked all the way through.  It can dry out if you are not careful, but it is roasted uncovered just like a regular turkey.  That will help give that nice deep rich color and hide the suprise inside as it will look just like a oversized turkey.

Paula Dean has a pretty good video showing the process.
http://www.foodnetwork.com/turducken/video/index.html


What are Hull Hotcakes? I'm trying to identify a type of breadcake common in Hull when I was growing up, n the hopes of getting my hands on some again, either bought, or made myself.

Original
As a six-year-old boy In the early 60s living in Pullman  Street Spring bank West my Gran nanny Curtis used to send me out into the terrace when she heard  the sound of the hotcake man shouting down the street,  he provided us with bread cakes, which were hot and Delicious with just butter or margarine whatever was on hand, does anybody have any idea how to make these traditional bread cakes I say cakes but in fact it’s more of a bread bun there is no sweetness about it unlike a lot of recipes which I’ve seen today,
this memory burns brightly in my mind just like a patty with a bag of straps, from the chip shop, Or bread and dripping.
such food might not be socially acceptable today, but there were no fat kids about, we had just enough to fill the tum, and everything was preservative free !,
any help would be greatly received I’m a keen baker in my work free years there must be someone who has The wonderful knowledge to pass on, I’d love to make them for my grand children, keep the tradition going like the patty This only Originates from My birthplace of which I am very proud Kingston Upon Hull.
Were men were made of steel and ships were made of wood.
Rick

I've found a couple of plausible candidates.
The first (and I think more plausible), prompted by a twitter thread is an oven-bottom bread-cake*.  Here's (Facebook, with discussion buried in reminiscences, but no recipe I could see) an old photo showing them at Drewery's Bakery.  Similar things exist across northern England.  Until recently they could apparently be bought from Dixon's Bakery in Hessle Road.  It's worth looking at other traditional bakers, though the most likely I've found are currently closed.
The second is related to the clapcakes or havercakes found in other Northern counties.  These are made largely with oats, like the Staffordshire oatcake.  They sound like they're rather flat (even pancake-thin, and may use a little baking soda (recipe) or yeast (various sources but no recipe online that I've found).

* For anyone confused Bread-cake is a Northern English term for some types of bread roll.


How can I quickly shell pine nuts? I recently acquired about a pound of raw pine nuts. They were collected and are smaller on average than the pine nuts I can buy.

They are a pain to shell. The shells don't come away easily and since they are small there is a lot of work to do for a small reward.

What is the best way to shell these?
Should I roast them in their shells first?

This is how you can do it:

Place your nuts into a super-strong plastic food storage bag and close it securely after squeezing out all air from the inside.
Put the bag flat on a hard surface like kitchen counter. Starting from the bottom of the bag, roll a rolling pin over the bag upwards and back.
Repeat untill the shells crack.
Take out the nuts and remove any remaining shells.


Blender Buying - Square vs. Round Container After looking at this blender question, I had a follow-up question.

I've seen both square and round containers/lids for blenders. Is either better?

I tend to see square blenders at smoothie shops - leading me to assume square ones are better.  By better I mean, you don't have to do as much scraping and maybe they have more settings and automated features. I see mostly round blenders in your typical kitchen appliance aisle at your typical big box store.

I can think of two reasons to prefer square containers :

They store in less space for the same volume, when you're dealing with dozens of them (as the smoothie shops likely are)
The key to a good blending is that the inside is not round -- you need baffles and such to keep the blender from forming a single, smooth vortex.  The square containers would help to make baffles more effective by providing larger areas with slower moving liquid away from the center of the vortex.


How can I clean utensils (e.g., knives) used to cut longkongs? After using utensils to prepare/eat longkongs, the utensils are very sticky (by far stickier than for any other types of fruit that I have tried so far). I tried to use soap and dishwashing liquid, as well as letting the utensils in the water for a few hours, but the  utensils are still sticky.

How can I clean utensils (e.g., knives) used to cut longkongs?

The stickiness is similarly stubborn as trying to clean up pine sap, where regular soap often will not clean it up.

Instead, try using mineral oil to clean up. You might have mineral oil in the kitchen for oiling cutting boards. ("Baby oil" is a form of mineral oil that also has fragrances added.) Simply rub the sticky utensils with a towel and mineral oil until the stickiness is gone.

After cleaning the sticky longdong sap off your knives with mineral oil, you will then be able to then wash off the mineral oil with soap and water.


What meats can I serve medium rare and why? It is generally accepted that pork and chicken must be cooked completely (unless put through a strong curing process) while certain cuts of beef and lamb can be served on the rare side.  Why is this?

Are particular bacteria populations present in some animals but can't survive in others? What is the inherent differences between these animals that makes the difference when eating? How can I objectively decide if it is safe to eat something partially on the rare side that does not involve simply trusting the "common knowledge" of the more experienced.

(Don't get me wrong - I appreciate any and all advice that I get from anyone who is more experienced than I am in anything, but I'd like to know how they came to their conclusions).

Beef (and Lamb): The surface of beef is often contaminated with pathogens such as e-coli. However, the meat is very dense and the bacteria cannot migrate from the surface into the flesh. Therefore, beef is safe to consume once the external temperature exceeds, 160 degrees F. The internal uncontaminated meat is safe to eat raw.

Pork: Like beef the surface of pork needs to be fully cooked.  Unlike beef, pigs harbor a parasitic roundworm called Trichinella spiralis. Infection with the worm is called trichinosis and can be fatal. This worm is killed when the flesh reaches 150 degrees F and is held there for several minutes. Therefore pork is safe to consume when cooked to medium. (Commercial pork in North America almost never has the roundworm present. Almost  every case (all?) of trichinosis in the last 15-20 years have come from undercooked wild boar or bear meat). Trichinella spiralis can also be killed by freezing (time and temperature dependent).

Chicken: Almost all chickens have Salmonella or Campylobacter present on the surface (at
least). However, chickens have a less dense flesh than pigs, sheep or cows. Therefore, the bacteria can migrate deep into the flesh. Also, the processing of chickens is much more invasive than the previously mentioned animals which also means the interior meat can get contaminated. This means the meat must be cooked to well done throughout.

Duck: With duck it seems to come down to a matter of processing verses chicken. Also, they are raised in a much less confined manor, which helps prevent the spread of pathogens. There is still a chance of getting a salmonella infection from undercooked duck but cooking the breast well done basically ruins it, so people take the (small) risk.

Ground meat: Grinding meat, by its nature, implies the surface and the interior is mixed. Therefore, one must assume the meat is fully contaminated and must be entirely cooked to well done.


Undercooked French Bread in Bread machine I recently bought a Hamilton Beach 2 lbs Bread-maker. Today I used their provided recipe to make a 2lbs loaf of French bread. I followed the recipe but my bread turned out looking under-cooked on top of the loaf and on the inside. I made the Italian Parmesan bread last weekend and had no problems with it. This time, the bread seemed to stay liquid after mixing for a lot longer than it did with the Italian Parmesan bread. Being a first time bread-maker I'm not sure if that's just how French bread is when it bakes or what. Any advice or suggestions of where I went wrong, and/or how I can fix it would be greatly appreciated. I feel like I probably messed up on the measuring of ingredients.

I'm going to base my initial diagnosis on this:

  I followed the recipe but my bread turned out looking under-cooked on top of the loaf and on the inside. I made the Italian Parmesan bread last weekend and had no problems with it. This time, the bread seemed to stay liquid after mixing for a lot longer than it did with the Italian Parmesan bread.

No bread machine cookbook is able to account 100% for variations in ingredients and environment.  For this reason, I always watch the bread machine during the mixing stage, to see if I need to add a little bit of water or a little bit of flour.

