Why do my pre-cooked hams always take way longer than they should? My ham is 8.5lbs half-ham and was refridgerated, but not frozen. Here are the instructions that were with it.

Here's what I did:

Preheated the oven to 275.
Removed all packaging and put the ham face down on the pan.
Wrapped the pan in foil. This covered the ham too.

It's been baking for 3 hours (so well past the recommended 2.25 hours) and is only at 71F degrees. I've been shooting for about 140F since that's what I've seen online sites recommend. I have this problem with every ham I try to make. They all end up taking like 6-7 hours. What am I doing wrong?

I've tested with two different meat thermometers so I doubt they're in error. Also, when I leave the meat thermometer in there but not in the ham (I don't have an oven thermometer) it reads as 250F so even if the oven isn't quite at the temp it thinks it is, it doesn't seem significantly off.

Apparently the results you're getting are more or less by design. The How to Bake a Ham page on Smithfield's website gives similar instructions to the one you're following:

  Preparation

  Genuine Smithfield and Country Hams (Cooked)

  If you have selected a fully cooked ham, further preparation is unnecessary. Simply slice
  and serve. If you prefer, reheat in aluminum foil on low heat (275 degrees) until
  slightly warm.

So if you want it significantly hotter than slightly warm you're going to have to do something different than what they suggest. You could try raising the temperature, the USDA recommends a temperature of not less than 325F in order obtain an internal temperature of 140F.


Rice pilaff preparation on bbq grill I've just bought a new BBQ grill "Sunday One Tower". I am beginner to grilling and now I wonder how to prepare rice pilaff on my grill. I think I need a Soap stone with Frame and then place a bowler on it. Is it right?

I would not use a regular pan on a wood fire bbq grill (even on a stone).

You can use a cast iron dutch oven (or maybe a Japanese cast iron rice cooker).

After that, you will need to keep control of the heat your grill generates at it can get really hot in a dutch oven.

Nice grill btw.


Is cast iron skillet suitable for vegans? I have a cast iron skillet and one of the guests coming for dinner is vegan. Since cast iron is seasoned by all kinds of grease over time I wonder if this is suitable for vegans. I don't want to offend anyone or witness some drama.

A vegan is not going to eat your pan, just the food that was made on it. As no animals were harmed in the making of your pan (well, probably but how would you know) the pan itself wouldn't be an issue. Of course if a tiny bit of pan seasoning could go into the food, however anything else used in the preparation of the meal like cutting boards could cause a small amount of meat product to go into the food as well. Your kitchen is not vegan, and if a vegan has a problem with that they should not come over for a meal.

I'd be extremely surprised if the subject of your pots and pans came up to be honest, vegans I know appreciate people going to the effort of making a vegan meal for them.


Does washing kimchi with water reduce the sodium content much? Does washing kimchi just before eating it reduce its sodium content much, or do I have to put it in water overnight or several days?

Answer depends on how the kim chi is made.

I make it using a variant on this recipe.
The protocol there is to treat the leaves with a salty brine for 4 hours, then rinse them extensively.

No further salt is added in the recipe, so any salt in the final product will have osmosed into the leaves. Most of that salt won't come back out except with a prolonged soak*.

I've seen other kim chi recipes that do involve adding back salt after the initial brining and rinse. The sodium content of those could be reduced with a quick rinse, but you'll likely lose flavor too.

Juices in with the kim chi are likely at euilibrium with sodium in the leaves, so simply pressing the stuff lightly to remove as much juice as possible might be the best way to limit sodium without sacrificing too much flavor.


Do foil packets on a charcoal grill get any flavor from the smoke? I am planning on cooking steaks and vegetables in sealed foil packets on my charcoal grill and I just realized that foil can make a pretty good seal around the food. Will I be unable to get any of the smoky flavor from the charcoal if I cook using this method? Is there a way to get the flavor by poking small holes on the top of the foil, or will this defeat the purpose of the sealed packet by letting too much moisture out?

No, not really exposure is sort of the key in any method of light, and/or heavy, and/or cold, and/or hot, and/or direct, and/or indirect smoking or smoking in general. This holds true for charcoal grilling as well.


Do you heat the pan first, then add oil? Or put the oil in and heat up with the pan? As the title says...

I personally heat up the pan first, then put the oil in and after it's heated up add the ingredients.  I go with the line of reasoning that doing it this way gives the oil less time to burn, thinking that if you do it the other way, by the time the pan and oil has heated up, the oil could already be starting to burn.

I've never experimented, but I think this is more of an issue with electric stoves since you can modulate the heat more quickly with gas, ie turn it off if the oil's starting to smoke.

The typical rule of thumb is that if it's a non-stick pan you do add a little oil to the pan first before heating.  Most manufacturers usually recommend this to extend the life of the non-stick coating.

For regular pans (those without non-stick coating) you should heat them dry until you can feel the heat radiating from the surface when your hand is held about 6-inches above the bottom.  Add your oil at this point.  You'll actually need to use less oil because the same amount will spread across a greater surface area due to its decreased viscosity as it heats.  Plus, your oil will heat up instantly and when you add your food it's less inclined to stick.  Most people get impatient waiting for pans to heat (and in general) and this also ensures that the food isn't going into a pan with oil that's cold or not hot enough.  When cold oil goes into a pan and cold food ends up on top of it you'll end up with one big sticky mess.  As for adding oil before heating the pan, the longer fats heat without anything else in the pan, the quicker they'll break down and burn.


How can I reduce the fat in a white wine and parsley sauce? For Xmas I was given a steamer.

This is good as I, as I expect a lot of people in the world have done, have resolved to lose some weight this year. Now I understand that steamers are good for cooking fish. One of my favourite accompaniments to make for fish is a white wine and parsley sauce, basically a thin Bechamel with white wine and parsley (occasionally with tarragon or dill depending on my fancy).

What I'm wondering is how to achieve the same effect with fewer calories. A white herby, winey sauce that's lower in fat... What do you think?

Thickening with starch or flour instead of roux can be quite acceptable if some other rich flavors are added. Here is where the calories can be traded in:

Good low-fat broth for part of the liquid. celery root or coriander root are particularly good ing. for veggie broth

Puree, in small amounts add body and flavor. soft cooked onion is particularly silky and surprisingly mild

Flavorsome oils, few drops instead of copious butter. Macadamia punches above its weight. Sesame toasted (tiny amount) or if feeling adventurous, pricklyash from Asian market.

lower-fat 'milks' can add luscious body instead of cream or 3% dairy milk. Unsweetened Almond or coconut doesn't overwhelm most sauces.


Cannot find very simple Egg Scrambler I used to have a very simple egg scrambler, metal,  a kind of flexible wire spiral with a handle. As you beat with it, the flexible spiral would somewhat amplify your hand motion. Cannot find another one anywhere.

I think you probably mean a Spring Whisk The ones with a flat spiral bottom can be had at Amazon. I'm not seeing any of the old style, with an open bottom. That shouldn't make much difference to an egg.


What would happen if I blended (liquified) onions and then reduced the result? Imagine I liquefy 10 onions with a powerful blender and I subsequently reduce the liquid. What would happen? Would I end up with a caramelized onion paste? Or something else?

You would first boil the onions and then most likely burn them.

1st: boiling. Caramelization needs higher temperatures than 100 Celsius but as far as there is water in the mixture, temperature won't rise. Therefore you'll get boiled onions.

2nd: burning. Once the water is gone temperature rises very fast and since caramelization takes time you get to burn them first.

Chopping vs blending:

Chopped onions keep the fluids inside the cells and release them gradually. This makes the temparature rise over 100 °C and prevents it to go too high. This way is much easier to set the stove to the right temperature.

Water and oil:

Water and oil don't like each other very much so trying to add oil to a watery mixture is a bad bad idea. Chooped is the only way if you use an oiled pan.

Notes:

Caramelization happens around 120-165 Celsius, below the browning is too slow and above will be fast burnt
If you want carmelized onion paste, blend afterwards.
To speed up the process and get a paste at the same time you can add baking soda to the onions. Maillard reaction (browning) is much much faster in alcaline environment, which you'll get by adding the baking soda. Also cells will degrade and you'll end up with a paste. Worth a try just to see the results.

Guide:
Here is a guide to carmelized onions from serious eats where they address the how and the why.


Substitute Quinoa Flour to All-Purpose Flour If the recipe calls for 1 cup All Purpose Flour, how many cups of Quinoa flour should I use to completely replace All-Purpose flour?

If you want to replace 100% of gluten containing flour in a recipe, you will probably need to vary the amounts of the other ingredients, the cooking time and the cooking temperature. It doesn’t behave the same as gluten containing flours in the oven.

Every recipe is different, but some very general rules of thumb are (for which there are probably just as many exceptions – I know, it's so annoying. But look on the bright side: Grain and gluten free living will certainly keep your creative side ticking):

Reduce the cooking time
Reduce the cooking temperature
Increase the amount of moisture in the recipe
Increase or add more binding agent (such as eggs). The lack of gluten can mean the final result doesn’t hold together as well. This rule is the least likely to be true, but it’s worth keeping in mind if your results are less than amazing.


Are sundried tomatoes regulated in the EU? There are different methods for drying tomatoes, and I suppose that using a dehydrator is most convenient in an industrial setting. Still, many dried tomatoes are sold as "sundried tomatoes". I have heard the skeptical opinion that these are probably tomatoes which were not dried in the sun, or maybe spent only a nominal amount of time in the sun.

Is there a legal norm prescribing what constitutes a "sundried tomato"? A special process to be followed? Maybe a minimal time prescribed for the tomatoes to spend in the sun (or at least under the sky outdoors, be it sunny or cloudy) after they have been picked?

I am interested in EU legislation, either on the level of the whole union or of states in it (I don't expect answers to list the details for each state if it is regulated on the national level).

There's a ONU/CEE (in french) norm about dried tomatoes.

In PDF:
http://www.unece.org/fileadmin/DAM/trade/agr/standard/dry/dry_f/19DriedTomatoes_f.pdf

I am not certain if that is what you are looking for.

I did not find an English version.


