Is there residual alcohol in various vinegars? How much, if any, alcohol is left when vinegar is made from alcoholic products? Does this differ between different types of vinegar, such as malt, red wine, white wine and spirit vinegars?
The context is a desire to absolutely avoid alcohol.  This includes de-alcoholised products that may contain trace quantities.

Yes, there is some alcohol in vinegar.
Estimates of Ethanol Exposure in Children from Food not Labeled as Alcohol-Containing, Gorgus et al., Journal of Analytical Toxicology 2016  discusses a range of sources of alcohol exposure, some of which might be surprising.
Among them is white wine vinegar, which is quoted as having 2.6 g/l.  That's around 0.25% ABV (vinegar is mostly water, and acetic acid has a similar density to water, so close enough). I can see no reason for other real (brewed) vinegar to have appreciably less. Consuming a unit/standard drink of alcohol would mean drinking large quantities of pure vinegar (a UK unit is 8 g of pure ethanol, so that would mean drinking about 3 litres of vinegar), so for the majority of people this wouldn't be an issue; indeed the human body produces several grams per day (Wikipedia link, but see the cited source for this claim for a full review).
However if someone is trying to completely avoid consuming any alcohol, vinegar would seem to be off limits.  There are alternatives, such as "non-brewed condiment" a malt vinegar substitute made from industrially produced acetic acid, water, and flavours. Similar products may legally be allowed to be sold as vinegar in some countries - they should be cheap, and include "acetic acid" on the list of ingredients (see Wikipedia's article for links to other languages).
It appears to be possible for consumers to buy food-grade acetic acid at high concentrations. This would need to be diluted significantly. One brand I found was described as 70% acetic acid; as common vinegar is no more than about 5%, you'd need something like 1 part of that 70% product to 12 parts water (or fruit juice, or a mixture of the two) and undiluted it should be handled as a nasty chemical rather than as a food (protect eyes and skin, avoid inhaling fumes).
Industrial production is done directly, without the alcohol intermediate step, so can be assumed to be alcohol-free and would also allow some distance from the alcohol industry, if that's related to the motivation.
Returning to the paper I linked at the start, some other foods may be  surprisingly high in alcohol.  Some breads, for example have over 1% by weight (though others have no detectable alcohol).  Very ripe fruit has some, and fruit juices contain tiny quantities, with the highest figure detected in the juices around 1/3 of that in vinegar, at less than 0.1%, though of course fruit juices are often consumed in larger quantities than vinegar.  Perhaps the natural level found in fruit juices could be regarded as a practical threshold to consider functionally zero, barring any medical reason to go still further.


Can I melt butter to make compound butter, and subsequently refrigerate? I want to make compound butter using my powerful blender. I am having trouble doing this with solid or soft butter because the blender cannot create a vortex and mix as well compared to blending with liquids. I was thinking of melting the butter and adding ingredients (e.g., shallots) and blending it into a beautiful liquid, and then refrigerating it. What would this do?

No need to go power tool.

Just use soft butter, a spatula and your herbs and/or spices; mix them all up in a regular bowl.

If you melt butter it will separate the fat from the milk solid and will never solidify after that.


Why do I need to cook milk in a cast iron pan before first usage? I bought a cast iron grill pan from a famous Swedish four-letter store. They suggested boiling milk with some vegetable oil before starting to use the grill.

Why is this necessary, and what's the difference from just washing it with water?

I've never heard of milk being used to season a pan and so I am a little skeptical of it.

Pan seasoning is always done with fat that is heated until it polymerizes. This creates a very hard non-stick surface that makes cooking easier and protects the pan from rust.

See this question for more about how to season your pan:

What's the best way to season a cast iron skillet?

See the article linked in one of the answers:

http://sherylcanter.com/wordpress/2010/01/a-science-based-technique-for-seasoning-cast-iron/

This process, while slightly more labor intensive, produces the best seasonings I've ever seen.


Italian Meringue with Non-Simple Syrup? I'm trying out making macarons, and I'd like to get some strawberry flavor incorporated, but I don't have access to flavored powder.

I've seen some recipes that use an Italian meringue instead of French, and I'm wondering if I could just make the meringue with a flavored syrup instead of just simple syrup? Like maybe strawberries and sugar instead of just plain water and sugar. I'm sure I'd need to run it through a sieve, but are there any chemical reactions due to the berry juice I need to worry about?

Have you tried looking for strawberry compound? The only issue perhaps with cooking the strained strawberry juice is that the flavour might become less intense! This could easily be fixed by putting strawberry jam or compound inside the macaron alongside whatever other filling you are going to put in it.

Strawberry compound is awesome, a ton of flavour in a very small amount, so it is perfect for applications where you don't necessarily want to incorporate too much additional liquid. But I do think it is a 'specialty' product. I have never seen it in a store (even specialty), you would probably need access to a good supplier or go online. Worth it though.

On second thought, there are usually 'essential oils' or natural flavouring, I am sure there is strawberry - which would be effective to add to your meringue during last whip. Add some food colour as well, and voila!


Where can I buy Glico Curry online in the United States? My wife and I brought back a box of Glico Medium Curry that we purchased on our trip to Canada this past year.  I think we bought it at the Daiso store in Vancouver.  After trying it for the first time just recently, we both fell in love with it and now can't imagine not having it occasionally.   Unfortunately, I can't find anywhere to purchase it, either locally, or online.  There are many other brands of Japanese Curry that are available online, but I'm afraid they might not taste the same as the one we had from Glico.  Is there somewhere where I can buy this product online, or would any of the other brands that I could get locally be any bit similar?  (Such as Vermont Curry, or S&B Golden Curry?)  I live in Arkansas.

Thank you!

Wow, this is hard to find. I know I've seen it in some asian grocery stores, but none of the online groceries that I could find seem to list it, even the venerable H-Mart. No Amazon sellers (usually a good source for odd groceries) right now, either.

Fortunately I found one source for you, eBay seller "hirokojapan" has a persistent listing for Glico Curry Sauce, $5.99 each, $3.95 shipping to the US from Osaka, JP. You select the flavor you want, from Curry, Curry Sweet, Curry Hot, Stew or Rice.

The individual listing link will expire eventually, but future readers can look up the seller directly and see if they are listing a similar item (or message them with a request).


How long is wheat good for after harvest? I'm not sure if I am asking this in the right place.

I am wondering, if winter wheat is harvested from mid-May to mid-July, and spring wheat is harvested from mid-August to mid-September, then how long is it good for before it gets milled?

I can give you the traditional aproach my local mill uses:

Harvest season is just a few weeks per year. The mill will during that time buy the amount of grain they need for one year - from harvest to harvest. The grain gets sorted, tested, dried and cleaned if necessary, and is then put into storage.

During the year, it gets milled. The two factors here are capacity and demand. A mill works year-round, it makes no sense to let the machines stand idle for a long time. So there is a maximum capacity they can process per year - and a good management won't buy more. Also, there are times of higher demand (think holiday baking) which need more flour to be milled in advance. The grain should rest for a few weeks after harvest for better quality. I'm no scientist, but I trust my miller on this.

A good mill will strive to sell the flour as soon as possible after it is milled, partly for economic, but mostly for quality reasons. While especially white flour won't spoil for months (recommended: one year), darker or especially whole grain flours get rancid quickly and quality decreases. (E.g. changes in taste and moisture content and enzymatic degradation which influence the baking process and results.)

The whole grains on the other hand can easily be stored for well over a year, multiple years in fact.

Big industrial mills work in a similar way, just on a way larger scale and the flour has a longer time from mill via stores to the customer.


What is this strange tea? What sort of tea is this and how is it drunk? It doesn't look like any tea I am familiar with.

That looks like an herbal tea, also called a tisane.

You brew it the same way as regular black tea.  Most tisanes call for a steep time of 5-10 minutes and boiling water.  Judging by the scale of the fingers, there's enough in the picture for about a cup.


oil shimmering or just smoking? So im relatively new to cooking and im reading all the technique focused books I can. I noticed that for the same exact goal (ie browning a piece of meat) some books call for you to heat the oil until it shimmers (Salt Fat Acid Heat)) whereas others call for you to heat the oil until it is just smoking (ie most of the America's Test Kitchen books). Can anyone clarify which is correct? Or are there any guidelines for knowing whether your oil should be shimmering or "just smoking"? Maybe im overthinking this and the difference is negligible? Thanks!

It doesn't matter. All you need is for the oil to be properly heated. You can use the cue which is most convenient for you - shimmering, smoke, an IR thermometer, smell, throwing stuff into the pan, or your spidey sense that suddenly reminds you of the pan after enough time has passed. Go with whichever is most convenient for you, they are all correct.
That being said, shimmering is usually visible in stainless steel pans, but more difficult to notice in pans with a dark bottom such as seasoned iron pans or PTFE coated ones, so it might not be the easiest one to pick.


What exactly does carbonated water do? I just saw a deal on Sodastream system on bfads, and as someone who was never especially enamored with the idea of carbonated drinks, it dawned on me - I have no idea what the actual point of carbonating drinks is, from culinary viewpoint.

Is it just so the bubbles tickle the mouth? Or does it change the taste or the culinary experience in more ways?

Carbonation produces the textural effects associated with effervescence, first of all, and a lot of people find that texture enjoyable.  Texture is a huge part of the culinary experience and affects how flavorful compounds contact your tongue, thus affecting its perceived flavor.

Carbonation also raises the acidity of a beverage slightly, due to the presence of dissolved carbonic acid in the solution.  As @Joe mentions in comments, this can promote the release of gasses with additional dissolved flavorful compounds.  All of this can have a suppressing or enhancing effect on other flavors (a topic which is absurdly complicated and still being explored by food scientists much smarter than I).

Basically, the point of carbonating is similar to the point of pureeing something, or the point of dehydrating it.  It's a fun and easy way to change how you experience the food--or beverage in this case.


How to prevent minced chicken from sticking and forming a single lump? I am not an expert in cooking, so I would like to ask for advice on how to cook minced chicken so that it doesn't stick together. What I want is separated minced chicken as small particles that I can spoon and use for pasta sauce or other dishes.
Thanks!