It sounds like you needed a little bit less water (like 2 Tbs less) or a little bit more flour (like 2 Tbs more) in order for the dough to reach the perfect consistency.  You can tell you have the right balance because the dough pulls away from the sides of the bread chamber, and balls up for the mixer blade to push it around, but there isn't a bunch of leftover dry flour.  If you try this again, I would suggest lowering the amount of water in the recipe by 2 Tbs, and waiting to add that in until the mixing stage if you know you need it.  And if it's still goopy well into the mixing stage, add a couple Tbs of flour.  Be cautious here, though; French bread is supposed to be high-hydration, so it should be a bit sticky.


What grains (and in what ratios) go into a nine-grain flour? Many recipes are available for making nine-grain bread, but they presuppose that you have nine-grain flour. We have a wheat grinder so we would like to use it to make our flour to make the bread.

There is no fixed set of grains or ratios that define nine-grain flour. It is just meant to generically suggest "uber-healthy". Some things you may want to use include: whole wheat, rye, triticale, barley, oats, buckwheat, spelt, emmer, millet, flax, etc. Most so-called 9-grains or 12-grain etc will "cheat" and include wheat in multiple forms, like wheat flour, cracked wheat, vital wheat gluten and so forth. In any case, if you are going to use it for bread, you'll probably want at least 50-75% wheat flour so that there is enough gluten to successfully rise. The rest can be in any proportion that pleases you for taste or nutritional purposes.


Can Apples be Macerated before Pressing into Cider? A friend lent me an old-fashioned cider press to use. I am planning to put a few dozen chopped up apples into it and then see how much juice I get, but I'm worried there won't be much. Would it help to sprinkle a little sugar onto the apples and let them sit for a while before pressing? I can't find much information on cider-making online (I'm just making juice, I'm not going to ferment it).

Maceration is a traditional step in French and English cider production, whereby the pomace (post-crushing pulpy residue) is left to sit for up to a full day (2-4 hours probably suffices). This allows beneficial enzyme action, and the exposure to oxygen should help reduce bitterness and astringency.

I'm not sure what adding sugar would do besides increasing the costs and complexity; are the apples not sweet enough already?

Reference: "The New Cider Maker's Handbook" by Claude Jolicoeur.


Is it safe to wash meat packaging before throwing it away? Is it recommended to wash plastic packaging for raw meat before disposing of it? I see advice to just rinse it with soap in the sink to prevent the bin from smelling.
However, I also see it is usually not recommended to wash raw meat as there is a risk of cross contamination - wouldn't the same risk be here as well?
Clarification: I mean before throwing it into bin for landfill

Rinsing or washing the container is no worse than rinsing or washing a plate on which you have let your meat rest. But do it when you take your meat out, not a couple of hours later, to avoid spoilage starting.
If you send yours to landfill, cleaning it is for your comfort.
Where and when I grew up we would never bother, but we did accept that bins smell of spoiled food. If you want to keep your bin from smelling you may want to clean it.


Can I slow cook a 3.25 beef roast for 4 hours on high, refridgerate in the crock pot overnight and then cook on low again in the morning for 4 hours? Can I slow cook a 3.25 beef roast (not browned) with vegetables for 4 hours on high, refrigerate in the crock pot overnight, and then cook on low again in the morning for 4 hours?

I am new to cooking at all!

Bonnie

That would almost certainly violate a specific food safety rule. In normal use, a slow cooker barely stays within the safety parameters of the "time in the danger zone" rule, that says that food should not stay between 40F (4.5C) and 140F (60C) any longer than two hours cumulative. That means that preparation time, heating time, and cooling time all add up. That refers to the actual temperature of the food, not the surroundings.  In some cases you can go to four hours, but only if the food is eaten immediately, so that really doesn't apply here.

Whether that is overly conservative for you, only you can decide. Certainly many cooks would do exactly what you propose, without worrying about it all. It would violate safety rules for commercial kitchens in the US.

See the information here: How long can cooked food be safely stored at room/warm temperature?.


Can "Canning" be achieved with "vacuum sealed" bags? Upon reading the question If I vacuum seal a food product like beef stew then boil it in the bag, would it keep un-refrigerated? and the answer provided https://cooking.stackexchange.com/a/69423/6279 I agree that 'normally' it would not result in making something shelf stable. But My question is COULD you (by putting the vacuum sealed bag into a pressure cooker) achieve the results of canning in said bag? I found some speculation on this question here but I am unsure of the conclusion...(given the sources)

(disclaimer: I've only heard of people doing this, not done it myself.)

Yes, it can be done. You're looking for retort pouch canning. Various places will sell you the bags, and you can vacuum seal them with a chamber vac, though you may need an upgraded heat bar. Then you can process them in a pressure canner (or preferably autoclave).

I'd definitely follow the normal reheating recommendations (the boil it 10 minutes bit) before eating. I don't think USDA has home canning guides for retort pouches.


Appropriate oil to infuse with hot chillies I have loads of chillies left over from summer so I'm making some infused oils for christmas gifts. The obvious oil to use would be extra virgin olive oil (very expensive for good quality), but I've also found some very reasonably-priced cold-pressed premium extra virgin rapeseed oil (it's even won awards!).

So my question is: are there any reasons not to use cold-pressed rapeseed oil vs olive oil for the infusions - e.g.

Any difference in flavour absorption?
Any effects from the different fats (mono-/poly- etc.)?
Any issues with storage?
Anything I've missed?

Either oil will work just fine for infusing with chillies, at the end of the day just about any cooking oil will work. Infusing oil with chilli won't change its cooking properties, and both those oils will store fine long-term.

If you are going to go for a cold infusion then it's highly recommended that you dry your chillies first so you get a long lasting result. If you don't dry them they will get mushy and rot in the oil, which isn't very pleasant. Drying them in your oven will stink up your house big-time, but it's worth it.

Alternatively you can make chili strings with them and they will air dry, or you can freeze them for years and they'll stay good.


What is bearnaise sauce thickened by? As from the title, what is Bearnaise sauce thickened by? There are a few different ingredients in bearnaise sauce that helps in thickening such as egg yolks, but how is it thickened and what other ingredients are there that is considered as a thickening agent?

The thickening in Bearnaise, as in mayonnaise, is not so much in the ingredients as in the technique. These sauces get their thickness by being emulsified.

An emulsion is formed by rapidly mixing, whisking or blending two ingredients that shouldn't mix (oil and liquid). The emulsifier (egg yolk and often mustard in the case of mayo) stabilizes the emulsion (tiny oil droplets suspended in liquid) in much the same way detergents break up grease.

This wiki article goes into far more detail.


Where can I buy a larger than usual 13x4x4 pull man pan? I want to make Italian style pain de mie bread for sandwich which is much larger size than  the usual 13x4x4 pull man pan available on the market.

Where can I find a larger size baking pan for pain de mie? Are there any alternatives to achieve this goal?

Like this one
Wilton Aluminum Loaf Pan?
Or are there some other requirements?


What determines the length of sous vide cooking time? What factors affect sous vide cooking time, generally? I imagine cooking time is essentially the amount of time needed for the food's internal temperature to reach equilibrium with the desired temperature. Are there pros or cons to cooking longer or shorter?

For reference, I am primarily interested in cooking custard base sous vide, but would be interested in responses with regard to other food types as well.

Specifically for custard, you pretty much want the known good time from your recipe, but cooking longer will be fine.

In general, there are two major things:

how long does it take to get everything up to the desired temperature?
how long does it need to stay at that temperature?

The time to reach the desired temperature is pretty much just determined by size/shape. If there's a point in the middle that's 5cm from the closest surface, whether it's a 10cm diameter sphere or a 10cm thick slab, it's going to take longer. (The two aren't exactly the same in terms of heat propagation, but it's a good rough way to think about it.) I'm guessing liquids like your custard base also cook a little faster than solids, since there can be a little bit of convection flow inside the bag, not enough to be well-mixed, but better heat transfer than a solid.