What is the storage life for whey? I've recently begun making cheese at home. In this answer it was suggested to reserve the whey to be used in curries. I've done this, and I have about 3 cups of whey sitting in my refrigerator for two weeks now. It's appearance and odor have not changed.

How long can I expect to keep this stuff around? Does it go bad? I couldn't find anything on StillTasty, my usual resource.

I suspect it depends what kind of cheese the whey came from. Whey has all of the water soluble components of the milk. It loses the casein and fat. How much of the albumin and lactose it loses depends on the cheese. If the milk was heated enough (190F I believe) then the albumin will denature and not be in the whey. If the cheese was acidified with a bacterial inoculation then the bacteria will have converted some of the lactose into lactic acid which will both be in the whey. Riboflavin is water soluble and is what gives the whey that greenish tint.

Either way- most of the nutrients that bacteria like are not in the whey and it is always highly acidic. I have personally kept whey for a couple weeks with no ill effect.

I usually use my whey soon by making ricotta. If the cheese it came from didn't denature the albumin in the milk then you can gently heat the whey until the the albumin precipitates out. A gallon of whole milk makes almost a pound of mozzarella and then a little less than a cup of ricotta. That's a lasagna right there.


Making preserved samosa Is it possible to keep a samosa which is ready to be fried, frozen for a week or more and edible? If so, what is the process? Thanks.

It should be fine. These sorts of foods are commonly sold frozen in the USA and other countries and are easily reheatable in an oven or fryer. They should keep for some time sealed in a plastic container or bag when frozen

Freeze by placing in a single well-spaced layer on a tray, once frozen transfer to a more convenient container. To reheat/cook, heat fryer to correct temperature and fry for approx 5 min. An oven will take longer to cook.


Is there a practical way to make belgian fries for four at home? I would really like to make some professional style belgian fries at home, with the specific restriction of frying them twice.  Frying in a frying pan is difficult to control the temperature, smoke, and splatter, especially with having to fry the potatoes twice.  Counter-top consumer fryers don't usually have enough volume to make four servings of french fries in a reasonable time.

Do you have any advice on how to mass produce some near-professional quality french fries in a home setting?

I would be willing to invest in a professional fryer if the price and functionality is right.

I would definitely not try this in a frying pan. Deep frying a lot of food can be dangerous, because if the oil overflows, it's flammable. I'm sure you've heard the horror stories of people deep-frying turkeys and the oil overflowing.

The minimal set up you will need is a large, heavy bottomed pot, preferably stainless steel or cast iron, though heavy gauge aluminum is cheaper and would probably work. You want the pot to be large enough to accommodate the oil, plus a lot of extra space because the large amount of fries are going to displace a lot of oil. To maintain the proper temperature, you'll need a good deep-fry/candy thermometer. Digital thermometers are a bit more expensive, but are easier to read. I'd recommend getting one that clips onto the pot. You're also may want a basket, because pulling them out with a spider or strainer will take a while and could lead to uneven cooking. You will need to monitor the temperature and adjust the heat on your stove regularly in order to maintain the proper temperature. You can get a stovetop fryer with a basket for under $30.

A professional fryer uses a thermostat to control the temperature more precisely, and is built specifically for this purpose, so it's pretty safe. Generally these are electric, so they're inexpensive to run. But the issue for you is, they may not accommodate enough food. You might consider getting two, though the good ones run around $80-100, and depending on the power needs you might need separate outlets/circuits to plug them into.

Lastly, if you have outdoor space, you might consider doing this outside. You can get yourself a turkey frying kit at a hardware store or online. This will work well since it should come with a basket. You can also buy a propane burner and pot separately, if you need a special size or what a heavier pot. You'll still need to use the deep frying thermometer. A propane burner will have a control knob to let you adjust the heat and keep it at the proper temperature. This is probably going to be the fastest method for you to heat up the oil, as propane burners put out a lot of heat (often 100-200,000 BTUs). As always, you'll need to observe the proper safety precautions, like keeping a fire extinguisher nearby, and making sure you don't have too much oil in there to avoid an overflow, etc. The burner can also be used for other purposes, such as cooking with a wok, or frying/boiling other big items. A lot of people also use them for homebrewing beer.

Lastly, you should check this video out - it goes through the process they use to prepare authentic fries at Pomme Frites, some of the best Belgian fries in NYC - and according to their chef who trained in Belgium - they're better than a lot of what you'll get over there!


Food safety of custard slice A recipe to make custard slices involves cooking egg yolks with milk, sugar, flour and gelatine to 80 degrees Celsius, then folding in beaten egg whites (beaten with a small amount of lemon juice and sugar). After folding, the mixture is about 40 degrees Celsius, and is ready to be chilled to set. What are the food saftey guidelines that apply to the egg whites in this case? All I could find was that egg mixtures should be heated to 71 degrees Celsius, but that is for whole eggs. Do egg whites require the same temperature?
For reference the full recipe is at https://zsuzsaisinthekitchen.blogspot.com/2011/04/hungarian-custard-slice-kremes_16.html

There’s a fundamental difference between food safety and what is considered acceptable risk - the former is calculated to be virtually risk-free and statistically contain not enough bacteria etc. to potentially cause illnesses or infection, plus a bit of a safety margin. The thresholds are so that even the most sensitive and vulnerable consumers are still protected, for example young children, the elderly, pregnant women and people with weakened immune systems. These consumer groups are also especially likely to suffer or even die in case of salmonella or similar food borne diseases. This is one of the reasons why pregnant women are warned against certain foods.
But there are many recipes that are not “safe” in this strict sense. That doesn’t mean that your custard, mousse au chocolat, sauce hollandaise (all with raw egg), unpasteurized cheese (raw milk), steak tartare (raw beef) etc. will automatically make you sick. In fact, in the vast majority of all cases nothing will happen. And in most other cases, a healthy adult will suffer, but survive.
To be very clear:
Just because some cooks and some recipes work outside the boundaries of food safety guidelines doesn’t invalidate these guidelines.
The recipe in the link is not safe by official standards if made with raw, unpasteurized eggs.
The temperature you found is correct without additional time constraints, there may be ways to produce a safe custard if you can hold the mixture for a certain time at a given temperature (bacteria destruction is a function of temperature and time to be exact, food safety guidelines often give a simpler version using a temperature where the holding time is near zero, so “instant” killing of bacteria), but that would be beyond the scope of the question at hand, suffice to say that this constellation is nowhere near that range.
So if you want to make the custard recipe in your link, make an informed decision, considering your personal health status and your individual risk tolerance. I personally would never serve this kind recipe for the groups listed above or for a potluck where I can’t be sure who will participate. Especially for eggs, food safety may depend on locale, and in some areas pasteurized eggs are available in stores.


What temperature should milk be when adding to roux? Possible Duplicate:
  Right way to defrost roux

I've always heard that it's best to add roux to liquids that are at or near a boil, however I ran across this video recently where the chef says specifically "add cold milk to the roux. Cold milk, hot roux, no lumps."

Is there a standard rule for adding roux to sauces? Do things change if you're using milk vs. stock or other liquids? And can anyone explain the chemistry as to why cold or hot liquid would be better?

I've heard a few different answers (theories) as to why you should use different temperature liquids to the roux, most of it's related to starch gelatinization.  I'm also not a fan of scalding milk when I don't have to, as it can bubble over if you don't pay attention and/or taken on a bit of a scorched taste.

I've always added cold milk when making a bechamel in part because that's the way I learned growing up, but if I'm thickening a gravy I'm generally using warmer liquid (drippings, let to sit so you can separate out the fat).  I rarely use a roux to thicken something near a boil ... for that, I'll use a slurry.

There are differences when dealing with adding cold liquid to a roux -- you need to add the liquid slowly, and stir it well before each addition, which also gives it a chance to come back up to temperature.  Of course, I recommend always adding the liquid slowly, as I find it easier than trying to work out lumps afterwards.


Sugar won't dissolve in cacao butter In an attempt to make (vegan) white chocolate I noticed that the sugar doesn't dissolve in the melted cacao butter.

For reference, this is the recipe I'm using: Organic Authority's "Four Ingredient Vegan White Chocolate Recipe"

I melt the cacao butter au bain-marie, add the coconut oil and melt that too. Then I add the vanilla and sugar. What happens next is that the sugar forms clumps and sinks to the bottom. Why does this happen? I'd love to understand this. (Putting the mixture in a high speed blender didn't help as well.)

In a previous attempt I tried heating the mixture directly in a sauce pan to the point where the sugar would 'melt' but this turned out to be a big mistake. The sugar seemed burned and the result was cacao butter with burned caramel. Needless to say I didn't eat it.

I have a hunch that I need an emulsifier in order to get a smoother result, however I have no experience in this at all.

When melting factory made chocolate au bain-marie I get a much creamier result which actually looks like melted chocolate. The chocolate I'm making is just very oily (with sugar lumps in it) and looks nothing like I would expect. What does it take to get such a result?

Sugar won't dissolve in cocoa butter.  Or in coconut oil, for that matter.

When making chocolate, the sugar is smoothed and kept in suspension by prolonged grinding, conching, which is really a mechanical process... and one of the reasons making actual chocolate at home is very rare, absent specialized equipment, as the sugar crystals will not dissolve and this leaves a gritty product.

You might have better luck with powdered sugar, since it's already more finely ground.  Or superfine or castor sugar, perhaps.  I see that the recipe calls for coconut sugar, and I'm not sure there's commercial powdered or superfine, but you might be able to grind it more finely for a better result anyway.  For powdered or castor sugar the amounts in volume will be a bit different - as the sugar will physically settle differently, plus the addition of cornstarch for powdered - but weight should be the same and there are conversions for volume measurements.

It may also help to cool the cocoa butter/coconut oil mix down to a thicker consistency (semisolid, maybe like softened butter, something of the sort) before mixing in the sugar, as the thicker texture should help keep the sugar in suspension rather than letting it settle out before the mix finishes cooling.  With the cocoa butter/coconut oil mixture in that thicker state, the incorporation would look more like creaming.


What to do to get tender, edible steak instead of it being rubbery? I've seen this, but it does not answer my question.