The water method works (it keeps the pan from getting above 100°C), but the more generic solution is just to cook it over lower heat, and keep it moving around as it's cooking. (and this works for any ground meat product).

If you let one lump brown too much and form a crust, it'll fuse that bit together.  You then need to break up that bit (I like a spatulas, so just flip over the lump so the browned side is up, and then either squish it or chop at it 'til it's broken down to a smaller size.  Reducing the heat while you're cooking will give you more time to break up lumps before they've fused together.

I generally turn the stove to medium heat, and then add the meat before it's fully pre-heated.  I give it a couple of seconds to brown, then flip the whole blob over and break it up so it's spread throughout the pan ... wait a bit for the bottom to brown again, and then continue flipping and breaking it up.

If you're going to be standing right over the dish, you can use a higher heat, but I generally tend to be doing something else nearby (eg, chopping vegetables) while this is going on, so adjust the heat so it's cooking at a rate where I can get back to it easily.

If you're going to be adding some other chunky item to the minced meat (eg, chopped onion) that won't be impacted from extra cooking time, go ahead and add it after the meat's only partially cooked, as the meat won't stick as well to it as it would to other meat, making it less likely to clump up (or at least easier to break apart should it clump up)


Are there unnoticable effects of cooked food going bad? I've seen and heard the statement that bacteria will create toxins that will remain, despite reheating. (eg How long can cooked food be safely stored at room/warm temperature?)

I get all of that, and realize that it's taking a chance to eat food that's been in room temperature for an extended period of time.

I've never really cared, and often finished cooking something for the next day, turning off the stove right before i go to bed, and then putting it in the fridge in the morning, and thought that "it's fine, I'll just heat it properly later".

I've never had any sort of food poisoning in connection to this, at least that I've noticed. Guess that's the reason I never cared.

Recently I realized this might be very stupid. So: Is there anything long term dangerous in this situation that won't be noticable at all short term (not even nausea)?

Edit:

I don't know if this might be more suitable to Seasoned Advice - I guess my question really is regarding health:
When leaving food in room temperature, a number of bacteria etc will invade the food. Some will be "poisonous" themselves, some will create toxins. Some effects are immediate, some occur after 3-7 days.

If I do this from time to time, and nothing seems to happen within a week, does that mean that the concentrations of toxins simply was too low, and I'm "off the hook" this time?

Or are there any effects with a longer incubation time?

Yes, some bacteria do not produce immediately visible results, and molds are not visible until they reach the stage where they begin to produce their fruiting body (the part you see, is actually the organ they use to reproduce).

There are of course some signs that the food is irreverably compromised including:

Off smells, especially fermented or putrecent odors
Off tastes
Sliminess
Visible mold
Bubbles

Still, you cannot count on one of these signs being apparent.  You will have to assess your own tolerance for risk.


Thickness of ready-to-roll icing To what thickness should I roll out icing for covering a cake?

I had a look at Google where values range from 1mm to 5mm. 5mm strikes me as a bit thick; and the last time I tried, I had some trouble to roll it to anything much thinner than 2mm. Any hints?

For each of my (now 16) birthdays, I've had a cake decorated by my mum, with ready to roll icing:

I just asked her. She said:

  I normally go for 4 to 5mm. Any less and it is liable to rip. 3 is the thinnest I can get it.

I think that 5mm is a reasonable thickness (I like icing) but if you can get it to 3, go for that. 2 or less is stingy!


How do i make bubbles on surface of chips? I've never asked a question on here as i'm a new user, I was just wondering if someone could explain how to put bubbles into chips. Ours is a protein based chip and we had a batch that fried and had a lot of bubbles causing a different texture and more crunch but we are having troubles replicating that.

Admins you can delete this if it's not uniform enough.

We fry with Sunflower oil. The protein is mixed with tapioca starch and seasonings

The bubbles are formed by gases expanding inside the chip as it is heated.

Do this slow enough and the bubbles will escape before the chip hardens (giving it that chip crunch).

Do this fast enough and the bubbles will be trapped.

You could try higher heat for a shorter period of time - or even very high heat to "seal" in the bubbles then finish at a lower temperature.


What to look for in a Stand Mixer? I want to buy a stand mixer, a good one. Mainly for mixing dough, but also for mincing meat. I've seen that the KitchenAid has a mincing attachment. So, I've made a list of what to look for, and would like your input about what's missing.

Steel bowl.
Power, is that a factor?
Pigtail, whisks.
Possibility to attach a mincer.
Bowl size (is bigger better?).
Weight. As the table space is limited, it should be portable (for me at least).
Optional: Ice cream bowl.
Mount for:

Slicer (meats, vegetables, etc.)
Meat grinder
Grater (cheese, etc.)
Sausage stuffer
Pasta maker

Orbital movement.

Apart from these elements, what am I forgetting?

Apart from these uses, are there any other interesting ones?

I've got one of the professional series Kitchen Aids (and my parents have the traditional version to compare and contrast).  If money isn't a huge deal, then getting the professional series comes with a more powerful motor and a heavier base that will stop the mixer from "walking" around the counter if you put dough or something dense in the mixer.

One odd thing that I didn't expect is that the mixer is really inconvenient for small things.  It can whip up like a triple batch of whipped potatoes, but it has the darnest time whipping up a little bit of whip cream or a little merangue.

Kitchen Aide's attachments are pretty rock solid... One of our more "fun" attachments that we have is the ice cream bowl.  Freeze the bowl, dump the ingredients and set the paddle on low.  Again, with the professional model, the motor is strong enough to churn a bit longer than traditional other ice cream churns...

IMO, if you're a big dough cook, go w/ the stronger model, otherwise the smaller models should be great.

EDIT
In an interesting note, my sister has one of the smaller models and it did infact "walk" off the counter a few weeks ago... The whole machine went crashing to the ground... She picked it up, dusted it off, but the only damage was a small piece of plastic broke off... Gotta give it to Kitchen Aide


Should I write Steak or Beef Tenderloin on the menu? I am trying to write a simple menu. One of the dishes is "Pan seared sliced beef tenderloin".

Is sliced beef tenderloin considered steak or would that cause confusion? My concern is if I write just "beef" it could be confused with beef stew or any other type of beef. There is only one beef dish on the menu.

I would say anything that is a slice of meat thicker than around 1cm, taken from a larger muscle and (usually) cut across the grain can be considered a 'steak'.
Depending on what part of the tenderlon you have, you could call it either sirloin or rump steak or filet mignon, just 'tenderloin steak' or even plain old 'steak' (see Wikipedia for more info)

I don't think it is misleading or confusing to call it steak on the menu.


What can I do with super salty cream cheese mixture? I whipped up a cream cheese filling for sweet bread. By accident, I added salt instead of sugar... an entire cup. Now I have disgustingly salty mixture of 16 oz cream cheese (2 packages), two eggs, six tablespoons of AP flour, and a cup of salt. I'd prefer not to waste it. Any ideas? Maybe lots of spinach and more eggs and bake it quiche style? Or do you think it's beyond salvaging? Worried it might take an absurd amount of salt-free added ingredients to adjust for the entire cup of salt.

This is too salty to be worth salvaging. You could use small quantities of the mixture in place of salt in recipes where the cheese would be complementary. But since it is so salty you cannot use very much; it would take weeks to get through it all. Salt is pretty cheap, so instead, I would just discard the mixture.
To go with your quiche idea, take a look at a few recipes. They use between 1 and 2 teaspons of salt for a single large quiche. Since you have a cup of salt to deal with, this is 48 teaspoons, or at least 24 quiches! I assume you do not want to bake this many.


Coconut cream pie needs more coconut flavour I have just made one of my favourite pies (coconut cream) and it was delicious, but it didn't pack a ton of coconut flavour as I was striving for. I made a shortbread crust with coconut that I toasted, nice and brown. The filling contained coconut, a full can of full fat coconut milk, and pure coconut extract. (Added after the cooking so it didn't lose its flavour). I topped it with 35% whipped cream which I also added pure coconut extract. The top was sprinkled with more toasted coconut. What more could I have done to really emphasize the coconut flavour?  I know coconut is a mild flavour, but I thought that with all the different layers of coconut flavour I added, it would be much more pronounced.

Maybe your tastebuds are getting saturated by all that coconut, and your receptors failing to register the coconut sensation since they have become acclimated. I wonder if it is time to work on contrast. I.e. make the filling very coconutty (and it seems you are doing that already), but keep the crust & whipped cream topping "plain"  (i.e. don't bother coconutizing them at all). Would the extra coconutty filling then stand out more in contrast to the "background" parts of the pie? The crust and topping might give your sensory receptors a chance to re-calibrate in between bursts of coconut overload.

Just an idle thought, but I can't see how there is room for any more coconut intensity than you have already put into this pie. Your answer to Spagirl's question also supports the idea that you may have reached coconut maximum. [as to whether you have ever had a sufficiently intense coconut pie?..."Not really."]


How to make cakes/scones that won't go off, for display purposes This is a bit of a strange question, but I thought someone here might be able to help.

I am trying to make some cupcakes, scones or similar to display on a home-made cake stand in a shop window. I think the cake stand really needs to have something on it as part of the display, but obviously I don't want to just put normal food on it as it will gradually go off (and mouldy cakes won't look nice!).

Does anyone have any ideas for recipes for cupcakes, scones or something similar that are unlikely to go off for a couple of months, or at least, if they go off, won't smell or look bad? I don't care about whether they will taste nice or not, as they won't be eaten!

Part of me is wondering whether I can modify a recipe to add extra dry ingredients (flour?) and remove some of the perishable ingredients (butter, eggs?) to help this?

Does anyone have any ideas?

We used to make "display bread" using salt dough. Basically you add as much salt as flour (eg. 3 cups) to make it uninteresting for bacteria. To make the end result hard enough to last, you can add either hot water and a little oil or cold water and a spoon of wallpaper glue. Add as much water as necessary to form a bread like dough. Add anything (eg curry, blueberry sirup, ink instead of water - anything goes since you are not going to eat the result!) to color (parts of) your dough. Wholemeal instead of white flour will give you a stone or concrete like color.
Do not use yeast or anything else that will change the shape of your dough. Yeast probably will not work in all that salt anyway.