The time at the target temperature depends greatly on what you're cooking. With many things, you just have to reach the temperature and then you're done. Holding at the target temperature after that might make no difference, or it might result in slow loss of quality. For example, you can hold steak quite a while at temperature, with not much change. On the other hand, you don't want to hold fish forever, because it'll tend to lose texture. And with something like pork shoulder or brisket, you actually need the long cooking time in order to slowly break down connective tissue and get it tender.

So, if you already have a time you know works:

Cooking shorter means underdone, either under temperature, or not tender.
Cooking longer means avoiding the risk of undercooking, and is generally fine, especially in moderation. For some things, it may overcook, like making your meat fall apart too easily.

For custard, the former is obviously bad (you want it to actually set), but the latter is not really an issue (it's not going to rapidly un-set).

As a footnote, there are some sous vide recipes designed to not actually reach equilibrium temperature. For example, you can cook eggs at a temperature high enough to set the whites, but for a shorter time to avoid firmly setting the yolks. Those are more like "normal" cooking in terms of over- and under-cooking, e.g. for the eggs, too long and you set the yolk, too short and you don't set the whites.


Edible Non Toxic Pencil Alternative for Baking Stencils? My daughter made macarons last week and decided to use a pencil to sketch out the shapes on parchment paper. Unfortunately the pencil markings (lead) ended up on the bottom of the macarons. What would be an alternative (edible) writing instrument that we could use for this kind of thing?

Plain pencil is what is normally used.  The trick is that you draw on the reverse side of the parchment, and then flip it over so the food is on the non-written on side.


How can I use my crock pot for a stove top soup? Some soup recipes want the soup to cook on the stove for a few hours. Most of the time it is not a problem for me to do that if I am home. However, sometimes I have to leave the house for a few hours and I do not like leaving with the stove on. To me, crock pots seem safer for that. I am not asking about the safety of leaving the house with the stove on though. I want to know what setting to put the crock pot on if the soup recipe says to simmer on low (referring to the stove).

It depends on what kind of settings your crock pot has. A low simmer on the stove is probably equivalent to something fairly low on your slow cooker, though. If all you have is warm, low, and high, you want low - in some cases it might be too hot, though. You're aiming for just short of boiling, so a setting that gets you a few bubbles now and then is good. More than that and you're cooking a bit vigorously, and on a "warm" setting you likely aren't heating it enough to cook properly and stay safe. If you have some kind of continuous settings, you can possibly adjust to get exactly where you want!


Is it necessary to skim the scum off of fermenting pickles? The sour (fermented) pickle recipe that I am following states:

  Check the crock every day. Skim any mold from the surface, but don’t
  worry if you can’t get it all. If there’s mold, be sure to rinse the
  plate and weight.

The only change that I have made to the recipe is to add 3 med tomatoes along with 4 lbs of cucumbers.

The pickles do seem to have more surface mold than sauerkraut. However, is there any real advantage to skimming the mold off of the top? It seems that if the mold is aerobic and restricted to the surface, then any skimming, especially if combined with removing the stone weight on top of the pickles, would simultaneously mix both mold and air in.

I would prefer to skip skimming every day, and the shape of my crock makes it somewhat awkward to do: the crock curves in at the top, and there is < 1 cm of brine between the surface and the stone weight.

Is there any disadvantage to not skimming every day?

I make pickles similarly, but not quite the same way: I usually make half-sours, as even the 5.6% salinity of that recipe would be way too salty for my family's tastes. I boil the brine before using it, letting it cool before adding it to the cucumbers. I use a clear glass jar rather than something opaque like stoneware, which might change the mechanics a bit. The biggest difference, though, is that I add a slice of bread, which really gives the fermentation a head start. Usually, the pickles are ready in two days, three at most. Perhaps it's this shortened time period, but I've never encountered any scum that needs to be skimmed off. Sometimes, if it was a particularly hot day or something, there will be mold, either on the bread or on the liquid; if this happens, the pickles are thrown away — it's just not worth the risk.

That said, scum does not equal mold. If it's anything other than white, and/or if it's fuzzy, it's mold, and I personally would not eat whatever it occurred on, unless of course it was rotten moldy milk blue cheese. If it's really just scum, then it's probably a cosmetic issue: if you don't skim it off, the brine might turn cloudy and unappetizing.


How do I make a really flavorful turkey burger? Since turkey burgers don't have a lot of fat, you lose a lot of the flavor that you get with beef.  Also, you have to make sure you cook them through (170 degrees), so they tend to dry out.

What are your pro tips for cooking great turkey burgers?

Preparation
Seasoning
Grilling techniques (high heat? tin foil?)

We have been eating turkey burgers for years.  The super secret is to not let them dry out while cooling.  I take a pound of ground turkey, mixed 2 tablespoons of Worcestershire sauce, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 2 shakes garlic powder and 1/2 teaspoon of water.  Then mix thoroughly by hand.  After patty-ing them to 1/4 inch thick patties, I grill for about 5-6 minutes per side, turning a quarter turn at 2-3 minutes.  After removing from grill, I wrap in foil and let sit for 5-10 minutes.   Voila!


Are bonded stainless pans safe to use if they make knocking sounds? We were gifted a set of Cuisanart stainless steel (impact bonded) pots and pans last Winter and use them fairly heavily for cooking at home.
We just started to notice however that a few of the smaller pieces are pinging/popping/knocking when they get put on the burner. The noises return when we cool the piece down, and occasionally if you tap it on the counter. From my experience designing and fabricating parts it seems like the different metals in the bonded billet are separating from the pan in some fashion and the noises are a result of that happening.
Fortunately they're under warranty, and Cuisanart has already put new ones in the mail saying we can toss the old ones if we want. However, I'm wondering whether they would be safe to keep and use instead, if it's just sounds.

Are they safe? Sure. I think you might be thinking of thermal stress in something like a glass casserole dish, where a temperature gradient can cause the thing to violently fracture, exploding in all directions. (Trip report: It was surprising, and terrifying in retrospect!) That can't happen with a metal pan, which will deform rather than fracturing.
Moreover, the stress on your partially separated pan is less than it would be on a non-busted pan. The sounds you're hearing are the sounds of stress being released little by little, rather than being stored up.
A bonded pan bottom comes off bit by bit over a large number of heating cycles, and in my experience never comes off completely (unless pulled off). But once the separation starts, thermal conduction goes way down in the separated areas, leaving uneven hot and cold spots. So these pans aren't going to kill you... but they're likely to disappoint you.


How to keep chicken juices in the chicken when cooking in the oven? I'm trying to cook 6-8 chicken breasts at a time by putting them all in a roasting pan, adding seasoning, and putting it in the oven.

The problem is that the chicken becomes very dry, but the pan fills with water from the chicken!  The result is a dry, rubbery mess that doesn't taste very nice, as well as a pan full of chicken water which I don't know what to do with.

What's the correct way to do this?

Use a meat thermometer. If you overcook the chicken, it will dry out. The standard temperature for chicken breast is 160 degrees Fahrenheit.


How can I keep my split pea soup from becoming too thick during storage? Every time I have made split pea soup, I have to try to estimate the amounts to be finished in one meal. If I store the leftover soup (in the refrigerator or the freezer), the soup thickens to the point that it's barely liquid anymore.

In Ham and Pea Soup with Whole Dried Peas, there's a passing comment that split peas break apart more to thicken soup. Is there any way of reducing this effect or simply predicting the amount of thickening that will happen? No matter how much liquid I add to the original soup, I can't seem to store the leftovers without getting a porridge-like texture.

I'm afraid there isn't a lot you can do. You could use whole peas instead of split peas. But even then there will be some thickening. You could (evidently) make a thinner soup on day 1, so that on the days after, the soup would be of a normal consistency. You could do this by just adding more water and leaving the potatoes out, if you use them.

One tip that could help is to cover the soup as soon as possible, so that you don't loose a lot of steam (=water, which would also cause more thickening).

