Why does unsweetened tea get colder, faster than sweet tea? Mostly, I drink unsweetened tea.  However, on the rare occasion that I get sweet tea, I have noticed that it doesn't seem to cool down as quickly as unsweetened tea.  Is there a reason for this, or am I just imagining things?  I was wondering if it had something to do with the cooling properties of natural sugar, but that's just a  guess.

Typically, I put quite a bit of ice in the tea and I use a straw so I'm drinking from the bottom of the cup.

As an experiment, I pulled the straw to the top of the cup (in the middle of the ice) when drinking sweet tea and the tea felt considerably colder.

Any thoughts?

TL;DR = The sweet tea takes longer to cool down because there is a lot more stuff in it to get cold.

When cooling unsweetened tea, you are cooling almost pure water (the tea solids are negligible). A 12 ounce glass of unsweetened tea has about, you guessed it, 12 oz (by weight) of liquid to cool, or 340 grams (mass).

Southern-style sweet tea (if this is the "sweet tea" you are referring to), has a 2:1 ratio (by volume) of tea to sugar. A 12 ounce glass of sweet tea has 12 oz (by weight) of tea, and 5-6 ounces of sugar (by weight - 8 oz of sugar by volume = ~7 oz by weight). This puts the total weight of the beverage at 18 ounces or 510 grams (by mass).

The sweet tea, in this example, has 50% MORE mass than the unsweetened tea! This extra mass will take more time to cool down, because there is a lot more STUFF to get cold. It occupies the same volume, but there are a LOT more molecules to chill.

Compounding factors:

Heat Capacity vs. Specific Heat: A detail to this is that a solution of sugar and water has a lower specific heat (by MASS unit) than pure water, so the total heat capacity of the sweet tea is not quite 150% of the heat capacity of the unsweetened tea, but somewhere between 100% and 150%. Intuition would put it somewhere in the 130%-140% range. Read the physics.SE question linked above for some details on that calculation. Rest assured, however, that the heat capacity of the sucrose solution is higher than pure water.
Conductivity: I've ignored the thermal conductivity of the solution, since I'm assuming that the stirring in the tea makes the small conductivity differences between the solutions negligible, but that calculation could be done as well.
Convection: Unstirred sweet tea will experience less convection than unstirred unsweetened tea. In the unstirred sweet tea, dense sucrose solution will remain at the bottom while the cold water from the melting ice will sit on the surface (you can actually see this visually if the tea is sufficiently colored). This slows cooling by slowing the mixing of the cold liquid with the warm liquid. In unsweetened tea the cool liquid will sink the bottom, promoting convection and self-mixing. However, convection is a side-issue to the primary point, the total heat capacity of the beverage.

And as a final note, explanations like this really make it obvious how annoying it is that US measurements use ounces for both volume AND weight.


"Rose Flavoured Water" vs "Rosewater" I would like to try a few recipes which call for rosewater. I have made these in the past but it seems difficult to get rosewater here. Many places seem to sell "rose flavoured water".

To me this sounds like one of those fudge words to suggest that it's never been near a rose and is actually concocted from a mixture of isolated synthetic substances.

On the other hand, rosewater is really just the water-bit of distilling rose petals in steam, I think, so really could be described as "rose flavoured water".

Whether or not the taste and safety is is equivalent, I'd prefer something made from roses.

Nowhere online seems to give the ingredients for these things and actual shops are some miles away. Could someone who knows the market in the UK or the big international online sites help me out?

Is there a difference?

The "acid test" is to buy some of the suspect product (first examining its listed ingredients and rejecting if they are obviously wrong) while you also have the "real thing" on hand and make two batches of something, identical except for the rosewater or rose flavored water.

Tasting should tell you whether you need to make the long trip, or not.

For a very simple test product, I will reveal that rosewater is the "secret ingredient" in my lemonade (unless it's overdone to the point of not being at all secret, but I prefer it at the "keep them guessing" level.) No precise measurement/recipe for that, I do it by tasting as I mix.


Storing a bear roast after cooking in a crockpot How do you store a bear roast after cooking it in a crockpot until you're ready to eat it?

It was done at 8:30am and I plan to eat it around 6:00pm. It was cooked in beef broth.

If your crock has a warm that you can trust is above 140 F but not so hot to cook it down then you can leave it in the crock.  Otherwise you need to get it under 40 F.

A better option would have been to start it at a time so that it finished at 6 PM.
Why not just start it 8:30 AM?

If you are going to cool then remove from the crock pot as that is a lot of heat to put in a refrigerator.


Anyone knows how this seed/fruit is called? (bush) If someone can help me would be good.Thanks in regard.

This might be brier you're talking about.
It's hard to tell based on only that picture... it may be a type of cherry, but when I saw the post, I instantly pictured it to be a type of brier.


Does white wine have an expiry date? A few weeks ago, in a local Tesco store, I bought two carton packs of 2,25 litre white and red dry wine (Lion's Gate).

I noticed that the white dry wine package has an expiry date:

While red one doesn't have it:

Is this just a print error? Or is it true that white dry wine can expire while red one does not have an expiration process / date at all? If it’s the latter, can anyone explain what causes this difference?

The question is important for me especially, because - as you can see - just a few weeks ago, I purchased a wine that has a supposed expiry date that was 6+ months before today. So I am unsure if I can drink it safely or rather should return it to the shop.

I don't know, if that plays any role here, but both products were packed in plastic bags in carton packages (bag-in-box). The inner bag has only a production date printed on it and no expiry date in both cases.

Please re-read the text - it says:

  BEST BEFORE: ...

This doesn’t refer to any food safety issues, merely quality. The manufacturer states that until that date, no significant or perceptible deterioration of the sensory quality will happen (provided its stored appropriately). After that date, the quality may (or may not) suffer. It’s not a statement about food safety.

That said, from a food safety perspective you can keep the wine for a very long time, probably indefinitely. Why the manufacturer chose to state a best before date for the white wine only is unclear, probably because whites tend to be more susceptible to flavor changes than red. Note that today most modern wines, especially those that go to supermarkets, are not made for long-term storage, rather for consumption within just a few months after sale. Only some vineyards will still produce wine for future generations. Bag-in-box packed wines are usually intended to be consumed within six months or so after bagging and four to six weeks after opening. But neither of these time frames is set in stone or related to food safety.


Can you identify these chiles on sale in Serbia and Macedonia? In the market in Niš, Serbia yesterday there were the most beautiful capsicums (bell peppers, red peppers) and chiles on display that I've ever seen.

But also on sale were these "ugly" ones that I first thought were some kind of root vegetable due to their characteristic dull finish. Note also the characteristic "etched" concentric rings going around them:

My Serbian host has little English and after much effort and phone calls was proud to tell me they are called "hot chille peppers", but hopefully the culinary experts here can find a much more specific name or description.

I don't mind if the only names you can find are in Serbian or some other language, but I am interested to know why they look so different to the shiny chiles and how they are put to use in this part of the world, especially uses which differ to the more familiar looking varieties.

I've now found them on sale in a posh supermarket in Skopje, Macedonia. This time labelled:

  потекло
  скопско

  пиперки везени

  благи / кг

Which Google Translate massages into:

  origin
  Skopje

  peppers embroidered

  mild / kg

So an answer is "пиперки везени" or "embroidered peppers", for at least one name used in at least one country. Here is a close-up photo giving a better look at the striations:


Mixing liquid margarine and water I am trying to mix 1 part water and 1 part liquid margarine on a stovetop. I notice it will not mix too well. I would also like to make this sauce thick. What would be the best way to do that?

Margarine (liquid or otherwise) is mostly plant oils and fats that will not mix, on their own, with water. Even with vigorous mixing you will only get them to stay unseparated temporarily (as with a vinaigrette).

Apart from vinaigrettes you will generally need to use some kind of emulsifying agent to prevent separation. It is difficult to suggest such an agent without a better idea of what kind of sauce you hope to make.

Béchamel sauce, for example, uses roughly equal parts flour and fat to make a roux to which milk is then added. Flour is the emulsifier in this case.

Water and margarine on their own will almost certainly not make a tasty sauce. The closest I can come up with is Beurre blanc which is an emulsion of butter and vinegar or wine. The emulsion relies on compounds that are found naturally in the butter. Although margarine contains emulsifiers, I couldn't say whether they are sufficient to hold a sauce together. Either way, you're not going to get close to Beurre blanc, or anything else with just these two ingredients.

My advice is to find and follow a recipe.

Update: As is so often the case, once I had written this answer I started to doubt myself. Is it really not going to work making a sauce with just margarine and water? Did I really answer the question asked?

Thickened Liquid Margarine (ok, Butter) and Water Sauce

I went to the hob and measured out equal weights of unsalted butter (I've no margarine) and water. I warmed the butter (2 oz) and half the water in a small saucepan. I mixed the rest of the water with a tablespoon of corn starch an whisked this into the contents of the saucepan once the butter had started to melt.

The result is a sauce with the same look and consistency as thick custard. Without salt it tastes very bland, but a quarter teaspoon of salt is enough to make it pleasantly buttery.

Before corn starch was added I saw that the sauce visibly separated after about 1.5 minutes. After it was added the sauce became stable.

Using margarine I guess it won't taste as good, but hey, that's enough guessing.


Why are baking measurements such nice round numbers? I've heard over and over that when it comes to baking, measurements cannot be ignored, and you need to be very precise. This question covers how precise a measurement of flour should be, for example. But if getting your baking just right requires being so painstaking in measuring ingredients, how is it possible that all of the amounts in recipes come out to such neat and easy numbers? I can't remember if I've ever seen a flour measurement go more specific than the nearest 1/4 cup. The smaller chemicals like baking powders are usually to the half tsp, that I've seen, but I can imagine they go down to 1/4 or 1/8. And eggs basically always come in ones, or one yolk, but there's not much you can do about that. Weight measurements are more specific of course, but have you ever seen a ratio like 4.2683 oz of flour per egg?

How accurate is this really? Does this mean if your flour measurement is off by 1/16th cup you'll be just fine? Or it just won't look the same as the one made by the person who invented the recipe? I have a hard time believing that with such complex chemistry involved, the optimal quantities are so close to large fractions of our units of measure. Is there actually a bit more fudge room with some ingredients than we're being told?

Also, if so, which ingredients are more forgiving? I'd guess that baking powders are among the least.

