Adding Something Besides Water to Buttermilk Powder I have some Saco buttermilk powder that works great. It calls for one cup of water per 4 tbsp of powder for a cup of buttermilk. I'm wondering if you can use a liquid besides water and get the same results. Two liquids I have in mind: milk and carbonated water. Theoretically, I would envision the first creating a richer buttermilk and the second adding some extra fluffiness. Does anyone know anything about this?

Edit: To clarify, I would be using this buttermilk for baking, especially for pancakes (https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/162760/fluffy-pancakes/)

Milk, for the sake of simplicity, adds two things to a recipe: lactose and milk fat. Although in terms of flavor, it may make more subtle contributions to your food, chemically, these are the main things to worry about.

Lactose is the primary sugar present in milk. A cup of milk contains 12 grams of sugar, which is about the same as a tablespoon of white sugar. So using milk instead of water in your pancake recipe increases the sugar content significantly. Your pancakes will taste sweeter and brown faster; this could be an improvement or a detriment depending on your taste.

Milk fat, though absent in skim milk, contributes about 8 grams of fat per cup in whole milk. Since a tablespoon of butter contains 12 grams, this is significant increase in the total fat of your recipe. This could yield a richer taste, but too much fat and your pancakes might end up greasy.

So overall: milk won't add anything to your pancakes that they don't already have. But, increased sugar and fat could make them significantly sweeter and richer. Just watch out, and turn down the heat if they brown too quickly.

Carbonated water is simply carbon dioxide suspended in water. It is occasionally used in batters for aeration, especially in deep frying. But I think in pancakes the effect will be negligible due to all the activity from the baking powder. Further, carbonated water is slightly acidic, so it could throw off the pH balance of your batter.

If you really want fluffy pancakes, then separate the eggs, and whip the whites to soft peaks. You can incorporate a ton of air into an egg white, and if you gently stir it into the batter, the batter should end up quite fluffy.

Buttermilk, the fresh variety, is quite a thick product. Though buttermilk powder has all the flavor and acidity of the fresh stuff, it simply lacks the thick texture. You should try to buy a pint some time and see if it improves your pancakes.


Where can I find or make Irish cream soda? I had this when I was going to college and now I miss it a lot. It is a non alcoholic drink.

In the old days of soda fountains, soda was made with two ingredients: syrup and soda water. Soda water is just carbonated water, and the syrup can now be purchased for flavoring coffee and making sno cones.

You need to experiment with the proportions to get the flavor you want, but the recipe is simple.


How many wash cycles should I aim for when washing brown rice? I was told that I'm supposed to keep washing the brown rice with water, empty the pot out, and repeat until the water doesn't become foggy anymore to get rid of the arsenic.  For each cycle, I pat, squeeze, and swirl the rice around for roughly 1 minute. I've done this 12 cycles now and the water still remains foggy. Should I keep going or is that enough?

The cloudiness you see in your rinse water is starch, not arsenic.

The amount of arsenic still present after rinsing off the starch and cooking the rice is safe according to the FDA.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/arsenic-in-rice_us_589cc1ffe4b09bd304c0b04c


Is it best to just cook with the oil that has the highest smoking point? I was recently at my locals farmers market and someone was handing out samples (cooked) of what they were selling. The guy cooking said to never use olive oil and use grapeseed oil instead because olive oil burns too easily (lower smoking point). I've done a brief search into past posts, but nothing quite answers my question.

So I was thinking, for an amateur/home cook, is it just best to always cook with the oil that has the highest smoking point? (I believe those are safflower oil and sunflower oil). I am considering doing this to avoid wasting any more time scrubbing pots and pans (the brown residue that's impossible to scrub off) -- I don't like to use teflon pans, so everything is on stainless steel. However, I'm unaware of what the changes are in the end product.

The smoke point of the oil is only one factor.  It is advantageous in some types of cooking (particularly searing and deep frying) to have a very high smoke point.

Cost is another factor; the high smoke point oils are often more refined (getting rid of the elements that smoke) and are therefore more expensive.

They also don't contribute flavor the same way something like (unrefined) olive oil will do.

Most importantly, however, they will not really save you any effort on cleanup.  You still need to wash your pans.   They may be somewhat less likely to polymerize on into a hard film during routine cooking, but that should not happen in any case.


Green gooey stuff when removing head from raw shrimp When removing the head from a raw shrimp, I usually expect orangey goo to come out / be visible (the yummy stuff when you suck it of a prepared shrimp, I suppose :) ). I also usually have fresh shrimps. Today however I bought frozen ones, and some of them have green instead of an orangey goo.

The "green ones" all look fresh, and, IME usually more important, smell fresh (taking in to account the defrosted seafood nature of things).

Question is: Are they good to eat? Does this happen "naturally"?

The box in which they came didn't look like frosting-defrosting-re-(re-)frosting happened, and wasn't over the expiry date.

Personally, I think it's due to the diet of the shrimps (I'm close to 100% certain that they're farmed, but I don't have the box anymore), and that it's the color of algae I'm seeing. While removing the digestive tract of the "green ones", they seemed to share the same uranium like hue of green.

For posterity:

Without waiting for an answer, and being the dare devil (and hungry guy) I am, I'm going to move diligently forward. For all those reading this: Should there not be an accepted answer, let it be known not to eat shrimps with green goo coming out when taking of the heads.

I think what you are seeing may be the hepatopancreas. From a Serious Eats article about shrimp heads:

There could be nothing sweeter and tastier than those shrimp heads. For in their armored shells you will find the hepatopancreas, the digestive organ that in lobsters and crabs would be called tomalley.
Shrimp hepatopancreas tastes like tomalley, only shrimpier, and more liquid-like.

This article on hepatopancreas condition states that the color of the hepatopancreas depends on diet:

Regarding shrimp roe (also called coral) and eggs, please see this excerpt about the shrimp life cycle and the picture below.

Eggs develop in the female prior to spawning, and can be seen as a dark band just under the shell on the head. Shortly after mating, eggs are extruded to the underside of the abdomen, where they are fertilized by a packet of sperm previously obtained from the male, then attached to the female's specialized legs. The female carries the developing eggs until they hatch in early spring. Newly hatched shrimp larvae are small (about 3/16 of an inch, or 5mm), planktonic (free floating, unable to swim against currents), and bear only a superficial resemblance to adults.

See this picture (EMS is Early Mortality Syndrome):


How long and at what temperature and with what oil should doughnuts be fried? I just gave this recipe a try and the results were as follows:

The first doughnuts to be fried, sat in for the full time period listed in the recipe (3 minutes each side) and came out nearly black. The outside was severely overcooked while the inside seemed just about right.
Once the doughnuts rested until "warm" but not wet, they would not keep the toppings on them at all.
Keeping the oil temperature at the designated 350 degrees (F), was incredibly difficult. It fluctuated constantly between as high as 380 to as low as 340.
Leaving the doughnuts in for less than 3 minutes (2 minutes, then 1.5 minutes) produced slightly better color on the outside and the center remained fairly consistent. But the doughnuts still wouldn't take any toppings.
Moving the doughnuts directly from the oil to the toppings did get some of the toppings to stick to them but somehow the doughnuts cooled before they could be fully covered with the toppings.

I'm guessing that I did something wrong during the frying/timing of the doughnuts but the only substitution I made was to use sunflower oil instead of vegetable oil for the frying since I read somewhere else that sunflower oil was recommended.

What I'm looking for is consistency and ultimately the soft, tender texture of apple cider doughnuts with just the slight crunchy topping on the exterior. Of course, leaving all the doughnuts in for the same amount of time would get the same consistency but once I realized they were overdone, I decided to experiment to see if I could get it right by trying different things. No soap. So...

Does anyone know what the actual timing for doughnuts are while being fried? What temperature/time and with what oil should doughnuts be fried?

Thanks for your help!

This all depends on dough type (density, fat content, moisture, sugar, proofing, etc) and size of product (volume x weight). There's no standard. If you're product is getting burnt, lower your temperature and avoid over filling your fryer oil with product as this will drop your temp.


What pH range is suitable for cooking on teflon? We shouldn't cook acids, alkali and concentrated salts on teflon. But what are exact numbers? Can I put a sour dairy stuff for on it example, like kefir (it's good to put it in pancakes) ? Where is safe pH range?

We shouldn't cook acids, alkali and concentrated salts on teflon.

This is incorrect.  Teflon (PTFE) itself is one of the most non-reactive substances you can use on cookware, in some ways better than ceramic.  To quote Wikipedia:

  It is nonreactive, partly because of the strength of carbon–fluorine
  bonds, and so it is often used in containers and pipework for reactive
  and corrosive chemicals.

So why is there so much advice on not cooking high-acid foods in teflon pans?  As far as I can tell, it's because teflon pans scratch easily, and acids can get into scratches.  This has two potential effects:

On pans with poor bonding between teflon and the backing metal, the acid can dissolve some of the adhesion between PTFE and pan, causing it to flake off.
Many teflon pans have the teflon backed by aluminum, and aluminum gives off flavors to acidic foods.  So even the small amount of aluminum exposed by the scratches can cause the high-acid food to taste "off", especially if it is slow-cooking.

Given the above, however, I think you can see that there is no specific pH that's bad for teflon pans.  The lower the pH the worse the two above effects can potentially be, but a lot more depends on the manufacture of the pan, how scratched or abraded the teflon is, and even how long and how hot the food is in the pan.  And if your teflon pan is brand-new and high-quality, it's one of the best vessels for making high-acid foods you have.


Silicone turner and grill? I was grilling today and due to lack of equipment, needed to use a silicone turner to remove cooked burgers from the grill, after the gas was off.

Seeing as I may have exceeded the maximum temperature range rating, I checked for obvious damage to the turner (i.e., melting) of which there is none.

Is there any other damage inspection I should give the silicone turner, or is it safe to use? Thank you!

If the utensil is not visibly damaged in any way, it's fine.

Even if it were visibly damaged, there's no known toxicities associated with overheated silicone, so you'd still be safe; it would just be less useful.


How can I make Pacman muffins? I'm a huge Pacman fan and therefore I would like to create some Pacman muffins next week. I was searching for a receipt in the Internet, but couldn't really found one. I could find quite a few pictures of Pacman muffins, but nowhere is a guideline how those muffins were made.