Then shape your cakes and let the result dry for a day before baking it. Not in direct sunlight (it might dry too fast and crack).

To see some results, search for "Salzteig" on German Google Image search. :-)


Banana bread edges are burnt, top and middle is underdone I use a recipe from Food Network for banana bread, no modifications. I bake it in a glass pan which has a nonstick coating on it (I think it's an Anchor Hocking pan). Every time I make it, by the time the regular baking time is up (1 hour at 325F), the top of the bread is still gooey and runny. A toothpick comes out with batter stuck to it. I bake it for an additional 15-30 minutes in order to get the top done properly. At that point, the bottom quarter of the loaf is getting burnt.

What can I do to ensure the loaf bakes evenly? Most of what I've seen online has been to prevent the top from burning, which is the opposite of my problem. Is it as simple as doing the opposite of what the solution is to that problem? That is, moving the oven rack up one level? My oven rack is set to the middle of the oven, and I am not sure how accurate the temperature setting is.

The usual remedy for something both burned and undercooked is lower heat, longer cooking time - it lets the temperature equalize a bit more, so it cooks more evenly.  You might try 300F for your usual 1:20 cooking time, and see if it doesn't burn and/or needs more time.

Alternatively, since the overcooking is directional (from the bottom) you can move the rack up, so its closer to the top, or else put something underneath to partially block the heat - like having a sheet a rack below your bread, to hopefully provide a baffle to radiant heat and let the indirect heat spread a bit more evenly.

I would also recommend, as moscajf suggested, checking your oven temperature, and/or checking other recipes in the glass pan to see if there's similar issues, in case one of them is the culprit.


What has happened to today's chicken compared to the chicken in the 1950's - 80's? In the 1960's, 70's and up until now, my dear parents prepared their chicken the same way as have I.  We bought it, washed it, cut it up, cooked it and served to family and friends who never got sick eating it.  True we washed our hands and the areas we used because we were clean but not like I see how many are scared especially about getting deathly ill.

My own younger family members use gloves and pans that they throw out after the chicken touches...but they don't wash the chicken first from the packaging, afraid of chicken contamination on their sink.  They tell me when they cook, bar-b-que, or bake, then the chicken germs die.

What has happened to the chicken today that these younger people are afraid of the chicken?  Funny thing is they love eating fried chicken or chicken kebab when I cook it or when I prep it at my house or theirs.  Also, we never used special cleaners to clean up, especially my parents (who were alive and cooking 2 years ago and 4 months ago both gone now) and they even used the same wooden board to cut everything with.  I have always used big plates to cut my bread, raw meats and veges up but not my parents.

I do hear about people getting sick, so what has happened or changed with today's chicken?

I don't think much has happened to washing a chicken in itself, rather much more has happened to our knowledge about bacteria, hygiene, and cross contamination.

Most likely, with or without washing, nothing bad is going to happen. But then again: It might.
Properly cooking the poultry is going to get rid of the bacteria on the chicken, no washing needed. With washing, bacteria present on the chicken might spread to other parts of the kitchen and ingredients, and some of that might be consumed raw, or not cooked through & through, increasing the risk of contamination.

Personally, I'm not overly worried about getting infected, and I never have been, but I might, you might, and you wouldn't want guests to be. It's risk reduction, rather than anything else.


Should tuna steaks sit out before cooking? If beef steak needs to sit outside the refrigerator before cooking, should the same thing be done for tuna steaks too?

The same logic applies. The smaller the temperature difference between uncooked and cooked, the easier it will be to get an even amount of cooking all the way through. Especially with a fast method of cooking like broiling.


What are these brown lines in my apple? Any ideas on what’s going on in this apple?
I cut into this apple and it had these small brown streaks. The apple itself was firm and looked good on the outside with no obvious spots or bruises. I accidentally ate a small piece and it tasted normal and sweet.
It doesn’t look like a typical maggot nor rot.

From Ask An Expert:

These symptoms are characteristic of a physiological disorder called bitter pit, which is the result of a calcium deficiency. This may be the result of inadequate calcium in the soil.

Bitter pit does not necessarily indicate low soil calcium, although consistent bitter pit for several years certainly points in that direction. Anything that results in excessive foliar growth can cause bitter pit, because calicum gets diverted to the foliar growth. Heavy pruning, excessive nitrogen fertilizer, and excessive irrigation all can lead to bitter pit.


What sauce could I use for haddock? I'm doing fish fries tonight, and my wife doesn't like breaded fish.
The thought was to pan sear hers and finish it with a sauce. Unfortunately, I'm having a tough time finding sauce ideas for haddock. What flavors/base would go well with haddock? I want to avoid tartar sauce for a pan seared fillet.

Compound butter is a very nice accompaniment for fish.

"Compound butter is a mixture of softened butter and at least one other ingredient.  Some ideas for compound butter are: herbs, spices, citrus zest/juice, honey, fresh mint, soft cheeses (like goat), fresh or dried peppers, and nuts…you get the idea – this list could be endless!"

You can cook the fish on its own and then put the compound butter on top to melt over it. While soft the butter can be put into a piping bag and piped as rosettes and refrigerated until ready to use. Makes for a nice presentation.

Another common accompaniment to fish is mango salso or a combination of tropical fruits (mango pineapple for example).

This seemed like a good link for ideas for sauces for Haddock:

http://www.wisegeek.com/what-are-different-types-of-sauce-for-haddock.htm


Roasting beef and lamb roasts together Can I roast @ 200 degress both a rib roast and a leg of lamb in same oven together without flavors transfering

I used to cook lamb (when I had to). I never cooked it with anything because the "lamby" flavor tended to transfer. Mutton, on the other hand, tastes a lot like mild beef, so I did cook those together. All I can suggest is that if you want to cook both in the same roaster, put one of the roasts into an oven bag to keep it separate from the other. There will be a modest transfer of aroma, but not of taste.


Why does bread with filling separate and how do I prevent it? Sometimes when I make sausage kolaches or cinnamon rolls the bread layers pull away from the sausage or the filling and leave an open space inside. The separation is cosmetically unattractive, and can make the product more difficult to eat because it tends to fall apart when bitten.

This doesn't always happen and I don't want to go to the other extreme where the layers in a cinnamon roll are indistinguishable.

What causes this separation and, more importantly, how do I control when it happens.

The most recent Cook's Illustrated has a cinnamon swirl bread article that discusses this problem. According to them, the root cause is a lack of binding between the dough and filling. Gas from the yeast, and steam generated during baking, push into the spiral, creating pressure that compresses the dough and widens the gap.

In the specific case of cinnamon bread, they recommend using powdered (confectioner's) sugar instead of granulated, and using a large amount of cinnamon. The finer sugar dissolves more easily in moisture from the bread, quickly creating a paste that is reinforced by the cornstarch and by starches in the ground cinnamon. Misting the bread before adding the filling also helps.

In order to make a sausage filling adhere to the bread, you would need a sticky, water-soluble element. Cornstarch or powdered gelatin spring to mind immediately as possibilities.

The other tactic they employ is to actually expose the filling during proofing, preventing the yeast's gas (and later, steam) from building up alongside the filling. Once the filling is rolled into the dough, the loaf is cut in half lengthwise. With the two halves laid side-by-side, cut face up (exposing the filling), they are wound around each other, folding the left piece over the right until the end is reached (this is called a "Russian braid"). The ends are pinched together, and the loaf is placed in the pan to proof. This, obviously, should help with any kind of filling, not just cinnamon sugar.


Do I leave the meat thermometer in the meat the entire cooking time? Many times I have used a dial-type meat thermometer, making sure it is not touching bone, and when it indicates it has reached the desired temperature (internal), I take the meat out and wait ten minutes, then find it is not fully cooked.    I am inserting the thermometer, putting the meat into the pre-heated oven, and leaving the thermometer in the meat the entire time.  Is this correct?

My experience with metal probes left in meat for the cooking period, if it is not a short cooking time, can give higher than accurate readings unless the item is large enough to bury a high percentage of the probe and still hit that optimal middle of thickest area without hitting bone.  If too shallow, the metal can transfer heat itself to the measuring point so give a higher than true internal temp.  This tends to happen more often for me with less dense meat. When this is a concern, I would suggest using the probe initially to get to temp, then moving it to a new location when it reads that you have reached temperature.  It this thermal transfer via the metal is what is occurring for you, then the new positions should quickly drop to the true temperature and you will know you need addition time.  The 2nd point is usually used for less time, so does not tend to have the same false rise.

All of this is predicated on using a calibrated device of a type of probe designed to allow leaving in as mentioned in answers and comments, i.e. not plastic, not instant read, etc.  Those designed to remain in are often the ones with flexible cords to an out of oven base for reading and some wireless models.  There are those that the readout is not remote, but those have the disadvantage of needing to open the oven.


Can Cuban coffee be approximated? On a recent visit to Miami I fell in love with Cuban coffee. It's a great mid-afternoon pick-me-up, but not available where I live. How, if at all, can I approximate it at my office? (There is no stove in the break room, so a stovetop moka pot is not an option, and for a number of reasons I don't want to invest in an espresso machine for the office.)

There are many small hand operated espresso pump that could be used instead of a full fledged espresso machine or mocha pot; you only need hot water.

Once you have your coffee, you can follow the steps needed to create a Cuban Coffee.


Converting a stovetop to a griddle I want to use a full stovetop griddle in my regular stovetop. I have this https://www.webstaurantstore.com/vigor-23-x-23-portable-steel-griddle/247PG2222FH.html   My issue is that the heating ends up being uneven hot in the spots where the burners are and cold elsewhere. Is there someway I could get even heating across my entire stovetop? I have a regular residential gas stove. I’m trying to cook large amounts of scrambled eggs and hash browns at once.

Well, you'll never get the entire griddle evenly heated. But this griddle is pretty thick (3/16") so the results will not be too bad if you allow the griddle to preheat for a long time (at least 30 minutes). You'll still have hot spots and less-hot spots, but there won't be any 'cold' spots.

You're going to have to learn how the griddle performs and how to move the food to different zones to cook it the way that you want.