Realistically, there's a lot of flexibility in baking, in spite of the cargo cult mantra that you have to follow pastry recipes exactly. There are simple, weight-based ratios that can be used as a foundation for plenty of variation. The "round numbers" are, in fact, approximations, and this is often why you'll see that a typical baked good recipe in a consumer-oriented cookbook isn't designed to scale exactly past, say, doubling or so.

When you diverge dramatically from a base ratio, you may get an unexpected outcome. But, for example, pate a choux can be converted from the basic cream puff shell to a gougere by simply adding a modest amount of cheese to the dough. Within a moderate range, the exact amount of cheese won't matter that much. When I make muffins, I follow a basic ratio, and add additional items like fruits and nuts without even measuring; given enough experience, you can eyeball how much a recipe can take.

You can see more evidence of this as you look at most cake or pastry cookbooks. If you reduce the components to their essential character (fat, flour, egg, sweetener, liquid, leavening, flavoring) you'll probably find that there are only about 6-12 archetypal recipes in most such cookbooks. Some of them are even up-front about it and tell you to start with the "basic yellow cake recipe" then add x, y, and z.

That's not to say you won't get different results when you use less or more of an ingredient than the base recipe requires, but you'll probably get very adequate results as long as you're close to the base ratio.

Most chefs aren't particularly scientific, and you should realize that many of our archetypal baking recipes are the serendipitous result of relatively haphazard experimentation. Supposedly, the original souffle was a "mistake" caused by using too many eggs in a cake recipe. Additionally, even with weight based measurements, most ingredients have quite a lot of natural variation, depending on seasonality and, even for things like refined flour, climate and varietal differences can change your results. I've started with some recipes that worked pretty well when I was a student in Germany and had very different (though often acceptable) results in the US with similar ingredients.

Ruhlman's book called Ratio is a good place to look at these kind of archetypal recipes, and includes a fair amount of references on baked goods, though it's not the focus of the book.


What is a Hostess Set of flatware? When talking about flatware, what exactly does a Hostess Set include? How many people does it serve?

From Oneida.com:

What is in a Hostess Set, Serving Set and an Entertainment Set?

A simple way to remember what pieces are in a Hostess Set is: The word Hostess starts with an "H" everything in a Hostess Set holds something.

Hostess Set: Gravy Ladle, Tablespoon, Sugar Spoon
Serving Set: Serving Fork, Butter Knife, Pierced Tablespoon
Entertainment Set: Casserole Spoon, Dessert Server


Why would a portable barbecue warn against using pots on the grill? My wife just bought a Coleman Road Trip portable propane barbecue, which we plan to use for camp cooking/grilling.

I was thinking of using it as a camp stove as well - to heat water, make coffee, etc.  However the grills have a warning not to place pots on the grill.

Is the concern just scratching the non-stick coating?  I know they sell another set of grills for it, but I'd rather not have to tote two sets.

Personal experience: I have used pots and pans on this and similar grills with no problems.  My guess would be, if it says not to use them, it's probably as you said - for the non-stick coating.  There is a specific grill grate you can buy for the larger models, and perhaps you're not going to get the most efficient heat transfer by putting it directly on the attached - but that doesn't mean it won't work at all.  Personally, I'd rather have something slightly less efficient than have to carry two grills.

Not sure which model you have (since you said the portable, I assume this red table-top), but the LX can handle pots and pans according to this site: "Grill lid detaches to make room for large pots or pans." As far as I can tell, they're essentially the same grill as far as how they function, just different sizes and features.

Just to be safe, I would probably fire it up in your yard before the trip and try cooking something that you would cook on the trip, like a pot of coffee or a can of beans.  That way you won't have any surprises when you're deep in the woods and don't have a backup!

If you aren't comfortable using it after your test, or for any reason, there are other solutions available that are pretty easy to carry.  You can get a propane burner, they're very small and light and easy to pack.  There are some that sit directly on top of the propane bottle, but I don't recommend them - they are very easy to tip, especially if you have children at the campsite.

Unrelated to your specific question, but related to camping, I always recommend taking a small cast iron pot or dutch oven of some kind on any camping trip.  In a jam (let's say you run out of propane), you can use that on any fire that you build, even directly on the wood/coals/whatever, and a pot is more versatile than a pan because it can be used for things you said, such as boiling water and making coffee as well as your typical browning, etc.


Cooked or raw mushrooms on pizza? Should I precook mushrooms before putting on pizza to prevent soggy pizza?  I swear when I've seen pizza shops do it, they put them on raw--albeit from recollection they're more thinly sliced than the supermarket pre-sliced variety.

Is that the key?  Or do most pizzerias saute their mushrooms in advance to remove the moisture?  What if I'm using a lot of mushrooms?

Short answer: It Depends.

Long Answer:

You are correct that the decision on precooking mushrooms before putting them on pizza is about controlling moisture.  For some hefty mushrooms like portabellos, it's also about making sure that they cook fully.  Here's what to factor in:

What's the density of mushrooms per pizza area?  That is, how much space between slices?
Are these hefty mushrooms (white, crimini, portabello) or delicate mushrooms (chantrelle, oyster, enoki)?
How thickly are they sliced?
Are there other "wet" items going on the pizza topping, like a sauce or fresh tomatoes?
How thick is the crust?
How long will the pizza cook, and how hot?

On one end of the scale, if you're making a thin-crust pizza with tomato sauce and covering it completely in thickly sliced portabellos, you pretty much certainly should precook them.  However, if you're making a deep dish pizza with only a few thin-sliced white mushrooms on top, then don't bother.  Stuff in between is up to your judgement.

For pizza restaurants, American Pizza is a medium crust, and they generally don't put that many mushrooms on each slice, so it's fine to put them on raw.  However, I've been to thin-crust Neopolitian-style pizza places where they did, indeed, partly cook the "wild mushrooms" ahead.

Also, if you are precooking the mushrooms, you want to cook them in a way that will remove moisture.  That means broiling them in the pizza oven on a baking sheet with parchment ... not sauteeing them.


Can I use a sieve to increase frying oil life? I want to start deep frying at home in a pot. I read that you can reuse the oil a couple of times and that the quality and taste decreases because of the bits at the bottom, that are being burned (basically sauted, right?) while the rest is frying.

I was thinking of using a pasta sieve inside my pot, which (hopefully) catches those bits, keeping them from burning at the bottom.

Has anyone tried that and does that sound like a good idea?

Your pasta sieve will not be fine enough and it will not prevent what you think it will. The particulates in the oil that burn are burning because your oil it hot enough to burn them. Keeping them suspended above the bottom won't prevent the burning. They will still be submerged in hot oil.

When your oil starts to get older simply run it through a very fine mesh or filter (I use coffee filters) to strain the sediment.


How to prepare Spanish Migas? Spanish Migas is a stale bread based regional dish. It's prepared with different ingredients all over the peninsula. The Portuguese have their own variant.

How can the bread be cut with the least amount of crumbles? (does it depend on the bread type, the time the bread has gone stale, should the bread be fresh or completely dry, etc)
How can you fry the bread in such a way that the outside is fried and the inside is moist? (is there an amount of water that can be measured, how hot should the pan be, which pan should be used, how much oil should be used)

Regarding your questions:

  1) How can the bread be cut with the least amount of crumbles?

Traditionally migas de pastor (shepherd's migas) were the result of rubbing a piece or very dry bread with a couple of rough hands. If you don't rough hands, another way is rubbing 2 halves (lengthways) of a bread stick. This way the migas are all crumbs, but those are traditional migas.

If you want to chop the bread and have dices of bread to fry: Traditional recipes call for dicing bread the day before you cook migas. I advise you to dice the bread (size of normal dice would be fine, bigger would be ok too) when the bread is still soft. Because, if bread is too dry can be even a bit dangerous to chop...

  (does it depend on the bread type, the time the bread has gone stale, should the bread be fresh or completely dry, etc)

Type of bread: Tradicional recipes call for breads such as chiabatta / candeal. These breads have a strong crust. Nowadays, breads like baguette or, if you're living in Spain, the common "pistolas" are ok too (and easier to chop / dice too).

Time for bread going stale: it depends of the real quality of bread and your living location. Meaning: the more artisan the bread is, the longer time time would need to go stale. A common bread is normally not so good, so it really depends where you live. Regarding your location: If you live close to the sea, bread would go even softer, like chewing gum, don't expect like stone-stale bread. If you live in a drier environment, it will get dry and stale in a couple of days. I would wait much time, because believe me it is really difficult to chop and dice when bread gets very dry.

Therefore, experience is the key for every migas cook! I know it's not very exact, but that's the way it is...

About purchasing the bread fresh or not: In Spain, in places where migas are a very common dish, you can find diced migas ready to fry in a normal supermarket. Outside these regions, you would only find normal "fresh" bread.

  How can you fry the bread in such a way that the outside is fried and the inside is moist? (is there an amount of water that can be measured, how hot should the pan be, which pan should be used, how much oil should be used)

Water and oil needed: Any spanish granny would say that there is no measure for this... crazy, huh? I found some recipes which call for 1 glass of water (250 ml) per half bread stick. Some recipes say to wait 12 hours to moisture bread, some others don't... Oil: this is really your choice. I advise to cover the base of a frying pan with olive oil and some garlic cloves, when it is hot, add the diced bread and cover bread with oil. If you see oil hasn't moisture all the bread in the pan, add some more, little by little. Greasy migas are not so good...

  About the pan: it is better to use a pan like this, not so deep not so flat either.

Oh, and you didn't say anything about chorizo or panceta (fresh bacon). Without them migas are not real ;) Fried them before adding to the migas.

Hope this helps!!


Substitute for Cornichons I know that cornichons are a type of pickled gherkin.  None of the grocery stores in my area carry them.  Would the best substitute be miniature dill pickles, miniature sweet pickles, or something else?  Or would it be something akin to miniature dill pickles with a certain spice added?

Sweet pickles, miniature if you're not dicing them, it doesn't matter if you are dicing them. Look for a bit of crunch; cornichons provide texture as well as flavor.


Cooking English Muffins Without Burning I've been using this recipe but I can't get the centers cooked without burning the outside. Does anyone have any suggestions? What am I missing?

I cook the muffins in a 10-inch skillet on a gas stove over medium heat.