What makes pacman muffins different from any other muffins is only their decoration, not their content. So of course there are no special recipes for them.

You should pick any recipe for iced muffins, or even pick two separate recipes, one for plain muffins and one for icing. Buttercream would be a good choice, as well as other soft types of icing. Then you have to color your icing yellow and black, and place it on the muffins in the desired shape.

As it seems that you are a beginner in cake icing, some help would be good. Icing can be a messy process, and creating patterns is harder than plain icing. I would place a paper strip folded in the middle on the muffin to separate the yellow and black areas, and only remove it when both colors are done. Fixing with toothpicks may be helpful.


What to do with Pickled Figs I have a jar of pickled figs bought for me as a present, and would like to make good use of them. Any ideas??

I think the two most likely things to do with this are to serve it as an accompaniment to a cheese plate (preferably with a triple cream / brie type cheese or an intense blue cheese), or in a dish with a gamey meat.


Is it okay to marinate brisket for 48 hours? My wife and I had planned to cook a brisket for dinner tonight. Our plans have changed and we would now like to cook and eat the brisket tomorrow night instead. Yesterday, before we knew our plans would change we put the brisket into a marinade. Currently, our 3 pound brisket is in the refrigerator sitting in a bath of the low sodium version of Claude's BBQ Brisket Marinade Sauce.

Is it okay to continue to let the brisket marinade until we cook it tomorrow? Do we need to cook it today and serve the brisket as leftovers tomorrow? Or do we need to get the brisket out of the marinade, but still cook it tomorrow?

Generally, yes, you can leave a brisket in a marinade for 48 hours or even longer. The exception would be a marinade that is very highly acidic, but not that's not likely to be a problem with a commercial marinade.


Effect of xanthan gum on agar agar gels? I just recently got into using agar agar to prepare solidified gels, and I'm wondering what effect adding xanthan gum to the mixture before gelling it would have. I'm particularly interested in trying to use the xanthan gum to replace fats in recipes like egg yolks.

Does anyone happen to know what difference one would note between a gel set with only agar(roughly 1 tsp powder per cup liquid) and a gel set with agar(same ratio) and the addition of xanthan gum before it gels (and how varying the amount of xanthan gum would provide different results)? If so I would greatly appreciate the information.

And if anyone happens to know the same information but for adding glucomannan instead of xanthan gum to an agar gel that would be helpful.

In lower concentrations of Agar Agar you'll have weeping (Syneresis); Xanthan gum is generally used to lower syneresis when combined with other hydrocolloids. Apart from slight texture changes; you'll benefit from less weeping.

per this paper Evaluation of Blends of Alternative Gelling Agents with Agar and Development of Xanthagar, A Gelling Mix, Suitable for Plant Tissue Culture Media; Agar Agar + Xanthan gum (i.e. Xanthagar) is considered as an economically viable alternative for using Agar Agar directly. As XG cheaper compared to Agar.


Can clarified butter be used for beurre noir? The first recipe of "The Nero Wolfe Cook Book" by Rex Stout is for Eggs au beurre noir. For the black butter sauce he gives the following instructions:

  "In a skillet melt [...] four
  tablespoons of butter over a medium
  heat. When white waxy particles have settled to the bottom, pour the clear liquid off into a bowl.
  Return the clarified butter to the pan and continue to cook until it has turned a deep golden brown..."

Now I have tried this recipe with unsalted butter, with salted butter, using a low heat, a medium heat, enough heat to create a fire hazard. I also tried different methods of clarification, all to no avail. The "deep golden brown" is only achievable, as far as I can tell, with unclarified butter. Indeed it appears to be the toasted butter solids that produce the golden brown.

I would have given up on this recipe altogether if it wasn't corroborated by other sources. It makes me wonder if, for example, American butter differs substantially from European butter. Does anyone know if black butter sauce can be made with clarified butter?

@Chris:  Does the recipe from the Nero Wolfe cookbook say anything about dumping the milky/watery portion out of the pan before returning the butter to it to brown?

Clarified butter WILL NOT brown, that is the purpose for clarifying it.  The milk solids are what brown.  The portion that usually goes to the bottom will be the whey and the milk solids initially tend to form the "scum" on the top.  To me it sounds like he's trying to suggest that you should pour the butter & solids off, dump out any whey, and then return the butter to the pan so you can heat it to the point of a dark brown without it splattering (which is caused by the water in the whey).  4 tablespoons of butter isn't going to have much whey in the first place so just cook the whole butter to the beurre noir point.


My dough is too brown According to this recipe, I did exactly what the author wrote. I ended up with a dough that was too wet and brown. I have several questions about to this recipe.

When the recipe calls for both white and brown sugar, am I suppose to add white sugar first, beat until incorporated, then mix in the brown sugar; or can I add them both in at the same time?.
Melted butter: I melted until it turned liquid. Mixing it with white and brown sugar resulted in a thick, dark brown liquid different from what I learned about using the creaming method. Did I melt my butter for too long?

The more I bake the more problems I find.

Yes, you can dump both sugars in together.

This recipe is not based on the creaming method.   Instead,  the butter is melted for a chewy cookie.
You want the butter melted,  but not browned (although that may add flavor it is not called for in this recipe).

The  chilling and resting are essential for success.   During this time the starches will hydrate, the butter will chill,  and the dough will firm.

Your expectations from creaming method recipes do not apply, so don't worry that the dough doesn't seem exactly the same.  The color will be darker than you may be used to.   That is okay.

See also:  What does an overnight chill do to cookie dough, that a 4 hour chill doesn't?


What are bologna and hotdogs really made of? I am hoping this question isn't off-topic as it's mainly about what a specific type of food is made of rather than how to make it. Of course, I could always reframe the question as "How do I make hotdogs and bologna from scratch exactly as it's done by mainstream companies?"

So I want to know how to find out what, exactly, supermarket bologna and hotdogs are made of. When I was young, I was told that all the leftover parts -- organs included -- went into the slurry before being formed into the final product. Later, I was told that it was only the trimmings. I see trimmings as the more undesirable cuts of meat such as the parts I trim off myself before prepping. This includes fatty tissue, sinew, etc. I do not, however, consider organs to be trimmings.

I know that some brands -- perhaps the lower-shelf, bargain brands -- might use literally every leftover part, but what about mid- to top-shelf brands? In the middle, there are brands like Kahn's, Oscar Mayer, and Ballpark. Near the top of the shelf you have Hebrew National, Nathan's, and others. How can I tell which brands use organs and other unsavory leftovers and which use actual trimmings?

Also, is there a difference between the beef variety vs. the kind made with chicken and pork with beef added other than the type of animal they come from? Does the type of animal have an impact on what part of the animal goes into the mix? Is the beef variety more "premium" or do they all contain the same tier of meat trimmings?

I doubt you will find a specific ingredient list that identifies particular cuts or parts of meat.

As an example, here is the ingredients for Oscar Mayer bologna: Mechanically Separated Chicken, Pork, Water, Corn Syrup, Contains Less Than 2% of Salt, Sodium Lactate, Flavor, Sodium Phosphates, Autolyzed Yeast, Sodium Diacetate, Sodium Ascorbate, Sodium Nitrite, Dextrose, Extractives of Paprika, Potassium Phosphate, Sugar, Potassium Chloride.

Similarly, you can probably look up the ingredient lists for other brands and products.

Making an emulsified sausage (hot dogs, kielbasa, bologna, mortadella, etc.) from scratch is not that difficult.  You would probably not want to make it exactly like these companies do.  They are mass producing and need to ensure shelf life, as well as safety.  There are a lot of things on that ingredient list above, for example, that you would not need if making this at home. Additionally, these companies weigh quality against cost efficiency.  At home, you would likely use higher quality ingredients.  Although, there is an argument to be made about the parts of the animal that are desirable vs. not.  This could just be your preference.  I'm not sure how you are defining "premium."  I assume that in general, the parts of the pig, cow, and chicken, that can be sold at higher prices are not used to create emulsified sausages.

In the end, you probably get what you pay for in terms of quality.


Ingredient selection for Canadian Poutine dish Poutine is a simple dish from Québec, Canada. It is traditionally made with French fries, topped with fresh mild white cheddar curds (quite unlike American white cheddar which is quite sharp) and with a tangy and salty brown gravy poured on top of it all. It looks something like this:

It's easy to make when you like up in Québec, as the gravy can be purchased in any grocery store. But I live in the USA now, and there is no such thing as poutine gravy here. For the cheese I use Monterey Jack cheese, which is close enough. I've tried to whip up my own gravy multiple times, but it's never been quite right. Here is how I usually go about it:

Start with chicken stock.
Thicken with flour or starch.
Add some pepper, salt (if needed, usually it's pretty salty already).
Add something for tang, like a bit of barbecue sauce or ketchup.
Maybe throw in a few spices, like garlic or onion powder.

I was just wondering if anyone has ideas to make this more palatable, e.g., other ingredients, or any cooking suggestion.

Hello @Phrancis and welcome to Seasoned Advice! Poutine gravy is a beef gravy made with beef or veal stock. Here is a link to a  recipe . There are many other recipes online, as well.

You can buy the prepared sauce online  here  or a gravy mix on  Amazon .

By the way, you were on the right track, just not quite there yet! :)


Can I use fermented milk product as starter culture? Can I use fermented milk product as starter culture for vegetable fermenting?

Yes. Whey, primarily a byproduct of cheese-making (but also from yogurt, kefir &c), can be used to inoculate a variety of ferments. In the book The Art of Fermentation, for example, there are instructions for using it as a starter for fermenting fruit, vegetable, seed/nut and sour tonic beverage ferments. The most important thing is that the whey not have been heated (most likely in cheese-making) to a point high enough to kill the bacteria present.

My experience is limited (I usually drink my whey or put it in a soup), but I'd imagine you wouldn't want to use anything milkier than whey to ferment veggies with. Fermented milk itself can be used to propagate a mother-culture (e.g. with sour cream, buttermilk, yogurt &c.) but I'm guessing you wouldn't really want to dump these into vegetables.


