Does vanilla really bring out the flavour of other foods? I can't count the times I have heard that vanilla brings out the flavour of other foods. For example it "makes chocolate taste more chocolatey," etc...  I have also heard that it's the only spice that does this (enhance the flavour of other spices/foods).

Is this true? If so, by what mechanism does it do this?

Here are some places online that mention this alleged property of vanilla without explaining how it works:

"Vanilla is used for its sweetness and its ability to enhance other flavors." (eHow)
"Vanilla delivers characteristic and complex flavor notes to hundreds of types of food. With fruit- and dairy-based products, it enhances flavor by cutting acid notes, bringing out creamy notes and rounding out flavor systems." (preparedfoods.com)
"Add vanilla to give new 'life' to flavorless seasonal fruits or other foods that need a flavor boost.  Did you know that chocolate by itself tastes 'flat' which is why it usually contains vanilla?" (vanilla.com)

  ...Chocolate simply wouldn’t taste like chocolate without vanilla. “Chocolate tends to be somewhat dull on its own. Vanilla transforms it,” says Patricia Rain, author of a new book, Vanilla: A Cultural History of the World’s Favorite Flavor & Fragrance. “Vanilla
  really enhances the flavor notes of chocolate,” agrees John Scharffenberger, CEO of Scharffen Berger Chocolate Maker in Berkeley, CA, where they prize vanilla so highly that they grind whole vanilla beans with cocoa nibs to make their chocolates.

(vegetariantimes.com)
"Vanilla is one of those ingredients, like salt and fat, that complements and brings out the flavor of other ingredients." (Wiki Answers)

I'm not sure if there is a scientific explanation for this. I also think it's more that vanilla enhances the overall flavor profile of the dish rather than actually bringing out other flavors. Salt, on the other hand, does enhance flavors.


Why does my roast beef smell wonderful but tastes bland? My crockpot roast beef has the best aroma ever but the flavor of the finished product is only average. I had a 4 pound tri-tip roast and seasoned it with the usual onion, garlic, worcestershire sauce, cumin, basil, beef gravy packet, and enough beef broth to just cover roast in the crockpot. We walked in the door and the delicious aroma filled the whole house. But, when eating the roast, it was just okay. Lots of delicious aroma but very little flavor in the roast beef.

Why is this?

If we're talking about a solid, four pound cut of beef - the only flavor you're ever really going to get is on the exterior and just a little bit into the interior of the meat.

That said, cooking in the spices/components you list still may provide liquid gold.  I would simply take some of the liquid that's leftover in the slow cooker after the roast has cooked and make a gravy out of it.  You'll get the flavors you put in and have something to sauce the interior of the meat - that have been flavored with the juices of the meat as well.

Otherwise, if you're looking to 'infuse' more flavor into the beef itself, you'll need to consider something like a stew rather than a whole cut.


Does leaving the lid on make a difference to whether the meat in a soup softens/cook properly? I've been coooking soup with a pot lid off and notice the meat is still tough when cooking.  It could be the due to the lid or some other factor.

I put a thermometer in the soup water and it seems to be at a good temp for simmering meat(90-95c) and I can see the bubbles appearing every seconds or so.  However the meat is still tough.

I put the lid back on and cook then it seems to soften ok.  Considering I can see the simmering bubbles and the thermometer shows a simmer can you explain why and if putting the lid on is making a difference?

Thanks

The only thing that gets the connective tissue in tough cuts to loosen is heat. With the lid on, you've got more insulation. I'd bet you a shiny nickle that the meat towards the bottom of the pot was a touch more cooked than the meat at the top of the pot— you're losing a lot of heat where all of that liquid is hitting room-temperature air. With my immersion circulators, for example, I can't keep the water bath much above 70c without covering them, but the second I cover it, the temperature shoots right up. So sure, the lid likely made it cook a little more quickly and evenly. That said, allowing your cooking liquid to evaporate and intensify as you stew your meat can be a good thing too.


Cooking oranges to put in a cake I found some recipes like this one for orange cake where the oranges are cooked in whole for 45 minutes up to two hours before they get pureed.

What does cooking oranges do to them - does it remove the bitterness of some layers of the peel?
Is there a recommended cooking time?
Will this work with other citrus fruits too?

I've made a similar cake before - note that it uses clementines, not just any oranges. This is an advantage because their skin is thinner and less bitter than larger oranges.

The cooking softens the peel enough to puree smoothly, and helps release the orange flavor from the peel. It's not really about reducing biterness; some of the bitter flavor may be drawn out into the water, but the same is true for the good flavors. Most of the flavor (fortunately) stays in the oranges. The end result is still a bit bitter, but bitter orange isn't an entirely bad flavor, and the sugar covers it a bit.

The best time probably depends on exactly how thick and tough the peel is. But it won't really hurt to cook them on the long side - they're not going to disintegrate or anything in just two hours. If you want to save time, you could poke them periodically to see if they're softened up enough.

As for other citrus fruits... it definitely does work best with things like clementines, which have thin skin that isn't horribly bitter to begin with. With thick-skinned oranges, eating the whole peel isn't such an exciting idea, but I guess it's mostly just that you'll end up with some additional mostly flavorless pith pureed in. Looking for variations, I'd be more inclined to try something like thin-skinned limes, though not in the same kind of recipe, since you'd need a lot more sugar to cover up the acidity. It'd also work incredibly well with things like kumquats, whose peel is sweet and if anything more pleasant to eat than the sour center. There is a decent amount of variation in bitterness of citrus peel, even between varieties of the same fruit, so it's probably prudent to taste the peel first before you invest time baking a cake out of it.


When conserving food in jar, why is the jar turned on its head when cooling? I am talking about the process, where you cook food, for example, a vegetable and conserve it in a jar. The jar can then be stored in a non-refrigerated area.

Many recipes include adding salt, vinegar or some other preservative to the jar.

The process I am talking about only uses water and heat.

I am trying to do this for a third year, each time I have multiple jars going bad.

Most tutorials include the filled jar being heated up (in a water bath) and then (or even while heating) being turned on its head and being let to cool in this position until it is ready to be stored away.

Most tutorials mention, that there is a vacuum being formed, and the jar being on its head somehow helps the process.

It looks something like this:

The way I understand it is that during the heating process the air in the jar expands and escapes the jar, which reduces the air.

What I don't understand is why this is necessary, obviously there is no perfect vacuum and why the jar needs to be turned on its head?

Also, since the jar is cooked and all bacteria killed, why is air a problem?

Generally turning a jar upside down after filling is a alternative to a proper hot-water bath, not an addition to it.  This is known as the inversion method, and is used by many cooks of jams, jellies, mustards, and other very-low-risk canned foods.

The idea of inversion canning is that, by forcing the air in the jar through the hot liquid, you can kill and bacteria in the air (and on the inside of the lid).  It is not considered safe by experts, because there are numerous ways that bacteria can survive the process.

If you are doing "proper" canning, that is heating up the lidded jar to 85C or above, the sealing, inverting the jars is in fact a bad idea as it could result in liquid preventing the jar lid from sealing properly. The Ball jar corporation says “Do not invert. move or store jars while cooling, as this may cause seal failure.” At the least, it's unnecessary.


Forgot to add sugar to the dough how can we fix it? I have a dough rising which I realized was made without sugar. I used pineapple juice so I assume there was some sugar in there but this was supposed to be a sweet bread.

Can we do something during the shaping? I am a bit scared to spray sugar water because dough is already wet.

I am thinking to fold it 5-10 times by sprinkling powdered sugar in each fold.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Added sugar is not essential for a bread recipe to "work", so if it were me --
if the structure has already been established, I would probably let the dough proof to completion without trying to add something after the fact. Without the added sugar, you may need a bit more proofing time for the full rise, but you may end up with something wonderful.
But if you're absolutely sure the recipe would be ruined without the addition sweetness, I would toss the granulated sugar into a blender to make it a bit finer and fold it into the dough before kneading it again. Powdered sugar would likely work fine, but powdered sugar also contains cornstarch or tri-calcium phosphate, and blending granulated sugar will also let you measure the correct amount before you change the volume of the finer product.
Don't add any additional water; you'll change the hydration ratios. After eight to ten folds incorporated into the dough, the sugar will be mixed through about 250-1000 layers, so there has been plenty of mixing to incorporate the sugar adequately. Wait a few minutes for the sugar to hydrate and knead it a few times more.
I think it will be fine.


Why does my Velveeta queso dip get clumpier the longer it stays in the microwave? I had a bizarre experience with Velveeta this past weekend and was hoping you all could help me out.

I bought a block of Velveeta and some Rotel canned tomatoes to make a queso dip.  I microwaved the dip for about 8 minutes total (taking out after 5 to stir.)  After the 8 minutes were up, I started stirring the queso and noticed that the cheese was still clumpy.

So, I stuck the queso back in the microwave for four more minutes and when I took it out, it was worse than before.

This has never happened before, usually when it gets clumpy, you can just throw it in to the microwave for a little while longer and it comes out nice.

What happened here?  Do some foods become clumpy when they are cooked too long?  Could the Velveeta have been bad?  I've made this several times, and I don't think I did anything different here.

From what you're describing, I think the cheese (or cheese-like substance, in this case) 'broke' ... that is, the oil separated out of it.

I'd recommend:

Don't melt it at full power
Stir it multiple times during melting
Melt the cheese (or "cheese-food") seperately, then add the tomatoes, so the tomatoes don't get hot, causing uneven heating.

I'm not sure if there's a good way to recover cheese once it's broken.  Some starch will help keep dairy from breaking in the first place, but I don't think it'd help you in this  particular case.


Are chicken gizzards okay to eat if still pink inside? I sautéed chicken gizzards for quite a while, then added water and boiled another 15 minutes but they are still pink inside. Are they safe to eat even though they are pink inside?

