Substituting hazelnuts for almonds, baking I simply prefer hazelnuts to almonds, especially in sweet applications. I've been recently gifted with a pound of very nice bittersweet chocolate so I've decided to do America's Test Kitchen's Sacher Torte, but I'm going to fill with some kind of Frangelico cream cheese or buttercream mixture instead of raspberries or apricots. That I'll just tweak until I like the results, but the cake itself (almost but not quite flourless) really needs to be right the first time. Here is the relevant portion of the recipe:
"Process remaining cup almonds until very finely ground, about 45 seconds. Add flour and salt and continue to process until combined, about 15 seconds. Transfer almond-flour mixture to medium bowl. Process eggs in now-empty food processor until lightened in color and almost doubled in volume, about 3 minutes. With processor running, slowly add sugar until thoroughly combined, about 15 seconds. Using whisk, gently fold egg mixture into chocolate mixture until some streaks of egg remain. Sprinkle half almond-flour mixture over chocolate-egg mixture and gently whisk until just combined. Sprinkle in remaining almond-flour mixture and gently whisk until just combined.

Divide batter between cake pans and smooth with rubber spatula. Bake until center is firm and toothpick inserted into center comes out with few moist crumbs attached, 14 to 16 minutes. Transfer cakes to wire rack and cool completely in pan, about 30 minutes."

Is there anything I should know about hazelnuts and almonds before I start? Perhaps a difference in the fat content? Is there anything I need to know about peeling the hazelnuts (I understand that task to be a bit notorious)? I'll buy the hazelnuts raw in the bulk aisle of the grocery. I would think that I should peel and lightly toast them. Can you anticipate any other way that this substitution could be problematic?

According to the Mayo Clinic, hazelnuts are somewhat more fatty than almonds, per ounce by weight (the range is for whether they are roasted or not):

Almonds - 14 - 15 g
Hazelnuts - 17 - 17.7 g

As might be expected, hazelnuts are slightly lower in starch.  These is unlikely to make any practical difference in the recipe, as both are fairly close.

You should be able to use them close to interchangeably in recipes, although their flavors will be deliciously different, of course.

As for peeling hazelnuts, there are many methods.  One of the more effective techniques, which will work if you are going to toast them lightly afterwards is to blanch them in a baking soda solution.   See, for example, this article from My Baking Addiction with a video of Alice Medrich and Julia Child embedded demonstrating the technique.


Baking powder/leavener in the microwave When cooking muffins/cup cakes in the microwave, how can I know that the baking powder/leavener is cooked thoroughly? Most recipes are kind of short. Could cooking dough in the microwave result in something containing baking powder/leavener that's too raw?

The most reassuring part first:
Even if you decided to eat a spoonful of "raw" baking powder, the worst that would happen is a fizzy feeling in your mouth, a bloated feeling in your stomach and probably a few really loud burps not fit for polite company when excess gas exits backwards again.

The chemical reaction of baking powder and baking soda starts the moment it gets wet - at least the first stage. That's one of the reasons you don't want to have your batter standing around idly and get it into the oven asap instead.
"Double-action" baking powders get a second round of "activity" once they get warm / hot, ensuring that the cake rises properly in the oven.

Even microwave recipes need at least a few minutes until they are done (baking powder lifting the batter, eggs setting properly...), once your mug cake is hot inside, you can be pretty sure the baking powder has been hot enough to "complete the chemical reaction", assuming that's what you meant by "cooked". And there are at least another few minutes until you actually eat the cake (even if you serve it hot).

If you really want to see how fast the reaction really is, I recommend a few experiments:

I just dumped a teaspoon of baking powder in a bowl of hot water and the fizzing was over in less that five seconds.

Yes, batter will slow that process down a bit, but I think  it's way harder (or near impossible with standard recipes) to prepare a a mug cake where the baking powder did not react.


How do I use a French Press to make coffee? What are the steps to using a french press to making great tasting coffee? When I pour the hot water in, do I use the plunger immediately and then wait or do a I wait a few minutes first to brew and then use the plunger?

Buy whole bean coffee (preferably freshly roasted, maybe even from a local roaster).

Start with a rough grind. Use a burr grinder to achieve a more consistent grind. If the grinder has a french press or coarse setting use that, else experiment with it to find a consistency that produces coffee you like.

Take out your plunger and place 1 T of grounds per 4 oz (115 g) of coffee that you are making. Again you can experiment with the amount of coffee you put in to get something that suits you taste.

Use 4 oz of water per T of grounds that you put in the press. Fill your press with water no more than about 1" (25 mm) below the spout (if you have a smaller press you go a bit higher, but not too much or you'll spill). The water temp recommended is ~200°F (95°C) (just short of boiling. Stir gently, if you have a large pot use a chopstick. If you have a small pot a plastic spoon or coffee stirrer will work.

Put the plunger in the coffee and press down slightly so all of the grounds are below the water level, this will press out some of the air in the grounds and also ensure even wetting.

Wait ~4 minutes (again, experiment here to determine best flavour).

Press your pot slowly and gently. If you encounter too much resistance wait a moment (or even pull back on the press a bit) and then continue (too much resistance can indicate too fine a grind, try a larger grind next time).

When your plunger is all the way down wait a few moments and then pour. Waiting a bit allows some of the sediment to settle out of the coffee so you get less in your coffee cup. Some sediment is normal and provides body, but too much can be a turnoff. If you will not be drinking all of the coffee you made, decant it into a different pot so that it does not continue to steep in the grounds.

While there is some exact science here. A lot of what you do is informed by your own tastes and preferences. Experiment with it and see what you like. Spend some time deciding what kind of coffee, how long it steeps, how fine a grind you need and even how much sediment you like.


Can you purée without a food processor? I'd like to experiment with making purées (particularly carrot and parsnip, if it matters), but I don't have a food processor or any other mechanical mixing/blending tool. Is there anything I can do or is a processor necessary?

I think some sort of mechanical aid to macerate the food is necessary for your project. Depending on what dish you attempt, there are few options.

A ricer (or food mill, depending on who you buy from) is a manual device (non-electric) that you might run cooked potatoes or parsnips through. Many people do mashed potatoes this way. Depending how cooked your parsnips get, a hand blender (or immersion blender, stick blender) may work.

However, all of this requires you to shell out some cash for a device. I'm not sure, from your post, if that's an option. If you're going for  ultra-smooth texture for a bisque or other soup, it might be worth it to get one of the small-bowl food processors (just work in batches).

Good luck!


Is it possible (and easy) to dehydrate meat in oven? I'm looking to buy a stovetop oven since I don't have a regular oven, but the temperature slider of most ovens seem to go from 100C to 230C while dehydrating meat should occur at 70C.
Is it viable to dehydrate meat in an oven by e.g. opening the door slightly as to lower the temperature? Is there another way using an oven?

If your oven goes down to the correct temperature then you won't have a problem.  My oven goes down to 75C and I've done plenty of beef jerky with it.  If the oven isn't a convection oven it will take longer and it helps to flip the meat halfway through.
My previous oven was a gas oven that didn't have as precise control of the temperature, so I turned it off when it got too hot and back on again when it cooled down.  You do have to keep an eye on it then, but it is doable.


Why do chefs use Gold and Silver Leaf? I don't cook myself, but I watch a fair few cooking shows. Recently the theme of gold and silver leaf has been quite recurring. My first thought was "Well it can't be actual gold. Who would eat gold?" But it looked very shiny and metallic; like it was actually made out of metal. I thought maybe it was made of chocolate, since I'd seen it in a lot of desserts, and the closest thing I could come up with was "chocolate coins are covered in gold foil -> the gold leaf is in a dessert -> you'd think it has to be something edible -> maybe it's chocolate?"

Well, finally I just looked it up. I found this website which goes into a good bit of detail about what gold leaf is. And...it's gold! I was definitely surprised. So my research uncovered that it was indeed made of gold, but now I'm left with another question which I did not find the answer to:

  Why do chefs use gold and silver leaf?

I mean...you're eating metal. I'm sure it doesn't taste bad, or else professional chefs wouldn't use it. But I can't imagine it tastes good either, it's metal! I've tasted tinfoil before (not swallowed it, but come into contact with it enough to notice the taste) and it certainly isn't pleasant.

So all I can think is that they add it because it looks pretty. And okay...sure, I'll give you that. It does look pretty. But you're eating metal, expensive precious metals at that! The world's gold is going down our digestive tracts? Curiouser and curiouser.

So I suppose I'm looking for an objective reason why chefs would use this item. I see a lot of new and interesting and odd things on these food shows, but this is a real strange one for me. Is there an aspect I'm missing that makes the use of gold leaf make more sense? Or is it really just as simple as "it's pretty so we're putting it on there"?

It's just decorative, in a bit of an extravagant way. The leaf is so thin that you can't really tell it's there when you eat it; you're not really eating much metal. That's also why it's not that expensive - for example I see 25 sheets for $49 on Amazon. Not cheap, but if someone uses one $2 sheet for a few dozen truffles sold for a dollar each, it doesn't seem quite as crazy anymore.

It's also not actually that new an idea. For example, kaju barfi, a traditional Indian dessert, is commonly decorated with silver leaf. See Google image search for pictures - it does actually look pretty cool.


How to poach an egg without vinegar? What is the best way to poach an egg without vinegar? Is there a quick and easy alternative?

Heston Blumenthal has brought his unique scientific approach to bear on this recently. The main pointers for a perfect poached egg are as follows:

The egg must be fresh. A fresh egg has a thicker, more gel-like albumen. As it gets older, this becomes watery, and so just disperses throughout the water when you add it. To test if your egg is fresh, place it in a jug of cold water. If it floats, it's not fresh - the egg has had time to absorb air through its shell. A fresh egg sinks and stays sunk.
The water temperature should be 80ºC/176ºF exactly. You can measure this with a sugar or probe thermometer. The egg should be at room temperature.
The egg should not come into contact with direct heat, so put a plate or small bowl on the bottom of the pan, bottom up.

Once the water (in a medium to large saucepan) is up to temperature, carefully add the fresh egg and cook for 4 minutes exactly (for a large egg of the domestic chicken, Gallus gallus domesticus). Drain and serve - the white should be set but not rubbery (a drawback of using vinegar) and the yolk should be creamy and rich.