How to make hot chocolate drink thicker? How do you make a cup of hot chocolate drink so that it's sweet and thick and maintains the chocolate taste?

I haven't been able to make anything acceptable by melting chocolate, adding sugar, milk or water. At best it tasted like crude cocoa drink. My cooking skills are very low, so please describe every step thoroughly.

I believe what you're looking for is Italian Hot Chocolate which is thick and smooth.

You can thicken normal hot chocolate with arrowroot or cornstarch and you're there.  If you search for Italian hot chocolate you can find recipes such as this one which is made with:

real chocolate (bitter sweet)
Whole Milk (sometimes cream)
Cornstarch
Sugar

If you can't find good bittersweet chocolate (don't use the bakers stuff), you can buy any good dark chocolate and forgo most of the sugar to keep the balance.  Keep the heat super low and take your time melting the chocolate.

It is super easy to make, and if you start with quality chocolate (Lindt and better) it will be a crowd pleaser and then some.


Can you make a porridge from wheat flour? I bake enough bread to buy flour in significant quantities; separately I buy oatmeal for quick low-effort breakfasts but don't generally use it for anything else. I would  prefer to be buying just flour for both uses. I know that farina is a wheat porridge, but it's definitely sold as a different product from wheat flour, and I am not sure whether the differences are necessary for porridge-making.

Is it possible to make a breakfast porridge from ordinary all-purpose white or whole-wheat flour?

Flour is much more finely ground than oatmeal. You can make 'porridge' with it, but it'll just be a smooth whitish goo. You might have slightly better results with whole wheat flour... It'll be more of a slightly grainy tan goo. Mmmmm.


How do I cook these two items in the oven at the same time? If I need to cook salmon in the oven at 375° for 15 to 20 minutes and crab cakes at 400° for 20 to 25 minutes, what do I do?

Set shelves high and low.
Preheat to 400.
Put in the crab cakes for 5 minutes on top
Turn down to 387.5 ;-)
Put salmon in on lower shelf.
Check in 15 minutes.

Most ovens are not all that precise, really, and most recipes allow for that (your 5 minutes of variance on each item.) The top of the oven tends to be hotter than the bottom, so this works that by putting the cooler item lower.

For more drastically different items, you cook one, wrap it up, set it aside to hold, cook the other. You might undercook the first a touch before holding it and put in back in the oven briefly before serving, you might not, depending what it is and how much "hot out of the oven" is an important part of serving it well.


Shaping thick crust pizza dough One of my favorite pizza styles is a nice thick, chewy crust around the outside - but of course thin enough crust under the toppings to cook properly. How does one work the dough into that shape?

The raised rim is really just the natural consequence of a properly thrown pizza dough. I suspect that as pizza became more common, this simple fact got obscured with such inventions as "stuffed-crust" and rapid-rise freezer pizza.

Assuming you have a well developed and elastic dough, you can just learn the basic throwing process. If you want a thicker outer crust, you can grab more dough between your fingers when you are stretching it vertically. This also has the effect of adding more bulk at the edges, making the centrifugal force stronger, and thus stretching it out faster. So watch out!

As @TFD suggests, you can also be more deliberate about it, and gather the dough afterwards by rolling it up. With this technique, you can also stuff the crust, which is more difficult with the throwing method.


How can I make my Garlic Bread less soggy? I want to make simple garlic bread pieces without getting them too soggy in the middle due to butter. Most of the restaurants near my area get this wrong - the bread pieces are soggy and yellow due to the butter they use and crunchy and tough on the crust. I want to try and making garlic bread but I want to avoid getting them soggy.

Easy -- don't use butter.

Put the sliced bread in the oven 'til it's toasted, then remove, and take a garlic clove and rub it over the sliced & toasted side.

The texture of the toasted bread should act like sandpaper, and slowly grate off bits of the garlic clove.  As you get to the end of the clove, you might need to abandon it and get another whole clove to use.

Another alternative is to roast your garlic, and then use it as a spread on the toasted bread.


Oven caught fire while using self-clean Oven caught fire while using self-clean.  Now the oven looks bad (greyish tinge) - how do I clean it?  (I'm only renting!!)

Grease fires do happen with self cleaning ovens, it's why I stopped using that feature: I didn't feel like I could leave it to get on with the cycle safely and I couldn't sit there for hours.

Cleaning it afterwards isn't a big deal, the grey dust is ash and you can vacuum a lot of it out once the oven is clean. If any ash remains good old soapy water will get off the rest.


Difference between soup and stew What are the technical differences between a soup and a stew.

Specifically, I've always had some confusion on the differentation of stew and soup. For the most part, you can tell the difference by visual cues but sometimes some soup or stew looks ambigously in between and i can't tell the difference.  For example, wikipedia shows a picture of this as soup:

Yet it looks more like a stew to me. And then it shows this as a stew:

Yet that looks like a soup to me. So my main question is: What are the technical differences that determine whether it is a soup or a stew.

There really is no practical difference; the dictionary definition of a soup is:

  a liquid food made by boiling or simmering meat, fish, or vegetables with various added ingredients.

Which also applies to any stew you can conceive of.

The technical, highly-nuanced difference is that of emphasis and intent. Stewing is a method of cooking the solids (specifically, a slow, moist-heat method). When you make a beef stew, you are stewing the beef, which says nothing about what you're stewing it in. On the other hand, when you make a chicken soup (or a chicken stock or broth which is the base of a chicken soup) then your objective is essentially to make chicken-flavoured liquid - to extract the flavour of the solids into the liquid. If some flavourful solids remain, then that is incidental as opposed to intentional.

In practice, some flavour extraction is going to happen with a stew as well, it just so happens that the principal aim is to cook the meat/veggies. A soup is more likely to contain raw or barely-cooked ingredients, and a stew is more likely to preserve the original flavour of the solids and/or liquids, but that's a very broad generalization and what it boils down to (ha ha) in practice seems to be largely dependent on the culture and the dish itself.

A stew is not simply a thick or chunky soup, despite the fact that a lot of people think of it that way. As above, that seems to be more common with stews, but it's not part of the definition, and the French have half a dozen categories for thickened soups that could easily be described as having the overall consistency of a "stew".


How to mix a roux with stock? My roux came out a beautiful dark brown.  Then I began to slowly add chicken stock.  The flour and water did not completely blend and I don't understand why not?  The roux was very hot,but the stock and water was room temperature.

Then I began to slowly add chicken stock.

There's your problem: slowly. When you add the stock to the roux, an irreversible chemical reaction starts, where the starches from the roux bind to the fluid and gelatinize. After they have gelatinized, they cannot soak up any more fluid. So when you add a small amount of stock and stir it all in, all the starch gets used up, creating a very dense mass. Adding more stock and thinking that it will get absorbed is like pouring juice over jell-o and thinking that you'll get a thinner jell-o.

I know it is counterintuitive - I've done it the wrong way for years and my success rate for bechamel was not much more than 30%. But you just have to get your stock very quickly into the roux, as the reaction is over in maybe 30 seconds. The risk of getting clumps is high, but the sauce isn't completely ruined the way it is when making it too slowly. I even tend to dump the whole stock into the roux in a single pour.

There are quite a few things you can do to reduce the clumps probability, even when going the all-at-once route.

First, make a smaller quantity. If necessary, work in batches. Quickly combining 500 ml milk with the appropriate amount of roux is much easier than doing it for the 1.5 liters you need for the big lasagne dish. Less than 500 ml is even easier.

Second, whisk vigorously all the time while combining. When making a small batch (see above), it is easy to hold a small container with the stock with one hand only and pour from it, while whisking with the other. Pouring some stock with two hands, then picking up a whisk and stirring it in, then pouring some more is a recipe for disaster. It is even better if you don't use a whisk, but a handheld mixer (don't do this in a nonstick pan, even if it is touted as metal utensils safe. If you do it in an enamelled pan, you can get visible lines from the attachments. These are a purely aesthetic problem, but you might want to avoid them nevertheless).

Third, use a high, narrow pan. Your whisking/mixer is only doing some good in the vicinity of the whisk, while the roux in some distance doesn't get mixed with the stock quickly enough.

Fourth (or maybe zeroth, because it is very important), a roux has a very small error margin. Always measure your ingredients exactly, preferably by weight. If using boiling stock, don't let the measured stock boil on while you are preparing other things, as it will evaporate quite a bit.

Fifth, there is the temperature you already mentioned. You want the temperature difference to be as small as possible. Don't set your burner to a high temperature. If you need the hot temperature for a brown roux, err on the side of too cold until shortly before the color is achieved, then reduce the temperature, and wait for the residual heat of the pan to complete the coloring before combining. I prefer to combine on the burner using a boiling liquid, with a temperature difference of around 60°C or less, but have also used the "cold" method successfully: liquid at room temperature or somewhat warmed, but far from boiling, roux is removed from the burner for a minute. Combine away from burner until smooth, then put back on until it bubbles.

Sixth, if you get some clumps, you can save the sauce. If they are few and small (<3 mm in diameter), just stir vigorously until gone (remove the sauce from the burner after it bubbles, then continue stirring). Or use an immersion blender. If this doesn't get rid of them, use a sieve after the sauce is ready (not too fine a sieve, and certainly not a cheesecloth).

Seventh. I find that the lighter the roux, the more easier it is to work with. For bechamel, I often don't brown it at all, just wait until it is hot enough. You may want to perfect your technique with a light roux before starting with the dark ones.

Eighth. Even with a light roux, you will probably fail often the first few times. Roux sauces need exercise until you get them right. So some dry training may be a good idea. Use all-purpose flour, the cheapest oil you can find, and heated water, make some batches of roux and throw them out. The cost will be negligible, and the probability that you ruin the next batch when you are under time pressure and/or are using expensive ingredients (and they can get actually expensive - consider a veloute made with roasted argan oil for 11 Eur/100 ml) is much lower.


Excessive water when cooking scallops This is partly a continuation of this question, since that one was already closed, but my question is about a specific problem encountered the last time I cooked scallops.

I got the pan up to a reasonable temperature and put the scallops in, and as they were cooking, TONS of water came out of the scallops and filled the pan.  I poured it out, continued cooking, and more water came out.  Several iterations later, I thought they were done, but they were still very raw inside, so we ended up tossing the batch (it definitely wasn't sushi grade).