This is with regard to the Kerala beef fry or even Kerala beef curry; not the western way of cooking steak.

The steak pieces: 1kg bought from a local beef shop where they just take a random piece of meat, chop it into little pieces of around 2 or 3 cm in size and give it to you.
What I did: Kept it in freezer for two days, took it out today and put it in water and heated the water a little. Pulled apart frozen pieces slowly in a span of an hour and allowed it to reach room temperature.
Recipe: Added spices as per this recipe and left for marination for an hour.
Pressure cooker: Put beef in cooker and heated on slow fire for 35min until there were 4 whistles/steam-let-outs that happened in a span of 2 minutes. Allowed pressure to go down and after around 20 min, opened the cooker to find the meat very rubbery. Appeared slightly cooked on the outer layer for 1 or 2 mm, but the meat inside seemed raw and when I try to tear it, it feels tough and rubbery and extends a little like when you start pulling chewing gum apart with both hands.

Beef meat ends up like this every single time I try to cook it in a pressure cooker. I'm sure I didn't overheat it and it certainly wasn't cooked for too long. Or is it wrong to cook it in a pressure cooker and instead boil it in an open top container? I hadn't added vinegar or wine or lemon juice during marination. Could they have made a difference?

ps: I continued heating the beef with its gravy for another 20 min on low flame, but it didn't seem to make the meat any better. So I separated the gravy and roasted it as in this recipe. The taste turned out excellent but the meat was still rubbery. So it would be much appreciated if you could help with info on ensuring that the meat is tender and well cooked when we start cooking it itself.

Starting with a "random piece of meat" may be part of the problem. Some cuts are more suitable for this than others.

If the meat seems "raw", then something is very wrong here. An hour at pressure-cooker temperatures is more than enough to over-cook it. There's no way it could be raw.

I suspect that over-cooking is the problem, and that will depend on the cut you're using. I suspect you've got a piece with little fat or connective tissue, and that's not going to soften in a pressure cooker. It shouldn't seem "raw", though; it should seem over-cooked.

In the future, I'd suggest looking for a chuck roast or other fatty piece. If you do end up with a cut like bottom round, it may help to cut it into thinner pieces, across the grain. That mechanically tenderizes the meat by snipping the chewy fibers.

Either that, or something is desperately, weirdly wrong with your pressure cooker.


What can I use in lieu of white wine in this recipe? I would like to make the below recipe for a bridal shower, but it is at a church which forbids alcohol and alcoholic products on premises. What can I use for a substitute for the white wine, to still achieve the desired effect?-

Also, there is a lemon and lime allergy, so nothing lemon or lime-y.

  Strawberries and Wine Flower Cheesecake

  (abbreviated recipe with only relevant steps/ingredients. For full recipe, visit the link above)

  Three 1/4-ounce packages unflavored powdered gelatin
  1 1/2 cups white cranberry juice
  1/4 cup granulated sugar
  2 1/2 cups chilled sweet white wine, such as Riesling
  1 quart medium strawberries (about 20 total)
  10 to 12 canned mandarin orange segments (from an 11-ounce can), drained well

  Once the cheesecake is set, prepare the white wine gelatin. Pour the white cranberry juice into a medium saucepan and sprinkle over the remaining 3 packages of gelatin. Let sit until the gelatin is absorbed, 2 to 3 minutes. Add the granulated sugar and heat over low heat, whisking occasionally, just until the gelatin and sugar dissolve, 1 to 2 minutes.
  Pour the gelatin mixture into a large bowl and stir in the white wine. Use a spoon to scoop away any bubbles at the surface. Refrigerate, stirring every 10 minutes, until the gelatin just begins to thicken and is the consistency of thin fruit jelly, 30 to 45 minutes.
  Meanwhile, trim away the green tops from the strawberries. The trimmed strawberries should be no longer than 1 1/2 inches tall (1 inch is ideal). Slice the strawberries into 1/4-inch-thick pieces, saving any small end pieces for another use.
  Starting from the outside edge of the cheesecake, shingle the strawberries (pointed side outward and upward) in a circular pattern, leaning the tips of the strawberries against the edge of the pan, about 26 strawberry slices total. Continue this pattern, working inward and making 3 additional concentric circles with the strawberries overlapping each other, leaving at least 2 1/2 inches of empty space in the center of the cheesecake. (You may have strawberries left over.) Arrange the mandarin oranges in the center (rounded side outward and upward) so that the cheesecake is completely covered.
  Use a large spoon to stir the gelatin until mostly smooth. Gently spoon the mixture evenly on top of the fruit, then use the back of an offset spatula to smooth out the top as much as possible. (For a really smooth top, dip the offset spatula into boiling water, wipe it dry and smooth out the top further.) Refrigerate the cheesecake until the gelatin is completely set, at least 4 hours and up to overnight.

Since the recipe call for sweet riesling, I'd replace the wine with white grape juice.


What ingredients do Bernaise sauce and fruit smoothies have in common? I am trying to narrow down the source of a food allergy. I had a really bad reaction recently and that was my second bad reaction in 2 years. In the first instance, it was after drinking a fruit smoothie at Smoothie King with "all natural" ingredients, I may or may not have had one with the turbinado in it. The second time was this past week at a steakhouse where I tried the Bernaise sauce. I'm assuming that they made it in house but it may have very well been from a vendor.

So, can someone please help me figure out what ingredients those two foods would have in common? Someone suggested that maybe cornstarch was in both of those? Are there any other common ingredients?

Bernaise = butter, egg, vinegar (usually white wine), salt, pepper, and herbs.  It would surprise me if any of those things were in your smoothie. So, based on the information you provided, I would say they have nothing in common. Beyond that, you would have to go the the Smoothie King, and the steak house, and ask for a list of ingredients to see if there is something out of the ordinary in their recipes.  Maybe you should just go see your physician.


Should I rinse chicken livers before cooking them? I bought some fresh packed chicken livers from the supermarket (refrigerated). At home I froze them. Today I've thawed them and they were bloody. I've put them into a bowl with cold water, then drained them. The water was reddish and small pieces of tisue were floating.

Was my approach ok/safe? How is it done in restaurant kitchens?
Should I just drain the blood and water after thawing or wash them with cold water?

You should prepare the chicken livers by trimming away any fat, sinew, etc. You shouldn't need to rinse them, but it's OK to do so. Just be aware any time you are washing chicken or chicken parts that the bacteria can get all over your sink and kitchen, so I generally just confine to the cutting board and then wash it with warm, soapy water or put into dishwasher.


Making chili less oniony I made chili last night and it is way too oniony.  I know you can use potatoes to make things less salty; any advice on making already made food less oniony?

Make another batch of chili with no or reduced onions, and combine them--freeze if needed, so you can use it all.  This is the only reasonly guaranteed way to resolve the issue.  Chili freezes and holds very well, so this might be practical even though somewhat extravagent with the ingredients.

I know that isn't what you want to hear, but it is the truth.  BTW, the potato and salt reduction thing is a kitchen myth.


Red vs green jalapenos for canning I'm planning to can some salsa tomorrow and have a recipe picked out (Roasted Tomato-Lime Salsa, from ATK).

The one catch is that it calls for red jalapenos, but I could only find green.  I am wondering if it will be a problem to substitute; I am not an experienced canner, and have read various warnings about not deviating from the recipe for safety reasons.  I guess my concern is that the green ones might have a different pH due to chemistry changes during ripening.

Will substituting green for red create any food safety issues? Extra credit for a reference.  (Note that this question is primarily not about the flavor difference, though feel free to leave a comment.)

One difference you'll find is that the sauce is not as hot with the green jalapeños, because fully mature red ones have more capsaicin.  However, spiciness does not affect their preservation qualities.

Mature, red peppers have a slightly lower pH than green peppers(paper behind paywall, sorry) -- about 1.0 points lower.  However, both are still considered low-acid foods that require additional acidifying (usually using vinegar or lime juice in salsa) in order to be canned safely at atmospheric pressure.  I wouldn't expect the difference in pepper acidity to have much of an effect on the final recipe in a salsa that is primarily composed of tomatoes, so I wouldn't adjust the acid in the recipe.


How is nutritional yeast made? I'm talking of the kind of yeast that tastes like cheese. I live in a country where finding or importing nutritional yeast is not an opcion, so I would like to know how to prepare it. I want to eat vegan & inspire people to do as well.

I haven't found the recipe or preparation anywhere.

Nutritional yeast is not something you can make at home. Nutritional yeast is produced by culturing a yeast in a nutrient medium for several days. The primary ingredient in the growth medium is glucose, often from either sugarcane or beet molasses.

You can make it yourself but you will need an industrial setup and large investment.

It is cheaply available on chinese sites like Ali Baba and DHGate etc from where you can get affordable rates.

You can also track down your country's importer of this product and buy it directly from him thus cutting out the middle men. This is exactly what I do in India and the importer from whom I'm buying originally imports it from China.


A question about browning meat for spaghetti bolognese I've been told in one form or another: "no colour, no flavour", so when cooking Spaghetti Bolognese I always brown the meat (after chucking in the onions, carrots, celery etc.). The browning does impart flavour but it also alters the texture of the minced meat - it becomes grainier, drier, etc. It's not that i'm overcooking it, I believe this to be a natural byproduct of the browning – the browning can only occur once the moisture has been cooked off, after which point the meat forms a crust and becomes harder.

Is it possible to retain the flavour benefits of browning alongside the qualities of the mince being tender and moist?

Kenji at Serous Eats pondered exactly this question at length. (emphasis mine)

And now we get to the most crucial phase of the process: the long cook. If you take a quick look back at that passage from Cook's Illustrated, they do make one good point: browning meat toughens it far more than simply simmering it. But we also know that browning adds flavor, right?
In fact, some very well-respected ragù recipes call for browning the ground meats until very brown, like the version that Mario Batali makes on The Chew. In that version, he cooks the meat until what he calls "beyond brown". I've made that recipe (or variations close to it) a number of times and have even eaten what can be presumed to be the same sauce at two of his restaurants. It's absolutely packed with flavor, but I simply can't get over the dried nubs of meat you end up with when you brown ground meat past the last inch of its life.
Surely there has to be a way to get great browned flavor without having to reduce the tender meat to dry rubble?
In point of fact, the whole reason I was extra excited for Bolognese season to start this year was because of this slow-cooked tomato sauce technique I developed a few months back.
The concept is simple: rather than simmering a pot of tomato sauce in a pot on the stovetop, just transfer the whole thing to the oven. Not only does the oven deliver more even heat and better reduction with less mess, but it also creates delicious caramelized bits of tomato on the top surface of the sauce and around the edges of the pot which you can stir back into the finished sauce for richer, deeper, more complex flavor.