As a side note, even in commercial kitchens parts of the griddle are hotter than others. This is quite useful to cook two things at different temperatures, or to move something that is already cooked to a less-hot spot while another component of the dish finishes cooking in a hot spot.


Sushi rice not sticking to each other I have a sushi rice bag from Sun Rice. They write on it that we should only wash it for 5 minutes then boil it. But I know that sushi rice should be washed for more than that and soaked in water for at least 2 hours. I did it and left it for 2 hours. Then I boil it (1 cup of rice to 1 and 1/4 cup of water). But when I started making the sushi, the rice started to expand and not sticking to each other.

The problem is because of the 2 hours or I didn't left the rice cook until all the moisture gone ?

It's hard to say exactly which thing was the issue. Rice sticks to itself because of starch on the surface.

As Joe pointed out, if it's actually still wet, it's not going to stick. It doesn't get sticky until it's dry enough for the starch to be sticky instead of just starchy water.

But even if you did let it cook/dry properly, the extra washing and soaking could well have been an issue too. One of the main things washing does is remove starch. If you manage to remove too much, you could well stop the rice from being sticky.

So... I'd suggest following the instructions that came with the rice, and seeing how it goes. It might be suggesting less washing and soaking than you expect because it's a less starchy variety of rice.


Does room temperature affect rising time for bread dough? I've tried a couple different kinds of basic bread recipes (both active dry and instant yeast) and no matter how closely to the letter I follow the recipe, I can't seem to get the dough to rise in the time suggested in the recipe. It takes so much longer and I fear the longer rise time makes changes the taste of the bread (and serves as an I convenience to my timing, though I guess that's slightly less important). I'm starting to wonder if my room temperature might be slowing down the rise time? My house this time of year is usually mid to high 70's and I will try to put the dough in sunlight if it's shining that day.

Any thoughts on what I'm doing wrong and how I can help my dough rise quicker?

Edit:
Ok, after attempting the suggestions in the answer below, I still cannot get my bread to rise. This is an oatmeal sandwich loaf which I was able to get a great 1st rise (doubled in bulk after 2 hours sitting in the sun), but the second is taking longer. After 2 hours, this is the best I got:

Not to mention that I suck at kneading because I can never get the dough smooth. These both have visible folds on the top which will inevitably burn in the oven... When I leave the dough for the 1st rise, I spray the top with oil to hold in the moisture and cover with a lint-free linen. But when I split the dough and press the gases out, the top is always a bit dried out and slightly hardened. This makes forming it into loaves difficult and leaves this fold on top. I am told that handling it too much after the first rise is not good and will make the 2nd rise take that much longer. Maybe I'm wrong a out that?

Warm equipment, super warm day today (80+ degrees and super sunny), I did use sugar and butter and allowed for a longer rise. This recipe called for 1tbs instant yeast and I even threw in an extra 1/4tbs for good measure. I made sure the salt and yeast were not mixed in together. But I just can't seem to make my breads light and fluffy. They are always small and dense. What gives? I'm so frustrated :(

You probably aren't doing anything wrong. The times in recipes are approximate, and often vary enormously from reality, you should always work towards a result, not a time when it comes to bread baking. I've had bread take 2 hours to rise more than once, there's no problem with it. In fact, you get better gluten development and flavor in your bread with a longer rise. So, if don't rush if you can avoid it, take your time and get better bread. If that's not an option you can speed things up.

The temperature of the room is one variable, 70°F is perfectly normal for rising, and putting it in the sun will heat it up a lot, so temperature of the room doesn't seem to be a problem. There are a few other variables that come immediately to mind:

Yeast, if it's old many of the organisms will be dead, if it comes into contact with salt it will retard the yeast. Instant yeast is milled finer and gets to work faster, so use that, and put the yeast and the salt on opposite sides of your flour when you mix it in. You can also make a sponge using 100g of flour, 100ml of water and they yeast from your recipe, mix it all and let it sit for 30-40 minutes. It gives a perfect environment for your yeast to get active and healthy before you mix in the rest of the ingredients. It may seem like it will slow you down but it actually speeds up the process as rising is much faster
Ingredient and equipment temperature: if you start with cold water, flour etc you will slow your rising as the dough will be cold. If you put your kneaded bread into a cold bowl to rise it will cool the dough. If you want things to go faster make sure your ingredients and equipment are at a decent room temperature, or slightly warmer
Enrichment ingredients: butter, oil and sugar all enrich dough, and enriched dough will rise slower than non-enriched
Adding more flour than the recipe calls for: a common mistake is to think dough is too sticky and keep adding extra flour when kneading. Don't do it! It takes time for the flour to absorb all the water and the gluten chains to unravel, just deal with the stickiness. If you keep adding extra flour your bread will get too dense and rise much slower and have a tight, crumbly structure.

There are several questions on bread on this site which might be worth a read, for instance this, this, and this.


In what container should I put lemon water for storage? I have a polypropylene water container and some large PET bottles. I don't know if it's OK to put lemon water in there. I read from somewhere that you shouldn't put lemon water in plastic or aluminum as acid in lemon can leach contaminants out of the container. What containers are safe for storing lemon water?

Both glass and stainless steel are non-reactive and should be fine.


What protease is in avocado? What protease in particular does avocado contain? I've been searching everywhere for it on the internet and still couldn't find any answers.

The culinary impact of proteases are to tenderize meat and that, if uncooked, they will prevent gelatin from setting.

I have not heard of, and was unable to find, any recipe using avocados for meat tenderization.
I was easily able to find many recipes that use fresh avocado with gelatin.

Therefore, I don't believe avocados contain any proteases that are of culinary concern.


Is it contaminating the spice to touch it after touching raw meat? When I cook raw meat, especially chicken strips, I have it spread out on the chopping board with a few bags and containers of spice to the side. I don't actually use too many shakers for spice. Since my fingers can only hold so much spice at once, I often go back to the bag and grab some more and rub it on the meat. But this is after my fingers have touched the meat. Does this contaminate the spice in the bag or container?

Also, chefs on TV shows frequently make it that way, does this mean it is a safe practice?

The bowl (and the salt/pepper) is contaminated if you touch it after touching raw chicken or any other unsafe food.

In fact, this is precisely why cooks and TV chefs mix it up in a little bowl first. They don't want to contaminate the entire container or even a perfectly good salt/pepper shaker.

They don't reuse the bowl afterward, they throw out any leftovers and toss the dish in the dishwasher. It's a convenient and safe way to season raw meat.


Garlic Powder vs Garlic I have a recipe that calls for garlic powder to taste.  Is there any reason why I couldn't use regular garlic?  Is there a time when garlic powder is preferable to garlic?

Both may be preferable as they provide different garlic flavours.

Fresh garlic is sharp, and has bite. It tastes fresh, and works especially well with other bold flavours and fresh ingredients.
Granulated (roasted) garlic is garlicy, but nowhere near as sharp. It tastes more like the prepared garlic flavour we've all become accustomed to. It's a mellower, deeper flavour.
Roasted fresh garlic is garlicy, mellow, and deeper than either granulated or fresh garlic. It's brilliant in smooth things like soup or mashed potatoes, and is also a much deeper flavour on a pizza with other roasted things.

One of the coolest things about these different forms of garlic is that you can use them together to pack more punch. Not only can you combine them, but you can add them at different times in a preparation to layer the goodness in interesting ways.

"Preferable" is all about taste, your (and your guests') preferences, and depth.

When I make pizza, for example, I use both marinated garlic and chopped fresh garlic. Sometimes I'll even add roasted garlic over the sauce, especially if the pizza has sun dried tomatoes.


Do fresh chilli peppers have properties that ground chilli peppers do not? Usually when something is ground it can lose some properties, e.g. a lot of seeds can lose their oil.

Does fresh chilli contain anything such as oils or anything else which a store bought powder may not have due to the processing?

The main property that is different is that fresh chili peppers contain water.  That means a significant difference in the kinds of flavors that are perceived when you consume them. Probably, most specifically, that fresh, "green" flavor and aroma that you perceive when using fresh. There are probably volatile aromatic properties that lost during dehydration.  You can confirm and choose the variety of pepper when using fresh.  Ground, dried peppers are more difficult to identify, unless the variety is indicated on the package.  It also looks like dehydration decreases ascorbic acid and carotenoids, which would impact the nutritional contents, and likely, how the flavor is perceived.

Personally, I think of them as two different products.


How to prevent separation/layers in panna cotta? I recently discovered how easy it is to make panna cotta via a recipe by Mark Bittman. The only problem I found was that my panna cotta started to visibly separate into two distinct layers after a couple hours in the fridge. Google searches brought up others that complained of different types of separation, but mine was, unlike most, very much gelled layers with one creamier than the other on top. I enjoyed the distinction between the two while eating, but I would like something more evenly distributed in the future.

I followed Bittman's directions to the letter, with the same proportions and quantity of everything but the lime that I substituted for dried lavender to taste. Half an hour or so of cooling time before pouring brought it down to room temp, which was ~65F. I strained, poured, and chilled for 5 hours before serving.

Is there anything I can change in the future, including the proportion or mixing of half-and-half and cream (which I suspect is the cause of separation), that would prevent this from happening? I would not mind leaning towards an all half-and-half solution to this, as the richness of all cream feels kind of cloying to me.

It sounds to me like you didn't get the gelatin dispersed properly.

Since the recipe you linked to doesn't explicitly mention it, and neither does your question, I'm going to assume that you didn't bloom the gelatin first.  You must do this if you want proper dispersion of any gelatin product.

To bloom powdered gelatin, just sprinkle it over cold liquid and leave it (cold) until it's visibly swelled. This usually takes about 5 minutes.  Then simply heat and stir (thoroughly) to disperse.

To bloom sheet gelatin, you do almost the same thing - soak them for a little longer (up to 10 minutes) in cold water a separate vessel, then squeeze them to wring out any excess water, and then add to your cooking liquid (in this case cream).

You might also consider use a stick blender/immersion blender to make sure that it is completely dispersed after melting. This is usually unnecessary for gelatin, but if you're blooming it and still can't get uniform distribution, that will help.

I'm certain that if you follow the proper preparation, your panna cotta will turn out fine next time.

P.S. Do be careful not to add too much lime or other acid; gelatin will not set properly at pH levels around or below 4.