Where did all the liquid come from, and is there any way to avoid that the next time?

I've had this issue with crappy supermarket scallops before. Alton Brown covered this. From http://www.goodeatsfanpage.com/Season9/scallops/scallop_trans.htm (section 5):

  dry scallops are usually ivory, or
  slightly pink, or even orange in
  color, not white. Of course, they
  don't actually look dry. The term
  refers to the fact that these lovely
  lozenges have not been soaked in any
  kind of chemical, say, sodium
  tripolyphosphate. This solution is
  used to help scallops retain moisture
  when frozen. Now there's nothing wrong
  with that per se, unless the scallop
  in question is not going to be frozen.
  You see, treating fresh scallops with
  S.T.P. causes them to gain moisture,
  making them heavier, which could be a
  good thing for a retailer, but it's
  never good for a cook. Because once
  this stuff is inside the scallop, they
  become very difficult to cook
  properly, and they are impossible to
  sear properly.

Diver scallops are probably good. Look for a bit of color when buying. The good news is that you probably aren't doing anything wrong, the scallops just aren't going to sear.

When you buy for searing, get scallops that haven't been treated with chemicals. Diver scallops are almost always untreated. Look for a bit of color, which is usually a sign of quality. Don't buy them if they are in a pool of milky liquid (as they usually are in the fish section of the supermarket). Buying diver scallops is also much more sustainable and eco-friendly, since large ships that freeze their stock at sea dredge the floor to get scallops. Divers are much more selective and do negligible damage to the ocean floor.


Is there a basic ratio for dill pickle brine which will be safe for any vegetable? I'm looking for a bare-bones dill pickle brine recipe (for safe canning, and long-term storage—not for refrigerator pickles). When I look online, I see all these really fancy recipes that try to jazz things up, but I don't see any basic recipes. How do you make basic dill pickle brine? I know I need to use water, vinegar, salt and dill, but I don't know the proportions. I would prefer not to use alum, if at all possible.

The brine will be for use with cucumbers, peppers, squash, okra and other things.

Essentially, food pathogens cannot grow below 4.0 pH and vinegar is significantly more acidic that that.  If you go here and scroll down a bit, there is a good, succinct explanation.  They use brines of 38 and 44 percent vinegar "for taste and safety".  With this basic information, it would be easy to create brines that are safe and suite your taste. You really don't need salt, sugar, spices or herbs for safety for vinegar pickles (though you do need salt for lacto-fermented pickles).  The acidity alone will do it.  Of course, you probably want your pickles to taste good, so those other ingredients will be necessary.  I should also add, that the site I linked to adds a cook step.  This makes the pickles safe immediately after cooking.  Without a cook step, the pickles will become safe over time, as the vinegar permeates the product, but may not be safe immediately.  It seems that the addition of a low temperature cook step is an interesting innovation that improves safety and the ability to maintain a crunchy product.


How do you know moldy cheese is not spoiled? This question made some people laugh, but I think it is a serious issue. There are types of cheese on which mold is cultivated, such as Rocfort cheese.

Unfortumately, some harmful mold may grow on old cheese, or one that was not treated under strict hygienic control. Most would assume the color is due to the characteristic mold, being unable to distinguish the good from the bad one.

Can I distinguish the two just based on smell color and taste?

Given the salt level, and level of "good" mold, not much can go wrong, and there is a very low risk of anything dangerous happening. It's probably going to dry out before it spoils.  Any storage that might happen is probably due to improper storage.  This is one case where smell and visual tests can help you determine spoilage. If you smell the aroma of ammonia, you probably have a problem.  If you see fuzzy mold, or mold that is off color, that is a good sign that there is some spoilage.  Any slimy cheeses should also be discarded.  Finally, if there are no obvious signs (or you see subtle signs) you can go ahead and taste it.  This is not normally something I would recommend, but again, with blue cheeses, there is a very low chance that something harmful is growing.  If it tastes off, that's not a good sign.


How to store Parmesan cheese? I recently lucked into about 4 lbs of a delicious Parmesan. Sadly it's already in 4 pieces, and so I'm pretty sure its going to be more prone to spoilage than a single large chunk. How does one go about setting up a block of dry, hard cheese for long term storage?

Also how long can I expect my cheese to retain its flavor?

If it's high quality, store it in the refrigerator in an air-tight container and try to use it as quickly as possible so you can enjoy it while it's fresh. There are always excuses to use loads of parmesan: cheese plates, pasta dinners, fondue, scones, grilled cheese sandwiches, etc. It should last for 3-4 months in a sealed container in the fridge. As time goes on it will get drier, but that's to be expected.

If you can't eat it in time, consider giving some away to a friend. If you wanted, you could freeze it as well, but I would only use it for baking or melting once thawed as some flavor and a lot of texture will be lost.


Make espresso in office kitchen- just have a kettle and microwave? I'd like to make espressos for lattes in my offices. However we don't have a stove or coffee maker -- just a kettle and a microwave, and that's about it.

Is it possible to make a decent espresso with just these appliances?

Great espresso requires these things:

Proper Coffee
Proper Grind
Water heated to the proper temperature (boiling is too hot)
A method to push water at a specific pressure, through the grinds.

You can solve #1 and #2 by buying your coffee already ground. I would suggest you start with Illy espresso or find a local reputable roaster. I would stay with Illy until you feel comfortable with the other variables.

You can solve #3 with your current equipment, but you may want a thermometer. You can boil the water, then let it sit for a few minutes and you should be ok.

Regarding #4, that is where you are missing the proper equipment. This is where I would suggest an AeroPress or MyPressi. They have been recommended strongly a number of times.

Aeropress:  http://aerobie.com/products/aeropress.htm

MyPressi: http://mypressi.com

My suggestion is a "starter" suggestion. You are going to find it difficult to make great espresso when you have so many variables to manage yourself. With the above setup, I believe you can make good espresso and that may be good enough. We have an Rancilio espresso maker at our office and about 10% of the people use it properly. The rest of the people do not make a great espresso, but they make "good enough" and they are happy with it.

EDIT:

If you want espresso, as officially defined, the Aeropress above won't get you there. This will get you close to it, with the resources you have, plus a minor purchase. If you like it, then it doesn't matter what it is called.


What's wrong with keeping frozen vegetables in refrigerator? The bags of frozen mushrooms and okra that I just bought got mistakenly put into the refrigerator for a few days instead of frozen. I want to eat them now.

What's the problem with letting bagged veggies thaw and then eating them? Is there a danger of food poisoning?

After a few days, they're almost certainly still safe. Most fresh vegetables will last a few days to a week in the refrigerator.

The quality might not be amazing, though. Frozen vegetables tend to get limp and soggy when they thaw; after a few days of being in the refrigerator, they might very well turn to mush once you cook them. But the chances of food poisoning are remote.


Would trying to boil blood that's been treated with an anticoagulant in an electric kettle break the kettle? I read here it isn't possible to boil milk in an electric kettle without a very high probability that it will break it, though someone also mentioned that there are electric kettles that can boil milk. So far so good. But what about blood that has had an anticoagulant added to it?

It's similar to milk in some ways and dissimilar in others. Would you be able to boil blood in an average kettle that has a coil inside? Would a kettle capable of boiling milk also be able to boil blood? Or is it simply not possible to boil blood with any kind of electric kettle?

The biggest issue I could see is that kettles usually aren't designed to be cleaned easily, and it would certainly need cleaning.

I'd expect some protein residue to burn onto the element (which would then smell dreadful if left hot for long).  This may lead to overheating as in the case of milk, but it would certainly be hard to clean and taint any water boiled in it afterwards.

For pasteurising you really wouldn't want it to boil - in fact one of the links in your comments notes that blood coagulates at lower temperatures than egg so you may have a very narrow window.  If an anticoagulant was used it would have to be not inly food safe but palatable.

In general, experimenting in the kitchen is easiest if done in easily-cleaned containers that are also easy to observe.  A kettle might be convenient but a saucepan is much more likely to be recoverable afterwards.


When to refrigerate bottled sauces? When the bottle doesn't say, how does one know when to refrigerate sauces?

For example: soy sauce, fish sauce, etc.

I usually assume that if the bottle doesn't specify (and you bought it off a shelf, not out of a refrigerated area), then it's safe to store in the cupboard.  You can also ask at the store if you want to be sure, though I suspect unless it's a small, specialty store with knowledgeable personnel, they will err on the side of caution and just tell you to refrigerate it.

For your specific examples: Soy sauce is definitely fine to store in the cupboard, though some brands will recommend refrigeration for "best quality".  Fish sauce I'd usually store in the fridge once opened.


Can I use green cardamomm pods and ground cardamom interchangeably? I have some green cardamom and would like to use it in dishes such as Indian-style rice pudding.  Can it be used in place of the standard ground cardamom bought in an American grocery store?

If by green you mean green cardamom pods, the short answer is yes. You will have to remove the outer green shell and grind the black seeds inside. The black powder available in stores is made from the same black seeds. It is always preferable to grind cardamom seeds fresh because ground cardamom tends to lose flavor with time.

I get an acceptable result if I grind the seeds with a mortar and pestle.


Is ice-encrusted frozen shrimp ok to eat? I bought some frozen shrimp on sale but didn't notice that there was a lot  of ice build-up on the shrimp (and in the bottom of the package) until I got home.

Does this indicate that the shrimp has thawed and been refrozen, or is this build-up just an indicator that the food has been in  a freezer for a long time?

This is how shrimp is frozen for transit and sale. The packaging should have a weight that includes the ice aswell as the shrimp, and a weight that is shrimp only weight: The weight after they have completely thawed.

There will also be a size grading. No of shrimp per lb or per KG based on whether they are
HOSO Head On Shell On
HLSO Headless Shell On or
Peeled
Break down here

The ice coating prevents freezer burn to the shrimp, so they'll be juicy when you defrost them rather than dry and hard! If the have freezer burn they'll be a opaque white discolouration on the surface. They're still OK eat like this - they're desecated / dried - they're just really tough.