He's got another secret for his amazing Bolognese: Fish Sauce. (no joke) Umami bomb

Doesn't that look good? He gets down and dirty with all of the explanation of his technique in the article linked to in the beginning of this answer.
The recipe (it's a beaut) is here
EDIT HA! I made it (with half the liver), and it turned out great!


Fast cooking bone broth I have some deer bones I would like to cook into broth. All the recipes I found call for slow cooking many hours. Is it possible to fast cook it on a stove top (1-2 hrs max)?

Yes, you can, if you use a pressure cooker.  You can easily create stocks and bone broth in less than an hour. I prefer this method. I make all my stocks in a pressure cooker.  I save a lot of time, and the flavor extraction is excellent.  I ramp up the alliums, because their flavor tends to get muted in the pressure cooker.  Otherwise prepare as if you were cooking your stove the traditional way.  Then, cook at the highest setting for 20 minutes to an hour.  Let the pressure come down naturally.  Strain.


How long do peanut butter sandwiches last at room temperature? We're going on a long flight with our family tonight. I prepared peanut butter sandwiches for the kids, and would like to pack it already to avoid the last minute rush (or forgetting them). We're not leaving for another 12 hours or so, and it will probably be eaten a few hours after that. (I'm not so concerned about mushy sandwiches because these are little kids, they won't mind.) Bread and peanut butter individually can be stored at room temperature for a significant amount of time... Can I leave my peanut butter sandwiches out for ~15-20 hours?

I've done it before without problems.  Even if they're peanut butter & jelly (something that's typically stored in the fridge), it has so much sugar in it that it's inhospitable to microbes.

If you want to play it extra safe, and the sandiwiches won't be easten shortly after you leave, you could place them in the freezer and then let them thaw in your bag.

... all that being said, if you're in the US, the TSA considers peanut butter to be a gel, so won't let you fly with a container of it.  I have no idea what their rules are in sandwich form.  (I've never tried it, as I typically fly w/ cold cut sandwiches, and just take them straight from the fridge before I go).

update from Erica : "I have flown with peanut butter sandwiches in our carryons. New TSA rules mean pulling it out of bags to send through the scanners, but they had no objections."


How to make my meatballs more solid I've been following a recipe for meatballs but they are far too loose for putting on the bbq.  I thought I could maybe put them in the fridge before cooking them, or brown them in a pan before putting them on the bbq - I was wondering, does anyone have any idea of how to make them a bit more solid?  or any better way of making meatballs / keftedes?

The recipe is here : http://www.meatwave.com/blog/keftedes-grilled-greek-meatballs-recipe

a few tips here

I noticed that the beef was "80% lean", try to go with little bit fatter beef like "60% lean". This sounds strange, but I would try to beat up (or stir) the minced beef before mixing with other ingredients. When you beat or stir the beef, you will notice the fat will create a gel texture that helps to stick the beef better.
I would also separate the egg yolks and egg white. I would put the egg yolk in 1st with all the ingredients and put the egg white last. Egg White on its own will also help you to stick the minced beef better.
Lastly, if it still doesn't work, try to lightly apply flour on each meat balls before cooking. The flour will help sealing the juice inside the meat balls, which the meat balls will stick together better


Should I salt the water when boiling store-bought dry potato gnocchi? Should I salt the water when boiling dry gnocchi? I have seen some recipes where they do salt the water, but also advice on some websites recommending not to do so.
Most information on the internet seems to be about fresh gnocchi, so I’m not sure if the advice would be different for dry gnocchi.
These are the ingredients of the gnocchi:

Edit
So far people are suggesting to salt the water. So, I would like to share a source which recommends not doing so:
A culinary article in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says the following:

"Typically you cook pasta in salted water," said Wisniewski. "But in the case with gnocchi, the salt will cause the potato starch to become sticky, and you'll end up with a mushy product."

It seems they are talking about fresh gnocchi here, but a counterargument to that for the case of dried gnocchi would be helpful.

If there is no salt in the gnocchi, then salt the water.  Pasta (and probably dried gnocchi) should always be cooked in salted water.  It just tastes flat otherwise.


How long will Duck Fat last before going bad I've drained the fat from a roasted duck, placed it in a closed container, saved it in the 'fridge, not quite sure how long it will last??

The main concern is keeping it from going rancid which is due to oxidation and heat.  If you keep it at the back of the fridge in a container that minimizes the amount of open space on top it will keep a long time.

You can also freeze it if you don't intend to use in the near future and don't want it taking up space in the refrigerator.


Why is my quiche weeping? A quiche that I've made for years with no problems is now seeping a ridiculous amount of liquid. The ingredients include bacon, shredded swiss, onion (small amount, finely diced), eggs, half and half, salt, pepper and cayenne. I've made it the same way for ages so the fact that it is now so wet is a puzzle. I blind bake the crust but with the amount of liquid that is seeping, it isn't helping. Just to get an idea of the amount of liquid that I'm dealing with, I made a small version in an 8" oval baker and did not use a crust. After taking out a small portion (about 1/4), I let the dish sit and within 20 minutes I had 2-3 tablespoons of liquid pooling on the bottom of the dish.

What on earth am I doing wrong?

Did you overcook it?  Overcooking will often cause eggs to weep not-insignificant amounts of liquid.

You can see this trivially if you overcook scrambled eggs - you'll get essentially "egg curds in soup".


Baking a Pie in a Stainless Steel My ceramic pie dish broke recently and I only have stainless steel as well as cast irons in the approximate size of my desired pie.
Can I bake my pie in these or will something go terribly wrong? And what precautions ought I take (baking at a lower temp, etc.) using pans to cook a pie

Of course you can. I have often baked pies and tarts in metal dishes: one can even buy metal dishes with removable bottoms specifically for baking tarts.
In order of heat capacity, stainless steel has the least heat capacity, then cast iron, then ceramic. The metal pans are more conductive (and darker) so you will find your crust cooks slightly more quickly. I would bear this in mind particularly if you are blind-baking a pie or tart crust.
I suggest you do not vary the temperature, since this just introduces an extra variable, and will affect how the filling cooks as well as the crust.


Cooking tips for elk sausage I recently purchased some elk sausages from a farmers' market but I have no idea what their ingredients are. I understand that game has a lot less fat than other meats, so presumably the cooking (grilling?) time would be a lot less.

Is there any thing else I should be aware of? They cost 4.45 CDN each so I don't want to mess them up.

With any game I automatically think about avoiding overcooking as it is quite lean, however any sausage may have fat added to it to prevent it drying out, so a simple look at your sausage should tell you how much fat it has. If it is really dark with very little white in it then there's little fat and you need to make sure you don't overcook them, if there's a good proportion of fat then cook them as you would normally.

The best reference I have for cooking game is out of an app called BB Meat Master which says:

  The trouble with game is that you don't know where it's been. Modern animal husbandry has eliminated many common foodborne illnesses and makes raised meat very safe but wild meat may have some diseases. For this reason some recommend that game be cooked to a minimum of 160F(71C) which is where all foodborne illnesses are wiped out, however with most game this will make it dry and unpalatable. You as the cook must balance safety and flavor/tenderness. When eating be sure to be on the lookout for metal shot or bullets.

To me there's no point in buying game if you plan to cook it until it's dry, so I aim to cook it to medium at 145F/63C at the most. It's hard to gauge with sausages, so with low-fat game sausages I'd brown them off and get them out pretty quick. As long as they're firm you should be ok.


Pumpkin Bread that is similar to Banana Bread Can you make a pumpkin flavored bread similar to how you can make banana bread? Adding pumpkin to a bread dough mixture similar to how you make banana bread.

Is this what pumpernickel is?

Is pumpernickel a form of pumpkin bread? No, definitely not. Pumpernickel is defined by the grain used (specifically rye) and not by any added ingredients.

Can you make bread with pumpkins? Sure! Pumpkin bread is generally a moist quickbread, and like banana bread is often intended as a breakfast food. Unlike with bananas, the pumpkin usually has to be roasted to soften it before use, so it can take a bit more effort (though there is an excellent instructional guide on the old SA companion blog) unless you use a pre-cooked canned pumpkin.

The moisture, protein, and fat content of pumpkin (or any squash, really) will also differ from banana, so you are best off not substituting into a banana bread recipe. Fortunately, a quick Google search for "pumpkin bread" shows dozens of recipes from different sources. Pick one that looks good to you and have a go.


How to measure food acidity I am asking about a method or a trick to measure (or guess) how acidic is food.
Please don't suggest any expensive tool; this will be for home usage only.

Litmus paper is quite inexpensive. Edmund Scientific has 100 strips for US$1.95.


Can I substitute a 10 oz bag of large marshmallows for the same weight equivalent in miniature mallows? My recipe calls for a 10 oz bag of miniature marshmallows. I only have a 10oz bag of regular marshmallows (not jet-puffed), will that work?  Thank you.

Culinarily speaking, large marshmallows are identical ounce-for-ounce to miniature marshmallows, so for the purpose of an ingredient substitution, this should not cause you a problem. But there are a few things to consider:

Miniature marshmallows are obviously smaller… so if your recipe calls for using them whole, you may have to decide if the larger versions are appropriate for your recipe.

Miniature marshmallows are also easier to melt, so if you are adding larger pieces to a hot mixture, you may have to take extra care they are melting completely. And if you are melting them over heat, be sure the extra time required does not cause them to burn.

And just for the sake of completeness, marshmallows are also coated in corn starch to prevent them from sticking to one another. Since miniature marshmallows have a bit more surface area, you may end up with just a bit less cornstarch in your mixture. But it seems highly unlikely this will make a difference in your final product.