When mixing eggnog with brandy, which is poured first? Liquids often mix due to different densities, so which one should I pour first in order to have them mix properly?

I think we are talking about viscosities here. In industry, mixing fluids with different viscosities seems to be a real problem. According to this:

Combining liquids with different viscosities can be much more difficult than combining liquids with similar physical properties. Adding a high-viscosity liquid to a low-viscosity liquid is usually easier than adding a low-viscosity liquid to a high-viscosity liquid. A low-viscosity liquid that is well-agitated can become turbulent, and the turbulence can act to disperse the high-viscosity liquid. Once the more-viscous liquid is dispersed, it can dissolve in the other liquid, eventually achieving a uniform blend.

But eggnogg-brandy is a whole different problem.  link

The alcohol is an comparatively very acidic solution, so when you're first adding a milk product to it, you are exposing the milk (and the casein micelles) to a very acidic environment, and they will immediately start binding together.

The right way to do it is by pouring the nog first, and then slowly pouring in the booze while stirring. Finish up all the whisking of the cream, sugar, and eggs, and at the end, add in in the bourbon (and/or rye, rum, brandy, etc). Add acid: It's a law of the lab. In this case, it uses a high volume of fat content to give you the highest chance of clot-free success.


Using Chicken Broth bones for chicken stock? I am planning on using a whole chicken to make a batch of chicken broth, which as I understand is made using the meat as well as bones and vegetables and various seasonings. After that, I will take the meat off the bones.  Could I then use those bones to make a chicken stock? Should I roast the bones first? I just worry that all the flavour will already be gone from bones as they were used in the broth.

Thanks to anyone who answers!

I don't think you can re-use the bones and expect to get a good product, no.

But I wouldn't use a whole chicken to make stock in the first place. Use necks, backs, and wings instead -- much cheaper! You can roast the pieces first if you'd like, or not. You'll get different results, both good.


Possible dangers of home fermentation of vegetables I bought this FARMcurious Fermentation kit on Kickstarter. Once I got it and started making it I found their claims of it being "super easy" were a little exaggerated. When looking around online I found that other people recommended weighing your salt instead of measuring by volume and that it absolutely did matter what kind of salt you used (so I rinsed the veggies off and started over).

I started them fermenting in August and was supposed to check them in October. Well, it's now January and I've just been too afraid to try them.

There is no mold growing, they've been in a dark room in my basement. The airlocks are all intact. Nothing "looks gross". I opened up one that had cucumbers, carrots, and celery in it and it just smelled vaguely "pickly" (not bad at all). I tasted one and it was just sort of soft-ish and very salty. It's been 2 hours and I'm not dead or sick or anything.

My question is... What are the dangers here? How would I "know" if it "didn't work" or if it "went bad"? This person tested PH and looked at it under a microscope. What would I look for exactly (I happen to have the exact same microscope)? What would happen if they were bad and how long would it take to happen (if I ate some)?

Most stuff I've seen online claims that if it were dangerous it would smell so bad you couldn't even eat it and that this is the absolute most safest method of preservation.

Fermenting vegetables is a pretty safe procedure, in fact, if done properly, fermented veggies are probably safer than raw.  Really, little can go wrong if handled properly.  The process is literally thousands of years old.  In fact, your biggest concern is contamination after the process is complete.  Of course you need to use safe food handling procedures to begin with (clean product, clean hands, clean containers...etc).  Then you need to use the proper level of salt for the product you are fermenting--2.25% by volume up to 13 or 14% depending on the vegetable.  The idea is to bring the product to a pH level of 4.6 or lower. Basically, using the correct amount of salt, at the correct temperature, for the correct amount of time achieves this.  There are lots of online resources.  Probably the foremost expert on ferments is Sandor Katz.  He has an excellent book and an informative website.

If you can verify that your product was handled correctly (cleanliness, salt, temperature, time), there should be no reason that it is not safe.


Can vanilla pods be blended into a paste? As recipes using vanilla seeds often request the pod to be chucked in the pot, I'm thinking there must be no unappealing flavors in the pod itself.

I've seen vanilla pastes for sale but they seem to be a mix of the extract and the seeds.

So what about blending up used pods with a bit of liquid (vodka?)? Tasteless?

I believe you could do it, but as the pods itself are really fibered you don't want to eat them I think.

What you could do is cooking the pods. For example when I make a vanilla ganache, I always bring heavy cream, vanilla seeds and the pods to a boil. Then I let it sit for approx. 30 min an take out the pods. This method can be easily adopted to make vanilla syrup.

To make vanilla sugar just put some scraped out pods into a sugar jar and let it sit for a few weeks.

So you see - you can use the pods for many things, but eating the directly doesn't seem to be popular.


Extreme Speed Baking What techniques/recipes exist that are utilized specifically to considerably reduce baking time (to between 1 and 2 minutes) of, say, chocolate chip cookies - without perceptibly diverging from the  taste, texture and shape/size/weight, of a typical such cookie?

More generally, I'm asking is there a way to make the baking time of common pastries 2x, 3x, 4x, 5x, etc. times faster…successfully ?

Cheers!

Consider that commercial industrial bakeries would be highly motivated to reduce baking time if it was feasible, at least in a money saving manner.

And yet the equipment for continuous process baking uses approximately the same temperatures and times used at home, just with continuous rather than batch oriented equipment, and with a higher degree of precision and ability to repeat consistently.

One therefore concludes that the traditionally known times are at least approximately optimal in terms of outcome and energy (or at least cost).

In some sense, cookies (historically, the word comes from a term for "little cake") are your speed baking answer.  They bake in 12-18 minutes typically, compared to full sized cakes which bake in a time on the order of an hour.

By reducing the size of the food item, the time to cook through is reduced.

Very small cookies (thumbnail sized) can bake through in 5-8 minutes or so, but are terribly tedious and difficult to portion out accurately enough to get consistently good results at home.


What does stp yeast stand for in an old recipe? I saw an old recipe that called for an stp of yeast and salt...all other measurements were standard. What does stp mean?

Could it simply be a typo? -> tsp for teaspoon?

Check if the overall proportions make sense with this, then that's probably what it was ;)


Why do some pies call for two crusts, and some do not? Most fruit pies call for two crusts, whereas most custardy pies do not.  However, my apple pies with one crust or two or substantially the same.

Is the number of crusts simply traditional?

Yes, it is mainly tradition, appearance, and how you like the ratio of crust to fruit in your pie. You can make any pie open faced, with a full top, or any type of lattice top. The other thing to consider is that a top crust provides some heat insulation to the fruit, so if you don't want the fruit to caramelize as much, it will help with that.


What am I doing wrong with my Beurre Blanc? I made my first Beurre Blanc a couple days ago. It got very sour and I had to pour some sugar to sweeten it. I'm almost sure I reduced the wine and the vinegar enough before I started throwing in the butter.

I know I probably made this 2 mistakes:

I didn't measure the exact amount of wine and vinegar. I just put one glass of wine and a little stream of vinegar.
I used distilled white vinegar, not white wine vinegar.

Are these 2 mistakes what made my sauce sour or there's something else I'm doing wrong here? I really wanna master the Beurre Blanc because I love cooking fish but I've never made a sauce for it.

Thank you guys in advance.

Julia Child's "classic" recipe for beurre blanc uses quite a lot of butter (3 sticks) to 1/4 cup each of white wine and white wine vinegar (plus shallot and salt and pepper, with a squeeze of lemon to finish).  I suspect that you (a) used too much liquid, and (b) used the wrong vinegar, leading to an overly sour/acetic sauce.


Shortening substitutes for pan greasing An answer to a question of mine suggests that a  non-stick (bundt) pan plus the cake release will be enough. The suggested formula is

  1 part vegetable oil, 1 part shortening and 1 part flour

I want a substitution for shortening for this application. I also read in another answer that canned cooking sprays could be used as well, but I couldn't get it as well.

Shortening is used here because it is solid at room temperature so it adheres to the sides of the pan and provides a better barrier. Spray oil can do ok and has emulsifiers in it to help it along but solid fat works better.

An obvious substitute is butter. Actually butter can be substituted for shortening in a lot of applications (with the exception of when the shortening is being used for its high smoke point.) Some saturated fats, like coconut oil, might have more flavor than you want.

If you are looking for more convenience- they make non-stick spray that has flour in it as well exactly for this purpose.


What heat & fat do you use for fried mushrooms? I like fried mushrooms with my steak.

What techniques should I use when cooking them?

What sort of fat (if required) should I use?

What heat is suggested?

I cook 'em on medium-high heat in butter until they're browned and crisped to my liking. I don't cover - that seems to result in soggier mushrooms than I prefer.


How do I make a pancake without egg? I'm trying to make a basic pancake, with traditional texture, fluff, and taste, but without using eggs.  Is this possible?

There are multiple recipes for eggless pancakes online.  Most increase the amount of baking powder to help with the rise. Many use milk and butter, so they are not vegan.  If you are looking for a vegan recipe, those exist too.  They also tend to increase the baking powder, and often include non-dairy milk.  Whether or not they will sufficiently mimic the fluffiness of a traditional recipe is going to be completely up to you.


Deconstructed food; simple, complex or both? This question was asked on English Language & Usage and deconstructed food is a term I'd never heard before.

One answer is that it is simply the constituent parts of a dish laid out separately on a plate allowing the consumer to reconstruct the dish manually as they eat it.

A second answer was put forward suggesting that deconstruction is taking an existing dish (or sauce), examining it's constituent parts and recombining them (or some of them) in a different way to get a similar (or better) complete dish.

Searching on the internet shows a lot of the former (simple deconstruct), even for complex dishes that are normally prepared as a unit, like beef Wellington and lasagne.

It's harder to find references for the latter (deconstruct, examine, improve, reconstruct) but this is one for deconstructed onion soup, which is most definitely a single bowl of soup.

Edit : After reading TFDs comment I think I might have misunderstood the 'deconstruction' of the onion soup above, I think it means step-by-step instructions rather than deconstructed soup so after another search I did find this wonton soup that uses the term deconstructed in the sense I meant.

So my question is...