Here are the techniques I've tried:

first time, heat was too high, and the outside began to burn. Turned it down, flipped it, and cooked the other side for 6 minutes. Mushy inside.
lower heat. Cooked each side for 8 minutes. Surfaces were dark brown, but not burnt. Mushy inside.
still lower heat. Cooked each side for 10 minutes. Surfaces were dark brown, but not burnt. Mushy inside.
same heat as 3; online suggestion was to finish in a 350 degree oven for 10 minutes. Outside edges were crisp instead of soft. Mushy inside.
still lower heat. Cooked one side for 6 minutes, flipped, cooked for 6 minutes, flipped, 6 minutes, flipped, 6 minutes. (total 12 minutes per side). Surfaces were dark brown, but not burnt. Mushy inside.

When I say "mushy" I mean that it's undercooked in the middle.

In all cases, I let the muffins cool completely before I cut them open, to use the residual heat to finish cooking.

I've been broiling them after cutting them open, and we really like the flavor. But cutting each muffin open and toasting it immediately after griddling just isn't right. <g>

After a discussion in chat with @FuzzyChef I decided that I was trying too hard to keep the dough dry. I wasn't using all of the milk (just a bit left over) and struggled a bit to get all the flour incorporated into the dough. Using all the milk made the dough more sticky, so it required more careful handling, but the result came out just fine. (I also bought a new griddle and an infrared thermometer, so I have new toys to play with)


What does it mean when a chef says a dish is a "rustic" dish eg. a "rustic pot roast" I've been watching some cooking videos and frequently the chef would say that something he cooked was a "rustic" dish eg. "rustic pot roast"? What does rustic mean?

There's no standard definition - it's a descriptive term, not a standardized culinary one. In practice, it's often used in fine-dining contexts to denote a deliberately less subtle or carefully assembled dish. Stews are often considered "rustic", in contrast to highly precise cuisine like sushi. A loaf of irregular sourdough bread might be called "rustic" in contrast to a croissant. It's often meant to imply a focus on flavor, simplicity, and familiarity rather than on appearance, originality, or technique.

It's a somewhat disingenuous term in that it's often used by and applied to professionals who focus overall on fine cuisine. It implies something that could have been made with much finer precision and presentation, but was kept deliberately rough. A Michelin-starred chef's chili con carne might be considered "rustic"; your grandmother's chili made with ground beef and tomato paste probably wouldn't be. A roadside barbeque shack's brisket isn't necessarily "rustic", but the same beef cooked and plated in a high-end restaurant would be.

That all said, it bears repeating that this isn't a consistently applied term. It's used in the same way as words like "classic" or "artisanal" - because it sounds good to diners and conveys an impression of simple quality, not because it means anything specific in regards to preparation.


Why do beans squeak? We had some green beans in a chicken dish, and despite being well-cooked, they still squeaked against the teeth.

Its not an unpleasent sensation, but it doesn't really blend with the other foods.

This has happened with both Green and Yellow beans that have been sliced but not "podded" like peas.

Not sure if it happens with broad beans, but definitely doesn't happen with tinned baked beans.  This squeak doesn't happen with cooked pea pods.

So what is special about beans that they can still squeak after cooking?
Is it something that can be cooked out of the beans?

From my experience, this is more likely to happen if the beans are cooked in a dry manner (eg as part of a pie filling, in a very thick sauce, or by sauteeing or baking) than when they are boiled - so par-boiling the beans before adding them might silence the squeak somewhat.

Also, the texture (and colour) of cooked grean beans is known to be somewhat pH dependent - if you are cooking them in a rather acidic sauce (eg one that has wine, vinegar, fruit juices ... added to it), you might also want to consider parcooking your beans separately.


What should I do with too-dry vanilla beans? A few weeks ago, I bought a few vanilla beans to make mint ice cream. I only needed one, so I put the other bean back into the glass container it came in. Today, I was having a hard time using the vanilla bean while making a trifle.

When I took it out of the container, it was very dry and not pliable as I would have expected. I was still able to scrape the seeds, but the bean was broken into several pieces because it was so brittle.

Is there anything I can do to too-dry vanilla beans to make them easier to use?

You can still use them in most of the recipes you would otherwise.  In custards, like ice cream, just soak the whole bean in the hot liquid (that will eventually end up in the final product) for a moment and it will re-hydrate enough to use easily.  Many, many recipes are such and you'll just need to soak them a moment in the recipe's liquid.

Worst case - bust out the booze and roll your own extract.


What causes stringy winter squash? I know that spaghetti squash is supposed to be stringy; this question is not about that.

When I cook winter squash, I cut the squash in half, remove the centre (seeds/strings), rub the flesh with olive oil (sometimes stuff the cavity with stuffing), and bake in the oven for 30-40 min at 350oF until tender.

However, I notice that pretty much all of the acorn and butternut squash I bake comes out stringy and tasting awful. It's gotten to the point where I don't buy them anymore, because I wind up throwing it out. I'm not sure if it's because I'm purchasing unripe squash or if it's because I'm cooking them wrong (although I have cooked many an acorn and butternut squash this way for years without problems up until about a year ago).

I don't seem to have this problem with buttercup squash (which, in my opinion, is much tastier, but harder to find in my area). Somehow I doubt that all of the acorn and butternut squash in the Chicagoland area is somehow just bad, although I have tried purchasing these types of squash at many different grocery stores and even farmers markets to try to see if it was an issue with a particular store.

Are the squashes I'm cooking with underripe? Overripe? Is it a cooking problem? How can I ensure that I'm buying a good acorn or butternut squash when I'm at the grocery store?

Well it's possible they are over ripe. Acorn squash should be dark green or mostly so when it's ready to eat. It turns orange when it's ripe, but just like many circubits and cucirbits (squashes and melons(including cucumber)) you don't want to eat them when they are ripe, you eat them before they start to ripen.

How you store them makes a difference in the long term but not so much in the short term. Last year we had a batch of acorn squash that was thin and stringy and not tasty just like you described. I think they didn't get enough water at the farm that grew the Walmart acorn squashes.

On the other hand, I have held on to acorn squashes for 2 years in the cool, and dark and they were still quite tasty.

Just try again, but try a different source for them for now.


How to make a homemade Phrostie? OK, warning: this is a little "local."

Until earlier this week, anyone in New York City's 5 boroughs could follow @phrosties on Instagram, text the phone number included in the profile, and receive a cooler full of colorful frozen alcoholic beverages delivered straight to your door.

(photo credit: sara_jane_triplett)

But then the beverages blew up - everyone heard about them, including Senator Chuck Schumer, and the enterprise was shut down.

So now we're left to guess what was in Phrosties (Adam Platt says "This is just pure sugar and grain alcohol."), and how we might make them ourselves.

Anybody had one? Anybody know how we might make one?

I take it you're a fellow NY'er :)

The classic Phrostie consists of just 4 ingredients: Kool-aid mix, sugar, water and Everclear. First, mix the Kool-aid, sugar and water until everything is dissolved. You want to use about 1/2 to 1/3 the amount of water that you would normally use and the rest (1/2 or 2/3) would be Everclear.

Here's my Phrostie interpretation (uses 1/2 everclear and 1/2 water):

3 (6g) packages Kool-Aid, your favourite flavour
1 3/4 cups sugar
8 cups cold water
8 cups Everclear

This should make a little more than a gallon total. Portion it out in capped bottles, then put them in the freezer for a few hours.

I've also poked around with a "fancy" Phrostie:

3 cups Marino's Italian Ices
8 oz Brugal Anejo
5 oz Brugal Especial Extra Dry Silver
1 can frozen pineapple juice concentrate
1 can frozen orange juice concentrate
8 oz grenadine syrup


What is the correct conversion of dried whole vs. ground fennel? I have a recipe that calls for one tablespoon of ground fennel. I only have dried fennel seed. What amount of dried seed should I use?

If you're going to grind the fennel, you can just measure it after you grind it. Since you haven't mentioned grinding it, I'm going to assume you're planning on using whole seed. That being the case, I'd figure about 1 TBS plus 1 tsp of whole seed to equal 1 TBS ground.

EDIT: As Logophobe mentioned in comments, you're not going to get the same burst of flavor using the whole seeds instead of ground. If you have a spice grinder, use it. I use a cheap rotary coffee grinder that I picked up a thrift store, it never sees coffee, just spices.

You could also use a mortar and pestle or even just slightly crush the seeds with the bottom of a skillet. Depending on the application, that could really be the best of both worlds. Lightly crushed seeds can usually substitute pretty close to 1:1 for ground, because they're going to have more flavor. Ground spices lose flavor quickly.


How to get heat high enough for stir fry? Considering that mounting a fighter jet afterburner in my kitchen (or anything, for that matter) isn't very convenient or realistic, what would be a realistic way to get the extreme heat output that stir frying requires?

I have heard of people using small gas burners, while these are a step in the right direction, they don't seem to have quite the required output.

I've also heard of people using a charcoal barbecue and putting the wok directly on top of the coals. This seems better, but at the cost of convenience.

Is there a way to replicate professional kitchen's high heat output at home?

I have never tried it but when I googled wok burners (thinking to find a standalone high-output gas hob), I found this article about a wok ring called the "WokMon" on Serious Eats and had to post it here:

A couple months ago I was approached by Glen Lee, an inventor who claimed to have an ingenious new device for cooking in a wok at home. Seemed to me that if it worked the way he promised, it would to revolutionize home wok cooking in the same way that the Baking Steel revolutionized home pizza-making.
I played around with it a lot, measuring, tinkering, reporting a few issues (it's still in development phase and has kinks to work out—luckily Glen has been extremely receptive to feedback), and generally cooking up a storm. I'm happy to report that this thing solves a problem I've been trying to work around for over a decade.
It's called the WokMon, and it's like steroids for your gas burner, helping to concentrate your flames and, more importantly, put them under the center of your wok, where they're supposed to be.

It looks like it does exactly what you need but is way cheaper than buying a specialized heat source and doesn't require more equipment.
Unfortunately, they're not quite in production yet, it seems, though you can pre-order them on their site.
Here's an action photo of the flame it produces off a standard gas stove:


How long to cook 500g of boneless pork leg? I cut a 1.8kg boneless pork leg into three pieces and now am unsure how long is enough to cook it. How long will a 500g piece take to cook?

I highly recommend you invest in a meat thermometer. A quality one such as a thermapen. Probe thermometers (link to review site) are a very useful tool as well.

