What type of devices, could increase dim sum output, short of a complete expensive, automatic machine? I am getting irregular requests for dim sum catering and would like to increase my dim sum output, but am not yet ready to invest in something like this:

Dim Sum Maker Video

What other ways are there, to increase my fire rate?

I could probably save some time by investing in a dough mixer, but the dough mixing is actually not the big problem. The steps, that are most time consuming are:

Cutting the dough into uniform pieces
Making 2D circles out of the pieces
Filling the circles with the filling
closing the whole thing (the most tricky part)

What kind of machines could I use to greatly reduce my work, without buying a 15k machine?

Three sets of tools would help you speed up your operation, with some caveats:

Circle cutters, particularly ones that allow you to cut a lot of circles together like this kind.
Dumpling molds in a variety of sizes.  There are even some that mold-and-cut, but that's not actually a big help since you have to "pre-cut" the dough anyway.
Cookie scoops for portioning fillings.

The biggest speed-up here comes from having sets that match: cutters that match the size of specific dumpling molds and a cookie scoop that portions exactly the amount of filling for those molds.  You'll also want at least a half-dozen molds of each size so that you can assembly-line it.

Now, the caveats: first, molded dumplings will never look as good as hand-folded.  Second, certain shapes aren't possible using a plastic mold, such as Siu Mai or the classic Har Gow shapes.


If you freeze and later melt egg whites would they still be suitable to whip I read all the very useful answers to this question
Can raw eggs be frozen?

But my question is a bit different:

When making anything that needs whipped egg whites, the condition (cleanness/pusity) of utensile and the egg whites is essential. I wanted to know if I freeze egg whites would I be able to melt and whip them later?

Yes, quite well -- I have personally made successful angel food cakes with frozen whites -- but if volume matters, they will not quite reach the maximal height of fresh whites (say, loss of 5-10%), and achieving peaks will take a little longer whipping time than normal.


Filtering home-rendered lard I recently rendered some lard at home from some pork fat I bought from a nearby Mexican grocery store (Mi Pueblo in San Jose). The lard is delicious and I'm glad I made it, but I wish I knew how best to make it "cleaner". It's not very light-colored now that it's chilled, and I can see some burnt pork solids left it it. What's the best and easiest way to get my lard nice and clear?

For applications such as these where I really want a fine strain, much more than any of my strainers can handle, I line a larger-hole strainer with cheesecloth (if I have trouble with the cheesecloth staying I use a rubber band to hold it in place).

Although I have not tried it with rendered lard, I have used it in a lot of other places (stock immediately comes to mind) where I have a lot of little particles that make it through my finest of strainers.  A quick search for a lard/cheesecloth/strainer keyword combination shows that a lot of recipes for home-rendered lard seem to suggest this so I think it would work.

You can find a picture of a cheesecloth-lined strainer here or just Google image search it if the link dies.

Oh, and as an aside, I find that purchasing the cheesecloth in bulk at a fabric store (such as Jo-Ann Fabrics in the USA) is much, much cheaper than buying small packages in a kitchen store (such as Williams-Sonoma).


1/4 cup of rice not measuring to be 45g, turns out to be 30g I have used two different rice cooker measuring cups, and I know the kitchen scale is correct, but the rice packaging for various rices say 45g = 1/4 cup, but if I fill it up to 1/4 cup, the weight of the rice turns out to be 30g. What am I doing wrong? I even put a little more than 1/4 cup but still it's like 32-33g. I know different grains weight different, but I think 15g off is too much right?

The measuring cups that come with rice cookers are not the same size as a US cup (or indeed many other countries' cup measurements).

A rice cooker cup is 180 ml, a US cup 240ml, and in a lot of places it's 250ml. This is because rice cooker designs originate from Japan.

You're getting 30g, which is 2/3 of what you expect. For a US cup, 3/4 would be right, and for a 250 ml cup, 72%. That's probably close enough given how much variability there is in packing rice into a cup, especially as grain shapes vary.


Substitute Cayenne Pepper for Black Pepper My recipe calls for Black Pepper. I have Cayenne Pepper.

What ratio should I use to substitute to get approximatively the same "heat"?

I realize that the result won't be quite the same. I am fine with that.

You can't really substitute cayenne pepper for black pepper. They're completely different, not even in the same botanical order. Cayenne pepper is a powdered chile. Black pepper is tiny drupe. The heat in cayenne pepper comes from capsaisin, and the pepperyness in black pepper from piperine.

Closer substitutes would be white peppercorns (in moderation!), green peppercorns, red peppercorns or grains of paradise.

Of course, you still could use cayenne, but the taste would be as different as if you were to substitute it with allspice, or cumin, or some other spice. If you were to substitute it with cayenne, there's not really any ratio that is applicable, you would have to add it to taste.


Cebiche dinner considered harmful I've been in Peru recently and enjoyed a lot of very good meals. Cebiches and tiraditos were among the best.

However, as it was a short business trip, luncheons were usually short and quick, so we tried with little luck to ask cebiche (or ceviche) for dinner.

We found out that Peruvians consider cebiche harmful at night, to the point that (most) cebicherías (restaurants serving only cebiche) are closed for dinner.

I tend to think that, being ceviche mainly raw seafood, this is just a myth coming from times when fridges were not available, but locals were very assertive about the inconveniences of eating raw seafood for dinner. They referred sleeping disorders, and the such.

So two questions:

Anybody knows if the Peruvian massive opinion is shared with other people on the Pacific Rim?  Is it really a myth?
If the previous was affirmative  ... Is it reasonable to store the day's catch outside a fridge (but in a shadowy and fresh place) to be eaten raw at dinner? (I like fishing, and I'm considering preparing cebiche with my catches).

PS: Look the size of those corn kernels!

In the South Pacific it's breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I could have Fijian Kokoda for every meal for a week, yuuuum!

Pacific style is with lime and coconut, it is still very acidic and fatty so not to everyone's taste

Could be specific fish types? But I have never had a problem

Once you add the lime juice to the fish it will keep longer without refrigeration

In Peru I suspect education is still lacking in food hygiene etc, so it may be a good move! (based on commentary from friends and relatives in Peru). Peru also has very traditions based cultures


What can I change about this bread recipe to lower its glycemic index? I'm starting with a recipe from Peter Reinhart's Whole Grain Breads that uses an overnight autolyse of a soaker (whole wheat flour, your choice of other grains, salt, and water) and a refrigerated  biga (whole wheat flour, a small bit of commercial yeast, and water). The recipe is for a hearth bread. I grind my own hard white wheat on the finest grind my KitchenAid mixer attachment can manage.

I'm looking to increase the fiber and protein content. The options I'm looking at in the "other grain" category include

psyllium husk: I am having a great deal of difficulty finding any instructions on baking with psyllium husk outside of gluten free baking, which I am obviously not doing. I am most concerned with how the psyllium might impact the water content of the recipe and how much is too much, given how small a standard serving is. I don't even know if using psyllium husk is a good idea given that no one seems to have tried it before.
chia seeds: like psyllium, there aren't a lot of resources on using chia in wheat breads. I found one website that said it worked in commercial applications as up to 5% of the bread without changing much. In my recipe that works out to about 1 oz. Does that make sense?
wheat bran: I have so far found one recipe that used a cup of wheat bran to 2 cups of white flour and 1/2 cup of whole grain mix. It seems like I can safely use a good portion of wheat bran, but I'm unsure of exactly how much
vital wheat gluten: I have always seen a suggestion to use about 1 1/2 tsp. of wheat gluten per 1 c. of wheat flour for increased wheat dough elasticity. How high can I push the wheat content before it gets to be too much? My recipe allows for the "other grains" to be up to 33% of the baker's percentage. Could I use the whole thing on bran or would that taste like sandpaper?
flax seed meal: I've seen people online adding 1/4 to 1/3 c. of flax to bread recipes. Does that sound about right?

Am I missing any high fiber or high protein seeds or grains that I should consider (like a bean, perhaps?).

My mother is the founder of the Glycemic Index Foundation of South Africa (http://www.gifoundation.com/), so let's see how well I've been listening to her!

Stephie is right, legume flours do lower the GI. Beans contain slow release carbohydrates which lowers the GI. Chickpea flour is the best to use here. I find you cannot sub more than 1/4 of the total flour in the recipe as it does have a slight odor - much more when the dough is raw, after cooking it's hardly noticeable.

As for fibre: Because Psylium Husk is SUPER HIGH in fibre - it's like 80 - 90% fibre - a little does go a long way. Use the powder though, as the rough husks can damage the gluten strands (same for wheat bran here... I wouldn't use more than 1/2 cup of wheat bran per loaf) during proofing. I use about 40ml of psylium husk powder per loaf of bread.

BEST way to lower the GI is also to use a longer fermentation process because it allows the living yeast organisms to break down the gluten into a more digestible form. I got this straight from my mother. Artisan Breads with a long, overnight, fermentation process is LOw GI even when white bread flour is used. Longer fermentation also adds incredible flavour, so why not! Double perks!

But well done for making your own flour. Unbleached, stone ground flour is ideal.


Food safety for pork My boss wants me to half cook bacon, then finish cooking it the next day to serve our customers at breakfast. Is this safe?

The questions already asked are key:  Will it be refrigerated and would you consider half cooked to be less safe than raw for a day?

To be safe, it would need to be promptly cooled to 40F or less and kept there.  But, I would have another question for you to consider, is it fresh bacon, cured, cured and smoked or oven finished?

If cured and smoked, or oven finished, then it has already been treated in a preserving way and then cooked to typically 150 degrees, so this largely answers your question on if it is considered safe.  It has already been done.  If it is cured but not smoked, it likely has still been cooked, or half cooked if you will to the same temperature, just without smoke, but even if not logic would follow that it would be considered safe as long as you followed refrigeration standards and promptly.  Fresh bacon though I would put in a complete different ballpark and I would be very hesitant to consider doing that, or even cured if it was slab rather than typical slices.