  Does the term deconstructed food really mean separated constituents or does it mean improved or simplified by inspecting the constituents and recombining them differently?

...or does it mean both ?

Does the term deconstructed food really mean separated constituents or does it mean improved or simplified by inspecting the constituents and recombining them differently?

Yes. (As in either can be correct)

It's about taking the various components of a dish and perhaps just separating them, or it may mean putting them back together in an unusual or novel way.

More than anything, "deconstructed" is a current, hip and trendy buzzword.


I was told to bring a dessert that is NOT savory....what would you infer is meant? I realize that savory and sweet are not opposites, but being asked to bring dessert as long as it is NOT savory leads me to think there should be some component of sweetness, absent of added salts or spices. Am I correct, perhaps fruit flavored for example such as a tart or buttery with a touch of sweet? Was my host eluding to something that's not bland yet not sugary sweet?

Because so many cakes, sweet tarts, and classical sweet desserts can be made with a sprinkle of salt (and this is in the recipes of a lot of sweets) I don't think we are looking at a dessert with no spices nor salt.

It might be tasteless.

I'm guessing, without knowing the context, that it meant no onion tart, mushroom bell pepper tart, or prosciutto wrapped fruits etc.

When sugar was first abundantly available in Europe, a lot of cooks put sugar on everything - meat, stews and so on. There might be something in our food history where desserts, sweet and savory, combined a lot more than today.


How long can flour dough sit on counter? I'm making flour tortillas with all purpose flour, butter, water, and baking powder. How long can the dough sit on counter?

Everything in your recipe is safe at room temperature.  If you are talking about hours (even 24 hours), there is no safety issue.  If you are talking about a longer period of time (days?), your likely risks would be mold growth, or rancidity.


How to make thick and fluffy pancakes? I recently had thick and fluffy pancakes at a restaurant and I am eager to figure out how to make them.

Anyone know the secret behind getting thick and fluffy pancakes? Is it adding baking soda? Using carbonated water (does this even work?)?

Separating the eggs and whipping the egg whites before folding into the batter could assist in this.  At home it's not a problem, but if it's a very busy that you had them in they're not likely to be doing this due to the fact that this will need to be done in batches.

Adding a bit of baking soda in addition to the baking powder could assist as well, but only if you're using buttermilk.  If you're using regular milk the baking soda is going to create a soapy taste. In the case of buttermilk and baking soda, the primary leavening would be coming from the baking powder and then the acidity of the buttermilk would provide the reaction for the soda to give that extra "oomph".  If you're using baking soda then you'll have to use the batter right away otherwise those bubble will rise to the surface and pop, releasing their CO2 to the air. Same goes with adding seltzer water...add just before cooking the pancakes.

As for replacing milk with seltzer water...this will add bubbles to the batter but having less fat in the batter (presuming you're using whole milk) will increase the gluten development.  If you're using low-fat or nonfat buttermilk or regular milk it may not be as much of a difference.  The benefit of buttermilk (besides flavor) is the acidity that it provides.  Acidic doughs don't allow gluten to develop as easily and therefore create a more tender texture.

Overmixing pancake batter is a MAJOR issue with most people.  Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients, add the liquid ingredients which have already been beaten together and then carefuly fold just until combined so there aren't major pockets of dry ingredients but by no means should the batter be smooth.  Mixing to a smooth consistency will develop gluten and create tough pancakes.  A few lumps are fine as they will hydrate upon sitting.

If you're not using baking soda and seltzer water you can improve tenderness by letting your pancake batter sit after mixing for 30-60 minutes.  This is the idea behind chilling pastry crusts.  It not only allows gluten to relax but mainly it allows the starch granules of the flour to absorb moisture, hydrate, and expand (bloom).  This is could likely be part of what contributed to the pancakes you enjoyed at the restaurant.  If it's a very busy place, most likely they produce their pancake batter in large batches a day ahead for the next day's service.  This extended resting time would allow for maximum hydration of the starch which will make a thicker batter.  The thicker the batter the less spread you'll have on the griddle.  Obviously this provides limitations if you wake up with an appetite for pancakes!


Smoke alarms go off now that we have a gas stove didn't when we had electric Our smoke alarms are constantly going off while cooking now that we have had to replace our stove. My wife didn't really like the electric so when it was necessary to replace it, we went with gas.

Ever since, nearly every time we cook, especially if we fry bacon, or something like that, the smoke alarms go off. We had to disconnect the one in the hallway near the kitchen, and we have to make sure our master bedroom door is closed. But, it still trips the alarms all the way across the living room in the main hallway.

Since they are all interconnected, they all go off at the same time. Since our home was about 10 years old, I replaced all of them last year, but, they still go off just the same.

The stove is clean and now the smoke alarms are clean.

I know we are not generating smoke every time we cook. That might happen on a rare occasion, but, this is becoming annoying!

Any suggestions?

There are a variety of types of smoke detectors. Those that are most prone to being set off in the way you describe are the ionization type. As you burn gas on your range or in the oven, it produces carbon dioxide and water vapor, both of which can trigger the sensor on an ionization-type smoke detector. These detectors are, however, cheaper to buy and operate as well as more sensitive to fast burning fires that produce little visible smoke.

In areas such as the kitchen or directly outside of a bathroom with a shower it is advisable to use a photoelectric smoke detector in order to avoid false alarms.  These detectors are triggered when visible smoke interrupts a light beam, so they are better at detecting smoking, smoldering fires.

Other tips:

Always use the exhaust fan: Cooking is one of the biggest sources of indoor air pollution, so use your vent hood.

Make sure the detector you are tripping isn't a dual smoke/carbon monoxide (CO) detector.  Improper combustion from a gas range or oven can create carbon monoxide, an odorless, colorless, poisonous gas. If it is a dual detector and you decide to replace it, make sure to install a dedicated CO detector in the kitchen area. If it goes off you will need to have your range and oven serviced or replaced.

http://depletedcranium.com/the-war-against-ionization-smoke-detectors/


Cooking Chicken in Skillet? So Im paranoid when it comes to raw meat/undercooking stuff. Sometimes however I want to stick with something simple: IE chicken in a skillet w/ a simple glaze (like sesame/etc....)

However like I have no clue "How long" I should cook it to get a rough idea?

Is there like a good way to tell by looking when chicken is cooked through?

I cook most stuff via cast iron skillet if that matters?

If you are paranoid about under-cooking meat, then use a digital probe thermometer and cook it to its safe temperature. No amount of timings or looking at the colour will give you the same level of certainty. They are available online for very little and are extremely handy; not only will you not under-cook your meat, but you will also avoid over-cooking it as well.


Sugar with vegetable oil safe? During my move to a new home a 10lb bag of granulated pure cane sugar had some vegetable oil drip onto it. After 2 days when I observed that I took the sugar out of its paper bag and put it into a large zip-lock plastic bag that appears to be airtight. Is the sugar safe and for how long? How can I tell if it goes bad?

I don't see a safety risk.  Oil can go rancid.  That is a quality issue, rather than a safety issue.  Moist sugar could potentially mold, I suppose.  If you see mold forming I would discard.  Otherwise, this seems like a low risk situation to me.


Why do chocolate bars (expensive ones like Lindt), cost less than the sum of thier ingredients? I am a bit of a mad scientist, experimenting with recipes and generally trying to make my own versions of things at home (ice cream, cold drinks, etc.).

I have long been interested in chocolate. I absolutely love the stuff, and want to try and make some. I realize that (at home) you won't ever make silky smooth "shop bought" chocolate, but the basic idea should still resemble chocolate.

Taking basic ingredients into account, cocoa butter, cocoa powder and usgar, the math just does not work for me. The cost for the amounts that would be yielded, works out to be drastically more per gram than even some of the expensive store bought options. I am not attempting to make chocolate at home to "save money". I am curious and would like to choose my own ingredients.

The math: (in my Currency: ZAR - South African Rand)

100g Cocoa Butter : R100
Cocoa Powder : R50
Sugar: R10

Lets say the above would yield about 150-200grams of chocolate. Let's call it R160 for 200g home made chocolate.(R80/100grams)

Lindt sells for R40/100grams?

I understand that big industry can buy ingredients cheaper, but by this big a margin. They still have to produce, package and re-sell it through various middlemen to get to R40. What do they actually sell it for before retail and handling... R20? R25?

Other milk chocolate producers obviously add milk, to up the volume with cheaper ingredients, but the math still does not compute for me, as those bars are a fraction of the cost.

What am I missing?

The cost of food, even ingredients, is often dominated not by the cost of production, but by the costs of transport, storage, waste, and sales.

Sugar is a cheap commodity - you pay a typical bulk foodstuff markup compared to what they pay, because essentially everyone buys it, and there are economies of scale at all stages.

Cocoa powder is still common but less so: there's less price pressure (and less competition), so retail profit margins can be higher. There are still economies of scale but less so (e.g. a supermarket will get a box of packs of cocoa powder, but a pallet of sugar, cheaper and easier to handle. Lindt will get it by the truckload, as with sugar. It's also sold by chocolate manufacturers in many cases.

Cocoa butter is a niche product. You can't just go to any supermarket for it, but need a specialist. Margins are high for you - but chocolate manufacturers still benefit from economies of scale.

Chocolate, even decent mass-market chocolate, is on a par with cocoa - popular, but not as major a food as sugar. And it even happens to be close in price to cocoa - partially coincidence of course.


How do canned soup companies keep their noodles from absorbing all the liquid in the can? I like to make noodle soups. Chicken noodle, pho, k'tieu, soba, and so on; there are many different types of noodle involved. In every case, if the soup goes into the fridge, the noodles absorb all the broth fairly quickly. Typical fixes for this include:

cook the noodles separately and add to the soup when serving;
freeze the leftovers;
eat all the soup right away!

But when I buy canned soup from the grocery store, the noodles are never blown up and they don't seem to blow up even after opening the can and leaving summer in the fridge.

What is the secret? Is it a special kind of noodle, something about the broth or a heavy duty industrial preservative at work?

Canning
I've been looking up canning, as I suspected it had much to do with the process of noodles not absorbing all the water. I've found this tangentially related post and quoting:

You CAN can pasta yourself. It is not difficult but, like the commercial caners [sic] you will need to make sure it is high acid (they add flavorless citric acid) but using a red tomato sauce works just as well.