Having said all this I am assuming that the packaging they're in in undamaged, before I say that they should be fine!


pita bread crust too hard I've baked my first pita bread in home, the pockets was almost well formed but the crust is hard, crunchy.

I've applied some variations because of time/number/ingredients restrictions, in particular:

I've used two part of white flour (farina 00) and one part of whole-wheat flour
I've made the pitas a bit thin, say 1/7-1/8 inch.
I've raised the dough for about 1 hour and 45 minutes.

Which are the factors that make the crust so crispy?

EDIT:

About the cooking method I cooked at about 500 F for 4 minutes, turn 2 minutes, the dough was puffed after about 2-3 minutes.

Cook only until it is fully puffed.  If that isn't enough, try folding them right after taking them out, and put them in a paper bag.  They'll steam themselves briefly and keep the crust soft.


Cheesemaking produces strange bicolored whey I made some farmer cheese (heat milk, add vinegar, strain curds). I didn't have a strainer big enough to handle the whole batch, so I used two smaller strainers. Weirdly, the two sub-batches produced very different-looking whey (see photo). Why would this happen, and are both batches of whey safe to consume?

Neither batch looks like the color would, in and of itself, look worrisome for the whey pressed from farmer cheese.  If there are no other worrisome factors (like an off smell, or unsafe handling), then I would probably assume that the whey, and the cheese, is safe to eat - though your risk tolerance may vary.

As for why the batches look different - it looks like one batch still contains some milk proteins emulsified in it.  I've seen very milky looking whey (it happens when the curd didn't set cleanly), so again, by itself it wouldn't make me hesitate.  I notice that that batch also looks bigger - which might just mean your batches were unevenly split, but could also indicate you got a little less of the milk proteins out of that batch, more remained to color the whey, and you perhaps got less curd out of that batch.

As for why the batches came out differently, I can only speculate.  It could be one batch had a bit longer to cure than the other (while you were processing the other batch, perhaps), so the curds with a bit more time separated from the whey a bit more cleanly.  It could be that the milky proteins were kind of hovering more at the top, or else settling down at the bottom of the curds-and-whey mixture, and so when you were pouring it into the two strainers, one poured clearer and one got all the extra milky coloration.  It could be that one strainer had a better filter to catch the milky proteins, or one strainer pressed harder and wrung out more of the whey - including those extra proteins.

If I'm right, then the whey on the right (whiter and more volume) should be able to be curdled again into some kind of whey cheese, to get the rest of the milky proteins out of it, while the one on the left would produce much less (if any) if re-curdled.

Again, you should be wary, and discard if there's off smells, tastes or textures, or if you have reason to believe the milk, cheese, or whey was unsafely handled.  But if the only difference is the color and proportion of leftover milk proteins, then both batches should be safe to use.


Making Habanero Jelly - Safety and Preventing Spoilage I have recently made a large batch of habanero jelly, and followed the recipe exactly (please see References). I am wondering, why is the final boil of the sealed jars necessary? I've already boiled the jars, lids, and locking mechanism, and the jelly itself is piping hot. Most recipes I've found insist that after sealing the jars, they need to be boiled, while sealed for five minutes. Is this to guarantee no micro organisms from the air remain?

References

Habanero Jelly Recipe, Accessed 2014-03-31, <http://allrecipes.com/recipe/habanero-pepper-jelly/>

In terms of killing pathogens, it is a belt and suspenders thing.

The additional processing ensures that any pathogens that entered the jars while you were filling them are killed.

More importantly, as Jefromi has reminded us, the additional boiling with the assembled and lidded jars causes the header air to heat up, expanding in volume and raising the pressure, and so some of the air will bubble out past the seal.  When the jars are cooled, the header air also cools, creating a partial vacuum, and pulling the lid down against the jar.  This is what makes the permanent seal--the ring is only there to hold the lid in place long enough for the processing.

So the processing is necessary to seal the jars, even if the food is already rendered perfectly safe from pathogens.

For more information on canning safety, see NCHFP's processing guide.


Ganache coating on a roulade What started out as a variation on a Sacher Torte has turned into a roulade (mostly to justify my recent purchase of a jelly roll pan). I think I've got it figured out exactly how I want to do it, except for one thing. I want to coat the whole thing in ganache, kind of like a giant Ho-ho. I'm going to be using pretty expensive chocolate, so I want to waste as little as possible. How can I evenly coat a cylinder with ganache? I'm going to roll the whole thing in chopped hazelnuts, so minor imperfections won't matter.

You'll definitely want to freeze the cake. Once it's frozen, use a spatula to apply a layer of ganache to the side that will be the bottom of the cake, then return it to the freezer. Once that has set, put the cake, ganache/bottom down on a cooling rack on top of a sheet of parchment paper or acetate. Slowly pour your melted ganache over the cake, guiding it with a spatula if necessary to make sure you get it all covered. You'll want the ganache to be just beginning to cool for a thicker coat. Once it's coated, you can roll it in nuts or whatever you like. You'll have a grid pattern on the bottom (depending on how solid the first ganache froze), and possibly some "feet", but the feet are going to be almost unavoidable.

Any extra ganache will be on the parchment or acetate and can easily be stored until you need it again.


Getting rid of raw onion taste without the frying process? I'm trying to find a reliable way to make a good base gravy for British Indian Restaurant (BIR) curry -- for those that don't know, this is essentially the adapted form of Indian curry cooking used in Indian takeaways in the Western world (I know, glamorous!).

Base gravy is essentially some alliums and sometimes tomatos / carrot / celery cooked for a long time and then blended to a soup-like consistency (after this, spices and other flavorings are added to achieved a finished dish). The basic sauce of the curry world, essentially.

The key determinant of success seems to be sweetening the onions. I can carmelize them using the standard technique (frying and deglazing), but I'd ideally like something that only uses boiling because it is less work (also, adding a lot of oil to base gravy and then again in the finished dish - to temper the spices - seems unhealthy to me).

And even in the more varied base gravy recipes in which carrots/cabbage/tomatoes have been involved, these ingredients have only been introduced towards the end of the cooking process after a base of well-sweetened onions has already been achieved.

TL;DR Can brown / sweet / onions that don't taste raw be achieved without frying?

Even if you start with frying, can the sweetening process continue to take place while the onions are boiling (once cooking temperatures are below what would be required for the Maillard reaction to take place)?

And if so, how long would the onions need to be boiled to achieve reliable results?

I notice that some base gravy recipes call for boiling the onions for very long periods of time (2 hours) but I didn't achieve what I expected using a slow cooker.

(I feel a little stupid even asking this, but take solace in the fact that learning to produce tasty, consistent base gravy is apparently something that it takes every Indian chef a while to master.)

I used to cook in a school kitchen that had a lot of problems so I had to figure out untraditional ways of doing things. About once a week I would chop 4 full size pans worth of onions and bake them on 400. Took quite a long time but you can walk away and check and stir them once an hour after 2 hours. I always mixed in a little oil but I don't know how necessary that was.


What's an effective way to remove this stubborn burnt-on oil from a saucepan? I have a stainless steel saucepan that has dark burnt on oil around the sides. I'm assuming it's from cooking oil since I use oil in this saucepan a lot.

It seems to just keep building up and up and I can't get rid of it.

This morning I tried boiling 1cup water with 1cup distilled vinegar for 5 minutes, then adding baking soda. I emptied the water, then tried to scour it clean but it made very little difference.

Is there some industrial strength stuff I can buy to help me out here?

Here's a pic: https://imgur.com/a/G2CkM

If your pan is truly stainless steel, you can get burned on brown and sticky oil off the sides with oven cleaner (US brand "EZ-off" or other brand). This product is definitely not recommended for other metals such as copper, aluminum, etc.. But true stainless steel, I have used it no prob. If you are in doubt, you can test a small amount out on an inconspicuous tiny spot at first.


Is a longer defrost better than microwave defrosting? I was taught the idea that if you let frozen meat thaw out over night then it is better for the end product that defrosting it in the microwave? Does this have merit or is it just an old wives tale?

Also does cooking frozen meat effect the taste or will it just take longer to cook?

Microwaving meat to defrost it tends to start cooking it at the edges and generally make it go weird and rubbery (scientific terms I know). So yes, it is better to defrost 'naturally' in the fridge, in terms of quality.

Freezing damages meat by bursting the cell walls as their water expands. This affects the texture more than the flavour. The damage is done when freezing, not cooking from frozen, so the latter should not effect taste. The main issue with cooking from frozen is that if the item is big (say, a roasting joint), the outside can be overdone by the time the middle gets up to a safe temperature.


What is the best way to keep fresh food good for a long trip? I would like to buy a few meals from a restaurant that would then later be reheated.
What would be the best way to safely transport pasta for 10+ hours while maintaining freshness and quality?
I was going to ask the restaurant to make it and freeze it.  Then we were hoping a cold bag (as purchased at Sam's Club) would keep it sufficiently cold.  Are there better (practical) options or is this endeavor ill-advised or unsafe?

Pasta does not freeze very well, so I would advise against asking the restaurant to freeze it. I would ask that they provide the sauce in one container, and the (uncooked) pasta in another. Those two will keep just fine in a cold box with ice for ~10 hours. If you're very concerned about food safety, you can keep a thermometer in the cold box and make sure it doesn't exceed fridge temperature. If the temperature starts to increase (unlikely in 10 hours with a decently insulated cold box) the car can stop for more ice. On arrival, you boil the pasta according to instructions (it's most likely fresh pasta, so it should only be boiled for 2-3 minutes) and gently heat up the sauce in a pan before combining and adding any toppings like cheese.


No Lava in my Pressure Cooked Lava Cake! I tried a youtube recipe for making lava cake in a pressure cooker. It really turned out very good except there was no lava, just cake. I think it was because I over cooked it. I'm not really sure. I preheated the water and then proceeded to pressure cook. I only pressure cooked for 5 minutes because it took 5-10 minutes to build the pressure.

For lava cake, cooked using any method, there is a relatively fine line between perfect and over cooked.  It appears that you crossed that line.


Is there an easy way to peel garlic? Is cooking garlic is the important part of curry.This huge use of garlic in our dishes wants the easy method to peel of garlic.