How will reducing and freezing affect the flavor of stock? I have been working on making beef stock for about a month now.  I am happy enough with the outcome that I would like to make larger batches and preserve it.  It is currently the consistency of jelly after bringing down its temperature and letting it cool in the fridge overnight.

I am considering reducing the stock down to about 25% of its volume, letting it cool and set.  Then I want to cut it into pieces, vacuum seal them and freeze them.  Then, when I want to use it, add water to it until it is back to its original volume.

I am wondering how much this will affect the flavor of the stock.

I've certainly never detected any adverse effects on the flavour from freezing and/or reducing stock.

However I no longer reduce stock before freezing as it seems like a waste to boil off loads of water only to add it later, when the only benefit is saving surprisingly little freezer space. It comes out a little more concentrated from my new slow cooker anyway, as it's hotter than the old one.

Stock is simmered for hours anyway; getting it very slightly hotter for a few more hours won't do any harm.


Can I dehydrate multiple different types of food at the same time? I recently got a L'Equip food dehydrator and have had some good success playing around with it. But I'm interested to know if I can dehydrate different food stuffs at the same time. For instance, could I throw jerky on one tray, onions on another, and strawberries on a third (assuming they all wanted the same time / temp) or would my strawberries end up tasting a bit like oniony beef? What kind of things would cause this contamination?

They would totally end up tasting like oniony beef! In fact your whole kitchen does- that's part of the magic of making jerky.

I can't think of a way to prevent this as the whole idea of dehydrating is to pull water out of the food and blow it away into the air.

If the flavors are compatible (or milder, like fruit) I have done different things together at once. If they don't take the same amount of time, I'll just take the done items off earlier when I check it.


Can one bake a cake with a cooked egg instead of a raw one? This recent question about a person who wanted to bake a cake but only had a cooked egg left suggested me an even stupider one: is it possible to bake a cake with a cooked egg instead of a raw one? After all, the egg is going to end up cooked inside the cake anyway.

I imagine that it's going to be tricky to mix it with the dough, but with a hand mixer and a sufficient amount of violence everything is possible.

Or are the chemical processes of boiling an egg and cooking it inside the dough fundamentally different?

I would say no. The function of the egg in the cake is to go in raw, mix with the other stuff, and once the raw egg has penetrated and coated the other ingredients thoroughly, bind it all together with that bouncy, sticky solidified eggy property which comes into existence as the egg cooks.

Cooking the egg first all by itself, then adding to a cake would be like drying some crazy glue, then grinding up that hardened crust and putting the resulting powder between two things you want to stick together. The gluing action is all over when the glue has dried.


What causes changing blue and purple pigments in food? I've noticed that many foods, such as cabbage, garlic, and ginger, either turn blue or purple in certain conditions, or that, like purple string beans, they lose these colors when cooked. Why is this?

Anthocyanins are antioxidants that are a very common water based pigment in plants. There are over 500 varieties that have been isolated from plants which are are responsible for many blue, red, and purple pigments in flowers and fruit. It is thought that the colors serve to attract pollinators to flowers and camouflage leaves from herbivores.

They are the naturally occurring in purple snap beans, garlic, some ginger, many berries, red cabbage, as well as many other common foods. When added as a food coloring, they have the E number E163.

The color is dependent on the pH of the fluid around them. This causes many plants (such as purple beans) to lose color as they are cooked and their cell walls begin to burst and release water, diluting fluids the anthycyanins are in or absorbing cooking liquids of a different pH.

Some varieties of ginger contain anthocyanins which can turn blue when exposed to acids. Varieties of ginger originating in Japan contain these compounds, but varieties originating in China do not, which explains why this only happens to some ginger. The pH of ginger is slightly acidic, so that probably starts the reaction.

Anthocyanins are also responsible for garlic turning blue when in an acidic solution. In the case of garlic, the color is sometimes enhanced by reactions between the sulfur compounds naturally occurring in garlic and copper that may be present in water or cooking vessels. This creates another blue pigment, which is still perfectly safe to consume.

More technical information can be found in Colorants in Food.


Why is butter incorporated into the dough last when making Brioche? I made Brioche for the first time tonight using the Rich Man's Brioche recipe from Reinhart's Bread Baker's Apprentice.

The recipe basically leaves out the butter until the very end when the dough is fully mixed and hydrated. Only then does the recipe require the butter to be slowly added into the dough tablespoons at a time using a wooden spoon.

I am usually used to creaming the butter at the very beginning or using melted butter in the wet ingredients and then mixing it with the dry ingredients. Incorporating the butter into the dough at the end using a wooden spoon took quite a while and was a pretty good workout for my arms.

I took a look at other Brioche recipes on the internet and pretty much all of them add the butter into the dough at the very end.

So my question is why is the butter incorporated only after the dough is fully formed?

What would happen if I were to cream the butter with the sugar(small amount of it) and egg at the beginning before adding it to the sponge and dry ingredients?

The reason is that butter can inhibit gluten formation.  It 'coats' the proteins that would form gluten.  You knead the dough first to get gluten, and then add the butter afterward around the already formed gluten.

You can add it earlier, you just end up with less gluten and a more tender dough.

Creaming isn't usually done with bread, as its purpose is air bubble formation.


Making crisp hash browns I buy frozen, shredded potatoes. What is the best way to drive off moisture to help make them crispy when cooked?
Would microwaving on a paper towel help remove ice crystals and help avoid soggy potatoes?

Here's my method. First I rinse the frozen potatoes under cold water (in a colander) until thawed. It only takes a minute or two. Then I squeeze as much excess water out of the potatoes as I can. Then I season them and put them in a very lightly oiled pan and press and form to get the shape and thickness I want, and get them to hold together. When the first side is golden, I turn and let the other side get golden and crispy.
Over the years, I've found that the excess water caused problems with browning, crispness, and holding together. Also, I usually add a tiny bit of butter to the pan as it helps to get that perfect golden color.


How to combine chocolate and garlic in the same dish? I hosted a potluck dinner some years ago, and I set the theme as "chocolate or garlic" -- guests were to bring one or the other. One person was a wiseacre and bought chocolate covered garlic. (It was hideously unpalatable.)

I've since wondered if there's any way to combine chocolate and garlic in the same dish where you taste both, or if the two flavors are simply incompatible.

Sure! Most recipes for the darker Oaxacan moles will include both cocoa powder and garlic.


How to cook perfect long grain rice? Every time I make rice it comes out mushy and clumps together. How can I get rice to cook properly and be fluffy with grain separation and everything?

As I don't know what kind of rice you are using, but there are some tips which can help you to make the rice less mushy and non-sticky grains:

You can add one tablespoon of lemon juice so it will help the rice not to stick.
Do not cover the pan with a lid while you are boiling the rice.
Do not stir with spoon too much as it can break the grains of rice into pieces, which can cause mushy rice.
Cooking rice with too high flame can also cause the rice to clumps.
Also you should rinse the rice before cooking them.
I also followed these tips and it works for me.


Raspberry Infused Vodka I recently discovered a number of bottles of raspberry infused vodka in my grandmother's basement. They are all many years old, and I'm wondering if they're still safe to drink. They seem to have a hazy collection of suspended particles at the bottom, and were capped with corks.

Distilled alcohol doesn't spoil, and in high enough concentrations (20% or above) will preserve food. If your grandma's homemade hooch is strong enough (and it isn't adulterated with any harmful chemicals) it will not have any foodborne illnesses in it and should be safe to drink.

A quick test for alcohol content is to see if it starts on fire at room temperature, if so you're fine as it's at least 50% alcohol. You can also try heating it in a pan a bit and then lighting it (keep your eyebrows clear and be careful as it will flare up). If a bit of heating helps it flame you are also ok. If it smells strongly of alcohol you are probably fine, but if you are cautious (or curious) you can measure it using a spirit hydrometer, which you can buy online cheaply in many places.


Frozen store-bought pie crust I have a store-bought frozen pie crust but no directions.  Do I need to do anything to the crust (pre-bake?) to use it for a pumpkin pie?

Generally, pumpkin pie is made in an unbaked crust. So just pull your frozen shell out of the freezer and let it come to room temperature before filling, and bake it per your recipe.

EDIT: I looked at a few recipes, and some do call for prebaking the crust, so let the recipe be your guide. The most common recipe, the one from back of the most popular brand of canned pumpkin, calls for filling the unbaked shell.


Electric smoker and a charcoal smoker Got a electric smoker recently.

Are there any differences that one should consider in terms of recipes when using an electric smoker?

Or are there any processes that one must take additional steps when utilizing a smoker?

I want to make sure that there isn't any additional work I need to consider, things I must consider to maximize flavor and tenderness.

Recipes for smoked meat are usually mostly about the preparation and then a note about target temperatures. These things will not change; the air will just be heated differently.

With grilling there is quite a bit of difference between charcoal and other heaters. Flavor and the fact that charcoal can get much hotter are the two big differences. Neither of these are important for smoking, in my opinion. You don't want it to get hot at all and any flavor the charcoal might have provided is wholly eclipsed by the flavor of the smoke itself.

One advantage of charcoal smokers is that they are cheaper and you can smoke much larger quantities of meat- you just need a big enough barrel to hold it all.

You can use your recipes as is- you just won't have to check your fire all the time to maintain your target temps.


Can I substitute two percent milk for low fat milk and bourbon in a cake recipe? I'm making Banana-Nut Pound Cake and the recipe calls for low-fat milk or bourbon. I don't have these two ingredients. Can I substitute 2% milk instead?

While seeing the recipe might help (feel free to edit your answer to add the recipe and method), I feel pretty safe saying that you will be fine making this substitution.

It's likely that the fat percentage in the milk is to reduce the calorie content, not because it changes the final product. A one percent fat difference isn't going to change the outcome much, if at all.

The bourbon is likely there for flavoring, so omitting it will change the flavor of the cake but won't likely do much else. If you have another liquor that you like, you could substitute that, too. Something with a nutty flavor like amaretto would be good, or something commonly used with bananas, like rum.