I have also found this very interesting set of ideas:

The idea is simple and genius: combine par-cooked noodles, a bit of vegetable base, some raw sliced veggies, and a few seasonings inside a jar.

Partial cooking
On an article about partial cooking which has some good ideas on par-cooking. I suspect this, combined with the above factors, as well as vacuum-sealed canning, is what allows for noodles, and vegetables/potatoes, to not absorb all the liquid.
Dig deeper
If you wish to dig deeper, I have found a scientific paper by American Association of Cereal Chemists specifically on the topic of liquid absorption by noodles:
Noodles. V. Determination of Optimum Water Absorption of Flour to Prepare Oriental Noodles


How to stop my cupcakes from sticking to their cupcake wrappers? I have found that every time I make cupcakes (or muffins, cornbread & hot dog muffins, etc) that the paper liner sticks to the finished cupcake. I know its not me because the Tim Hortons 'muffins' also stick to their liners.

How do I fix this?

Isn't that normal?

I suppose if it's causing a problem, you could use a non-stick (teflon, etc.) muffin pan, without the paper liners.

You could also try silicone-coated (parchment) liners. A quick check reveals that e.g., Amazon sells them.

<purist>cornbread shall be cooked in preheated cast iron, and if that's sticking, you need to season your cast iron properly.</purist>


Bread substitute for wheat allergic What types of bread and bread substitutes are there for people who are allergic to wheat (and also soy), as a part of breakfast fare (sandwiches etc)?

Unfortunately most of store-bought bread here in Poland, be it rye bread or corn (maize) bread include quite a large amount of wheat among its ingredients. One that doesn't is Lithuanian black rye bread, but it is hard to get.

Perhaps there is something that can be made at home?

If you want to cast a wide net, searching for gluten-free bread might be your best here, even though is a wheat allergy rather than gluten intolerance, since removing the gluten necessarily means removing the wheat. Soy isn't too common an ingredient in breads so you should still be okay.

And yes, you can make plenty of kinds of gluten-free bread at home, just search for recipes. Since gluten-free food is a big thing these days, a lot of people have put a lot of effort into figuring out recipes for gluten-free bread, so you should be able to find a variety. The tricky thing will then be finding the necessary flours. Bread normally depends quite a bit on gluten for structure, so it takes some effort to make recipes work well without it, and following them exactly is pretty important unless you're prepared for some serious trial and error. So when a recipe asks for white rice flour, brown rice flour, potato starch, tapioca starch, and powder, you want to either find those things or find a different recipe to try.

I don't know a lot about names of traditional wheat-free breads that you might be able to buy as-is, unfortunately, but I'm guessing that a lot of them will have a pretty different texture from wheat bread, so you might not be as happy with them. Of course, if you like Lithuanian black rye bread, you could certainly look for recipes for it or other rye-only breads.


How to adjust time for pineapple casserole and pork roast I am cooking a pork roast for3 hrs at 325. I am also cooking scalloped pineapple at 350 for 1 hr.  I need to know how long I should cook the pineapple at 325

Don't bother to adjust for the pineapple. You are overcooking it anyway, so it doesn't matter for how long you overcook it. It will still be good.

The time needed will be determined by the pork, and this depends on the cut you are using. If you are using roast meat, then the time you need has nothing to do with how long the whole roast takes - it depends mostly on the geometry of the cut. You should just stick a thermometer into a piece of pork in the middle and cook to about 60 degrees celsius. (It actually takes a bit more of that, but the meat continues to cook for several minutes out of the oven). If you don't have a thermometer, there is no way to predict the time, it can vary from half an hour to several hours depending on the shape and material of your dish and the amount you are baking. Just take out a piece, cut it open, and return it if it is not ready. If you overbake it, it will be unpleasantly tough.

If you are using stew meat, it is easier. Leave it in for 3 to 6 hours, the longer the better.


Substitute for baking soda low low sodium for baking Need a substitute for baking soda- on strict low sodium diet in baking

Before modern baking soda, Ammonium carbonate (baker's ammonia) was used as a leavening agent.
You should use it with caution though, it is not only toxic but also might impart an unpleasant smell if what you’re baking is moist or thick. It’s better to use for thin dry baked goods like crackers and cookies. So that the gasses can completely escape.

Another alternative is Potassium Bicarbonate, most recipes call for 1:1 substitution. You can expect similar results as for leavening, it has a bitter aftertaste though.


How should I handle chiles without gloves? I know that to be really safe, especially with really hot peppers or large quantities, gloves are the way to go. But often I don't really need gloves: I have a small quantity of something not too hot (jalapeños or serranos), and I have a reasonable tolerance. How should I chop or mince them, minimizing the amount of capsaicin I get on my hands?

I have used this method with Scotch Bonnets and Habaneros. Jalapenos are tame in comparison.  All bets are off with Ghost Peppers.  Those are weapons grade.:

Before dealing with the pepper, rub oil (olive is fine) on your fingers making sure you get it embedded around your finger nails.

Besides that, the simple ways you can minimize burn:

Avoid touching the cut surfaces of the pepper. The pepper skin is relatively tame.
Avoid touching the juice on the cutting board.
Use your knife to manipulate and move the pepper around be board.

p.s. don't even think of taking a bio-break in the middle of dealing with peppers.


What kind of tea do you boil for 45minutes? In her autobiographic graphic novel Embroideries Marjane Satrapi casually mentions how she used to prepare tea with a samowar during her childhood by properly boiling the tea leaves for 45minutes. Proper boiling is emphasized in the text. From context it is also clear that we are talking about black tea. Common wisdom is that black tea turns bitter if left too long, unless the temperature is low (maybe <70°C).

So either the tea must have been incredibly bitter (seems unlikely) or I'm missing something. Can someone who knows more about Iranian or similar tea-drinking customs than me enlighten me?

Chai masala variants may be boiled that long or more – they do contain black tea, but also spices (where the boiling is needed, to extract the flavor from whole spices).  The tea decoction this produces does contain all of the bitter compounds, sure – but it is mixed with spices, diluted generously with milk and sugar, and becomes a palatable drink that is nevertheless very different from the coolly and weakly brewed variety you seem to be familiar with.

In fact, it is even possible that the tea was plain black tea, brewed very strongly.  Served with plenty of milk and sugar to balance the bitterness, milk tea is a cultural variation.  Think of it kinda like coffee, if you want – it is bitter, but it is expected to be – and the tea can be doctored to make it work for the drinker.

Tea can be served in lots of different variations, and none are more correct than others – just like some teas are brewed very light and almost flavorless (japanese green, and 15 seconds per brew), and others are brewed to death and sweetened to balance (southern style sweet tea), some are served with milk, sugar, or lemon, and still more are served with salt or butter (tibetan).  Boiled milk tea or chai are brewed to death, to extract all the flavor, and served sweet and milky to balance the strength and bitterness – and a weakly brewed tea would be tasteless and vanish in the expected fixings.


How to sweeten ganache for a chocolate lining I'd like a chocolate lining in a banana cream pie, very similar to this recipe. However, I notice in the final pie that the chocolate lining is a little on the bitter side. What is a good way to sweeten it up? I'm no expert on ganache, but my understanding is I shouldn't just add sugar as it will turn grainy.  If I melt sugar into the cream before the chocolate, how much should I use?

While adding sugar syrups like corn syrup or invert syrup to ganache is fairly common, it will change the texture of the ganache. You'd end up with something more like a chocolate coating.

If bitterness specifically is the problem, I'd suggest using a less bitter chocolate. Perhaps you can find something with lower cocoa solids that will have a smoother flavor without adding any sweeteners.

Added from a comment since I remembered: A tiny amount of salt can also help to cover bitterness. You could try that.


What caused my meringue to fall after adding cocoa? I made a very nice stiff batch of meringue for meringue cookies. I piped half of the batch on the cookie sheet and they looked wonderful (or at least they were nicely stiff, and I need to practice my piping). For the second half, I wanted chocolate, so I added Hershey's (dark) cocoa powder. I didn't measure the cocoa powder. As I whisked it in, the batch ( that had been wonderful) turned very runny. I tried adding more sugar in hopes of reviving it, but to no avail. So from the same batch I had nice white curly kisses and flat chocolate blobs.

Was it the amount of cocoa powder?

Was it the fact that it was dark cocoa?

Was it the timing -- don't try to add something after it had been sitting about 10 minutes?

Something else?

I thought I finally got the consistency just right with the first half of the batch. --If only I had been satisfied with just vanilla...
Help?

It was timing.  If you want to make chocolate meringues, add the cocoa powder to the liquid egg whites, and then whisk it all together at once.

Beaten egg whites are bubbles.  Don't add things to an already-formed meringue, as they will just cause the bubble structure to collapse.

Ever sprinkled sugar or cinnamon powder on a cappuccino?  Notice how the milk foam immediately collapses?  The same thing happened to your meringue.


What are some suggestions for cooking tools/techniques for people that have arthritis? I've recently been diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis, and my grip is VERY poor. I can't even make a fist anymore. A few days ago I found that cutting up a left-over, cooked chicken breast was VERY difficult. Not only the knife grip, but using my left hand to hold the meat with a fork was probably worse than the knife int the right hand.

I've seen sites mention those rocking knives and tools with wide handle. I'm more interested in wide-handled tools as the rocking knives look like they would be unable to be honed.

You should certainly look at the OXO Good Grips brand of tools, they all have fat grips that are easier to use.


Multilayered brownie help I'm not new to baking but I'm new to experimenting with baking. I just don't want to experiment with baking when many resources are invested in the recipe.

So, I'm looking to make a huge multilayered brownie "cake" for my company potluck, I just don't know if it's possible:

Top to bottom:

1/2 Ghirardelli Brownie mix
Any Caramel chocolate crushed and melted
1/2 Ghirardelli Brownie mix
Any white chocolate crushed and melted
1/2 Ghirardelli Brownie mix
Any regular chocolate crushed and melted
1/2 Ghirardelli Brownie mix

For the layers between the brownie layers, I was thinking just taking 3-5 chocolate bars and crushing them.