Roasting meat is not a as much a question of time, but of temperature. You are tying to cook pork to a temperature you desire: maybe 60 C (140 F) or 70 C (160 F) depending on your desired taste and recipe. How much time that will take is a function of a number of factors, including the cooking method, oven temperature (if you are roasting), and the size and weight of the pieces being cooked (something you did specify). Having a thermometer to measure the internal temperature will tell you much more about when the meat is done than how much time you are cooking it.


Why are the pans mostly black? Most pans are black (arbitrary example: https://www.hood.de/i/pfanne-20-cm-81718656.htm ). What advantage does a black pan have as opposed to other pans? Why are there fewer gray pans, aluminium pans or white pans? Why?

Teflon* is black therefore all Teflon pans are black.

Other things are other colours, aluminium, copper, steel, so the outside may vary, but if it's Teflon-coated… it's gonna be black inside.

*Other non-stick coatings are available;)
Ceramic can be white, there's a stone/copper one which is brown/orange or grey speckled, anodised aluminium is dark grey.


Can I freeze marinated fish? Today I marinate fish for frying but some pieces of fish is left which is marinated. Can I freeze that marinated fish? I am confused because my mom said that  it can not be freezed?

Fish generally should be frozen as soon as it's caught. Maybe that's what your mom is referring to?  The marinade itself shouldn't make any difference, unless the fish sat in it a long time, like more than a day.  Hopefully you have been marinating it in the fridge?


Preparing large cherrystone clams I was tempted last week-end by Cherrystone clams.

They were large and with heavy shells.

Reading about them, there were supposed to eaten raw; I tried to open one of them with an oyster knife, and failed miserably.

So I tried steaming them, a bit like steaming small clams or mussel( shallots,garlic, white wine...)

The problem I had is that one of them opened quickly and the other ones took more a lot time.

The result was that most of them were too chewy to be really good.

Other than improving my skill in opening clams (I can open oysters easily), how can I cook them so that all the clams steam properly ?

Maybe my pot was not big enough and they had no space to open (remove the ones already open)?
Should I have them out of the fridge before so they were not too cold before putting in the pot?

Thanks.

An oyster knife, paired with the most common technique used to open oysters will fail you when it comes to clams.  You need a thinner bladed, clam knife...and you need to find the seam opposite the hinge side of the clam.  Another approach is cryo-shucking; that is, freezing for a short time in a traditional freezer...or even using liquid nitrogen, if it is available.  Large cherrystone clams can be steamed.  I prefer them raw...or opened, seasoned and baked, such as in clams casino.  If they are very large, approaching the size of quahogs, steam them open, chop them up and make chowder.


Make ahead Chicken Piccata I have a recipe for Chicken Piccata my whole family really likes. We are having a couple guests over tomorrow, and I'd like to make this recipe, but make it ahead. The guests are people we don't know personally, and it would be awkward to be cooking when they arrive. There is no baking/oven element to my recipe (just saute chicken, keep chicken warm while deglazing pan/making sauce, return chicken to pan to thicken sauce and absorb flavor of liquid, remove chicken, add some butter to sauce, add pasta to sauce and serve with the chicken). I'm worried that if I make it ahead, it will dry out the chicken/pasta. Any tips to make it work?

I don't think it is awkward to cook for your guests.  After all, they are coming to dinner, right?

Anything you do here to prepare ahead will be a bit of a compromise.  It won't be quite the same, but it shouldn't be dried out.

In any case, if you wanted to streamline, you could cook the chicken earlier, before your guests arrive, then chill. Be sure that you don't over cook your chicken, especially if you are using breasts.  Don't go over 160 F.  Leave the pan on the stove, you will use the brown bits for the sauce later.

You can also cook the pasta to about two minutes short of the package directions.  Remove from boiling water to ice water to stop the cooking. Then drain and refrigerate. Don't discard the pasta water, you can use that later while finishing the sauce.

This approach will work best if the chicken is sliced. It will slice more nicely after it is chilled.

When your guests arrive remove your ingredients from the refrigerator so they begin to warm up.  When it is time for service, heat the pan that the chicken was cooked in until it sizzles.  Use the pasta water to de-glaze...using a bit more water than normal. Add the chicken and stir for 30 seconds. Add the pasta to the pan, with a little more pasta water, to re-heat. Add your butter and any other ingredients. If there is no liquid in the pan, add more pasta water.  You should see it bubbling.  Stir that around for one minute, but this should take no more than two to three minutes to avoid over cooking your ingredients.

If you are well organized, and don't over cook the elements in either the prep step or the re-heat step, it should work.  This assumes the chicken and pasta are mixed.  If they are not, you could reheat the chicken in a separate pan (maybe a steam set up?), or better yet, if you have the tools, this would be an excellent application for sous vide.


Do I need to peel butternut squash when roasting it in chunks? It seems like the peel is probably still inedible after roasting, but I'm not completely sure.

Peel is still inedible after roasting.
It's a lot easier to get off after cooking.
I usually cut squash in half, deseed, cook for an hour, then cut into pieces if I want to. You'll have to let it cool a bit before pulling the skin off the pieces.
Why even do that. I've served squash with skin for decades, and mo one ever complains. It lets people know that the stuff did not come out of a can.


What is this utensil for? My sister inherited a bunch of tupperware and plastic utensils. One of them, we couldn't understand its purpose.

Click for full size
Ideas so far is to keep pizza-box lid from falling, or to measure equidistance for slices in a cake. What is the name and purpose of this utensil?

My google-fu powers tell me that yes, it's indeed a mini cake divider.

You put it on top of the cake and slice through the slits to get uniformly sized cake slices.


Can I freeze baked puff pastry? Can I freeze a baked frangipane puff pastry braid and have it come out right when thawed?  Will it be soggy or change the texture?

I never tried to freeze a frangipane braid myself, but I assume it will be fine. The crust might not be crispy anymore though, a little more chewy and the overall thing might be a little bit drier.


How to make deep fried beer? I remember reading about the 2010 Texas State Fair "Most Creative" deep-fried food winner, who made fried beer. The news stories I've read were all published around that time (August 2010), where Mark Zable (the fried beer inventor) said he had a super-secret patent-pending process for being able to fry beer.

I don't want to do any of my own experimenting to figure out the process - apparently Zable's first attempts resulted in exploding beer and oil - but I haven't seen any follow-up articles that describe his process. I can imagine that the two major problems would be a) keeping the beer actually inside an uncooked dough pocket and b) preventing the beer-filled dough from exploding in the fryer.

Has Zable's patent been approved and his process published? If so, where can I find it? Has anyone here successfully deep-fried beer and have a technique to share?

Indeed, Mr. Zable actually applied for a patent -- US application no. 0014320, filed Sept 13, 2010.  (Of course, just because he applied doesn't mean the US Patent Office will issue a patent on it.)

His process is, in essence:
(1) gelling a liquid beverage; and
(2) wraping an aliquot of the gel in a raw "farinaceous dough", selected from the group of pretzel, pizza, bread, and pasta doughs.

The application says he used gelatin as his gelling agent, but the patent (if it issues) would not be limited to gelatin.  Once wrapped, the raw snack could be fried immediately or frozen for later use.


water bath processing for jam When I am canning jam, after filling the jars, can I process the filled jars in a boiling water bath in two batches, or must all the jars be processed immediately after filling?

You can process in two batches. Occasionally a jar may not seal properly, you can reprocess it with in 24 hours, according to freshpreserving.com/fresh-preserving-solver.

  What happens if a seal fails?

  Use food or refrigerate immediately. Only If the food was properly processed the first time, you may correct and reprocess if done within 24 hours. If an ingredient was left out, an ingredient was added, the wrong processing method was used, or the food was not processed long enough, you only have TWO hours to reprocess correctly.

This would apply to your situation as well. I would fill the jars and get them ready to place in the water bath, then process as soon as the first batch is done. They should still be quite warm which will help insure good vacuum and seal.


Ling Ling Potsticker Sauce or Similar I love pot stickers. I love them steamed, but even better deep fried. I've tried different brands and they all have a similar dipping sauce. It's hard to describe, but I'm sure a lot of you out there have tried it. I would guess its mostly soy sauce, but I don't taste a lot of salt, so I assume its balance out with something. There is a great tang, so I assume it's got vinegar. Probably rice vinegar or shaoxing. I can almost drink the stuff.

Sadly, there is never enough included in the frozen packages and I've recently decided to start making my own pot stickers. I've seen and tried a few youtube.com recipes for the dipping sauces, but I can't ever find one that's like the Ling Ling dipping sauce or any of the others. They're perfectly adequate, but not what I'm looking for.

My question is, does anyone have a recipe or know what the main ingredients are to make a dipping sauce like these? I don't know what I'm missing. They used to just sell bottles of the sauce for dipping or marinating. They seem to have discontinued it. I even went so far as to get the ingredient list off the bottle which gives me a head start, but doesn't convey amounts or preparation methods. I've seen some sauces where you boil some of the liquid with corn starch before adding other ingredients. I've added the Ling Ling pot sticker ingredients below if anyone has a recipe that gets very close to one of these sauces or can help me replicate it, I'd appreciate it. Thank you.

SOY SAUCE (WATER, SALT, HYDROLYZED SOY PROTEIN, MOLASSES, CARAMEL COLOR) SUGAR, VINEGAR, CHILI SAUCE (JALAPENO PUREE, CHILI FLAKE, CRUSHED GARLIC, VEGETABLE OIL, SUGAR, VINEGAR, MODIFIED FOOD STARCH) COTTONSEED OIL, SESAME SEED OIL, SODIUM BENZOATE (PRESERVATIVE). CONTAINS: SOY

*On the ingredients list, I assume the ingredients in parenthesis are supposed to be the components of the one ingredient that preceeds it. So the water to caramel color are ingredients for the soy sauce. I also know that some ingredients are used commercially and aren't needed for home cooking. Such as the sodium benzoate for preserving. I don't know if that affects the taste or not, though. Again, even though there is a list of ingredients, they can vary wildly in flavor and there may be a prep step I don't know about. Thanks for the help.

I haven't had that specific sauce before, but I've had similar sauces (FYI, if you want to buy the sauce without buying the potstickers, you can buy them in small bottles in Asian food stores).