After boiling for that period of time (especially after sauteing), the gizzards have certainly reached a "safe" temperature. They are probably not really good eating though. Gizzards are a tough piece of meat. They benefit from a low and slow cooking process. Here's a pretty good article from Livestrong. Among other advice, they suggest braising (or boiling) first for 15 or so minutes, then searing at a very high heat.

Here's a pretty typical recipe for Southern Fried Chicken Gizzards. It starts with simmering the gizzards for 45 minutes or longer, then cooling, then breading.

Safety really isn't the issue here, or color; after 15 minutes of boiling, you have well surpassed the USDA recommended temperature of 165F (74C). For good flavor though, they need more time.

  Traditionally, chicken or turkey giblets are cooked by simmering in water
  for use in flavoring soups, gravies or poultry stuffing. Once cooked, the
  liver will become crumbly and the heart and gizzard will soften and
  become easy to chop. Cooked giblets should have a firm texture.
  Casseroles containing giblets should be cooked to 165 °F. Stuffing should
  also be cooked to 165 °F. Chicken giblets are commonly fried or broiled.
  Leftovers should be refrigerated within 2 hours.


Caulk gun-like dispenser for whipped cream What are some good solutions for dispensing whipped cream into swirls in a consistent fasion, maybe a specific shape etc.?  I was envisioning something just like a caulk gun where you fill the container with your cream and then squeeze out of it.  I tried googling buy all I got were pressurized cartridge bottles for making whipped cream.  I don't want it to make whipped cream, just squeeze out little swirls.

My suggestion would be to use a piping bag. You can get various tips so you can change up the swirls and lines as you like.

Added by Jolenealaska:

I hope you look at the comments and all of the answers here. I have used both pastry bags (many times), and a caulk-gun thing once before I threw it away.

Disposable bags are not expensive unless you use a lot of them. And there is no clean up, 'cause you just throw them away.

The caulk gun looking thing is cumbersome and a pain to clean, pastry bags are a much better option. I realize that is a subjective thing to say, but there is a reason you never see pastry chefs using the caulk-gun thing.

Different tips give different results.

A coupler makes it easy to change tips or to use the same tip for different bags (colors).

Then you just throw the bag away and wash whatever tips you used.

Disposable Pastry Bags, 100 count

You can even just snip the end of the bag and not use a tip at all. You can do that with a baggie too, but a pastry bag will give you more control.


Eliminating STPP taste in seafood All of the IQF shrimp in local stores contain sodium tripolyphosphate. I am apparently very sensitive to the taste, or at least more so than my family members. It renders these shrimp inedible to me. Is there anything that I could marinade the shrimp in to possibly reduce some of the taste?

Shrimp can have up to 0.25% STPP, fish even more!

STPP reacts with calcium or magnesium salts. These are commonly found in pool PH buffers, or as gypsum (food grade gypsum is used as a tofu coagulant)

1 Kg of shrimp could have up to 2.5g of STPP, so a 1/2 tsp of a calcium or magnesium salt dissolved in hot water, and diluted to 1 l, would make a neutralising bath for 1 Kg of shrimp. Leave it in for 10 or 20 minutes and rinse thoroughly

It may also react with citric acid (used in baking), or just use the juice of a small lemon instead

The only problem with this is it may leave a soapy taste


Pitaya Red Velvet Cake became brown Starting point:

I was trying to follow a red velvet cake recipe from the internet, but since I always try to replace industrial/artificial ingredients by more "natural" ones (just out of curiosity), I decided to replace the buttermilk and the liquid red food color with red pitaya pulp (which is tasteless and mostly made of water, similar to carrots, which can also turn into good cakes).

The recipe I've found is as follow:

! – 200ml of (whole) milk
  – 1 table spoon of lime juice
  (left to rest for 10 minutes)
             -> replacement for buttermilk (which is unusual to find here)
  //
  – 3 teacups of wheat flour
  – 2 teacups of sugar
! – 1 table spoons of cocoa powder
  – 3 tea spoons of baking soda (1 table spoon)
  – 1 tea spoon of salt
! – 1 table spoon of baking powder
  //
  – 100g of unsalted soft (non-refrigerated) butter
  – 2 eggs
! – 3 tea spoons of white vinegar (1 table spoon)
  – 1 tea spoon of vanilla extract
! – 4 table spoons of liquid red food color
  – 5 more table spoons of lime juice

and I've changed it to that:

! – 300g of fresh red pitaya pulp
  – 1 table spoon of lime juice
  //
  – 3 teacups of wheat flour
  – 2 teacups of sugar
! – 1 table spoons of cocoa powder
! – 5 tea spoons of baking soda
  – 1 tea spoon of salt
  //
  – 100g of unsalted soft (non-refrigerated) butter
  – 2 eggs
! – 4 tea spoons of white vinegar
  – 2 tea spoons of vanilla extract
! – 2 table spoons of anatto*
  – 5 more table spoons of lime juice

Besides replacing milk and food color with pitaya pulp (turned to juice), I added 2 table spoons of anatto and replaced the 1 table spoon of baking powder with 2 more tea spoons of baking soda and 1 more tea spoon of vinegar, since I always do this for every cake recipe.

Result:

Perfect in matters of structure/texture, taste and smell... BUT after half of the time in the oven, it started turning from a dark reddish purple to honey cake brown.

 ->

Question:

Was my idea of replacement a guaranteed failure with regard to the resulting color? did I missed something? Is there any trick or technique I could/should try to preserve the natural color of pitaya through the baking process? More acid ingredients, like lime juice? Less of them, maybe? Does anyone knows how much heat can pitaya pigments (betalain?) take before stopping giving vivid colors (?) and if there are any other natural red/purple pigment more heat-resistant (?). (note that its vivid color survived until half of the baking process)

Note that carrot cake isn't the bright orange of raw or even boiled carrots either.  This is especially true of the crust and from your description of partway through cooking I suspect that's the colour you're looking at.  If the inside is much better, there's still hope.

Many colourful compounds in plants aren't stable under heat, but even ignoring that, sugar and flour both brown on the outside of cakes. Both caramelisation and the Maillard reaction (the former is probably more important in cake) take place at typical oven temperatures, so you may have some success with a cooler oven.  This is a moist recipe so it may not turn out too dry, but you may want to cover it for the end of the cooking time.  A cheating approach is to cut the crusts off, then ice all over.

I've had a play with DIY plant extract colouring and the crust colour is clear (I didn't make enough extract, and was going for orange) You may want to look at anthocyanins, in fact given your comments about acid you may already have done so


What are the different effects that different washes produce in baked goods? Just before you put something with dough in the oven, often you have to brush it with a liquid.
I've seen recipes that say with egg wash, with egg yolk, with egg white, with milk etc.

Does it make a difference what you use for brushing? If yes, what is best suited for what purpose (shining, browning, I don't know what else)?

The best resource I've seen is here at The Fresh Loaf.

Egg yolk produces a shiny and dark look but remains soft.
Egg white is still soft but less shiny.
Milk and water only darken it slightly and produce what the article calls a 'satin' look.
Butter makes it shiny, smooth, rich, and well, buttery!


How long can I leave the fridge open? How long can I leave the fridge open without it affecting the food inside? How often?

Is it just the temperature or are there other factors (moisture?) as well?

Also my fridge has a light that gets warm after a while ... I guess newer models use LEDs?

In terms of food safety you can leave the door open for the same amount of time that your food can safely sit on the counter when taken out of the fridge. This is a couple of hours for most potentially hazardous foods as indicated in the answer to the linked question. This a cumulative time, so if you leave the door open for an hour three days in a row you're going to have to throw out a lot of food.

Of course this isn't really what you meant. If you're just leaving the door open while you pour yourself a glass of milk, the temperature of the food in the fridge isn't likely to reach the danger zone. How long that takes will depend on factors like the nature of the food and its location in the fridge, but I wouldn't worry about if you unless have it open for more than minute or so.

So from a food safety perspective you don't have to worry too much about leaving the door open. From an energy savings perspective you do however want to keep the length of time of the door is open to the minimum. The temperature of the air in the fridge will rise faster than temperature of the food, so every second you have the door open the fridge has do that much more work to cool it down again. This is probably the real reason why your parents told you to close the door immediately.


My soft cookies are falling apart! At my job we bake 3oz chocolate chip, peanut butter and oatmeal raisin cookies from scratch. I've been baking them to be soft on the inside and crispier on the outer edges but these cookies end up being pretty fragile. The way they display the cookies might be part of the issue (they stack them on top of each other so the top cookies end up collapsing on top of the bottom cookies) but even still when you go to grab them they easily fall apart. Mostly the oatmeal and the peanut butter ones. I was wondering what might be the cause of this and if anyone has any tips on preventing this! Thank you so much!

~Rianne

Ok, try this: Put all of the sugar in your mixer bowl, add only 1/2 of the butter. And beat, making it as smooth as possible, add eggs, mix again, add flour and any flavoring that you use ie; vanilla, etc. Mix again, only then add the rest of the room temp soft butter. Final mix.
   It is also possible that , in your original recipe, you were not mixing enough.
You are using a stand mixer? Right ? You might try doubling mixing time in your original recipe , AFTER you have added the flour.
I seem to recall, many, many years ago trying to make choc chip cookies at a friends house. All my friend had was a mixing bowl and a heavy wooden spoon. Those cookies fell apart after baking. Why ? My arm got too tired and I figured it was fine.  Later, at my house I made the same recipe but I used my stand mixer. Result, perfect cookies.
Good luck. Good baking


How long can I keep a leg of ham in the fridge? How long will a glazed ham last for?

I have a ham, which I glazed.

It was in a vac pack, and does not expire for 2 months.

Since I have removed it from the vac pack, glazed and cooked it. How long will it last in the fridge?

Also what is the best way to keep it?