How to remove the distinct flavor of vital wheat gluten when making faux meat? How do I remove the distinct protein flavor of vital wheat gluten when making faux meat?

One way to avoid the vital wheat gluten taste is to develop wheat gluten directly from flour (a somewhat popular food in China). To do so, make a dough of bread flour and water, knead it well, rest 2-3 hours, then "wash" the dough in water until most of the starch has been rinsed away. The result is a high protein/water mass that I assume could be used in faux meats, that will taste highly umami (from wheat protein's glutamate), but not unpleasant like vital wheat gluten.

To wash the dough, submerge it in a bowl of water in the sink and rub it (like handwashing clothing). Change out the water until it turns clean. This process can take ~15-30 minutes and 10+ changes. It's a hassle, but the result, if done well, will have an amazing chew and flavor.

This method has a low yield. One method to increase it involves adding a small percentage of vital wheat gluten to the flour. This increases yield without really effecting flavor, though adding too much can make the dough unpleasantly tougher. Another method to increase yield may be to add salt.


Terrine shrunk during cooking I did my first terrine this weekend. I used this recipe with 300g rabbit meat, 100g rabbit livers, 300g pork cheeks and 300g lard, marinaded in armagnac, white wine and salt overnight, minced, mixed with shallots and herbs, put in the mould and cooked.

During cooking the meat seemed to shrink about 1cm from each side and fat seeped in on the sides. When refrigerated the fat turned to solid so there’s a white chunk of fat on both sides which I don't think is desired.

Any ideas what went wrong? I believe I followed the recipe to the letter. Could it be a problem with the recipe - is the ratio of meat to fat wrong here?

Update:
The meat did not fill all the terrine mould. Had there been enough meat to just over-fill the terrine and put something on top to press the meat down, would the shrinkage not have happened?

Actually, it sounds like everything went right to me, that's a classic terrine. You simply picked the wrong recipe if you don't want fat - 1/4 of it is lard after all. When you cooked it the fat melted and got squeezed out to the sides, that's perfectly normal.

If you want less fat then replace fat with gelatine which will solidify to hold it all together.


What are these dark areas in turkey meat? I have some amount of prepackaged sliced turkey meat that otherwise smells and tastes good.

Today though I noticed that a few slices have darker spots in them, like as shown in below photo. A vast majority of the slices in the package do not have any spots like these (perhaps most of the slices in the package do not come from the same turkey).

In case it is useful, the use-by date on this package is April 13th 2018 (about 3 weeks from today); I opened the package 4 days ago.

The question I wanted to ask:

What are these dark areas in turkey meat?

I find when carving turkey that when you carve the last slice from the breast , you get marks like that , in the same place, where the bones jut out into the meat.


How to make crispy crepes? I make very thin crepes using batter made of 500 grams of flour, 3 eggs and 250 ml of milk. They turn out thin, soft and pliable. My wife on the other hand remembers fondly her mothers crepes, which used to be a bit thicker and had a bit of crunch.

How should I modify my recipe or technique to make them more like that? I'm guessing using more fat (I try to use as little as possible) could help, but then I run into problems spreading the batter over the pan surface.

A crisp crepe is less about the recipe and more about the cooking technique. You simply need to leave it a little longer before flipping it, allowing the edges to crisp. A little more oil than usual will help, but it should still only be a thin coating wiped on with a paper towel.

To make a thicker crepe, simply use less liquid. You can also look at using alternative flours like buckwheat which alter the texture.


Are cooked frozen shrimp safe? I was buying some frozen shrimp, however they listed that they are cooked.

How is the process of freezing shrimp done; do they cook them directly then freeze them?  Or freeze them then cook them then re-freeze them?

Are they safe to be eaten? Or do they contain bacteria (in large amounts)?

Then, if they were cooked, what am I supposed to do, fry them a little?

The frozen pre-cooked shrimp are of course safe to eat if they come from a reputable source.

You may wish to cook them a little bit to heat them up to service temperature, and integrate them with a sauce or spices or so on, but you could just peel and eat them if you wanted to.

The shrimping industry may have some variation in how it processes shrimp after they are caught.  There are certainly some vessels that are capable of cooking their fresh caught catch on board; there are also some shrimpers, especially in waters near the US, which can freeze the shrimp on board.  Hopefully someone more directly familiar with the shrimping industry can give you a better answer on this part of your question.

Even if the shrimp were caught, frozen on board, then cooked at a processing plant and refrozen, assuming that the various parties took good and reasonable care, they could still be of high quality and of course safe.

All of the above assumes you are buying shrimp from repuatable and licensed sources in your own jurisdiction.


How can I compare heat levels from burners? Recipes call for cooking food over varying amounts of heat on the stove burners - medium, medium-high, low, etc. How can I compare what the person who wrote the recipe calls "medium" with what (I think) is "medium" on my stove?

With baking, it's easy because 400F in your oven is the same as 400F in my oven. But medium on your burner may be different from medium on my burner (or my burner may be labeled 1-10, and 5 may be different than your medium). Even on my own stove, the four burners are all different sizes and the flame on one is a different size than the flame on the rest, even if the knobs are all turned to 5. How can I ensure I'm using the right amount of heat on the burners?

It is not a property of the stove (or the markings on it). Words like "medium heat" actually refer to the speed at which your food is cooking, and there are a lot of factors which contribute to that. Beyond the energy output of your burners, there is the type of stove (electric, gas, induction), the thermodynamic properties of your pan, the relation of pan size to burner size, how you preheated the pan, the amount of food you put in the pan, the quality of your raw ingredients, and other such stuff. So you cannot calculate it or compare it.

The only way to "calibrate" is to observe how your food is cooking. I can only give you very rough guidelines, since the words are not (and cannot) be defined precisely. "Slow heat" is the setting at which the food can be left alone for at least several minutes without much risk of burning. "High heat" is the setting at which you end up with a very crisp/charred outside and raw-ish middle. "Medium" is somewhere in the middle between the extremes.

Any of these will tend to correspond to a somewhat narrow range of stove settings, because when the same person cooks in the same kitchen, there is rarely too much variation in the other variables of the process (which make it so diverse in general). So you have to be able to recognize the current level of "heat" when you cook (I was tempted to say "by looking", but it actually also involves smell and hearing and sense of time). Once you see that your food is cooking at "medium", you can see which setting you are using, and after a few trys with your own stove you will know which setting to try the next time you cook.


Bagels - Baking Soda or Sugar in the Water? I'm looking at highly rated bagel recipes. I'm surprised that many (if not most) of the recipes call for sugar in the water the bagels are boiled in instead of baking soda. That has me a bit puzzled. I always thought that the water is supposed to be alkaline, like lye in the water in old-fashioned pretzel recipes, that it is the alkalinity of the water that give bagels (and soft pretzels) their distinctive chewy texture. What am I missing? Will sugar really create that texture?

The main purpose of adding things to the boil are to promote browning and flavor. The texture of the crust is more a product of gelatinizing the starches by boiling, using a high oven temp, and using a good amount of steam during baking.

You can increase browning two main ways, by promoting the Maillard reaction and/or promoting caramelization.  Baking soda, lye, or sodium carbonate baths increase the Maillard reaction, and increase surface gelatinization by breaking down some starch, but also give the bagels a "pretzely" taste.  You can also promote the Maillard reaction by adding protein to the surface by using an egg or milk wash.  Sugar (white or dark), honey, and malt added either to the boil and/or the dough increase surface caramelization and also lend a subtle glaze.

Personally, I always use malt incorporated both into the dough and into the boil.  It adds a subtle sweetness and cereal flavor that complements the bagels. I find the pretzel taste from an alkaline bath off-putting.  When I don't have malt I use honey, molasses, or brown sugar. I don't use an egg wash either, if you want to add toppings just place the bagel into the topping right out of the boil... they'll stick without anything else.


Vegetable "jam" with salt instead of sugar My bread baker has a program for preparing jams. The recipe says to put 3 cups of fruit with 1 cup of water and some lemon juice. This tastes great and it is also preserved well for over a year.

Now I would like to use the baker for preserving vegetables in the same way. I can use the same recipe and have sweet jams of vegetables like tomatoes, onions or carrot. But I would also like to have salty-flavored "jams". So my question is: can I just replace the cup of sugar with a cup of salt? Can a jam prepared like this be preserved for a long time?

No! A cup of salt is an enormous amount and would be dangerous for anyone who ate it, although they are unlikely to be able to swallow it in the first place as it would taste awful.

Preserving vegetables can be done with or without preservative agents like sugar, salt, and acid but  you won't be able to use your bread machine's jam making function. I would highly doubt that the jam made in your bread maker would be good for a year anyway, as long-term preservation requires canning and processing which isn't going to be done by a bread machine.


How long can blended onions stay relatively fresh? I'm trying to get rid of textured vegetable protein taste. I usually blend onions, mix them with pre soaked TVP and bake resulting burgers right away.

Now I'm thinking of leaving the mix of blended onions and TVP for an hour or so so that TVP is fully infused with onion flavour.

In the fridge, an hour should not be a problem, but could still end up bitter depending on the kind of onion used. Usually, Marinades, Pestos etc. that use mashed onions and/or garlic taste best if they are made the way the name "Pesto" suggests: Cutting stuff very fine, then using a mortar and pestle.

Most explanations WHY that is the case have to with the fact that blenders tend to disintegrate cell walls with relatively rough cuts of a fast but half-sharp or blunt blade, releasing more enzymes etc. from the cell walls as opposed to from the cell contents. These are plausible, since some of the compounds in different parts of onion cells are known to actively react when the onion is disintegrated.

Also, try adding oil (which you often want in a marinade anyway. No unrefined olive oil in a blender, though - that is known to get bitter!) while mortaring or blending - this will help extract flavor compounds and probably provide some oxidation protection.

There is a well known marinade working with onions, garlic etc: Bulgogi marinade.


What's this brush for a reuseable stainless steel mesh coffee drip filter? I saw this on Amazon. What does this brush do?

It's to clean the filter. With the structure of a coffee filter, rinsing and using a towel or kitchen sponge won't be able to clean the tiny crevasses of the filter, hence the bristles are there to penetrate the tiny holes.
You would really want to properly clean out your coffee filters, as oils released by coffee could eventually build up in the holes, making your next coffee result in a bitter taste.