I don't know the exact ratios, but you can always start with a ratio of 1:1:1 of soy sauce (Kikkoman would do just fine here), rice vinegar (not shaoxing, that's a wine and not a vinegar; I would recommend Chinkiang/Zhenjiang black rice vinegar, but any rice vinegar should do fine), and sugar. Start from there, and adjust as you see fit. You may want to dilute it also; I just made it and it tasted quite strong to me, may want a bit more sugar than 1:1:1.

I would skip the cottonseed oil and just use sesame seed oil - a few drops of good quality sesame seed oil (Kadoya brand, for example) is good enough. Chili oil/sauce - that depends, even Sriracha would work well if you like that flavor; a few drops of that would do.

Have you thought about possibly using a bit of chopped garlic/garlic powder? I've seen it in some of the ingredient lists of the bottled dipping sauces. Just a minor thought if you happen to like garlic - it's perfectly fine to use some in dipping.

Hope that helps!


Why does my buttercream become runny overnight? I made this very simple 'meringue' butter cream.
40 grams of egg white, mixed with 80 grams of icing sugar over an heated bowl until the nice peaks are there, like you want with meringue. Add a little bit of salt and then mix 120 grams of butter in.
I used a bit of vanilla extract and icing coloring.

It all went fine and I had the consistency I wanted and could work with it very well.
However I decided to do most of the cupcakes the next day. I left the buttercream in the piping bag in the refrigerator overnight.
When i wanted to use it the next day it was 'runny' when it was back at room temperature. It was turned in almost some kind of thick liquid. Mixing it again did not help. I red that storing in the refrigerator should not be a problem, however this was for 'normal' butter cream.

Where did it go wrong, and how can I prevent this next time?
Did I store it wrong? Or is the consistency wrong? Or should I handle this 'meringue butter cream' different from normal butter cream?

Thanks in advanced!

Meringue is a protein-based foam. The proteins form a semi-stable mesh with air bubbles trapped inside. The reason they are semi-stable is that they unravel a bit and hook into each other, Velcro-style. When you introduce fat, it lubricates and smooths the unraveled proteins, so they lose their hooking ability. If the fat is introduced before the eggwhites are beaten, there is a fair chance that you won't get a foam at all.

It is possible to mix the prepared foam with fat without destroying it, although it will lose some volume. This is usually done when the bulk of the mix is not the meringue, but some kind of creamy filling which gets lightened by the air added through the meringue. These fillings are usually set through baking (such as a cheesecake filling), or gelling agents (there are cremes which combine egg whites foam, fat-containing dairy products, and gelatine). As you did not set the icing in any way, the fat from the butter slowly worked itself into the formed hooks of the proteins, destroying the mesh and returning the eggwhites to their original form (a suspension of proteins in water). Eventually, if you overbeat the meringue a bit, you also got some weeping caused by the proteins slowly getting tight enough to expell some water from the structure, but if present at all, this is probably a secondary effect in this case.

Bottom line: the mix you made is inherently unstable. I wouldn't use it as an icing unless the food is eaten quickly. You should get a different recipe. If pure buttercream is too rich for your taste, you can try versions which add yolks or whole eggs (not foamed eggwhites). The lecithine in the yolks emulsifies the rest of the egg with the butter, so you don't get separation problems. Another option is to forego buttercream completely and use whipped cream, it still gives you a rich mouthfeel, but has much less fat per weight and whips to a higher volume.


Preventing Warping when Roasting at High Temperature I like to roast in a gas oven at 400F for extended periods.  Ex: I will cook large batches of bacon at 400F for about 35 min, and large batches of Brussels Sprouts at 400F for 60+ min (with stirring).  I have a large, gas convection oven.

A challenge I experience is my pans warping.  This can cause them to suddenly deform in the oven, flinging food out of the pans and causing burns in the oven.

I recently got a set of 18-gauge stainless steel baking sheets, an upgrade from a thinner, cheaper set I had before.  These have helped some, but I still experience warping.  My questions:

Would aluminum be better than stainless steel for purposes of preventing warping?
Is the use of metal inevitably going to risk warping? (i.e. do I just need to give up and switch to glass or something?).
Do I just need an even higher gauge (e.g. maybe 10?).  (note: I like to use baking sheets that are at least 20in x 14in, and it's hard to find sheets this large at gauges higher than 18).
Am I somehow missing something else entirely?

I've read that having fewer raised edges can reduce warping.  But, I really need the pans I use to have all four edges raised about an inch.

The bottom surface of the pan will expand as it heats. The edges will also expand but they won’t be able to expand as much as the bottom surface. This will cause the warping, even cracking.

As you have mentioned one way of avoiding this is having one or two edges, as the cookie sheets would have. These pans will not create such tension as the surfaces of the pans expand.

In your case however I think you need thicker pans that can withstand the tension.


What is the way to use a readymade double boiler with whistle? I have purchased this double boiler.

It is written that we have to fill water after opening the whistle.
How much water am I supposed to fill?  How do I know that?

I filled it completely with water. Then it blew the whistle. Now how I am supposed to know that milk has boiled completely or it has just heated up?

How do I know whether it has boiled enough to kill the germs?

You are supposed to fill enough water such that you can heat the milk well, but not fill it to the top - you need a bit of space for steam to build up so the whistle will work. Fill it to a height somewhere half between the milk height and whistle height, you don't need to be exact though.

When the whistle blows, the water will be at full boil, so 100 Celsius. The steel of the inner vessel is quite efficient in conducting that heat, so the milk will be close to 100 Celsius, but not at 100 (that's why it doesn't boil over). I don't know the exact temperature and don't have tables for pasteurization times in this range, so in this case, you have to trust that the manufacturer has checked these tables, tested the product, and ensured that the milk is safe at the temperature reached in its pot.


Definitive Jerk Chicken There is so much variation in jerk recipes that it would be nice to have some clarity on the do's and don'ts. I like Jerk chicken, but my attempts to make it have generally not worked as well as the versions I have purchased.

I normally do something like:

Spring onions
Garlic
Allspice
Some fresh thyme
Brown Sugar
Cayan (or scotch bonnet pepper if I can find it)
Ginger
Vinegar
Soy Sauce
Orange Juice.

I then marinade, my best results seem to involve cooking in the marinade. However the results are still a little acidic.

Am I going down the right route?
Am I doing everything in the right order?
What are the key ingredients that are needed to produce a good balance and the distinct profile of flavors?

Are you beginning the cooking process (after the marinade) with a spice rub and then poking that spice into ("jerking") the meat? This is an obviously key step considering it's how the technique got its name, but I thought I might mention it. A good rub will go the distance, but like posts about buying chili powder and italian seasoning, make your own. Find one you like then build it from scratch. The 'definitiveness' is really in the cooking and the attitude of the fire. (Also, you list allspice, but don't mention if it is fresh ground; definitely make sure to do a fresh pass through the mortar and pestle and buy whole if possible... and you might add some coriander but that's more a complement than a jerk necessity.)

Working within the marinade, I would recommend steering away from the brown sugar a bit and incorporating a fruit juice like orange or any tropical fruit pulp.

For an additional bit of emphasis on thyme: I am not sure how much you are digging into the cayenne/onion flavors, but the more you are the more thyme can also help lift the spirits of the dish and give its smokiness a brilliant contrast. Of note, too much thyme though and you will veer sharply toward cajun, for better or worse.


Isi cream whipper head valve sticks open I have an isi 1/2 liter cream whipper which I purchased in 2010. It has worked well until recently when the head valve began sticking open. I purchased a new head valve, but the problem remains. It has been thoroughly cleaned and also has a new lid gasket.
I tried to use it today for the first time with the new valve. When I first dispensed some cream, it seemed fine, but when I released the lever, cream continued to ooze out. The valve was not returning to the closed position. This is what it was doing with the old valve. Any suggestions?

Have you disassembled and cleaned it? The valve comes apart. A small brush (which comes with a new whipper) can be used to clean the inside. Make sure the o-rings are clean and viable. Make sure you reassemble securely.  The head needs regular cleaning for proper functioning.


Why are foods often packaged in weird measurements? Whilst shopping I have noticed quite a number of products having very weird measurements. for example my jar of peanut butter is 127g, but I can't spot a pattern here.

Is this just a random part of production, or is there some reasoning behind this?

Quite often, it's because a manufacturer prefers to decrease the size of a packet than to increase its price.  Customers notice when the price goes up but don't tend to notice the product getting smaller.

For example, jam in the UK used to be sold in jars containing one pound, which became the equivalent 454 grams with metrication. But, more recently, that's shrunk to 400g and even 350g in some cases. Similarly, according to Wikipedia, Yorkie bars used to be 70g, which then became 64.5g, 61g, 55g and now 46g; packets of crisps that used to be 30g are now often 27g (10% smaller) or even less.


How can I measure / weigh really small quantities? Yesterday I was cooking a Focaccia were I required just a gramme of yeast and a gramme of salt.

When I try to use my (electric) scales, it never registers 1 gramme of difference. I also needed to weigh 5 grammes of olive oil, but i could not take out the exact quantity.

What can I do to measure very small quantities whilst cooking?

Simplest solution: Buy a more sensitive scale. There's plenty around that can measure grams.

If that's not an option, you can sort of just about get it quite, but not completely wrong by using measuring spoons:

A full teaspoon with something in it is usually around 5 grams.
A quarter teaspoon would be 1.25 grams, if you happen to have a 1/8th measuring spoon, it would be around 0,6 grams.

I'm not very proficient in baking (or not at all, really), but what I notice (or think I noticed) is that correct measurements in baking are more important than they are in cooking. So the best advice would still be (since you're baking a focaccia) to buy a more sensitive scale.


How can I smoke something without a smoker I am looking to smoke some meat for my chili, but the problem is, I have no smoker.  I understand there are products like liquid smoke, however, this didn't create the taste I wanted or really much of one for that matter (I used a good 1/4 of the bottle too).  Is there a way to get your own wood chips and smoke something in a propane grill or even an outdoor firepit?  Are there wood solutions or chips you can throw into a crock for chili to provide a smoked flavor?  Any help would be appreciated!

EDIT: Found a link that mentions the possibility of using real wood chips in a crockpot to smoke the meat.  I am a little skeptical of this.  Would this be a possible method?