And how should I store the remainder in the freezer? Cut it up into steaks? Cubes? etc?

Update:

My question from last year, still not really sure what to do. I have a 10kg ham in a vac pack (not frozen). It says use by 2nd of January. I'm going to glaze and cook it. So how long can I keep it in a fridge?

Also what is the best way to keep it?

Added some photos for clarity:

And after cooked (couldn't help but try a piece)

The official answer is generally only a few days for meat in the fridge ...

Ham can be different, as it's salt cured, so depending on the salt content can last longer without freezing it.

As for freezing it, it really depends on how you plan to use it:

It's most convenient to cut it up in the same way that you're going to use it, so that you can just pull it and use it easily
For maximum storage time, the less surface area (larger pieces) the better.  Diced ham will get freezer burnt much faster than just bagging a 1lb chunk.
As with freezing most meats, you want to double wrap it to prevent moisture loss (and freezer burn).

So, I'd go ahead and ask yourself how you envision using it up, and how quickly.  For instance, if you think you'll make a pot of ham and black bean soup in the next month or so, go ahead and dice it now and freeze it, and you can just pull and dump it when it's time.  If you like ham steaks, slice them up, wrap and freeze those -- you can always chop it up further to fold into a casserole once it's thawed, if you have to.  If you have so much that you think you're going to get sick of ham and need a break, freeze it in a large chunk ... but you'll want to give it a day to defrost in the fridge so you can actually cut into it when you want to use it.


Which potatoes are best for twice baked potatoes Which potatoes in the US are best for twice baked potatoes?
My twice baked potatoes didn't turn out right. The skins broke, and punctured to easily. I was using Yukon golds of medium size lightly washed, and punctured with a fork.

There are two main types of potatoes: starchy and waxy (although some are considered in-between). The difference, as you might imagine, has to do with the starch content of the potatoes.

When cooked, starchy potatoes (like Russet potatoes) tend to break apart. They are often used in baking and frying. They also are more absorbent of liquids and fats.

Waxy potatoes (like red potatoes) hold together more when they are cooked. They are more likely to be used in soups and stews. They also tend to have thinner skins than starchy potatoes.

Yukon gold potatoes are considered in-between starchy and waxy. Their medium levels of starch make them a good all-around potato.

But if the Yukon gold potatoes aren't working, I'd suggest using a starchier potato. One of the things that makes twice-baked potatoes so good is that the inside is mixed with other ingredients and then reheated. Starchy potatoes are more likely to absorb the butter/cheese/other ingredients.


Am I cooking mushrooms wrong? Since I was a child, I never really liked mushrooms. To be honest, I was extremely picky, but now, I eat anything. Well... Almost anything. I can't stand mushrooms. Except, I can't understand why, and I want to learn to love mushrooms since they're really useful as a vegetarian.

For example, yesterday, I made some pretty simple miso soup and added some, supposedly delicious shiitake mushrooms to it. I salted them and fried them at medium-high heat for a few minutes until they had a nice color and texture. Did doing that affected the taste in a bad way?

I also remember making mushrooms risotto some time ago and getting the same disgusting taste.

Am I missing something obvious here? Is this not how you're supposed to cook mushrooms?

There's nothing wrong with the way you cooked those mushrooms, you fried them to give them some color and seasoned them, which is perfectly fine. You didn't mess them up, you just don't like them. No matter how you prepare them you probably still won't like the flavor, there's nothing wrong with that, it's just how you are.


Are there small electric saws that can cut beef marrow bones? To get bone marrow out of whole beef bones, and for serving bone marrow in a bone piece on the plate nicely, you need to cut the bone into slices. It is a lot of work manually even for one cut, even more so doing several cuts on each bone for several bones.
I would also like to cut large fish like salmon into evenly sliced steaks. I can do it with a big knife, but they are uneven cuts, I would like perfectly even cuts like in frozen salmon slices from the supermarket.
There are electric butcher's bandsaws for this, but all I can find are huge machines, being in the form of a whole table. Do there exist any portable, semi-portable or at least in any form which can be placed on the counter-top? Or any other solution to achieve such cuts in cow leg marrow bones and big fish, without tiring myself out? On average would be doing several cuts a day.

A manual butcher's saw will work fine on bone or frozen meat; they cut pretty quickly. (In particular, they will cut much more efficiently than a serrated knife or hacksaw, neither of which has appropriate teeth. Never ever attempt to cut bone with a serrated knife.) Butchers will often use a manual saw instead of a bandsaw for tricky angles or just to avoid having to transfer back and forth between a butchers block and the bandsaw.
The problem with using a small electric saw is that all of them are meant to be held two-handed with all body parts well away from the blade, meaning you'd have to clamp the meat in some way. Nevertheless, if you found a way to clamp things, an electric reciprocating saw with a fine-toothed blade would work fine.


Sourdough Starter: Very fast rise (doubles in an hour) I started a sourdough culture a week back and have some questions about rising time.

I did not add any yeast to the culture.
I am using regular whole wheat flour.
The temperature at my place is 30*C(at 1 pm)

Day 1-6 I used 10 Gram Flour. Day 6 I used 20gram, Day 7 I used 50gram
The progress so far has been as follows with 100% hydration:
Day. Status

Equal parts water and flour.
Equal parts water and flour, No Activity, smells rotten!
Equal parts Fresh Orange Juice and flour, Doubles after a few hours Repeat Same feed after 10 hours.
Equal parts Fresh Orange Juice and flour,  Doubles after a few hours Repeat Same feed after 10 hours.
Discard 50%, Equal parts water and flour: Doubles in an hour. Smells Yeasty!
Discard 50%, Equal parts water and flour: Doubles in an hour. Repeat feeding 3 times a day when the dough starts falling.
Discard 50%, Equal parts water and flour: Doubles in less than an hour!

Now most Sourdough bread recipes that I see online are based on an assumption of 8 hours rise time With my dough doubling in an hour or less, I had the following questions:

Is it the "right culture"? Should I be using it for baking?
If it can be used for Baking Is there a modified recipe available for fast acting yeast?

My Starter Jar right now looks like this!

Edit 1: I Made a whole wheat bread with the started.

The hydration was low(70%),
the crumb a bit dense.
There was little or no over spring(Did not use a dutch over, used a pan with boiling water and a tea towel on lower shelf)

...but the bread was tasty :)

I'm not surprised your starter is very active given that it's being incubated at a cosy 30C. But the only way to know for sure that it has a suitable population of yeasts is to use it to bake a simple loaf. Just take a simple recipe and go for it. Your starter looks healthy so I expected you'll get good results.
For a very quick check, just fry a couple of teaspoons at about 100% hydration: if you can see bubbles forming on the surface there is active yeast.


why roast marrow bones at 450F? Many of the recipes for roast marrow bones suggest a short (20min), high temp roast. Are there any reasons to cook them at such a high temperature instead of, say one hour at 350°F?

Bone marrow is made up of a large portion of fat.  If you roast it low and slow, you render out a good portion of that fat and are left with a liquidy mess.  Also the high heat will start to carmelize the bone marrow, providing much flavor.


Why did my fresh pasta come out pasty and lumpy? I just got a pasta machine, and had my first try at making fresh pasta yesterday. I used the recipe in the booklet that came with the machine which called for 2 cups Semolina flour, 2 large eggs, and a bit of water and olive oil. Making the dough, rolling it out, and cutting the pasta went well, but I ran into a couple issues.

Actually cooking it. I know how to tell when boxed pasta is done, but I'm not sure what the texture of fresh pasta should actually be like. Should it be similar to that of "Al dente" boxed pasta? Mine was weirdly soft and I'm not sure if it was under or over-cooked.
The cooked pasta had a very rough, lumpy texture rather than the smooth texture I would expect. Is this due to the semolina flour, or did I maybe just not knead the dough enough?

Fresh pasta cooks in just a few minutes, so taste it early. It should be al-dente just like properly cooked dried pasta. Let your fresh pasta dry (I hang mine over the back of a chair) for half an hour or longer before you cook it, so that there's some crunch for the al-dente feel.

Most recipes advise "type 00" flour, which is milled extra fine. You should be able to tell when you've kneaded enough - it just needs to feel perfectly smooth in your hands. You don't need to knead for ages like bread dough, but you do need to have mixed the liquid and the flour completely thoroughly.


Boiled chicken: coloured parts of the meat? When I try to make chicken soup I usually find parts of the meat don't seemed to be cooked properly: red, purple, or brown bits which I think should be white. Sometimes some pieces come out white while other are white on the outside but inside they are coloured. I use a standard method: I cut 1kg chicken into 4-8 pieces, add 2 litres water, add salt, bring to boil, then simmer for 1 hour. On occasions I have managed to cook it all white but this is the exception not the rule.

Does the size of pieces make a difference as to how well it cooks?
Does size make a difference as to how I should cook it? e.g. should large pieces be cooked slowly while smaller pieces be cooked fast?
Does the speed at which I bring to a boil affect the cooking? Should I bring it to a boil slowly or is it ok to do it fast so long as I lower the heat once it's boiling?
Sometimes I notice some chicken bits start ripping, e.g. skin opens, tears.  My guess is this is due to boiling or staying on the lower surface centre of the pot. What causes this, and is it a problem?
How long are soups meant to be cooked for? Mine is usually 1 hour 15 minutes. Sometimes I add more time but it doesn't still cook the insides properly.
Could it be the temperature? Even if I don't go above a simmer, it still doesn't cook properly.
Does stirring make a difference? I have tried this, but it doesn't seem to.

Do you have any idea why I cannot get it right or what I may be doing wrong? Is there a sure procedure to cook chicken soup to make sure it cooks fully every time?

Your chicken is fully cooked after simmering for an hour.  The red bits are from the bone marrow and don't indicate that it's undercooked.  You'll see the same thing if you roast a chicken, and you'll notice that the red bits are always in the meat surrounding bone joints.