The only other advice I can give is to make it as you like it, and add some water each day you serve it, till it reaches the wanted consistency.


How can I replicate authentic German potato dumplings? I lived in Southern Germany (Bavaria) for 5 years and while over there, my family fell in love with potato dumplings.  I’m talking about the ones that are the size of a baseball.  Here is a picture I found by searching for “Hofbrau potato dumplings” from Munich.

Since moving back to the US, I have not been able to find, nor make a dumpling that is remotely close.  Here is what I have tried so far:

100% raw potatoes, shredded, with flour and egg
50% raw, shredded, and cooked, chilled, then put through a ricer, with flour and egg.
100% cooked, chilled, then riced, with flour and egg.

Both tried with russet and yukon gold potatoes.

The results are:

100% raw = these things are like eating marbles and stick in your belly forever.
50/50 = these boiled apart, and the flavor tastes more like flour than potato.
100% cooked = these boiled apart and the flavor tasted more like flour than potato.

Additionally, I have tried using farina to help bind them - still boil apart and don’t really taste very good.

Here are a few recipes I have tried:

http://www.grouprecipes.com/70225/german--potato-dumplings.html
http://germanfood.about.com/od/potatoesandnoodles/r/kartoffkloesse.htm

Also tried the recipe from the Hofbrau haus cookbook - still, same problems.

Can someone(hopefully someone from Germany who knows what I am talking about) help me reproduce the authentic German potato dumplings I had in Germany?

I am German, let me try to help, I've made many dumplings:

There are four types of potato dumplings. They are called Klöße in northern Germany and Knödel in the south, both words mean the same.

-Rohe Klöße (Raw Dumplings). These are made from raw grated potatoes. They are the most difficult to make. The surface is shiny and a bit slimy and you have pieces of potatoes sticking out, which gives them a rough surface texture, see image below. The inside is chewy and you can just barely feel the individual slices of potatoes.
They are soft, when you cut them they flatten and the surface is gluey and sticks to the knife.
The basic recipe is to grate raw potatoes (1 kg) into a bowl filled with water. Then pour the mixture through a cheesecloth and press the cheesecloth in your hands till the mixture is very dry. Let the drained off water stand for a few minutes, the starch will collect at the bottom. Mix starch and potato mixture.

Boil some semolina (grieß), maybe 10% of the potato weight, in milk till it doesn't stick to the bottom of the pot. Mix semolina with potatoes and one egg and form dumplings.

Some people use sulfur to give the dumplings a whiter color
What’s the sulfur in dumplings for?

-Gekochte Knödel (Cooked Dumplings). These are made from boiled potatoes that are mashed while hot. Add about 10% starch and one egg yolk per 500g. These are simple to make.

-Halb und Halb, Thüringer Klöße (Half and Half). Mixture of grated and mashed potatoes.
Do as for the raw knödel with half of the potatoes. The rest is boiled and mashed while still hot, I have something that looks like a huge garlic press for this

Mix the mashed potatoes and the dried grated potatoes and the starch. These dumplings don't use eggs or semolina, but you might want to add some extra starch if the dough is too sticky.

-Quark or Topfenknödel (Dumplings with fresh cheese (Quark))
Made from mashed potatoes with fresh white cheese. Tastes wonderful when filled with plums or apricots or with strawberry or rhubarb sauce.
Unfortunately Quark is extremely expensive in the U.S.

The picture you showed looks like Rohe Knödel or Thüringers.

*Many people buy a mixture that comes in perforated bags that you throw into boiling water.

 These are ok, but the ones you make yourself are more fun.

*In Germany potatoes come in three color coded varieties, firm, mostly firm and starchy. For all kinds use mehligkochende Kartoffeln (starchy). These often have irregular shapes and break apart when you boil them. It won't work with firm potatoes.

*Often Knödel are filled with roasted pieces of bread.

*You always have to prepare a Probekloß (Test Dumpling) first to check the composition and maybe add some flour.

*In general the dough has to be sticky, use wet hands

*Some use egg yolks and some entire eggs.

*I am to lazy to get the starch out of the water, I use regular bought starch.

Make sure that you are using the right potatoes (starchy). To me it sounds you are using too much flour and the wrong potatoes. Better use starch instead of flour.


Is there a difference between chicken broth made with breast vs. leg meat and why? Subjectively, I have often heard people's opinion that there's a marked difference between a broth made with chicken breast meat vs. one made with chicken leg meat (assuming all other things in the process are the same). Usually, the latter is claimed to be tastier.

Is there actually an established difference in two broths and what exactly is it?
What leads to such difference, if it exists? Is it difference in the muscle tissue? Presence of bones and/or cartilage in the legs?

It's also a matter of palate and preference. Some simply don't care for dark meat at all, much less boiled on the bone. For some it has a bitter, or even metallic aftertaste.

Breasts are lean cuts with a rather mild flavor. They don't contain nearly as much fat, and are far more susceptible to overcooking. Thus, a broth made with breast meat is going to be much milder in flavor (especially if you intend to eat the poached breast).

The more a muscle is actually used during the life of the animal, the more flavor it's generally going to have. This is because of enzymes and acids that maintained the muscle while the chicken was living and then started to break down the meat once the chicken was slaughtered. You also have bones, which have marrow, which holds quite a bit of flavor. Thighs are one of the fattiest parts of a chicken. So yes, the flavor is a bit more intense.

I don't use either in my stock, I buy our chickens whole and break them down to individual cuts (the price of the sum of the parts of a chicken sold individually is usually higher than the price of a whole chicken). This gives me the carcas, which is mostly skin, scraps, feet, neck, back, bones and cartilage. It creates something with a jello-like consistency due to the gelatin in the bones.

I boil then simmer them for several hours, skim any impurities off the top, chill the stock and then remove the layer of fat that rose to the surface and solidified. This becomes the base of my broth since it doesn't have the aftertaste some want to avoid. I then poach cubed breast meat if I want chicken soup, or use it as a braising liquid if I want to stew some legs and thighs.

So if you know everyone eating loves dark meat, use dark meat, it's delicious! If you want to have a sort of neutral base that you can go either way with, just use the carcass, including as a base for something made with just white meat.


switching yeast to sourdough I have a recipe for a pizza dough, that was originally with yeast (500g flour and 300ml water). I tried to make it twice now with sourdough. I took a bit of starter, mixed it with a 50-50% flour-water mix, let that rest for around 10 hours and than took 160g of this mix and figured since it's 80g flour and 80ml water, I now only need 420g flour and 220ml water. Now this sounded like a good plan, but both times the dough was a bit too wet and sticky compared to what I used to get when I just did the original 500g-300ml with yeast, so I ended up adding a bit more flour to the dough. Is this normal or am I not getting something here?

Sourdough doughs behave somewhat differently from those made with only baker's yeast.  It's hard to predict, but the combination of acid produced in the sourdough and other components can make things weird, particularly during long fermentations with sourdough.  Studies have shown that sourdough fermentation breaks down various components in the dough chemically in a different way from fermentation with baker's yeast.

I made pizza dough with sourdough starter a number of times, but I've stopped doing it because I found it so unpredictable (as I used a longer fermentation dough).  Yes, it often turned out more sticky for the same level of hydration.  Stretching it was also unpredictable too.  Too much acid, and your gluten will break down, allowing the dough to tear much more easily.  I think this may be related to the "stickiness" issue as well.  I've had pizza crusts literally rip apart on the way into the oven when I was trying to unload them from the peel.  I've had holes appear during unloading with regular baker's yeast, but I've never had straight ripping apart as I've had on a couple different occasions with sourdough.

Anyhow, I don't want to make this answer about me, and I know I could modify the technique to make sourdough pizza more workable.  (Lots of people make sourdough pizzas successfully; I was just trying to maximize flavor a little too much.)  My point is that from my experiments with it, the dough behaved very differently, even with the exact same recipe, with the same hydration and other proportions.