I have successfully smoked with apple wood chunks wrapped in foil in my outdoor grill. The trick is to find a setting that will maintain ~300 F using 1/2 of the burners. Then place the foil-wrapped chunks on the hot side and the meat on the cool side. The wood will begin to smoke after 10 minutes or so.
Keep checking periodically to maintain 300 F.
I do this with already cooked sous-vide pork. It may need adjustment to cook raw meat while smoking - maybe up the temp to 350 F or so.
I adapted this technique from Kenji: http://www.seriouseats.com/2016/08/food-lab-complete-guide-sous-vide-barbecue-smoked-bbq-brisket.html:

Method 2: Using Live Smoke
If you've got yourself a kettle grill or smoker, then you can enhance your sous vide brisket through a bit of honest-to-goodness smoking. I find that by letting my brisket cool a bit (or even refrigerating it for up to a week), I can place it on the cooler side of a kettle grill that I've heated to around 300°F with charcoal and wood chunks and let it smoke for a good three hours or so before it starts to dry out at all. This is ample time to develop a deep, dark crust and to get some smoky flavor in there.
Is it better to apply that smoke before or after cooking sous vide? Well, according to folks like Meathead Goldwyn, author of the eponymous book on the science of barbecue, the flavorful compounds in smoke will adhere to and penetrate raw meat much better than they will with cooked meat. This is true, but I find that the amount of smoke flavor I get out of a post–sous vide session in the smoker is plenty for my taste buds, and smoking at the end makes the process so much more efficient. I'll stick to the post–sous vide smoke.


Increase lifetime of homemade chocolates I recently stated making my own chocolates. (No bars, but filled chocolates and pralines)
I also make the filling myself. Now I have a question about the lifetime of this chocolates. On different sites I read that the lifetime is about 2-3 weeks when keeping them on room temperature. And maybe only 2-3 days for some kind of pralines.

Because I make the filling myself, I can not really make less then around 15/20 chocolates at the same time, with the same filling (or I would just waste a lot of chocolate and filling). I would really like to give some people a box of chocolates as a present, with different flavours, which means I make lots and lots of chocolates. Also when I make them for myself I do enjoy a couple of them, but I don't have to eat so many chocolates in such small amount of time.

So does someone ha some tips about:
-Increasing the life time of the chocolates
For example: different way to store them.

Also maybe someone has a good idea like: If I would made different kinds of filling, can I freeze this, and only use a little of each when I want to use them? Does this influence the flavor?

Thanks in advanced!

If you freeze the chocolate, it'll likely "bloom" (some of the cocoa butter will separate out, leaving white spots). This is an entirely aesthetic problem; they'll be perfectly safe to eat, and it doesn't affect the flavor much. So, you may want to try this for your personal treats.

The filling may or may not freeze well, depends on what the filling is. First, if its a fairly concentrated sugar syrup, then it may not freeze (because the freezer isn't cold enough, it'll just get really thick). But it'll last much longer. Most fillings are also perfectly happy in the fridge, and will last longer that way too (but not as long as in the freezer).

Other fillings may suffer texture changes. E.g., freezing may separate any emulsion.

You probably won't have issues with water escaping, as your fillings should all be low-water anyway.

As with anything in the freezer, tight moisture and air impermeable packaging will work best.


Efficient method to peel raw potatoes I know already how I can peel cooked potatoes, e.g. by throwing into ice water. According to a german helpster entry, the shell will be easily removable just by "rubbing". But is there another "instant" method for peeling raw potatoes? Instant means, I don't want to just peel faster, as suggested in this question.

EDIT This German helpster entry I described above mentioned some efficient industry methods - which are unfortunately not very usable in a private sector. E.g. putting the potatoes in a natron solution/leach or putting them into a high steam/pressure environment.

EDIT2 Sorry for the confusion. I don't want them to boil/cook first; so i want just a raw peeled potato afterwards.

There are electrical devices using a tumbler:

http://www.amazon.de/Melissa-646120-Kartoffelsch%C3%A4lmaschine/dp/B0079X0EQ6

(The German name is "Kartoffelschälmaschine" for anyone who wants to research it and doesn't like to read encoded URIs ;)

Interestingly, they are uncommon in the US judging by the amazon offers there- instead, the US knows a lot of electric versions of the "apple peeler/corer/slicer" design (which could probably peel a potato too if it was reasonably round, or a certain amount of waste is accepted).


How can you make "All Purpose Flour" using home ground wheat? We grind our wheat at home. Many recipes call for "All Purpose Flour" and we have been trying to find how to make our own "All Purpose Flour".

Typical all purpose flour does not include the germ of the wheat, so if you would like to mimic the stuff from the store, you need to grind wheat without the germ (source).

By using hard white wheat and a very fine grind, I have for years made a flour that operates very like whole wheat pastry flour, which can often be substituted for all purpose flour in recipes.  To make this same flour suitable for bread I add vital wheat gluten.


Japanese Cotton Sponge Cake - How to stop collapsing? I've recently found videos about Japanese "Cotton" Sponge Cake.  (Possibly also called a 'Jiggly Cake'?)  I've never had it, but I figured it looked good, so why not try it?  All of the videos I have seen list ingredients, and demonstrate technique, but don't necessarily explain the techniques.  I feel I have missed something.  In particular, 2 of my 3 sponges collapsed very shortly after they come out of the oven.  My three variations all used the same recipe, but had varied baking technique.  Here's the recipe I've been using:

Ingredients:

50 mL canola oil
80 g cake flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking soda
90 mL half and half *
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 egg
5 egg yolks
5 egg whites
1/2 tsp cream of tartar
80 g sugar

Method:

Preheat oven to 350 F.
Heat canola oil in a pan. **
Whisk together flour, salt, and baking soda in a medium pan.
Add the oil to the flour mixture and stir until smooth.
Add the half and half and vanilla to the mixture and stir until smooth.
Add the egg and egg yolks to the mixture and stir until smooth.
Add the egg whites and cream of tartar to the bowl of a stand mixer, stir.
Whip the egg whites until foamy.
Slowly add the sugar while continuing to whip.
Whip to medium to stiff peaks (under is better than over).
Add 1/3 of the whites to the flour mixture and incorporate.
Switch to a spatula.  Add the remaining whites to the mixtures in two batches, folding gently to just incorporate.
Gently pour the mixture into an angel food cake pan, smoothing the top.
Bake for 50 minutes.
Remove from oven and drop the pan from about 6 inches onto a hard surface. ***
Cool upside down.

My two failed attempts involved using:

a water bath and a loaf pan (with parchment extending the walls) instead of an angel food pan
a steaming tray (half sheet pan with water) on the rack below the cake, and a springform pan (again with parchment).

Both of these attempts resulted in cakes that had not cooked all the way through the bottom. and collapsed within seconds of coming out of the oven.

Of the third attempt, I did get a nice, lightly, subtly sweet cake.  It's something like the texture of an angel food cake, but with more of a pound cake flavor (from the yolks, I assume).  Still, it loses volume, and I can't keep that nice domed top that I've seen in the videos.

Questions

Is collapse inevitable?  The Angel Food Pan retainted about 2/3 of its height. (But was at least cooked through)  How  can I keep maximum volume?
Is there something wrong with my technique or ingredients?  I'll point out: I've replaced 80 mL of milk with 90 mL of half & half; I've added the cream of tartar because that is a standard technique I've learned when whipping egg whites; and I've added the baking soda to offset the acidity of the cream of tartar and to help with lift.
Is there a benefit to the steaming or water bath?  How should I use it without getting an uncooked center?

Footnotes

*The recipes have called for milk, but I don't keep it on hand.

**I have no idea why some of the recipes I have seen do this.  My next attempt will likely avoid heating the oil.

***Supposedly, this helps prevent collapse?  I've seen it in the videos, anyway.

Try using the actual recipe without substitutions or additions.
I've not made this type of cake, so I cannot answer with 100% certainty.  However, in general I would recommend not tinkering with ingredients the first time you make a recipe, especially when baking.  There are structural reasons for a lot of baking ingredients, and messing with them is a dangerous game.
In particular, fat content and raising agents are pretty important for cake structure, and it sounds like you've altered those right off the bat before making the cake once with its actual recipe.
Half and half has at least 3 times the fat of milk.  This could be having an impact on the cake's ability to rise.
I suspect the main culprit is the baking soda, though.  You've added baking soda and acid to a recipe that has neither, which can cause bubbles to expand and pop rather just staying put, which in turn causes cakes to collapse soon after they come out of the oven. (see this article for details)
The need for cream of tarter when whipping egg whites can be overstated.  Its main functions are to prevent overbeating and stop the foam from collapsing if it is sitting around after being beaten. It is pretty difficult to overbeat egg whites if you are whisking by hand.  If you're using an electric mixer, just keep an eye on it. Because you're only beating to medium-stiff peaks in this recipe and are then using the whites right away, the cream of tarter can be left out of the egg-beating process.
In conclusion, try the recipe as it is written.  Definitely remove the added baking soda and cream of tarter.  If you really have no access to milk, water is a better substitution when cake-baking than half-and-half is. If you really want some dairy in there, I might recommend 25 ml half-and-half + 55 ml water as a better substitution for 80 ml of milk than all half-and-half (this will have a much closer fat content to 80 ml of milk than 90 ml of half-and-half will).
Side note: if you ever do want to add cream of tarter to egg white to help with the beating, you do not have to then add baking soda or another base to balance out this tiny addition of acid.  Leave baking soda out of recipes that don't call for it.


Can water in which pasta was cooked be used to make gravy? After boiling pasta and setting the water in which the pasta was boiled aside I noticed that after the water cooled it thickened. It sort of has the consistency of gravy. Would I be able to make gravy with this instead of using starch?

No you would not. If you are cooking pasta properly, you need to use a lot of salt, rendering any gravy made with this water far too salty.

In addition, gravy is properly made with stock; made with water it will have no flavour.


What are Cassava sticks (Tapioca sticks) used for in Thai cuisine, if at all? In the markets of Bangkok I often came across these sticks (or similar sticks); I found these sold along with Thai traditional herbal tea products.

I was later learned that these are Cassava sticks (Tapioca sticks); also named "Cassava stakes".

I thought they should be used to make tea or to distancing/repelling muscitos so I bought a pack; no muscitos were rejected but I tried to bite one stick → both the outer part (Sheath) and inner part (Xylem) and both were bitter.

What are Cassava sticks (Tapioca sticks) used for in Thai cuisine, if at all?