What are the differences between an induction stove and a regular electric stove? What are the differences between an induction stove and a regular electric stove?  They are both electrically powered, and don't look all that different, but the induction cooktops I have seen are a lot more expensive.

What difference does the type of stove - induction vs electric - make to the actual cooking process?

A regular electric oven uses a large coiled resistor as a heating element. A large electric current is passed through this element which generates heat, similar to the tungsten filament of an incandescent light bulb.

An induction stove doesn't actually generate heat itself, but rather induces it the pot or pan. It does this using a rapidly oscillating magnetic field. This field induces an electric current in a ferromagnetic pan which generates heat, thus heating the food.

Induction stoves are faster, safer, and more energy efficient than traditional electric stoves. It requires significantly less electricity to create the magnetic field than it does to drive enough current through a resistor to make it heat up. They are safer because they don't actually generate heat themselves. After taking a pot off the "burner" (glass surface) it quickly begins to cool.

With regards to differences in the cooking process, there's not much. You just need to be aware that it heats up much more quickly and cools down much more quickly than a traditional electric stove. It does affect your choice of pans however. All aluminum pans will not work, nor will some lower quality stainless steel ones. If a magnet sticks to the pan then it will work just fine. The pan must also have a flat bottom to make full contact with the surface.


How long will Sous Vide food keep? I'm part of an international rescue team and one of the things we need to do is to be self sufficient. At the minute we take ready made boil in the bag food which is not particularly great and is quite expensive.

I recently saw Heston Blumthall proposing the use of Sous Vide food for preservation of food on a submarine and wondered if the same approach could be used by my rescue team. So the question is if the food is cooked by can it be kept on a store cupboard shelf and if it can, what would the shelf life be? I'm assuming that the quality of the packaging could have an effect. If it can how could this be taken into account?

There's a misunderstanding possibly of what Heston suggested for the British Navy.  He suggested to sous vide it and then store it in the freezer.  They couldn't just toss it in the cupboard.  Sous vide food is not typically shelf stable.  It has been pasteurized - not sterilized.

Pasteurization reduces pathogens to a safe level, not to a 0 level.  It doesn't typically reduce botulism spores to 0.  Once the food is exposed to normal temperatures, any anaerobic pathogens will start to reproduce again.

To sterilize you'll need to pressure cook meat through to 121 C for 2.4 minutes - at which point its rather not tasty.  You might be able to sous vide at a lower temp for much longer, but I suspect it'll still be past the point of being tasty.  Sterilized meat tastes like your typical potted meat.


What's the purpose of a parchment lid? I'm making some saffron rice. After sautéing some onions and saffron and then toasting the rice, it calls for simmering with broth for 8 minutes with a parchment lid. What is the difference between a parchment lid and a top? Is it just the vent for steam? If so, can I just partially cover with a lid? Does the parchment need to be directly resting on the rice for it to "work"?

note: I know what a parchment lid is, I just don't fully understand why you'd use one.

The problem with lids is in how they drip -- the water tends to condense and run down the sides, making it so there's uneven moisture in the dish.  Some dutch oven lids solve this by putting little nubs all over the lid, so it drips more evenly all over the dish.  With a paper lid, you don't get that large collection of steam in the air above the dish, so you don't run into those problems.  You also won't get as much total evaporation, as there's less liquid-to-air surface for the liquid to evaporate from.

You could go with a just a skewed lid, but it's possible that the rice might come out less than ideal.  (although, I'll one for taking shortcuts ... if I can get an 8/10 with 1/2 the effort, I'm all for it -- you just have to know how the shortcut might change things ... this one's a bit of a toss-up, because using a normal lid means there's one more thing to clean, but that's balanced by the extra trash from the parchment lid).


How long is the life of a shot of espresso? When pulling a shot of espresso, how long is its life before it is too bitter?

I know this might change by the bean, but what is a rough estimate?

I was doing some coffee tasting and some of the shots were left unused for about 5 minutes and the barista said that these shots were now "dead" and that they don't reflect what the true taste of the coffee is.

Do I really only have 5 minutes to drink espresso before its no longer drinkable?

This barista says no, you can enjoy your shot for a little while:

  In reality, there are only a couple of things that happen to espresso
  over the course of a few minutes.  First, the crema or foam that sits
  on top of the espresso reintegrates with the liquid.  Crema, on its
  own, contains some of the best flavors and aromatic qualities of the
  espresso in high concentrations.  Drinking it straight can be
  overwhelming but, it stands to reason, that having the crema
  reintegrate might actually be a good thing.  Second, the espresso
  cools down.  The temperature of espresso has a lot to do with how we
  taste the various flavors contained within it...

I am not an espresso fan myself--I like regular coffee, but not after it has cooled down, and never reheated.  Many folks are perfectly content to microwave a cold cup and drink it.

I imagine that older, colder espresso is palatable to you to the extent that you are willing to tolerate it.  A small shot of coffee--and lets face it, that is all espresso is, even if it is brewed in a fancy manner--is going to cool off much more rapidly than a full cup, or a full pot.


Cheap cheese is tasteless. Can I make it tastier in my mac and cheese? I used to make mac and cheese with cheddar.  Like many, I'm cutting costs due to the recession and I'm buying the cheapest cheese I can find.  The problem is, when I make macaroni with it, it's just tasteles.  Is there anything I can do to keep using the cheap cheese, but get more taste out of it?

Cheap cheese is, as others have explained, cheap for a reason.

You should be able to find old/extra old (AKA "sharp"/"extra sharp") cheddar cheese in the cheap section, which makes a reasonably good starting point - this cheese does have some flavour.

Daniel says he simmers the milk; I generally start with evaporated milk, which is even more economical than regular milk and keeps in the pantry forever.  Although I would not use evaporated milk in just any recipe calling for milk, it happens to work quite well for Mac 'n Cheese.

Other common additions to help offset the lack of flavour in poorly-aged cheeses are:

Salt. Remember, salt is essentially a flavour enhancer and will bring out the natural taste of any other ingredient.
Mustard.  Prepared mustard is OK, but concentrated mustard made from dry mustard and a small amount of water is even better, so you can avoid having to add too much liquid.  This doesn't enhance the flavour of the cheese, but it does share some of the "sharpness" associated with cheddar and makes a good complement.  As a bonus, it also acts as a natural emulsifier for the sauce, helping to minimize separation and curdling.
Ground cayenne or red pepper.  Although most people probably don't associate Mac 'n Cheese with piquant, a small amount of this won't make the sauce noticeably spicy, but it will add a bit of the same "kick" you get with very old cheese.

If all else fails, my "secret weapon" for Mac 'n Cheese is - not kidding - the sauce base from Kraft Dinner (AKA Kraft Macaroni and Cheese Dinner for you Yankees), especially if you can get the "extra sharp" version.  This stuff is dirt cheap (often just 99 cents for a package) and before you dismiss this as heresy, keep in mind that the idea is not to use the whole thing.  Just a teaspoon or two to enhance your homemade sauce.  If you don't approve of such shortcuts then you shouldn't be buying cheap cheese in the first place, right?

So there you have it.  Try some or all of the above; I'm sure you'll end up with something that's at least acceptable, if not great.


Why should one boil water over medium-high heat for pasta? I have encountered a pasta recipe with this as the first step:

  Bring a large pot of water to boil over medium-high heat.

What is the purpose of using medium-high heat? Isn't it faster and more efficient to use high heat to boil water?

A few lines of thought:

Pasta water boiling over happens to the best of us. Either from not paying attention, using too little water, or using too much water. Using the medium-high heat versus max heat helps mitigate boil overs from happening.
On my own stove, when the burner is at its highest setting, much of the heat ends up being directed up the sides of the pot, rather than on the bottom of the bot. The gas flame becomes so wide underneath the pot, that much of the heat is lost to the air, rather than being focused on the pot. This makes the medium-high setting more efficient than high. Obviously this all depends on the pot and the burner, but even my larger pots have this happen to them.
If you were shooting for another temperature, like 200F (93C), instead of boiling it would be hard to hit that number on high heat without going over. Even if you have a thermometer in the pot and turned the burner off immediately after hitting 200F, the water would continue to rise in temperature as the residual heat carries over. Ideally, as the water gets hotter and closer to 200F, you would want to slowly back off the heat until getting to the point that will allow you to hold the water at exactly 200F. I think it's the same idea for boiling water. It's okay to use high heat, but you want to back off the burner as the water gets closer until you end up on medium-high: a good happy-medium for keeping water boiling versus having hotspots on the bottom of the pot.


Doughnuts preseratives Calcium Propionate

I normally use calcium propionate for extended shelf life problems. I am a packed doughnuts manufacturer, and I have a problem managing my shelf life. Regarding mold on our product, I need some halal/vegan preservatives to extend my shelf life from 3-10 days. I am using yeast, baking powder, eggs, salt, and butter as an ingredients. Some authentic solutions would be highly appreciated.

I have experience with a few natural options such as Bred-Mate, Bro-Lite and MoisturLok, but I doubt that any of those will get you as much shelf life as calpro will. MoisturLok and Brolite both have formulations for sweet goods, and I did have luck getting yeast breads to have a 7+-day shelf life with Bro-Lite.
If you have access to it, I'd recommend just getting halal calpro, as that's going to have the longest shelf-life by far.


Will chocolate cake be edible if I added one cup of water instead of two? What will happen to chocolate cake if I added one cup of boiling water instead of two, and I did not realize it until it was baking? Will it be edible?

It shouldn't have affected the edibility of the cake....and there's no scope of the cake's being dry.... :)


Should I buy more expensive oats? Whenever I buy oats I go to buy oats I'm always left wondering if the higher price could result in a better product.  I auspect it could be that a higher price just means an expensive cardboard box or a better position on the shelf.