What precautions should be taken while cooking a thin steak? I went to the Halal butcher the other day and asked for steak, except what I received was more like thinly sliced beef.

What can I do with this on a barbeque? Will it cook the same? How can rescue the situation?

Sounds like it's time for a steak sandwich.  Grill it up in a frying pan, add some cheese and top with sauteed onions, mushrooms and peppers and serve it on a toasted baguette.  You said the steak was thin, so make sure not to overcook it.  Cook up the veggies first, then the steak.

No idea if its halal or not, but it sure will taste amazing.


what's a good technique for pasteurizing eggs? I tried to make homemade eggnog last Christmas. It turned out fine, but the eggs were an issue. I thought about buying pasteurized eggs but they would've run me $12 for two dozen, which seemed obscene.

Pasteurization was important because my young child might have wanted some eggnog, so it needed to be very safe.

So I pasteurized the eggs by heating them a little at a time in the microwave, stirring, heating etc until they reached 145F. I may have separated the yolks, but can't remember exactly. I read about the technique on a blog. This worked well enough, but I ended up with some chunks of cooked egg in the egg nog. Not a big deal, but I spent a lot of time on this eggnog and was disappointed that it was less than perfect.

What's a good technique for pasteurizing eggs that doesn't result in chunks and gets the eggs to the correct temperature?

The microwave is too harsh an environment for this.

If you have a sous vide circulator, you can also pasteurize in-shell at 135 F (57 C) for for 75 minutes according to Douglas Baldwin's A Practical Guide to Sous Vide Cooking.

To pasteurize on the stove in the shell takes some care. You must bring the water up to 140 - 150 F (60 - 65 C) for 3 to 5 minutes to pasteurize them. You must not exceed 150 or you will begin to cook the egg. If the eggs are in the water as you heat it then they will closely match the temperature of the surrounding water. Just make sure they aren't resting on the bottom of the pan. If you want to be extra careful you can leave them in longer, as long as you don't let them get too hot.

Alternatively, since you're using them in egg nog, you can combine the eggs with the milk and heat this slowly on the stove until it reaches a temperature or 140-150 F, maintaining for 3-5 minutes.


Pressure Cooker vs. Slow Cooker for Moist Meat This question: Why does meat in the crockpot always end up dry? discusses challenges and potential solutions to getting moist meat while cooking with a slow cooker.

If I were to switch to a pressure cooker, would that be another method to keep meat moister?  Or, if I'm not following the suggestions in the above post (in particular, using the right kind of meat), would a pressure cooker not really help me much?

If you are using the wrong kind of meat (= tender meat low in connective tissue), the pressure cooker will make it much worse. With this meat, the more energy goes into it (and the pressure cooker gives it more over the same amount of time), the worse it gets. You really have to prepare it as a steak or roast.

It would be an interesting thing to try out on the right kind of meat though, since there you want to break down the connective tissue, and the pressure cooker could be better at it.


What is the purpose of papillote on lamb bones? Is it just for decoration, or does it serve a purpose?

If you mean the little paper frills on the ends of the bones on a Frenched rack of lamb, those are purely decorative.


ozone and its impact on cold fermentation Baking is my new hobby and I am experimenting a lot. There is an interesting observation and a guess, I'd like to hear some opinions from more experienced bakers.

I have a number of failures with the recipes where dough required to be fermented in the fridge, e.g. ciabatta bread. With a number of trials I figured out that the less time the dough spend in the fridge the better result I see.
And just today I realized that the fridge I have is with O3 (ozone) generator.

So my guess is that ozone kills the bacteria required for the fermentation. This would also explain the fact that the less time the dough spent in the fridge the better result I see.

I didn't try yet to ferment the dough with ozone generator off. But will do it this week.

What do you think about this? I wonder whether it is all makes sense or pure silliness and I should look for an issue elsewhere.

I was experimenting for almost a month and now I can confirm that enabled Ozone(Active Oxygen) does indeed impact, kills really, on the dough and bacteria during cold fermentation.
The results I have with Ozone off are fantastic. And out of curiosity I also did cold fermentation with Ozone enabled. I kept the dough for 14 hours and got terrible bread.


Estimating the fat content of homemade chicken foot gelatin I recently simmered a pot of chicken feet (including skin) for the first time and made an astonishingly gelatinous gelatin. It's clearly suffused with chicken fat, but I have no idea how much -- I don't think I could guess the fat % by weight or the fat:protein ratio to within a factor of 10.

I tried melting some in a tall, narrow container and letting the fat settle on top, but that was unsuccessful because 1) the gelatin fraction solidified at room temperature, and 2) some of the fat appears to be emulsified and won't separate out on its own. So, consider this a food chemistry thought experiment: Given a sample of gelatin with fat in it, how would you estimate the fat content?

Responses to some likely questions:

1) If I wanted a homogeneous, clean-looking and -tasting product I definitely should have removed the skin. This was more of a nose-to-tail-eating experiment.

2) I know a little chicken fat won't kill me. But I'm doing nutritional tracking to investigate some health issues, so a rough estimate would be useful.

From experience with gelatinous stock from pig bits, I've found that gelatine can seem fatty, when really it's not - and gelatine is good for you in ways that fat is not.

I think your tall, narrow container idea is a good one, but first get it up to liquid temperature, and then keep it at that temperature for as long as it takes. You'll want to avoid convention currents, so take it off any direct heat. It might be enough to wrap it in a towel, or maybe you'll need to leave it in an airing cupboard or even a low oven.

Given long enough, even the emulsified component should separate out - although I can't guess whether that would be hours, days or weeks!

This does mean leaving the stock at a bacteriologically unsafe temperature for a long period - so the stock you test in this way should not be eaten. Do it on a small sample.


Should I boil canned food in water? Do I have to boil canned food, specially tuna can, in water for twenty minutes?
I think it's necessary to prevent food poisoning by botulism. However, currently that I am in Europe, I have not seen a written passage on tuna can to advise people to boil the can before consumption, or did I miss to see such a thing?

No, you should not need to boil your canned food. Most canned foods have already been heated to boiling — or higher — temperatures to kill all microbes as part of the canning process. Seafood is heated to temperatures even higher than boiling and canned under pressure.

Canned food is, by definition, sterilized and hermetically sealed so unless you believe the seal on the can is compromised, canned food is safe to eat as-is.

If you don't trust that it was properly canned, or you think the can's seal is broken, then simply don't eat it, boiled or otherwise.

It's interesting to note that canned food over 100 years old has been opened and — despite losing its flavor and nutritional value — deemed safe to eat.


How do I ripen unripe oranges and grapefruits? Sometimes when I buy oranges or grapefruits I find out that they are rather unripe when I get them home. How do I ripen them?

You don't.

Citrus fruits, unlike most other fruits, do not ripen after being picked from the tree.

The only solution is to be proactive and not buy unripe citrus.


Smoking chicken breasts with and without skin UGH! I'm so stressed.  I Have a new electric smoker and I Have listened to every Tom, Dick and Harry for "The best way" to smoke chicken breasts, yet I have served DRY meat for dinner! What I'm gathering from this forum is that the leaner the meat, the higher the smoker temp (i.e. 275 degrees) and the fattier the meat I should cook "low and slow". Also, I should brine poultry - especially lean meat. Am I correct??  I just want to cook a nice dinner without tears or frustration.

It's not a question of fat.

Tougher meat- that is, meat with more connective tissue- needs to be cooked low and slow to melt out that collagen and make the meat fall-apart-delicious.

Meat with little connective tissue does not benefit from low and slow.

Ribs, pork butt, and brisket are cheap (they used to be anyway), tough, pieces of meat. Smoking them at low temperatures for a long time fills them full of flavor and dissolves their collagen, making the delicious BBQ we love. You don't want to smoke these at higher temperatures because the proteins will be fully cooked before the collagen has melted.

Poultry doesn't have as much connective tissue. The only purpose in smoking it is to impart the smoked flavor. The faster it reaches its target temperature the less time it will have to dry out and the more moist it will be.

In either case- overcooking will yield dry meat.

Some tips for moister chicken:

Always cook chicken at higher heat so it cooks faster.
Use a thermometer and take the chicken out when the white meat is around 160F. Overcooked proteins squeeze out moisture and the extra cooking time dries it out further.
If your smoker doesn't get hot enough for fast cooking (mine doesn't) smoke the meat for 20 minutes and finish in the oven or on a grill. It will absorb almost all the smoke it is going to in that time.
Brine the chicken. Wet or Dry brine recipes work. I prefer dry brining. There are many recipes online for how to brine. The added salt super charges the meat with water and locks it up even after cooking. It takes some planning ahead but makes a huge difference in moisture.
Chicken smoked with no skin will dry out on the surface. There is just too much air moving around. On the other hand, the meat itself will absorb the smokey flavor instead of the skin and fat. It's a tradeoff. Even if the surface is dry the interior of the meat can stay moist if it doesn't cook too long.
Increase the surface area of the chicken to decrease the cooking time further. Cutting meat lengthwise to fold it open is called "butterflying". It works best with whole birds but can be done with breasts.

In general, I find that smoking is best done with whole chickens. Breasts just cook too fast. I think you will enjoy you smoker more if you brine and butterfly a whole roasting chicken and save the skinless breasts for faster cooking methods.


Using sous-vide oven to make stock or soup (no bags) I have a sous-vide supreme water oven. I was wondering if I could use it to slow cook large amounts of soup or to make beef stock by slow cooking. The idea is to have the soup or stock directly into it and no bags. As it is easy to clean and is perfectly sealed, I do not foresee any problems but I am having cold feet. Could somehow I manage to ruin my oven? What is the worst case scenario here? Any ideas?

You certainly could.

I read the PDF manual online at the manufacturer's website, and it appears that this particular machine has no internal circulation device like a water jet or impeller (somehow, fan  doesn't seem like the right word under water).   It relies entirely on thermal convection to circulate the water bath.  In fact, it seems to have no moving parts whosoever. So there is no seal in the bath containment through which ingredients would leak out into any machinery, lowering lifespan.