Now, the next question though is "Is it worth it?"  What does it really gain you?  If you properly cool half done bacon, now you have to reheat it from cold to serving temperature while finishing rendering the fat and cooking it the rest of the way without over cooking it.  In my personal opinion, the end result is likely to be inferior quality though I like bacon less crispy and dried out than many people prefer.  I would much prefer it cooked freshly, but as I make my own bacon I am pretty picky on what I consider good bacon.  Note though that it really is not that uncommon, especially in fast food places and some breakfast diners, for bacon to be cooked ahead of time and then just reheated often in a microwave.  I don't like it, but many are fine with it.

All that of course is assuming you are talking about typical US belly bacon.  I would be very much against doing any of that with say a good back bacon, but it might still be safe.  Just very low quality.


How to clean stains from anodized aluminum pans? I've baked some pie on my anodized aluminum pie pan but things went awry, and some dough was stuck to the pie in the end; I assume it was overbaked?
I could remove the pieces but stains were left behind.
Here are pictures:

  Are these stains a big deal? Do they mean the pan or anodization has been damaged? What can cause them, or how to avoid them?

I've looked around on how to clean and remove these stains, but have found contradictory advice on using baking soda, or other methods.

  Is it possible to remove these stains, and if so, how?

This looks like you are starting to getting a layer of polymerized oil on the pan, like the seasoning on a cast iron pan.

I wouldn't try removing it. The usual methods are either using a strong base (which works really well) or mechanical forms of removal, which are less effective. But the strong base will corrode your pan, and the mechanical removal will scratch and damage the anodized layer.

You can try the baking soda, but it is so weak a base that it is unlikely to have much of an effect.

I would just continue to use the pan as it is.


Can a convection microwave be used to dry fruit My wife has been wanting a dehydrator and our conventional microwave just went up.  I did some research and found a new breed of microwave that I was previously unaware of, namely, the convection microwave oven.  I'm wondering if I can kill two birds with one stone here and get both with my new purchase.

  Can a convection microwave be used to dry fruit?

Previously, to dry fruit, she has just been setting the oven to a really low temperature for a couple hours and cracking the door ever so slightly.  This has a mediocre level success and makes our house smell funny.

I would guess that you will get a the same limited success for a couple of reasons.

You might not have the correct heat required.  Food dehydrators usually have an operating temperature around 140 degrees Fahrenheit.  If you can get your convection oven to go that low, I don't think you would have a problem with accidentally cooking the food.

Heat however is only the first step.  Dehydrators only use heat to coax the moisture out of the foodstuff.  The key ingredients you are going to be missing is the air-flow and ventilation.  A crucial component to de-hydrating is quickly removing the moisture (released by the heat) from the air surrounding it.  The air flow allows for a higher evaporation rate since the moisture inside the food will be in a disequilibrium with with air surrounding it. The ventilation supplies the surrounding space with a constant supply or dryer air effectively maintaining disequilibrium. The greater the disequilibrium, the faster the food be de-hydrated.

If I were you, I'd make her happy and go get a good dehydrator with adjustable fan-speeds.


Does milk (fat) change in Winter? I've noticed that, all of a sudden, my chocolate chip cookies are spreading more than usual.

I was wondering if the (organic) butter that I'm using could be affected by the season.

I don't know about weather, but non-factory produced milk changes with the season because of the feed, which will affect your butter.

Over the winter, the cows are fed hay or corn, while over the summer, they're pastured, so get fresh grass.

In the Netherlands, there are designations such as 'graskaas' (literally, 'grass chesse'), which is made from the milk when the cows are first released to pasture in the spring.  I know there is a designation for winter vs. summer cheese as well, but it's not coming back to me.


How to make a chocolate fudge/syrup sauce that does not freeze? I'm looking for a good recipe to make a chocolate fudge/syrup style sauce that will not freeze solid when placed in the freezer, but rather retain its "liquid" consistency.  It does not need to be runny when frozen, but I just do not want it to freeze.

I plan to add it into an ice cream cake so do not want it to solidify or become hard when I bite into the cake.

Any suggestions for something that would work well?

EDIT

I tried something with chocolate, evaporated milk and butter and sugar, and although functional (ie: does not seem to freeze solid, but becomes taffy like), tastes way too buttery  for me.

My recipe was something along the lines of:

1/2 cup butter
3 oz chocolate
2 cup sugar
350ml evaporated milk

Basically melt butter & chocolate, add sugar and milk and reduce to desired consistency.  But like I said, although it works, it is way too buttery.

I would love to figure out a recipe that would allow me to do make something of a similar consistency, but with dairy free w/ dark chocolate (ie: no milk/butter).  But I am not sure what gives the sauce the taffy consistency vs. freezing up.  I immediately discounted any recipes that I saw which were water based due to the freezing/crystalizing issue.

END EDIT

Thanks,

Eric

Alcohol Sugar Fat. Your recipe needs to be more of those and less of water; just like an ice cream.

I had luck with agave syrup as a base (maple or cornsyrup?) that I tested by freezing; when I was satisfied by my choice, I melted in chocolate and additional fat (good coconut oil I think).

Certainly won't be fudgy outside of freezer so finding a recipe is tricky...

Have a look also at that ice cream topping chocolate hard-shell. It has a super low melting point with its high fat content. Wouldn't take much more sugar in the form of a syrup to make it fudgy.


Are there any cookbooks specifically designed for restaurant-level chefs/cooks? It's fair to say most cookbooks are designed for the home cook. Not just in terms of quantities but also in terms of technique; it's very common to see recipes - even those written by giants in the catering world - edited "so you can prepare them at home".

Even a high-level book such as Thomas Keller's The French Laundry Cookbook boasts that "all [recipes] have been thoroughly tested in home kitchens".

Do recipe books for restaurant-level chefs exist? I'm not talking about catering or bulk-cooking recipes which focus on event cooking but rather books where the author assumes that you have access to professional-level equipment, unusual/exotic/technical ingredients. Books which actually document the way a restaurant chef would prepare and cook their own food every day.

Disclaimer: Not a professional

Look at what organizations that train professionals use. For example, the Culinary Institute of America publishes The Professional Chef. My understanding is this an instructional text for the institute.

From the introduction of the 8th edition:

  The Professional Chef is suited to a variety of teaching situations... Chapter One covers the history of cooking as a profession and examines the skills and attributes of a professional chef and other members of the foodservice profession.


Why does the roux separate from my gumbo? I love gumbo, and make it about once or twice a month. However, I've noticed that my roux will occasionally separate from my stew and float up to the surface. I've sampled it, just to see if it had absorbed some of the flavors, but all I got was a floury taste.

I've had gumbo enough times to know that this shouldn't be happening - the roux should be enriching the flavor of the stew and mixing in, but it isn't.

A rough outline of what I do:

Make roux with vegetable oil and flour in a 1:1 ratio.
Mix in bell pepper, celery, and onions (aka "trinity"); stir frequently for 10-20 minutes.
Mix in garlic, cayenne pepper; stir for two minutes.
Mix in thyme, bay leaves, white wine; bring to boil.
Add chicken, andouille, shrimp, tomatoes, clam juice, chicken broth; bring to boil and simmer for 30 minutes.
Add okra; simmer for 10 minutes or until ready to serve.

Here's some thoughts on possible problems:

I usually cook it in a slow cooker once I have all the ingredients simmering. I've only cooked it the conventional way (read: in a pot) once, and it didn't separate. (When I cooked it in the pot, some of the roux was in the stew that boiled off the top of the lid; a tasting revealed that it was more flavorful than the stew).

2. I've sometimes gotten lazy or been in a rush, so I only cook the trinity for 10 minutes instead of the full 20. (I've also noticed that the trinity gets uncomfortably slimy-looking after the 10 minutes, which has prompted me to prematurely move to the next step on a few occasions.)

And finally, an error I am not making: I am not burning the roux. It may smell smoky, but it is not burned.

Given this, what could be the cause?

EDIT: I've just made it again, and it's definitely not because I'm undercooking the trinity. Based on the evidence, I'm going to go with Sobachatina's answer, until I can try it again.

SOLUTION: Forgot to update this until I got pinged about a change on this question. The slow cooker made the roux separate from the gumbo; it has never separated from the stew when cooked in a pot, likely because the starch doesn't fully gelatinize when in the slow cooker. If anyone wants to look further and try to figure out when the starch is sufficiently gelatinized, drop a comment below with your result and I'll update this solution.

Making a roux has two purposes:

Coat the flour granules with fat so they are able to dissolve into the cooking liquid without binding up.
Cook the flour to remove the raw cereal flavor.

When the cooked, fat-covered, flour is introduced to boiling liquid the starch granules swell and explode tangling up the cooking liquid. The cooking liquid is thus thickened and delicious.

If your roux is separating then the starch has not gelatinized. Because you saw this problem in the slow cooker and not in a pot I suspect that you are simply not bringing your liquid to a full enough boil to gelatinize your starch.

I have never seen a roux separate out. The roux should dissolve into the cooking liquid. You might check your ratio and make sure that you don't have too much oil in your roux. Variability in measuring your flour might account for why you see this intermittently.


Help with friend with many allergies I'm having a friends family over for dinner next week, Ang they have numerous allergies or sensitivities.  Corn,  gluten,  soy, rice and citrus.  The dinner I planned on making,  contains quick cooking tapioca. Any ideas on what to to use in substitute for that?

Tapioca is Cassava starch, it's not a grain, soy product, or citrus so it should cause no issues with your friends. Just make sure there aren't any additives to the tapioca that could cause a reaction, for instance citric acid as a preservative.


How do I make restaurant quality pizza? I've been making my own pizza dough for years but almost always the results are stodgy and thick dough. Ideally I'd like to make thin, crispy pizza bases with those bubbly bits.

Measurements for flour and water always go out the window when my hands are sticky so that might be one issue. A friends advice was to add a tablespoon of semolina to the flour to add texture.