I've checked for factors that I think might explain it such as  origin and organic claims but that doesn't seem to explain either.

Can oats be different quality and how can I tell the difference. What effect does it have on what I prepare with it?

The Oats
The types of Oates I'm asking about are the varieties that are plain and not premixed with other ingredients. There are a number of forms I know of such as Rolled, quick and steel cut oats.

As for the uses, I mostly mix with boiling water for breakfast but occasionally use in cooking as well so If there is a difference for different uses then knowing about that would also be useful.

An example shelf

The above pricing ranges from $1.5 to $6 for what appears to be the same quantity of the same product.  Note some of the products are mixed are not really oats they are mixes and not included in my question.

My experience is that for making porridge (various methods, sometimes soaked but not always) or granola, or for baking (flapjack/oat bars, crumble topping), all rolled oats are equivalent. I usually buy the cheapest (bottom shelf, boring packaging in UK supermarkets) but occasionally have to get more expensive ones.

One thing occurred to me that might possibly make a difference: some, such as Lidl's cheapest that I currently have, are packed in a paper bag. Many others, including the more expensive ones I've bought, have a plastic bag, possibly inside a box. If you're storing them for long periods in a humid place or exposed to strong odours, the paper may not be as good. Of course you could always put them in a sealed container when you get them home.


Does 85% lean ground turkey have the same amount of fat as 85% lean ground beef? I'm not a cooking expert so I'm not exactly sure what the notation means. I always thought that turkey was a much leaner meat than beef. So if turkey is labeled as 85% lean, does that mean it has the same fat content as 85% lean beef? If so, does that mean that the fat percentage is simply higher than that of turkey in general?

Yes.

"85% lean" means that 15% is fat... regardless of the type of meat.

"95% lean" means that 5% is fat...

Much of ground turkey is made from turkey breast, which is naturally nearly fat free, which is why it's often sold as "99% fat free", meaning there's only 1% fat.

The turkey that's 85% lean is usually dark meat - legs and thighs - which are significantly higher in fat than the breast meat. This is generally standard for most (if not all) fowl.

Here's some numbers:

  Ounce for ounce, white turkey breast meat trumps dark meat, calorically speaking. Per 3 ounces, opting for white meat over dark will save you 45 calories and 6 grams of saturated fat: 115 calories and 0 grams of saturated fat versus 160 calories and 2 grams of saturated fat, respectively.

In general, sources tend to say that dark meat is more flavorful and more moist, which is generally true of higher-fat proteins.

Beef doesn't have as many sections that are similarly lacking in fat and ground beef is often made from trimmings from all sorts of parts of the cow, not just one part.

As a note, I regularly see ground beef as low as 70% lean (this is the lowest it can be - as stated by USDA law)... but I've never seen turkey lower than 85%, that I can think of.


How to gauge chicken breast doneness on grill pan? Ive been trying to nail cooking butterflied chicken breasts on my all clad grill pan. My first attempt, they turned out rubbery, and almost completely in-edible, despite cooking to 165 as read on my instant read thermometer (taken off at 160).  These were average size breasts butterflied, no more that 1/4 inch think at the very thickest part. It took maybe 5 min per side to reach 160 on medium-high heat, but this turned out to overcook them to all hell.

On a second try, I cooked them much less, ~3.5 minutes per side, and the instant read only read around 155 when i took them off, but they looked perfectly cooked, juicy, and no pink. I had tried to take them off by feel (poking them with my finger and guesstimating doneness)

What gives? Are these unsafe to eat despite appearing done and having the right texture even though i took them off the grill pan at 155. I thought maybe my thermometer was bad, so I bought another one, and they both read the same temperatures in several tests. Are instant reads just not accurate on thinner cuts of chicken? Or is the margin for error much smaller for thinner cuts?

At my restaurant, I'll cook a chicken to 160 and let it carry-over to 163 - 165. 165 is only the highest you should ever go with chicken. I do this just to stay within compliance and to be honest if someone asks me if it's "all the way done." It really messes with the meat, though.

At home, or when I'm cooking for friends and family, you bet your ass I'll pull that bird off at 150 to 155. As you noted in your post, that is when it's cooked all the way through and still retains a pleasurable texture. But the idea that the chicken has to be cooked to hell has been beaten into us and never really challenged. 165 is the temperature at which salmonella is effectively killed off when you're cooking relatively hot and fast. These guidelines were also made at a time when food manufacturers were hellhouses, unsafe and unsanitary. Nowadays, by and large, the reality is much different. There's still risk, but as long as you're not serving chicken tartare, your risk for getting sick off chicken cooked at 150 is extremely low. (That said, if someone has a vulnerable immune system, it's better to just take risk off the table and cook it "all the way.")

One other thing: one thing that will help with this issue, and acts as a safety net just in case you walk away from the stove and your chicken does get overcooked, is to dry brine the chicken. Don't do a wet brine for chicken breasts, because it ends up waterlogging the meat and whatever you cook will be rubbery as hell. Wet brines should be reserved for WOGs or other whole carcasses. Dry brining is basically doing a short-term salt cure. A 1/4 teaspoon of salt on both sides of the chicken and let it sit in your fridge for an hour or two. The chicken breast will then be more forgiving and still stay a good piece of meat.


How does velveting work? The Chinese technique of velveting works. It creates a lusciously tender bit of meat, and I'm a complete advocate of making the small additional effort. If you've ever done it, you're already a believer, it's amazing. (I usually do it this way BTW)

I'm velveting shrimp as I type this, and once again I am wondering what is taking place. How does this work? At its simplest, velveting is nothing but marinating in egg and starch. How does that translate into lovely, tender pieces of all types of meat?

EDIT: A little history here would be interesting too. How long ago and how did this technique start?

I think what's really happening here is mostly physics, rather than any magical reaction between the meat and the "velvet" (i.e. egg and cornstarch; I'm going to use this term for brevity).

The largest effect is that the velvet adds a thin, clingy coating to the outside of the meat.  When introduced to heat, that's providing a barrier to the movement of thermal energy into the meat proteins.  The proteins in the egg are denaturing, the starches are gelatinizing, and that absorbs some of the energy that would otherwise have gone into your meat.  The presence of sheer additional mass from the velvet also means that it simply takes more energy to raise the overall temperature.  This means that the temperature increases more slowly, and can be better controlled (sort of like sous vide cooking).

As the starch gelatinizes, it's also forming a  moisture-resistant barrier around the outside of the meat.  That could very possibly prevent moisture from leaking out of the meat as it's squeezed out of cells with denaturing proteins.  Ordinarily it would leak out into your poaching liquid (or wok if you're stir-frying, where it would rapidly boil off) but now it's trapped in the pieces of meat.  This is also somewhat analogous to sous vide cooking, or maybe to poaching in oil - the food being cooked stays moist, because the water is trapped inside (by a bag in sous vide, by hydrophobic oil in oil-poaching) and has nowhere to go.

Another factor is the very gentle cooking being done, in a barely-simmering water bath for a short period of time.  This is cooking the meat just up to the point of doneness, by doing so at a rather low temperature (say 210 F or so, compared to 500 F or higher for a properly hot wok) and only very briefly, with the velvet coating for additional thermal protection.  After that, the meat doesn't really need to be cooked much at all - it can be tossed into a nearly finished stir-fry just to the point of being re-heated.  That seems to be why this article tosses out this interesting comment:

  The meat remains soft and tender. (You've probably noticed in Cantonese restaurants that stir-fried meat is almost never browned or seared.)

I hadn't given it much thought before now, but that seems to match my experience in good Chinese restaurants, at least with certain dishes.  Contrasting this with stir-frying sans-velvet, think about a browned piece of meat: the surface is covered with a delicious Maillard-browned crust, but those proteins have also been cooked to the point of losing their moisture.  Even if the interior of the meat is moist, the outside's been dried, literally to a crisp.  With velveted meat, that's not the case - each entire piece remains moist, and there's no browned, crunchy layer.

I'll be the first to admit that much of this is conjecture, but I think it provides a reasonable explanation for some of the processes that keep velveted meat moist.  Might be interesting to dig up some scientific references on the thermal gradients of proteins vs. starches - I'll see what I can find.


Looking for a way to make a cone shaped cookie I am trying to find a way to make a cross between waffle cone and fairy gingerbread. You might call it  gingerbread flavored Krumkake or Pizelle.  And if possible do it without a special waffle cone or krumkake iron.

The basic idea is to have a cookie that comes out of the oven soft and can be rolled into a cone and allowed to cool and hold it's shape.

With the stipulation that you will need a cone form to roll the cookies on, I think the ideal cookie base for your application is the tuile.  You would have to adjust the flavorings, probably.  You can find many recipes by googling, such as this one from King Arthur Flour.

Here is an example of ginger-molasses tuiles recipe.

Tuiles are malleable when they are hot, and can be draped over a form, or rolled around a mold or form.  When they are cool, they are very crunchy and thin and hold their shape well.

See also:  How do you make Paillets Feuilletine?

This is an application very similar to the tuile, although much more caramlized.  That may or may not fit with your vision for the cookie you want.


How long can I refrigerate cookie dough? I made the made the mistake of making my neighbors these cookies peanut-butter-oatmeal-chocolate-chip-cookies. Every time I see either neighbor they thank me again for the wonderful cookies, "Oh they were So Good!" hint hint

I'm breaking down and making them another batch tonight, but it got me thinking of a fun Christmas present for them. I'd like to give each of them a baking sheet, a cookie scoop, a roll of parchment paper, and a big batch of the cookie dough. Assuming the freshest possible eggs and butter, how long can I expect this dough to make tasty cookies if kept in the refrigerator? Freezing is an option too, but they're less likely to actually use it if they have to think ahead far enough to defrost it. (BTW, it is a great recipe.)