Those seem to be Cassava stem cuttings. They're not meant to be eaten, but are instead meant to propagate new plants.
Cassava are able to grow in poor quality soil and can survive harsh dry seasons. They also do well in areas that do not have good irrigation. This makes them popular in Thailand, especially in poorer areas.

Note that Cassava is not considered a staple food in Thailand. You will see a few uses for it in Thai Cuisine, such as Sweetened Cassava, but more importantly Thais consider it a good cash crop to export.
Cassava require minimal care and cost and can be used for many purposes, such as:

Chips/Pellets to be used for animal feed
Flour for confectionery
Starch for infant food
Starch to be used in textile industries
Ethanol


How to cut an egg without the yolk sticking to the knife? I cut a number of eggs for a salad and had most yolks stuck to the knife. The problem, to me, is that the egg falls apart. The yolk is loose and the white as well.

Does anybody know a way to cut the egg without that happening?

the wire egg slicers seem to be free of this problem. Perhaps you could use a wire, or better yet the wire cutting tool that potters use for clay.


Are there any Oven only or Stove-Top only Cast Iron Recipes? So im still an intro cook, and this really isn't lazyness more than curiosity...

But every "pot roast" or "beef stew" aka "Rustic" recipe that you'd think would go in a cast iron pot is always seared on a pan before put into the Pot.

Are there any recipes where you don't do this? As in cook it all the way through on stove top, OR all the way through in the oven.

I imagine it'd be slower, but I like cooking slow. Plus.....it seems like thats the way our ancestors would've done it since they had just fire and a big pot at one point. Im not saying this is the best way..but are there still good recipes where you do just this?

Why stove top and why oven?

The stove top provides high heat for searing, which generates browning (the famous maillard reaction) which creates delicious, savory flavor components.

The oven provides an even, gentle heat for longer cooking without burning.

The beauty of the braise

Braising is a technique where a food, usually a meat, is cooked slowly in a moist environment, partially covered with water.  It is an ideal technique for tougher, generally less expensive meats, because it converts collagen to gelatin, changing the meat from tough to meltingly tender and wonderful.

Braising is more common than you might think.  Chili con carne, and pot roast, osso bucco and coque au vin are all braised recipes.

Searing and braising

Many braising recipes start with a sear, which is most commonly done stove top, because of the high intense heat that is easy to generate.  Alternate methods would be to use a broiler or an outdoor grill, but these are often not as convenient.  The purpose is to generate the savory flavors (not as the old kitchen myth said, "to seal in juices").

Then the dish is finished in its liquid (which will later usually become the sauce) at a much more gentle cooking pace.

Braising is flexible

You can braise in the oven.  The advantage is the heat is very even and predictable, and you can just let the pot sit in the oven for 2, 3, or even 4 hours without worrying about burning or sticking.

You can braise on the stove top, with a gentle flame (or lower electric element setting).  You simply adjust to leave the pot contents at a slow simmer (bubbles form lazily, not continuously).   There is slighty more risk of burning, and the occassional stir might not hurt, but especially with a good pan, no risk.

So almost any braising recipe can be easily converted to be stovetop only, by simply... erm... using the stove top for the long braising time.  I prefer the oven personally, but that is a matter of convenience and easy control.

Quality cookware

Quality cookware like good multi-ply stainless steel, or your now famous dutch oven (from your previous questions) is ideal for braising because it can be used for both the sear (just like a cast iron pan) and for the slow braising portion.  No need to dirty two pots or pans.

Recipes that are just stovetop

There are a countless myriad recipes that you can cook in your cast iron just on the stove top.

Anything:

Fried
Deep fried
Boiled
Braised

The one thing you may choose to avoid doing is highly acidic recipes, like tomato sauce, which are not great for your seasoning.  On the other hand, in rotation with other recipes that rebuild the seasoning, or just doing some direct seasoning, there is no true harm done either.

Recipes that are just the oven

There are many recipes that would only be done in the oven.

Many braises skip the searing part.  Even recipes that call for it can be done without, at some loss of flavor.

Any recipe you see for a crockpot can be done in a dutch oven in the regular oven.


Is there anything special about fugu meat? I know that fugu is fairly well known both inside and outside Japan, and wild versions of the fish contains a toxin 1200 times more potent than cyanide. (Fun fact: one species is also the second vertebrate to have its genome sequenced after humans)

What I don't know is whether the fish is famous (and considered a "delicacy") solely because of its potential toxicity, or whether there is something else unique about its meat.

Is there anything unique about fugu meat, such as its flavour or texture?

According to an article about Fugu at Maldova Welcome:

  Some people who’ve tried puffer dishes describe it as one of the most
  sublime flavors in the world. Others, apparently less enthusiastic, or
  simply more objective, describe fugu meat as a cross between crunchy
  and chewy, said by the Japanese to go “shiko-shiko” in one’s mouth
  when absolutely fresh. That’s what some consider the main attraction
  of the risky meal. But taste isn’t everything. Many say that fugu is
  simply addictive!

According to YQ Travelling:  "Long answer: like rubber when raw but like silk when cooked."

At New York Food (in an indepth article), Adam Platt says:

  Hashimoto’s fugu indeed has a certain clean sashimi quality to it, and
  a resilient chewiness, but otherwise it’s a letdown. It tastes
  flavorless and gummy, like a cross between Reichl’s fluke and day-old
  squid.

  [ ... ]
  And then the tingling sensation begins. It starts on my lips and seems to be quickly tracking
  down the back of my throat. I put down my chopsticks and shift my legs
  under the table. I bring the tips of my fingers to my mouth and begin
  touching my lips in a tender, slightly agitated way, like a d
  dental patient shot full of Novocain.

  [ ... ]

  our next course, which is a little helping of deep-fried fugu ribs. The bony ribs (“These look
  like hamster ribs,” I tell Shinji) are hacked in little pieces, tossed
  in flour, and seasoned with sea salt and a sprinkling of the dried
  kelp called kombu. The ribs have the nice meaty texture of monkfish,
  they’re perfectly fried, and they’re delicious. (This may simply prove
  that anything tastes good fried, including bony, potentially fatal
  fish ribs.)

However, I suspect the popularity of fugu, especially in Japan is a complex amalgam of factors including:

Pride in cultural heritage, since this is a uniquely Japanese practice, although it is spreading
The enjoyment of the feeling of numbness that properly prepared fugu leaves in the mouth, from just the tiniest traces of the toxin
Popularity of extremely expensive items, which therefore must be special
The art of the presentation, which (as the dish is very expensive) is at its highest levels
Some people are crazy :-)


What do you call people that eat fish but not meat? Is it proper to identify people who eat fish but not meat as a class of vegetarians, or is there a better word to describe these group of people (who generally find pulses including beans, broad beans, chick peas, and lentils a perfect substitute for meat but deeply regret the fact that fish fats needed by the hunan body are not available elsewhere)?

Vegetarians don't eat any animals including fish. Those who don't eat meat but fish are called pescetarians. For practical reasons, sometimes pescetarians say that they are vegetarians, as Joe says in his answer in this question:

  I read something recently (might've been a blog, might've been some
  online publication), explaining why the person called themselves a
  vegetarian and yet would eat fish:

  Because it was easier than explaining all of their can/can't eat items.

  Many people aren't familiar with the term 'pescatarian', and if
  someone invites you to a dinner party, it's easier to just say 'I'm a
  vegetarian' than 'I'm a lacto-ovo pescetarian' and have to take the
  time explaining what it means. If they prepare vegetarian food, you
  can eat it ... they don't need to know the whole ontology of different
  types of vegetarianism.


Where does the Asian dish "sang choi bow" come from? I'm currently travelling in Laos where my favourite local dish is called "larb" or "laap" (ລາບ in Lao, ลาบ in Thai).

When I described it to my Australian friend he said it sounded like a dish that was one of his favourites called "San Choi Bow" and described it as "either a southern Chinese or Vietnamese word for the spicy mince in a lettuce leaf".

I've been hunting on Wikipedia and there appears to be no English article though I have now found a Chinese Wikipedia article and the term does show up in a couple of articles on the English Wikipedia. There is lots of information on the Internet, I noticed especially from Australia. But the information is contradictory. Two Yahoo Answers questions about its origins give different answers with no further details: China, Thailand.

There's at least seven other spellings I could find, all combinations of "san" vs. "sang", "choi" vs. "choy", and "bau" vs. "bow".

To me this looks like Chinese but I couldn't find the Chinese characters and even if the dish has a Chinese name that doesn't mean it wasn't originally from a neighbouring country.

Could it be that "larb" is a Southeast Asian version of "sang choi bow" or is "sang choi bow" a Chinese name for their version of "larb"?

Sang choi bow, from the Chinese Wikipedia:

Squid larb in Thailand:

Pork laap in Laos:

Probably Hong Kong.

It is written in Chinese as "生菜包", which in Pinyin is "shēngcài bāo", noticeably different to any of its usual spellings in English.
However, in Cantonese it is "sang1 choi3 baau1". Much closer to the English spellings and pronunciation. Cantonese is mainly spoken in Hong Kong, a great culinary exporter and major influence on "Chinese food" in the west.

生菜 means "lettuce" and 包 means "wrap", etc.

It does in fact have a Wikipedia article, but only on the Chinese Wikipedia. The article is very short and Google Translate does not handle it well. I will include the Chinese text here in case any readers who can read Chinese can find something of the dish's origin or history:

  生菜包
  维基百科，自由的百科全书

  生菜包是一种食品，寓意“生财”。

  起源

  生菜包源自广州市芳村的坑口生菜会，该活动举办的时间为从农历廿四至廿九一连六日（旧称前三日后三日），这里会设有戏台和比武台，唱粤曲的，舞狮的和比武的登台。为供村民观赏之余家人朋友共聚用餐，小贩便推出生菜包。

  材料

  生菜菜叶包着特制的饭菜（通常有蚬肉碱菜等馅料）。

  這是與食物相關的小作品。你可以通过编辑或修订扩充其内容。

Of course it's still possible the dish originated outside Hong Kong, the name is very literal and isn't necessarily the original name of the dish. But it is clear it came to the English speaking world by way of Hong Kong.


How do I learn to cut/chop ingredients? Possible Duplicate:
  What are some good resources for learning Knife Skills?

I'm about to join some cooking classes but I'm totally green at this sort of thing.