It's safe to assume that the measurements I'm using are probably wrong so I won't list them.

I mix the flour, water, salt, olive oil and yeast together.
Add more
water or flour depending on stickiness.
Fold and knead it for around
10 minutes.

Once I'm happy it's well kneaded and there's no pockets of dry flour I put it in a bowl and put a damp cloth over the top. I leave it in a warm place like an airing cupboard to rise for 3-4 hours.

Normally the dough rises a lot, maybe too much? I roll the dough as thin as possible. I've sometimes tried pre-baking the bases for 5 minutes before putting the sauce and toppings on. This helps getting them a bit crisper.

I've also tried roasting vegetables before putting them on top since I fear they make the dough soggy if added when raw.

Will using a pizza stone make a huge difference?

Please give me details of your method, the ingredients, measurements and equipment you use

The most common problem is that your consumer oven is not as hot as a professional stone oven. Pizza stones are created to replicate this effect, but there's no way to really achieve the same result if you cannot heat your stone to the same temperature as a professional pizza oven.

My advice to get better results is:

Preheat your oven to the highest available temperature 20 - 30 minutes before actually baking the pizza. Use upper and lower heat rather than convection.
Put the baking tray in the oven to preheat as well. That's the only way you can get the bottom of the pizza crispy in a short time.
If you use a pizza stone, preheating takes longer. Follow the instructions given with the stone.
In addition to rolling the dough, pull and stretch it with your hands. Yeast dough is very elastic and takes some insistance to roll out as thin as you'd want in a pizza.
Don't pile your pizza with too much topping.

The actual baking should be done in approximately 5 minutes. If it takes longer, the temperature of your oven is too low.

There are pizza baking devices out there that can achieve a decent result (if you go for quality rather than a cheap price) and safe you preheating your entire oven.


Supply of Boiling water without power outlet This weekend coming some friends and I will be running a cake stall at a local vintage fare.
We would also like to sell hot beverages such as tea and coffee.

How can we cheaply and easily heat water up for tea and coffee without access to a power socket?

Do as others do and use a camping stove.

They come as gas stoves like this one or even as wood- or charcoal-fired versions (see here). Perhaps an avid camper among your friends could even lend you one, means you'd only have to buy the fuel.

But before you do this check with the local authorities / people responsible for the event whether they are ok with these open-flame stoves at a public event, keep a fire extinguisher ready and ensure noone can accidentally get hurt, especially if lots of people are attending. Ensure the stove is set up properly and on solid ground, not wobbly or uneven. Be careful not to burn yourself or your partner, especially if business gets hectic. You'll also need the corresponding equipment, e.g. a stovetop kettle, a hand-filter or french press for the coffee, and fresh clean water (unless available on-site).


Can i substitute frozen berries when the cheesecake calls for fresh? I would like to make the following cheesecake recipe. It uses fresh raspberries to add flavor. I only have access to frozen berries. I can defrost the frozen ones I have, but there's a lot more liquid now than in the fresh ones. Can I substitute frozen berries?

Also, if I wanted to add berry juice to add more berry flavor (and a nice color) would that work?

Recipe from here: http://s-vick.blogspot.co.za/2013/04/gordon-ramsays-ultimate-cookery-course_11.html

550g cream cheese, at room temperature.
160g Caster Sugar.
3 Eggs, lightly beaten.
2 tbsp Plain Flour.
Finely grated zest of 1 Lemon.
200g Raspberries.

Preheat the oven to 180C and butter a 23 cm spring-foam cake tin.
Beat together the cream cheese and sugar. Add the beaten eggs bit by bit until combined. Add the flour and lemon zest, then fold through the raspberries.
Spoon the mixture into the prepared cake tin, tapping it against the work surface to remove any bubbles and help the raspberries rise up from the bottom. Bake in the preheated oven for 35 minutes until set on the edges but wobbling slightly in the middle.
Once cooked, remove from the tin, running knife around the edges to loosen if necessary, and serve.

The raspberries should work if you strain them thoroughly and fold them in very carefully so they don't break apart. Adding the liquid to the cheesecake will noticeably alter the texture, probably making it mushy; note that there aren't any water based ingredients in the recipe which you could substitute raspberry syrup for. I wouldn't recommend it. If you wanted to add raspberry flavor to a cheesecake, your best bet would be a raspberry pastry flavoring oil. If you didn't want to waste that liquid (and why would you,) just drizzle it on top of each slice as you serve it.


How to "toss to coat" ingredients in a sheet pan? I've been trying new recipes lately, and I often see instructions along the lines of:

Put ingredients in sheet pan
Drizzle oil over ingredients
Add seasonings to ingredients
Toss to coat

I understand the purpose of this is to evenly coat the stuff in the pan with oil and seasonings, but I don't understand  how to physically do it. If I try lifting the pan to literally "toss" the contents, they all go flying out. I've tried stirring instead, but the pan is too shallow for that to be effective. I've started putting everything in a bowl or bag first and mixing it there, but that's clearly not what was intended.

I tried doing a Google search, but it mostly told me that "toss" means "mix" without giving a good technique on how to do this in a sheet pan. What am I missing? How do I quickly and easily "toss to coat" food in a sheet pan?

You use your hands. Or, if you're not a fan of getting your fingers oily, use a pair of tongs.

Drizzle oil over the ingredients and then pick them up with your hands and move them around to rub over each other and get evenly coated.

If you're happier with the results when using a bag or a bowl, there's nothing wrong with that. The only downside is that you're getting another dish dirty and you're losing a small amount of the ingredients that would otherwise be coating your sheet pan. If you keep using a bowl or bag, I recommend possibly rubbing a thin layer of oil on the pan as you're not "tossing" the ingredients directly in the pan.


Can cultured buttermilk powder contain live cultures? I'm looking for some buttermilk starter, which I know I can buy online, but I wanted to shop locally first.  The two local health food stores don't carry it, so I checked one of the local supermarkets, and came across some Saco Cultured Buttermilk Blend, which is a dry powder.  I'm curious if this can possibly contain live cultures, though.  One forum post I found claims it does not:

  Because the SACO buttermilk is dried, it contains no live cultures and will not be a good buttermilk starter culture.

However, many other living organisms, (such as dry yeast, and the freeze-dried Kéfir starter I found in the store today) come in dry form, so I'm not convinced that a dried product cannot contain live cultures, but maybe dried buttermilk is different.  So is it true that this type of product does not contain live cultures, or will it work as a buttermilk starter culture?

It is true that Saco Buttermilk Blend contains no live cultures. If you can have any further questions, please feel free to call our consumer line at 1-800-373-7226. We are happy to answer any questions you may have about our product!
Amy Verheyden
Director of Consumer Affairs
Saco Foods, Inc.


Egg of a dove in my flowerpot A dove just laid an egg in my flowerpot, on the window on the third floor. I really wanted to let it hatch, however, my wife said the chick has no chance to survive in this environment, it will surely fall and die. So, I thought maybe it is better to take the egg and eat it - this will at least save the dove the incubation time.

But, I have no idea if and how it is possible to eat an egg of a dove?

According to the American Dove Association:

  How many eggs do doves lay?
  Most doves lay two eggs; some species only lay one. Wild doves are notorious for infertile eggs.

  Why do foreign doves abandon their eggs or young?
  Abandoning eggs may be due to biting pests (lice, mites), noises that frighten brooding birds, or overcrowding and fighting. Frightened doves will abandon young, or if the nest is disturbed in any way, parents may refuse to care for the young.

There is a chance the egg was not fertilized, and there is also a chance the bird could have had pests (whether or not that affects the egg, I do not know).

Based on this info, if it was me, I'd steer clear.


Why don't dry bread crumbs spoil, when bread does? Why don't store-bought bread crumbs spoil?  Can you make your own bread crumbs and save them for later use?  Will homemade breadcrumbs mold?

Bacteria need a friendly environment to live. They can't survive without mosture. Mold tolerates more, but it needs moisture for life too.

Bread is too dry a food, so it doesn't catch bacteria. This is why it can be stored outside the fridge. But if you live in a moderately humid climate, it can still be moist enough for mold to grow, especially if stored in a non-breathing package (plastic bag). Drying the bread to the point where this won't happen is possible, but it gets quite hard then. Examples for such dry bread are zwieback or finnish crispbread.

Store bought breadcrumbs are dried to the point where they can't catch mold. This is why they can be stored for so long. If you make your own in the food processor, they will be similar to bread. Probably a bit better, because the bigger surface will let them dry quicker than bread. But if you want to be sure they will last, dry them. You can use a dehydrator or put them in the oven at the lowest temperature (usually.50 deg C) and hold them there for 4 - 5 hours.


Slow cooker- can I turn up the heat I am cooking French dip, using a chuck roast. And I ended up having to substitute a recipe (I didn't have a can of soup so I improvised). It took a bit longer than I thought and now dinner won't be done til around 9 to 10. Is there any way I can turn the heat up do it cooks faster without it ruining my dinner?

Ok, from the clarification in the comments:

I'd say that roughly speaking, "high" cooks twice as fast as "low". This is a very rough estimate, and also depends on the slow cooker a lot (they vary in temperature...). So, each hour you spend on high is like spending two hours on low. You can use that to figure when to turn your slow cooker up so its ready on time.

  Example: You have 7 hours until dinner. Recipe says 9 on low. So you do 2 hours on high and 5 hours on low. The 2 hours on high count for 4 hours of cooking on low, so you have the 9 hours the recipe called for. And 5 and 2 are the 7 actual hours you have until dinner.

Given how approximate the conversion is, you should probably plan to have it ready a bit before time, and then turn it down to "keep warm". Note that cooking will continue on "keep warm", especially as it'll take a while for the food to cool. Keep warm should be around 150°F, which will keep the food safe to eat (its out of the danger zone), but will actually continue cooking, just very slowly.

Also, you should check on when its done by visual clues (as much as possible), and (as quickly as possible) check the texture. You want to keep the lid closed as much as possible, opening it will slow it down a lot. Check no more than once per hour.