The recipe is in the link, but just in case the link dies, the ingredients are:

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
1 stick (½ cup) unsalted butter, at room temperature
½ cup creamy peanut butter
½ cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup light brown sugar
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
1 egg
½ cup rolled oats
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Substitution ideas that might lengthen refrigerator life are more than welcome.

Since those are drop cookies, the best approach is to portion them into individual cookie portions, and freeze them on a sheet tray.  Once solidly frozen, they can be moved into a zip back or other more convenient storage container.

They do not need to be thawed in order to bake, so they still are very convenient.  Simply lay them out frozen on a tray, and bake.

It will take a minute or two longer than the regular non-frozen time.  It might be helpful to drop the temperature by 25 F or so, but it shouldn't really be necessary.

The real issue with holding the dough is not just food safety (you should get 2-3 days given raw eggs as the most perishable ingredient); this doesn't give you a very large window.   Eat By Date suggests 3-5 days.

It is also the loss of leavening power as the baking powder may slowly react, although the dough should be thick enough that most gets retained.


Cannabis Grapeseed Oil Infusion from Non-Decarboxylated Plant Matter - When is infusion done? So I live in a legal state and I'm allowed to grow up to 6 plants of varying maturity and also produce my own grapeseed oil infusions. So legality is not an issue for me. I'm stating that right off the bat. I'm not asking about legality. I'm asking about the chemistry behind it.

Now first off, which is the correct term? Infusion or Extraction? Whats the difference?

For now however I'm going to use the word infusion for the rest of the question.

When making the infusion I'm using a ratio of 2 oz of dried but NOT decarboxylated plant matter to 1 quart of grapeseed oil (Any brand will do). Mainly the plant matter is the Buds/Cola's. These bud's have gone through the curing phase already and are dry.

I put the plant material in the oil inside of a small 1.5 qt crockpot. The last time I did this, I let the crockpot sit on high for 8 hours before switching to low for 3 days (72 hours).

A lot of tutorials/online videos will say leave it sit for 4 hours, 8 hours, 24 hours... all the way up to 72 hours and more.

My Main question is this... At what point is the infusion done? When are all the cannabinoids infused into the oil? The time I'm asking for is when the plant matter has little to no cannabinoids left and all/a large majority of the cannabinoids are now in the oil... Thus making the infusion done.

I'm assuming that there is a breaking point where the plant matter is done decarboxylating, and the oil has extracted all of the cannabinoids.

I'm worried however that the oil at some breaking point will stop infusing the cannabinoids (because they're already infused into the oil), and will start infusing things such as the chlorophyll, and unwanted plant matter into the oil (non-cannabinoid molecules and structures).

I've done this exact infusion using Coconut oil and I didn't get the same potency as when I did the infusion with grapeseed oil. Is there a difference molecularly that allows grapeseed oil to infuse cannabinoids more easily? There is a lot of heated debate about this (coconut vs grapeseed oil infusions) within the cannabis industry/community, however i'm looking at this from more of a chemistry stand point. Which is 'better' to use?

If this is the wrong Stack Community to ask this, please refer me the the correct one. Thanks.

(Question posted on both Chemistry and Cooking Stack Exchanges as this question does pertain to both areas. Since these are different communities, I hope this is ok to ask both communities)

My Main question is this... At what point is the infusion done?

This would largely depend on your definition of the word "Done". Your own research reveals a number of opinions on how long it takes for this process to reach completion. In any kind of infusion process the results are not linear. You likely get (something like) 70% infusion in 4 hours. Another 4 hours will get you to 80% the next 4 hours to 85%... It's a condition of diminishing returns, that will probably never reach 100% (or 'done'). How much of the cannabinoids are you willing to just throw away because you don't want to wait for them to infuse? At what point is the infused oil "good enough" for you.

  Is there a difference molecularly that allows grapeseed oil to infuse
  cannabinoids more easily? ... Which is 'better' to use?

What is the 100% saturation point for various oils given various herbs is far to general of question for us to address with any specificity. Even given the herb the variety of oils still leaves us too much to really address. Lastly, when asking for whether A is 'better' than B it helps for you to provide some tangible criteria. I propose that if you want to use it as a salve coconut oil would be better (solid at room temperature) where if you want to cook with it, grapeseed oil may be the 'better' choice (higher smoke point, cleaner flavor).


Has my sourdough gone moldy? Today as I checked on my sourdough starter, I noticed some dry white patches on its surface. Has it gone moldy? If so, is it safe to just scrape off the mold and use the remainder as usual?

The sourdough smells cheesy / yeasty, nothing that yells "I've gone bad!" at me. There is no liquid on top. I've left the jar open for the last two days covered with a cloth, can it have anything to do with it?

 Image source

Scouring the internet a bit more, apparently the crust was some nitrogen-hungry form of yeast.

However, I did as suggested in this similar question, discarded most of the sourdough and used a bit of it to start a new one. Wish me luck for it!


How do you make sure the roast chicken and the sides are done at the same time? I often avoid adding sides like rice or potatoes to my roast chicken because my chicken often reaches 165f wayyy before the rice or the potatoes are done. Is there a technique to get both the roast chicken and sides done at the same time?

Simply put the sides in before or after the meat for an appropriate length of time such that everything is ready at once.

For example, say my roast chicken takes 1.5 hours to cook including resting. Roast potatoes take 1 hour. Therefore I put my roast potatoes in the oven 0.5 hours after I put the chicken in, and they are both done at the same time.


Lemon turned broccoli purple I cooked broccoli with lemon and it turned purple/brown. It’s been a while but I believe I was steaming broccoli and added lemon to the water. It tasted bad—not like broccoli or lemon. What happened?

Any general rules about cooking vegetables with lemon? Is it always added at the end of the cooking process?

Normally, acids will turn broccoli a dull grayish color, and I don't recommend adding the lemon juice until right before you serve. For one thing the lemon juice will lose its flavor when cooked.

Acids affect many, many foods when cooked — some for good and some for bad, so you do need to be careful when you add it. For example, acids added to beans before cooking will toughen them quite a bit. Acids added to proteins will denature them. And we all know what happened to Timothy Leary.


Garlic turned to black powder? Today I cut open a garlic bulb only to discover that the core was mostly black powder. What on earth was that? I've never seen it before in my life. From the outside the bulb seemed to be fine. It wasn't obviously rotten or dark or anything like that.

Your garlic was moldy within it's peel, then dried out, leaving you with a "garlic mummy". This happens occasionally, sometimes with a single clove, sometimes with the entire head.

According to the OSU Plant Clinic, there are different types of mold commmon on garlic, but most seem to be visible from the outside. In your case, the infamous Aspergillus niger seems to be the likely culprit, because it can enter though small wounds or even the neck when the leaves dry out, leaving the outer layers of the skin intact. It produces a large(ish) amount of black spores that look like a powder.


How do I prepare (any) coffee with desired caffeine concentration? I’m an student from Tampere, Finland, and I’m doing an essay on the effects of coffee (caffeine). However, how to determine the caffeine content in each serving of coffee is unclear.

How do I prepare ~5 servings of each:

Coffee with ~0mg of caffeine
Coffee with ~25mg of caffeine
Coffee with ~50mg of caffeine
Coffee with ~100mg of caffeine
Coffee with ~200mg of caffeine

I'll concentrate on this from a cooking/coffee-making point of view, but if experimenting on people you need to be careful and follow the appropriate local guidelines, even if you're only giving them substances you can buy in a supermarket.  The design of the experiment must be done under supervision.  That side of things would be off-topic here for good reasons, but we can consider preparing drinks.

You'll obviously need to follow up the references but Wikipedia says that decaf coffee only gets down to ~3 mg per cup. This means that if you want zero caffeine, you'll have to start with something other than coffee unless you can prove the claim on Wikipedia (which I've flagged as original research) that this was residual caffeine in the machine.

If we assume for the moment that you can get an acceptably low baseline, one approach I've heard of is to brew this near-zero coffee for all the experiements, then add caffeine to the others.  This will also reduce the taste difference (all your coffee will taste rubbish, rather than people thinking "this is disgusting, it must be the decaf") which is important for a blind test.  It won't however eliminate differences in taste as caffeine is btter.  Adding pure caffeine is one approach if you have access to it, but dosing small quantities is difficult.  Caffeine tablets are a better source as they typically contain 50 mg (in the common low strength versions) which means you can add 0.5 – 4 tablets per serving.


Does freezing raw milk kills harmful bacteria present in the milk? I have been drinking shakes made from frozen raw milk; just wondering that could it lead to any illness.
Does freezing raw milk kills harmful bacteria present in the milk?

No, freezing in a normal home freezer does not kill bacteria. They typically just enter a dormant state and reactivate as soon as you thaw the milk. Freezing a safe food extends the storage life, but does not make an otherwise unsafe food safe.


How to quickly prepare snails? How to quickly prepare fresh snails?

I've heard snails must be soaked in salted water for a few hours in order to remove the mucus but a friend of mine suggested that the ones in shells can be simply thrown into the hot ash and after a dozen of minutes they can be taken off the shell and eaten.

Was he right? What is the fastest way to prepare snail for eating? I mean, fastest way to prepare them so, that they would be safe food (killed parasites etc.)

The fastest way would be simply to boil them in salted water for a few minutes.

Throwing them on ashes (a barbecue?) would do the trick also, but I guess you might want to leave them there for more than a few minutes to ensure they were cooked throughout, and theres a bigger danger they'd overcook.


How to use meat from bones when making stock The scenario is that I am starting with very meaty chicken bones/carcass. I want to get the most out of my bones. I know that stock does not usually need very meaty bones, but doesn't suffer from it either. I am thinking of doing the following:

Starting my stock per usual, adding my raw very meaty chicken parts.
Simmering for one hour. Then skimming before removing the stock from the burner, and carefully/slowly as to disturb it as little as possible, removing the bones/meat. Cleaning the meat from them.
Skimming the stock again, then carefully returning the bones to it, bringing it back to the heat and simmering per usual.