Boiling vs soaking rice noodles The instructions on this package of large rice noodles says just soak them for 6-7 min.

I did that and then fried them in some oil and soy sauce but they were still too crunchy.  I just want to eat them as a side, not in pad thai or something similar.

Should I actually boil them to get a desired softness and approximately for how long?

No, just soaking in warm water will get them soft without turning them into mush. Just test the noodles by eating one every minute or so until they are the consistency you want, then rinse in cold water and drain. Boiling will take them from crunchy to mush so fast that you will likely miss the window.


How to I need to treat dried green lentils? In the attached picture you see green lentils which I want to prepare in order to make a Dal. They are obviously dried although it is not mentioned directly on the package.

My question is: Do I need to treat them like dried chickpeas? Dried chickpeas must be unpacked and then stay submerged for around twelve hours to be edible and cookable. Do i need to do the same with the lentils? One lentil has far less mass than a chickpea so I had doubts.

EDIT: I am aware of this possible duplicate but the submitter of the question has not clarified what types of lentils he wants to cook:
Best way to cook lentils?

Your suspicion is correct about "far less mass than a chickpea" means you don't need to soak them as much. Chickpeas seem to need lots of soaking, but you don't have to soak lentils at all. I guess there are lots of kinds of lentils - the kind you have, the big ones with the skins on; the little peeled orange ones; the smaller dark colored ones with skins on, but I don't know of any kind of lentils that need to be soaked at all before cooking. This is the big advantage of lentils over other dried beans: you don't need to plan so far ahead.


How do you peel garlic easily? How should I approach peeling a clove of garlic to get the skin off most quickly?  Is it different if I'm doing a bulb whole?

Even with a whole bulb, break it into cloves.

Put clove(s) on a cutting board. I usually cut off the root end of each clove. Lay a large chef's knife flat on the clove, then smack the knife to crush the clove.  This breaks the skin of the clove and makes it much easier to peel.


Sushi rice does it have expiry date ? I have some sushi rice, In the packet the expiry date is given as Jan 2016, But the rice seems fine. Is it alright for me to use it to make sushi with it ?

That is almost certainly a "best by" date, not an expiration date. Still Tasty calls the shelf life of uncooked white rice "indefinite". Yes, you can cook and serve your rice assuming that it is free of contaminants.


What can be done with Norwegian brown cheese Brunost other than a sandwich? Some years ago I tried Norwegian brown cheese Brunost. I am aware that technically it is not cheese and it is brown and very sweet due to caramelized milk sugar.

I was wondering - is there any other use of this cheese other than a sandwich with some butter and possibly jam/marmalade?

Brunost is often used in Norwegian cooking, especially in brown sauces.
E.g. like this.

I have personly used brunost for such a recipe, and it does add a very nice flavor to the sauce.

Here is a link to several recepies using brunost, from Tine the biggest maker of brunost in Norway)

Hope this helps,
Best wishes from Norway!


Is it safe to heat a sauce pan containing a glass bowl over an electric cooktop? I screenshot 0:16. Won't the heat damage, shatter or explode the glass bowl? I'm not affiliated with that YouTube channel "missevabakes".

I don't think there's enough clarity in the video to answer definitively. So, a couple of critical points:

The glass bowl should be floating in the water. Otherwise, it could contact a much higher temperature at the bottom of the pan than whatever temperature the water is at.
The water should be heated with the glass bowl in it already. If the water is already very hot and an ice-cold bowl were dropped in it, the glass could crack or break.

Of course, different types of glass have different resistance to thermal shock. But regardless of the type of glass, treat it gently and with respect. Just because it's designed to withstand abuse, doesn't mean there's any good reason to subject it to abuse, and plenty of good reason to use reasonable precautions. :)


What can I use in place of Quinoa flour? What can I use in place of Quinoa flour? The recipe calls for Quinoa flour, but I don't have any.

Rice is initially a seed, but once its husk has been removed, it is considered a grain. After that first stage of processing, you have 'brown rice'. Quinoa is technically a seed, but is only one stage of processing away from brown rice. Brown rice flour is the closest approximation in terms of fiber, caloric content, and binding behavior to quinoa flour that you will find, the major differences being that quinoa flour has approx. 1.5x the fat and 2x the protein found in BRF.


How to add flavour coating to gelatine or starch capsules? I have gelatine and starch capsules of differing colours and sizes that I use for supplements and the like. In some cases, I would like to coat the capsules with differing flavours! A sort of sensory auto-suggestion before a workout, so to speak.

So how would I add flavour coating to gelatine or starch capsules?

use a spritzer bottle to spray a (VERY LIGHT) mist of flavored water on them. make sure not to get the pills too wet or they will be ruined.


Tempering chocolated fail! I've tried several times to temper chocolate and every attempt has been unsuccessful. I can't figure out what I'm doing wrong. I purchased quality couverture chocolate thinking that was the problem and I still can't do it. I followed directions and temperatures exactly. Heat, cooling, heating again, stirring like crazy. I tried the seeding method and without seeding, thinking maybe the chocolate I was using had bloomed. The chocolate won't set unless I put it in the fridge and as soon as it's touched it starts to melt. I have to learn to do it and I have no idea what I'm doing wrong.

It seems that everything went well and your chocolate is tempered after all.

High quality chocolate has no other fat but cocoa butter, and couverture has much more cocoa butter than a chocolate bar. This is what it gives it the "snappy" feeling when bitten, and what makes it melt in the mouth (and in your fingers) instantly. The cocoa butter in tempered chocolate has a melting point of about 32 Celsius, 5 degrees lower than the human body, and you can't hold it in your fingers for long.

If you don't want this to happen, you will have to use something else. Cheap baking chocolate should be a good substitute - it also has a very high fat content, but it uses vegetable fat, not cocoa butter, and it is harder and less melty. Bar chocolate can work as well, but depending on which one you choose it will either have too much non-fat solids, or added fat of the wrong (soft) type. Depending on where you live, it can also be waxy - that is common for example in the USA.

Distempered chocolate is grainy, sandy, and has bloom (a dirty white powdery covering). As long as you don't have them, your chocolate is fine, no matter which kind you took.


Used Metal Knife on Aluminum Cake Pan, is it Ruined? I'm learning to make cakes from scratch and bought two of these 4-inch round pans to make a small layered cake.

After letting my layers cool, I turned one layer out and the cake fell from the pan after a few good raps on the bottom. The other layer was being a bit stubborn so i used a butter knife to separate the cake from the edge of the pan.

After I did that, I noticed some small shiny bits of metal on the outside of the second layer. I have two questions:

Is this a normal consequence of using aluminum cake pans or did I
get a really low quality pan (it was the cheapest one at my local
kitchen store)?
If this is a normal consequence of using aluminum
cake pans, have I ruined this pan by scratching it or can I use it
again as long as I don't use a metal knife to release the cake?

Steel (as used in knives) will always scratch aluminium, which is really quite a soft metal. Glass and even some plastics can mark it quite noticeably as can storing aluminium pans stacked together. In other words it happens. Don't worry about it. The pan doesn't look as nice but it's not ruined. The main reason to avoid scratching it is to avoid getting fragments in the food.

I have a set of miniature pudding basins made of aluminium and if things don't just fall out, the only tool I can find that helps is a butter knife (they're too curved for any of my silicone tools or plastic pallette knife to get in nicely). But an old, smooth, worn one, and that doesn't scrape material off (though it does leave a mark.)


Why did my coppa get spicier after being microwaved? I wanted to put some spicy, crispy, crumbled coppa over a pasta dish. I put it in the microwave and it crisped up very well. It was however much spicier after cooking than before.

Why did it get spicier?

The microwave caused heat which released oils from the coppa's spice blend, including capsaicin.