Surface tension in food Based on a related question, some of us are curious about surface tension in liquids commonly used in food and drink.
There's a table on Wikipedia containing a tantalizing amount of information, including:

The surface tension of water decreases from 76 mN/m to 59 mN/m as temperature increases from 0C to 100C. It's 72 mN/m at warm room temperature, 25C.
10% acetic acid (very strong vinegar) has a substantially reduced surface tension (55 mN/m at 30C)
Alcohol can strongly reduce surface tension, to 46 mN/m at 11% and 30 mN/m at 40%.
A concentrated sucrose syrup (55%) has somewhat higher surface tension than water, 76 mN/m at 20C.
Very salty water (6M, compared to seawater at .6M) has higher surface tension, 83 mN/m at 20C.

Of interest would be:

How does surface tension typically depend on temperature? (Does it always decrease with increasing temperature?)
How do various everyday solutes (e.g. sugar) and mixture components (e.g. alcohol, acetic acid) affect surface tension of water? Actual data on measured surface tension of liquids would be wonderful - for example, what is the surface tension of milk, tea, vinegar, syrup, various alcoholic beverages, or anything else we commonly cook with or drink? What determines whether something increases or decreases the surface tension of water?
Are there any more exotic (but edible!) solutes or mixture components with dramatic effects on surface tension? Especially interesting would be ones without flavor, which could be used to tweak existing liquids.

Note: I posted a related question on the physics stackexchange.

This article suggests that starch gives a significant increase, and oil emulsions a significant decrease.

The same principles should apply to any small nonpolar molecule (reduces surface tension) and large molecule (increases surface tension). Note that this generally correlates strongly with viscosity. Forces at the surface forces are generally related to forces in the interior of the liquid.


Dry milk in bread: purpose, and substitutions I've been looking for a good 100% whole grain bread recipe that I like, and came across one that looks promising in the book Home Grown Whole Grains (pp. 152):

  1 package active dry yeast
  1 tablespoon sugar
  ¼ cup warm water
  2 cups warm water
  3 tablespoons oil
  6 tablespoons honey
  1 teaspoon salt
  5 cups whole wheat flour
  ½ cup dry milk powder

  Dissolve the yeast and sugar in the ¼ cup water and allow to stand until the mixture begins to bubble. Add the 2 cups warm water, oil, honey, and salt and then begin beating in the flour. When you have about half of it worked in, beat in the dry milk, a little at a time, taking care to break up any lumps. Then beat in the rest of the flour....

What is the purpose of the dry milk?  And what guidelines can I follow to replace the powdered milk with something more "self sufficient"?  Perhaps normal milk, and a little less water?

Milk is added to bread for flavour, a tender crumb and well-coloured crust.

Dry milk is used because it easy to store and easy to use in bulk. Milk also contains an enzyme called glutathione which can weaken gluten and result in a poorer quality loaf - the drying process destroys this enzyme.

You can substitute regular milk in various proportions, but you may as well simply replace the 2 cups of water with it, which will give you a nice soft loaf. Opinion is divided whether you should scald the milk (by heating to 180°F/82°C according to How Baking Works, page 150) to destroy the glutathione, but in any case it's probably a good idea to warm it anyway, to help the rise.


What type of oil is used in korean side dishes? I recently tried making the Korean side dish gamja jorim. Although the taste was spot on it was noticeably different from what is available at local Korean restaurants due to the lack of oil.

Many of the side dishes served at our local Korean restaurants have a considerable amount of oil and I would like to know what type of oil I should be using and at what point should this oil be added? Should it be add into the pan, during cooking or after cooking?

Toasted sesame oil is usually the go-to for Korean cuisine. It is included as a seasoning in the last steps of the recipes you link.

Sesame oil is typically used for seasoning, not cooking with. Some types of sesame oil may be appropriate for stir frys and such, but I don't think I've ever used toasted sesame oil (the very strong smelling, flavored one) for that kind of use.


What gives arugula (wild rocket) its distinct taste? I noticed that a lot of people hate arugula ("wild rocket" to non-American English speakers), but other people absolutely love it.

Is there some compound that makes it taste so controversial?

I was able to find one study that looked at seven varieties of Rocket (Eruca sativa) also known as Arugula.

Like all foods, the flavoring compounds are numerous and usually can't be reduced to just one. However, these compounds can be grouped into classes with similar molecular structures, similar biochemical profiles and presumably flavoring characteristics.

Rocket is a member of the Brassicaceae/Cruciferaceae family of plants. This is a large family that includes many commonly eaten vegetables, such as broccoli, cabbage, radish, mustards, cresses (e.g. watercress). These all share some flavorings that you might recognize if you eat them raw - particularly peppery and bitter flavors. The exact biochemical composition and relative amounts of each varies the flavor and intensity of the various species and varieties.

Anyway, the study linked above identified a number of compounds that are attributed to give the distinctive flavor of arugula - largely these were sulfur containing compounds known as isothiocyanates, thiocyanates, which are the secondary metabolites of a class of chemicals known as Glucosinolates. These components are all responsible for both the bitter and peppery tastes in the plant, and are incidentally the bits that cause the distinctive "rotten cabbage" smell. These chemicals are largely the same for all cruciferous vegetables, just varying amounts are responsible for the different flavor profiles.

It would seem that people can be classified into 3 groups (high, medium, low), depending on their consumption of cruciferous vegetables, which seems to be related to how sensitive they are to the metabolites mentioned above.


How is Pâté made? What are the ingredients? How is it made and what are the ingredients?

For a good introduction for the home cook to trying something as ambitious as a Pâté I've found this book to be excellent resource:  Charcuterie:  The Craft of Salting, Smoking, and Curing.  Pâté is not the singular focus of the book, but about a fifth of it is dedicated to it.

The general method involves grinding or pureeing the meat, while taking special care to not melt or break any of the fat from the animal in the process.  (Keeping the blades cold is always key concern.)  Cooking the pâté should also be done gently by either poaching in water, or placing in a water bath in the oven.


What is the difference between white and pink ginger? Some sushi places serve white ginger flakes with their food, while others serve pink colored ginger. There doesn't seem to be any detectable taste difference that I've found. So, what is the difference between the two other than just color, and, why serve one over the other?

Although white ginger and red (or pink) ginger do exist, the different colors in sushi ginger are from a dye. The color in white sushi ginger comes from the pickling process and the red/pink color in ink sushi ginger comes from an artificial dye (usually E124 -cochineal red- or in other brands beet extract). The generic name for sushi ginger is gari and here's the Wikipedia page.

White gari/sushi ginger on the left and pink gari/sushi ginger on the right.


Should rendered pork lard be melting at only 85° F? I recently rendered a bunch of pork fat into lard.

Some of it I froze (after solidifying in refrigerator), whereas the rest I put in mason jars and vacuum sealed. I just left these on a pantry shelf with a closed door (i.e. they're in darkness).

It mostly solidified overnight, and putting it in the refrigerator absolutely solidified it to the correct texture... I had filtered it through cheesecloth, and the resulting product was white or just slightly off-white.

The problem is, the jars get liquidy again, semi-melting at ""room temperature"". We've had a few hot days, and the pantry they are in unfortunately got to about 85 degrees (outside the cabinet) - a tad above room temperature.

My question is, should my lard be melting at only 85° F? It's not fully liquid, just liquid-y.

The melting point of lard can vary quite a bit: Wikipedia claims as low as 86F, depending on the type of pork fat used.  (I don't know what their source is, but that sounds about right to me.)  That number will also vary depending on the exact rendering and processing method, particularly cooling which will affect crystalline structure of the solid.  Rapid cooling will generally produce a fat with a more disorganized crystalline structure and thus a lower melting point.


What did I do to make the chocolate bloom like this? I've been trying to create some moulded pralines and have been tempering chocolate using the microwave method. The microwave method was to heat the chocolate in the microwave in small bursts until there are about 30% callets left. Once there are 30% left, you stir until they are all completely melted.

I did this, and tested it on some baking paper and the test set before 3 mins. The test ended up perfectly tempered and didn't turn white over time.

However my moulded chocolates turned out like this:

This looks different to a lot of the images im finding about bloom. What's happening here?

My best guess is that the chocolate was too hot.  It may have worked on your test because it was small and thin, and therefore cooled quickly.  In the larger molds, it stayed too warm and you got the wrong kind of crystals from the cocoa butter.

You want the keep the chocolate as close to 88 °F (~ 32 °C) as you can get.  What I typically do is microwave 3/4 of the chocolate at 50% power until it's pretty much melted (just a few stubborn bits remaining), then add the other 1/4 of the chocolate and stir to melt.  Sometimes it has to go back in the microwave to completely melt the last 1/4, but only about 5 seconds at a time.  Very short bursts.


Seasoning steamed vegetables (in particular potatoes): advisable? We're going through a healthy-eating phase at the moment, and this includes eating a fair few steamed vegetables. Unfortunately I find steamed vegetables (especially potatoes) can be painfully dull when they make up a good quantity of the dish.

I have an undying urge to season them with something before steaming, but I've no idea with what (nor if this is even a good idea).

Worryingly the last urge like this I humoured was deep-fried egg; which was both amazing and awful.

One thing we have found that helps in adding flavor during the steaming process is to slice garlic thinly, and line the bottom of the steamer basket with the garlic. Then afterwards, toss the garlic in with the potatoes and add salt/pepper/etc. (I'd probably add paprika, onion powder, and a pinch of cayenne.)

I would imagine orange or lemon peel might work the same as garlic when steamed, although you might get better results tossing the steamed veggies with some zest.

You can also toss the steamed potatoes with vinegar or lemon juice (whether or not it's combined with oil is up to you) along with the spices.

Another option would be to bake your potatoes rather than steam them. Just wash, poke, and bake at 350F for 1 hour. There's no more fat, but the flavor and texture are VERY different. Just make sure not to wrap them in foil, since you won't get the same results. (Wrapping potatoes in foil is essentially steaming them, and the crust won't get crisp.)


How to keep chicken livers intact? I am trying to duplicate the chicken livers as made in South Africa (eg the Mozambique paprika livers Nando's has), but in my first attempt the livers appeared to partially disintegrate into an unappetizing ca-ca looking mush, yet with still some pinkish bits present.