The eggs, oil, and water will be mixed as per the Ghirardelli recipe so I'll use 2/3 cup water, 2/3 vegetable oil, 2 eggs. Maybe more for better consistency?

Multi-layered brownies are certainly possible, however if you try and make it too thick it can be too dense at the bottom because the weight won't allow any sort of rise (most brownies do rise, just not much but it's still important). I make a triple chocolate brownie with a layer of salted caramel in between and it comes out really well, that's a single recipe split into halves.

Your idea is to make two boxes and then do 4 layers, it may work just fine, if it were me I'd do it in two batches and then place the top 2 layers on after they all cool.

As for what to put in between you'll want to choose ingredients that are markedly different from the brownie itself. Caramel contrasts as does white chocolate, but a layer of chocolate in chocolate brownie is less likely to be noticed.

As for the amounts of oils and eggs, follow the recipe to the letter, don't mess around with it as the consistency is already optimized. If you want to experiment do it in small batches so you can measure the results before committing to a big bake.


Substituting maple syrup for honey in bread I've got the following recipe for a honey whole wheat bread-machine bread:

1-1/3 cups warm water
1/2 cup honey
3 tablespoons butter
2-2/3 cups whole wheat flour
1-1/3 cups bread flour
1-1/4 tsp salt
2 tsp yeast

I'd like to substitute maple syrup for the honey to produce a maple wheat bread.  Can I substitute one for one, or do I need to make adjustments?  In particular, will I need to increase or decrease the amount of water used?

It's a good deal more simple than @canardgras makes it sound. I've had good success with the rule:

  To substitute maple syrup for honey in a recipe, use 3/4 cup of maple
  syrup and 1/2 cup sugar for every 1 cup of honey.

To get half a cup of honey (at a 3/4 ratio) you will want 1/3 of a cup + 1 tablespoon. (for most of us a 5/12 scoop isn't in the cupboard)

Remember two important factors:
 1. This is for REAL Maple Syrup (Imitation Syrup will work, it just has a different ratio)
 2. Maple syrup has more moisture so baking time will vary (be extended).


Detergent Contamination of Processed Foods Today I bought a Jack Links beef jerky from a vending machine, and when I bit into it I got a distinct taste of something acrid and soapy. As far as I could tell the packaging was not damaged and the jerky was not rotten or spoiled. I have also had this experience once before with a package of fruit snacks, Welch's brand I believe, and when one of the pieces had a spot of something blue on it, and had the same horrible soapy taste, but only on the one piece.

My question is, are processed foods sometimes contaminated with cleaning products used to clean equipment in factories? And if so how often does this sort of thing happen?

I have already tried doing a bit of research on Google and have not found much other than a few scientific papers relating to bacterial contamination, but not contamination of cleaning products.

Food processing plants have strict regulation to comply with, which means washing the equipment often. Most places wash the machines with detergent at the end of the shift or batch.

It may be quite possible for the detergent to get stuck in places or not rinsed perfectly and next batch of food picking it up.  Their main goal is to not get caught with bacterial infections.  Seems that you were the unlucky buyer of the first pieces of jerky coming out after a wash.

I'm not aware of published statistics for soap in food, and it is also less of a liability for them even though soap can be carcinogenic.  This kind of stuff is not rare by any means.  You decide if an anonymous base wage factory worker is where you'd like to place your trust when it comes to food you eat.


Coolest part of the fridge If I need to cool something quickly or keep something at a lower temperature, do I put it in the top or bottom shelf of the fridge? Which part of the fridge is the coolest?

Most refrigerators have the cold air outlet on the top, that way the cold air sinks down naturally to the bottom. Air from the bottom is then circulated through the heat exchanger to make it colder and then goes back in the air outlet at the top. So the very coldest place is right in front of the cold air inlet in the top. That's generally below freezing though, so you may get things colder than you want.

Other than that the coldest place tends to be the bottom shelf. You could also cool it down in the freezer for awhile and then transfer it to the refrigerator.


Is what I want to make Lardo? I have this idea of curing fat that comes from my biltong making. I'm wondering if this would be Lardo and whether it is a good idea?

I want to take a nice piece of pork backfat (or maybe belly) Salt it (2 hours) with koshering salts off course. Use a vinegar bath to get all the excess salt off the fat. Cover it in a good amount of spice over night and then afterwards hang in the dispensary for two weeks.

Is this a good idea? Will this make Lardo? I'm wondering if the vinegar bath that works for the meat will work for the fat. I suspect the vinegar and the fat may not mix well.

Lardo is cured for longer, then it's hung.

I've used this recipe from the Belly to Bacon blog and it works well. Salting for 2 weeks is the minimum. The 30 days in the recipe makes it saltier, but the saltier it is, the longer it stays preserved. The instacure keeps the meat safe from botulism. Don't skip it.

One addition to the recipe: when you hang it to dry in step two, it should be in a curing chamber at 50 to 60 degrees Fahrenheit and 60 to 75 percent humidity.


Cleaning a clogged espresso machine Portafilter Can anyone recommend a method for cleaning the clogged holes in a "Basket" of an espresso machine Portafilter? I had this problem with both DeLonghi and Saeco home espresso machines.

For example, in Care of Saeco Pressurized Portafilters (regarding
Saeco Manually Pressurized Portafilter) they caution against using metal pins.

Any suggestions of methods or cleaning materials?

I alone on the planet seem to have solved the endless problem of cleaning the fine holes of an espresso portafilter, or a Moka express fine steam filter.  None of the liquid or abrasive cleaning apps work, period.  Instead, in the past, one had to use a pin to poke out the minute holes — task so laborious and hopeless than most espresso and Moka machines in the world are hampered by limited filtration.

No longer.  The pin-holes are plugged with coffee fibre, which burns.  Place the filter over a gas flame, either side, for 10 minutes, tapping it with tongs occasionally, and bingo...
A CLEAN FILTER.  All the minute coffee fibre plugs burn or pop out.  Best to use a small coffee pot rack on top of your smallest hob gas burner for this.  And metal tongs.

Will I be knighted for this?


Ruined My Pre-Season Cast Iron Pan- Help! I bought a cast iron pan, and did not realize it had been preseasoned (this is my first one!).

I washed with soap and hot water and thoroughly dried it, then coated with thin layer of vegetable oil and baked it (upside down, over foil) at 350 for one hour.

It came out SO sticky, and the reside was thick. When I touch it, the oil rolls into little flakes (although the cast iron is NOT flaking).

So, I scrubbed that out as best I could,did less oil this time, and tried again. It still came out sticky and thick.

I cooked in it, chicken, to try to use it, and it all stuck and burned in the bottom.

Do I need to just season it a few times? I think the seasoning isn't taking. I am so bummed I didn't realize it was pre-seasoned, or else I wouldn't have had all these issues!

HELP PLEASE!

It sounds to me like you put too much oil on when you tried to season it, and that's why it was thick and sticky. You will probably have to start all over, but the pan is not ruined forever! It's best to wipe the thinnest layer of oil you can on it, essentially putting some oil on and then wiping as much off with a paper towel as you can, and then putting it in the oven like you did and baking it at as high of a temperature as you can. There should be no fear of drips. Bake it for an hour or two, then let it cool inside the oven back to room temperature, and then wipe it with oil and do it all over again, as many as 6 or 7 times to build up a good seasoning. It's a long process, but it's worth it. Good luck!


Protein networks in vegan cakes I have read that one important role of eggs in cakes is to add proteins that denature with heat and then link together giving the cake structure.  Given that proteins are so varied and abundant in nature, I was wondering whether there are vegan sources of protein that can perform the same function.  Has anyone experimented systematically with this?

EDIT: This is distinct from the question of whether there are vegan egg substitutes that can be used in cakes.  Since eggs do multiple things to cakes and since these roles are emphasized more or less depending on the cake, there is not going to be a single answer to "what is a good egg substitute for cakes?".  I asked this question to try to learn specifically about whether there are ways to mimic the protein network that eggs create in cakes using vegan proteins.

Legume flours (eg soy, chickpea, lentil flour) match that role well - they are used in traditional (eg indian) eggless recipes as texture-enhancing binders, or even on their own - pakora and cheela batters are made with a lot of chickpea flour for that purpose.


How can you judge when a non-stick pan is the correct temperature for pan frying? With stainless steel pans you can perform a water test to see if the pan is the correct temperature for frying but how do you tell with a non-stick pan?

You shouldn't heat a non stick pan without the oil, because it is too easy to overheat it and ruin the coating.

So, I put oil inside first, and tell by the state of the oil. It smells, looks and flows different when it is hot enough. You can also learn to judge if there is sufficient heat when you hold your palm at a given distance above the pan, but in my experience, you learn to judge by the oil before you have gotten good enough to keep the same distance and to distinguish "enough" from "not enough" heat.

If you don't have enough experience to know when the oil is ready, you have to do it repeatedly until you learn it. It takes a few less-than-great meals if you do it purely by trial and error, and goes better if you use an infrared thermometer. You can also try floating cubes of stale white bread and watch their browning behavior, but I find this method too involved logistically - you have to have the bread, cut it, then deal with messy pieces of oily bread, and end up with slowly charring crumbles in your pan.


(International / UK / US) RÖMERTOPF equivalents? I have a RÖMERTOPF at home. It is a porous clay casserole dish.

I have recipes, sure. But I'm always looking for more. I'm not asking for recipes, though: I'm asking what the closest international / UK / US equivalents would be, so that I could be sure that I find appropriate recipes when looking for it.

I don't think there is really a US equivalent, but a Moroccan tagine would be close.


How to scale up modernist Potato Puree? The recipe for Potato Puree in "Modernist Cooking at Home" calls for precooking the potatoes in water at 65 degrees Celsius for 35 minutes. The bag should hold 500 g potatoes and 1 liter water. Since the recipe says to scale the water at 200% this means that if I am to use 1 kg of potates I need 4 liter of water.

However, trying to do this for only 35 minutes did not give a satisfactory result. Looking back, this is not surprising since the added size of the bag means it needs more time in the sous vide.

What is the right way to scale up the recepie? Should I use two bags? If that is the case, the scaling factor of the water makes little sense. How about 750 grams of potatoes, or 1.5 kg of potatoes?