If you have a thermometer you can leave in the meat, you could use its internal temperature. My newest slow cooker has a temperature probe, but most don't, so that's probably not an option. Though depending, you may be able to stick a probe thermometer through one of the vent holes in the lid.


Can I par-bake this pot pie recipe? Once a week I gather with friends for an evening of gaming; trying to cut back on fast-food, I'm looking for a recipe I can make ahead and heat up in their oven while we play. I found a pot pie recipe that looks tasty and can be frozen here; however, it bakes for an hour. Can I do anything to reduce this time? Or would a different type of meat pie work better: pasties, shepherd's/cottage pies, et cetera?

This question is similar but seems to be dealing specifically with fruit pies, whereas I'm looking at meat pies.

As far as I can see, you don't defrost the pie before baking in the recipe so some of the time in the oven would just be defrosting the pie; so this could be done in advance by bringing it out of the freezer an hour and a half before baking say. As the chicken is already cooked it looks like all you're doing is cooking the pastry so you could just use thinner pastry which would cook quicker, or better you could use layers of phyllo  pasty which would cook a lot quicker but of course wouldn't puff up like the puff pastry.

If you follow this it could probably bake for just 25 minutes or there about.

Hope this helps!


Can I add more pectin at the end of the marmalade cooking process? We've had a few attempts at making orange marmalade using Seville oranges that are in season right now.

The problem we've had is in reaching the setting stage.  We've boiled up the marmalade up to the setting point, but the "wrinkle test" has refused to produce wrinkles and we're getting overly gloopy marmalade at the end (delicious though it is).  We're reasoning that there's somehow not enough pectin.

So, if we reach the boiling point and fail to "wrinkle", can we add more pectin at this stage to ensure setting, or would it be far too late at this point?

There's no problem adding pectin later in the process, you just have to be careful how you do it depending on the form. Powdered pectin can glob up if you just pour it in, mixing it with a bit of water or cooled marmalade from your pot will prevent this. Pectin sugar or liquid pectin mixes can be added without any issues.

The thing is you shouldn't need to add pectin as seville oranges are naturally very high in pectin, if you aren't getting a set then it's likely a problem in your technique or not enough sugar or acid. This very good article on marmalade has some good suggestions:

Soak the cut peel for 24 hours to release the pectin
When cooking keep the temperature below 220F/105C to avoid overcooking the pectin and damaging it
Keep the cooking time short to avoid damaging the pectin

Also, make sure you have enough acidity and sugar, you generally have to add some lemon juice to marmalade as there isn't enough in the oranges naturally. If you have overcooked the pectin you can add some in, just remember to keep the temperature down and not cook it to long. As soon as you get a decent set get it off the heat.


Boring soup with no flavour I have just made a vegetable soup with ham pieces in a beef stock. It doesn't taste right, it is very bland and I don't know what else to add to give it flavour. The veges are root veges like swede, parsnip, pumpkin ect. I have seasoned with celery salt and pepper but it is still very boring.

Almost any soup begins with a sweat of strongly flavored vegetables, especially onion, and then uses a flavorful broth made by boiling the life out of meat and/or vegetables.

I would recommend mixing in a diced, sweated, onion.

The other flavor that make soup interesting is umami. Easy soup additions that will give you an umami boost are soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, fish sauce, or just straight msg. I'll put a dash of Worcestershire sauce in any soup. Fish sauce doesn't work everywhere. Be judicious.

I suppose it goes without saying that the most important ingredient is your broth. Using a nicer broth will always improve a soup. If the broth is nice enough you don't even need to add anything to it for it to be satisfying. Most soups I make are built around a broth from leftover bones and skin.

Today we had a roast chicken. Tomorrow it'll be soup.


What is the difference between toffee and caramel? I always wondered and hope someone here can clear it up for me.

In short, Butter. Toffee has Butter, caramel does not.
Of course there are lots of variations,  and there are some candies called 'Caramels', which may in fact be hard toffees.  The softness or hardness of a toffee depends on the amount of fat added, and the temperature to which the sugar is raised.

Strictly speaking, though, caramel is either 'dry' (pure white sugar), or 'wet' (white sugar and water), heated until it is browns, more or less, to taste, and stopped before burning.


Does Agar Agar expand in the stomach if not diluted enough? This might be an odd question. But I am making gummybears from fruit i mixed smooth in a food processor and agar agar. I read that agar is a potential chocking hazard when taken with insufficient amount of water. Since I used about 3 teaspoons for my mixture to set it firm, will it expand once it comes in contact with the fluid when eaten? Or is the structure changed once it got heated and then cooled again into jelly form?

Assuming that you are worried about the expansion rate in the stomach from having an insufficient ratio of water to agar during digestion, a quick search came up with the following results from wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agar):

  Agar-agar is approximately 80% fiber, so it can serve as an intestinal regulator. Its bulking quality has been behind fad diets in Asia, for example the kanten (the Japanese word for agar-agar[3]) diet. Once ingested, kanten triples in size and absorbs water. This results in the consumers feeling fuller. This diet has recently received some press coverage in the United States as well. The diet has shown promise in obesity studies.

The same Agar used in culinary dishes is the same one used in laboratories for testing.  Resistance to high temperature (melting point is 85 °C) makes Agar ideal for studies that need an environment to mimic human body temperature.  This means that Agar will not melt in the body once digested.

Melting Agar is also not the same as denaturing Agar.  The act of melting it to form and then cooling to set does not change the structure and properties of Agar.  Just like how ice melts into water and you can freeze again while also being able to reverse the process at any time, you can do the same with Agar just at a different temperature.  Since the Agar has the same properties as before melting, this does not keep it from expanding when exposed to water.

To add to this: Just because your body does not get hot enough to melt agar, that does not mean the bacteria in your intestine won't break it down into smaller molecules and denature the Agar to aid in digestion.  Source: https://www.ayurtimes.com/agar-agar-kanten/


Bircher muesli: how to make oats soak liquid Recently I've been making bircher muesli for breakfast, but oat flakes never seem to soak much liquid. They remain mostly a separate layer in a milk soup (separate from milk and from each other). And I'm looking to achieve more of a rice pudding consistency I've seen in a few cafes serving their own bircher muesli.

I use 1:1 liquid/oats ration (by volume), which seems to be the recommended one in most online recipes, whole milk, standard rolled oats and leave the mixture covered in the fridge for 12 hours. Is there anything I'm not doing right? (I'll give quick oats a try next, perhaps that will help)

I've never made this, but have seen it on display in Switzerland breakfast buffets. I would think you may get a more absorbent oat flake if you were to try the par-cooked variety (quick oats).


What is this veggie sushi in japan? I found this photo on the internet. I am going to japan next week. I would like to know what is the veggie on the sushi. I think it looks like some spring onion but would like to be sure.

It's scallion sushi

And again

"Filler text to reach the 30 character limit for posts."


Microwave pudding sediments I tried making pudding in the microwave for the first time. I took 20 g rice starch and 250 g milk. First made a slurry, then mixed the rest of the milk, constantly stirring. Then added 10 g sugar and half a tablespoon of vanilla extract, and stirred well again. The mixture was fully homogenous.

I put it immediately in the microwave at a low setting, and turned on for 3 minutes. It was still really liquid, so I put it in for another 3. When I took it out the second time, it had built a skin. I tried stirring it in, and suddenly realized that all the starch has sedimented on the bottom and has half-gelled there. Stirring with a spoon only broke it up into solid pieces.

I blended it smooth, cooked it some more, and got a thin, reasonably smooth pudding. But the question is, how should I have prepared it from the beginning to make it in one go, without a blender?

Unlike with stovetop recipes, you need not heat the major part of your milk first and then add the starch slurry, you can mix everything while cold. As with all similar microwave recipes, using a wide bowl (preferably with straight sides) is best suited for the job. Use short microwave intervals at medium power, give the mix a quick stir with a whisk every minute or so. You want to heat the milk as evenly as possible while keeping the starch more or less suspended. "Hot spots" will create the dreaded lumps, similar to not stirring well when cooking on the stove.

And when you reach a certain temperature threshold, the "magic" starts: gelatinization happens everywhere at roughly the same time and your whole mix thickens almost instantly. (Unlike in a pot, where it starts at the bottom.) Simmer half a minute longer or so, give it a final stir and your pudding is done.


Does anyone know how to make a Sous Vide style cooking vessel? The last year I was in culinary school (2014) my chef instructor was really excited about culinology and the new innovations that were emerging and becoming to be utilized more often in the industry, like for example Sous Vide cooking or "under vacuum" in French.

I was wondering if any one has come up with a solution to obtaining one of these cooking utilities without having to go out and spend a bunch of money.

If so... What do I need to get to make one?

You could probably do it on the cheap, but the temperature precision might suffer in the process:

($0-$3) A container for water that can handle being warmed up a bit. (recycle something or buy a 5 gallon bucket)
(~$20) A small submersible garden pump.  (I have no idea what temperature they're rated for, but I use one in my greenhouse hydroponics systems, and it gets rather warm in there in the summer)
($10-20) An immersion heater
(~$65) : a thermostat control unit

Total : ~$100

If you're comfortable wiring up your own circuits, you could likely make your own temperature control unit for less, as that's the bulk of the cost.

If you're not comfortable with all of this, then the Anova Precision Cooker is under $200. (currently $25 off, bringing it to ~$155).  You'll have to supply your own water container.

Update :  Ecnerwal got me thinking -- vessels with thermostat controls.  (heater is easy, it's the thermostat that's expensive).  Crock pots have the unfortunate problem that they only have one to three present temperatures (low, high and warm).  There are, however, a few things that might be useful :

a deep-fat fryer.  Preferably cleaned, or one that can be disassembled to clean.  They tend to have very powerful heating elements, so you may need a screen to ensure that the pump and the food don't get to close to it.  You'll also want to check the dial for the lowest temperature that it can maintain.  (it might not go below 200°F)
electric skillet.  They're quite shallow, but if you're just cooking a steak for 1 or 2, it might work.  (again, check the dial to see what the minimum temp it'll hold is).  Depending on he size, it might be possible to put another container inside it to hold more water.
Coffee urns.  They can be much larger, but they typically just have one setting, so you'dd need a termostat on it.