Ideally they would be separate chunks, nicely browned on the outside and cooked through on the inside.

I threw them in with sauteed onions once the onions had cooked through so the pan was not extremely hot.

Is there a trick to this? Hotter frypan and just cook the livers first? Does washing the livers help? I did clean them to remove the fiber bits but didn't wash them particularly.

Update: Hot pan, washed and dusted with flour did the trick perfectly. Nasty spitting of hot oil- I think that's covered in another question.

As you note, the recipe I was able to locate for Nando's spicy chicken livers (with tagliatelle pasta) did the trick. While that version calls for veg (marrow/zucchini) and pasta, here are the directions for the chicken liver and sauce.
Heat 5 Tablespoons of olive oil or butter over a medium heat. Add the chicken livers and sauté for 4 minutes. Add one cup of Nando’s sauce to the chicken livers and allow to cook for another 2 minutes, then remove from the heat.
In announcing the new Mozambican Paprika flavor, Nando's head of food, Pascale Sobiecki, revealed that the recipe contains

coconut, lime, lemon, garlic, tomato, onion, parsley and rosemary and, of course, paprika – no less than three different kinds, one of them smoked.
Because it’s Nando’s, there is a touch of African bird’s eye chilli – but only a hint. On the Nando’s PERi-Ometer, Mozambican Paprika is slightly hotter than Lemon and Herb (which also contains chilli, incidentally), but milder than our Mild flavour.

Until it's available, you might have some fun trying to create your own version of the sauce.


Flour Blend for Seoul Chicken? The chef in https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CD97u0OUbBo uses a blend of tapioca starch, potato starch, and rice flour for his dredge. Any ideas what ratio would be optimal for getting a crispy wing?

Honestly, all three of those will crisp up very quickly, and just about any ratio will produce a crispy end product. The blend may be for textural reasons; potato starch is typically very fine and produces a tempura-like shell, while rice flour can have little bits of individual rice grains which produces a "chunkier" texture.

I probably wouldn't try to use pure starch as it will brown and burn very easily, but you probably don't even need all three ingredients. Personally, I'd start with a 50/50 blend of potato starch and rice flour and adjust from there. You could use tapioca starch instead of potato if it's easier for you to find locally, but definitely keep rice flour in the mix.


What is the uncured pork belly called? wiki says

  Bacon is a type of salt-cured pork ... typically from the pork belly.

What is the uncured pork belly called?

In all seriousness, it's called pork belly.


Getting flavor powders to stick to nuts I've just checked for some recipes online on how to make flavored (in particular, hot and spicy) peanuts. It seems that in every one of these recipes, there has to be some kind of roasting procedure (coating with oil, powdering and then oven-roast), or cooking them, in order to get the powder to "stick" to the nuts.

What I'm wondering is which two of these methods will yield better results, and whether a food dehydrator (I got the excalibur ones) can be used to "dry" these nuts.

Perhaps it's possible to get the flavor to stick some other, easier and less messier way?

edit -- another question : is the oil necessary for flavoring them? I mean, nuts are oily naturally, so would heating them in the pan and then putting the chili/garlic powder or parmesan straight after be good enough?

Nuts are much tastier when they are roasted. Dehydrating may be ok but it will not do the same thing for their flavor or texture.

Nuts have a lot of oil but there is not enough on their exterior for powders to stick to. Of course some of the powder would stick anyway- and with parmesan even more would when the cheese melted. If you are ok with a milder flavor and a lot of powder left in the bowl when you eat them then you could try to use less or no oil.

It is possible that you could make it work with some other liquid other than oil but oil tastes good and won't dry out. Additionally for spicy peanuts, capsaicin is soluble in fat so the oil will actually be intensified.

I don't know about an easier/less messy way because I don't consider this to be particularly difficult or messy. Just toss nuts with oil, then powder, spread on a pan and bake. Doesn't get much simpler than that.

Another alternative that has become popular is kettle roasted nuts.
The nuts are cooked in a large kettle with an agitator to keep them from settling and burning. Usually they also candied. The process is much stickier and flavorings adhere much better.

At home, oil popcorn poppers with agitators are available that can beautifully make kettle roasted nuts. Manual versions are sturdy and inexpensive.


How should glasses/cups be oriented in storage? I believe that it's better to store glasses/cups right-side-up in the cupboard, but at work everyone stores them upside-down.

Which is safer/more sanitary?

If the glasses are at all damp, it may make sense to store them up-side-down. In bars and restaurants, you often see plastic mesh like this:

That webbing lines trays, shelves and the area beside the sink for drying dishes. The mesh keeps the dishes or glasses, which may still be damp, from actually touching the surface they're sitting on. In the case of glasses, it also keeps the glasses from forming a seal to the surface beneath. That mesh often gets cleaned, as does the surface under them. In that case, it makes sense to store glasses up-side-down.

Do you have mesh lining your cabinet? Are the cabinet shelves wiped down regularly?

If not, it is far more sanitary to store your glasses right-side-up, and to be sure that they are dry before they are put away.


Ceramic cup seems to be cracked internally, is it safe to use? I have a large ceramic soup cup which appears to be internally damaged after being rinsed with cold water while hot:

Is this cup still safe to use, or is it likely to shatter or otherwise fail during use?

That is called crazing.  It is a crack or fissure in the enamel coating on the cup, not indicative of deep structural flaws.

Your cup is unlikely to fail in the sense of completely breaking due to the craze in the glaze.

On the other hand, they will stain over time, and be unsightly, and hard to wash out.

If the piece is old enough, the glaze may contain lead, which can leach due to the crazing.  In that case, the piece should definitely be discarded.

Technically, most health codes require crazed dishware to be discarded, although you can assess your tolerance for risk.


How to cook good "arepas"? Arepas are a traditional dish from Venezuelan cuisine. After eating them a couple of times, the other day I decided to try to cook them myself. I searched over the internet the recipe and I found several differences. Ones cooked it mixing the pre-cooked corn flour P.A.N. brand with water, others with milk. Some fry them in the oven, other in the pan. And there is even yellow or white corn flour.

So in brief my question is, what's better to cook arepas?

to use yellow or white pre-cooked corn flour?
to use water or milk?
to cook them in the oven or in the pan?

White pre-cooked corn flour, water, pinch of salt and cooked in the pan is the traditional way of making and cooking arepas.

However, cookery is a living and evolving subject and very much a matter of personal taste.

I strongly recommend you experiment with the different flours, milk or water or half and half, cooked in the pan and in the oven and decide for yourself which you prefer and which comes closest to the ones you've tried and liked.


Can you help me identify these cookies? Can you help me identify all the cookies in this picture?

General name is fine, like 2 is Gingerbread. Sorry if it is unclear from the picture, but this is all the info I have.

To elaborate on Max's answer and provide missing items/detail:

Oatmeal raisin cookies
Gingerbread cookies
Milano cookies (Pepperidge Farm)
Peanut butter cookies
Macarons
Snowballs (or Mexican wedding cookies, or German pfeffernüsse, or Russian Tea Cakes...)
Chinese fortune cookie (Actually an American bastardization of a Japanese cookie)
either Chinese almond cookie or oatmeal almond cookie
Sugar cookies
Chocolate mint cookies (similar to Girl Scout Thin Mints or Keebler Grasshoppers)
Chocolate chip cookies
Biscotti


Can I make Crème Brûlée using a flambé? I've made Crème Caramel/Crème Brûlée several times and don't have too much trouble with it.  I'll be making them for company this weekend and thought it would make for a nice spectacle to flambé them.  But, I don't have a lot of experience in that technique, and I'd like to make sure that I'm not going to set the entire dining room on fire by accident.

Has anyone attempted (successfully, preferably) to caramelize the sugar in a Crème Brûlée by flambéing the surface as opposed to simply heating it with a torch?  And if so, what exactly was involved?

How much alcohol would be required for a single standard ramekin?
Can it be done safely right inside the ramekin?
Can I light it with a quick touch of the torch, or should I use a match instead?
Could this have negative effects - i.e. ruining the flavour or melting the gelatinzed cream?
How long should I expect it to burn for and how long would it be necessary to wait before eating?
Do some types of alcohol work better for this than others?  (I'm leaning toward brandy)
Anything else I should know or any other precautions I should take?

Basically I'd like to know everything I possibly can about the flambé technique as it would relate specifically to Crème Brûlée before actually attempting it.

The final word!

After a few hours of experimenting today, this is what I discovered:

No "standard" alcohol burns hot enough to caramelize the sugar using a reasonable small amount (i.e. less than 1 tbsp).
Since there's an open flame, it will probably eventually caramelize the sugar, but the amount of alcohol required to burn that long makes the straightforward flambé method totally impractical for individual Crème Brûlées (the way that they're supposed to be served).  Testing with vanilla pudding as per Michael's suggestion using a very thin layer of sugar on top, even if you drown the entire ramekin in 80-proof alcohol, the sugar will simply dissolve before it caramelizes.
roux came up with a very good suggestion in a comment - caramelize the sugar separately and let it harden, then grind it into a powder and flambé that.  The only slight problem with this is that it grinds into the consistency of dust almost instantly, and as soon as you pour any alcohol over it, it will dissolve.