Assuming it says 100% for the potatoes, I don't think you've got the scaling right. The recipe format picks a baseline ingredient, then gives the quantities for other ingredients as percentages of that ingredient. So if it says potatoes 100%, water 200%, then for 1kg of potatoes you need 2kg (2L) of water. See the detailed explanation from the source. The point here is to make things really easy, not to make you do awkward extra math.

As for the bags, you should definitely use two bags. If you do have two identical bags the size of the original one, your circulator is still keeping the water at the right temperature, and you've put in more water as directed by the recipe, it should take close to the original time. If you put it all in one bag, it'll take longer, and exactly how much longer is pretty hard to guess, since it depends on exactly how you pack it into the bag.


Are frozen mussels/clams supposed to be slightly open? I used to live in a coastal town and never worried about getting fresh mussels, but now I live in inland Ecuador and today bought a bag of frozen clams and a bag of frozen mussels. They all seem to be slightly open, but just a crack, around 1-2mm. Is that normal for frozen mussels/clams?

The bags don't smell bad, but now I'm worried as they are just in a plastic packet with no name and no description.

How will I know if they are good to go? The shop is about two hours away so I can't go back and check. I do not know if they have been partially pre-cooked or if they have just been frozen raw.

You are right to be concerned.  The main reasons for frozen bivalves to be slightly open:

They were steamed before freezing.  This is common, and fine.  You should be able to verify this by thawing 1-2 of them and checking if they are cooked.
They were frozen very slowly.  This is bad, because the bivalves can die and go bad during the freezing process.
They've thawed and then been re-frozen.  This is also bad, because it also makes contamination much more likely.

If you check them, and it turns out that they are not precooked, then you are taking a substantial risk by eating them.  I wouldn't do it.

Sorry that I have no references for the above; I've searched the relevant literature, and the only thing I can find is some Reddit questions verifying that it's normal for bivalves to open on thawing.


How high is the bacterial reduction when using Lysol brand sanitizing wipes, when compared to bleach solution? Suppose you have some utensils and dishes that came into contact with raw meat.  After cleaning them with hot soapy water, if I also use Lysol sanitizing wipes, what proportion of the bacteria is killed? How does this relate to using a bleach solution for sanitizing?

Here is a good explanation of why hand washing is effective. The same applies to kitchen utensils.  For home cleanliness in the kitchen, hot, soapy water is generally all that is necessary for clean up. There are, of course, situations where you want to sanitize, or even sterilize...for example, I sanitize when brewing beer, because I want only one strain of yeast (the one I add) to be active.  Also when canning, one wants to be sure that jars are free of any contaminants.  However, for normal, everyday clean-up...even with raw meat, soap and water gets the job done.


What is the flavor quality that makes cheese "sharp"? Are there other seasonings or foods with this "sharp flavor? I love the flavor of sharp cheese (especially cheddar) and was wondering what exactly it is that makes aged cheese taste sharper. I was also wondering if there are any ingredients that emulate this sharp flavor.

The term/process you are looking for is acidity or acidification.  During the cheese making process lactose is broken down into lactic acid.  This lowers the pH and creates the tart, sour, or acidic taste you are referring to. Higher acid cheeses (lower pH) present as "sharper", an old cheddar, for example.  Ever have a salt and vinegar potato chip?  I get a similar flavor perception (minus the lactic, cheese flavors of course).  So, other acidic ingredients (vinegar, lemon) can easily get you in the same flavor perception ball park.


Is it safe to reuse loose tea leaves the next day? What precautions need to be taken for storing tea for reuse? I'm a fan of green tea and I find myself reusing the tea leaves 2-3 times a day. Sometimes I'll just store the leaves and reuse them the next day but it got me thinking if what I'm doing is actually "safe", I know that the taste isn't the same.

So my questions are:

What's the best way of storing tea for reuse? Currently I drain the leaves and put them in a small sealed glass jar.
Is it safe to store tea to reuse the next day? Bonus point for an actual reference/research proving that it has bad or no side effects whatsoever.

Here in China, it is normal to reuse tea again and again. Typically the first cup from the tea is bitter. Chinese people commonly pour one cup and then throw it away and drink the second cup from the same leaves. Workers here can be seen with a large mug or jar of tea. When drunk, they top up the water again with hot (but not boiling) water. This will go on all day.

The next day, however, they will not reuse the tea. My Chinese wife always tells me off if I reuse the previous days tea leaves. She says they are bad for you, though I have never had any problem myself.


How to ensure that eggs get hard boiled on a gas stove? I used to determine the state of eggs by their shell i.e. if the shell is cracked, the eggs have been boiled. But sometimes I have found that even though the shell is cracked, the egg whites are somewhat runny!

Is there a special way of boiling eggs on "gas stove"? Is it necessary to cover them while boiling?

EDIT 1:
Today I punctured the egg top with a pin, but still the egg cracked on boiling :(

EDIT 2:
Today I added a spoon vinegar in the water, and the eggs did NOT crack at all. :)

Just watch the clock, it's the most (if not only) reliable way. And make sure the water stays at or just under boil of course. There's no difference between cooking them on gas or electric, it's just a different way of heating the water :) Depending on how firm you want them, 5-7 minutes should usually be enough in boiling water.


How can I prevent dough from wrapping around a dough hook? I have a 5.5qt KitchenAid stand mixer with the burnished spiral ("pigtail") dough hook. This is not the C-hook. When I make a small amount (for example, using 250g of flour or approximately 2 cups) of standard-hydration dough, instead of kneading, the dough will wrap itself around the dough hook and spin in the bowl. I'm using speed 2.

Pulling the dough off the hook and allowing it to relax for 5 minutes will make it knead again for a bit (but not long, a minute or two at most).

Oiling the dough hook helps some, but the oil of course comes off, then it sticks again.

I've adjusted the height per the manual, so that's set correctly.

Other than switching to the coated dough hook (which is currently being shipped to me) or making a larger batch, is there anything else to do to prevent the dough from sticking to the hook?

I solve this problem by tipping and holding the machine on the side. If the dough still does not let go of the hook, I turn the speed up for a couple of seconds. When the dough is loose I let the hook work it for a minute or so while the machine is still tipped over. This often gets the dough in such a state that it does not wrap around the hook but gets kneaded as it should.


Can you make jerky from stewing chickens? Can you make jerky (for humans) with stewing chickens? Stewing chickens (older chickens) are supposed to be extra flavorful, and tough, but I don't know if the toughness matters for jerky, since jerky is tough anyway.

I think I saw some references to making jerky for dogs with chicken.

Sure! You can make jerky out of any meat that isn't too fatty. Jerky is just meat that has been flavored and dried. The drying has to be done with care no matter what kind of meat you use, experimentation is playing with food-safety fire.

Homemade chicken jerky for dogs was loudly in the news a few years ago because a lot of dogs got sick and even mysteriously died after eating chicken jerky dog treats imported from China. To my knowledge, the mystery has never been solved, but a lot of people started making their own chicken jerky at that point.

I have no idea if there is any benefit to using a stewing chicken vs a young chicken for jerky. I rarely see stewing chickens, and if I got a hold of one I'd stew it, but that's just me. At least in the US, they are not common. Where do all the tough old birds go?

The USDA does not endorse using any method for drying other than a dehydrator or an oven. They also (in a step not included in many recipes) recommend fully cooking the meat or poultry before dehydrating. USDA Fact Sheet

Beyond taking proper safety precautions, your choice of meat for jerky is your own. My favorite is salmon.


Is my extra virgin olive oil rancid? Couldn't tell by smell if my bottle of Great Value olive oil was rancid or not - and decided to taste, about 2 teaspoons. It had the bitter, peppery sorta burn in the back of my throat that some people have said is characteristic of good olive oil. Is it likely that it is rancid? I can't quite describe its smell or taste.

Good olive oil is supposed to have a peppery burn in the back of your throat.  It is also not uncommon for it to have bitter elements.  There is no way to discern if your oil is bad by your description.  Olive oil that has been exposed to heat or light, or is just old, will no longer smell fresh.  Fresh olive oil generally has grassy aromas with some olive mixed in.  Rancid oil might smell waxy, some describe it as smelling of old crayons or old walnuts.  It might taste fatty, as opposed to fresh and grassy.  If it is rancid, couple of teaspoons is not going to cause any harm.


Boiling meatballs, how long? I would like to make some meatballs to go with a generic pasta dish. I am thinking about 10 balls from a pound of raw ground pork or beef. I have been searching for how to safely do this. Some say to boil the meatballs for about 30 min, others claim that 10 min is enough. I imagine just boiling them in a large pot in broth or water with spices added.

How can one safely boil meatballs?

Getting meatballs done is a matter of raising them to the correct internal temperature. 30 minutes seems like a long time even for large meatballs, but it depends on many factors. The best way is to pull the biggest one out and test it, first see if it's firm or squishy - firm means it's getting close to done. If it's firm stick an instant read thermometer into the very center of it, if the temperature is at or above 160F (70C) then they are all done. If you test a medium size one the larger ones may need a little longer.

Incidentally, boiling meatballs is not the only way to do it, and my least favorite because some of the flavor is lost to the water. You can bake them, fry them, or cook them in a sauce as well. Cooking them in a sauce imparts flavor to the sauce, you'll get the fat from the meat too, though.


Why does my pizza dough stick to my peel? I've been experimenting with Neapolitan pizza dough(recipe) and what I would call a normal wooden peel(here). I have run into trouble transferring the pizza from the peel to my baking steel in the oven on about 10% of my pizzas.  Usually what happens is I'm fine transferring the first 1-2 pizzas, but by the 3rd or 4th in a row(within 20mins or so) the pizza sticks to the peel and causes a huge mess in the oven and me to throw out the dough.

The way I am making dough is about as wet as I can make it, I add about 20-30g to the existing recipe noted above to make it extra wet. I flour the peel, dough, my hands, and working surface quite liberally with a dredge.  I stretch the dough about as far as possible for 200g pizza, until it almost tears.

I did find a tip on YouTube where they recommended lifting up the edge of the dough after it is prepared on the peel, and blowing under the pizza dough to "lift" it up before trying to launch it off of the peel. I do this each time and still run into my issue.