So I can preserve some of my humility and not look totally incompetent - how can I learn to cut quickly and efficiently without lopping some fingers and limbs off in the process?

cooking is not about working like a chef! Chefs learn to peel, chop and cook quickly because they have to work against time limits. A customer walks in the restaurant, sits down and orders some food that he wants to eat before he officially becomes a senior citizen. The chef's aim is to provide food in a short timescale.

You want to learn to cook, you need to learn how to cut things into "small dice", medium dice", strips, whatever - doing it fast like a pro doesn't make you a better cook.

Get a good knife, like Elendil suggested, in any case. That's a good idea. Then when you step into the cookery class, "check your ego at the door", as the notice said on the studio entrance when they made the BandAid singles. This is not a competition, this is learning to cook, personal skills - or is it?

Let me tell you that if you're hoping to hit it off with your classmates, you stand just as much chance of success in that sphere if you need their help ...


Grilling Surface for a DIY Barbecue What is an appropriate semi-permanent surface to use over an open fire barbecue?
I am planning on making a grill rack for my fire pit. My intention is have this surface remain outdoors within the pit. I'm looking for something that wont corrode and that is food safe and something that can handle the high heat of a fire pit.

I have seen sprays that can be applied. Some are high heat sprays made for grills (exteriors). I'm not sure if these are food safe. Has anyone had experience?

I have also seen food safe anti-corrosive metal sprays, but I cant find information about their heat tolerance.

Thank You for any help.

Almost all of the high heat sprays are not expected to last against direct flame exposure.

I have a outdoor fire pit/BBQ with plain rebar as the grill. Even though it does rust a bit, the exposed rebar is thick enough that it would be decades before I would need to replace it, and the baked on char/oils actually protect the metal quite a bit. The other option would be using stainless steel rods as the grill rack material, then there would be negligible amounts of corrosion.

If i had to remake the grate on my fire pit I would probably use 416 stainless steel rods like these http://amzn.to/2gV2DVD

Also, avoid anything that is chrome or zinc plated. When chrome or zinc gets burnt, they produce toxic byproducts. Just to be safe, I would avoid anything that is plated for your grill grates.


Does pasta dough really need to rest? I mixed equal parts of semolina and bread flour. Then I kneaded it for about 2 minutes. I flattened it out as well as I could, then passed it through my pasta machine on the widest setting. I did this 5 times by folding lengthwise after every pass through the rollers.

The noodles had great bite when cooked al dente and still held together wonderfully when cooked a little more. Cheese sauce nicely coated them, they were great! Could have been the best pasta I had ever tasted.

I didn't let it rest...not even a little.

Chefs and home cooks alike tell us time and again that you must rest your pasta dough for at least half an hour. Some say 2-3 hours.

So... Does pasta dough really need to rest? Please educate me.

You didn't knead it enough in the first place. 2 minutes is too short even with the pasta machine afterwards.

Pasta, especially the classic semolina pasta (which is mae with durum semolina), is a high-gluten product. To make it correctly, you need to develop that gluten. I don't make semolina-water pasta, but knead my flour-egg pasta for around 8 minutes. It makes a great dough, and you can feel the change in texture while kneading. Of course, dough with that much Glenn is way too tight to work it. Very hard to roll, resists cutting. That's what you need resting for: to relax the gluten. Else, shaping becomes a heavy chore.

There is no food police which will come to arrest you if you make noodles with underdeveloped gluten, but most people prefer the slightly resilient texture of developed-gluten noodles. You describe yours as "having a great bite", and apparently they didn't fall apart in the boiling water. So you could make both side-by-side and decide which is more to your taste. I you stay with the ess kneading, you will need less to no rest.


Baking chicken in oven, but keeping it moist Here is the problem I'm facing:

I am on a diet, which doesn't exclude fat, but doesn't encourage it either. So I am trying to bake chicken in the oven, while also removing the fat that comes out, while also preventing it becoming too dry.

I am thinking of rubbing the chicken with seasoning, and then putting it on bars, with a pan beneath, so that the fats would drip down. But as far as i know, that may render the chicken to dry. Any solutions?

Thanks!

The technique you describe is pretty much just the standard way of roasting a chicken.  A V-shaped roasting rack is excellent for this purpose.  As for keeping it moist, the standard technique is to brine the chicken first.  Done properly, brining a chicken results in a moist, tender bird with crisp skin, and doesn't involve adding any additional fat.  I normally brine by putting the chicken in a stew pot, covering it with cold water, adding about a cup of kosher salt, and letting it sit for 90 minutes.


Preparing as much as possible of a cake in advance It's my girlfriend's birthday this WE and I plan on secretly preparing a cake she likes. However, we'll be in the countryside with friends this WE, and I'll have very limited time to prepare on site without getting caught.

So my plan it to prepare/mix as much as possible before hand, and do as little as possible there before throwing the whole thing in the oven.

However, I have little experience in deserts, and I need help determining what can/can't be done the day before.

Here's the recipe: https://www.noracooks.com/vegan-chocolate-cake/

Two parts:

The (chocolate) cake itself

1 cup unsweetened almond milk
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
2 cups all purpose flour
1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
3/4 cup cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup canola oil OR melted coconut oil
2/3 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup boiling water

Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

1 cup cocoa powder
1 1/2 cups earth balance vegan butter, softened baking sticks preferred
4-5 cups powdered sugar
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1/4-1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk

Can I safely prepare the chocolate cake batter on one side, and the buttercream frosting on the other side, the day before? I would keep them in containers, in the fridge...

Thanks!

If you look at how boxed cake mixes do it, you'll get the right idea. They combine the dry ingredients and you have to add the wet ingredients. There are a couple of good reasons for this: spoilage (not too much of a problem if you're taking about a couple of days in the fridge); and gluten formation, which requires water and will give a tough, bready texture.

I suggest you mix the dry ingredients, and measure each of the wet ingredients into its own container (combining the apple sauce, vinegar and vanilla should be fine). Use containers that you can get everything out of or your measurements will be off. Then you don't need to refrigerate the oil or dry mix but do need to chill the wet mix and presumably the almond milk.

The buttercream should be fine made in advance - it certainly would be if it was based on dairy butter and milk. Of course this needs chilling. It also needs to be applied to a cool cake so it doesn't melt.

The other option is to bake the cake in advance and only ice it when you get there, but some recipes keep better than others. This has the advantage that the cake will definitely have cooled. I'm no expert on the keeping properties of vegan cakes in general, let alone this recipe, but many of the vegan cakes I've eaten have been the sort of thing that would keep their texture for a few days.


Is there a way to tone down the flavor of celery in an Oyster Mushroom Chowder? I just created an oyster mushroom chowder with a cashew-cream base for my vegetarian wife who can't do dairy.

It turned out OK, but I overdid the celery and it tested strongly like cream of celery soup. Is there any way to cut back the flavor after it's finished besides adding more cream and veggie broth, which would throw off all the rest of the flavors which I nailed?

I'm going to step out on a limb here and declare that you'll need to add more of the other ingredients.  Even then, you're likely to throw off the overall balance of flavors because they have not all cooked together.

Here's a study abstract that suggests there are about 6 compounds that primarily contribute to the flavor and aroma of celery.  However, as a home cook, I have no idea what any of these are or how to suppress them specifically.  It may be possible to do so, but that solution is likely to be impractical for the home chef.

Another problem is that celery has a very flavor-enhancing effect; this is why it shows up so often in traditional vegetable bases like mirepoix and trinity.  Here's another nifty article summarizing a paper that identified the specific compounds responsible for this; the odd thing is that these "phthalides" are largely tasteless.  In short: the balance and overall tastiness of your soup might have been reached specifically by adding so much celery.

I think you're going to have to chalk this one up as a learning experience and adjust your recipe next time.  One thing you could try (if you're not already, which would surprise me a little) is sweating the celery.  I find that this makes the flavor overall a bit milder, with less of the vegetal-bitter flavors while still getting the umami-enhancing effect.


Should meat be seasoned before or after cooking? When should meat be seasoned?

I heard that salting meat prior to cooking draws out the moisture but I have noticed that a number of chefs season their meat prior to cooking.

There are different 'camps' when it comes to seasoning but essentially If you season meat too early before cooking, the salt will draw out the moisture, meaning a less juicy piece of meat, however if you season just before cooking the seasoning will help to impart flavour into the meat. If you seal the meat and then season it, the sealed meat will not release any juice. Hence the two theories.


Why does this Egg McMuffins recipe taste terrible? I tried to recreate the taste of a McDonald Egg McMuffin at home.

I cut an English muffin in half and cooked it in the oven. I fried an egg in a pan. I added mayonnaise to the English muffin halves, then added the egg and a slice of American cheese.

The result tasted nothing like a real Egg McMuffin, and did not taste good at all. What can I do to make this more closely taste like a real Egg McMuffin?

For starters, you left off the slice of Canadian bacon. McDonald's cooks their egg more by steaming it in a round mold; they do not fry them in a pan
You might try going to the Serious Eats site and looking at Kenji's recipe for Egg McMuffin:

  Pan toast muffin in butter, fry Canadian bacon in butter, crack egg in lid of wide-mouth mason jar to use as a mold, break yolk, pour water in the pan with egg in mold and put a cover on pan so the water turns to steam to cook egg, drain egg on paper towel, assemble {muffin half, bacon, egg, cheese other muffin half}. No mayo, other condiments or seasoning.


Why does my homemade hemp milk smell like sulfur? I made some hemp milk in my Joyoung the other day, and it smells like sulfur. It doesn't taste bad, but the smell is a little off-putting. Is this normal? Have I let my hemp seeds go bad? Should I filter it better?

HempNut Cookbook, by Richard Rose & Brigitte Mars, 2004 Green Press Initiative, page 21:
"Shelled hempseed also is high in minerals such as ... sulfur, ...: ... Sulfur helps the body resist bacterial invasion and protects it against toxic substances."


Quick pressure release vs natural pressure release I have read recipies that suggest letting the pressure naturally release when cooking grains in a pressure cooker. I've always just released the pressure quickly through the pressure relief valve.

What does releasing the pressure quickly do to grains as apposed to letting the pressure dissipate naturally through cooling?

The main reason for using the quick release is to prevent overcooking, think about what would happen to white rice if you left the cooker to de-pressurise naturally: it would be mush. Of course, you could factor the time taken to come back to normal pressure into the original cooking time but that's fraught with difficulty because it's dependent on what temperature it is in your kitchen and probably a multitude of other factors we're not aware of.