So here's how I actually (successfully) did it:

Caramelize the sugar about an hour in advance.  Pour off and let it harden.  Roux recommended using a silpat but it's perfectly possible to just dump it into a heatproof container.  If using a container, then as soon as it hardens, crack it with a knife in 2 or 3 places and let it sit for another 10-15 minutes; the cracks will spread and eventually it will "shatter" into large chunks which are easily removed.
Grind the hardened sugar using a spice grinder.  As stated above, it will take on the consistency of confectioner's sugar (beware, it is very dusty, you might want to turn the range fan on while you scoop it out of the spice grinder).  Place it in a separate (preferably wide) container.
Over time the ground sugar will actually start to crystallize again, which is why I wrote above to do this about an hour in advance.  You're aiming for a consistency that is sticky and somewhat hard but still easy to shape with your hands.
Spread a thin layer of the semi-hard sugar on each Crème Brûlée - not too thin, though, you don't want this to dissolve instantly, so aim for at least a few (2-3) mm.  It should be pretty easy to "mold" the sugar into shape.
Heat some cognac or other strong alcohol in a separate saucepan.  The amount depends on how many Crème Brûlées you're preparing, but you won't need more than a tablespoon per brûlée.  You need to get the alcohol hot if you want it to really burn when lit, but don't let it boil, otherwise it won't ignite.  This is standard flambé stuff but I'm putting it here for reference.  Personally, I let it heat up until I see a little bit of steam (but before any simmering).
Don't pour the hot alcohol into the Crème Brûlées yet.  Instead, take the saucepan off the heat and light the alcohol by itself inside the saucepan.  You should probably do this using a barbecue lighter, although I had no trouble using a butane torch.  Don't worry, it won't erupt in a massive fireball, but the saucepan will heat up very quickly so you might want to hold it with an oven mitt.
Pour a small amount of the flaming alcohol into each Crème Brûlée, and work quickly otherwise all the alcohol will burn off.  It will melt the already-caramelized sugar very quickly.
Allow all of the remaining alcohol to burn off until the flames disappear, then let it cool for at least 5 minutes.  Once the sugar begins to harden again, it will form a perfect crust!


How long can frosting with butter, powdered sugar, salt, vanilla, and milk, that is covered with fondant be left out of the refrigerator? I'm making a 9x13 chocolate cake, frosted with a vanilla buttercream, (not filled) and covered with black Fondarific fondant.

Here's the ingredients for the frosting:

1/2 cup unsalted butter
1-2 cups confectioners sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 tablespoon vanilla
up to 2 tablespoons milk

The cake is going to be finished tonight, and eaten tomorrow afternoon. Is it safe to leave it out of the fridge?

Because of the dairy in your frosting, it really ought to be chilled overnight.  It could warm up on to room temperature for a few hours.

Also, do cover the cake, so dust and stuff doesn't get on it.


How can I make hazelnut essence, or some strongly hazelnut-flavoured liquid, without using sugar or alcohol? It is possible to make a very flavoursome liquid by infusing roasted hazelnuts in vodka or brandy. Can this be achieved without using alcohol or sugar?

I would say you are out of luck, unless your requirements are less strict than they appear to me.

There are three main solvents in cooking: water, alcohol (*), and fat. You cannot use alcohol, so we are left with water or fat.

Hazelnuts contain lots of oil and little water. So it is possible to press hazelnut oil, therefore there is no need to try to make an infusion. This is about the strongest you can get. When I buy hazelnut oil, it tastes as if made from raw hazelnuts, not roasted, although it should be possible to make it with roasted ones. In any case, you are left with a liquid which has an unmistakeable hazelnut taste when eaten pure.

However, it would be highly unlikely that somebody tries to eat hazelnut oil in ways where it can be tasted pure, except maybe to dip pieces of bread in it or to pour it over a salad. If you try mixing it, you have two problems. First, it is an oil, and won't mix with anything that is water-based. Second, the aroma is not as concentrated nor as volatile as in a hazelnut liqueur. I don't know how you want to use your liquid, but if you want to add it to stuff (cakes, ice cream, whatever) as an aroma, you will have to use a large amount to get a very small hint of hazelnut.

With water, the best you can make is hazelnut milk, since it is not just an infusion, but also contains some of the original hazelnut solids suspended in the milk. Again, it is strong enough when tasted on its own, but cannot be added spoonwise to something else to achieve hazelnut taste - it will have to be the main ingredient somewhere. So you can use a recipe where the base is mostly water and replace it with the hazelnut milk, but not, say, bake a cake and hope for strong hazelnut taste.

Concentrating a water based concoction may be possible to some extent, but you are more likely to end up with the equivalent of double-strength coffee, not the equivalent of nescafe, when using procedures accessible to the home cook.

Other solvents exist, but they are not foodsafe in the amounts required for making infusions at home. Industrial processors use them when they have some synthetic aroma which is way too strong, to dilute it into usable levels.

So, to sum it up, you cannot make something at home which, when used in small amounts, can flavor a large batch of food, the way you can do with, say, vanilla essence. But if hazelnut oil or hazelnut milk are good enough for you, then you can easily get hold of those, or even make them at home if you invest in the proper equipment.

* In this post, I use "alcohol" to mean "ethanol", because this is the standard meaning in cooking and everyday life. If you mean "alcohol" in the chemical sense, please edit it into your question, since this is not obvious when you simply use the word "alcohol".


How long will a sauce last for when placed in a refrigerator and in a freezers? How long will a sauce last for when placed on freezer and in a refrigerator?

If it's sugary, or contains enough protein, a -20°C freezer won't stop problems. Sugar epimerization, taste change, happens down to -70°C. You find those units in labs, not homes. Generally a freezer is good against bacterial and fungal growth. But you'll still have freezer burn after a year or so.Even with freezer bags. Actual containers work better, as 5-8mil plastic is fairly water permeable.


Why does beating egg whites with cold water increase the volume of incorporated air From Wikipedia,

beating an egg white after adding a small amount of cold water considerably increases the amount of foam produced.

Why? What is changed by adding cold water?

When you beat an egg white, you incorporate air into the water contained in the egg white, thus making an emulsion. The kind of foam that we obtain is the result of the proteins present in the egg white trapping the air in the water.
So it makes sense that if you add a little bit of water you will produce more foam. I assume it has to be cold water because emulsions are fragile and would be destroyed by hot water.
Careful with the quantities though, I haven't been able to find a clear table of quantities but most of the recipes mention just one coffee spoon of cold water.


Microwave Oven Operating Frequencies I have read that industrial microwave ovens operate at 900 MHz rather than the more common 2.4 GHz ovens found in most homes.
Why is this?
Some examples of this claim:
Continuous Microwave Processing for Heating Materials
Comparing Microwave to Conventional Heating & Drying
The latter link claims "[The 900 MHz] range allows more efficient penetration of the microwave through the material." Though I don't know why that would be.

Well, technically speaking the microwave frequency range is actually from 300MHz (or 0.3GHz) to 300GHz, so considering the examples provided and the frequencies in question I'm going to assume a Heating/Drying Industry context; because in reality, higher frequencies are used in other industries like space or communications. (source 1, source 2)
That being said, when you consider the heating of a microwave there are many factors to take into consideration, one of them is called the "Penetration Depth" which is defined as the depth below the surface of the material where the power density of a plane electromagnetic wave decays by 1/e (37%) from the original value at the surface. It's a technical definition that also involves a mathematical expression, but to keep things simple, the math implies an inverse relationship between the Penetration Depth and the frequency, i.e., the lower the frequency the higher the Penetration Depth and vice versa. (source 3)
Notice that it means they could actually go with a lower frequency, but maybe that implies design restrains and also even though it is stated in your sources as a broad generalization, that frequency isn't allowed worldwide. (source 4)
So considering this, it makes sense that they use a low frequency and also that make said claim.
PS: I'm a mathematical engineer who likes cooking, and wasn't expecting this kind of question here.


Spring onion (green onion/scallion) in coq au vin? I recently ran into an Australian recipe for coq au vin that called for "spring onions", which (in Australia) refers unambiguously to what the French call cébette:

Oddly, the recipe calls for 800g of them (spring onions are sold by bunch, not weight), says you should "trim green ends, leaving about 4cm of stem attached; trim roots" (not a whole lot of spring onion left if you follow this!), and then continues with "cook onion, stirring, until browned all over", which doesn't seem like the kind of thing you'd usually do to spring onions.

So is spring onion for coq au vin an actual thing in France?  Or did a clueless editor somewhere along the way confuse shallot/échalote in the original (below) with spring onions, which are also known as "eschalots" in Australia?

Australian and keen Coq au Vin maker here; I am in Sydney so my response may be subject to regional variations; Australia is a big place.

There is yet another possibility. These

Coq au Vin requires onions twice; at the start, chopped, and later on, where the recipe I use (Mastering the Art of French Cooking) calls for small onions browned and braised in stock. In Australia it isn't easy to get onions of the right size for the latter dish - even the smallish onions sold as pickling onions are IMHO too big. The bulbs of the spring onions behind the link are the right size, about an inch in diameter.

As you can see from the other products on the page, yes, we have no standard naming convention. I'm British by birth, so I'll always refer to French Shallots as Shallots, and the OP's cebette as Spring Onions.

As an aside, http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2011/mar/24/how-perfect-coq-au-vin is well worth consulting. In fact the whole series is well worth consulting.


Can I replace milk with eggs in recipes? I have had to go dairy and soy free because I'm breastfeeding and my little one gets really bad colic if I have products with milk or soy. I would like to know if I can use eggs (mixed with a little bit of water and oil) in place of milk. Please do not suggest almond milk or other plant based milk as those are primarily water (I'd say about 80% water) and they make my cakes gummy.

No, you can not.

Milk is used as a liquid in cakes. Eggs add a little bit of liquid, but also have lots of other effects on your batter. You don't want these effects, or rather, you want them to happen in a certain degree, and the ratio of eggs to milk in existing recipes is calculated to give you the optimal degree. The effects are too many to explain in depth here, but they can include drying out, toughness, fatty feel, eggy taste (ever had a cake which tastes like an omelette?), and overleavening. You want to use a liquid which does not have these effects.

Cow milk is roughly 3% protein, 5% carbohydrates, 4% fat and 88% water. You could try to find something with similar proportions. Plant milks are fairly close. A shot in the dark (or rather twilight): if soy milk gums your cakes, try scalding it first. Soy protein has the ability to form film-like structures similar to gluten; once you denature it (with heat), it will have a harder time building them. If you prefer something else, pick a different liquid from the advice in the other answers, and adjust at least the solids-to-water ratio proportionally. Better yet, adjust the fat-to-nonfatsolids-to-water ratio. So I wouldn't use full-fat coconut milk (21% fat), but rather a lower-fat version. And I would add fat if using fruit juice (a bit more butter in the creaming step should do).


Bread and butter pickles without mustard seed? I'm making bread and butter pickles and I ran out of mustard seed.  What can I use instead?  Or do I just skip it?

if you have any really chunky deli mustard just throw a spoonful of that in there.