How can I make parmesan spreadable? I can't get enough of parmesan cheese. I often find myself taking pieces off of the block, or shredding it just to dump it straight into my mouth.

I always wished there was some way to somehow dissolve it into a cream that I can spread in a piece of bread or a cracker. I've tried melting it with butter or cream, but it will quickly separate from everything I melt it with, whether is fatty or not. I haven't tried putting it in the blender but I'm pretty sure it'll just turn into a lumpy sauce.

Any trick?

I would suggest making a Mornay sauce (Béchamel sauce with cheese) which you should find will hold together well and provide an unctuous, rich, spreadable texture.

Simply melt butter in a saucepan over a medium-low heat, whisk in an equal quantity of flour, cook it out a little, then add cold milk, whisking all the while, until you get a smooth sauce like consistency. Then dump in a load of grated parmesan, stir it through, decant to a bowl and cool.


What is salsa criolla campesina of Nicaragua? I got some pepper seeds called criolla de cocina peppers. In the seed catalogs, they are said to be essential for "salsa criolla campesina", a condiment of Nicaragua.  However, I haven't been able to find a mention of this salsa anywhere, either in my cookbooks or via Google.
Is this actually a real dish?  If so, where can I find out more about it?
Note: "salsa criolla" is a general category of salsa across all of Latin America.  I'm looking for the specific Nicaraguan salsa that uses criolla de cocina peppers.

I haven't found a specific recipe so far - but I did find this:

'Criolla de Cocina' is a unique chiltoma pepper from Nicaragua. It is a sweet pepper characterized by a strong flavor, thin walls, and wrinkled appearance (like an oversized habañero). These types of peppers are used in Nicaragua for the classic sauce known as salsa criolla campesina, which combines thinly sliced onions and peppers with tomatoes, salt, sugar, and vinegar, and is served with grilled or fried fish or chicken throughout Nicaragua.

from here.
Of note is that campesina translates to peasant and criolla to creole or native in english, so you might translate the name as the sauce made by the native people (says me with no Spanish beyond a few basic words) - so it is likely a regional dish without a defined recipe - a true dish of the people if you will.
However: look what I just found here: http://www.recetasnica.com/Salsa-Criolla.php. Translated below:
Creole sauce .
Ingredients:

2 Large Tomatoes, Finely Chopped
1/4 Cup of Bitter Orange or Lemon Juice.
1/8 cup of vinegar.
1/4 of Cup of Water.
2 Fine Chopped Chiltomas.
2 finely chopped onions.
6 Fine Chopped Jalapeño Peppers
2 Tablespoons Ketchup (Tomato sauce).
1/2 cup of finely chopped coriander.`

Procedure:
Mix all these ingredients and add salt, pepper and hot sauce to taste (you can  also make it without chili). Put it in a separate container. This sauce can be added to any type of food or soup. You can keep it in the refrigerator indefinitely.


How can I create a sweet pizza that looks like pizza? Looking for a bit of inspiration for an idea I have. I want to serve 3 courses of pizza: starter, main and dessert. It's a gimmick, I know, but a fun one I think.

Got the starter and main nailed, but as neither of these will look much like a standard pizza, I wanted the dessert to look just like a pizza.

My (as yet untested) idea is to make a slightly sweeter base (not too sweet, toppings will add sweetness) and for toppings I am thinking:

Rasberry Jam (as the red base)
Mascarpone and peanut butter (as the cheese, peanut butter to add a little crunch)
Caramelised Sugared banana slices (hopefully, these will come out brown enough to look a little like pepperoni)

Will the above work?  If so, do you have any suggestions for the execution?  If not, what should I do instead?

If you make the base neutral - a typical Neopolitan dough would do - you could use white chocolate shavings to give an appearance of cheese as well.  I would keep the amount light.

While looking to verify this idea, I found a recipe that gave me a few more pieces of inspiration.  Instead of carmelized sugar banana slices, try dried fruits (strawberries, sweetened cranberries, raspberries, etc.) for your toppings.  These will look like sausage bits or pepperoni.  You can also use pineapple and make it look like a Hawaiian pizza.

You could also use almond cream as a white sauce or as some of your cheese for a richness that is not too sweet.


How to flake rock sea salt? I received a gift of pink rock sea salt and would like to know how best to process it into flakes.  Briefly tried a box grater but that resulted in fine granules. The container includes three walnut sized crystals.  Is there some kind of gadget that these are used with? Suggestions?

AO

Flakes form when salty liquid evaporates. With naturally formed flake salt, like harvested sea salt flakes, it's skimmed off the top of seawater pools. I have read, but not confirmed, that higher-volume commercial flake salt manufacturers boil salt water dry and collect the salt from the cooking vessels.

So the good news is that you don't need to buy any fancy gadgets; the bad news is that if you're just interested in obtaining flaky salt and not doing this for some other reason, you probably don't want to do this.

You could try dissolving your salt in water and then boiling it down, but I'd be surprised if you managed to get a consistent flake scraping it off the bottom of the pan. Pretty sure that just buying flake salt and saving your big old salt nugs for grinding or grating would be the way to go... but hey, it's your salt.


Cooking schnitzel without thinning it I'm quite good in cooking schnitzels, but in the place where I live now there is no hammer to thin the meat. I wander if I can use the same technique like coating in breadcrumbs and frying on the pan but on the non-thinned slices of meat? As far as I understand, this also involves cooking on a lower heat for a longer time, so it will cook properly over all of its thickness.

The problem you will have is cooking the meat without burning the breadcrumbs and/or the breadcrumbs absorbing lots of oil. You could get around this by baking the schnitzel rather than frying them.

However, you don't necessarily need a hammer to thin the meat - a heavy saucepan or rolling pin will do just as good a job.


How to apply ascorbic acid ppm in bread baking? According to Effects of different doses of ascorbic acid on alveograph and bread making quality of wheat flour with average quality as starting material  :

  the best dose of ascorbic acid that can be added for the improving average flour quality is 50-70 ppm

If I want to add 70 ppm to my flour comprising 600 grams of whole wheat flour and 100 grams of bran and wheatgerm, how many mg of ascorbic acid do I require?

I did more googling of research papers and of all three sources accessible by me, ppm is actually per flour basis. Quite a shocker to me.

Here are the links:ISSN No. (Print):0975-1130ISSN No. (Online):2249-3239TheEffect ofAscorbicAcid andGlycerol onQuality ofFrozen BarbariBread

Effects of Gliadin/Glutenin and HMW‐GS/LMW‐GS Ratio on Dough Rheological Properties and Bread‐Making Potential of Wheat Varieties

Method for producing danish dough

I have also sent an email to Georgiana Gabriela Codina for good measure, though I am not sure if she responds to public queries.


Are calcium and magnesium lost by soaking beans? In a previous discussion, soaking beans in salted water prior to cooking was a suggestion to soften skins. Does this result in less calcium and magnesium content of the cooked beans?

See Common Bean Myths from Captious for a survey of several bean related issues.  They report that Cook's Illustrated has indicated (emphasis added):

  [...] during soaking many nutrients leach out of the beans, more so with a quick
  soak (presumably due to the brief heat) than with a long cold soak.
  Apparently heat breaks down cell membranes within the beans, and
  increases the solubility of water-soluble nutrients, such as calcium,
  magnesium, thiamine, riboflavin, and niacin. As a result, quick
  soaking tends to leach somewhat more of the nutrients out of the beans
  than do slow soaking methods.


Do fresh herbs have properties that dried herbs do not? I previously asked a question on if fresh chilli peppers have properties that ground/dried chlli peppers do not and the answer was the latter would have no oils, aroma, vitamin c etc.

What about the case for fresh vs dried herbs such as parsley, tyme, oregano.  Do they have oils, aromas any other properties that are lost when using them dried?

The answer is the same for herbs as you got for chili - you lose vitamins (not that you will get much from the amount of herbs usually used in cooking anyway) and some volatile compounds, which are the bits that make the flavors. In general you can expect to use about 2-3 times as much fresh herb as you would dried to get the same level of flavoring in a dish. Note that this amount of dried herb is equivalent to a larger amount of fresh herb as dried has shrunk as it lost water.

The degree to which the herb loses flavor when dried varies depending on the species of herb and most likely is a function of which aromatic compounds are present (i.e. how volatile they are) and how easy it is for them to escape the leaf (toughness of leaf). Some herbs, like sage and oregano, hold their flavor fairly well, while others, like basil and cilantro/coriander, lose their flavor very rapidly and should only be used fresh.

In my experience, if you are only able to get dried herbs, only get those that are whole leaf or crumbled. Do not get the powder ones, as these lose flavor very rapidly, indeed by the time they get to the store they are often almost flavorless. The same principle applies to spices too - whole is better than ground for storage and retention of flavor.

There are some herbs, like bay-leaf, that are best dried as it concentrates the flavor, but these are a rarity. This doesn't appear to be the case for spices, which are generally dried before use, but this may have something to do with many of the spices only growing in tropical areas and needing drying for storage while shipping rather than fresh spices not being good for cooking.


Why does a cake recipe call for 2 tbsp of hot water? This is my sponge cake recipe, I would like to know why add the  2 tbs of hot water

4 egg separated
1 tsp vanilla essence
3/4 cup caster sugar
1/2 tsp
bicarbonate of soda
1 tsp cream of tartar
3/4 cup cornflour
1 tbs
custard powder
2 tbs hot water
1 pinch salt
1 tsp icing sugar
1
tsp cornflour

Here is the method:

Prepare 2 x 20 cm deep round cake tins. Grease with butter and dust with combined icing sugar and cornflour
Preheat oven to 180C (356F)
Add vanilla to egg yolks.
Sift all dry ingredients, except salt and sugar, twice.
Beat egg whites and salt until stiff. Gradually add sugar. Beat in yolks.
Fold in sifted dry ingredients, THEN ADD THE HOT WATER.