I don't know if this helps, but according to Food Network site

  Smashing whole garlic cloves is the best way to peel them: Place the cloves on a cutting board, hold the flat side of a chef's knife on top and give it a firm whack with the heel of your other hand. Use just enough force to split the skin and crack open the cloves; if you pulverize the garlic with a heavy-handed thud, it will be harder to peel.


Do I need to bake my pre-made pie crust? The objective was to quickly put together a banoffee pie without going through making the pie crust. But this store bought Graham cracker pie crust comes with some confusing instructions a t the back.This is the product with a picture. It says:

Ready to use.
For a golden crust, bake at 350 F for 5-7 minutes.

And then it goes on to outline some simple recipes for pies. What I understand from this is that there are two option, and I need to bake it only if I want the crust to develop a certain golden color. If I am strapped for time or any other reason I choose not to, I can use as is.
Is my interpretation correct or is it necessary that I bake it and let it cool before assembling my pie?

The pie crust is ready to use.  There is nothing in a graham cracker crust that requires baking, although a little toasting gives some color and deeper flavor.

If you are putting in a filling that will not be baked (a refrigerator pie), you might choose to "blind bake" (bake without filling) the crust for a few minutes to give it more color and flavor, but it is not required.

If your filling will require baking, there is little reason to bake the crust separately.


Which wines have a strong, bitter flavor? I experimented with adding wine and dark chocolate to a sauce. The result was generally OK, but the wine was not strong enough in comparison to the chocolate, I would have liked more of its taste to come through.

I knew that I will need a strong, assertive flavor for this combination, so I got a bottle of dry Cabernet Sauvignon, the label called it "spicy" and recommended it for dark sauces and beef dishes. But when I tried the wine, it turned out to be OK in taste, but too light for this application. I would have liked more bitterness and earthy notes, less fresh/sour taste.

What could have helped me find such a wine? Which grape variety (or region, for wines sold by region) would have been a better choice? Are there other signs which would have indicated such a taste? For example, I know that a Gran Reserva wine is supposed to have a better, smoother taste due to better production, but would it also have predicted a wine with a heavier taste? Would barrel-aged wine have had that taste?

If possible, I would like to hear about European wines, because I pay less for an European wine than for the same quality imported wine. But if you have continent-independent advice or can only name wines from other continents, that's still OK, there are lots of imports here.

I haven't cooked chocolate with regular wine per se, but my instinct is that to get the right marriage of flavour you really might need to consider alternative approaches with both a higher sugar and alcohol content: dark chocolate is a very powerful flavour that will obliterate most wine.

So I would try using something else wine-related but with a considerable higher sugar and alcohol content: Port and chocolate certainly can complement each other well - I would recommend a tawny port (I have used this combination as a sauce for a savoury dish). You might try sherry too, but this is slightly riskier territory in my opinion.

A further alternative depending on the dish you are cooking would be to pursue your current course add a third component that will help with the overall flavour structure, typically something bittersweet and with fruit, such as redcurrant jelly.


Can I source fat and sugar in a recipe from chocolate? I've been looking at chocolate flapjack recipes but they seem to contain relatively little chocolate, so I'm wondering if it's possible to replace more fundamental ingredients (butter, sugar) in a more basic recipe. A look at some milk chocolate suggests that it's 36%  fat (cocoa butter and milk) and 55% sugar by mass, which is similar to the ratio in the recipe (1:1 by mass) but a little low on fat.
Can I replace most of the butter and sugar in a flapjack recipe with milk chocolate? Will I need to add additional butter? Will the resulting mix still be able to integrate items like dried fruit?
I have consulted this answer about using chocolate to substitute sugar but want to know whether milk chocolate will be an adequate binder for flapjack, particularly if I add additional dried fruit.
I also note that milk chocolate is prone to burning at temperatures as low as <50 degrees C, flapjacks are usually cooked at much higher temperatures around 180 degrees C so perhaps this is a fatal flaw?

That recipe is merely chocolate-topped, so you will find better, probably using cocoa powder.
However that may still not go far enough.  I have tried to make chocolate chip flapjack by using dark chocolate chips and stirring into the melted mixture before baking. I did this after the adding the oats and after a bit of cooling, with as little stirring as possible.  They still melted into the mixture before I could get it into the tray.  Further cooling, and perhaps chilling the chocolate first might get round this.  They weren't very chocolatey, but the texture was still good.
If you tried to replace all of the butter and sugar with chocolate, you'd end up with an oat-loaded chocolate bar, rather than flapjack.  It would be too hard (unless you like your flapjack rock-solid, in which case the chocolate might burn).
Using your chocolate, you'd still have some butter (to keep the fat:sugar ratio the same), which would help, but the sugar in that particular recipe is all golden syrup.  Many recipes use a mixture of olden syrup and brown sugar, both of which bring  little flavour.
I see two routes to experiments:

take your favourite recipe, add cocoa powder (perhaps lose the apricots in the recipe you linked, and add 100g cocoa powder to start with).  I'd then drizzle with milk and/or white chocolate for the contrast in appearance.

I've just tested this.  My batch was smaller, only 150g of oats (and very similar to your more basic recipe), and I added 50g of cocoa powder.  That gave it a nice flavour along the lines of dark chocolate truffles.  The texture was good: I was aiming for chewy and got it, not crumbly or hard.  If I wanted even more of a chocolate flavour, rather than increasing the cocoa powder I'd add some milk chocolate

Substitute.  For ease I'll round everything and call your  chocolate 50% sugar and 33% fat by mass, your butter 100% fat (it's more like 80% with most of the rest water), and your golden syrup 100% sugar (again, it's nearly 20% water).  As a starting point I'd put in 200g of chocolate, taking out 100g of syrup, and 60-70g of butter.  I'd still melt the butter and sugar together, then stir in the broken up chocolate with the oats after turning off the heat.  Once mixed in the chocolate won't burn easily. You could also add cocoa powder of course.  This may be too stiff; adding some water to the melted butter and syrup, then the oats, then the chocolate might help.

Overall, flapjack is fairly forgiving.  If it falls apart, that's not ideal, but press it firmly into the tin and it shouldn't. Scoring when hot and cooling in the tin helps too.  If it's overcooked and hard, possibly just round the edges, this is nice smashed up and served as a topping for ice cream.  So give it a go and see what happens.


How can I be more frugal with salt when cooking (dried) pasta? When cooking pasta (from dried), I currently need to add a significant amount of salt to the water to add flavour.

As the pasta itself is extremely cheap, and the water is completely free - it can at times feel like throwing money down the drain as the majority of the salty water is discarded.

Are there any effective ways to reduce the amount of salt wasted during cooking, without simply undersalting the pasta? (e.g. adding salt after the pasta has been mostly drained)

Additional notes:

I'm open to making fresh pasta by hand, if salt can be added at this stage rather than in the water
The cost of salt should be considered a constant, that is - suggesting a cheaper salt is not valid.
Taste/texture quality should be maintained as best as possible.
Reusing the salted water is not acceptable, due to space constraints.

It's perfectly possible to cook pasta with no salt at all, so you may be able to wean yourself onto a lower salt level, reducing it gradually.

I don't know what, if anything, you're eating with your pasta, so getting that to have more flavour might be an option.

If you're actually eating plain pasta and want it salty but as cheap as possible, the first thing you should do is cook it in as little water as possible, and with a lid. This will also reduce your fuel bills (you can reduce them still further by turning off the heat for a few minutes in the middle of cooking). If you use half as much water as before, you could start by adding half as much salt, so the concentration in the water remains the same. To a first approximation, it's the concentration that matters here.

Even if you're eating absolutely at cheaply as possible already, I'd be very surprised if you could save significant amounts of money by using less salt, and if you can, you need to consider the health implications (I won't go into more detail). Think about how much in total you spend on it, because you can't possibly save more than that.


Can I use sunflower oil to make pesto? I'm used to using olive oil to make pesto. However, at the moment I have a bottle of sunflower oil instead of olive oil at home. Is there going to be a problem when I make pesto with that?

I am not serving any guests with this and am personally not too fuzzy about food. But I don't want it to taste terribly.

I see no problem with your plans. You will - obviously - get a somewhat different taste, depending on which type of sunflower oil you use.

For the refined, basically tasteless oil, the pesto might be a bit blander and the taste of your other ingredients more pronounced.
If you are using a cold-pressed unfiltered oil, you'll get the nutty undertones of the sunflower seeds, which will work well with a classic basil / pine nut / parmesan type of pesto.

Note that many commercially sold pesto jars use only a small amout of genuine olive oil and often also skimp on the pine nuts, cheaper neutral oils and sunflower seeds are a frequent stand-in. So you should be absolutely fine.


How do I get rid of excess flour on my dried pasta shapes? I dried some cavatelli I made with egg dough (I know it's usually made with AP, semolina and water but I was improvising), however, I had to add some excess flour around the shapes to prevent them from sticking during the drying process. I'm reluctant to cook them with the flour stuck to them so as to prevent the dreaded gummy layer from forming on the outside of the pasta. Should I wash the shapes when they're dried? What's the best course of action? Thanks.

Brush the flour off using a soft cooking brush (or even a clean paintbrush). It might take a while, but as with making pasta itself, it's a slow and involved process which eventually gets faster. You might want to consider doing this over a baking sheet with a wire rack.


What kind of bread crumbs is being used here? (picture and video) I am trying to make Gordon Ramsay's Bloody Mary Linguine. The recipe here has a nice close up picture of the finished product. There are big pieces of white bread crumbs, fried to golden brown in a pan. In his video, he pours out a big fluffy pieces of white bread crumbs from a jar.

What kind of bread crumb is this? I went out and bought a bottle of "plain bread crumbs" but it turned out to be very fine, sand-like crumbs that looked like this. I understand that the color comes from the brown crust, but what about the texture?

Because the crumbs are too fine and sand-like, it seems pointless cooking them like what the recipe recommends. What kind of crumb would give me the same texture?

I would be very surprised if he bought ready-made bread crumbs.

What would be normal in this part of the world (and indeed, what it looks like in the video) is to just get a normal white loaf (ie. sliced bread for making sandwiches) and whizz it in a food processor. This way also allows you to get whatever size crumb you desire.