Does wrapping banana stems actually prolong their life? I've seen a few times the suggestion to wrap the stems of bananas to prevent them from ripening. Yet at least one person who was espousing this admitted it was based on a misreading of a study:

  I made an incorrect leap of imagination about ethylene production and abscission, the natural splitting of leaf or fruit from stem. I re-read the Sauter paper and realized that I got a little too inferency. I thought that since ethylene caused abscission, it would make sense to cover the point prone to abscission. I didn't test when I saw confirmations from Lifehacker and eHow. (I know! Those were my sources after all the research I'd done?! I'm embarrassed for me, too.)

Is there any actual science behind this technique? Or is it just an old wives' tale?

To clarify: The question here isn't whether ethylene gas ripens bananas, that's a well known fact. This question is solely about wrapping the stem to prevent the banana's own gas from ripening it.

Revised answer (old answer removed due to accidentally swerving off-topic and to some extent containing incorrect information)

Even though ethylene biosynthesis happens throughout the banana most-likely none of it occurs in the stem itself as it contains a small percentage of the metabolically active tissue. There aren't as many studies that focus on the stem of the banana specifically as I imagine it's not a very attractive topic, but the current-day findings that we have highly support the assumption of insignificant ethylene gas production (or none at all) in the banana stem and it's why wrapping it will pose virtually no difference in the further ripening of a banana.

Links to relevant studies: (1) (2) (3)


Is it possible to extract juice from bok choy and napa cabbage using a blender? Is it possible to extract juice from these vegetables using a blender? How much would it take to produce 100mL of juice?

Baby bok choy:

Napa cabbage:

A auger juicer would do a better job, but a short stint in the blender will do

100 ml of water is 100 gm (isn't the metric system cool!). So expect to get around that

I would imagine the bok choy would be disgusting and slimy, but the cabbage should be great!


Can one become ill from consuming food smoked with wood that contains a common fungus? If someone used common wood (oak, hickory, etc) from the woodpile, which had been sitting in the rain and weather for some moderate time and, consequently, may be harboring some common fungi, could the smoke from such wood, deposited on food, cause illness?

The first thing I would suggest is finding a copy of "Food and Beverage Mycology, 2nd. Edition" by Larry R. Beuchat. There are two chapters that are directly pertinent to your question: "field and storage fungi" (p211-232) and "mycotoxins" (p517-570). However, in order to specifically answer the question, one would need to be familiar with three additional chapters: 50 pages of classification of yeast and molds at the beginning of the book, and two equally substantial chapters on detection of mycotoxins and fungi.

Without identifying the exact species of fungus on the wood, and therefore what particular toxins it may produce (many produce toxins that are harmful to us, some produce ones that are only harmful to other fungi), it is impossible to say that it is safe to smoke with this wood. Some of the toxins may be degraded by heat, some may become even more hazardous. Even with all of my equipment in my "kitchen lab" (including an incubator that I use for growing edible fungi), I would just use the mold-covered wood for a nice fire around which my neighbors could gather and share some barbecue smoked on clean, dry wood (scientific studies show that soaking wood does not actually do anything but get the very outside layer wet).


Can we replace wheat flour totally with gluten and other grain flour like bhajra, oats etc? Can we replace wheat flour totally with gluten and other grain flour like bhajra, oats etc? What is the amount of gluten added ?

Yes, you can mix gluten and other starch sources to replace bread. The amount of gluten added depends on what type of flour you are trying to approximate.

All numbers below give the final ratio of gluten. So, "cake flour: 5-6% gluten" means you should mix 5-6 g gluten with 95-54 g of your other flour to get an approximation of cake flour.

The gluten ratio is roughly:

cake flour: 5-6%
pastry flour: 6-8%
AP flour: 8-11%
bread flour: 12-13%
high-gluten bread flour (bagel flour): 14-15%

Flours above that are typically made from durum, not wheat. They are used for certain styles of noodle.

Note that, if you are using a refined grain starch in addition to the gluten, you will roughly approximate white wheat flour, with slight differences depending on the source of the starch. Tuber starch is also an option, but will absorb different amounts of water.

But if you are working with whole grain flours of other grains, and not their refined starch, you will have a much different behavior, closer to whole grain wheat flour, and possibly with some other surprises along the way. You will certainly have to test your recipes 4-5 times, fine tuning the water amount at least.


My bread cuts doesn't expand the way I like I can't seem to get that final rise in the oven. I would expect and prefer the cuts to show a more prominent rise.

This bread is
- 310g water
- 501g bread flour (13%protein)
- 12g salt
- 20 grams fresh yeast.

Cold water and other ingredients. Machine pounding it for 14 minutes.
First proofing 1h50 minutes. Second proofing 45 minutes. Kitchen temp is about 24C, 76F.

I brushed it with oil before second proofing, covered it in clingfilm. It is dry here at wintertime.

The actual bread was quite nice.

The odd picture is just to acknowledge that most frying pans seems to be coders.

To encourage oven spring, you want to have a steamy environment in your oven for the first 5-10 minutes of the baking period.  This will delay the setting of the crust, allowing better expansion.

For more details, see:

How to build steam in the oven for getting an oven spring?
How can I create steam in a normal oven to promote bread oven spring?

Good slashing can also help, allowing the dough to expand where it has not formed a tight net of gluten strands holding the loaf closely together.  You can see some examples of the effect of different slash patterns at:

What effect do different slash patterns have on bread oven spring?

See also:
* Why doesn't my bread rise in the oven? (Not first rise)


Can I heat frozen waffles in the oven without a baking sheet? Where I live I currently don't have a toaster, baking sheet, pan, or really anything that I could use as a container in the oven.

I'm starving and I'd like to heat up some frozen waffles and was thinking about just laying them down between the edges like in this picture:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/ba/Oven.agr.jpg

Is this safe/okay to do? I don't really know anything about cooking.

Not only is it okay to do so, I frequently place waffles directly on oven racks after making them fresh to keep warm or to cool before freezing (without ruining the crisp crust, as happens when you put them on a plate or stack them).

There's no reason you can't heat items you'd normally put in a toaster (or toaster oven) in a normal oven.  The only possible problem is having to clean up any mess that results (in this case likely only crumbs) after the oven has cooled.

Just make sure the racks/grill are clean, and watch the temperature and time so they don't burn.


Does cauliflower have to be parboiled before cauliflower cheese? Most online recipes suggest parboiling. However, what are the benefits as it will be roasting for 30 minutes in an oven?

It might just be a timing decision.
Parboil it will take 20 mins in the oven. From raw, more like an hour.
Bear in mind how long it will take to heat to the centre whilst submerged in sauce compared to being boiled or steamed alone.
Some examples -

'Standard' recipe: parboil whilst making roux, add hot sauce to hot cauli, bake 20 mins.

Jamie Oliver's 'pre-cook' version: Make sauce, cool. Break raw cauli into dish, add sauce, save in fridge. On the day, 50 mins to an hour.

Gordon Ramsey: parboil cauli, cool, combine with sauce, 20 mins oven.

'Alternative': roast cauli with oil coating 20-25 mins. Add sauce, and another 20-30 mins in the oven. This one uses a well-darkened roux, so I think it's going for a much richer flavour than any 'regular' cauli cheese.

Generally, the time differences agree: Pre-cook, under 30 mins / No pre-cook, an hour (ish)
I love it when the Guardian does these 'test it every which way' experiments. I found one right on target… How to cook perfect cauliflower cheese
However, I would suggest if you're going to be doing this just the once for Christmas dinner that you don't play with the recognised timings. You don't want a dish of mush, yet you absolutely don't want crunchy cauli.
Four mins parboil (or personally I steam, maybe five mins maximum [depends on sizes & whether you cross-cut the stalks, like with sprouts], centres still more than al dente at that point) & adding hot to hot then 20-25 mins oven is safe… even if you have to hold dinner for unexpected last minute reasons, or have to juggle Yorkies, etc. Pulling it from the oven or even keeping it a few minutes more will not kill it.