My sponge cake recipe has the same thing (though I think it has 1/2 dl water). It's basically because the person creating the recipe found that without it the cake batter was too thick and didn't yield a cake that was airy enough. When I left out the water, the cake became more dense and didn't rise quite as much. I find that that water is a nice place to add various flavours, like lemon juice or coffee by substituting some of the water.


Whole wheat bread recipe not turning out I have a 100% whole wheat recipe. I am new to bread baking. I have had this recipe turn out only once. My question is how would i know if my recipe is correct with "normal" ratio's of the ingredients. i know the more experience you have the more you can "push" the boundaries
of bread baking. would you have any suggestions on how to know if i have a good recipe or one i need to make adjustments for. unfortunately i don't know how to make adjustments.
any help would be a blessing. Thank you in advance, Lisa

We have a whole wheat sandwich bread recipe that works just fine. It is certainly possible to get it right every time. As you noticed- if you want to be able to both chew and swallow your bread it does require extra gluten.

To improve your recipe- or at least make it more repeatable- it will help to switch it over to weights. Just make it as you normally would by volume but weigh each ingredient as you measure it out and write it down. You can then reliably tweak your ratios and enjoy predictability of your product.

Baking bread by weight, besides not being as affected by the weather, is also much faster. You don't have to carefully scoop out level cups anymore- you just dump in flour from the bag until the weight is correct.

I will also second the comment above that you might experiment a little bit with a recipe with half whole wheat or less so you can build some experience with what a properly hydrated dough looks like. If you have kids it also helps to break them in to the bitter flavors more gradually.


What is the purpose of red wine vinegar in steak marinades? Some recipes call for red wine vinegar in steak marinades.

Is the Red wine vinegar used as means to break down the meat tissue or is it just there as a flavor agent?

Any vinegar or lemon juice or any other acid it there for those two reasons. To soften the meat and to impart flavor.


Marinades: Water vs Oil What's the theory on using water vs oil for chicken marinades?  I ask because of this recipe:

http://recipes.sparkpeople.com/recipe-detail.asp?recipe=1731460

After multiplying the recipe by a lot, it makes a good marinade, but almost all of the other marinades I've seen online involve oil.  Why does this one use water?

(In case the link goes bad, the recipe is:

1 Tbsp Honey
1 Tsp Yellow Mustard
1 Tsp Sriracha
1 Tbsp Water)

Some chemicals and flavours dissolve or bind to water differently from oil. For example, chili binds with oil much better than with water and the honey in your recipe will dissolve into the water which it would not do in oil.


Why mix dry and fresh yeast? We are currently preparing to bake bagels after a recipe by Cynthia Barcomi. Strangely, in that recipe she uses both dry and fresh yeast in equal amounts. When searching the internet all I can find is advice on when to use which, but nothing on when to use both.

Can anyone explain why she does this?

When both are used, the fresh yeast is for "added flavor", the dry for leavening power.

Another author who does this is Nancy Silverton.

-

Some bakers believe that fresh yeast (a.k.a. cake yeast or wet yeast) gives a more yeasty flavor to the final product. I don't think it does.

It's also more perishable, (sometimes) more expensive, more difficult to find (and when you do, it may be near its expiration), more challenging to use, and less reliable (re: reproducible outcome).

When I encounter a recipe that calls for it, I convert to instant yeast using this old, but reliable chart: http://www.theartisan.net/convert_yeast_two.htm

If you search The Fresh Loaf for instant yeast, you'll find more information (that may or may not be reliable).


Coffee Soluability/Concentration I need to know: 5 pounds ground coffee soaked in 3.5 gallons of water for 18 hours, unheated. Resulting coffee liquid extracted is x.
How do I cut in half the water amount but still get the same amount of extracted coffee soluables into 1.75 gallons of water as would be in original 3.5 gallons?Can't allow reducing water amount by heat evaporation.
Thanks in advance,
AJR

If this what you are looking for?  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coffee_extraction

There are a couple of graphs in there to help you get your ratio right (and I assume you will need to experiment on your side).

IMO, heating the coffee solution to evaporate the water will result in the degradation of the coffee; maybe render it overly bitter.


Does raw honey need to be prepared before consumption? Or can you scoop it out of the jar (like a bear) and just eat it? I have raw acacia honey, and it has a granular, crystallized texture. I was wondering if it needs to be heated or otherwise prepared before eating.

Some honey has more or less moisture than others.  Less moisture will cause honey to more readily crystallize. It is perfectly fine to use it in a crystallized state. If you find that your honey has crystallized and do not like the texture, just place the jar in some warm water and stir it.


Is it safe to use oil at its smoking point? Teflon toxicity and second degree burns aside, are there any health issues related to cooking with oil at or past its smoking point? Googling a bit I found one article that went so far as to say you should always "discard oil that's reached its smoke point, along with any food with which it had contact". Other searches showed pages suggesting cancer risks.

I've never given it a thought before and I often use peanut oil at smoking point to brown meat.

The smoke produced from a heated oil isn't all too different from the smoke produced by a fire.  You are essentially burning that oil and causing rapid, incomplete oxidation (or rather peroxidation).

In actual fact, the peroxidation will start to occur long before you hit the smoke point; however, smoking is an indicator that this is happening very rapidly.

The net effect is very similar to that of rancidity, in that it will produce many peroxides and free radicals, and while this isn't the place to be debating whether or not that's bad for you, I will simply point to the aforementioned link on free radicals and say that at the present time, the prevailing belief is that these free radicals have deleterious effects.  It's up to you decide what level of risk is acceptable to you.

The effect may in fact be identical to that of rancidity, although I can't confirm that with a source at this time; all I know is that heating an oil up to its smoke point will increase the oxidation rate (make it go rancid faster), and rancidity in turn lowers the smoke point, so the two are definitely related.

So what I'd say is, if you don't mind the idea of occasionally eating rancid fat, then go ahead and smoke it all you want; otherwise, you might want to be more careful.

Several studies also indicate that the fumes are hazardous, even if the actual ingestion isn't.  So again, be careful.  Avoid overheating oil if you can.

By the way, saturated fats like coconut oil, animal fat or (clarified!) butter tend to have the most immunity to this particular chemical breakdown, as evidenced by their naturally higher (unrefined) smoke points.  Lipid peroxidation works on the double bonds, which don't exist in saturated fats (polyunsaturated fats have the most).


Why does some cake make your tongue thick, and how to prevent it? I'll be baking a cheese-ham cake shortly and I remember that sometimes it makes your tongue 'thick' (for lack of a better word).

The symptoms are the feeling that the tongue/mouth is covered with the cake, like it's sticking to the skin. I'm not sure how to describe it accurately. I've just eaten a commercial grade muffin like cake with the same effect. It makes the mouth dry, maybe.

So, is there information about which flours are more prone to produce this effect? Is this somehow related to the flour? Can it be the butter/grease? The oven temp or the undercooking or overcooking? Maybe a reaction of the leavening agent?

Is there a way to prevent this from happening?

Edit:
Ham-Cheese Cake

150g Cheese (Gouda or Emmental)
200g Ham
2  Chives
100g Butter or Margarine
3  Eggs
100g Flour
1  Tablespoon baking powder
Salt & Pepper

Cut the cheese, ham and chives.

Cream the butter and add the eggs one at a time. Sieve the flour together with the baking powder and the salt, and mix into the butter.

Add the ingredients to the batter and put in the oven at 180ºC for 30'

Meat fat/suet does cause similar effect on tongue and some “acidics”(e.g.lemon, vinegar, wine)  helps to balance it.
If that’s the situation this Q/A may give some ideas for the solution.

Why do fatty foods go with sour ones?


Chilling? How can I quantify that? This question seems slightly ridiculous, but I'm a noob, so bear with me.

In this oft-referred to recipe for making ice cream, what does "chill-completely" mean exactly? Is there a measurable temperature or timeframe I am looking at? Should it just be lukewarm or coldish? Do I stir it to make it cold all the way through?

"Completely" definitely isn't a standardized term; however, since we're talking about making ice cream here, the correct answer is going to be "as cold as possible without freezing".

When making ice cream, it's important to get the mixture as cold as possible before you freeze it, especially if you're not using an ice cream machine, so that you give it as little time as possible for ice crystals to form.  If large ice crystals form, then you won't have ice cream, you'll have ice.

So get it all the way down to refrigerator temperature and work quickly when you take it back out of the fridge.  It'll be quicker and easier if you chill the bowl or receptacle first.


Excess oil / holes in cheese when baking pizza I'm making a simple pizza using:

A regular water/flour/yeast dough wo/oil, raised, kneaded and flattened thin with a rolling pin
High quality minced meat (<5% fat), pre-fried in a pan without oil, drained of excess fluid, added a little ketchup
Topped with white cheese (an European gouda type, 27% fat, whereof 17% saturated fat)

Baking at the bottom of the oven on a thin silicon mat on a wire rack at 225°C, a lot of small holes form in the cheese, maybe 1 cm apart, and there is a lot of oil(?) simmering around these holes.

This gives a somewhat strange end result, and makes the crust hard because the top seems to finish much slower because of all the excess oil the pizza is baking in.

Can someone explain the formation of these holes and the excess fat? Does it come from the cheese itself? How can I test / change things to get a uniform baking without the holes and oil.