According to the manual, the bath container is not removable, and the entire device should not be put under water. This means that cleaning it out effectively is not actually that convenient, at least to my mind.   Mild soap is permitted, and the bath is made of stainless steel so it could probably stand up to much harsher treatments--the manufacturer just doesn't expect you to need them.

Worst case, you have to spend time carefully cleaning the bath, then tediously transferring water in and out to rinse it.  I cannot see any way you would harm the device itself.

Still...

For the applications you have named, you don't need the precision temperature control this device provides.   You could do them just as easily in a traditional slow cooker (whose crock should be fully removable for cleaning), or in a normal stock pot on the cook top.

And they would be much easier to clean.  And you could brown the stock ingredients directly in a pot with the second method.

So just because you could do it, doesn't mean it is the best method available to you in my opinion.


When does the new home oven/stove smell go away? Our last stove broke and our landlord had to replace it.  We got one from GE Hotpoint and it seems like an OK stove.  It's a gas model.  We have had it for a few months now but haven't been able to cook in the oven just on the top range.

When we first got the unit it let off smoke and a very odd smell.  I read the manual and called GE and they said it was normal and it should stop after a few hours of usage. The cause was the binding agent used in the fiberglass insulation that surrounds the stove.  IT burns off or something.  The woman recommended we run the stove on 500F or so for a while to just get it over with. We tried this and at first the smell was really bad and it's getting better.  But it's been months.  We have turned it on for about 6-10 5+ hour runs at around 450-500F.  We had to limit ourselves due to wind direction and that somebody is home only 2 times during the week when we can stay with it.

Anyway it's been some months now we still have it.  We just had the over on 400, 450 and now 500F for about 5 hours.  There's no smoke any more but I can still smell it.  I'm afriad to use it to cook with.

Is this really normal and how long does it take to go away for those of you who have had new stoves.

This apparently is normal for at least some GE ovens, as can be gleaned from Consumer Affairs complaints filed by

Gary of Port Angeles, WA,
Eileen of Henderson, NV, and
Susan of Portland, OR.

In two of the three complaints the smoke became intense enough even to discolor the oven-door glass. (A good deal can be inferred from that, but doesn't need to be gone into here.)

Nonetheless, (as this has been going on for years), with exposure to enough rounds of high heat the adhesive will eventually undergo a phase change (to a solid) and stop creating smoke or even a hint of the former problem. It is a shame that any company would foist such a problem onto the general public, but we're probably right to suppose it will always be a buyer beware marketplace.

Beyond this initial disappointment I hope you get years of pleasure out of your appliance. But in the meanwhile, please do your best to keep yourself or any animals from inhaling these fumes.

[EDIT]

If it is not possible to achieve the required amount of ventilation during the process of burning off the glue, there are a couple of things you can do (short of donning a mask) to make the process bearable and, most importantly, safe.

One is to employ an air purifier proximate to the oven while it's generating fumes. Do a visual check on the smoke to determine whether it's rising (lighter than air) or falling (heavier than air), so that you can be sure to place the purifier as close as possible to the point of aggregation.

The other is to employ an activated carbon felt blanket, perhaps even in conjunction with the air purifier. If used alone, you would cover the stove entirely by tucking it in at the wall, spreading it left and right over the counter tops, draping it to the floor over the front of the oven, and doubling up wherever possible. If used in tandem with an air purifier you would follow largely the same process for the blanket, but would shape it on one of its sides in such a way as to feed the fumes into the purifier.

Air purifiers of course are readily available and come in at a wide range of prices. Activated carbon felt however tends to be a bit pricy and difficult to find. Examples of sellers are here and here. But it may also be possible to locate one through a welding supply store. Just make sure that its carbon is active, not inactive.

The Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS) specs for activated carbon felt can be found here, and includes the following description,

  Activated carbon cloth and activated carbon fabric is characterized by its large adsorption volume, fast adsorption speed, heat resistance, and chemical resistance.


What can be substituted for vinegar in sushi rice? If you could not use rice vinegar (for reasons of food allergy, perhaps), what could you use instead in sushi rice?

I would probably use diluted white cranberry juice, as being the flavour closest to rice wine vinegar. I am not sure if the acidity would be sufficient, however; you may need to add lemon juice. A substitute for soy you will not easily find, as the development of those sorts of flavours requires fermentation.


Looking for non-standard (i.e. no dill) fermented pickle suggestions I'm looking for some outside the box ideas for fermented (sour) pickles.  Fermented pickles only use a salt water brine, spices and some time.

Here's a short list of what I'm NOT looking for:

Anything using dill
Sauerkraut
Kimchee

An example of what I am looking for is the selected answer for this question.

What flavorings do you use for sour pickles?

Cucumber pickles using tarragon.  A friend suggested red bell pepper pickles using lemon grass.

Let your brain go wild.  If you're having trouble thinking of something, pick a spice or herb and then a vegetable that might taste good pickled with it.

I'm including links to specific recipes here, but not all of these recipes give fermenting instructions. I'm sure you could do these fermented though - as opposed to using whatever other pickling method is given.

Pickled watermelon rinds are fun - spiced w/ clove, ginger, lemon, and cinnamon.
Blueberries can be pickled - try with allspice, cinnamon, and clove.
Lemons or limes pickled with ginger and green chiles - or try with cinnamon, peppercorns, and a few hot peppers. I really want to try this!
Nuts can be pickled, too: Pickled Green Walnuts may be worth trying.
Have you ever had pickled ginger (commonly served w/ sushi)?
Lastly, you can also apparently pickle fish. Pickled Herring, anyone?

You may want to check out this book, containing 200 pickle recipes or this book with hundreds more.


How long can I store whipped cream for? Can you store whipped cream.  If so, how and for how long?   If you can't, is that why commercial kitchens use a "dispenser'.   is it as good coming from a dispenser?

How long you can store whipped cream for depends on how whipped it is. Lightly whipped cream will start to soften after a couple of hours, stiff whipped cream may last a day or so (in both cases, in the fridge).

When you whip cream, air bubbles are trapped amongst the droplets of fat, giving the cream its light texture. These naturally pop and 'leak' out of the cream over time.

As you guessed, this is one reason (the others being speed and reliability) that commercial kitchens use cream siphons. They force nitrous oxide through liquid cream as it is dispensed, so it's 'whipped' on demand. Cream whipped in this way tastes pretty much like regular whipped cream - nitrous oxide is used precisely because it is flavourless. Using, say, carbon dioxide as in soda would result in sour tasting cream.


Tempering chocolate without a thermometer Is it possible to successfully temper the chocolate without a thermometer? I'm sure it's quite important but since it's so difficult to find one in my country and since I don't make chocolate so often I would know if there's a way to temper without it.

Your best bet is to start with a good quality tempered chocolate and melt it just to the point of melting, which is to say keep it 88° - 91°F (if you ever do end up getting a thermometer). Most suggest using a microwave for this in short bursts to keep the chocolate from getting too hot.  If you use a double boiler, use a low heat and go slow.  Pull the bowl off the heat often and stir.  It may not seem like all the chocolate is going to melt, but keep stirring and add small amounts of heat.  Or you can follow Alton Brown and sandwich a heating pad between two bowls and adjust the heat.

The theory behind this is there are 4 different types of crystals in chocolate.  The good ones we want are Beta crystals, which do not melt until 91° - 94°F.  As long as you don't  melt the beta crystals, the chocolate should set back up to a proper temper.

Use a grater to make nice even bits, melt the chocolate 2/3 of the way and then remove from the heat.  Stir off the heat until the rest melts, or add heat in very short bits, 5-10 seconds at a time.  Don't let it harden either, it's harder to remelt if it's hardens up slighty as it then becomes one big solid mass to melt.

Once you break the temper, there is no going back, you have to start over and there is no real easy way to do that without years of experience as bobobobo said, or a thermometer.  You can find inexpensive thermometers online, just have to make sure to get one that handles the lower range of temperatures.  I use my chocolate thermometer to also measure the temperature of water when making bread.  It seems more accurate at the lower temeratures.


Why does chilled equipment help when whipping cream? Why a does chilled mixer bowl help when making whipped cream?  Does it have any effect on how long the cream stays whipped?

Basically, cream whips better when it's cold. If cream were stored warm, the advice would be to cool the cream. Since it's already cold, the advice is to cool the equipment (as warm equipment will increase the temp of the cream).

Mild science: the temperature effects the size of the bubbles that form, how fat clings to itself, whipping time, and overrun (air cell structure / air phase volume). In other words how light and fluffy it will get and how long it is likely to stay that way.

Warning, heavy science from Influence of whipping temperature on the whipping properties and rheological characteristics of whipped cream:

  The effects of whipping temperature (5 to 15°C) on the whipping (whipping time and overrun) and rheological properties of whipped cream were studied. Fat globule aggregation (aggregation ratio of fat globules and serum viscosity) and air bubble factors (overrun, diameter, and surface area) were measured to investigate the mechanism of whipping. Whipping time, overrun, and bubble diameters decreased with increasing temperature, with the exception of bubble size at 15°C. The aggregation ratio of fat globules tended to increase with increasing temperature. Changes in hardness and bubble size during storage were relatively small at higher temperatures (12.5 and 15°C). Changes in overrun during storage were relatively small in the middle temperature range (7.5 to 12.5°C). From the results, the temperature range of 7.5 to 12.5°C is recommended for making whipped creams with a good texture, and a specific temperature should be decided when taking into account the preferred overrun. The correlation between the whipped cream strain hardness and serum viscosity was high (R2=0.906) and persisted throughout the temperature range tested (5 to 15°C). A similar result was obtained at a different whipping speed (140rpm). The multiple regression analysis in the range of 5 to 12.5°C indicated a high correlation (R2=0.946) in which a dependent variable was the storage modulus of whipped cream and independent variables were bubble surface area and serum viscosity. Therefore, fat aggregation and air bubble properties are important factors in the development of cream hardness. The results of this study suggest that whipping temperature influences fat globule aggregation and the properties of air bubbles in whipped cream, which alters its rheological properties.