In industrially produced soup, how does each can contain equal parts of all ingredients? In the soup that you get at the store, how come you never get cans of just broth?

You'd think that if the soup were made in a large vat, the first few cans would have very little broth and the last few cans would have exclusively broth... but that's obviously not the case.

Obviously, every manufacturer is going to have their own proprietary methods.

However, canned goods are often made by combining ingredients (possibly partially cooked) directly into the cans, and then pressure cooking them in the can as part of the canning process.

So, for example, the broth, some celery, and some carrots might be added to the open can in measured amounts.  Then, the can is sealed, and pressure cooked to both sterilize the contents, and to cook the celery and carrots through.


How can I avoid cakes to turn into jelly? I am making cakes, and mostly chocolate cakes. But under certain conditions, instead of taking a nice bread texture (soft and with air bubbles), it turns into a kind of jelly (compact, a little bit translucent and without air bubbles). Needless to say, I dont want my cakes to turn into jelly because it is not good at all.

So I am interested to know under what circumstances the cakes turns into jelly.

Quick information about how I proceed : (I don't think this has a big impact, tough I am not sure)

The basic ingredients I use are:

Eggs
Butter
Wheat
Sugar

Sometimes, I replace wheat with olive oil and I may add hazel powder, almond powder, vanilla sugar and/or chocolate, etc...
Most of the time, I start by fixing the eggs, uping egg whites and mixing the yellows and sugar.

The majority of the time, my cakes are fine. There have been two cases where I had "jelly problems":

The first was where I tried to make a cake in a glass dish, into an oven with both pulsed heat and microwaves. No baking paper. This one was 100% jelly and non-eatable.
The second was into a normal oven, with a dish with a somewhat plastic bottom and baking paper. This one had about 20% of the bottom turned into jelly and its eatable but not very good.

So my theory is that the cakes turns into jelly if:

Air cannot flow into the cake, from the bottom, while baking. (The texture of the bottom of the dish matters)
You use a non-thermal oven

Do you have the same issue ? Am I correct and how do you fix the problem ?

It could either be a problem of heat transfer or leavening.

Heat Transfer

Probably the bottom "jelly" potion of the cake is not getting enough heat. I can imagine some possibile causes.

Ovens that are not fan assisted are generally warmer at the top than at the bottom. Generally you should have the cake in the middle of the oven, but for some ovens you may need to move the cake higher.
Plastic bakeware (or silicone if that's what you have) typically conducts heat less efficiently than glass. And glass has poorer heat transfer than metal, so try using a metal cake form.
The oven temperature might be wrong; oven dials are often wrong by a few degrees (I once had an oven that was out by ten degrees C). Get an oven thermometer and put it on the same shelf as the cake.

Another possibility is that you just need to leave the cake in longer, but from what you say it sounds like the upper portion of the cake would then be overcooked and dry.

Leavening

In your ingredient list you didn't mention a leavening agent. That could be a problem in itself if you are expecting air bubbles. Typically you would use baking soda or baking powder, or a combination of those two (depending on the acidity of the batter) to introduce air.

It is possible to introduce air without a chemical leavening agent by, for example, folding whipped egg whites carefully into the batter.

In either case, air does not "flow into the cake". It needs to be introduced either before baking or by a leavening agent during baking.


How to test that a knife is sharp enough? As per the question - how to I test that a knife is sharp enough?
And/or, how do you know when a knife needs sharpening?

Edit:
Yesterday I attempted (I feel quite successfully) to hone my knives for the first time ever (requiring me to purchase a honing steel), which immediately made a rather noticable difference (I shall be honing them regularly from now on).
Not sure whether additionally sharpening them as well would be a good idea?
The suggested tomato and paper tests make sense, and I shall try them in the near future and see..

The most readily evident way of determining if a knife needs to be sharpened is when you notice that you're having to apply more force than normal.

When you start out with a sharp knife you will become accustomed to how it glides through food.  Over time you're going to notice that you are having to apply more pressure than normal and that's when it's time to have it sharpened.

Factors that affect how frequently knives need to be sharpened include:

-The type of knife itself:  Forged knives, if properly cared for will typically hold and edge longer than stamped knives.

-Care for the knife:  Washing knives in dishwashers wears down the edge quicker.  Storing loose in drawers without a blade guard will also cause them to dull quicker.

-The manner in which you use the knife:  The "Whack" "Whack" noise that so many people associate with cutting is an audible clue that you're cutting incorrectly.  The "Whacking" of the blade against the board is caused by pushing the blade downward rather than forward.  Cutting straight down against the board dulls the blade through the blunt force pressure against the cutting surface and it also results in smashing and crushing the food instead of providing a clean cut.

-The surface that you're cutting on:  The harder the surface the more damage it will do to your blade.  Don't cut on surfaces composed of tempered glass, stone (natural or man-made products), solid surfaces such as Corian, metal, or hard plastic.

-The frequency of use:  The more often a knife is used, the more frequent it will need to be sharpened.


Meyer curd without added sugar? Is there any reason I can't make a Meyer lemon curd without adding sugar. Is the sugar doing anything structural or is it just taste? Should I adjust the number of eggs?

Sugar acts as a stabilizer in the heating process of eggs. It acts as a bit of "insurance" to keep the eggs from curdling under the moderate heat during the cooking process. It is a necessary component in making citrus curds.


Cheese soufflé with bread cubes instead of egg whites In this video: Cheese Soufflé that NEVER Falls! - Chef Jean-Pierre, Chef Jean Pierre proposes an interesting method for making cheese soufflé; instead of folding in beaten egg whites to his custard, he uses diced bread cubes (with crust removed) to provide the air that will make the soufflé rise.
His reasoning for using bread is that the soufflé will not fall (only slightly) and could thus be fully cooked in advance (hence making a foolproof recipe for beginner cooks).
This method relies on 2 key aspects:

The bread is broken down in the heated custard environment and
The soufflé will not fall because of the bread

Could someone explain from a chemistry perspective why 1) and 2) occur?
For 2), my guess is the broken down bread provides better structural integrity than egg whites, though I am not sure why.

There is nothing to explain here - the claim is simply wrong.
You can certainly put bread in custard and subject it to heat. It is traditionally done in French toast, for example. I could even buy that under some circumstances, you won't notice that you are chewing on what used to be bread - the inside of a French toast is quite soft, and if you don't know what it is, you might not recognize it.
But first, I don't believe that the bread in this recipe will disintegrate fully to the point where it is completely mixed with the custard. (And if it did, it wouldn't turn "into flour"). You can see in the video how, before sticking it into the oven, the bread cubes swim on the surface, even after he purposefully wets them on top at around 10:20. And after he takes it out, the surface is rather uneven with a few lumps, and while he does have cubed shallots and dried tomatoes in there, the shapes look awfully like bread cubes - see for example the closeup at 11:50.

You could, in theory, mix the bread fully. For that, you would have to wait until it is soaked well, and then physically mix it, with a fork or with the blender he praises so much. But in the video, it is implied that no such mixing happens.
The second claim is that the souffles don't fall. This is entirely wrong. When he puts the souffles in there, the ramekins are filled "all the way to the top" (quote from 10:28). When he takes them out, they are risen slightly, I'd say less than two centimeters - you can see a good shot at 11:19. That's expected, since there are no egg whites to rise during baking. And then, while he plates them, they fall back to the rim of the ramekin. He even mentions it at 11:29

"Eventually, they're gonna fall. A little bit. They're gonna fall right at the rim."

Don't be fooled by the "little bit" - if you remember, they were filled to the rim when they went to the oven.

So, even in his own video, you can see that the soufflés cannot hold any of the expansion they got in the oven, and fall to their original size once they cool. This is exactly how any soufflé behaves, with bread or otherwise.


When milk is poured into cereal, what is it? Is it a broth, a sauce, a beverage, or other? this was a question posed to me and I have clue how to answer this.