Note - I do own an aluminum peel as well, but the first and only time I tried that to transfer the dough into the oven I failed so I'm too afraid to try it again without further advice on the matter(this peel)

Here is what my dough usually looks like with the peel I normally use floured and ready to be launched into the oven:

Here was a successful peel to steel transfer to give you an idea of my oven and setup:

You might have better luck with cornmeal or semolina flour on the peel, those have a "ball bearing" quality to them, even in addition to some regular flour on the dough. Be sure your pizza is sliding easily before you move to the oven. Practice the motion a bit with just some plain dough some day. There is a bit it a trick to it, a left to right motion to get it nice and loose, and quick front to back motion to get it into the oven.

Here's a YouTube video, he gets into the peel at 4:30.

If you want to spend the money, this is a foolproof option: EXO Peel, they demonstrated it on America's Test Kitchen. It was really nifty.


Sous vide air bubble, still safe to eat? I am making this recipe for pulled pork, planning to do 24 hours at 75 deg C. After coming home from work, I discovered I did not suck the air out properly and there is a big bubble in the bag, causing it to float to the top and for the top of the meat to be not submerged properly. I have now put a bowl on top of it to weigh it down for the next 12 hours. Will it still be safe to eat? Will it taste good?

Air in the bag can be a result of two things: (a) you did not properly eliminate it, or (b) bacterial growth.  The main problem is that the portion of the protein that has floated above the water will not be at the same temperature as that which is under the surface. We don't know what portion of the meat was above the waterline, nor for how long. So, I won't make any guesses about safety or quality. Given your description it is difficult to determine whether your issues is related to (a) or (b)...or maybe even both, if you did not notice floating immediately.  In the future, firstly make sure you seal properly, by using a vacuum machine, or barring that, submerging your bag, which has been sealed most of the way, in water to force the air out.  At the last moment, seal the rest of the way. You can inhibit bacterial growth on long cooks at low temperatures by either giving the protein a quick sear on all sides, or a 10 second dunk in boiling water.  If you are using sturdy vacuum bags, you can dunk in boiling water after you bag the meat.


Why are my pomegranate seeds white? I just seeded a pomegranate, and instead of red / deep pink seeds, the seeds are pale pink / white. What does this mean? Are they ok to eat?

Some pomegranate varieties produce pink or white seeds so yours sounds perfectly normal. I have had white seeds and they are as delicious as the red ones. Go for it.


Should I scrape out portobello gills to avoid sogginess? I am not worried about the dark staining of everything else on the plate; rather, keeping the caps from going soggy.

Yes, a hot pan and a bit of salt helps, but does scraping make much difference for sogginess if the gills are newly opened and rather dry? How about older, moister gills?

From my online research, I don't think that the gills themselves have an impact on the texture of cooked portobello mushrooms.  It appears folks scrape them to avoid the discoloring issue that you mention, and also to remove any potential grit that might be captured within. Why not try an experiment and report back to answer your own question?


Do Pineapples Ripen After They Are Picked Do pineapples ripen after they are picked?  I had alway thought you could leave them on the counter to ripen, however, I recently heard they don't ripen after they are picked.

Pineapple softens, but not sweeten on shelf ripening.

Fruit ripening is usually due to exposure of unsaturated hydrocarbons e.g. ethylene. This phenomenon occurs in fruit known as "climacteric fruits". Well known examples are banana, avocado, tomato, apple, pear, kiwi, to name a few.

Pineapple is not a kind of climacteric fruit. However, ethylene exposure will activate chitinase (which is a type of enzyme that breaks down chitin, a structural material inside plants), and cause softening of the pineapple. To achieve this a simple method is to place a ripe banana with the pineapple which release ethylene.


Dutch Oven alternative for campfire? I am going camping shortly.  I have done some dutch oven cooking before, and there is one recipe that I want to make that uses one.  However, I do not have a dutch oven...

I am thinking of using two aluminum pans (the cheap foil ones) and aluminum on the top (several layers) to make a sort of dutch oven alternative.

Has anyone tried that?  Does it work?

I am also thinking of putting some sand or water between the two pans to make it hold and transfer the heat a little more evenly.  Anyone know if this will work?

Another alternative is:

Dig a hole the size of a dutch oven
Fold a liner for the hole out of several layers of foil
Remove the foil liner
Put hot coals in the bottom of the hole
Put the foil liner over the coals
Add the food
Cover the food with foil
Add more coals on top if you need them

The earth around the foil liner holds heat much like the dutch oven pot would. Re-fill the hole when you are done, taking care to put the sod back intact, and the environmental impact is minimal.


Thawing different meats I was in a hurry, put a pork butt and beef brisket in the sink with water and ice to thaw. (overnight) they were still cold this morning. Is it completely unsafe to try and smoke/cook on the grill? Or, can I still cook them just make sure they cook to a higher temp to ensure all bacteria is killed?

When it comes to "is it safe" questions it is difficult to give you a simple, direct, reliable answer...most often (as is the case here) you can't provide all of the information needed to 'give you a straight answer' (which is, of course, what you really want).

If the meat was 'safe' to begin with, if it was just left in the sink with cool water and ice overnight (~8 hrs) and if it is still cold to the touch...it is "probably" perfectly safe.

Then comes the question of "What is 'safe'?" Will eating this meat 'kill you'... highly unlikely.
Will you want to remain near a toilet for a day or so? 'possibly' (but still very unlikely). Will eating this contribute to a stroke in 20 years? Your mileage may vary.

It is highly unlikely that this method of thawing has introduced any significant risk to your meat.


Is "until juices run clear" a valid test for poultry doneness? Why or why not? I've come across this particular recommendation many times in various recipes and cookbooks and probably even given it out myself once or twice.  Poultry is sufficiently cooked when the juices run clear, not red or pink.

In recent months and years, as I've grown more interested in and knowledgeable about the science of cooking, I've learned to be skeptical of such simplistic claims.  This one is repeated everywhere - even the Ontario Ministry of Health says it - but I've also run across various claims that it is dangerous advice.

What I'd like to know is this:

What does it actually mean - chemically or biologically speaking - when poultry juices run clear?  Is it actually a reliable indicator that the food is safe to eat?

P.S. I am quite well aware that the way one is supposed to test for doneness is to use a thermometer and ensure that the internal temperature has reached 165° F / 74° C.  I always do this, but thermometers can break, run out of battery, etc., so I think it is still helpful to know if the juice test is ever a viable alternative.  But most importantly I am interested in understanding what is happening to the meat that causes the juices to change colour, and under what other conditions this can happen.

Chicken juices contain a soupy mix of proteins including haemoglobin (which gives blood its red colour when mixed with oxygen), and some myoglobin (which gives red meat its red colour when mixed with oxygen). Up to about 140F, they are unchanged, but heat them to between 140F and 160F and they lose their ability to bind oxygen and so their colours change. So if your juices are running clear, you know the temperature is at least higher then 140F and probably closer to 160F if they are indeed clear.

The question of what is 'doneness' is an interesting one. For most foods, doneness is a question of taste. After years of eating my chicken at 'at least 140F', I really like that taste. We usually cook foods to improve their taste, texture, nutritional value; very few foods traditionally kill or harm us if they are not cooked (cassava, certain beans are notable exceptions). Heating to 165F is recommended not for taste but to kill organisms such as salmonella - a tricky blighter that lives inside the cells of some other creatures and so can't be washed or peeled off.

I'm pretty sure that I'm the first generation cook in my family to own an instant-read probe digital food thermometer, so why is this now necessary? Well I may also be the first generation where salmonella in store-bought chicken is considered a saleable product and something to be cooked out by heat, rather than designed out by good farming and food handling practice. The 165F statement from food safety bodies was brought in to deal with such issues.

In France, there are still plenty of people who like their chicken very pink. With my own grown chickens, I will cook them till a skewer pierced into the deepest part of the thigh (but not near the bone), shows clear juices and on deep-breasted old breeds that can leave a tinge of pink towards the bottom of a (deliciously juicy) breast. I'm personally comfortable with that particular risk/reward balance.

But store-bought chicken? From an unattributed source? At $1:15/lb? Pass me the probe, please.


Flavourless Chocolate/Chocolate Alternative in Fudge I've just recently gotten into making fudge and have found a recipe that works amazing for almost every flavour I want to make. I use Cocoa Powder or White Chocolate Squares depending on the desired outcome.

But I'm running into a problem when it comes to more delicate flavours (as well as some mixed flavours). The chocolate/white chocolate taste overpowers some of them. (Specifically, so far, Maple Chocolate, Vanilla, and Caramel--but I'm wanting to try fruit flavoured ones and am worried it'll be more of the same)

Is there an alternative to using them? Should I try making a batch without any chocolate of any sort? I'd like to stick with the recipe I have if possible

Thanks in advance

edit

This is the recipe I'm using:

2 cups white sugar
1 cup milk
1/2 cup pure cocoa
4 tbsp butter
1 tsp vanilla

or

2 cups white sugar
1 cup milk
3 oz white baker's chocolate
2 tbsp butter
1-2 tsp of other flavouring

The cocoa is mixed in with the milk and sugar and simmered, while the white chocolate is added after the milk and sugar hit 238oF/114oC--which is why I was wondering if it'd work if I just don't add any chocolate (and add the 4 tbsp of butter rather than the 2 tbsp)

In white "chocolate" fudge the white chocolate adds fat, from cocoa butter, sugar and vanilla. White chocolate is mostly about texture and has little flavor of its own. In my opinion white chocolate isn't particularly useful in white fudge because the cocoa butter doesn't enhance the texture much and the sugar and vanilla are more easily (and inexpensively) added separately. In regular, chocolate, fudge there is no cocoa butter and the cocoa powder is used purely for the flavor.

Fudge is a creamy candy. It is creamy, and reminds us to some degree of chocolate, because of the small sugar crystals. The cocoa powder in chocolate fudge doesn't play a significant role in the texture of the candy.

You can leave the cocoa powder out of your chocolate fudge recipe and use other flavorings.

As ChrisH wrote in a comment, it might be easier to simply start with a blank-slate fudge recipe that has no cocoa powder. It will likely be very similar.


Can food be boiled "extra fast/hard" in water? Once water is boiling you can either leave the heat on quite high, or turn it down a bit so that it just keeps boiling. Apart from extra water vaporating, does this have any effect on the taste of food you're boiling (meat, vegetables, eggs, etc.)?