I agree that cheese is very likely the culprit - here is an article on the scientific approach to Cheese on pizza (with an interesting graphic) that can prompt some informed expiramentation:
(Huffpost) The Best Mix Of Cheeses To Put On Your Pizza, According To Science

James and her colleagues analyzed the properties of seven different
types of cheeses — mozzarella (which is the most often used in pizza),
cheddar, Colby, Edam, Emmental, Gruyere, and provolone — and how they
affect these cheeses while baking.
What did the researchers find?
Since cheddar, Colby, and Edam cheeses have “small elasticity,” they
didn’t easily form blisters when baking. As for Gruyere, Emmental, and
provolone, their large amount of free oil prevented moisture from
easily evaporating and so resulted in less browning. Meanwhile,
mozzarella easily blisters.
So, the researchers concluded in their study that mozzarella can be
combined with any of the other six cheeses to create just the right
amount of browning and blistering you prefer on a gourmet pizza — for
instance, try cheddar for less blisters or provolone for less
browning.


Safe kitchen-ready materials to drill holes in for tofu press? I am looking to make my own tofu press to save money over a store-bought one. For those unfamiliar with the process, imagine two 9x5 loaf pans with a series of holes drilled into their bottoms for water drainage. The tofu sits between the two pans and weight is put on top to press the water out of the tofu.

I am thinking that many non-stick pans are safe to use but that once the coating is punctured, one could end up being exposed to chemicals that are not food-safe.

Are most stainless steel or aluminum baking pans just that or are they composed of multiple layers, some of which may not be food safe? What material would make sense for this? Do these materials lose their anti-rust properties if punctured like this?

Note: I have also seen designs which are two slabs of material (think cutting boards) which are squeezed together, but I want the final product to have firmed sides so this will not work well.

Aluminium doesn't rust, and neither does stainless steel.  In both cases this is a property of the material and not a coating.  While aluminium has a layer of oxide on the surface, this gets scratched in use and reforms naturally.  Either of these could be used, but aluminium is much easier to drill.

Non-stick pans are usually mild steel underneath the coating. This will rust, and the rust can give an off flavour to food in quantities that aren't dangerous.  Flakes of PTFE non-stick coating aren't hazardous (in fact I've seen scientific papers suggesting the same material could be used as a bulking agent in dieting) but don't look nice.  I'd avoid non-stick for that reason.

Other options include:

Wood: most woods in widespread use are food-safe.  My little cheese press (which I bought for tofu but also use for paneer) is some sort of softwood, probably spruce.  I occasionally oil it with walnut oil.
Plastic food storage containers.  Just be sure they aren't any rough bits that could end up in the food.  They won't harm you in small quantities (unless somehow burnt) but won't be pleasant.  Many small commercial cheese presses are made of the same plastics a food storage containers, just thicker and stronger.  Food packaging probably isn't stiff enough and can be multilayered (still all food-safe plastics though).


Is there a way to tell if dry malt is diastatic or non-diastatic? I bought a small container at a farmer's market labeled (with a sticker) "Dry Malt" or "Dried Malt".  It wasn't until I got home and researched a little that I discovered there are two types of malt with very different purposes.  Is there a way to tell which I purchased?

The main difference between diastatic and non-diastatic malt is that diastatic malt has active enzymes which help break down starch into sugar.

To test if your malt is diastatic:

Take two bowls.
Add a tbsp of flour and 2 tbsp of water for each bowl and lightly mix it.
Then put a small amount of yeast in each bowl. Make sure they both get the same amount.
Then put a small amount of malt powder in one of the bowls.

If the malt is diastatic, the bowl with the malt will start bubbling much earlier than the bowl without the malt. The malt will break down the starch into simple sugars which the yeast consumes. As the yeast consumes the sugar, it release carbon dioxide which are the bubbles you see.


Cooking farro in a rice steamer Can farro be cooked using a rice steamer?

Would it need to be soaked in water for a period of time first?

It should work, since both are made in a similar manner, rinsed and simmered. If you're using whole grain farro, it does need soaking and longer cooking. I dry-toast the grain in a hot pan before adding the liquid, but that's not required.


Could you cook Chicken Galantine in stock? All the recipes I have seen for a Galantine just cooks the prepared chicken in an oven pan. What would you generally expect from the Galantine if it was cooked in chicken or vegetable stock?

There are a couple of ways to cook and serve a galantine or ballotine...roasted on a rack or wrapped in plastic wrap or cloth and poached...so it depends on your recipe.    Whether you serve it hot or cold may also be a factor.  For a hot preparation you will want a crisp skin. So, you will need to consider that. However, to answer your question directly, using stock instead of water, in any recipe, will generally impart more flavor.  Of course, if you are cooking something wrapped in plastic, it would not matter.


How can I avoid overpowering my food with cumin flavor? I am by no means a chef, I just cook dinner at home most nights.

I like the flavor of cumin and use it in some of the food that I make. Perhaps in a mushroom sauce, melted into the cheese for nachos, in fried cubed potatoes, etc.

However, I notice that when I use cumin, it is inevitable that I will end up eating 2 of the small pieces at once at some point in the dish and it overpowers the bite.

What am I doing wrong with the cumin? Should I be grinding it?

Cumin is most often used ground, yes.

You can, if you prefer—and as in common in Indian and other cuisines—toast it first until it is fragrant (a minute or two in a dry skillet at medium heat).

Then, grind it in a spice grinder or mortar and pestle.


Is it bad to heat empty pans? When preheating a stainless steel or cast-iron pan I tend to throw it on a high temperature with nothing in it and leave it on for several minutes until it is very hot. I then add the oil and cook. I can't add the oil at the start because it would burn during the heating process over the long time.
A couple people over the years have mentioned that you shouldn't heat a pan without having oil or food in it. I didn't pay much attention because my method has never caused any problems (that I know of).
Today I got a set of 5-ply stainless Henckels pans. I took a quick look at the instructions and it says "never leave an empty pan on the cook top.... this can quickly lead to irreversible damage....". This took me by surprise.
Is it bad to heat empty pans?

It's a question of degree.  Something bubbling in there will dissipate heat, keeping the pan below a temperature at which metals start to deform.  A well-designed pan matched to an appropriate heat source (diameter, consistency) will put up with a great deal more heat than it takes to sear broccoli, but it's difficult to put a mark on where its limit lies that's clear to any user.  Somewhere well below that limit is the difference between an empty and a not-empty pan, the observance of which makes Henckels and hungry people happy.  Henckels may have tested their pans diligently and from their research could tell you that the real danger zone starts at x degrees, but their market isn't only cooks who also happen to have an infrared thermometer and don't mind tidying it away each time they reach for the oil.  So they keep it simple, while also applying the precautionary principle.  Stuff will usually do more than its vendors promise.
But this is also a question of time.  Stuff will do amazing things...  Until it breaks.  A pan may perform flawlessly over very high heat for five years, or ten years, and one day suddenly go 'ping' and crack like an oyster.  Its identical twin, used following every rule and guideline ever suggested for it, may remain intact until its bottom is worn away by wooden spoons.  It depends on your reasons for cooking in the way that you do, and how much you enjoy it.  It depends on how many spare pans you have, or whether you could easily replace a loss.  For most pans in the world, the answer to your question would be a definite 'yes'.  For your particular pans, at the degree to which you heat them, apparently the answer is a happy 'no'.


Are large veins in a rhubarb leaf safe to eat? I've got a lovely rhubarb plant. Nice stalks, huge leaves. The biggest leaves have veins in them bigger than some of the smaller stalks. It seems a shame to throw them away— but obviously I am not keen on poisoning myself and my family.

Are these 'veins' part of the poisonous leaf, or the delicious, safe stem?

It's an old source (1922), but divides the rhubarb into "leaf stalks", "prominent veins," and "leaves." It states that the leaf stalks are the only edible portion.(1)

In addition, oxalates are in all parts of the plant. But only specifically stated to be in lower quantities in the stalk (2). In fact, people susceptible to kidney stones can be advised to avoid even rhubarb stalks (4). Cooking the leaves can actually INCREASE the toxicity. (3)

Logic would dictate that the veins, being the transition point from stalks to leaves would have a value in between the values in the stalks and leaves. Thus safety indicates one should avoid eating them.

Sources:
1: https://books.google.com/books?id=_GDXAAAAMAAJ&pg=PR3#v=onepage&q&f=false
2: http://www.rhubarbinfo.com/poison
3: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhubarb
4: http://www.healwithfood.org/health-benefits/rhubarb-stalks.php


Which mode for baking cake in microwave? I have a microwave over with a grill. Four modes of cooking are possible with this.

Microwave(with 100, 80, 60, 40 and 20% power)
Grill(heating coil is only at the top)
Combination 1(30% time for microwave and 70% time for grill)
Combination 2(55% time for microwave and 45% time for grill)

Is it possible to bake a cake using any of these modes and if possible which one will be the best option?

There is not a straight "yes" or "no" answer to your question.

First, an oven which cannot turn off its microwaves cannot replace a normal oven. Any recipe meant to be baked in a real oven will fail if it is exposed to microwaves. So alternatives 1,3 and 4 are out. Option 2 also won't work, even if the microwaves are truly turned off, because the cake will not rise and stay raw in the middle. You cannot bake a cake without a bottom coil.

For the "yes" part, there are recipes which are specifically designed for microwaves. They are more muffin-like, and most of them have to be eaten while hot. Also, if you are making them, you have to give up on the whole variety of texture which is possible with cakes and make this one specific type. But if that's enough for you, do it. You will have to search recipe databases for "microwave cupcake". Just don't try to take a random cake recipe and bake it in the microwave.

If you try a microwave specific recipe, then the pure microwave setting will be the correct one. The power choice will be given by the recipe.

For some more detail, see also this question, this question and this question.


Can you freeze waffle batter? We have made too much waffle batter. The recipe includes flour, baking powder, salt, eggs and milk (no fat), and part of the instructions are to beat the eggs until frothy - we're assuming this is to encorporate air into the mixture.

Can we freeze half of the batter, and if so, will we need to do anything to it when we come to use it (i.e. beating it to re-encorporate air)?

StillTasty says you can safely store waffle batter for 3 months, but I've had bad luck freezing it as far as quality goes.  After thawing and cooking the batter, the waffles didn't really "rise" enough to be worthwhile.  They tasted ok, but the texture wasn't nearly what I wanted.