It is none of those. If pushed to provide a word I would call the milk an accompaniment to the cereal, but I don't see any good reason there should be a general word to apply here.


How is starch content of some vegetables reduced by cooking? How is starch content reduced by cooking vegetables? Are the starch molecules simply broken apart?

For example, this study showed a reduction in starch in sweet potato by cooking.

Starch is a polymer of glucose.  To use the glucose you need to break pieces off the starch.  Starch concentration decreases as the starch molecules are broken up.

source

This is hydrolysis, because water is added to break the sugar molecules off.  You  need acid to help, or enzymes like amylase.  Some vegetables have amylase in them which they intend to use to process their own starch.

As starch content decreases, free sugar content increases.  The free sugars are broken off the starch.  This is stated in your linked source.


Is buttermilk preferred for sourdough starter? Is buttermilk a preferred milk for sour dough starter?

Normal sourdough starter is usually just flour and water. However, there are less common alternatives such as using fruit yeast and other sources of yeast.

The main problem with using things like milk or buttermilk is the danger of causing spoilage.

As another commenter already added,

  "Adding milk works because milk is mostly water. It might even work
  better, as it also contains sugar (lactose) which will be eaten by
  your starter's yeasts and bacteria.

  But it also contains other stuff, such as fats. And fats, after some
  time, get rancid. You probably won't want that taste in bread or
  pancakes. I would stick to water (which quite probably you'll find
  cheaper than milk).

  Don't worry about rotten milk: your starter is already rotten. And
  it's a hostile environment for most microbes. It's very very
  improbable new microbes would survive there. But if they do, they'll
  be quite similar to the already existing ones."

A great overview from this comment:

  "A sourdough starter is just Flour + Water + Time

  Some add catalysts such as pineapple juice or grape skins etc. But
  what is fermenting is the flour! and this is the starter.

  Once the starter is made, however you choose to make one, the finished
  starter will be a flour + water. The added "catalysts" are just to
  help make one. Once it is made then generally it is just fed flour +
  water to be kept going indefinitely.

  There is such a thing as Yeast Water which is made and kept going with
  fruit but that is different.

  When a starter is used in a sourdough it will be flour + water. The
  temperature and feeding schedule will affect the starter either making
  it more yeast or bacterial therefore making it more or less sour. But
  what also effects the final bread is how the starter is used within
  the dough, i.e. how much starter to use, how long the dough is
  fermented and at what temperature.

  So many factors involved here.

  No two people have exactly the same starter. And one starter can bring
  out different qualities in different breads depending on how it is
  used. And a change in feeding can change your starter.

  Welcome to sourdough."

Best practices from Colorado State University:

  "Considerations for bread starter variations: Amish Friendship Bread:
  Although rare, there have been incidents of foodborne illness
  associated with friendship-style bread, which differs from traditional
  sourdough by addition of milk and sugar, and thus provides an
  environment which could support growth of harmful microorganisms. To
  limit introductions of harmful bacteria in friendship bread starter,
  use pasteurized milk or cultured (soured) dairy and ferment in a
  refrigerator, not at room temperature."

Signs your starter may have gone wrong:

  "Signs of Contamination A starter should be white, light gray or light
  tan. It should smell like bread dough, of yeast or of its ingredients.
  It should bubble subtly and occasionally burp. If the starter has
  liquid on top of it -- this is called hooch, and it is the alcohol the
  starter’s yeast produces from fermentation -- it should be clear,
  white, light gray or light brown. If the starter or its hooch is pink,
  green or dark brown, discard the starter. If it smells or looks moldy,
  discard the starter. If the starter is fizzing or the starter has
  spots or patches -- which are signs of foreign bacterial growth --
  discard the starter."


Safety of producing home malted flour I have been reading about home malting here and here for the purpose of making my own malted flour. However, I doubt my grain has been inspected for Fusarium and, if using rye, I'm not sure if I ought to worry about Ergot either.

I understand this is (practically) an internet forum and I should not be asking for safety advice. However, can anyone say 'Yes, you definitely need special quality grains, special malting equipment' or something else in order to safely practice home malting? Also, since I'm baking, not brewing, would the heat destroy any potential toxins?

In Poland any grains need to be inspected when delivered from farmer to the company that buys and stores it. And then it is inspected few times more before it reaches fina consumer. If you bought it in a food store, and if your country has similar legislation (many countries do), it should be safe.

I heard, but never was able to confirm or debunk, that sometimes food-grade grains are treated with chemicals that prevent germination and spoiling. Of course it might depend on the region you are in, but if that's the case for you, you will not be able to malt it, obviously. But you will see your grain not sprouting, so no real harm in trying.

Now, ergot. Chemicals it produces can cause hallucinations, muscle cramps and even necrosis of hands and legs and temperature does not remove these toxins. All effects mentioned was observed in people who ate it in baked products. Of course effects depends on dosage, but if you have any doubts about ergot and can't get your grain inspected, throw it away. For small batches of grain, ergot should be visible:

Sadly, it's less visible when grain is wet, and practically impossible to see in flour.

I believe in "better safe than sorry". Other fungi can leave toxins that are bad for you and can't be removed by baking, too. Not all of it will be as visible as ergot, and luckily most of them aren't as bad for you, either. Still I prefer to throw away some grain and buy safe one later than to risk poisoning.

For the equipment, remember floor malting. No need to overthink it. If grain was safe, just be careful to keep things clean.


Does my Kimchi need to ferment longer? I made my first batch of Kimchi, it has fermented for about a week & the bubbling seems to have slowed down. Can I eat it now or does it need to ferment longer in the refrigerator?

Also, the liquid level seems to have dropped during fermentation such that the kimchi at the top of the jars is no longer under the liquid. Should I add more liquid or just leave it be? The kimchi tastes quite salty, if I add more liquid should I add salted or unsalted water?

You can eat kimchi at any point.  More fermentation/time simply means more funk.  It is more likely that things are floating, your only risk is mold forming on the surface.  You can add a weight of some sort to keep the exposed ingredients under the liquid, but if you are going to keep them sealed like that, mold formation is less likely, unless you remove kimchi with fingers or non-sanitary utensils.  You can also add brine, but I don't think that is as common in a kinchi situation, as it is in other pickling situations.


What causes butter to "hiss" in the frying pan until I shake it? When frying an egg, I drop about a tablespoon of room temperature butter in the frying pan and turn it on medium flame. As it's melting, it starts to make a hissing sound, and bubbles a bit. Then, I take the pan and give it a shake, spreading the butter around the pan - and the hissing stops, even after putting the pan back on the heat. What's going on?

The hissing and bubbles are due to the butter's water content turning into vapor. It stops when there's no more water and only fat/milk solids remain on the pan. When you shake the pan you help release the last few water/vapor droplets into the atmosphere, thus speeding the process.


How do I clean a pasta maker? I am experimenting with a home pasta maker, and after all the fun comes the cleaning up.
My worries come from tiny bits of dry dough I find when I clean the machine. There always seem to be more every time I shake it, and they of course contain raw egg .
On the instructions, it clearly says not to wash it with water.

What's the best practice in this case (besides disassembling the thing)?

The machine should not be accumulating bits of dough ... it should be designed so that any stray crumbs of dough naturally fall out of it.  This is true of mine (Kitchen Aid Pasta Roller attachement) an I merely use a stiff dry brush to clean off the bits of dough which stick to the outside.

If the pasta maker is metal, you definitely do not want to use water, as the instructions say.  You will never be able to dry it properly and it will rust.

If it's an inexpensive pasta maker, I would suggest trying a different brand.  If it's an expensive one, I would contact the manufacturer.  Otherwise, canned compressed air as the two commentors above suggest is worth a try.

FWIW, I wouldn't worry about the egg in the pasta dough becoming toxic.  However, I would worry about the dirty pasta maker attracting bugs.