Meanwhile, I would take the meat I salvaged and either make a soup, casserole or some other dish with it. Later, I would use bones up to three times mixing used bones with unused bones until they are spent.

Is there another method for this? Basically I am trying to figure out how to reuse the bones and salvage as much as possible from the chickens I buy.

Well this might sound strange, but I do this with any chicken carcass even the precooked rotisserie ones. It turns out delicious and makes several meals from one carcass - both stock and meat. So I get 3 to 4 dinners for two out of one rotisserie chicken.

So after eating the best slices off the rotisserie carcass, I hack the carcass into several manageable chunks, and put the very meaty bones (some thighs / legs even have all the meat on them) in the pot with mirepoix and cover with water for stock.

After about the first hour, I remove the chicken to a cutting board, let it cool a bit, then remove all the good meat. It pretty much falls off. Then I put the clean bones back in the stock pot and simmer for another 2 - 3 hours (I like mine to simmer a long time). The next morning this stock is always super gelatinous, a quivery chicken jelly. I make this into gravy, and the meat with a bag of frozen vegetables becomes pot pie. Yes the meat is probably overcooked, but it's moist and tender and perfect for pot pies. Super, super delicious.

I admit I've even bought rotisserie thighs and legs from Sam's club, for $2.75 for a huge box, then popped them right in the stock pot, making three nights' worth of dinners for about $3.


Can I candy pomegranate? It seems that making candied fruit is easy: cut it thin and boil in sugar syrup until ready.

I'd like to make candied pomegranate, keeping the seed-surrounding bubbles intact. Will it work, or will the membrane prevent the sugar from entering? Can I do something (e.g. stick a pin into a few places) without losing the shape?

In India, there are typical traditional ways of Candying the Fruits like Pickling, Drying, etc. In your case with Pomegranate, you can always try Combination of Pickling & Drying.

Try the following method,

Step 1: Make a 1/4 Inch Layer of Powdered Sugar in a Transparent Glass Jar
Step 2: Follow it with a Layer of Pomegranate (Note: Pomegranate must be spread horizontally & not Stacked Vertically)
Step 3: Repeat Steps 1 & 2 (Last Layer should always be of Sugar)
Step 4: Take a Cotton Cloth & tie it on Mouth of Jar, covering Until Neck.
Step 5: Expose the Jar in Sun for Few Days.
Step 6: Empty & Spread the Contents of Jar on a Baking Tray & allow it to Dry in Sun for a Day.

Though, the process is not Instant & very Tedious. But this slow cooking process will help to Lock the Freshness, Taste & Essentials in any Fruit in best Man-Made Way.

I Usually do this with Seasonal Fruits.


Using Jaggery as Substitute for Sugar I generally use jaggery instead of sugar in all my baking recipies from cakes to bread.

I have not experimented enough to quantitate any difference in taste (basically experience with using sugar in recipies is almost nil). I would like to know if there is any difference in the texture and taste if sugar is substituted with jaggery.

Please add how to rectify the same, without using white sugar.

Yes. There would be a difference in texture. Some jaggery tend to be a bit sticky when heated. Groundnut chikkis is a good example. Also, sugar tastes different than jaggery when cooked. Jaggery has an earthy tang to it. In my honest opinion, if you can get good quality jaggery, prefer it over sugar. Simply because its more natural product than sugar.


Why does tallow taste overpoweringly different from saturated fat from the same animal? I enjoy the fat(saturated) that comes out of meat and chicken so decided to try tallow(the fat from suet that the butchers usually discard) and add more of it to my my curries.  However I noticed that tallow tastes overpoweringly different from just fat of meat, why is this so when it seems the dripping are essentially the same thing, or is there a reason why they taste different?

Is there a way to neutralise the taste of tallow?  I added it directly to a curry and it changed colour blending with the curry however on tasting I could tell it was the strong flavour of tallow rather than the flavour of the curry.

Tallow is rendered fat, usually beef.  Off flavors can occur quite easily when rendering fat if it is not done carefully.  Do you know how the fat was rendered? Did you do it yourself?  What was your process?  I'm not sure you are describing tallow in your question, though, because you are describing fat that is discarded by butchers.  So, you'll want to clarify.  I will also add that it is not unusual that fat from different parts of the animal would taste quite different.


Why is water added to the egg wash of challah bread? This recipe for challah bread calls for an egg wash composed of 1 egg and 1 tsp of water (see the final item in the ingredient list).

What is the effect of this small amount of water?  It seems like most other challah recipes use egg alone.

If anything, for egg washes in general, it might be more common to add water (or milk or cream) than not.

Thinning the wash makes it easier to brush on an even, not-too-thick layer. It also tends to get you a more golden color, less dark brown.


Using a Convection oven. Do I use the same temperature as a Fan oven? I am using a Convection oven. Do I set the temperature the same as a fan oven?
(Eg instructions only mention 190c Fan or 200c Electric for 25-30minutes)
Unable to find a basic temperature conversion chart. Just Electric/Fan!

The temperature of the food raises faster in case of the oven with a fan, so you have to set a higher temperature in a conventional oven than a fan (Convection) oven.
It is not possible to have any conversion chart as between them, because how fast the temperature of food raises depends on the food itself. So, some experienced has to be gained while using conventional(without fan) oven keeping in mind the first point I mentioned- "In most of the cases, temperature you have to set this time will be higher than an oven with a fan".


Do quality adjectives have a standard? So some cheese products I buy have nutritional information on the outside that say things like "Good source of Calcium", or "Excellent source of Calcium", or "Great source of Calcium".

Are these just buzzwords, or is there a standard for these words (ie, Excellent = ^20% calcium, Great = ^10% Calcium, Good = ^5% Calcium)?

From Googling Nutritional Claims Excellent:

YES! These terms are highly regulated in the United States.

In the US, the FDA sets the following standards for food products:

  "High," "Rich In," or "Excellent Source Of" - Contains 20% or more of the DV per RACC. May be used on meals or main dishes to indicate that the product contains a food that meets the definition, but may not be used to describe the meal.
  "Good Source," "Contains," or "Provides" - 10%-19% of the DV per RACC. These terms may be used on meals or main dishes to indicate that the product contains a food that meets the definition but may not be used to describe the meal.
  "More," "Fortified," "Enriched," "Added," "Extra," or "Plus" - 10% or more of the DV per RACC than an appropriate reference food. May only be used for vitamins, minerals, protein, dietary fiber, and potassium.

Note: DV = Daily Value, RACC = Reference Amount Customarily Consumed

This is a really helpful page!


How do I clean deep burns in my oven? So our apartment has an oven that, without fail, creates considerable smoke when we use it.  And we've been trying to clean it as best we can with baking soda and vinegar, along with Bon Amie powder cleanser, but we can't get it to come out.

Here's what the inside looks like:

Other than hours upon hours of scrubbing, is there anything we haven't tried yet that we could do to get these burn stains out?

I trust you've already tried leaving a hot, wet (just water) cloth on it for a while, which may work if its sugar, as opposed to grease.

As long as your oven manual allows (it typically will, unless its a self-cleaning or continuous-cleaning oven), oven cleaner, which is basically caustics such as lye and solvents. Easy-off is a common brand in the US. Note, BTW, oven cleaner is one of the products where you actually want to read and beware the cautions on the side of the can.

Also, unless you actually see the black stuff on the bottom smoking, I'd guess its more likely to be the brown stuff everywhere else.


What can I do with a failed bread? So I attempted my first loaf of bread tonight and I blew it.  It's flat and way wide (I tried a free pan loaf).  It's about 2 inches tall and very spongy.  It has roughly the consistency of a corn muffin.  It's vaguely edible, but not very breadlike.

So is there anything culinary I can do with this or should I just chuck it on the compost pile?

I'd say stuffing, but if it doesn't taste good, then your stuffing won't taste good. Bread pudding? Blech. Bread crumbs? Maybe. Croutons? I don't know, probably not.

Just write it off to experience, and see if the birds fancy it.


PH and sour / acid taste I had always thought low pH foods had a noticeable sour (acid) taste, and vice-versa.

But when reading The Bread Builders by Daniel Wing & Allan Scott, on page 54, it says:

  The sour taste of especially sour naturally leavened bread comes more from the total amount of acid in the bread than from the pH of the bread.

After knowing that, someone I know made the following experiment:

  Measured the pH of vinegar with a ph-meter.
  Prepared a solution of Spirits of salt with the same pH.
  Drink both.

Pure vinegar tastes much more acid than spirits of salt. In fact, the last one has almost no acid taste.

So, it seems my initial thoughts were wrong. Why? Also, what makes we perceive foods as acid tasting?

Update:

After some research (thanks to rumtscho's comment) I have found that taste buds detect the presence of H+ ions (as cited in the Wikipedia article on Gustatory system).

But still don't know why when drinking Acetic Acid (vinegar) sourness is sensed more than when drinking HCl (Spirits of salt), if both of them are diluted to have the same pH.

Update 2:
After @Wayfaring Stranger's answer it is clair that sour taste is given by anions (and not H+ ions), as written in this question's last update.

There's a bit of trickery going on in the comparison of vinegar (acetic acid) to spirits of salt (hydrochloric acid). Your 5% (0.83 molar) vinegar has a pH of about 2.5.
You need much less of the stronger acid, HCl, to reach that same pH (2.5); in fact only 0.003 molar, a factor of 277 less.
Since you taste the anion (acetate or chloride), not the proton (H+), it's no wonder that the vinegar is much more flavorful; there's a 277 fold difference in the concentration of the flavor agent. Pick a different acid, and you'll get a different tasting anion, and a different concentration needed to reach pH 2.5.

Response to comment on taste of anions:

Your linked Wikipedia article gives the impression that the taste reception system is fairly simple, and well understood. It is neither.