Waffles are essentially a quick bread, and I believe the baking powder doesn't have the same effect after freezing.  I do know that you lose the frothy goodness that you get from the whisking/beating, which is important in achieving the light, fluffy lift inside the crispy exterior.  I was told that if you use a yeast recipe instead of a baking powder recipe, you can thaw it overnight and it will give the yeast time to activate by morning - unfortunately I haven't tried it so I'm only passing it on as a suggestion.

What I've found works:

Making a bunch of waffles and freezing them between layers of wax paper.  Not as good as fresh, but better than store-bought frozen, and very convenient.
Storing the dry mix in the pantry (short-term) or freezer (longer-term), as I generally have milk and eggs on hand and have time for a quick whisk.  Not as convenient or portable, but tastier.  If you modify the recipe using evaporated milk or dried buttermilk, you can make them with water and egg instead of milk and egg.

As a side note, you probably have about 3 days in the fridge.


Why grease the pan, then line with greaseproof/parchment paper? Many recipes I've seen request this.

Is it just to stick the paper to the pan to make it easier to work with?

Greasing and lining with paper is something of a belt-and-braces approach to simply ensure the cake doesn't stick to the bottom of the tin. I have several recipes that go one step further and suggest greasing the paper as well afterwards. As you suggest, greasing the tin first also stops it from curling up.


What's the best way to defrost ice-cream/sorbet quickly? I made some sorbet at the weekend, and realised just when we were due to serve that I had forgot to take it out of the freezer to soften, and so it was rock hard.

What is the best way to bring it to a usable temperature quickly?  We chucked it in the microwave and then hacked it with a spatula, but ended up with a lumpy texture as many parts were still very frozen.  Any ideas to avoid a repeat in the future would be appreciated.

Don't.  Ice cream is hard.  It melts slowly.  Instead, focus on scooping.

Get the largest spoon you have, or ideally, an ice cream scoop.  Fill up a cup with boiling water, or as hot as your faucet will get it.  Dip spoon/scoop in the water.  Scoop.  Dip.  Scoop.  Shake off excess water as you go.

Like a hot spoon through ice cream.


Cream Cheese expiration dates The date on cream cheese does not say sell by or use by or best by. I wanted to make home made pimento & cheese, but I am somewhat reluctant to use it.

What country are you in? Is this Philadelphia Brand Cream Cheese? Is the package unopened? Does it have a Julian date on the package? Has it always been refrigerated?

As a very general rule, you can safely use unopened, always properly refrigerated cream cheese from a reputable source for 1 month past the sell-by date (this from Still Tasty and other reputable sources). In the US, packages that have a date are supposed to also specify whether that date is a "use-by", "sell-by" or "best-by" date. Eggs are an exception.

Personally, I have used unopened cream cheese far beyond 1 month past the date on the package, but as far as that goes, it's your call. Use your common sense, assess your risk, and make a call for which you are ultimately responsible. No responsible person can tell you that unopened cream cheese is really good for 6 months past the date on the package, because that would make that person responsible if your cream cheese is an exception.


How do I fix my flat sourdough loaf? I have made sourdough bread several times using roughly the same technique that I use when I make artisan bread. I let it ferment several times folding between them.

I have found that when the dough has risen enough it is so acidic that even a gentle fold causes the top surface to pull apart. When the dough is risen the last time as a boulle it relaxes so much that it practically flows. The resultant bread is too flat and sadly dense.

I have experimented with adding more flour to provide more structure but this only make the loaf tougher- not higher or more open. I have tried with AP flour and various wheat flours and combinations thereof. Do I need more gluten? Would adding vital gluten be enough?

How should I change my process to create a sourdough loaf that is more open and can rise higher?

I suspect your sourdough starter is just too acidic.  I have no similar problems with sourdough in the past, but my starter isn't particularly acidic.

Have you tried discarding with a large refresh and then shortly (in bakers terms) trying a new loaf?  Trying to isolate just the yeast and not the sour part.  The loaf may not taste sourdoughy, but it should determine if that's the issue.


What brand of roasting dish would you recommend? Over the last few years I've gone through at least 3 roasting trays that have some kind of coating that has worn off - mostly ones bought in supermarkets.

I'd like to get something that will last, having discovered that decent cast-iron pans and casseroles are worth the investment.

What will it be used for? Mostly chicken - sometimes dry, sometimes in stock and wine - but reasonably often for duck and beef, so preferably something that has a rack.

I'm based in the UK, so preferably not a US-only brand - although many US brands are imported.

(More importantly - any seriously bad experiences with stuff not living up to it's reputation?)

Consider the castiron stuff from Le Creuset; my father-in-law has one that's at least 50 years old and it's still going strong. Lifetime warranty, too.

http://www.lecreuset.co.uk/Product-Range-uk/Cast-Iron-Cookware/Oven-Dishes/

They have roasting racks to fit as well.


What is the US equivalent of Golden Syrup (UK)? Having recently moved from UK to US, when making honeycomb, what should I use as a replacement for Golden Syrup?

Honeycomb can be made with honey or molasses but the flavor will not be the same. There isn't a US equivalent - we have molasses, but it's darker. You can substitute corn syrup in recipes where it isn't the principal ingredient, but here that would not work.

That being said, my local grocery store has a British food section which carries golden syrup. You probably don't have to substitute, you just need to find it in your local grocer.


When freezing jalapeños, can I leave the seeds in? When cutting up the jalapeño, can I leave the seeds in them if I just lay them on a tray, freeze, then put them in my Seal a Meal? Do you think I need to blanch them, and if so can I leave the seeds in?

You can certainly leave the seeds in (there is no food safety issue), but the peppers themselves will be affected by the freezing.  Peppers have a tendency to be somewhat mushy when thawed out.  That's usually fine in when they are cooked or put in something soft, but may not be great on something like nachos. Blanching is only needed if you want to peel the peppers or if you're cooking them after thawing them anyway.


Method of sharpening knives with steel The following is an extract from 'How to Cook Everything' by 'Mark Bittman' about sharpening knives:

  An electric sharpener is the best, easiest, and most
  expensive way to keep knife blades sharp; even moderately
  serious cooks should consider this a worthwhile
  investment. The alternatives are to learn to use a whetstone
  (not that difficult, and very effective, but timeconsuming)
  or to take them to a hardware store to have
  them sharpened professionally.
  A steel is a handy tool for maintaining the edge of
  knives between sharpenings. (You should use it every few
  days, at least.) It’s nothing more than a sturdy rod stuck
  in a handle, but it takes some practice to get the hang of
  it

Firstly, this addresses how we could sharpen knives - an electric sharpener or whetstone do the same job of sharpening. Then it mentions that a (sharpening) steel helps in maintaining the edge of the knives between sharpenings.

Does this mean that, in order to sharpen knives, we need an electric sharpener/whetsone and a sharpening steel? Can we just use a sharpening steel to sharpen knives - why?

Sorry if this seems like a silly question. I've not been taught anything about sharpening knives, and only know of its practice. My understanding is that we can sharpen knives using either a sharpening steel, or a whetstone. I've never heard anything about 'maintaining the edge of knives between sharpenings' as Mr Bittman states in his book

A steel is used to realign the edge, allowing it to slice cleanly. Sharpening a blade removes metal to produce a new edge on a dull blade. The process of realigning the edge is also called 'honing'. My electric shapener has three slots to perform various levels of sharpening. One of them is just to hone the knife. The steel rod with a handle that comes with most knife sets serves the same purpose.


How can I make my icecream soft as it is too hard to carve straight from the fridge? I have made my recipe with many changes and the most successful effort was the addition of a Instant Pudding mix. All others were much too hard to carve and serious effort was needed to just get the spoon or scoop into the frozen delight help please. All recipes made were made dairy free using soy and tofu bases.

The responses to this question have been very helpful and have given me new directions to explore. I believe now the product I want to create is achievable. Thank you everyone.

If you really don't want to defrost it, you need to do something that will make it less hard when frozen. One choice, if it doesn't conflict with your allergies or your flavor profiles, would be to add alcohol - a liquor of your choice will make it freeze significantly less hard.

Another option would be to make it less susceptible to crystallization when refreezing, so that you can defrost it on the counter (or 20 seconds in the microwave). Try adding about 1/4 teaspoon of xanthan gum to a quart of ice cream base, that should reduce your crystallization problem a bit. You may need to reduce the agar a little to compensate. (I learned this from pastry chef Dana Cree).


Complete list of terms used to describe cooking methods? I am trying to build up a list of all the cooking methods which can be used to cook something, including terms used in the stages of the cooking process used to cook such food. Here is what I have come up with so far:

boiling
simmering
steaming
poaching
sweating
braising
frying
shallow-frying
stir-frying
deep-frying
refrying
toasting
broiling
stewing
charbroiling
grilling
sauteéing
browning
baking
marinading
pickling
macerating

Is there anything else which can be added to this list (or where can I find a complete list of these in English (I expect these terms to differ a little bit from language to language, even with some incompatibilities, given that different cultures are associated with cooking methods that to some extent would differ), and if such book or other source is proprietary than could someone please quote from it and post an answer)? Thanks.

I think any "exhaustive" list here is bound to be arbitrary.  Some of your own categories overlap (e.g., frying, plus several subcategories of such); so, e.g., is "slow cooking" a cooking method or is it the same as simmering?  Is frying in a wok (aka. stir frying) a distinct method from what you call "shallow-frying"?  I would say it is, which makes me think of your other question regarding "frying in water": Could it have a distinct name as a style of boiling or streaming?  I don't see why not, but I do not think there is one.

Anyway, here's a few:

Roasting
Basting
Smoking
Blanching
Sous vide
Pit barbecue
Reducing as in a reduction

Finally, although it does not involve heat and thus might not be "cooking", marinading ceviche, since it achieves the same denaturation via acid, still seems like a form of cooking to me.

I'd think baking has a lot of distinct subcategories too -- what does a waffle iron count as?