With just common sense we could get to the following reasoning:

The liquid water is max 100°C (right?), beyond that it should vaporize (right?)
Water vapor could be hotter than 100°C (but how much, in normal cooking conditions?)
When boiling water, the vapor originates at the bottom of the pan
So technically the foot could be "hit" by this vapor, thus being heated above 100°C

Even if the above reasoning is correct, the questions would still be: would it matter how much you heat boiling water beyond 100°C? Can you significantly change the taste of boiled food by "boiling it really hard" or "boiling it slowly"?

The most obvious thing is nothing to do with heat/temperature. The rapid boil agitates the food a lot, to the point that if the food is soft, it can pretty much tear it apart. You probably don't really want disintegrated food, but smaller pieces do cook faster, so I suppose you can look at this as a rapid boil cooking faster from a certain perspective. It certainly cooks differently.

The other big thing is that rapidly boiling water will recover faster when you add food to it. It's not because the water itself is hotter, but the pot is, and the stove is too if it's electric. So you want a rapid boil to start, even if you don't need it later.

As for heat/temperature, there are differences between a full rolling boil and a slow boil, but not really what you're suggesting.

At a rolling boil, the water is mixing well enough that effectively it's all at 100°C. At a slow boil, it's really only boiling at the bottom, with a few little bubbles floating up from there, so most of the water is actually a bit below 100°C.

This difference is bigger than any effect from steam coming into contact with food; the heat capacity of water is substantially greater than that of steam, the steam isn't under pressure so it won't be above 100°C, and the food will be in contact with water more of the time than steam anyway.

Of course, if all you're doing is boiling water with a relatively small bit of food in it, it doesn't make a huge difference if the water's a little below boiling. But if you've got a lot of food and not that much water, like in a stew, the difference can become way more pronounced. Convection becomes inefficient, so at a simmer or a low boil the heat doesn't propagate from the bottom to the top very efficiently. That lets the temperature at the top be significantly lower, and so things will cook more slowly. Covering the pot does mostly mitigate this, if it's an option.

Finally, the bottom of the pan is substantially hotter than the water, and if you've turned the stove up higher to make it boil faster, it'll be even hotter, so food that comes into contact with it will cook (or more likely, scorch) faster. That's not directly due to the faster boil, of course, just the heat being transferred from the stove to the pot, but they go hand-in-hand.

So yes, things do sometimes cook faster at a rolling boil (what you call "boiling it really hard") than at a slow boil, but it's not because of steam coming into contact with the food, and once it's truly boiling, adding even more heat doesn't really change anything in terms of heat.


Can I add vanilla to pastry cream after its cooled? I forgot to add the vanilla at the end of making my vanilla pastry cream for eclair cake.  Can I add it now after its been in the frig overnight?  I'm going to fold in whipped cream also.

If your pastry cream can handle being stirred (most do and as you will be including whipped cream anyway), you should be fine. Stirring will soften your pastry cream a bit, but not make it completely liquid.

You can even add the vanilla to your cream, whip it together and need not worry about stirring well enough or uneven distribution of liquid in your pastry cream.


Can I substitute regular dried lemon peel for sweetened dried lemon peel? I have a recipe for mini lemon-poppy seed bread that calls for purchased sweetened dried lemon peel (3 oz). Can I substitute dried lemon peel since I can't locate the sweetened? The recipe is for Mini Lemon-Poppy Seed Loaves from Cuisine at Home magazine. The 3 oz. (1/2 cup) lemon peel is mixed in with the flour mixture.

We made this recipe last night with Watkins Dried Lemon Peel, which we think was unsweetened. The bread did not come out well.


Why are most circular pizza peels designed with holes in metal I am looking to buy a pizza peel. In the UK, I'm noticing a difference in styles, and was curious if there was a reason more than design
There is the "paddle" design, which is more rectangular and a solid piece of metal

Almost all of the longer handled circular (rounded) peels seem to have holes in the metal as per below.

This design seems counter intuitive to me - the dough could easily sink into the hole making it more difficult to slide the pizza off. Not only that, but by having holes, there is less area to be floured before putting the pizza on top of the peel
Given both of the designs are (as far as I know) designed for the same purpose (to transfer the pizza), is there a reason why circular peels with longer handles seem to all have cut outs like the picture above? If any one has used them, does it hinder transfer (or at least, sliding the pizza off)

The Chef Pomodoro round peel you picture is described by the manufacturer as a ‘turning peel’.

A turning peel is a must-have to easily rotate the pizza multiple times with precision.

Taking that cue I checked a few more on Amazon and they were mostly described that way.
A Turning Peel is specifically for rotating the pizza while it is cooking. I imagine that the radial slots allow increased friction making it easier to turn the pizza. I don’t think you could use it to put a thin, fresh, homemade pizza into an oven.
One reviewer of the Chef Pomodoro peel says:

The turning peel worked great and freed up my regular peel so we could keep making pizzas inside while I was cooking them outside.

which indicates a separate function from a peel you would build a pizza on.


What to do with leftover cream after churning butter? I used a manual butter churn for the first time and made delicious butter. Yay! And it left behind something that resembles milk... It's lighter than the heavy cream that was churned into butter. It had warmed a bit during the churning process so I stuck it in the fridge. Can I use this for anything? Is it basically milk?

Technically, this is "buttermilk" - the milk left over from churning butter.

Of course, this is sweet buttermilk, so it won't really work for most recipes calling for buttermilk (they assume the cultured version, which is acidic, and has that purpose in recipes).

For sweet buttermilk, you can just drink it.  You can use it in cooking, much like milk - perhaps closer to skimmed milk, since much of the fat (butter) has been removed.  You could maybe make cheese with it, if you want, though it will be a lower fat cheese.

You can take your chances making cultured buttermilk the old fashioned way (leave it until it's "soured"), if you don't mind the risk.  You can culture your own buttermilk - I've had success taking regular store bought buttermilk, and adding a glug of that to milk to culture it (or pouring milk into the freshly emptied bottle and letting it sit), or else you can find the actual culture used (look for places with cheesemaking cultures as a starting point and refine your search from there).  The last may only be worthwhile if you're planning to make buttermilk regularly, otherwise it's a lot of effort for a one-time product.


Can you freeze Spring Roll Wraps? I have some extra bags of spring roll wraps. Am I able to freeze them and if so how? Also would I be able to freeze them once I make spring rolls. The spring rolls would contain :

shrimp
pork
carrots
mushrooms
onions
eggs
vermicelli noodles

Yes, you can freeze either the wrappers or the pre-made rolls and they will work fine. The wrappers I buy are typically frozen.


How long do I cook my brisket? I have always cooked brisket in a slow cooker, to beautiful effect, but I'm going to be cooking for a crowd this week, and a slow cooker won't be available to me. (not to mention I cannot fit this brisket into my tiny slow cooker!) Are there good rules of thumb on how to cook a brisket in the oven (I don't have a Dutch oven, either) to make sure it turns out delicious and tender?

Wrap it in foil, loosely, and roast in your oven at 250°F (121°C) until an internal temperature of 185°F (85°C), this should be about 1 1/2 hours per pound (but CHECK the internal temp with an instant read thermometer).

Note: an internal temp of 160°F (71°C) is "done" but for a tender slow cook brisket you want to let it go to 185°F (85°C)


Can Wilton cake fondant be kept in freezer? My mom put a package of Wilton cake fondant in the freezer by mistake. Will it still usable once thawed and, would you thaw it now or just before its intended use?

Yes, freezing fondant is fine if it is well wrapped, although doing so is not normally necessary as it is so high in sugar that it is essentially shelf stable.

The main issue is that when you thaw it, you want it to be well wrapped so that condensation does not get onto the surface of the fondant itself, making it sticky.


Should I press the chicken breast against the pan when I grill it? When I'm about to grill a chicken breast, I usually cut the breast in very thin pieces. I put some oil in a square grill pan (exactly like this one) and turn on the stove (in a very high temperature). After a few minutes, I spread the oil, turn the temperature in medium and put the breast chicken there. I usually wait until the side of the chicken that I'm looking is almost completely white. Than I turn the slice.

My cousin is a chef, so he knows a lot about food. When I said that I pressed the breast chicken against the pan, he said to me not to. He told me just to leave the slice there and, when there's a lot of water in the side of the piece that I'm looking at, then it's the time to turn it. I tried this, but the other side of the chicken is never beautiful as the part that was against the pan. Than I kinda freak out and start pressing with the fork again, afraid that I might eat a raw chicken - wich stinks!

Can you guys give me some advice? I read a lot about it on the Internet and here, tried a lot of things, but most of the advice and recipes didn't work. I'm using only salt and olive oil to marinate the chicken breast (and the oil that I put in the pan). Since I'm on a diet, I can't use sauces that are not 'natural' (like italian sauce, sold in the supermarkets).

Sometimes I believe there's something wrong with the size of the pan, considering the size of the stove burners (maybe the pan is too big for it?). Does that have some impact?

The only method I have personally found to be reliable for grilling/pan-frying chicken breasts to a relatively uniform doneness is to pound them very, very thin with a mallet or rolling pin. Thin, as in scaloppine-thin, so that it cooks almost instantly in the pan.

Every other stovetop-only method is almost certainly going to produce a bland, tough cut, regardless of whether you press it down or not. As noted in my comment, my usual (lazier) method that does not involve pounding is to get a nice sear in the pan, then jam in a temperature probe and bake it in the oven until it's done (the USDA recommends 165° F, I usually don't go quite that high).

If pressing the meat actually accomplishes anything at all, it would most likely be to just squeeze out whatever tiny amount of precious juices the breast does have, and possibly give you slightly more even cooking on the exterior only; it will not help to cook the interior much faster unless, as stated above, the cut has been pounded extremely thin and flat, at which point it doesn't really matter.

P.S. Salt and olive oil is a terrible "marinade" for any cut of meat, especially a chicken breast. The salt is just going to get suspended in the oil and never reach the meat at all, and the oil itself won't have much of an effect on such a lean cut. You really need to change your marinade as well, preferably to something water-based (or at least not 100% oil).