What kind of cabbage is on my photo? I bought it very cheap during the closing of the grocery market. The seller said that it was some kind of lettuce, but it tastes like upper leaves of cabbage.

It appears to be curly endive which is a lettuce. It is crisp and has a bitter flavor. Dole Know Your Lettuce


My Alfredo sauce always ends up gooey I’ve been trying to make authentic Alfredo sauce using this recipe.  I’m normally pretty good with sauces, but this one is eluding me.

I simmer the pasta water and melt the butter, and everything emulsifiers fine, but as soon as I add the Parmesano-Reggiano I end up with a gooey mess that sticks to the whisk and the bottom of the pan.

I’ve tried freshly grated cheese, cheese grated by the store and several different brands of cheese same result each time.

Am I just doing something wrong in my process?

Please do see the excellent answer to the Cacio e Pepe question, which applies to your future efforts.

The recipe you link to is just bad, which is why it's not working for you.  Boiling the butter and cheese in the pasta water is wrong, and will always result in clumps of stringy cheese.  So the answer is to not use that recipe.

The tradition for all emulsified cheese sauce pasta involves tossing the hot pasta in a bowl with the cheese and a little pasta water.  Fettucine Alfredo is no exception to this; it just uses butter as well as the cheese.  In all emulsified cheese recipes, it's critically important that the cheese not get above 180F/80C, or you will get stringy clumps like you did.

Some examples of recipes that do work, and show this principle:

Serious Eats traditional recipe and commentary
Saveur
Memorie Di Angelina

Then go and read the other answer linked above, because all of those tips for cacio e pepe also apply here.


Cooked bacon too salty I Have already cooked in the slow cooker overnight the bacon and forgot to soak.  It is now really really salty and unfit to eat.  How can I solve now and get rid of the salt.

Thanks

Bernie

I'd cut it up into small pieces, wash it in cold water (partly to cool it, though this will get rid of some salt), dry it and freeze it in small portions. Then the bacon can be added to dishes which might get some salt anyway, such as pasta sauces and casseroles (chicken chasseur).

It should be labelled so you know to use less salt when cooking, or less stock, or a lower-salt stock (which is my default anyway).

If you it want to use it immediately I suggest slicing it (assuming you're starting with a bacon joint from the fact you're slow cooking it) and then boiling it in water for a few minutes.


How to use pie weights? Should something be placed between pie weights (whether using rice, beans, or metal/ceramic beads) and the pie dough?

Should the dough still be pricked with a fork?

How do you remove the weights?

I looked up various advice elsewhere, used beans as pie weights with nothing between them and the dough, and I tried to pour them out. I lost the crust. Help!

EDIT: How much material should I use as a weight? (what measurement of rice, beans, etc.)

Yes.  You can either use aluminum foil that has been lightly sprayed with some Pam or rubbed with butter OR a piece of parchment paper cut into a larger circle than the pie.  It will create an overhang that you can use to pull out the weights or beans.

If you try to bake it with the beans on the surface it will cook directly into the dough and your shell will be ruined.

I still prick the bottom of the crust because steam and air will still be trapped underneath the pie weights.  When you remove the weights to finish the baking of the crust, if it has not been pricked you could still end up with pockets and air bubbles as that part of the crust is still a bit raw.


Left Hot fudge on counter overnight I Left a the jar of open mrs. richardson hot fudge out last night, is it still good? It does say refrigerate after opening. Is it still good?

This is impossible to say if it is good or not for sure. There are many many factors that come into this, which make it impossible for us to tell - How long it was left out? What you did with it before (did you pour out or dip a spoon in, leave the lid off? etc.). How long has it been stored since you opened it? These are just a few of the more obvious questions... Note that I'm not expecting you to answer these, as answering them still won't allow us to give you a definitive answer.

However for informational purposes:

There are some factors for food safety that play a role here - namely the water activity of the food stuff. This plays a role in how likely bacteria and other contaminants are to grow in the food. Basically the lower the water activity, the less likely they are to grow, and this is due to the availability of water in the food for the contaminant to grow.

Most bacteria need a water activity around 0.9, but can go as low as 0.7 (1.0 is pure water, pure sugar would be 0.0), yeasts and fungi can grow as low as 0.6, depending on the substrate in which they are growing.

Based on this document (PDF file), the water activity of your sauce is likely to be about 0.8 (basing this on chocolate syrup in the table), which means that most bacteria will be inhibited, but many yeasts and molds will not be so inhibited.

Yeasts will happily (and rapidly) grow at room temperature, while molds are generally slower growing and less obvious until they reach the fruiting/sporulating stage. In the mycelial phase molds will penetrate large areas of the food before showing the obvious sporophytes (the green/blue spots you might find on spoiled fruit or bread). Picking the sporophytes off does not remove the mold, which will have extended several inches beyond the visible spots.

While yeasts usually only make food less palatable and odd-looking, they are opportunistic pathogens (i.e. if you are sick they are more likely to colonize and make you sicker). Molds on the other hand can produce mycotoxins that can make you very very sick, and even kill if you consume enough.

So - it is possible it is fine, but we can't say for sure. The general rule is: "if in doubt, throw it out".

Edited to add a bit more on yeasts and molds.


Is there a difference between paneer butter masala, matar paneer, malai kofta gravy? It seems to me that although you can find different recipes for each of the dishes described above, the gravy is basically the same, with the only difference for example between paneer butter masala and matar paneer is that matar paneer has peas in it.

(The gravy I'm taking about - frying cumin seeds, onions, ginger garlic paste, tomato, adding ground cumin, ground coriander, chilly powder, blending with cahshew paste and then adding cream and kasuri methi)

Am I correct in assuming this?

In addition - It seems to me that the same thing could be said about aloo gobi, channa masala, baingan bharta, and many other dishes - Basically the same frying of onions, ginger garlic paste and tomatoes, but with a different ingredient added at the end (for example eggplant for baingtan bharta).

If the recipes are actually the same, then it would mean a lot of the Indian dishes have a similar taste... I'm interested in the dishes as they are cooked in authentic Indian restaurants.

Paneer butter masala, malai kofta gravy and matar paneer are part of the North Indian cuisine where the base is mostly the same with some minor variations (like excluding cumin seeds).

So essentially, you have a common base gravy for sweeter dishes like these and then you have a spicier gravy for other dishes.
Many Indian cuisines have this pattern. For example, Gujarati cuisine will have red chili powder, turmeric, garlic-ginger, mustard seeds, cumin powder, fenugreek, cilantro and jaggery, etc. as a general base with some additions and subtractions of the vegetable ingredients.
Similarly, you'll be able to find common base gravies across Indian recipes and cuisines.

But, when you say:
"In addition - It seems to me that the same thing could be said about aloo gobi, chana masala, baingan bharta, and many other dishes - Basically the same frying of onions, ginger garlic paste and tomatoes, but with a different ingredient added at the end (for example eggplant for baingan bharta)."

You are making a generalization which is not necessarily true. These recipes can vary quite a bit based on regional tastes, specially baingan ka bharta. This dish is a signature dish and needs a seasoned hand to deliver it right.

So, you are right when you say there is a common pattern across recipes.
But certain dishes like aloo gobi will exist in different forms across the country. But rest assured malai kofta, paneer butter masala and matar paneer are only prepared in the North Indian style.


Why are holes punched into rice packages? When you buy imported rice in the store, there are often rows of tiny holes punched into the plastic bags. What is that for? Doesn't it contribute to spoiling and spreading of bugs?

The bags are less likely to burst when the air can move in and out of them. Last thing you want is a bunch of bags to pop during shipping.


How to determine whether oven thermometer is accurate? If there's a difference between what an oven is set to and what an oven thermometer shows, how do I know which one to trust? Reviews of oven thermometers suggest that not all oven thermometers give accurate readings. The reviews usually involve using three or four different thermometers and/or specially calibrated scientific precision instruments to gauge accuracy, but most home cooks / bakers don't have access to precision instruments or multiple thermometers. So I'm not sure how to determine whether my thermometer is accurate.

Here's the full story. I recently purchased a countertop Hamilton Beach toaster / convection oven. Dishes I prepare in it take significantly longer to bake/cook than the stated times. If something says "bake for 35 minutes or until a toothpick," etc., it usually takes 45 minutes or so for the dish to be done. I suspected the oven might be running cold, so I purchased a Rubbermaid oven thermometer to check. It's the first oven thermometer I've owned.

I tried the thermometer in the HB oven on both the convection and regular settings. I also tried it on the oven in my fifteen year old GE electric range. According to the thermometer, the GE oven is accurate: if I set it at 350, the thermometer shows 350. The Hamilton Beach one is apparently too hot by 10 degrees or so, on both regular and convection: if I set it at 350, the thermometer shows 360. I was surprised at this, because as I said the catalyst for my purchasing the thermometer was that I thought the Hamilton Beach might be running colder than the chosen temperature.

I've noticed that on the GE too I have to bake things for longer than the stated time, though to a lesser extent. I've always assumed it's just because recipes are conservative and err on the side of not burning food. If there's a range of times ("Put in a 350 degree oven for 45 to 50 minutes"), cook times on the GE are usually at midpoint to higher end of that range.

The Hamilton Beach does give off heat rather noticeably when in use. I'm wondering the higher actual temperature is an imperfect way for the manufacturer to compensate for heat escaping from the unit. As a countertop device, it's not anywhere as efficient as the very solid GE.

But I'm also wondering about the oven thermometer itself. After all, there's no guarantee that the thermometer isn't off! How do I know whether the oven thermometer is accurate? It's at least possible that the Hamilton Beach is entirely accurate, the GE runs ten degrees cold, and the thermometer readings are ten degrees too warm.

Use a pot of water!

Find out the lowest temperature of your oven (needs to be at least below 212 F for it to work). Preheat the oven to this heat
Heat water on the stove to a temperature let's say, about 10 F below the oven temp. Use a candy thermometer and leave it in the water, but not touching the bottom of the pan.
Once the oven is preheated, transfer the pot of water to the oven, and leave the candy thermometer on the whole time.
Periodically check the temperature of the water. It should asymptotically approach the temperature of the oven. If the water temp closes in on the temp of the oven, the oven thermometer is calibrated!
You can verify by checking the temperature on the opposite end. Warm the water on the stove to 10 F above the oven temp, and watch the candy thermometer go down to the oven temp.