Best method to prepare catfish (very soft flesh)? I live in an area that has some of the best catfishing in the world.  Here, they are considered a garbage fish, and no one eats them.  I think I would like to try them.  What are the best ways to prepare a catfish?

Dredging in lightly salted cornmeal and then frying (shallow frying is fine, but deep frying is magical) is an absolute classic in the Southern US, where catfish eating is big. I usually just put the plain filets in the cornmeal without first dipping in egg or milk. I don't think it's necessary--though I'd go with milk if I were forced to use something. After dredging, I let them sit on a wire rack for a minute or so before frying to set the cornmeal (which I would do if using egg or milk also).

Generally, though, most treatments that work for a mild, tender white fish will work. Recipes for flounder or sole (Sole a la Meuniere for example), or ones that look for rockfish or striped bass will work really well.

Bear in mind that catfish does have a distinctive flavor, though it's not really strong. Some people don't care for it, and they tend to describe it as "muddy" tasting. Personally, I don't see it. If you like the catfish OK, but find the flavor intrusive in some applications, adding spicyness or acid (lemon juice, vinegar) will mute it.


How to safely reuse scissors used to open food packaging multiple days in a row? I often have to resort to prepared food from the local supermarket for a number of consecutive days because my parents are on vacation. This food is sealed in vacuum bags and usually requires 3-5 minutes in the microwave depending on the type of food. The bags need to opened using scissors after they have been heated.

Because of the limited amount of scissors in the house, I often need to resort to reusing one or more scissors for 2 or more days in a row. What precautions should I take to avoid food poisoning?

Wash the scissors in hot soapy water after you've used them.


Need help identifying a kitchen tool, with a wooden handle, and a cylindrical cutter I have no idea what this thing is, and it appears to be a kitchen tool, but for what?

I put up a YouTube video of it, and would love to see if anybody knows exactly what it would be used for, because we have no idea:

http://youtu.be/do5_D8Sjhk8

It would appear to be some kind of corer, or to cut shapes out of some fruit, but I can't find anything similar to it online.

The video linked to above does a better job of showing it from multiple angles.

It looks like one I bought a few years ago, it was suppose to cut corn off the cob. You put it around the small end of the corn and rotate in a downward motion. I didn't like the results and went back to using a knife.


Why do you need to wrap containers of brined meat? Everyone says you should seal whatever container you brine your meat with using tinfoil or airtight nylon. What are the reasons for this?

It helps prevent contamination from outside sources. You don't want nasties in your brine anymore than you do in your fresh salad.


Why should I wrap a cake tin in newspaper? I have a Christmas Cake recipe which instructs me to "wrap the outside of the [cake] tin with a few sheets of newspaper, securing with staples or string". What is the reason for doing this, and is it really necessary?

A Christmas cake is a large cake and you're cooking it for a long time. Insulating and padding the tin helps prevent the outside of the cake from scorching before the inside is properly cooked.


How to pick a good mango at a local store? Simply just like the title says. I LOVE mango. But the thing is I don't know how to pick a good one at the local store. I read some tips somewhere from Googling (long time ago, I don't remember its exact url) said to smell it, but I'm not sure what smell should the good mango have? My family and I often must wait for our mangoes in the fridge for more than 5 days just to make sure that they're ready to serve.

Advice? Help? Thanks!

I look for a few things...

Colour: There are many different varieties of mangos. Some go from green to red, some end up Orange, some start off yellow and end up orange. So once you're familiar with the type of mango you're buying, you can get an idea of what a ripe one looks like.
Smell: A ripe mango will smell sweet. Check near the stem end, the smell should be stronger there. You should smell it and think "mango". Smell is a large part of your taste, so it should be very familiar.
Firmness: Mangos, like peaches will soften as they ripen. Just as it starts to go from firm to soft, it is just about ripe.
Weight: With most fruit you can tell their ripeness by their weight. A riper fruit will be slightly heavier than an unripe one.

As an aside, if you're at a grocery store, and you see a few different types of mangos, look for these Ataulfo mangos: http://goo.gl/IeEZ4. They're my personal favourite. The flavour is richer, and they are a lot less stringy.

Finally, DO NOT refrigerate if you want them to ripen.

More info on the Ataulfo mangos. (There is also some generic mango info there)


Precooking sweet potato fries for quick warm/serve day of party I want to serve sweet potato fries at a party (80 guests) Is there a way to precook or partially cook them the day before, so I can just reheat them on the day of the party to serve warm and crisp?

As user36802 noted, cooking fries normally requires blanching the fries beforehand, which will par-cook them.

You can also check out this Food Lab article; in it, Kenji Lopez suggests parboiling the fries, then drying them and frying them once, followed by cooling and freezing them overnight. His recipe continues to fry the fries a second time before serving, but you could theoretically reheat them in the oven instead. I would assume that most of the moisture has escaped the fries after the first fry, so ideally you wouldn't notice much of a texture difference between twice-fried and fried-then-baked fries, but I haven't tried that method myself.

Also good to note that his recipe is for regular-potato fries; however, the technique should work just as well for sweet potato fries (in fact, I'd assume that since sweet potato fries tend to be more moist than regular fries, any texture difference from frying then baking should be less noticeable).


Sourdough starter bubbling but not rising after months of feeding I have successfully made sourdough whilst living in Texas - USA then back in Australia and now i am currently living in Nashville - USA.

Since moving to Nashville i began a new starter and have currently been feeding my starter for 2 months. Every day i feed it 100grams of tepid  filtered water and 100grams of strong bread flour. I used the exact same flour in Texas and my starter was fine.

I cannot figure out why my starter isn't becoming active and rising. Do you think it's possible that the water in Nashville is different? i literally cannot figure out why its not working for me. The starter isnt rising and it doesn't float when i put some in a glass of water.

Any help would be much appreciated!
- Bonnie

Filtering water may not remove all or even any of the chlorine in your water, it depends upon the filter. Chlorine is the bane of sourdough starter's very existence.

In 2017, Nashville tested the free chlorine (the chlorine 'left' in water after it has done its job of killing nasties in the water treatment facilities and the pipes on the way to your home) in city tap water as from a home faucet. The result was 1.82 mg/L chlorine. That is approaching the federal recommended maximum of 2.0 mg/L free chlorine in nearly fresh tap water. So, you have highly chlorinated water. I think that's probably your problem.

I recommend you do three things now to save your starter.

Switch to bottled water (no chlorine) to feed your starter, or very carefully choose your next filter.
Give your starter a "snack" of unsweetened pineapple juice, replacing all of the water of your next feeding and half of the water the feeding after that (so give it a 50/50 mix that feeding). See this article for reasoning.
Feed it with whole grain flour for a few feedings. Since your starter is wheat, use whole wheat flour for a while. That will give it a bit of extra nutrition while it's trying to get healthy.

Good Luck


Why is mixing good whiskey with cola/ginger ale frowned upon? I ordered a Jameson and ginger ale at a pub the other night and my brother asked me why I wasn't ordering it neat or on the rocks, since it was "pretty good" whiskey. Right now I'm having some good Kentucky bourbon (Willet) with Reed's ginger ale. Is this "wrong"? Does it matter if the ginger ale is good?

I know that this could be considered an opinion question by some but I'm asking if serious whiskey buffs would scoff at this or if they have done so in any specific literature. You know...collectors, bartenders, distillers, etc. What is the reasoning behind the common practice of discouraging mixing good or better whiskeys?

It is about the same thing as putting A-1 on prime rib. Mixers, like cola or ginger ale, tend to mask the flavors of the whiskey, something which is understandable for an 'inferior' brand but is thought of as 'taboo' for a 'fine' blend. The drink that results from mixing your fine whiskey with the mixers is (roughly) 'the same' as if you had mixed a cheaper blend, having concealed the subtleties that aging and craftsmanship have worked to create.

That said...if you like it, it is your drink.


Soy bean cooking safety I looked online and most recipes called for 3hr of cooking dried and soaked soy beans. My question is if it's instead safe to boil for 10-15min then simmer for 45-60min? As I understand there are bean toxins that need to be cooked out. Also, is cooking after the boiling going to have any efffect on food safety or is it just a matter of texture? My reason for asking is below. On a related note, most recipes call to remove the foam that forms from cooking the soybeans. Is this foam safe to eat?
I've been cooking dried beans more regularly recently. Mostly kidney, pinto, and lima beans with lentils. I boil for 10-15min then simmer for at least 45-60min until it reduces to the consistency I like. I know some beans come out more mushy than others since they normally cook for different times but I like the convenience. I tried soy beans today but they were crunchier than the rest. So I'm just a little paranoid that this means I might not have cooked the soy beans long enough for their bean toxins to be eliminated.

You can't cook "past the boiling point" , unless you are using a pressure cooker...and a simmer is, technically, just below the boiling point.
You can learn about bean foam here.
Soybeans need to be cooked for human consumption in order to destroy the tripsin inhibitors. According to the information in the linked page, boiling soybeans for 14 minutes inactivates about 80% of the inhibitor...for 30 minutes deactivates 90%.  You can reduce this time with the higher temperatures of a pressure cooker.  However, while the inhibitor will be taken care of, as far as I can tell, your beans will not be "cooked", or pleasant to eat yet.  The recipes I find suggest 3 to 4 hours of cooking on the stove-top.  Again, this can be shortened dramatically using a pressure cooker.


Can I make a pot roast in a foil roasting pan with lid? Can I prepare a pot roast in a foil container a few days before cooking?  I also want to brown the meat and veggies, and add the stock and wine.  Then place it in a foil roasting pan with the foil lid, and cook it two days later.  What are the dangers if any???  I think the pot roast will be full of flavor as it been marinating for a few days.

If you follow proper cooling and food storage methods you should be able to treat this just like any other par-cooking method. I would suggest browning the meat and veg and then cooling it quickly by placing it in a large zip top bag with cold stock to rapidly cool the meat. This will enable you to quickly cool the meat and allow you to store/marinate the meat until you want to cook it at a later date. I would add the wine to the bag the day before you are planning on cooking the roast so you don't overdo it with the wine flavor.

Basically, as long as you rapidly cool the meat after browning and then store properly in the fridge you should be just fine.