Here are a couple examples of reasonably current research on the taste of anions:

The Anion Paradox in Sodium Taste Reception

Anion size of sodium salts and simple taste reaction times.

Take a look at Wikipedia's article on taste receptors. you'll see that 'bitter' tastes are subclassified by 30 or more different receptors.
Salty taste receptors (specific anion and cation) are still are poorly characterized

Research on humans is hard, so it'll probably be decades before the mechanisms of tasting are fully sorted out. Until then, consider sources like Wikipedia expositions of the current state of knowledge, rather than the final word.


Pulled pork - interrupted cooking in oven? I'm planning to cook my 4lbs pork in the oven but as my guests arrive at 1pm for lunch, I wanted to start the cooking the evening before and then keep the partly cooked pork in the fridge till next day and finish up the cooking then.
Would that make the pulled pork tender and tastefull and what about safety?
Alternatively, could I set the oven temperature very low and cook the pork all night for a 1pm finish?
Thanks!

You can completely cook it the night before.  Pulled pork will reheat quite well.

Alternately, you can cook it completely that morning, and hold it for an hour or so before your guests arrive.  It should braise or roast in no more than 3-4 hours, tops, which should allow you to cook it the same day.  You can then hold it a while for service, if you don't want to be pulling in front of your guests (I would; its fun).  It should have enough mass that in a covered container, maybe with a towel over it as a blanket, that it won't cool off too much.

Home ovens don't hold temperatures terribly accurately, especially at the low end of their ranges, so I would not try some sort of overnight cooking.


I want to know how to express the result of reduced liquid. I want to know the best way to express the result of reduced liquid.
Example; 5 quarts reduced to 3 Cups. Should it be expressed as ratio or percentage? How do I do the calculation?

There is no single answer to this; it depends on the context and the intent of the recipe in which the reduction is being performed.

Most reductions are expressed as a very approximate percentage, such as "reduce by about half" or "reduce by about two thirds."

Sometimes, you may specify a target amount if that is what is important.  "Reduce to about 1 cup."

Lastly, sometimes you specify the outcome desired, as in "reduce until thick and syrupy" or "reduce until the sauce coats the back of a spoon."

Your specific example of five quarts to three cups is very extreme.  Probably you want an outcome based description, not a percentage.  When specifying by percentage, it is usually for more basic sauce reductions such as a pan gravy after deglazing.  Still, the way you have written it is perfectly clear; there is no reason to calculate a percentage if that is your actual intent.


Can tomato sauce with cooked pork in it be eaten after sitting out in pot and a/c overnight? I made tomato sauce with browned pork roast pieces in it and cooked it for around 6 hours and left overnight by mistake until the next morning. Lots of sodium and water. My apartment a/c is set at 75 degrees C. Can this be safely eaten after reheated to boiling for an hour and then refrigerated before eating for dinner that night?

It is not possible that your A/C is set to 75°C. That's significantly hotter than the hottest outdoor temperature ever recorded on earth (54C or 129F). Yes, food held at 75 degrees centigrade is out of the danger zone. If, however, the A/C is really set to 75 degrees Fahrenheit (which is a normal room temperature), the food will not be safe, unless it is extremely acidic (compare ketchup). While salt can be a preservative (compare kimchi and salty pickles), excess water inhibits that effect.


Cooked white asparagus is stringy Everytime I cook white asparagus it has these strings in it, which are not really pleasant. Is it normal thing? Or I am doing something wrong? I peel asparagus and cook it in boiling water for 15 minutes in boiling water.

Contrary to popular belief, older asparagus is not what causes larger stalks and larger stalks are not tougher than thin stalks. The size of the stalk is determined by the variety of asparagus.

As cited in this article in the  NYTimes , asparagus will start to get tough immediately upon cutting. It starts to toughen at the bottom and continues up the stalk. The asparagus need to be chilled very soon after cutting to prevent this.

  Most of this loss of sweetness and toughening happens in the first day after harvest. Farmers can minimize it by chilling new-cut asparagus right away. But a delay of just four hours between harvest and chilling causes the spears to toughen significantly. So does allowing the chilled spears to warm up to 60 degrees or more in a grocery display or at the farmers’ market.

So, in short the toughness is most likely caused by improper storage when the asparagus is harvested.

We have two asparagus beds and we chose a large stalk variety as it seemed to have a little more flavor (to us). Once or twice we have let the stalks grow to over 2' long and they were still tender. That said, when we cut them, they are immediately refrigerated and stay chilled until we cook them.


Will chocolate eggs inside a cupcake melt when baked in the oven? Easter is coming and I was interested in baking some cupcakes with a solid/praline-filled chocolate surprise inside. Please refer to the image below. Little side note: I will put smaller chocolate eggs inside and don't want them to be visible, they will be totally covered by cupcake batter, as opposed to being as you see them in the image.

I was wondering: if you put chocolate eggs inside the cupcake dough and let it bake in the oven, will they melt? And how badly?

If it's possible to avoid melting, how? Do I need to freeze the eggs first? Will any kind of chocolate egg do? (I was planning on solid/praline-filled eggs.)

I was hoping for some advice how to have a bit of a chocolate egg surprise in my cupcakes, instead of some melted chocolate 'cream'.

Whether the chocolate melts will depend on which chocolate you use. One with more cocoa butter will melt, while one made with more soy lecithin will retail its shape. That is why most chocolate chips contain soy lecithin. You will need to choose your chocolate according to what you want it to do in the oven.


Pulled pork substitute- How do I do it? I want to emulate pulled pork for my non-pork eating friend (semi-Jewish, read: no pigs, it doesn't have to be technically kosher).  What cut of beef would achieve a similar texture? The closest I've ever eaten was short ribs, but is there something better?  I'm not too worried about duplicating the method- I'm comfortable with a crock pot, a dutch oven, stove top cooking, whatever- just looking for a similar end result.

Depending on the dish, maybe duck confit.  It works really well in tacos. It has the nice unctuous fat and goes well with tomatillo and avocado.  But it'd probably be hard or expensive to get in large quantities.


Green rhubarb safe and tasty for use like red? My mom in her earnest harvested her rhubarb early and sent me stalks that are indiscernible from celery. It tastes very tart which I like but has very faint "rhubarby" flavors. A couple applications I have in mind are a standard cobbler and making bitters by infusing them in vodka. Is it safe to eat (i.e. does red stalk indicate that oxalic acids are no longer present in the stalks?) and how can I intensify the rhubarby flavors without overwhelming anything with the acids?

There are many cultivars of rhubarb, just like there are for most other vegetables.  Surprisingly, it seems some cultivars with the best flavor have less of the prized pink color.  The color of any particular rhubarb stalk will depend on both the cultivar, and how it was grown.

You should treat it the same way, regardless of the color.  So yes, green rhubarb is safe to eat, with the same caveats as apply to any rhubarb.  Especially, don't eat the leaves.

In On Food and Cooking (2004 edition), Harold McGee indicates that rhubarb tends to be about 1.5-2.0% acid by weight (mostly oxalic acid), which makes it quite tart.  This is an inherent aspect of the vegetable.  The only way you really will reduce it is to use proportionately less of it in your recipe, by either reducing the absolute quantity of rhubarb, or increasing the quantity of other ingredients.

In pies and coblers, this is usually done by combining the the rhubarb with another fruit like strawberries, as well as a great deal of sugar.

Oxalic acid is soluble in water at about 14 grams / 100 mL, and even more soluble in ethanol at about 24 g / 100 mL, per Wikipedia.  This means that anything you infuse into vodka is likely to be extremely tart, perhaps unpleasantly so.  You will want to carefully control steeping times and or ratios.  While I have never tried this, I would imagine the tartness would overwhelm whatever rhubarb flavor you might pick up.  There might be a reason there are so few famous rhubarb cocktails.

Still, there are a number of rhubarb cocktail recipes that you can find by googling "rhubarb cocktail".  They tend to start with a cooked down puree of rhubarb, rather than an infusion, however, and it seems to often be used in the sour role.


What is the origin of cheese dip? I want to know where cheese dip was invented. Based on this article it was invented in Arkansas.

This documentary goes into more detail about it being from Mexico Chiquito, a restaurant in Arkansas.

If we're going to define "cheese dip" as "some substance made from cheese for the purpose of dipping other food in" - which seems like the only rational definition given no other context - then I'd have to pinpoint its origin as being fondue.

According to Wikipedia, the earliest known recipe for fondue comes from the Swiss cookbook, Kochbuch von Anna Margaretha Gessnerin, ein gebohrne Kittin, first published in 1699.

That predates the Arkansas claim of 1935 by at least a few centuries, if we assume that Wikipedia does indeed list the earliest source.

There's also Queso Chihuahua which was supposedly brought to Mexico by the Mennonites, which would place its origin in Mexico sometime in the 1920s - assuming that the Mennonites themselves did not simply adapt the recipe from something known even earlier.

I'd have to say that the Arkansas tourism board seems to be trying to pull a fast one on us, laying claim to this "invention". Maybe they're defining cheese dip as the specific kind of cheese dip they came up with, which would of course be a tautology.


Is it ok to include garlic when I can hot peppers? I followed the Ball Blue Book recipe for canning hot vinegared peppers. I left the peppers whole, and forgot to discard the garlic from the vinegar recipe before I filled the quart size jars & gave them the bath. I made them 10 days ago and I just moved them to the refrigerator because I was scared the garlic would ruin them and possible set them up for the spread of botulism. Are they ruined?

You should be fine. I couldn't find your particular recipe, but many canning recipes for peppers (and salsas, pickles & relishes) contain garlic. As long as there is sufficient vinegar, which the name of your recipe suggests, and you processed correctly there shouldn't be a problem. This recipe for Pickled Peppers may be similar to yours and contains garlic in the finished product.