Note: it is very important to get the water on the stove close to the oven temp. Water has a very large specific heat capacity and will take quite a while to heat up in the oven, as it takes a large amount of energy to heat water.


Do both large and small fish bones soften with pressure cooking? I have seen people say pressure cooking and tin canning only softens bones in small fish making them edible, however I also read it works for bigger fish.  Do you know which is correct and why?

The bigger the bone, the less you will be able to soften the bone.  You can increase the temperature at which you pressure cook or can the fish, and that will allow for more softening on larger bones. Your results will depend on the tools you use, hot hot you can get them, etc. Give it a try and you'll figure out how big of bones you can soften.


Which products are recommended to clean and polish a cooking pot? I have a metal (probably stainless steel based on its weight) cooking pot that seems to be getting old. I am not worried about the outside, but on the inside, I can see:

Shallow scratches
Small oxide dots
Overall a darker (yellowish/brownish) color that looks as if it is always uncleaned

The usual tools I use (soap and a sponge) do not seem to work well against that... No matters how hard I try.

I saw a video of someone cleaning and polishing a saucepan and I wondered which products he was using.

At first (1:40) he uses a white cream cleanser and he says "calcium carbonate". It looks to me like ceramic glass cleaner, but it may be completely different, and he only uses that for the outside, so maybe it is not safe for the inside?
Then (2:23) he uses stainless steel polisher to make it shiny

I have a couple of questions:

Is that the recommended way to go?
Can I use any stainless steel polisher or any cleanser considering this is a cooking pot? (I plan to cook food on it... :-D)
What are the generic names of those products? Or would you recommend only specific products/brands? I live in Spain and I may be unable to find certain brands if they are local to your country.

Aluminium rusts white but that looks like stainless steel which if it rusts will rust brown. Not sure what the residue is. Have you tried just simmering water for a while?
Either way, I would just scrub it with soap and steel wool. The scratches might cause you problems if you decide to scramble eggs in it but since it's generally going to be hot when in use and dry when not, it's not going to be a food safety issue.
If you really want to use a product then use something based upon sodium hydroxide and neutralize it with vinegar or something if it feels slimy when you're done.


What regular maintenance is best for a Japanese knife? My amazing fiancee just got me a Nenox gyuto as a graduation present. (You can't have her, she's mine.) Until now, I've only had Western knives. I understand that I should never use a steel on this beauty. The question is, what regular maintenance can/should I be doing?

I cook every day, frequently more than once, and cutting fresh fruits and vegetables is a major part of that. So this knife will see 10-45 minutes of active use, sometimes very active, every single day.

Korin's website has little to say on the matter.  This post suggests that I should not be sharpening more than once a year. I find it hard to believe that the knife will remain as sharp as new for a year. But what else should I be doing? Is there some other honing strategy? Or perhaps a waterstone that is appropriate for frequent use? If so, how often is frequent?

As I am sure you can tell by looking at it, your Japanese knife is primarily sharpened only on one side.  As a result, the cutting edge is angled more steeply.  Japaneseknives on Wordpress has some simple pictures illustrating this.  This asymmetry is why you can't reliably use a honing rod on it, which relies on swipes to both sides of the edge to keep the blade smooth and free of burs.

The steeper angle makes the blade sharper, but you could say it is a double edged sword that can also make it prone to wearing more rapidly, depending upon how it is treated.  As a result, sharpening only once a year may not cut it.  There is another page on Korin's website that might be more helpful to you, including an informative video.  L'Ohira's Knife Care & Sharpening page has some good tips on the type of kit you might want to use, including 3 grades of water stones, though you may or may not need the course all that much:

Arato: A coarse grit stone used mainly for damaged edges and for creating new sharp edges.
Nakato:  A medium grit stone used for minor repairs and creating  sharp edges.
Shiage:  A fine grit finishing stone.

Much of that information is also covered in the Korin sharpening video.
Also, since the knife is carbon steel, it can rust.  Based on your question, it sounds like you probably take good care of your knives anyway, but you should especially make sure you clean this one promptly when dealing with acids.


Freezing soup, then transferring it to bags So I don't freeze the soup directly in the freezer bags. I find the hassle of getting the liquid soup into the bags too messy. But other people may be better at that.

I freeze the soup in small containers that are freezer safe.

Then so I don't have to own like 50 of these small containers, I take the frozen soup out of the container.  And wrap it somehow before putting it back into the freezer.

I'm thinking placing multiple hunks of frozen soup into the same large freezer bags is probably going to be the easiest way for me to do it,

But I'm wondering if I should at least wrap the frozen soup in Saran Wrap before placing them in the freezer bag.  What would be the benefit of wrapping them in Saran Wrap?

Also, does anyone have an easy method of getting the frozen soup out of the small containers? I'm currently using 2-cup size round glass containers made by Pyrex.  They may actually be made of Pyrex, not glass. I'd need to go check.  But how I get the soup out of the containers is turn them upside down and run hot water over them until I can push the frozen soup around and get it to fall out. It's kind of a pain.

Many suggestions for you:

line the containers with the bags, folding the edges down over the container. Pour the soup into the supported bag. When it's frozen it should be easy to remove and you have the container back.
buy plastic (for flexibility) containers, 6 or 8 of them. Freeze in these instead of bags. It's easier to pop the frozen soup out of them, and you don't mind if they are "occupied" in the freezer until the soup is eaten.
as above but you pop them out frozen into a large freezer bag. I do this with large-batch soups like pumpkin or borscht and don't need to wrap each soup block within the larger bag
use something completely different, such as a bowl that you might eat of, to support the bag while you're pouring the soup in. Seal the bag, take it out of the bowl, and lay it on its side to freeze. Later, stand them up in the freezer for easier sorting

Pretty much anything would be better than rigid glass containers that you don't want to leave in the freezer.


How long can savory cream cheese dishes last? I made this recipe here and have some of the black bean, onion, cream cheese mixture left.  My question is .. how long will this last?  For some reason, the thought of heating down the cream cheese to become a sauce will not last very long..

Thanks for any recommendation!

According to North Dakota State University, cream cheese, opened should last about two weeks between 32'f and 40'f. For the cheese itself, unopened, they recommend to "Use within one week of the 'best when purchased by' date". Unfortunately, in this situation, you cannot simply cut away the mold from the cheese since it is a mixed dish.

When you factor in the fact that the cheese was not only unwrapped, but heated along with other components, and likely sat out for some time on the counter in addition to in the pan, with added protein (the black beans especially), the math for how long cream cheese can last in your fridge shrinks and shrinks.

Personally, I would follow the cooked meat guidelines to be on the safe side. This means that well-wrapped leftovers, quickly taken out of the danger zone range of temps (40'f - 140'f), should last for 3-4 days after cooking.


black residue in tea kettle I have a stainless steel tea kettle, with sprayed on porcelain enamel.  The interior is sprayed black, with little white dots.  A very common design in the old ovens, and in many tea kettles.

When I wipe the interior dry, black comes off on the paper towel. This happens less if the kettle is emptied, but it still happens.

When I scrubbed the inside with barkeepers friend, the enamel itself came off, and left brown streaks.

What is the black that came off in the first place?  Is it enamel or oxide.  What is the brown streak?

** Update **

I had the tea kettle replaced by the manufacturer, but the same thing is happening again - not to the point where it would show up in a photo., but it is the black enamel finish with the white dots, and some of the white dots are gone. I was thinking of getting a water testing kit, and simply testing the water after its been sitting in the kettle to see what if anything is leaching. The reason I don't just get a plain stainless steel is that this is very, very, very pretty and that does matter to me. Not enough to ingest toxins though. Not sure what to test for, but I will order some kind of kit. It is not paint, it is sprayed on enamel - that's what the manufacturer said.

The black that originally came off is most likely mineral deposits. Those can easily be removed with vinegar or lime remover.

The second part is a bit concerning and I would throw the kettle away since I don't think this is true enamel but possibly just paint. Enamel is very tough (think your teeth) and is hard to destroy. If you are able to scrub it off that is not a good sign. Then the brown underneath is problem rust from the metal. I would buy a new pot that is completely stainless steel.


Is my kimchi still okay? My kimchi (still in the fermenting crock) tastes very vinegary.   Is it still good to jar & refrigerate?   I’ve made it a number of times throughout the winter (our home is old & cool).

IF you've made it with the correct amount of salt, it is likely fine.  Kimchi (all lacto-ferments) will continue to ferment.  It may get too funky for your liking, but it will not be a hospitable environment for anything that will make you sick. It will not "go bad", in the sense that it could make you sick.  If it was under salted, all bets are off.  If it gets slimy or is growing fuzzy mold, you probably want to discard.


interval cooking vs regular cooking meat I've heard that some restaurants use a method of cooking steaks (or other meats) called "interval cooking", where rather than cooking the meat to just below the final temperature and letting it rest to the final temperature, you cook at say 2 minutes on, then rest for 2 minutes, then 2 minutes on again, then rest for 2 minutes and so on, until you reach the final temperature.

Apparently this promotes more even cooking, as the meat has a chance to reach internal equilibrium during the cooking process as opposed to just at the end. Has anybody tried this approach and will interval cooking actually promote a notable difference assuming the meat is rested for the same amount of time at the end using a regular cooking method?

This would be essentially the same as cooking at a lower temperature.

It would also require considerable labor and handling, which is the single scarcest resource in a restaurant kitchen.

Modern restaurants, except in areas where the regulatory environment is hostile, can use sous-vide cooking methods to achieve much the same goal:  pre-cooking a steak to its final temperature, where it is held, and then only seared for service, with far less labor and fuss, and better, more consistent results.

In googling "interval cooking", this question itself was the number one hit, and nothing else was relevant.  While I won't go so far as to say no restaurant would do this, it certainly does not have significant traction.


Why are nectarine pits different colors? Some nectarines have a dark reddish pit, while others have a much lighter tan color. Why is this? Are they different species?

They are not different species (all nectarines belong to the species peach), they are different cultivars. It is normal for different cultivars of a fruit to look and taste different.